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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Glenloch Girls, by Grace M. Remick
+
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+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
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+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Glenloch Girls
+
+Author: Grace M. Remick
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5438]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on July 18, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, GLENLOCH GIRLS ***
+
+
+
+
+Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+GLENLOCH GIRLS
+
+By GRACE M. REMICK
+
+Author of
+ GLENLOCH GIRLS ABROAD
+ GLENLOCH GIRLS' CLUB
+ GLENLOCH GIRLS AT CAMP WEST
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY ADA C. WILLLAMSON
+
+
+
+
+To my little cousin
+
+KATHARINE McC. REMICK
+
+whose unfailing interest and appreciation have helped me to write
+this book.
+
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+This is the story of a pleasant winter in the lives of some everyday
+girls and boys. That doesn't sound exciting, does it? And yet, if
+you stop to think, you will remember that most girls and boys live
+comparatively simple lives and that it is given only to a few to
+have strange adventures and do valorous deeds. Ruth Shirley, one
+of the girls, expects to be very forlorn, but, finding a new home
+in Glenloch, she is welcomed by the kindest of friends and becomes
+a Glenloch Girl in heart and name. One of the boys is obliged to
+learn the lesson of patience and courage when that which he most
+prizes is taken away and he supposes it will never be regained.
+Like all the rest of us, these young people have their follies and
+faults. On the whole, however, they are truthful, good-natured,
+peaceable young citizens, full of the business of the hour, but
+beginning already to plan for the mysterious future which to them
+promises so much. Those who are interested in the story of their
+good times together may be glad to read in "Glenloch Girls Abroad"
+how Ruth meets her father, what tidings she has from Glenloch, and
+something of the new friends she makes on the other side of the
+ocean. They will be interested also in the further doings of The
+Social Six, as they are related in "Glenloch Girls' Club." And the
+adventures and good times of "Glenloch Girls at Camp West."
+
+GRACE M. REMICK.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+    I. RUTH'S FATHER
+
+   II. THREE CHUMS
+
+  III. THE NEWCOMER
+
+   IV. A NEW CLUB
+
+    V. THE SOCIAL SIX
+
+   VI. BAD NEWS AND GOOD
+
+  VII. CAPS AND APRONS
+
+ VIII. CHARLOTTE'S PROBLEMS
+
+   IX. OUT OF THE SNOW
+
+    X. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS XI. ARTHUR COMES BACK
+
+  XII. LOST AND FOUND
+
+ XIII. MISS CYNTHIA
+
+  XIV. TINY ELSA
+
+   XV. PETER PAN
+
+  XVI. TELLING FORTUNES
+
+ XVII. UNCLE JERRY
+
+XVIII. THOSE RIDICULOUS BOYS
+
+  XIX. "HOME, SWEET HOME"
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+"I WAS AFRAID YOU WEREN'T COMING,"
+
+"DO YOU PROMISE TO KEEP OUR SECRETS?"
+
+"LET ME GIVE YOU YOUR PRESENT NOW"
+
+"IT'S VERY FINE AND BRAVE OF YOU"
+
+IT HAPPENED AS SHE HAD WISHED
+
+"IS YOUR LEMONADE GOOD?"
+
+"TELL THEM YOUR NEWS"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+RUTH'S FATHER
+
+
+Just as the key clicked in the lock and the front door opened,
+a bright face peeped over the baluster from the hall above. "Why,
+papa," said a dismayed voice, "you're very early and I'm not dressed.
+I wanted to be at the door to meet you tonight of all nights."
+
+"I'm sorry I'm not welcome, Ruthie," said papa, pretending to
+be very much hurt. "Shall I go out and walk up and down the block
+until you are ready to receive me?"
+
+"No, indeed, you absurd boy. I'll be down there in three minutes
+and a half. Don't get interested in a book, will you, for I want
+to talk with you."
+
+"Ail right, my dear," replied papa dutifully, and Ruth flew off to
+her room to put the finishing touches to her toilet.
+
+A few minutes later she appeared in the library with flushed cheeks
+and very bright eyes. "Now, Popsy, sit down here," she said, leading
+him to the big armchair and sitting down in front of him. "Do you
+know what day this is, sir?" she continued, trying to look very
+stern.
+
+"I think I do," he answered meekly; "it's the seventeenth of
+September, I believe."
+
+"And what day is that?" still more sternly.
+
+"That is, why, bless my soul, so it is, that's---"
+
+"Your birthday," finished Ruth triumphantly. "And we're going to
+celebrate it just by ourselves. You aren't going out this evening,
+are you, Popsy?"
+
+"No, dear, I shall be very glad to stay at home with you. I
+am afraid, though, that I shan't be a very good birthday boy, for
+there are some business plans that are troubling me, and I want to
+talk them over with you."
+
+"Business plans?" said Ruth, surprised. "Why, papa, I never supposed
+I could help you about business plans."
+
+"These particular plans have so much to do with you, little girl,
+that it's only fair to tell you about them before I decide.  However,
+we won't talk about them until after dinner, for I'm as hungry as
+a bear."
+
+"Well, do run upstairs and get ready now, for dinner will be ready
+in a few minutes, and I'm dying to give you your birthday surprise."
+
+"Dear me, I thought it was enough of a shock to have a birthday,
+without more surprises. Give it to me by degrees, please, for in
+my starving condition I can't bear much."
+
+Ruth watched her father as he ran lightly up the stairs, and wondered
+if any other girl had such a great, strong, handsome papa. "He's
+my very best chum," she said to herself, "and sometimes he doesn't
+seem a bit older than I do."
+
+Just as the maid announced dinner, papa appeared and Ruth met him
+at the foot of the stairs with a sweeping courtesy. He responded
+with a ceremonious bow, and the proffer of his arm, which Ruth took
+with great gravity.
+
+"Aren't we grand?" she said in a satisfied tone. "It makes me feel
+dreadfully grown up to have you treat me so politely."
+
+"I'll stop then," laughed papa. "Fourteen is old enough, and I
+don't want my girl to turn into a young lady just yet."
+
+"Now shut your eyes, Popsy, and don't look until I get you into
+your chair," said Ruth as they reached the dining-room door.
+
+Her father obediently shut his eyes, and Ruth led him to his place
+at the table. Then she slipped around to her own chair, and clapping
+her hands said triumphantly, "Now look."
+
+"Oh--o-oh!" gasped her father, almost before he had opened his
+eyes. "This is truly superb. Ruth, you're an artist."
+
+"Mary helped me do it," said Ruth, smiling at the pretty maid; "but
+I planned it every bit myself. I thought I would make it a pink
+and white birthday because pink is your favorite color."
+
+Mr. Shirley looked at the pretty table with appreciative eyes. In
+the centre a bowl of pink roses reflected in its shining facets
+the lights of the pink candies which filled the candelabra at the
+ends of the table. Broad, pink satin ribbons, with rosebuds and
+maidenhair fern dropped upon them at intervals, ran from the flower
+bowl in the centre to the comers of the polished table, and in front
+of papa's plate was a huge birthday cake resplendent with pink and
+white icing and glittering with candies.
+
+"You don't have to eat the birthday cake first," said Ruth, as Mr.
+Shirley looked somewhat apprehensively in its direction. "You see
+I made it myself, and I thought I couldn't possibly wait all through
+dinner for it to be put on, so I told Mary we'd make it a sort of
+glorified supper, and we could have the cake to look at while we
+were eating the other things."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that you made this gorgeous concoction
+yourself?" asked papa, looking at her admiringly. "To think I should
+have had such a genius in my house and not have known it."
+
+"I've been practicing ever since the first of September," answered
+Ruth proudly, "and Nora said that this one looked quite perfect.
+But you mustn't take too long over your supper, for there's another
+surprise coming when we are all by ourselves in the library."
+
+"You don't say so. How can I wait until then?" said Mr. Shirley,
+beginning to attack the salad with great energy.
+
+It was a delightful birthday supper, Ruth thought, for her father
+was his funniest self, and she laughed so much that she had scarcely
+time to eat. The cake was a great success, and Mr.  Shirley praised
+the maker of it so warmly that she blushed rosily and flew around
+the table to give him a hug and kiss.
+
+"Now for surprise number two," cried Ruth as they left the table
+and went into the cozy library. "Sit in the big chair, papa, and
+I'll bring it to you."
+
+Mr. Shirley waited with pretended anxiety while Ruth opened a
+drawer in the desk and took out a small box. "This is for the best
+of fathers and the best of chums," she said giving it to him with
+a kiss.
+
+"From the best of little daughters," he added as he opened the box.
+Inside was a velvet case and opening that he found a gold locket
+on which his monogram had been engraved.
+
+"It's for you to wear on your watch-chain," said Ruth. "Now open
+it."
+
+Mr. Shirley pressed the tiny spring, and the locket flew open
+disclosing two miniatures beautifully painted. One of Ruth with
+merry brown eyes and brown curls tied in a knot in her neck, and the
+other of a sweet-faced, tender-eyed woman whom Ruth much resembled.
+
+"Popsy, dear," said Ruth, "I couldn't think of anything you would
+like half so well as these, so I took the money Uncle Jerry sent
+me last birthday and had them painted for you. Isn't it sweet of
+mamma?" she added softly.
+
+"Nothing you could have given me would have pleased me so much,"
+said Mr. Shirley with an odd little choke in his voice. "Those are
+the two dearest faces I could possibly see, and they shall go with
+me everywhere."
+
+"I'm so glad you like it. And now, papa, let's have the business
+plans. It makes me feel very important to think that you are going
+to talk business with me."
+
+"Dear, I'm afraid it's going to make you unhappy, and I hate to
+spoil our pleasant evening together. Shan't we get the birthday
+safely over, and put off the business plans until tomorrow?"
+
+"Seems to me I remember that you are always telling me something
+about 'never putting off until tomorrow,' etc., etc. No, sir," she
+continued with mock sternness, "I want to hear all about it."
+
+Still her father hesitated, until Ruth said hopefully, "You
+haven't lost all your money, have you? That would be so romantic
+and interesting. I think I should go out as a cook, and perhaps
+you could get a place as butler in the same house. If it happened
+just now, though, I should have to feed them on birthday cake until
+I learned to make something else."
+
+Mr. Shirley threw back his head and laughed. "You're a good planner,
+Ruthie, but I hardly think you'll be obliged to go out as a cook
+just yet. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I really can't say that
+I have lost any money."
+
+"Well, then, please tell me all about it, and I'll listen very
+quietly," said Ruth perching herself on the arm of the big chair.
+
+"It's just this, little daughter," answered Mr. Shirley, putting
+his arm around Ruth and drawing her closer; "it has been decided
+that it will be a profitable thing for us to open a branch house
+in Germany, and it is important that some member of the firm should
+be over there for a year or two to start it."
+
+"And are you the one to go?" cried Ruth, clapping her hands. "Why
+should you think that would make me unhappy, when it is one of the
+dreams of my life to go abroad?"
+
+"That's just where the trouble comes, Ruthie," said her father
+tenderly. "I have thought it all over carefully, and I cannot make
+myself think that it would be right or wise to take you over there
+with me for the first year. For six months, at least, I shall be
+traveling nearly all the time, and I should neither want to take
+you with me nor to leave you in a pension."
+
+"But, father, I'd be willing to stay alone if I could only see you
+once in a while," cried Ruth with quivering lips. "Or you could
+get me a German governess, and----"
+
+"Darling, I've thought over every possible plan, and it still seems
+to me better for you not to go over during my first year," answered
+Mr. Shirley soberly.
+
+"Oh, papa, I can't bear it," sobbed Ruth, burying her face on her
+father's shoulder. "We've been such chums for the last year, and
+I can't get along without you. Besides," she said, checking her
+tears and looking at him with a pitiful attempt at a smile, "when
+mamma died she told me I must try to take her place and always take
+care of you, and how can I if you go so far away?"
+
+There was another burst of sobs, and all Mr. Shirley could do was
+to hold her close and stroke the soft curls with a remorseful hand.
+At last when it seemed to him that he could bear it no longer she
+raised her tear-stained face, and said as she used to say when she
+was a little girl, "I'm going to be good now, papa."
+
+"That's my brave girl," said Mr. Shirley much relieved. "Here, let
+me help you wipe your eyes, darling. You need something bigger than
+that scrap of a handkerchief after such a shower."
+
+Ruth laughed weakly as papa sopped her eyes in an unskilful but
+efficacious manner. Then as she lay back in his arms quite tired
+out after her storm of tears she said soberly, "Tell me all the
+rest now, papa, please. What do you mean to do with me?"
+
+"That is the hardest question of all to decide," answered Mr.
+Shirley gravely. "I never realized before quite how hard it would
+be to find a suitable home for such an attractive young person
+as you are. If Uncle Jerry would only find a wife and settle down
+within the next month you could go to him, but I'm afraid we can't
+manage that."
+
+"Within a month, papa? Must it be so soon as that?" asked Ruth,
+looking at him with eyes that threatened to overflow again.
+
+"I'm afraid it must, dear," answered Mr. Shirley. "You see the
+sooner I get to Germany the better it will be for the business, and
+if you and I have a hard thing to do we may as well get it over as
+soon as possible."
+
+Ruth shut her eyes for a moment and clenched her hands. She was
+determined not to cry again, at least not when she was with her
+father.
+
+"You must have some plan for me in your mind, papa," she said at
+last very quietly; "please tell me what it is."
+
+"Well, dear, there are three ways out of it. You must either go to
+school, have some one come and live with you here, or go to live
+in the family of some one we know."
+
+"I've always thought I should just love to go to boarding-school,"
+said Ruth thoughtfully, "but now it seems to me I should hate it.
+And I should simply die if you left me in this house, for I should
+miss you and mamma every minute."
+
+"That's just what I feared," said Mr. Shirley, "and as to the
+boarding-school plan, there are several reasons why I should prefer
+to give that up for this year. That leaves plan number three to
+be considered, and today I've had what I think is a brilliant idea
+regarding it."
+
+"What is it, papa?" asked Ruth, beginning to get interested.
+
+"It seems to me that if I leave you with any of our friends here
+in Chicago you will be constantly reminded of mamma and me and will
+miss us more than you would if you were in some place where we had
+never been together. Just as I was thinking this all over for the
+hundredth time this morning a letter came from my old college chum,
+Henry Hamilton. It was largely a business letter, but at the end
+he inquired for you, and said that they wished very much that they
+had a daughter growing up in their family."
+
+"Seems to me I've heard mamma speak of Mrs. Hamilton," said Ruth
+musingly. "Didn't they play together when they were little girls?"
+
+"Why, yes, of course they did. Mrs. Hamilton was Mary Ashley, and
+you remember that funny story mamma used to tell you about the time
+they thought they heard a burglar."
+
+"Oh, yes, and how they went into Boston to a big fair and they lost
+Mary Ashley's mother, who was taking care of them and had such a
+funny time getting home," said Ruth.
+
+"Well, I called on them the last time I went East, and found them
+living not far from Boston in a very delightful home, and when that
+letter reminded me of them today I thought at once that their home
+would be just the place for you if they were willing to take you."
+
+"Are there any children in the family?"
+
+"One boy about sixteen," replied Mr. Shirley.
+
+"Dear me! I wish he had a sister. But, papa, have you any idea that
+they'll want to take a strange girl into their family for a whole
+year? If they will take me I shall be so much nearer Europe, shan't
+I?"
+
+"Of course you will, darling, and I somehow have the feeling that
+they'll be glad to have you with them," said Mr. Shirley. "Now
+if you agree with me that it is best to try this plan, I'll write
+tonight, for I'm sorry to say our plans must be made quickly."
+
+Ruth's eyes filled with tears which she could not hide. "It all
+seems so horrid to me when I think of being without you, papa,"
+she said slowly, "that I can't make any choice. You'll have to do
+just as you think best, and perhaps I shall learn to be brave."
+
+Mr. Shirley hugged her tight for a moment without speaking. Then he
+said tenderly, "Darling, go to bed now and try to sleep.  Perhaps
+in the morning things will look brighter to you. We'll talk it over
+then and see what is best to be done."
+
+Ruth kissed him and tried to smile, "Goodnight, papa; I'll be
+a better chum tomorrow," she said with an effort, and then went
+quickly from the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THREE CHUMS
+
+
+"Why, how delightful, Henry," cried Mrs. Hamilton, as she finished
+reading a letter which her husband had just handed to her. "Of
+course we want the little girl to come at once."
+
+"Of course," agreed Mr. Hamilton with equal heartiness. "It will
+be nice to have a little daughter around the house to bring me my
+slippers and play and sing to me when I am tired. But what will
+Arthur think of it?" inquired Mr. Hamilton with a note of anxiety
+in his voice.
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," answered his wife, her bright face
+clouding. "I dare say he won't like it at all, but I don't see that
+we can let him decide it. Perhaps it may do him good in the end."
+
+"Well, I shall leave you to settle it with him," said Mr. Hamilton
+rising from the table. "For some reason nothing I say seems to make
+much of an impression on him nowadays."
+
+"I must say that I get dreadfully discouraged, too," confessed his
+wife. "He is so hopelessly indifferent to everything he used to
+like; he utterly refuses to see one of the boys or girls, and he
+sits for hours at a time doing absolutely nothing. I can see that
+the doctor is really anxious about him," she continued.
+
+"Keep up your courage, dear," said Mr. Hamilton with more cheerfulness
+than he felt. "Perhaps we shall find a way out of it soon."
+
+"I'll go up now and tell Arthur about Ruth," said Mrs. Hamilton as
+she said goodbye to her husband in the hall. "That will give him
+something to think of, whether he likes the prospect or not."
+
+As Mrs. Hamilton entered the little sitting-room which used to be
+the pride of her son's heart, it was so full of warmth and light
+and brightness that, for a moment, in spite of herself, she felt
+as if she must see the cheery boy of six months before. Everything
+so suggested him, and it was so clearly the room of a boy who loved
+all kinds of outdoor exercise. A pair of tennis racquets crossed
+on the wall had evidently resigned their place for the time being
+to the golf clubs which stood in one comer. A couple of paddles
+occupied another comer, and rigged on the wall near the door was
+a complicated arrangement of ropes, pulleys and weights designed
+to exercise every muscle in the human body. Mrs. Hamilton sighed
+involuntarily as her eye rested on a silver cup which stood proudly
+on the centre table, a mute witness to the prowess of its owner.
+It was the prize for a hundred yard dash in which Arthur had borne
+off the honors.
+
+"He'll never be able to do that again, poor laddie," she said to
+herself, as she waited a moment to brush the tears from her eyes
+before opening the door into the next room.
+
+"Good-morning, dear boy," she said brightly, as she entered a room
+which seemed doubly gloomy to her after the brightness of the one
+she had left. "You should provide a boy with a torch so that your
+visitors can see to get across the room. What ho! have I found you
+at last?" she continued, as she took her son's hand in a tender
+grasp and gave him a good-morning kiss.
+
+"Do let's have some sunshine, Arthur," she said, putting up the
+curtain and letting in a flood of light. "There, now I feel more
+at home. Why don't you get the benefit of the morning sunshine?"
+
+"I don't like to look out just at this time in the morning, mother,"
+he answered briefly.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton understood in a flash, for just as they were speaking
+a gay group of boys and girls had passed the window, and Arthur,
+who had turned involuntarily to look at them, had closed his eyes
+quickly as though to shut out the pleasant sight.
+
+"Dr. Holland says you may begin to study again, now, Arthur," said
+his mother cheerfully, "and it seems to me you might be ready for
+college next fall if you do a little every day. You may have a
+tutor any time you are ready."
+
+"What's the use?" answered Arthur languidly. "I can't do anything
+in athletics with this confounded leg, and I don't want to go there
+just to limp around and grind."
+
+"My dear boy, college training is occasionally useful in the way of
+improving one's mind as well as muscles," said Mrs. Hamilton with
+mild sarcasm. "Dear, don't think I am unsympathetic," she added
+quickly as her son. frowned impatiently. "I realize, in part, at
+least, what it must be to you to give up your dreams of athletic
+glory; but I know, too, that no one else can fight this battle for
+you. You've got to face the question squarely, and I have faith
+that you will come out a conqueror if you put your best self into
+the effort."
+
+"Mother, you don't begin to know," said Arthur slowly, "what this
+means to me. It's not alone giving up the athletics, though that's
+hard enough, but it's the sensitiveness I feel about letting any
+one see that I'm lame. I believe I was rather proud before," he
+continued with a faint smile, "because I was straight and strong
+and could almost always beat the other boys at any game we tried;
+I know it always seemed to me the most dreadful thing in the world
+to be crippled in any way, and now I've got to hop around with a
+crutch all the rest of my life. Oh, I believe I'd rather die," he
+ended bitterly.
+
+"Arthur, dear, I can understand that feeling perfectly," answered
+his mother eagerly, "for at your age I had it as strongly as you have.
+I think it is only natural to rejoice in strength and straightness
+and skill, and to be sensitive if in any way they are taken away
+from us. But for all our sakes you've got to bring yourself out of
+this unhappy condition. Begin with your crutches about your room,
+and when you get a little skill surprise father and me by coming
+downstairs. We miss our boy more than I can say."
+
+There was silence for a moment and then Mrs. Hamilton said:
+
+"I came up with a pocketful of news and have almost forgotten to
+tell you about it. We are to have a new member in our family; a
+little girl, the daughter of an old friend of mine, is coming to
+live with us for a whole year."
+
+"How old is she?" asked Arthur indifferently.
+
+"I'm not quite sure," answered his mother, relieved to find that
+he took it so calmly, "but I think she is about fourteen."
+
+"Fourteen! Gracious!" ejaculated Arthur sitting bolt upright in
+his dismay. "You don't mean to say that we've got to have a girl
+fourteen years old in this house? I thought you meant a child about
+four or five when you said 'little girl.'"
+
+Mrs. Hamilton couldn't help laughing at his comical look of
+apprehension. "I think she's quite harmless, Arthur, and perhaps
+you may find her really agreeable when you know her."
+
+"You know I don't know how to get on with girls, mother," he answered
+ruefully. "I shall keep out of her way as much as possible, she
+may be sure of that."
+
+"I am sorry to find you so ungraciously disposed toward our guest,"
+said Mrs. Hamilton quietly, "for I hoped you would help me to make
+it pleasant for her. Her mother died only a little more than a year
+ago, and now she is going to lose her father for a year, so I am
+afraid the poor child will be rather forlorn."
+
+"We shall make a pretty pair for you and father to get along with,"
+said Arthur half ashamed. "I'm blue and disagreeable most of the
+time, and she'll probably be ready to burst into tears at a moment's
+notice."
+
+"There are other ways of giving way to one's feelings that are fully
+as bad as tears, I think, my son," said Mrs. Hamilton significantly.
+
+Arthur said nothing, but his chin went down upon his hand in a way
+that seemed to signify that he knew what his mother meant.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton looked at the curly head remorsefully, and longed to
+pet and comfort as only mothers can. She knew, however, that Arthur
+must be made to see that he was spoiling his life by giving way to
+this great trial which had come to him.
+
+"Well, dear boy," she said at last, "I must go now and write to
+Ruth and tell her that I shall be glad to welcome her here."
+
+"How soon will she get here?" asked Arthur in a resigned tone.
+
+"Her father wrote that he expects to sail on the fifteenth
+of October, and as he wants to have two or three days in New York
+before sailing that will probably bring her here about the twelfth
+or thirteenth. Not quite three weeks, you see."
+
+"The time does seem short," said Arthur, trying to appear politely
+interested.
+
+His mother laughed. "I'll leave you to prepare your mind for this
+new infliction while I write the note and do my marketing. Don't
+forget that you are going to practice with the crutches as soon as
+possible; I shall be so proud of you when you can walk downstairs."
+
+Mrs. Hamilton a little later at her desk was just beginning the
+pleasant task of writing to Ruth, when the sound of the doorbell
+and a quick scamper of feet up the stairs made her put down her
+pen with a smile. "Why, girls," she said as a trio of bright faces
+appeared in the doorway. "How does it happen that you are out of
+school at this hour of the day?"
+
+"Something happened to the gas-pipes, and there was an awful smell
+of gas, and all sorts of workmen walking around the building, so
+we were sent home," answered the tallest of the three girls. "And
+we thought we'd come in and see you for a few minutes, if you
+weren't busy and didn't mind."
+
+"I'm almost never too busy to see you and Charlotte and Dorothy,
+Betty, and I'm particularly glad just now, for I want to consult
+you all about something."
+
+"How fine," said Dorothy. "I love to be consulted, don't you,
+girls?"
+
+"You see," continued Mrs. Hamilton, "I am going to borrow a daughter
+for a whole year, and I thought you three would be the very ones
+to help me make her happy."
+
+"We will. We'd like to," answered the girls. "How old is she?"
+asked Charlotte. "And what's her name?" put in Dorothy. "I always
+like to know the name before I begin to think very much about a
+person."
+
+"Her name is Ruth Shirley, and she's just fourteen, I believe. She
+lost a very lovely mother about a year ago, and now her father is
+obliged to go abroad on business, so I suspect the poor child will
+feel lonely and homesick for a while."
+
+"We'll give her all the good times we can," said Betty warmly.
+"When do you expect her, Mrs. Hamilton?"
+
+"In less than three weeks, I think, and that reminds me that I
+want you all to advise me about making her room pretty. Let's go
+and look at it now and discuss ways and means."
+
+"Oh, you are going to give her the pink room," cried Dorothy as
+they entered it. "I think this is the loveliest room in the house."
+It was a pretty room, with its delicate pink and white paper, its
+dainty draperies and white furniture, and the girls wondered what
+more it could need in the way of preparation.
+
+"It seems to me this is fine enough for any one," said Charlotte,
+who usually thought aloud quite frankly. "I don't see what you can
+do to make it prettier."
+
+"Perhaps not so much prettier as a little more homelike, Charlotte.
+For one thing I mean to have some andirons so that there can be a
+fire made here when necessary, for this is likely to be a cold room
+in winter."
+
+"That will be jolly," murmured Charlotte. "If there's anything I
+adore it's an open fire with a rug before it. I hope she's a nice,
+quiet girl and likes to read," she added with pretended anxiety,
+"for in that case I shouldn't mind having her in the room with me
+when I am enjoying her fire."
+
+They all laughed and Dorothy said, "Charlotte is such an old bookworm
+that she won't know how to get on with any one who doesn't like to
+read. For my part I hope she will be full of fun and like having
+a good time better than poking in books all the time."
+
+"Well," said Betty pensively, "I hope she likes cats."
+
+"Well, girls, I hope Ruth will satisfy your expectations," said
+Mrs. Hamilton. "And now I want you to do something for me. I want
+each of you to think of something that will make the room look more
+homelike and more like a girl's room. You may select anything you
+like and if I can get it I shall, for I want you all to feel that
+you have had a share in making the room pretty."
+
+"I know something," began Dorothy.
+
+"Don't tell, don't tell," interrupted Charlotte. "Let's tell Mrs.
+Hamilton secretly, and after the room is finished we'll see if we
+can guess what each one suggested."
+
+"That's a clever idea, Lottchen," said Betty, who admired all that
+Charlotte said or did.
+
+This agreed upon, the girls said they must go, and Mrs. Hamilton
+settled down to her letter once more.
+
+"MY DEAR RUTH" (she wrote):
+
+"I can't wait any longer to tell you how delighted I am to know
+that you are coming to us for a whole year. I have always wanted
+a daughter of my own, and the next best thing to that will be to
+have a borrowed one. I am afraid you are not so full of delight at
+the prospect as Mr. Hamilton and I are, but we hope to be able to
+drive away at least a part of the homesickness, and we already feel
+an affection for the little girl who is coming to us.
+
+"I am going to send you a photograph of some girls who have just
+been in to see me and who have heard the news of your coming. I am
+very fond of them, and they call themselves my 'visiting daughters,'
+and run in to see me at all hours and on all sorts of errands. They
+are very glad to know you are coming and are already wondering how
+you look and whether you will like them. The one in the middle of
+the picture is Charlotte Eastman, and the plump little girl on her
+right is Betty Ellsworth. The other is Dorothy Marshall. I shall
+not tell you anything more about them, because you will soon see
+them and learn to know them for yourself."
+
+Just here Mrs. Hamilton paused in her letter. "She must know that
+I have a son, and I'm afraid she'll think it strange if I don't
+mention him," she said to herself. "I can't tell her that he is
+dreading her coming, and I certainly can't say with truth that he
+is expecting her with pleasure. Well, a very little will do and I
+can explain later."
+
+"My son, Arthur," the letter went on, "is slowly recovering from
+the effects of a severe accident. He has not yet left his room,
+but I hope by the time you arrive he will have greatly improved.
+
+"And now, my dear, I'll close my note and hurry it off so that it
+may soon assure you of our hearty welcome. With kindest regards to
+your father, and love to yourself, I am,
+
+"Yours very sincerely,
+
+"MARY A. HAMILTON."
+
+Mrs. Hamilton's eyes were very tender as she folded and sealed her
+letter. "Poor little girl," she said half aloud, "I suspect she
+thinks her heart is broken, but we must try to mend it for her."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE NEWCOMER
+
+
+At three o'clock on the afternoon of the twelfth of October the
+Hamilton house was very still. Mrs. Hamilton had gone into town,
+the housemaid was taking her "afternoon out," and the cook, who
+had been kept awake by toothache the night before, was enjoying a
+nap.
+
+Just about this time Arthur peered cautiously from his room. No one
+being in sight he came out slowly and carefully on his crutches.
+"I can do miles of exercise in this hall," he said to himself with
+grim satisfaction, "as long as there is no one to watch me."
+
+He went up and down once, and then with great effort for a second
+time. Just as he was about ready to start again, the door-bell rang.
+He went carefully toward the door of his own room, always afraid
+of toppling over, and paused when he got there to listen.  The bell
+rang again, this time more insistently, and he wondered impatiently
+where Katie and Ellen were, and why some one didn't go to the door.
+A third peal of the bell sent him back to the hall window. From
+there he could see the depot carriage with a trunk on the back, and
+the driver looking expectantly at the house. He could hear voices
+on the steps below, but could see no one until, after a fourth
+ring, a gentleman and a young girl went slowly down the steps and
+stood looking back at the house.
+
+"It's that girl, and she's come a day too soon," gasped Arthur. He
+threw up the hall window and spoke to them.
+
+"If you will wait a moment longer," he said, "I will try to find
+some one to open the door for you."
+
+The gentleman bowed and thanked him, the girl smiled, and Arthur
+left the window, inwardly vowing vengeance on faithless maids who
+didn't attend to their duties. He groaned as he suddenly remembered
+that it was Katie's afternoon out. He might as well go downstairs
+himself as take the long journey through the house to find Ellen.
+
+"If I try to go down on these old sticks, they'll have to break
+open the door and pick me up," he said to himself with a rueful
+smile." I'll try it baby fashion." Sitting down, he let his crutches
+slide along beside him, and holding the injured leg straight out
+before him hitched along from stair to stair until he reached the
+bottom. Then with even greater caution than he had used before he
+walked to the door and opened it.
+
+A bright-faced girl stood on the step and without waiting for Arthur
+to speak said pleasantly, "I am Ruth Shirley, and I am afraid you
+are not expecting me until to-morrow."
+
+"I am sure mother didn't expect you to-day, for she has gone in town
+and won't be back before five o'clock," said Arthur, unpleasantly
+conscious of his crutches, his dressing-gown and his distracted-looking
+hair.
+
+Ruth turned to the gentleman who was with her and held out her
+hand. "Thank you very much, Mr. Ingersoll, for taking care of me
+so nicely. I shall write father all about your kindness."
+
+"It was a very great pleasure, Miss Ruth," answered Mr. Ingersoll,
+"and I shall hope some day to be able to tell your father what a
+delightful traveling companion I found you. I am only sorry that I
+must say good-bye so soon." The driver having carried in her trunk,
+Ruth shook hands warmly with Mr. Ingersoll and watched him with a
+little homesick pang as he stepped into the carriage and was driven
+away. Then she walked into the house with the curious idea that she
+was either just waking from a dream or was just going to begin one.
+
+"I feel like those funny little girls in the wonderland stories who
+open mysterious doors and have ail sorts of adventures," she said
+with a nervous little laugh.
+
+Arthur was distinctly conscious that he wished she had opened some
+other mysterious door than his own. What on earth should he do with
+a strange girl for the next hour or more?
+
+"You'd like to go up to your room, I'm sure," he said at last
+with almost a gasp of relief. "I'll show you," he added, and then
+stopped short. How was he going to get up those stairs again?  Would
+it be possible for him to make such an exhibition of himself with
+the eyes of a girl upon him?
+
+"I think you'll have to let me tell you where it is," he said
+finally. "It is the last room on the right as you go toward the
+back of the house, and I think you will find everything there to
+make you comfortable until my mother gets home."
+
+Ruth was rather awed by his excessive dignity, and because she was
+a little nervous, and tired from her long journey, felt an intense
+desire to laugh at him, at herself, or at nothing at all, for that
+matter. She managed to restrain herself, however, and with a meek
+"thank you," picked up her bag and went up-stairs.
+
+Arthur saw her disappear with a sigh of relief. "I'll wait until
+she gets nicely settled in her room, and then I'll crawl up-stairs,"
+he said to himself, dropping wearily into one of the hall chairs.
+He had sat there but a moment when to his horror he heard some one
+coming quickly through the dining-room, and then a surprised voice
+said:
+
+"Why, Arthur! How good it seems to see you down-stairs again!"
+
+"Oh, hello, Betty," answered Arthur, immensely relieved to find
+that it was no one more formidable. "How did you get in?"
+
+"I slipped in the back door and found Ellen just coming down-stairs
+rubbing her eyes. She said she thought she heard the bell ring,
+but wasn't sure," finished Betty with a mischievous twinkle in her
+eye. "I saw it all from my window, and knew your mother had gone
+in town, so I thought I'd run over and see if I could do anything
+for any one."
+
+"You're a trump, Betty, and you can do something," answered Arthur
+gratefully. "Of course I had to ask her to go up to her room, and
+I was just thinking she'd be rather forlorn sitting there until
+mother gets here. It will be just the thing for you to go up and
+talk to her."
+
+"Well, I will," said Betty, and started up the stairs. Half-way up
+she paused and then came back. "I've got to run back home, Arthur.
+There's something I want to get before I meet Ruth, and I won't be
+gone a minute."
+
+She was out of the house in a second, and Arthur left to himself
+wondered if he should have time to get up-stairs before her return.
+"I should be afraid to try it," he thought; "she's as quick as a
+flash, and I should probably be stuck half-way up by the time she
+got back. I'll wait until the girls get to talking and then they
+won't hear anything."
+
+In the meantime the pretty pink room was doing its best to make
+the new occupant feel at home.
+
+"What a dear room!" Ruth said involuntarily as she stepped across
+the threshold, and, as if to welcome the little mistress, the
+andirons gleamed brightly, the polished teakettle shone with all
+its might, and a capacious couch heaped with pillows and covered
+with a gay Bagdad looked so comfortable that Ruth longed to try it
+at once. She couldn't resist the temptation to peep into the desk
+which stood in the comer, and she oh-ed with delight over the dainty
+paper and the pretty silver penholder with her name engraved on
+it.
+
+"I suppose you must belong to me, you dear room," she said half
+aloud, "but I didn't think that I should have such a pretty one."
+
+She looked at the desk with great satisfaction. She opened the
+little drawers and found to her surprise that one was filled with
+foreign note-paper in delicate blue. "Just what I want for my
+letters to papa," she thought with a little sigh, "and it was so
+thoughtful of them to get blue, for that will express my feelings
+so much better."
+
+"It's quite like having a fairy godmother," she said aloud, as her
+eye took in a carved book-rack filled with books, and wandered to
+the pretty tea-table where a tall chocolate pot seemed to proclaim
+that nothing so harmful as tea should be taken by the girls who
+might make merry there.
+
+"She's every bit as nice as a fairy god-mother," said a gay voice,
+and Ruth turned suddenly to see standing in the doorway a plump,
+red-haired girl with a fuzzy black kitten nestling on her shoulder.
+
+"On, you are Betty, I know," cried Ruth, much to the astonishment
+of her guest.
+
+"I am, but I don't see how you knew," answered Betty, opening her
+brown eyes very wide.
+
+"Oh, the fairy godmother wrote me about you," laughed Ruth, "and I've
+looked at your picture at intervals all the way on from Chicago."
+
+"Then you know Charlotte and Dorothy, too, and we shan't seem like
+strangers," said Betty with great satisfaction. "I live just across
+the street, and I saw you come and knew Mrs. Hamilton had gone in
+town, so I thought I'd run over and see you."
+
+Ruth smiled gratefully. "I'm glad you did, for I do feel just a
+bit lonesome. What a darling kitten," she continued, stroking the
+soft head as the black mite blinked sleepily at her and stretched
+out a tiny paw.
+
+"I thought I'd bring him over," said Betty, "because kittens are
+such a comfort to me, and I hoped you liked them, too. Mrs.  Hamilton
+says you may have a kitten if you want one, and I thought this one
+would look so well on your white rug that I chose him."
+
+"Is he really for me?" cried Ruth as she took him gently in her arms
+and sat down on the rug. "You couldn't have brought me anything I
+should have liked better. I had to give away my kitten when I left
+home and I had begun to miss the dear thing already."
+
+"I told the girls I was sure you liked kittens," said Betty
+triumphantly, "and now I shall crow over them, for they are always
+laughing at me for liking them so much. Charlotte says that a kitten
+is my trade-mark."
+
+"Tell me about Charlotte," said Ruth eagerly. "Is she as much like
+her picture as you are?"
+
+"Charlotte is a dear, and I know you'll like her, though some of
+the girls call her queer and odd and never do get really acquainted
+with her. She's tall and thin and doesn't look very strong, and
+I'm afraid you won't think her a bit pretty. I'm so fond of her,
+though, that she always looks pretty to me," ended Betty loyally,
+trying to do full justice to her friend and yet be honest.
+
+"She sounds interesting," murmured Ruth, rubbing the sleepy kitten
+under its chin and beginning to feel less homesick.
+
+"Interesting! I should say so!" replied Betty energetically. "Why,
+she's the cleverest girl I know; there isn't anything she can't
+do; and she writes the most beautiful stories. I don't see how,
+for it's more than I can do to write the essays we have in school."
+
+"I don't mind so much writing essays, but I do hate arithmetic and
+algebra, and I never can get them through my head. Papa says I must
+go to school here, but I'm afraid I shan't be far enough along to
+go in the class with you," said Ruth soberly.
+
+"Oh, that will be too bad. But if you can't, you can probably go in
+with Dorothy, for she's a class behind Charlotte and me.  Dolly's
+great fun," continued Betty; "she has long braids of really golden
+hair, and blue eyes and the prettiest color in her cheeks. She's
+full of fun and always ready for a good time. Her father has a
+great deal of money, I suppose, for she has an allowance and lots
+of pretty clothes, and doesn't have to economize the way Charlotte
+and I do."
+
+"I have an allowance, but it isn't a very big one and I never know
+where it goes to," confessed Ruth. "Papa wants me to keep a cash
+account this winter, and send it over to him every month. but I
+know I shall make awful work of it."
+
+"I tried it once when grandma gave me five dollars to spend just
+as I liked," said Betty with a laugh. "I got along pretty well
+considering it was the first time, but when I came to balance it
+I was forty-three cents short and so I wrote at the end, 'Gone, I
+know not where, forty-three cents.' I showed it to father, and he
+has never got over it; he said it was the most poetical entry he
+had ever seen in a cash account."
+
+Just then there was a knock at the door, and Betty opened it to
+find Ellen standing there, with her face wreathed in smiles and a
+tray in her hands.
+
+"Mr. Arthur thought you might be hungry, Miss," she said to Ruth,
+"and so I brought you up a cup of chocolate and a bit of bread and
+butter to make you last till dinner time. I thought perhaps Miss
+Betty might like some, too," she added with a sly smile.
+
+"Did you ever know the time when I wasn't ready for a cup of your
+chocolate, Ellen?" replied Betty enthusiastically. "She makes the
+best chocolate you ever tasted, Ruth."
+
+"Oh, now you're flatterin' me, Miss Betty, dear," said Ellen,
+backing out of the door in pretended confusion.
+
+"Not a bit of it. You know it's so yourself," called Betty as the
+door closed. "Wasn't it nice of Arthur to think of it?" she added,
+as they settled down to their cozy lunch.
+
+"Very," answered Ruth, who, at sight of the thin bread and butter
+and the steaming chocolate topped with small mountains of whipped
+cream, had just found out that she was really hungry and couldn't
+wait another moment.
+
+While the girls had been talking, Arthur had been trying to make
+up his mind to start up the stairs again. The flight looked endless
+to him, and after the excitement and effort he had just been through
+he felt weak and miserable. Time after time he decided to start,
+and once he got as far as the stairs, but a sudden sound drove him
+back to the hall sofa again. How could he tell that Betty might not
+come down at any minute and perhaps bring Ruth with her? At last a
+brilliant idea struck him. Ruth must be hungry after her journey,
+and if Ellen should take up a lunch it would keep them busy for
+some time at least. He made his way out into the kitchen, where
+Ellen received him with wonder and delight, and almost cried over
+him, so great was her joy at seeing him down-stairs once more.
+Then, having waited until the tray was safely in Ruth's room, he
+started up-stairs. It was no small undertaking to hitch along, one
+stair at a time, dragging a stiff, painful leg, and pulling his
+crutches after him. At last, however, with only three more stairs
+before him, he stopped to rest a moment and began to breathe more
+easily.
+
+"There," said Ruth, as she finished her last piece of bread
+and butter and set down her cup with hardly a drop in it, "I feel
+like another girl. I didn't know how hungry I was. I couldn't eat
+any dinner on the train because I felt so badly over leaving papa
+and----"
+
+A strange noise interrupted her. A noise of some one or something
+clattering, bumping, sliding down-stairs.
+
+"What do you think it is, Betty?" asked Ruth turning pale.
+
+"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," answered Betty, who had
+already started for the hall. As they reached the top of the stairs
+they stopped short, for there sat Arthur, very red, very much out
+of breath and, it must be confessed, very cross.
+
+"Oh, Arthur, how you scared us! I thought some one was just about
+killed," cried Betty.
+
+"It was those confounded crutches," answered Arthur gruffly. "They
+slipped just as I reached the top stair, and I nearly broke my
+neck trying to catch them. I don't see how I am going to get into
+my room unless you'll get them for me, Betty," he added helplessly.
+
+"Why, of course; how stupid of me not to think of it!" said Betty,
+as she slipped by him and ran lightly down the stairs.
+
+Ruth stood in the hall feeling very ill at ease. She wished Arthur
+would laugh and make things seem less solemn. Then as he didn't
+look at her or say a word she went back into her room again.
+
+"Wasn't that too bad?" said Betty softly as she came in and closed
+the door. "Arthur is dreadfully sensitive about his lameness, and
+I am afraid it will take him a long time to get over this afternoon's
+experience. Why, just think, this is the first time I've seen him
+since his accident."
+
+Betty was trying to look sober, but her eyes were dancing with
+merriment in spite of her efforts. Finally she gave a half-stifled
+little laugh as she said, "I was dreadfully sorry for him, but he
+was so funny sitting there at the top of the stairs and looking
+so dignified and cross. I almost know he'd been doing his best to
+get up without letting us hear him."
+
+Betty's laugh was irresistible, and Ruth, who had been on the verge
+of either laughter or tears ail day, couldn't help joining in.
+
+"Oh, oh," laughed Betty, burying her face in a cushion. "Sh,
+sh, he'll hear us," she gasped, as Ruth gave an answering peal of
+laughter. "It's dreadful of us," said Betty at last, sitting up
+and wiping her eyes, "to laugh at that poor boy. I'm just ashamed."
+
+"So am I," gasped Ruth, "but you're really too funny when you laugh
+and I couldn't help it."
+
+Betty's eyes twinkled, and Ruth looked as though a fresh burst were
+imminent when a pleasant voice said in the doorway:
+
+"Well, I hear that my girl has stolen a march on me and got here
+before I expected her. Your father's telegram has only just arrived,
+my dear, and I am so sorry that I wasn't here to welcome you."
+
+Ruth looked with eager curiosity at the tall, gracious woman who
+came toward her. Then she put both hands into the welcoming ones
+outstretched to meet her, and said with a little quiver in her
+voice:
+
+"Papa said that the moment I saw you I should feel at home, and I
+do."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A NEW CLUB
+
+
+The first days in the new home, while Mr. Shirley was still in New
+York and within reach, were hard to bear and unpleasant to think
+of afterward. The new friends were so anxious to help her through
+the hard time that they scarcely gave her time to think, but in
+spite of their kindness, Ruth went to bed at night with a lonesome
+ache in her throat, and got up in the morning with the wild desire
+to take the first train to New York and catch papa before he should
+sail.
+
+When at last the day and hour of sailing had come and gone, Ruth
+found it easier to resign herself to the inevitable, and began to
+really enjoy life instead of only seeming to do so.
+
+Glenloch was a beautiful town, just far enough from Boston to make
+it seem like the country, and yet near enough so that concerts and
+shopping were within easy reach. To Ruth, who, except for brief
+visits East, had been accustomed ail her life to the level stretches
+of the Middle West, the New England hills, just now radiant in
+their autumn coloring were a constant source of delight.
+
+She had been kept so busy seeing Glenloch, meeting Mrs. Hamilton's
+friends and getting acquainted with her own special chums that she
+had hardly had time to settle her belongings. Saturday morning,
+therefore, found her at work in good earnest, for the girls were
+coming in that afternoon, and she wanted her pretty room to look
+its prettiest.
+
+"Not homesick, I hope, dear," said Mrs. Hamilton, coming into the
+room about noon to find Ruth curled up in the big armchair with
+the black kitten on her lap.
+
+"No, only resting after putting my room in order. I've been so busy
+and the days have flown so fast that I haven't wholly unpacked my
+trunk until this morning."
+
+"The pictures make the room look very homelike," said Mrs.  Hamilton,
+glancing at the photographs which adorned desk, mantel and table.
+"Are these all friends of yours?" she added with a sly smile, as
+her eye caught the picture of the little Queen of Holland in quaint
+peasant costume.
+
+"No, most of them are what papa calls my 'admirations,'" answered
+Ruth with a laugh. "That picture of Queen Wilhelmina is my great
+joy because she looks like such a nice girl. The others are mostly
+musicians and composers. Papa bought them to encourage me in my
+music, because he is so anxious I shall make a success of it."
+
+"Why, this is interesting. I haven't had time yet to find out about
+your talents. Do you sing or play the piano?"
+
+"A little of both, but I like the violin best and I've taken lessons
+on it since I was eight years old. I am all out of practice now,"
+she added soberly, "for I've done hardly anything at it since mamma
+died. She was so fond of it that everything I play reminds me of
+her, and I can't bear it yet."
+
+"Perhaps you will feel like beginning again this winter," said Mrs.
+Hamilton, putting her arm around her.
+
+"I am sure I shall," answered Ruth gratefully, giving the kind arm
+a little squeeze. "Papa thought that just as soon as I got well
+started in school it would be a good plan for me to go into Boston
+for violin lessons."
+
+"That will be delightful," said Mrs. Hamilton heartily, "and I shall
+have to begin practicing so that I can play your accompaniments.
+Since Arthur has been ill I have neglected my piano dreadfully.
+I used to play duets with him a great deal, but I suppose nothing
+would persuade him to touch the piano now."
+
+"Will he never be any better?"
+
+"The doctor gives us every reason to hope that he will be almost
+well if he can only get over this terrible depression. His father
+and I can only stand by and help all we can while he fights this
+battle for himself." There was a long pause while Mrs. Hamilton
+looked thoughtfully out of the window as though facing problems
+harder than she could solve, and Ruth racked her brain to think of
+something encouraging to say.
+
+"If I could only help I should be very glad," she said at last,
+timidly.
+
+"I am sure you would," answered Mrs. Hamilton with a grateful kiss.
+"And now what are your plans for this afternoon?" she added brightly.
+
+"Oh, the girls are coming in, and I am going to try to get really
+acquainted with them. It's so interesting to have three new friends
+at the same time."
+
+"They are very nice girls, and each so different from the other
+that I sometimes wonder why they are such close friends."
+
+"I am just a little bit afraid of Charlotte still," confessed
+Ruth. "She seems to know so much, and she makes such funny, sharp
+speeches. But I feel as though I'd known Betty for years."
+
+"Poor Charlotte has had a different sort of life from the others,"
+said Mrs. Hamilton with a sigh, "and it has helped to bring out the
+sharp comers in her nature. Her mother is an invalid, and Charlotte
+has had a great deal of care and responsibility."
+
+"Betty thinks everything that Charlotte does is just right," said
+Ruth.
+
+"Betty is one of the most loyal friends imaginable. She puts her
+dearest friends on pedestals, and bestows her time and her services
+freely upon them. I've known her ever since she was a baby, and
+she has always been the same sunshiny little soul."
+
+"She just suits me because she always has a kitten or two trailing
+after her," said Ruth. with a laugh. "Dorothy's a dear, too, and in
+fact I'm sure we are all going to be such good chums that I shan't
+know which one I like best."
+
+"That's the very nicest way," answered Mrs. Hamilton. "Bless me, is
+it lunch time?" she added as Katie appeared in the doorway.  "You
+are an entertaining hostess, my dear, and you have made me forget
+how fast time flies."
+
+Ruth was glad that the cool afternoon gave an excuse for a fire,
+for she loved the crackle and warmth, and the soft color that the
+fire-glow threw over everything. As she looked around her pretty
+room with a satisfied air, there was a patter of feet on the stairs,
+a suppressed giggle and then a knock.
+
+"Come in, come in," cried Ruth, throwing the door wide open. "I
+was beginning to be afraid you weren't coming."
+
+"It's my fault, as usual," said Charlotte in a resigned tone. "The
+girls called for me, and just as we were going to start one of the
+twins fell into a kettle of grape-juice that had been left to cool
+in the summer-kitchen."
+
+"Oh! Was he badly burned?" cried Ruth.
+
+"No, it was cold, but he'll be purple for the next week, I suppose.
+Of course I had to stop and wring him out and make him as clean as
+I could. He's a sight, though."
+
+The contrast between Charlotte's tragic tone and the picture she
+gave of her small brother was too much for Ruth's gravity, and she
+laughed till the tears came.
+
+"How old are they, and do they do those things often?" she gasped
+at last.
+
+"They're six, and they do," said Charlotte briefly. "If ever a day
+passes that one of those boys doesn't do something to harrow our
+feelings I know that it is a sure sign that something more awful
+than usual is going to happen the next day."
+
+"It must be exciting to have a large family," said Ruth with a
+tinge of longing in her voice.
+
+"It is; desperately exciting," said Charlotte drily. "Now I call
+this luxury," she added, dropping down on the fur rug. "Just imagine
+having a place like this where you can be absolutely alone with
+books and pictures and fire. You're a lucky girl, Ruth."
+
+"It's a perfectly dear room, and I love it," added Ruth. "It was so
+good of all of you to help plan it before you even knew me.  Let's
+make some fudge, girls," she added. "Who's the best fudge-maker
+here?"
+
+"Not I," answered Charlotte lazily. "I'm second to none on eating
+it, though."
+
+"Dolly's fudge is great," said Betty.
+
+"You make it then, Dorothy, and I'll help when your arm gets tired,"
+said Ruth, getting the chafing-dish from the shelf under the table.
+"We'll put the cups on the mantel, girls, and cover the table with
+this enamel cloth that Mrs. Hamilton gave me this morning. Isn't
+she a dear? She thinks of everything to make me have a good time."
+
+"Have you got much acquainted with Arthur yet?" asked Dorothy, who
+was busily mixing the ingredients for the candy.
+
+"Haven't seen him since the day I came," answered Ruth, looking at
+Betty with a twinkle in her eye, "and I certainly didn't get very
+well acquainted with him then."
+
+"It's a shame that he shuts himself up; he's just about breaking
+his mother's heart," declared Dorothy, stirring the savory mixture
+with unnecessary vehemence.
+
+"He used to be great fun, and we miss him dreadfully at all our
+parties," said Betty with a sigh. "He isn't even willing to see
+Frank and Joe, and they used to be such chums."
+
+"We might form ourselves into a society for 'The Restoration to the
+World of Arthur Hamilton, Esquire; T.R.T.T.W.O.A.H.E.': wouldn't
+that make a fine name for a secret society?" said Charlotte, who
+hadn't stirred from the rug. "Don't you want me to help you make
+the fudge, girls?" she added amiably, as Dorothy and then Ruth gave
+it a vigorous beating.
+
+"Thank you, lazybones. It's done now. But you can help put things
+in order," said Dorothy slyly.
+
+Charlotte groaned. "You know that's what I hate most of all. I
+should rather have made the fudge."
+
+"Speaking of societies," broke in Betty, who had been in a brown
+study for several minutes, "let's have a club of some kind."
+
+"Good idea, Bettikins," approved Charlotte. "Let's make it a dramatic
+club, and I'll do the heroes."
+
+"With only four in the club you would have to be hero and villain
+and the heroine's white-haired father all in the same play," said
+Ruth with a laugh. "It would take all the rest of us to play the
+other parts."
+
+"I mean really a nice club," continued Betty, pursuing her own idea
+with great seriousness, "and meet once a week and do something."
+
+"Rather vague, that," murmured Charlotte. "If that's all there is
+to it we're a club now."
+
+"What's your idea, Betty?" asked Dorothy encouragingly. "Anything
+but sewing. I utterly refuse to join that kind of a club."
+
+"I knew a girl in Chicago," said Ruth, "who belonged to a cooking
+club. They met every two weeks at the different houses to practice,
+and once in two months they cooked a supper and invited other girls
+and boys. She said they had great fun and really learned a great
+deal."
+
+"That's just my idea," declared Betty promptly, "only I couldn't
+get it quite clear in my own mind."
+
+"I don't like cooking," said Charlotte soberly, "but I suppose it
+wouldn't hurt me to know something about it."
+
+"The first thing, of course, is to ask our mothers and Mrs.
+Hamilton," said Dorothy, who was always practical. "I know mamma
+will be glad to have me learn, though I'm afraid the cook won't
+like to have us in her kitchen."
+
+"Our Hannah wouldn't mind if you met at our house every time," said
+Betty.
+
+"That can all be settled later when we find out whether we can
+really do it," declared Charlotte impatiently. "In the meantime
+I'm pining for a piece of that fudge; isn't it hard yet, Dolly?"
+
+"Just right," answered Dorothy, taking it in from the window-ledge.
+
+"Dorothy, this is certainly the best fudge I ever tasted," declared
+Ruth impressively. "Mine was never half so good. Girls, I move
+that in consideration of Miss Dorothy Marshall's skill as a maker
+of fudge she be made president of the new club."
+
+"Second the motion," cried both the girls at once, and as there
+was no one left to vote on it, it was declared settled.
+
+Dorothy rose, bowed, tapped on the table with the chafing-dish spoon,
+and said with a fair imitation of her mother's stately manner:
+
+"Ladies, I thank you for the honor you have conferred upon me."
+Then dropping her official manner, she added, "Let's keep it a dead
+secret at first from the boys, because they never tell us anything
+about their old Candle Club."
+
+"What's that?" asked Ruth with great interest.
+
+"Oh, six of the boys belong to it, and they've fixed up one of the
+rooms above our stable," answered Dorothy. "They call it the Candle
+Club because at first they used candles, but now the name doesn't
+fit."
+
+"They might call themselves 'electric sparks,' now," drawled
+Charlotte; "but boys are so unprogressive."
+
+"We shall need some more officers," said Betty. "I think Charlotte
+ought to be secretary because she likes to write, and Ruth--"
+
+What Ruth was to be was not destined to be told at that meeting,
+for just at that moment there was a loud knock which made the
+girls jump. Ruth opened the door and for a second saw no one. Then
+a plump, curly-haired boy, very purple as to his face and hands,
+and rather bedraggled as to his general appearance, walked in
+hesitatingly. Close at his heels followed a depressed-looking Scotch
+terrier. At sight of the latter, every individual hair on Fuzzy's
+spine stood up straight, and with remarks in several different
+languages he fled to the top of a high-backed chair, where he sat
+and glared at the enemy.
+
+The girls were convulsed with laughter, and the small visitor,
+abashed, fled to Charlotte and buried his face in her lap.
+
+"Irving Eastman, what are you here for?" demanded Charlotte sternly,
+trying to raise the curly beau so that she might look the culprit
+in the face.
+
+"Wanted to find you," came in smothered accents from her lap. "Me
+and Tatterth got lonethome."
+
+"Why didn't you stay with Stanley and the others?"
+
+"Couldn't. Couthin Jothie came and took them out to walk, and I
+couldn't go 'cauth I wath all blue."
+
+"How did you get in here?"
+
+"The door wath open, and I came upthtairth and then I couldn't find
+you. But I found Arthur, and Tatterth and I thtayed with him."
+
+The girls looked at each other in amazement.
+
+"What did you do in Arthur's room, Irving?" asked Betty soothingly.
+
+"I talked to him and he gave me thith." The purple cherub raised
+his head and opening one fat hand displayed a small carved bear of
+Swiss manufacture. "He thaid it could be my bear for alwayth," he
+declared triumphantly.
+
+"What did Arthur say when you walked into his room?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"He laughed so hard I wath going to come away, but he called me
+back."
+
+"Girls, he laughed," repeated Charlotte impressively. "Irving,
+I ought to scold you, but this time you are an angel in disguise.
+Perhaps this is the first step in the Restoration of A. H., Esq."
+
+"Let's take another, then, by sending him a plate of fudge,"
+suggested Ruth.
+
+"Just the thing," exclaimed Betty and Dorothy together, and they
+immediately hooked little fingers and proceeded to wish.
+
+"Irving, can you carry some fudge to Arthur?" continued Ruth,
+heaping up one of her daintiest saucers. "If you will take this
+without spilling any, you shall have some to take home with you."
+
+"I gueth tho," said Irving with an angelic smile, feeling himself
+the hero of the occasion.
+
+"Just give the dish to Arthur and come right back," said Charlotte
+decidedly. "It's time to go anyway," she continued, "and I must
+take the Infant home as soon as possible, or mother will worry."
+
+"He thayth 'thankth,'" said Irving in aloud voice, strolling down
+the hall and leaving Arthur's door wide open behind him.
+
+"Shut the door, Irving," said Charlotte in a loud whisper.
+
+"I think he better have it open," answered Irving, who did not feel
+disposed to take any extra steps.
+
+"Irving," began Charlotte sternly, then stopped in amazement at
+the unexpected sound of Arthur's voice.
+
+"Never mind the door, Irving," he said, "The fudge is out of sight,
+girls, or will be in a few moments. Much obliged."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE SOCIAL SIX
+
+
+It was about time for news of the steamer's arrival to reach Ruth,
+and in spite of her many new experiences the thought of her father
+was always uppermost in her mind. The morning and evening newspapers
+meant to her simply the shipping news, and, several days before
+the steamer could possibly arrive, she began her daily study of
+the shipping lists. Eight days had seemed long to wait for news
+of one's best-beloved chum, but Ruth had to confess that the time
+had been filled so full that it had passed quickly.  Starting in
+school had not been so great an ordeal as she had expected. To her
+joy she was to be allowed to see what she could do in the class
+with Betty and Charlotte, and she was determined to succeed, though
+she knew it meant harder work than she had ever done in her life.
+
+The Glenloch Academy was the pride of Glenloch and the envy of the
+surrounding towns. The money for its establishment and maintenance
+had been left the town by a public-spirited citizen, and the fund
+had been so generous that the best in the way of teachers and equipaient
+had been made possible. It took the place of a high school in its
+methods of study, gave a thorough preparation for college, and
+offered six years of the most liberal training to those whose school
+education must of necessity stop there. Ruth felt an interest at
+once in her new teachers, was charmed with the idea of doing regular
+gymnasium work in the fine gymnasium which had lately been added
+to the school, and altogether felt that her lines had fallen in
+pleasant places.
+
+"Don't be in such a rush," called Dorothy, as Ruth ran down the
+school steps. "I want to talk to you."
+
+"I'm in a hurry every day now," confessed Ruth, "to get home and see
+if I have any news from papa. Mr. Hamilton thinks that by to-night
+surely the ship's arrival will be cabled, and I have a faint hope
+that I may have a cablegram from papa almost any minute."
+
+"I'll walk around your way," said Dorothy. "Doesn't it make you
+feel terribly important to be expecting a cablegram?"
+
+"Why, I don't know," laughed Ruth, "perhaps it does, a little.
+It's been such a long time to wait to hear that papa is safe that
+I can't think of anything else."
+
+As she finished speaking a long, low call made them both turn to
+see Charlotte and Betty running after them.
+
+"What are you going to do this afternoon, Ruth?" called Charlotte
+as they got within speaking distance. "We want you to go to walk
+with the 'Social Six.'"
+
+Dorothy raised her eyebrows questioningly, and Ruth asked curiously,
+"The Social Six? Who under the sun are the Social Six?"
+
+"It's all right, Dolly," said Betty reassuringly. "You see," she
+added, turning to Ruth, "we couldn't tell you about them at first,
+because we had all agreed never to have more than six in the club
+and our number was full. But just to-day one of the girls has told
+us that she is going to resign at this meeting, so we want you to
+join right away if you will." "Why, of course I will," said Ruth,
+with perfect faith that whatever the three wanted her to do would
+be worth doing. "But what is the club for and what do you do?"
+
+"It's a walking club in spring and fall," answered Betty.
+
+"And a skating club when we have ice," added Dorothy. "That's the
+best part of it all, for we have bonfires on the edge of the pond,
+and go to some house for supper when we get through skating."
+
+"Well, it all sounds lovely, and I shall be delighted to join.
+What time do you start?" asked Ruth.
+
+"At two sharp, and we are to meet at the schoolhouse," answered
+Charlotte. "Miss Burton is going with us this afternoon, and she's
+to be made an honorary member of the club." "All right. I'll be
+there," said Ruth, as the girls left her at Mr. Hamilton's door.
+
+Once in the house she looked first to see if there were letters or
+the much-desired cablegram, and finding nothing ran up-stairs to
+get ready for lunch. The house was strangely still, and she missed
+Mrs. Hamilton's cordial welcome, which she had found vastly comforting
+in these first days of feeling so much alone.
+
+On her desk was a note which she hastened to open.
+
+"MY DEAR RUTH" (it began):
+
+"I am sorry you will find neither a cablegram nor me writing for
+you this noon. Mr. Hamilton has telephoned me that friends of ours
+are in town who will not have time to come out to us. So we are
+all to dine together in Boston to-night. I am sorry that you will
+have two lonely meals, and hope some of the girls will dine with
+you. Invite them for me, and forgive me for leaving you in such
+unexpected solitude.
+
+"Yours lovingly,
+
+"AUNT MARY."
+
+"How sweet of her to sign herself that way," thought Ruth, as she
+folded the note. "I do miss her, and I'm glad there's something
+pleasant ahead for this afternoon."
+
+The Social Six to a girl were prompt at the meeting-place, and
+as Miss Burton appeared just as the clock was striking two, the
+expedition started with no delay. "It's a perfect day for Bear Hill,"
+said Dorothy enthusiastically, as she led the way with Miss Burton,
+and unconsciously tried to imitate her swinging gait.  Since Miss
+Burton had taken charge of the gymnasium, Dorothy, who was always
+to the fore in out-of-door life, had been more than ever devoted
+to everything pertaining to physical culture.
+
+"See Dolly walk," said Charlotte, who was ambling along in the
+extreme rear; "she walks as though she positively enjoyed the mere
+motion of it, while I am so lazy that I shouldn't even belong to
+the club if it weren't for being with the girls, and for the fun
+we have at our parties."
+
+As they crossed the railroad and entered the narrow wood-path
+on the other side, the girls fell into single file and walked on
+steadily, talking gaily. It was one of those brilliant October days
+when all the warmth of the fleeting summer is in the air; when the
+sky is a radiant blue, and the red and gold of the foliage casts
+a glory over the sombre woods.
+
+Ruth was enchanted. "I've never seen anything so beautiful,"
+she said breathlessly, as, after a long walk through the winding,
+shaded path, they came out into the open, and almost at the top of
+the hill.
+
+"Wait till you get to the tip-top," said Dorothy, her eyes sparkling
+from the exercise. "Can you stand it to climb for five minutes
+more?"
+
+"Of course," answered Ruth stoutly, "though I'm not sorry that
+we're almost there," she added in a low tone to Katharine French
+who, with Alice Stevens and Louise Cobb, made up the membership of
+the club.
+
+The climb of the last five minutes was harder than ail the rest,
+and Ruth groaned as she sank on the ground at the very top. "My
+Chicago training hasn't prepared me for this," she said plaintively.
+"You'll have to take me in hand, Miss Burton, and help me to get
+my muscles in condition."
+
+"Don't sit too long on the ground now," laughed Miss Burton, "or
+we shall have to carry you home."
+
+"Miss Burton, would you and Ruth mind going over behind that big
+rock for a few minutes?" asked Dorothy. "The club always has its
+business meeting the first thing, and as we are to admit a new
+member it will take longer than usual."
+
+Over behind the big rock proved to be a very agreeable place to sit,
+for the girls had covered some smaller rocks with pine boughs and
+a golf cape, and the view of the surrounding country was glorious.
+
+"Rather different from Chicago, isn't it, Ruth?" asked Miss Burton.
+"I'm a Western girl myself, and I taught in Chicago for ayear, so
+I know how this must seem to you."
+
+"Are you really a Western girl?" cried Ruth interested at once.
+"Then you won't mind if I talk Chicago to you once in a while,
+will you? This is quite the most beautiful place I've ever lived
+in, but," she added honestly, "I'm dreadfully homesick for Chicago
+sometimes, and I don't like to confess it because they are all so
+lovely to me."
+
+"Come and talk to me when you feel like that," said Miss Burton,
+with one of her radiant smiles; "it will do us both good."
+
+"I'd love to," said Ruth fervently, "and----"
+
+She was interrupted by a call from the girls, and with Miss Burton
+hastened to join the others, only to stop short in amazement
+as they rounded the rock against which they had been sitting. The
+girls had worked fast and with no noise, and it was so undeniably
+a gypsy camp into which Ruth had walked that she could hardly
+believe her eyes. A small fire was built on some rocks, and over
+it hung in the crotch of a branch an odd-looking kettle. Three of
+the girls had unbraided their hair and made themselves gay with
+artificial flowers, bright ribbons and brilliant scarfs. Alice
+Stevens, who was dark enough to look really like a gypsy, was
+reading Louise Cobb's hand, while Betty looked on and occasionally
+stirred an imaginary something in the kettle. Charlotte, Dorothy
+and Katharine French, who were all tall and preferred masculine
+parts, sat on the other side of the fire dressed in colored paper
+caps, and bright sashes draped over one shoulder.
+
+Miss Burton broke the silence by clapping her hands. "It's fine,
+girls," she cried with enthusiasm. "I didn't know we were to see
+anything really artistic."
+
+"We only do this when we admit a new member," said Betty.
+
+"And not then unless the weather happens to be just right," added
+Dorothy. "But we must hurry and make Ruth a member. Go on, Betty."
+
+"Kneel here, Ruth," said Betty, who was presiding officer for the
+day. Then looking as solemn as her dimples and twinkling eyes would
+permit, she added, "Being about to lose a well-beloved member of
+our club," here ail looked at Louise Cobb, "we are at liberty to
+admit another. Do you desire to become a member of this club?"
+
+"I do," answered Ruth, much impressed.
+
+"Do you promise to further our interests in all possible ways and
+to keep our secrets?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Then I pronounce you a fully initiated member," said Betty, striking
+her on the shoulder with a twig tipped with scarlet leaves. "We
+really haven't any secrets," she added unofficially, "except that
+we don't want the other boys and girls to know where we go or that
+we dress up like this. We don't make our honorary members promise
+anything, but we know Miss Burton won't tell."
+
+"Of course not," said Miss Burton. "I feel too much honored to be
+admitted to the club to betray their secrets."
+
+"Now, Ruth," continued Betty, "the next thing is that the new member
+must do something; sing or dance or tell a story."
+
+"Oh!" gasped Ruth. "I'll resign at once. Imagine me singing or dancing
+when I'm so tired I can hardly move; and as for story-telling, I
+simply can't."
+
+"Perhaps you'd rather recite a poem," said Charlotte.
+
+"May I have it as short as I please?" asked Ruth as if an idea had
+struck her, and as Betty nodded assent, she added, "Give me five
+minutes by myself and I'll do it."
+
+The girls chatted while Ruth went just out of hearing and communed
+with herself.
+
+"Time's up, Ruth," called Dorothy.
+
+"All right," answered Ruth, walking into the circle and sitting
+down, while she met the expectant eyes with a roguish twinkle in
+her own. Then she recited:
+
+   "There was a young girl from the West,
+    Who very much needed a rest.
+    When asked, 'Can you sing?'
+    She replied, 'Not a thing:'
+    And felt very sadly depressed."
+
+Ruth suited her expression to her last words in so comical a fashion
+that the girls shouted with laughter.
+
+"However did you do it, Ruth?" asked Betty. "I couldn't make a
+rhyme to save me."
+
+"Oh, father and I got into the habit of making up those five-liners,
+and I often do it just for fun."
+
+"We're proud to have such a poetess in the Social Six," said
+Charlotte, making her a sweeping bow with her hand on her heart.
+
+"Miss Burton, we don't insist that our honorary member shall perform,
+but we'd like it if you would," said Betty.
+
+Miss Burton smiled good-naturedly. "I would tell you a story,
+only I am afraid our Western member would be too stiff to move if
+she sat through it. How would you like to postpone my part of the
+program until after school some day, and then come and have a cup
+of chocolate with me?"
+
+"Oh, lovely!" cried Dorothy, always ready for anything that Miss
+Burton proposed.
+
+As she spoke a sound as of some one sliding came from behind the
+big rock, and then a low but unmistakable chuckle.
+
+"It's some of those horrid boys," said Dorothy tragically.
+
+The girls tore off caps and sashes, but before they could wholly
+divest themselves of their gypsy appearance two heads peered around
+the rock and a pleading voice said, "Please, may we come in?"
+
+"Indeed you may not," cried Dorothy, quite white with anger. "I
+think you're the meanest boy I ever saw, Frank Marshall, and you're
+not one bit better, Bert. Between you, you always spoil all my good
+times. I think it's the most despicable thing to spy on people,
+and----"
+
+There was such a sudden stillness about her that Dorothy became
+conscious of Miss Burton's troubled expression and Ruth's surprised
+face.
+
+"Well, I don't care; it was a mean trick," she muttered as she
+turned her back on the boys and walked away.
+
+"Honestly, girls, we didn't mean to make you mad," said Frank as
+his sister finished. "We came up for a walk and didn't know any
+one was here till we saw the smoke from your fire. We came over to
+find out about that, and heard the young lady from the West recite
+her poem. We should have gone off without letting you know if Bert
+hadn't slipped on the rock."
+
+"Of course," added Bert with an extremely virtuous air, "if we
+had guessed that this was the famous club we should have put our
+fingers in our ears and have run away."
+
+"You sinner," said Betty, who couldn't help laughing, "you know
+you have tried ever since we have had the club to make me tell you
+about it."
+
+"I propose," said Miss Burton, "that we put the boys on their honor
+not to tell what they have seen and heard."
+
+"Second the motion," said Charlotte with great promptness. "We have
+them there, for boys never tell when they're on honor."
+
+"Good for you, Charlotte," said Frank gratefully. "We'll promise,
+won't we, Bert?"
+
+"Of course," agreed Bert. "And, girls," he continued, "we've got
+some potatoes roasting in the ashes near here that'll be just the
+thing to brace you up for the walk home. Come along and help us
+eat 'em."
+
+"I should say we would," accepted Charlotte. "Did you ever know us
+to refuse anything to eat?"
+
+The little feast and the walk home became the jolliest things possible.
+Tired as she was, no one was merrier than Ruth. for in her inmost
+heart she was sure that she should find news of her father waiting
+for her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BAD NEWS AND GOOD
+
+
+As she entered the house, Ruth's first glance was at the hall table,
+but there was no important-looking yellow envelope to suggest that
+her cablegram had arrived. Then her eye fell on the evening paper;
+perhaps that might tell that the "Utopia" was safely in port.
+She started to turn to the shipping news, but her gaze was caught
+by a headline on the first page, and she stood rigid, holding the
+paper in her shaking hands and trying to make sense of what she
+was reading.
+
+     "The 'Utopia' storm-swept
+      A passenger injured."
+
+That was what she seemed to read, and below it an inch of fine
+type announced that during the severe storm which had hampered all
+ocean travel for the last few days the "Utopia" had been swept by
+heavy waves, and one of the passengers injured.
+
+One of the passengers injured! That, of course, meant father!
+Ruth read it time after time until the printed words swam before
+her eyes, and she groped blindly for a chair so that she need not
+fall. There she sat feeling that limbs and tongue were in chains,
+and that she could neither move nor speak.
+
+Katie, passing through the hall, was startled by the sight of the
+rigid little figure in the big hall chair, and frightened out of
+her wits when her sympathetic questions failed to bring forth any
+response. She flew out into the kitchen to Ellen, who came hurrying
+in with a face full of anxiety, and, kneeling before Ruth, took
+both the cold hands in her own warm clasp.
+
+"What is it, Miss Ruth, darlin'? Tell me," she said coaxingly. At
+the friendly, human touch, Ruth's face relaxed. "Oh, Ellen," she
+cried, clinging to her closely, "some one on papa's steamer has
+been injured in the storm, and I know it must be papa."
+
+Ellen looked dazed, and Ruth gave her the paper, pointing out the
+paragraph as she did so.
+
+"Sure, Miss Ruth, I can't read it quickly when my mind is so unaisy.
+Just read it to me, honey."
+
+So Ruth read it over for the twentieth time and was surprised to
+find Ellen still looking cheerful as she finished.
+
+"They don't give any names," said Ellen thoughtfully, "and wasn't
+it you yourself was telling me that there was over a hundred cabin
+passengers on that boat, to say nothing of the steerage?"
+
+"Why, yes," answered Ruth, "but--"
+
+"Well, then," interrupted Ellen, "there's at laste ninety-nine
+chances out of a hundred that your blessed father never had a hair
+of his head touched, and that's sayin' a good deal, darlin'."
+
+"It is indeed, Miss Ruth," added Katie, who had been hovering around
+anxious to do something to help.
+
+Ruth began to look a bit comforted, and Ellen went on, "I do belave
+from me soul, Miss Ruth, dear, that before you go to bed tonight
+you'll have word from your father. At any rate, you can't bring
+it any faster, nor help it one bit by worryin' about it. So now,
+darlin', go upstairs and bathe your face and smooth your pretty
+curls, and we'll put such a nice dinner on the table for you that
+you can't help eatin'."
+
+"It's a shame the poor little thing has got to eat her dinner all
+alone," said Ellen, as she and Katie went back to the kitchen.
+"I've a great mind--" But what she had a mind to do wasn't told,
+for she vanished from the kitchen and Katie heard her climbing the
+back stairs.
+
+She went straight to Arthur's room, knocked, and hardly waiting for
+an answer walked in. Arthur, who was absorbed in a book, looked up
+surprised at her sudden entrance.
+
+"It's only meself, Mr. Arthur," said Ellen, quite out of breath,
+"and it's a great favor I've come up to ask of you. You see," she
+went on hurriedly, "poor little Miss Ruth has got word in tonight's
+paper that there's been an accident on her father's boat, and she's
+that frightened and worried that she doesn't know what to do with
+herself. It's too bad for her to have to eat her dinner with nothing
+but her own sad thoughts for company, and I thought perhaps you--"
+
+"Oh, no, Ellen, I can't," interrupted Arthur decidedly; "why, I
+don't really know her yet."
+
+"The more shame to you that you don't when she's been livin' in
+your house for two weeks," answered Ellen, as much surprised at
+her own boldness as Arthur was. "I've been livin' with your mother
+ever since you was a wee baby, Mr. Arthur, and there ain't any one
+outside your own family who loves you more than I do, but I must
+say I'm disappointed in you."
+
+Arthur looked at her in amazement, but Ellen went on without giving
+him a chance to speak.
+
+"Don't you know that life is just made up of knock-downs and get-ups,"
+she said quaintly, "and whatever will you do if you stay down the
+first time you're hit?"
+
+Something in the homely little sermon touched a responsive chord
+in Arthur as nothing else had done. "You're a good fellow, Ellen,"
+he said affectionately, "and to prove that I think so I'm going
+down to dinner tonight."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Arthur," cried Ellen, almost on the point of tears, and
+saving herself from it only by wringing her apron convulsively in
+both hands. "It's the angel boy you are to take all the hard things
+I said so sweetly. And it's that glad I am that you're going down,
+for I don't belave Miss Ruth could eat a mite of dinner without
+some man or other to encourage her about her father."
+
+"I'll get down before she does if I can," said Arthur, reaching
+for his crutches, "and see what the paper says about the steamer."
+
+"That'a right, Mr. Arthur, do," answered Ellen, "and I'll hurry
+down and see to the dinner." But she stopped on her way to knock
+on Ruth's door and say coaxingly, "You won't change your mind, Miss
+Ruth, dear; you'll surely come down."
+
+Ruth, who was sitting in the big chair with the black kitten in
+her arms, looked up soberly. "I don't believe I'll come down after
+all, Ellen; I'm not a bit hungry, and I'm sure I couldn't eat a
+mouthful."
+
+"Oh, but Miss Ruth," cried Ellen in despair, "you'll spoil all my
+plans if you don't. I've just persuaded Mr. Arthur to come down
+so that you needn't be alone, and perhaps if he comes the once he
+will every day. Just think how happy it will make his father and
+mother!"
+
+Ruth's forehead puckered into a frown. She felt much more like
+sitting in front of her fire and thinking sad, lonely thoughts.  But
+it was such a small thing to do for Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, who had
+been so kind to her, and it would mean so much to them if it did
+help Arthur to conquer his dread of taking up the old life again.
+Then, too, it would be a triumph to tell the girls that one member
+of the society for the restoration of Arthur Hamilton to the world
+had already begun the good work.
+
+It was with a little smile that she looked up at Ellen, who
+was anxiously waiting for her answer, and said, "I'll go down, of
+course; I should be a selfish pig not to when you are all so good
+to me."
+
+"That's a darlin," cried Ellen much relieved. "And would you please
+try to make him feel that it's a great favor to you for him to come
+down? You know the men have to be managed a bit," she added slyly.
+
+Ruth made a hasty dinner toilet by running a comb through her waving
+locks, patting the big bow at the back of her head, and putting on
+a fresh collar. Then she went slowly downstairs, wishing she knew
+just what to say to Arthur.
+
+To her relief he looked up from the paper he was reading and said
+just as if they had been meeting every day for the past two weeks,
+"I'm sure this report makes it seem worse than it is, Ruth. I don't
+believe there is any real reason for you to worry about your father."
+
+"Do you really think so? I suppose it's foolish to worry, but it's
+pretty hard when he's so far away and I haven't heard for so long."
+
+There was a suspicious quaver in her voice that made Arthur's
+thoughts turn longingly to the safe shelter of his own room. What
+if he should have a weeping girl on his hands! He turned cold at
+the thought. "Oh, I'm sure you'll get some word from your father
+before morning," he said with such anxious haste that quick-witted
+Ruth guessed at once what he was dreading.
+
+"You think I'm going to cry, but I'm not," she announced with
+great dignity. "I hate to cry before people anyway, and I specially
+wouldn't before a boy."
+
+"Good for you! I wouldn't cry before a boy either," answered Arthur
+with a twinkle in his eye, and then they both laughed and felt
+better.
+
+"It was good of you to come down to dinner tonight," said Ruth as
+they began on their soup. "If I'd been alone I shouldn't have been
+able to keep my mind off that awful newspaper heading for a minute."
+
+"We can telephone in town after a while and find out what they know
+at the steamship company's office. I can't help feeling, though,
+that the newspaper report is very likely exaggerated."
+
+Ruth felt much comforted by this masculine view of the situation,
+and racked her brain to think up some interesting subjects for
+conversation, for she wanted to show him that girls could be calm
+and self-possessed even under the most trying circumstances.
+
+"Are you fond of football?" she asked suddenly, when the long
+silence was getting on her nerves, and she felt that she must say
+something. Before he could answer, it flashed across her mind with
+painful distinctness that it was at football that Arthur had been
+injured. The color flashed into her cheeks, and she unconsciously
+looked so appealingly at Arthur that he came to the rescue at once.
+
+"Of course I am," he asserted stoutly. "It's a great old game, and
+we've got some ripping good players in Glenloch. You ought to see
+some of the Saturday games."
+
+"I should love to," she responded with a fervor that showed her
+relief, and then silence fell again. Ruth was in despair. With
+athletics cut out, what could she talk about to a boy, particularly
+when she was anxious to avoid any reference to anything which would
+make her think of her father?
+
+"I'm reading a great book now," said Arthur, whose thoughts for
+the last few minutes had been much the same as Ruth's, and who felt
+that if he didn't say something soon he never should.
+
+"Oh, what is it? Tell me about it," said Ruth, with such touching
+anxiety to help the conversation along that Arthur chuckled silently.
+
+"It's one of Clark Russell's sea stories, and I've just left my
+hero in such an exciting situation that I can hardly wait to see
+how he is coming out."
+
+It was Ruth's turn to feel amused now. "Too bad that you had to
+stop to eat dinner with a mere girl, isn't it?" she said saucily.
+
+Arthur laughed. "I was getting so hungry and thirsty out there in
+mid-ocean with my hero, waiting for a sail to turn up, that I really
+needed my dinner. Jiminy! it must be awful to have anything happen
+to you on the ocean," he continued absent-mindedly; "you must feel
+so awfully far away from every one and so helpless."
+
+"Oh, please don't," cried Ruth with such real terror in her voice
+that Arthur woke suddenly to a realization of what he'd been saying.
+
+"Of all stupid numskulls!" he said impatiently. "Look here, Ruth,
+you can cry if you want to after that, and I won't say a word. I
+deserve some punishment for being such a forgetful idiot."
+
+Ruth couldn't help laughing at his penitent expression. "I don't want
+to cry any more than you want me to. And you're not a forgetful idiot
+any more than I am. Let's call it square," she ended significantly.
+
+"All right, and I'll stand up for girls from now on."
+
+"Will you do me a favor?"
+
+"Anything, fair lady, that you may see fit to ask," replied Arthur
+dramatically.
+
+"Then come down to your meals every day," demanded Ruth, inwardly
+quaking, but outwardly calm and innocent looking.
+
+Arthur looked as if he were about to protest, but changed his mind
+and said firmly, "I never go back on my word, so I'll do it."
+
+Fearing to spoil her victory by saying anything more, Ruth rose
+from the table and walked into the hall, leaving Arthur to follow
+more slowly. Just as she did so, the bell rang, a sharp, clear peal,
+and Katie hurried to the door to return in a second with a yellow
+envelope, and a small book for Ruth to sign.
+
+Ruth's hands shook with excitement as she tried to use the stub of
+a pencil, and she felt grateful when Arthur took book and all from
+her saying gently, "You open your cablegram; I'll sign the book."
+
+Ruth was actually pale as she tore open the envelope, but the color
+came back to her cheeks as she read the one word written there. "It
+says 'sound,'" she cried exultantly, "and papa said that one word
+could mean everything I wanted it to mean. That he is well, and has
+had a pleasant voyage, and has arrived safely.  Oh, I am so happy.
+It's good news! The best of news, Ellen," she added, as the good
+soul's beaming face appeared in the doorway.  "Oh, I can't keep
+still," and catching Ellen around her massive waist, Ruth almost
+whirled her off her feet in a wild dance of joy.
+
+"Miss Ruth, Miss Ruth, darlin', behave yourself," protested Ellen,
+who like other unwieldy objects went on from sheer momentum when
+once started. "How can you expect a fat old thing like me to dance?"
+
+"Oh, Ellen, that did me heaps of good," and Ruth sank panting into
+a chair, while Arthur laughed as he had never expected to laugh
+again, and Ellen tried to look cross, but failed in the attempt.
+
+There was a quick rattle of a key in the lock, and the door opened
+suddenly to admit Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. Their surprise as they
+surveyed the jolly group was funny to see, and Ruth and Arthur went
+off into a fresh fit of mirth, while Ellen slipped shamefacedly
+into the kitchen.
+
+"We gave up our dinner party, and came home," said Mrs. Hamilton,
+"because we were afraid that Ruth would be worried about--" She
+stopped suddenly, realizing too late that there was no need of
+telling Ruth why she should be worried, since evidently she didn't
+know.
+
+"Oh, I am dreadfully--I mean I was," cried Ruth incoherently, "and
+I don't know what I should have done if Ellen hadn't comforted me,
+and Arthur hadn't come down to dinner. But it's all right now, for
+my cablegram says 'sound,' and that means everything good."
+
+"So it does, so it does, little girl," said Mr. Hamilton, much
+relieved. "It makes you as happy as it makes me feel to see this
+tall boy of mine down here. Got back to us for keeps now, Arthur?"
+he asked, as he put his arm around his son's shoulder with a smile
+that went straight to the boy's heart.
+
+"Yes, sir, I think so," mumbled Arthur, who found it hard to live
+up to his standard of manliness, as he felt the quick clasp of his
+mother's hand and saw the look in her eyes.
+
+For a moment the three stood there, a little world in themselves.
+Then Mrs. Hamilton stretched out a welcoming hand to Ruth.
+
+"You belong too, little daughter," she said lovingly. "We're going
+to have good times together, we four. You shall see."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CAPS AND APRONS
+
+
+"Now, young ladies, please come to order," said Dorothy, rapping
+on the table with a wooden spoon, which seemed the most appropriate
+symbol of office for the president of a cooking club.
+
+It was a day in late November, and the afternoon sun streaming
+in at the windows of the Ellsworth kitchen smiled broadly at the
+sight of six cooks in caps and aprons. This was the first working
+meeting of the club, and as the girls had thought it better to make
+six the membership, Katharine French and Alice Stevens had been
+invited to join.
+
+"Usually," continued Dorothy, in an official manner which she
+flattered herself was in close imitation of the president of the
+Glenloch Fortnightly Club, "Usually we shall choose our dishes
+beforehand and bring the materials for making them. As this is the
+first meeting, Mrs. Ellsworth is going to let us use her materials,
+and she thinks that we'd better get up a simple supper for our
+first attempt. I thought that popovers, scalloped oysters, baked
+apples, cake, chocolate and some simple dessert would be nice, and
+after this you can make things as elaborate as you like."
+
+Dorothy looked so dignified and important as she finished her little
+speech that irrepressible Charlotte longed to tickle her or rumple
+her hair, two things that the neat Dorothy loathed. As she couldn't
+she only said meekly, "Please, ma'am, are we to choose which we'd
+rather cook? If we are, I prefer the apples."
+
+"So do I," laughed Katharine; "you're not any lazier than I am,
+Charlotte."
+
+"We'll have to write the names of things on slips of paper and draw
+for them," said Dorothy, "and no matter what you get you must do
+the best you can with it."
+
+"My, but you are stern, Dolly," said Betty admiringly. "I should
+probably have let them spend the next half hour wrangling about
+what they'll do."
+
+Charlotte, who had been made secretary, wrote the names of the
+various dishes on slips of paper and put them in the hat which Betty
+brought her. Then with a low bow she presented the hat to Dorothy,
+who drew the slip on which was written "scalloped oysters."
+
+"How noble of you, Dolly, to draw the one we should all have hated,"
+cried Ruth. "Oh, I'm not sure but this is just as bad," she added,
+as the slip marked "dessert" fell to her lot. Betty found herself
+staring at the word "popovers," while Katharine and Alice drew cake
+and chocolate respectively.
+
+"Girls, I don't need to tell you that 'the lame and the lazy
+are always provided for,'" cried Charlotte, as she triumphantly
+flourished the "baked apple" slip. "I will prepare my portion of
+the feast and then read a while."
+
+"Oh, I forgot to say," said Betty, "that mother suggested that
+the one who baked the apples might even up things by building the
+fire. She said one of the first duties of a cook was to know how
+to manage the stove."
+
+"I wouldn't have believed it of you, Betty," groaned Charlotte, as
+she made up a face. "I don't know anything about building a fire.
+How under the sun shall I begin?"
+
+"Read this and grow wise," answered Betty, thrusting an open cookbook
+under Charlotte's nose. "That tells you just how to do it."
+
+Each of the other girls having brought a cookbook buried herself in
+it for the time being, while Charlotte, left to her own resources,
+proceeded to build the fire. First she read with great care the
+directions in the cookbook, and then looked rather helplessly at
+the stove.
+
+"This is the front draught, of course," she murmured, "but where's
+the oven draught? Betty, do tell me where the oven draught is on
+this stove."
+
+Betty flew over from the further side of the big kitchen, and pointed
+out the oven draught. Then she absorbed herself again in her book
+so completely that Charlotte hadn't the courage to ask for further
+instructions. She noticed a damper in the stovepipe, and wanted to
+ask about that, but pride forbade. "I'll do this alone or perish in
+the attempt," she said to herself with noble courage, and proceeding
+on the principle that she ought to change the existing condition
+of everything, she turned the one in the stovepipe and speedily
+forgot all about it. Then she put in a layer of twisted papers, laid
+the kindlings artistically, with air-spaces between the sticks,
+and before putting on the covers stood off to admire her work.
+She looked around for sympathy, but the girls were ail absorbed in
+their books, and no one gave her a glanee. Then with the sigh of
+unappreciated genius, she covered the stove, and touched a match
+to the papers through the front grate.
+
+The kitchen was very still except for the crackle of the fire.
+The sunshine came like a shower of gold through the west window,
+glorifying everything it touched. Charlotte, feeling extremely
+capable, began with great energy to add an extra polish to the
+apples which she was to bake.
+
+Suddenly Dorothy raised her head and sniffed the air. "I smell
+smoke. Oh, Charlotte, look at your stove," she cried.
+
+Even as she spoke the smoke poured out around the covers in great
+volume. Clouds of smoke forced their way through hitherto unsuspected
+cracks.
+
+"Open the windows," gasped Betty, whom the stinging wood smoke
+almost blinded.
+
+"Perhaps I turned the dampers wrong," cried Charlotte, making a
+dash for the stove, and turning the oven draught. The result was
+disastrous, for the smoke rolled out with still greater violence,
+only to be met and beaten back into the room by the air from the
+windows. Charlotte turned the oven draught again, and then stood
+helpless.
+
+Suddenly Betty bethought herself of what her mother had told her.
+"There's a damper in the stovepipe," she choked, covering her
+streaming eyes with one hand, and waving the other wildly in the
+air. "Did you touch that?"
+
+"Yes," gasped Charlotte.
+
+"Well, turn it the way it isn't, quick," and while Charlotte
+reached for the damper, Betty groped her way to the sink to soothe
+her afflicted eyes with cold water.
+
+Coughing, and with smarting eyes, the girls stood around, while
+as if by magic the clouds of smoke diminished to tiny streams and
+then died away altogether.
+
+"How beautifully simple," said Charlotte grimly. "That makes me
+feel small."
+
+"It wasn't your fault," said Betty. "Mother told me to be sure to
+remember that that damper in the pipe wasn't to be changed, and of
+course I had to forget."
+
+Charlotte lifted the cover, and surveyed the fire with a critical
+though somewhat humbled air. Then after letting it burn up a little
+she put in a goodly supply of coal and went back to her apples.
+
+"The cake and the apples must go in as soon as the oven is hot,"
+said Dorothy, emerging from her cook-book. "That will leave the
+oven free for my oysters and Betty's popovers."
+
+Ruth gave a squeal of delight. "I've found a recipe for a pudding
+that sounds perfectly fascinating, and the cooking can be done on
+the top of the stove, which is an advantage."
+
+"I can't decide between a chocolate cream cake and a cake with
+caramel filling," wailed Katharine, who loved rich, mushy, sweet
+things.
+
+"Goodness, child," said Dorothy, with that superior air which she
+so often affected, "don't try anything so hard the first time.
+Find something simple."
+
+"Crushed again," muttered Katharine, only loud enough for Ruth to
+hear. "Dolly loves to manage everything. You mustn't even breathe
+hard, girls, for ten minutes, and don't walk so heavily," she said
+as she carried her cake pan across the kitchen and deposited it
+in the oven. "This cake is going to be simply dandy, and my heart
+will be broken if it falls."
+
+"Better not leave the oven door open so long then," said Betty,
+who having nothing to do for the moment was interesting herself in
+her neighbor's affairs.
+
+Katharine, who had been absorbed in gazing proudly at her creation,
+started guiltily, and the oven door slipping from her fingers shut
+itself with a crash that filled her with horror.
+
+"Do you suppose that old door's spoiled it?" she said in a despairing
+voice. "I don't see how it can fall, though, till it has begun to
+rise," she added hopefully to Betty as she went back to the table
+to clear away her cooking dishes.
+
+"Just give a look at my apples when you're looking at your cake,
+will you, Kit?" asked Charlotte, who had produced a small book from
+some mysterious hiding-place, and was slipping off into a comer
+with it.
+
+"That isn't fair," called Dorothy sharply, but Charlotte pretended
+not to hear, and Dorothy with a shrug of the shoulders gave her up
+as a hopeless case. Dorothy and Charlotte were apt to turn their
+sharp edges toward each other, though either would have defended
+the other had an outsider interfered.
+
+"Dear me, things look too good to be true," said Ruth a little later
+as Katharine took her cake, golden-brown and deliciously light,
+from the oven. "It seems as though some one would have to make a
+failure of something."
+
+"It won't be my apples," proclaimed Charlotte with great pride.
+"Now I call that an artistic piece of cookery; they're not all
+mushy and cooked to death, but they've split open just enough to
+show that they're done."
+
+"Small credit to you," laughed Alice. "If it hadn't been for Katharine
+you wouldn't have come out of your book for the next hour."
+
+"Don't be envious, Al," answered Charlotte sweetly. "Perhaps your
+chocolate will be as good as my apples."
+
+"There," said Ruth with a sigh of relief, "now that can cool, and
+I'll put the finishing touches on later."
+
+Suddenly the door-bell rang sharply. "You'll have to go to the
+door, girls," said Betty, poking her head into the dining-room,
+"for there's no one besides us in the house."
+
+There was a murmur of conversation at the door, and then Ruth
+came flying into the kitchen with shining eyes and flushed cheeks.
+"There's the dearest little old woman at the door, girls," she
+said, "with soap and pins and needles to sell, and I'm so sorry
+for her because she says she hasn't sold a thing today. And she's
+the cleanest-looking old dear you ever saw, and don't you think we
+might ask her to stay to supper?"
+
+Ruth stopped for lack of breath, and her face fell as she saw
+plainly that both Dorothy and Betty disapproved of her plan. She
+started slowly toward the door, wondering how much money she had
+in her purse, and whether it would be enough to get the old woman
+her supper, when help came from an unexpected quarter. Charlotte,
+who at that moment was so completely a Knight of the Round Table
+that she could hardly refrain from using the language of chivalry,
+and who saw in this instance a chance to bring chivalric ideas into
+practical use, said excitedly, "Why not, girls, if she's clean?
+She certainly can't run off with the silver with six of us to watch
+her."
+
+"She's very respectable looking," pleaded Ruth; "her clothes are
+neat, and she looks as though--as though she'd seen better days."
+
+"Mother said she wished we could make our club helpful to some one
+besides ourselves," said Betty slowly; "perhaps this is one of the
+ways."
+
+"Of course it is," answered Ruth, and was about to make a wild
+dash for the door when she remembered that Dorothy was president
+and ought to have the deciding voice. "What do you say, Dolly?" she
+asked coaxingly. Dorothy frowned. "I don't approve of it a bit,"
+she said, "but as you all seem to be against me I won't say anything
+more about it." Ruth walked slowly toward the front door, feeling
+very undecided, but Charlotte, who had followed her, helped her to
+a decision by saying softly, "Go ahead and invite her, Ruth; Dolly
+will come round ail right."
+
+Seated in the kitchen the old woman didn't look at all dangerous
+even to Dorothy's suspicious eyes. She was dressed neatly in black,
+and, though politely urged, refused to take off either bonnet or
+shawl. Much conversation with her was impossible, for she was very
+deaf and mumbled so in talking that it was hard to understand her.
+The girls couldn't help liking the rosy face with its crown of snowy
+hair under a black veil, and they felt, too, that gentle glow of
+pride which comes of exceeding virtue. The old lady's bright eyes
+traveled from one to the other of them as they worked, and occasionally
+her whole frame trembled as though with emotion.
+
+"Poor old soul! Perhaps she had daughters of her own," said Alice
+in a low voice.
+
+It was impossible for the old woman to have heard, but it seemed
+almost as though she had, for just at that moment she sighed deeply,
+and drawing from her bag a neatly folded handkerchief wiped her
+eyes. Then she settled her spectacles on her nose and looked up
+at Ruth with a brave smile. The girls were touched by her courage,
+and each resolved privately to buy some of her pins and needles
+before she left the house.
+
+At last everything was ready and the girls looked at the table with
+pardonable pride. "My, but I'm hungry," sighed Ruth, "and everything
+looks so good."
+
+"I don't see why my popovers aren't poppier," said Betty anxiously.
+"I thought I followed--Oh, goose! Idiot! What do you think I did?"
+she wailed. "I wanted to be sure to have enough, so I doubled the
+recipe--but I forgot to double the eggs!"
+
+Betty's despair was so comical that the girls couldn't help laughing,
+in spite of the fact that the popovers had not fulfilled the end
+and aim of their existence.
+
+"Oh, Betty, to leave out the poppiest part of them," laughed Charlotte;
+"now just look at my apples; not a thing left out in cooking those."
+
+The girls shouted again, and the old woman looked around the table
+as though wondering what the fun was about.
+
+The supper progressed merrily, and everything, even the unambitious
+popovers, tasted good to the hungry cooke. Their guest paid the
+highest possible compliment to her hostesses by devouring with
+great eagerness everything that was offered to her. After she had
+been served three times to scalloped oysters, and had eaten five
+popovers and two baked apples, the girls looked at each other in
+amazement.
+
+"The poor old thing probably hasn't had a square meal in years,"
+said Charlotte softly.
+
+"She'll never be able to walk if she eats ail that cake and pudding
+she has on her plate," said Dorothy anxiously, "and that's her
+second cup of chocolate. Why, she's got an appetite like--like a
+boy."
+
+There was a subdued chuckle from the other end of the table followed
+by a laugh which ail the girls recognized. Then the old woman, very
+red in the face and very much hampered by her skirts, pushed back
+her chair and started for the door.
+
+Quick as a flash Dorothy, looking very determined, stood with her
+back against the door. "Guard the other door, girls, and some one
+help me here!" she cried. "Now, Joe Bancroft, who helped you get
+up this trick?"
+
+Joe, to whom laughter and eating were the main objects of life,
+threw back his head and laughed until he choked, and grew so red
+in the face that the girls were actually frightened.
+
+"Oh, oh," he gasped at last, "that's done me lots of good. I think
+I could eat a little more supper now."
+
+He looked so funny standing there in the neat, black skirt topped
+by the respectable bonnet and shawl, the spectacles and white hair,
+that the girls went off into shrieks of merriment. Even Dorothy, who
+was really angry, couldn't wholly resist the fun of the situation,
+but she was sober again in a moment and said sternly, "You haven't
+told us yet who are the others. You never got this up all by
+yourself, I know."
+
+"Honor forbids me to mention the names of my partners in crime,"
+answered Joe with great solemnity. "They will all be glad to know
+that you were so kind to a poor old woman--who may have had daughters
+of her own," he added with a naughty twinkle in his eye.
+
+"Oh, this is too much. Do let him go, Dolly," begged Charlotte.
+"We know well enough that Frank and Bert are in it, and probably
+Phil Canfield and Jack."
+
+"No, not Phil and Jack," said Joe quickly, and then groaned inwardly
+over his stupidity.
+
+"Thanks. That's all we wanted to know," answered Charlotte with
+triumph in her voice.
+
+"That's one for you, Charlotte. You had me there ail right. Now,
+ladies, with your kind permission I'll go, leaving you in part
+payment for my gorgeous supper my stock in trade."
+
+He drew from his bag and laid solemnly on the table one paper of
+pins, one of needles, and a cake of soap. Then, seeing that the
+girls at the other door had relaxed their watchfulness, he slipped
+past them, through the kitchen and out the back door.
+
+A shout of boyish laughter greeted him, and Dorothy groaned as she
+heard it. "Why didn't you keep him, girls? I was going to make him
+wash the dishes," she said mournfully.
+
+"It's much nicer to have him out of the way," answered Ruth.
+"Besides, I want to taste my pudding and Katharine's cake if that
+greedy boy has left any of it."
+
+"Betty's mother will be so pleased to hear that we've begun so
+soon to make our club helpful to some one else," observed Charlotte
+pensively, as they finished washing the dishes, and the club ended
+its first meeting with a burst of laughter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+CHARLOTTE'S PROBLEMS
+
+
+There was a cold rain, freezing as it fell, and the outdoor world
+looked cheerless and forsaken. In Ruth's room the fire was evidently
+doing its best to make one forget that it was winter and almost
+Christmas. Ruth was absorbed in the tying of a gorgeous lavender
+bow which was to adorn a sweet-grass basket standing on the table
+near her. So intent was she on her work that she heard no footsteps
+in the hall, and she jumped violently when a voice at the door
+said, "Well, this is the cheerfulest place I've found.  May I come
+in and stay a little while?"
+
+"Why, Charlotte, of course you may. I'm delighted to see you," and
+Ruth's glance swept the table and bed to see if any gift were in
+sight which ought to be concealed.
+
+"Don't stop your work; just let me lie here and look at the fire.
+Meanwhile you can say nice, soothing things to me, for I'm tired
+and cross." Charlotte stretched herself on the rug and even laid
+her cheek for an instant on the black kitten, a concession that
+would have filled Betty's soul with joy.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Ruth a bit absently, as she held the
+basket out at arm's length and gazed critically at the bow.
+
+"Oh, we're in several different shades of dark-blue over at our
+house," answered Charlotte. "Mother has shut herself up with a
+raging headache, Molly has quarreled with her best chum and refuses
+to be comforted, and one of the twins has the earache. To crown it
+ail, Melina, who is usually cheerful, is going around the kitchen
+looking as though she'd lost her last friend, and I actually
+haven't had the courage yet to find out what's the matter with her.
+Fortunately for every one, Cousin Josie blew in, and when she saw
+how things were going she made me go out for an hour, and said
+she'd stay with the children."
+
+"It must be hard to manage so many," said Ruth who longed to help
+but didn't know how. "I'm sure I think you're awfully brave to be
+so cheerful all the time."
+
+"Oh, but I'm not; I'm the most doleful thing you ever knew at home
+sometimes. And every little while I have to play baby and fuss it
+all out to some one. You happen to be the victim this time, but
+if it hadn't been you it would have been Mrs. Hamilton, or Betty."
+Charlotte's voice quavered, and there was a long silence while
+she stared gloomily into the fire and Ruth searched her mind for
+something comforting to say. At last she said hesitatingly, "I wish
+there was something I could do to help."
+
+"I know you do," answered Charlotte with a smile. "But you can't
+except just by understanding, and letting me tell my woes to you
+occasionally. After I've really been in the dumps I'm the most
+courageous thing you ever saw, and feel that I can accomplish wonders.
+I suppose the reason I feel blue just now is because Christmas is
+so near."
+
+"Christmas! Why, don't you just love Christmas?"
+
+"Love it! I should say not. I usually hate it."
+
+Ruth's eyes opened very wide as she stared at Charlotte. That any
+sane girl should hate Christmas was incomprehensible.
+
+"Christmas won't seem the same to me this year," she said soberly,
+"but I love it and I'm going to have as good a time as I can. Why
+do you hate it, Charlotte?"
+
+"Oh, for various reasons. Mother always seems sicker at this season,
+and father looks anxious and more tired. I always feel that he's
+trying to squeeze out a little more money to give us a good time,
+and doesn't see how he possibly can. As for me, I'm so hopelessly
+in debt to other people in the way of presents that I shall never
+swim out." Charlotte tried to speak lightly, but it was a dismal
+failure.
+
+"I never felt about it in just that way,--I mean about being in debt
+to people. I dare say I've missed giving sometimes when I should
+have given, if that's the way of it. I love to choose and make
+presents for the people I'm fond of, and that's what Christmas
+means to me."
+
+"Well, that's very lovely and quite the proper way to think of it,
+I know, but it wouldn't seem quite so easy to you if you didn't
+have any money to spend."
+
+"Why not make things?" asked Ruth innocently.
+
+Charlotte laughed. "Bless your heart, child, doesn't it cost money
+to buy materials? And I do all the sewing I can possibly make up
+my mind to in helping to keep the twins from falling out of their
+clothes. You never saw such holes."
+
+There was a long silence while Charlotte lay still, apparently trying
+to go to sleep, and Ruth's forehead puckered itself into wrinkles
+as she wrestled with a weighty problem.
+
+Suddenly Charlotte opened her eyes. "Look here, Ruth," she said
+bluntly, "I didn't mean to come over here and tell a tale of woe
+about not having any money, and I'm ashamed because I have. Please
+forget all about it."
+
+"Oh, Charlotte," cried Ruth, dropping scissors, thimble and spool
+with a clatter as she got up from her chair. "Oh, Charlotte, I wish
+you would let me do something I want very much to do."
+
+As she spoke Ruth threw herself on the couch beside Charlotte and
+put her arms about her. Charlotte, who was most undemonstrative, was
+vaguely comforted by the friendly embrace, and to her own surprise
+found herself returning it.
+
+"Charlotte," pleaded Ruth, "I've really more money than I need for
+Christmas presents this year, for Uncle Jerry sent me a check to
+use just as I please. Now won't you let me give you your present
+now, and give it to you in money, so that you may have the fun of
+using it before Christmas? Oh, oh, don't you dare say a word yet
+if you can't say yes," she said fiercely, putting her hand over
+Charlotte's mouth, and in her anxiety pressing so hard that Charlotte
+gasped for breath.
+
+"Don't you see what a pleasure you'd be giving me?" Ruth went on.
+"I do so love to give people what they really want, and it's so
+hard to know. And there won't a soul know about it except us, and
+I'm dying to have a secret with some one."
+
+Charlotte couldn't help laughing, Ruth's manner was so funny and
+anxious. "Thank you very much, Ruth, but I really couldn't," she
+said at last decidedly. "They wouldn't be my presents if I used
+your money for them; and besides, it makes me feel as though I'd
+no business to complain to you as I've done."
+
+"Oh, Charlotte, they will be. It won't be my money, for I shall give
+it to you to use just as you please, and what's the good of having
+a friend if you don't tell her your troubles once in a while?"
+
+Charlotte was silent and troubled, but she smiled a little at Ruth's
+mixed-up sentences. Ruth thought this was a good sign and rushed
+on without giving her a chance for a positive refusal.
+
+"Don't you suppose I know how hard it is for a proud old thing like
+you to do it? But I'm just selfish enough to try to tease you into
+it because it's going to be such a favor to me. Do, Charlotte,
+that's a dear."
+
+With Ruth's arms tightly around her, and Ruth's brown eyes looking
+at her with mischievous pleading, Charlotte found it difficult to
+be disappointing. "Well--" she said at last.
+
+"You will!" cried Ruth in a tone of rapture. "Oh, Charlotte, you're
+a darling, and I'll do as much for you some day."
+
+"I feel as though I'd been in a hold-up," murmured Charlotte, as
+Ruth released her after another violent squeeze, and went to her
+desk.
+
+"I don't wonder," laughed Ruth coming back with an envelope in her
+hand. "Now, Charlotte, I don't want to hurry you, but your hour
+is up, and I think you'd better go. I have a premonition that the
+twins have fallen into something or other."
+
+Charlotte rose lazily and held out her arms for the coat which
+Ruth was holding and into the pocket of which she had slipped the
+envelope. "You're a sly thing," she said. "You're afraid if I stay
+I'll go back on my bargain."
+
+"Never," laughed Ruth. "You're not that kind. Can't you go into
+Boston with me to-morrow and do some shopping? It will be almost
+the last chance before Christmas."
+
+"Why, yes. I think so. I'm almost sure I can." Charlotte started
+to go, but turned and gripped Ruth's hand. "You're a trump, Ruth,
+and you've helped me lots," she said with an effort, "but I must
+say I don't feel quite right about taking that money."
+
+"Oh, but I do. I shall enjoy it more than any other present I'm
+giving. We'll have a great time to-morrow spending it."
+
+Once out of the house Charlotte couldn't resist the temptation to
+take a peep at the contents of the envelope. As she caught a glimpse
+of a crisp five dollar bill her first impulse was to go immediately
+and make Ruth take it back. She half turned, and waited irresolutely
+until the cold sting of the rain forced her to realize that the
+middle of the street was no place for deciding a weighty question.
+Then she went slowly toward home, uncomfortable because she had
+taken the money, happy because of the affection and sympathy Ruth
+had shown her.
+
+At home a more cheerful atmosphere reigned, and Charlotte felt her
+spirits rise as she walked into the up-stairs sitting-room where
+the children were. "You're an angel of peace, Cousin Josie," said
+Charlotte gratefully. "I'll try to keep them happy until bedtime,
+though I'm no such genius at it as you are."
+
+Charlotte felt so cheered and comforted that she thought of poor
+Melina, whose sorrows she had not yet investigated, and turned
+toward the kitchen. Melina was one of those rare maids-of-all-work
+whose services cannot be estimated, nor can they be paid for in
+mere money. Coming into the family when Charlotte was a small child,
+she had taken each successive baby into her heart, and had worked
+for them all as faithfully and lovingly as if they belonged to her.
+
+As she walked into the room she was startled to find Melina rocking
+hard with her apron thrown over her face and audible sniffs going
+on behind it. The chair was making such a noise that at first she
+didn't hear Charlotte, and the latter had time to wonder whether
+it wouldn't be better to steal away softly and come in later. She
+knew she should hate to be found crying and she supposed Melina
+would. Before she could decide Melina threw down the apron and
+jumped up.
+
+"Land, how you scared me," she said huskily. "I guess I was just
+having a kind of a little nap."
+
+"Oh, was that it?" answered Charlotte. She felt the delicacy of
+the situation, and hated to pry into things that others didn't want
+her to know.
+
+"Any cookies, Melina?" she continued carelessly. "I thought I'd
+take some up to the children. My, but these are good! Who was it
+in your family used to like them so much? Oh, I know, it was your
+nephew down in Maine. How is he now, Melina? Does he get any better?"
+
+Melina's answer was so indistinct that Charlotte looked at her in
+amazement to see two great tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.
+"Oh, Melina, is he worse, and is that what makes you feel so bad?"
+she cried sympathetically.
+
+"No, he ain't worse. If anything he's a little mite better."
+
+"What is the matter then? Don't you want to tell me? Perhaps father
+or some of us could help."
+
+Melina shook her head. "It's only that I ain't got quite enough
+money to make him the Christmas present I'd planned for him, and
+what's worse I've been fool enough to write him it was coming.  It's
+one of those new-fangled beds so that he can be wheeled around,
+and the end raises so that he can sit up a little. He's counting
+on it so that I can't bear to disappoint him. All I need is five
+dollars, and I thought sure I should have it because some one owes
+me just that much. But I got a letter to-day saying she couldn't
+pay it until after the first of January, so there 'tis."
+
+"If father was only home he could fix it ail right, but I'm afraid
+mother hasn't five dollars she could spare just now," said Charlotte
+doubtfully.
+
+"If she had I wouldn't take it," answered Melina, whose business
+principles were founded on a rock. "Your father paid me up to
+yesterday, and it ain't time for me to have any more."
+
+"Oh, Melina, wait!" cried Charlotte, and she flashed out of the room
+and up the stairs, leaving Melina to wonder what had come over the
+girl. She was back in a moment, hiding both hands behind her as
+she came into the kitchen. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement,
+and she was so different from the ordinarily languid Charlotte that
+Melina looked at her in astonishment.
+
+"Melina," she said earnestly, "do you remember when I was a little
+girl and I used to beg you over and over again to say which hand
+you'd take? Now, please, please choose now."
+
+Melina hesitated, but Charlotte's manner was so persuasive that
+she couldn't resist, and murmuring, "left hand nearest the heart,"
+touched that one.
+
+Charlotte pushed something crisp and crackling into her hand.  "It's
+mine to do just what I please with," she cried exultantly, "and I
+never wanted to do anything more than I want to do this."
+
+Melina stared at the five dollar bill in her hand. Then she held
+it out to Charlotte again. "I can't take your money," she said. "I
+ain't saying that I wouldn't like to have it, but I can't take it."
+
+Charlotte looked at her pleadingly. Then she remembered how Ruth
+had won her over. "But, Melina, it's a favor to me. You've always
+been doing me favors, I know, but you might do just this one more."
+
+Melina shook her head. "It's no use," she began, and then stopped
+aghast, for Charlotte, the self-controlled, the hater of tears,
+startled Melina and fell forever in her own estimation by bursting
+into sobs. "For the land's sake, child, don't do that," ejaculated
+Melina, almost whirling herself off her feet in her frantic efforts
+to decide whether to throw water on her or burn feathers under her
+nose.
+
+Those who rarely cry are likely to do so with great violence when
+they once give themselves up to it, and Charlotte's rending sobs
+drove poor Melina to the verge of distraction. At last she gathered
+the girl's slender figure into her arms and sat down in the big
+rocker.
+
+"There, there, lamb," she said, "put your head on Melina's shoulder
+and cry all you want to," and she held her tenderly until the
+gasping sobs grew less frequent.
+
+"Oh, Melina, if you could only make up your mind to take that
+money," said Charlotte at last, getting up and trying hard to keep
+back the persistent tears. "I do want that poor boy to have his
+bed right away. I think I could stop crying if you only would."
+
+Melina's thin lips tightened.
+
+"Well," she said at last, grudgingly, "I'll take it and call it a
+loan. I must say, though, that I think you took an unfair advantage
+of me. I ain't seen you cry since you was little more than a baby."
+
+"I didn't do it to get my own way. I've been holding on to myself
+all day, and that was just the last straw that made me let go.
+Don't call it a loan, for I never want to see it again. Keep it
+till you find some one who needs it as much as you do just now,
+and then pass it along. Wouldn't it be interesting to see how far
+five dollars could travel if it was passed from one to another that
+way?"
+
+"Talk about goodness," muttered Melina as Charlotte disappeared,
+"that child's a wonder,--sometimes."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+OUT OF THE SNOW
+
+
+Charlotte woke the next morning feeling vaguely uncomfortable and
+wondering what was the reason for it. Suddenly it occurred to her
+that to-day she must see Ruth and must give a reason for not going
+to Boston with her. To explain what she had done with the money was
+out of the question, for Charlotte would have been more unwilling
+to tell of the performance of a good deed than to confess that she
+had done something wrong. If she gave no reason and simply said
+she couldn't go Ruth might think she was going to use the money for
+herself, and that would be unbearable. But, of course, it would be
+enough to say that it was Melina's only chance to go in town, and
+she couldn't disappoint her. The fact that her mother was still sick
+in bed would be sufficient reason why Charlotte couldn't leave on
+the same day.
+
+Melina, herself, was cross, and worked as though she had a personal
+grudge against every dish and piece of furniture she touched. The
+twins and Molly were actually scared into silence, and forbore
+to make their usual demands on her time and patience.  Charlotte,
+who understood, kept them and herself as much out of the way as
+possible, and helped all she could so that Melina might take an
+early train.
+
+As soon as breakfast was over, Charlotte went to Mrs. Hamilton's
+and found Ruth just getting ready for her trip to Boston.
+
+"Why, Charlotte, you're surely not ready so early as this," she
+said in surprise as her friend walked into her room.
+
+"Why, no; the fact is I can't go to-day. Melina wants to go, and
+mother is still too sick to be left alone with the children. I came
+over early because I thought you might want to ask some one else."
+
+"Oh, dear! Can't Melina wait till to-morrow? I'm dreadfully
+disappointed." Ruth looked so reproachful that Charlotte found it
+harder than she had anticipated.
+
+"You see," she explained, "Melina wants to send something off to
+her nephew in Maine, and if she doesn't start it to-day it won't
+get there for Christmas."
+
+"Bother Melina's nephew! I'd set my heart on having you with me
+to-day, and you know why."
+
+Charlotte did know why, and much to her own sorrow. "I'm sorry it's
+happened so," she began, but Ruth interrupted her.
+
+"It isn't really necessary for me to go to-day. Why can't we both
+go to-morrow? We don't mind if the stores are crowded."
+
+Poor Charlotte looked positively unhappy. In all the labyrinth
+of thought through which she had wandered this exceedingly simple
+solution of the matter hadn't occurred to her.
+
+"Why, I might," she stammered feeling her way. "No, I can't," she
+went on decidedly. "The truth is, Ruth, I'm not going to buy any
+Christmas presents this year, after all."
+
+"Oh," said Ruth coldly. "Then, of course, you won't want to go in
+town."
+
+"No, I think I'd better not. I'm sorry,--I can't explain."
+
+"You don't need to explain. You have a perfect right to do as
+you please, of course." Ruth's tone was so freezingly polite that
+Charlotte almost shivered.
+
+"I must run back home," she said at last with an attempt at
+cheerfulness. "Would you like to have me ask Betty or Dolly to go
+with you?"
+
+"No, thank you," and Ruth busied herself in the tying of a bow
+with such complete absorption that Charlotte felt that the best
+and only thing she could do was to go. She was so absorbed in her
+own disagreeable thoughts that she plodded along through the snow
+with her head down, and almost ran over Joe, who was patiently
+standing in the middle of the walk hoping for just that result.
+
+"Why don't you warn a fellow when you are coming down upon him
+like a ship under full sail, Charlotte?" he asked with pretended
+indignation.
+
+"Get right out of my way, little boy," answered Charlotte, with
+assumed scorn. "I suppose now that vacation has begun you children
+will be under my feet all the time."
+
+Joe chuckled softly. He would have been disappointed if Charlotte
+had answered in any other way.
+
+"What's the matter with you, Charlotte?" he asked as she passed
+him and he fell into line behind her. "You look as though you had
+lost your last friend."
+
+"I feel so," remarked Charlotte briefly, and in a flash was sorry
+she had said it.
+
+"I didn't think Ruth was that kind," Joe said after a pause.
+
+"What kind? She isn't. There isn't anything the matter, and it's
+all my fault. Ruth's all right, and I don't blame her a bit."
+
+Joe grinned appreciatively behind her back over this mixed statement
+of affairs. Then he said, "Good for you, Charlotte.  You're all
+right, too. What are you going to do this morning?"
+
+"Shovel snow. It's the only kind of work that I really enjoy."
+
+"Let me help. I like to shovel snow when it isn't in my own yard."
+
+"Run off and play with the other boys," answered Charlotte ungratefully.
+"I have the twins and Molly on my hands, and that will be enough
+for one day."
+
+"Don't be foolish and refuse a good thing when it's offered you,"
+said Joe good-naturedly. "I'll help you amuse them."
+
+"Well, come along in then, and read while I get the children ready.
+Oh, they're out now," she added, as they turned the comer and saw
+the twins, looking like industrious brownies, rolling a huge snowball
+across the yard, while Molly was expending her artistic talent on
+the building of a snow-man.
+
+The clean snow-drifts, glittering in the sunshine, fired Charlotte
+with the desire to play as she used to play when a child. "Get the
+shovels, Joe," she commanded, "and after we've cleared the piazza,
+let's build a snow-house and freeze it."
+
+"And my man can be the man that owns it, out for a walk in his
+garden," chimed in Molly, who had been too much absorbed in her
+work to speak before.
+
+"Nice weather for gardening," said Joe with a wink, as he started
+after the shovels.
+
+Work is a cure for many sorrows, and Charlotte felt her heart grow
+lighter as she helped Joe cut great blocks of snow and pile them
+symmetrically. Betty, who had wandered over to see Charlotte, proved
+a most efficient helper, and Frank and Bert, driving by almost
+hidden under the branches of a stately Christmas tree, shouted
+their greetings and came back later to join in the work.
+
+Both boys and girls worked hard, and the result was a snow hut
+large enough to shelter a good-sized family of Esquimaux. An arched
+doorway gave entrance to the interior, which was divided into two
+rooms. It had taken a large amount of snow to build it, and really
+much skill, for the day was growing warmer and it was almost
+impossible to make the structure firm enough to stand.
+
+"There," said Charlotte, as she stuck a tiny American flag just
+over the entrance, "I consider that the finishing touch. Now if you
+boys will come over this afternoon and freeze it it will probably
+last for some time."
+
+"What a short morning!" exclaimed Betty as the church clock struck
+twelve. "I'm as warm as toast and as hungry as a bear."
+
+"Come in and help me get out the lunch Melina left for us," begged
+Charlotte, "and then we can rest till the boys come over this
+afternoon."
+
+The boys left in a cloud of snowballs, but Joe found a chance to say
+softly to Charlotte as he passed her, "Feeling better, Charlotte?
+You look it."
+
+"Run along and don't be foolish," answered Charlotte disdainfully.
+
+"Goodness! Melina must have thought she was going to feed an army,"
+laughed Betty, as Charlotte brought out sandwiches, cookies, brown
+bread and a plate heaped with the cunning apple turnovers for which
+Melina was famous. "Doesn't everything look good?"
+
+"Don't you want to make us some cocoa, Bettina? Yours is so good."
+
+Betty laughed. "Of course, you sly old thing. You know I love to
+show off on cooking, don't you?"
+
+"Good reason why; because you're so clever about it. I wish I weren't
+such a stupid about doing all the things a girl is expected to do,
+and I truly wish I didn't hate it all so."
+
+"You can do other things," answered Betty loyally; "things I'd be
+only too glad to do if I could. You ought to have heard all the
+nice things Ruth said about you the other day."
+
+Charlotte's heart sank. The joy of working in the keen, clear air
+had almost made her forget the unpleasantness of the morning. Now
+it ail came back to her with a rush. Ruth would never again say
+nice things about her, and there would be an end, of course, to
+ail the delightful intimacy which had seemed to promise so much
+pleasure for the winter.
+
+"Charlotte, Charlotte, Irving is climbing on the table to get a
+turnover," announced Molly in a tone of dignified disapproval, and
+Charlotte came to the rescue just in time to defeat the plans of
+the small pirate, whose schemes for getting what he wanted were
+without end.
+
+It was a jolly lunch, for they were all too hungry to notice Charlotte's
+sudden depression, and the twins kept Betty in a perpetual state of
+amusement. To Charlotte, however, the tempting food might as well
+have been something far less appetizing, for the keen discomfort
+she was feeling took away all sense of pleasure.
+
+"I don't believe I want to work any more on the snow-house," she
+said soberly, as she and Betty finished putting away the dishes.
+"You and the boys can finish up if you like, but I'm almost too
+tired to move."
+
+"Well, I don't care," answered Betty good-naturedly. "I ought to
+be working on my Christmas presents anyway, and I've had a pretty
+good airing this morning. Can't you bring some sewing over to my
+house?"
+
+"Sewing! You know I hate it. I hate Christmas presents, too, and
+I shall be glad when Christmas is over."
+
+Betty gazed at her in such consternation that Charlotte couldn't
+help laughing. "Don't mind me, Bettikins," she said penitently; "I'm
+a cross, disagreeable thing, and I ought to know better, Only, if
+you love me, don't say Christmas anywhere in my neighborhood, or
+I shall certainly explode into some badness."
+
+Betty looked puzzled, but wisely refrained from asking any questions.
+"Don't make yourself out too much of a villain," she said with a
+comforting pat, "for I shan't believe it, and I shall keep on liking
+you just the same."
+
+With a look at the twins and Molly, who were safely at work in the
+snow, Charlotte went up-stairs to her mother, wishing in her heart
+that she could take her troubles to her as other girls did to
+their mothers, but knowing from long experience that nothing of the
+kind was possible. Mrs. Eastman had been so long an invalid that
+Charlotte could hardly remember the time when it had not been the
+first object of her father, and later of herself, to spare her
+mother every care and excitement. To-day was one of Mrs. Eastman's
+better days, and Charlotte found her dressed and sitting by the
+window when she went in with the tray.
+
+"Why, mother, how good it seems to see you sitting up," she said
+happily; "are you really feeling better?"
+
+"Yes, really better; so much so that I thought I would give my good
+little daughter a pleasant surprise when she came up to see me."
+
+Charlotte looked at her mother with delight. It was many weeks
+since she had heard that cheerful tone, had seen the blue eyes so
+clear, and the sweet face so untroubled.
+
+"Oh, Mumsey, you are so pretty when you don't have that horrid
+pain," she said, setting the tray on the table and kneeling down
+to rest her head on her mother's knee.
+
+Mrs. Eastman laughed softly, and patted the tired head with a
+tender hand. "I'm glad I look pretty to you," she said. "But where
+are Molly and the twins?"
+
+"Out in the yard digging in the snow. The boys and Betty were here
+this morning, and we made a grand snow-house, but no one has come
+back to finish up." Charlotte looked out as she spoke and opened
+the window a crack to remind Irving that he couldn't prance around
+on top of the snow-house, because it wasn't strong enough yet for
+such treatment.
+
+"Don't you believe you'll be able to come down-stairs pretty soon?
+Perhaps you can be with us on Christmas Day; oh, Mumsey," and
+Charlotte glowed with delighted anticipation. "It won't make so
+very much difference, after all," she added soberly, "for Christmas
+won't be much different from any other day."
+
+"Yes, it will; it shall, darling," said Mrs. Eastman. "I know we
+can't spend much money for presents, but we'll trim the house, and
+we'll have popcorn and apples and--"
+
+Just what her mother intended to add Charlotte never knew, for
+a wild shriek from the yard made her rush to the window in terror.
+At first she could not tell what had happened. Then she realized that
+Molly was dancing wildly around wringing her hands, that Irving's
+startled face and sturdy shoulders were emerging from the ruins of
+the snow-house, and that no one else was in sight.
+
+"Stanley, where is Stanley?" she called, opening the window wide.
+
+"Under the snow," shrieked Molly. "He can't get out, he can't get
+out."
+
+Charlotte said afterward that she never felt sure whether she went
+out of the window or over the stairs. She realized only that some
+one came swiftly behind her and she screamed, "Go back, go back;
+I'll get him out."
+
+But the figure kept silently on, and, before Charlotte could prevent,
+her mother was pulling Irving with all her strength.
+
+"Help me lift him," she cried piteously; "my other baby is under
+all this snow."
+
+No one knew better than Charlotte the weight of snow which had
+fallen on poor Stanley, and she felt sick with terror as they at
+last set Irving on his feet.
+
+"Run for Dr. Holland, Molly, and tell the neighbors to come here,"
+she said in a voice sharp with fear. Then she seized a shovel which
+lay near and began to lift off the snow with a care and slowness
+which made her mother frantic,
+
+"Give me the shovel, Charlotte; my baby will smother while you work
+so slowly."
+
+"Stop, mother," answered Charlotte. "We may hurt him if we use the
+shovel any more. Now I must use my hands."
+
+It seemed hours before Charlotte, plunging in the snow and throwing
+it aside with her arms and her whole body, felt the touch of her
+brother's coat. And then still hours before she could draw out the
+limp, little body.
+
+"Give him to me," cried Mrs. Eastman snatching him to her breast,
+and running toward the house. "Get hot water, Charlotte, and
+blankets." Charlotte tried to run, but couldn't. She was vaguely
+conscious that a sleigh had stopped outside the gate, that figures
+were hurrying toward the house, that Joe, looking exceedingly red
+and anxious but withal rather indistinct, had almost reached her,
+and then she forgot everything.
+
+When she opened her eyes she was on the library sofa, and Mrs.
+Hamilton and Betty were smiling reassuringly at her. She looked
+at them a moment without speaking, and then all that had happened
+came sharply back to her.
+
+"Where is Stanley?" she cried, starting up in alarm.
+
+"Stanley is all right, dear," answered Mrs. Hamilton, putting a
+restraining hand on her shoulder. "Dr. Holland says that by to-morrow
+he won't know that anything has happened to him."
+
+"And mother? She was out there in the cold and snow."
+
+"She says it hasn't hurt her a bit and she will insist on staying
+up to take care of Stanley. Truly they are all right, Charlotte,
+and you mustn't worry." Betty's tone was so motherly and insistent
+that Charlotte couldn't help smiling. She closed her eyes sleepily
+and didn't even trouble to open them when she felt herself lifted
+from the sofa and carried up-stairs.
+
+When she awoke it was quite dark in the room except for the light
+from the open fire. She could hear in the sitting-room a subdued
+murmur of voices, and now and then Irving's giggle, promptly
+suppressed by the stern Molly. As she lay there in drowsy comfort
+Melina stole into the room and coming softly to the bed peered
+sharply at her.
+
+"Hullo," said Charlotte with a suddeness that made Melina jump.
+"What time is it, and how is every one?"
+
+"Goodness, I thought you was asleep. They're all right. I've just
+made your ma go to bed, though she declares she never felt better
+in her life. Stanley's sitting up on the sofa with the pillows ail
+around him, feeling like a little king, and Molly's proud as Punch
+to be nurse. Now what would you like for your supper?"
+
+"My! Is it supper-time? Oh, bring me anything good. You know what
+I like."
+
+"There's a girl in the kitchen--the one that's staying with Mrs.
+Hamilton. She wanted I should come up to see how you are, and she
+says she'll come to see you just as soon as you want her."
+
+"Oh, ask her to come now, Melina, please. I feel quite well enough
+to see her."
+
+Melina began to protest, but Charlotte's eagerness conquered, and
+she went grumbling down-stairs to call Ruth.
+
+"Oh, Charlotte, you're a dear to let me come and tell you how mean
+I feel. I don't believe I should have slept to-night if I couldn't
+'fess up' to somebody."
+
+Charlotte looked at her in astonishment and Ruth went on, "You see
+I know all about what you did with the money, for Melina sat with
+me coming out on the train."
+
+"Melina told you!" said Charlotte, hardly able to believe her own
+ears.
+
+"Yes, I remembered her face and said something to her. She was so
+full of joy over having sent the bed off to her nephew that before
+she knew it she had told me all about him, and about the five
+dollars, too."
+
+"She probably won't tell anything again in a hundred years,"
+murmured Charlotte, looking so embarrassed and uncomfortable that
+Ruth couldn't help seeing it.
+
+"You're a funny girl to be so ashamed of your good deeds. But,
+honestly, Charlotte, I'll never tell if you don't want me to. I'm
+simply bowed down with shame myself to think I was so mean and
+hateful this morning."
+
+"Oh, that's ail right, Ruth," said Charlotte warmly, "and I'm not
+going to be horrid about Christmas any more. I think this will be
+the happiest one I've ever had."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
+
+
+The day before Christmas Ruth awoke with an ache in her heart, and
+an inexpressible longing for mother and father. It was even worse,
+she thought, than the Christmas before when grief for her mother
+was so keenly new. Then, she and her father had been so occupied
+making the hard day easier for each other that it had passed almost
+pleasantly. But now, with her best chum so far away, the longing
+for her mother increased tenfold, and Ruth found herself wishing
+that she could go to sleep again, and not wake until the holidays
+were over.
+
+It was hard to look cheerful at the breakfast-table, and every one
+missed the gay laugh and chatter which usually made the meal so
+pleasant.
+
+"You're not ill, child, are you?" asked Mr. Hamilton as he rose
+from the table.
+
+"Oh, no," answered Ruth quickly, feeling that it would be rank
+ingratitude to look melancholy after ail their kindness to her.
+
+"That's right," he said with a farewell pat. "We can't have you
+looking sober. You know I depend on you to give me a merry Christmas."
+
+"I'll try," answered Ruth dutifully, but she felt that it would be
+an impossibility for her to add to any one's happiness.
+
+"Perhaps you will help me a little, Ruth," said Mrs. Hamilton as they
+finished breakfast. "I'm going to pack and deliver some Christmas
+baskets this morning, and I really need some assistance in order
+to get through with it."
+
+"I'd love to. Mother and I always did that, and I used to think
+it almost the nicest part of Christmas. Mayn't I buy something to
+put in the baskets, or have you all that you can use?"
+
+"It would be very nice if you would, for I've just heard of a
+family this morning where the children haven't the necessary winter
+clothing. There are four children, the oldest about seven and the
+youngest a baby, and I'm sure you will find a great many things
+they need at the little store near the post-office. If you feel
+like taking that off my mind I shall be truly grateful."
+
+"Indeed I do," and Ruth, looking more cheerful already, ran off
+to put on her coat and gay little hat. It is undeniable that doing
+for others is the best cure for an ache in one's own heart, and
+Ruth felt almost happy for the next half hour as she bought little
+suits of underwear, warm petticoats and stockings, and red mittens
+enough for the entire family. She felt quite like Santa Claus as she
+walked down the street, for she had made a last purchase of toys
+and candy, and enticing-looking bundles stuck out in all directions.
+Those who passed couldn't help smiling at the pretty girl who, for
+the time, at least, was the embodiment of Christmas cheer.
+
+"There, that was fun," she said with a sigh of satisfaction as she
+deposited her bundles on the table. "Now, let me help you pack."
+
+For the remainder of the morning there was no time to be unhappy,
+for by the time the baskets were packed the sleigh was at the door.
+Mrs. Hamilton's errands took them to the outskirts of the town,
+where great fields of snow spread their dazzling whiteness, and
+the cool, crisp air blew the cobwebs from one's brain. Ruth learned
+a helpful lesson in the art of giving, for Mrs. Hamilton was as
+beautifully simple and friendly with the poor women she visited as
+with her wealthier friends, and it was a pleasure to see the good
+comradeship with which she entered into their joys and sorrows.
+
+"This is my last visit for the morning," said Mrs. Hamilton, as the
+sleigh drew up before a neat little house. "I have just a little
+Christmas remembrance to leave here, and I think you may find this
+the most attractive place of all."
+
+Ruth followed Mrs. Hamilton into the house with real curiosity,
+only to be met by a cheerful, rosy-cheeked woman who looked clean
+and wholesome, though not especially interesting. She was putting
+an extra polish on her little parlor, which already looked spotless,
+and singing softly as she did so. As the song stopped Ruth realized
+that the words were French and she began to feel curious immediately.
+
+"Ah, Mrs. Hamilton, it ees a great pleasure to see you," the woman
+said as Mrs. Hamilton shook hands with her. "Marie will be so happy.
+She has so wearied for you."
+
+Mrs. Hamilton and Ruth followed the good woman into the little
+room, which was dining-room and sitting-room combined, and where
+on a couch lay a girl a year or two older than Ruth. The great dark
+eyes, looking out of the palest face Ruth had ever seen, lighted
+up with joy, and a flashing smile disclosed faultless teeth as the
+girl said with an accent even more marked than Mrs.  Perrier's,
+"It ees my angel of mercy come again. I am so glad, so glad."
+
+"I thought you might get tired of such an old angel, Marie," laughed
+Mrs. Hamilton, "so I've brought a younger one along with me. Come
+here, Ruth, and let me make you acquainted with my friend, Marie
+Borel, who has left her Swiss mountains, and has come to America
+to do great things."
+
+"Such great things I have done!" said Marie, reproachfully. "The
+first thing ees to get seeck so that my good aunt should have to
+take care of me. I do not like to make so much trouble."
+
+"It is nothing," said her aunt affectionately as she patted the thin
+hand. "The uncle and I, we care only for your pain and trouble. It
+ees a pleasure to have you with us."
+
+Marie looked at her with such loving gratitude in her soft eyes
+that her aunt retreated to the kitchen where Mrs. Hamilton followed
+her on the pretext of obtaining a promised recipe.
+
+Left to themselves the girls chatted in friendliest fashion, and
+Ruth soon learned at least the outlines of Marie's story. Her father
+had been pastor in a quaint little town of French Switzerland, and
+there Marie had been born and had lived until death had taken both
+father and mother within a year. Then, heart-broken over her loss,
+she had accepted with gratitude an invitation from her aunt, who
+had gone to America with her husband when Marie was a little girl.
+
+It was a trial of Ruth's self-control when Marie told so simply
+and pathetically of the death of her mother and father, for her own
+loss seemed so terribly near. "I've lost my mother, too, Marie,"
+she said softly, "and my father has gone so far away that sometimes
+I feel quite alone."
+
+"Ah, then you can understand how hard it is to be brave when one
+has so great a sorrow."
+
+"Indeed I can. And I'm not always brave. But tell me what happened
+to you after you got here."
+
+"Something, my grief, perhaps, or the voyage, made me so seeck.
+But it ees much better already, for now I can read a little and
+can also sew." As she spoke Marie took from a little bag lying by
+her side a piece of embroidery which to Ruth's eyes seemed a marvel
+of neatness and beauty.
+
+"Oh, how lovely!" she said admiringly. "How can you do such fine
+even work?"
+
+"We are taught to make such fine stitches when we are very little
+girls," answered Marie much gratified at the praise. "And I also
+make the pillow lace. Have you ever seen that made?"
+
+Ruth looked with greatest interest at the plump cushion with its
+rows of pins, and watched intently while the thin hands deftly
+tossed the bobbins around in most mysterious fashion.
+
+"Oh, you do that so fast and so carelessly," she said at last, "and
+yet that beautiful pattern comes so perfectly." "Isn't it wonderful,
+Ruth?" asked Mrs. Hamilton, coming into the room. "I hoped Marie
+would show you her lace pillow and her embroidery."
+
+"It's perfectly fascinating," declared Ruth, "and I'd like to
+learn, but I know I should tie all those threads in a tight knot
+right away."
+
+"Come over and I will teach you a simple pattern that in my country
+quite little children learn to make," urged Marie, who longed for
+another visit from her new friend.
+
+"I'll come again gladly, but I'm not sure that I shall ever have
+courage to attempt anything so wonderful," laughed Ruth as she rose
+to go.
+
+"I'm so glad you took me there, Aunt Mary," she said as they got
+into the sleigh. "You seem to know just what to do for people when
+they are miserable."
+
+"I knew that what you wanted most I couldn't give you, dear, so I
+tried the next best thing."
+
+"Marie was so cheerful and patient that it made me ashamed to
+be anything else when I'm so well and have father. Only it seems
+as though I never wanted my mother more than I do to-day." Ruth's
+voice trembled and the tears filled her eyes.
+
+"Dear, we think you are brave, and we have appreciated your struggles
+more than you suspect," said Mrs. Hamilton tenderly. "We are so
+grateful for what you have done for Arthur, and the whole house
+seems more cheerful when our borrowed daughter is in it."
+
+Ruth's face brightened, and her hand sought Mrs. Hamilton's under
+the robe and squeezed it hard. She was silent for a moment and
+then she cried gayly, "From now on I 'solomon promidge,' as some
+one used to say, to be good and cheerful for the rest of the day."
+
+"That's right, darling; and now let's see if any Christmas greetings
+have arrived while we've been away," said Mrs. Hamilton as they
+entered the house.
+
+"I should say they had," said Arthur, who had just come down to
+lunch, and was scrutinizing the addresses on several interesting
+looking packages. "Here's a heavy box for Ruth, and several small
+packages for you, mother."
+
+"Oh, would you open it now, or would you wait until to-morrow?"
+cried Ruth, as she weighed the package in her hands and studied
+the outside. "It's too fascinating, and I really can't wait," she
+decided, and cutting the string with the knife Arthur held out to
+her, she soon disclosed a box of unmistakable intent.
+
+"Tyler's!" she said rapturously, "and five pounds of it, I'm sure.
+That's Uncle Jerry's writing on the envelope. 'For the Social Six,
+whose acquaintance I hope to make in the near future.' How dear
+of him! And that means that he's coming to Boston some time this
+winter! Oh, I shall be so happy if he does."
+
+"He's a wise young man to pave the way beforehand so sweetly," said
+Mrs. Hamilton with a laugh. "Ail the girls will think him quite
+perfect."
+
+"He's the nicest uncle that ever lived, and we do have such good
+times together. He's only twelve years older than I am, you know,
+and he seems more like a brother than an uncle." As Ruth spoke the
+front door opened suddenly and Mr. Hamilton entered.
+
+"Am I just in time for lunch?" he asked gaily. "I thought I'd come
+out early to-day and play with Ruth. Besides, I have a package here
+which she might like to investigate."
+
+He gave Ruth a bundle which was almost covered with seals, stamps
+and addresses, and a letter which bore a foreign postmark.
+
+"From father," exclaimed Ruth. "Excuse me if I open it now. Do listen
+to this," she said as her eyes traveled quickly over the familiar
+handwriting. "'The package which I am sending in Mr.  Hamilton's
+care contains some little gifts for the girls and boys about whom
+you have written to me. They have all been so kind to you that I
+am glad to express my gratitude to them even in so slight a manner.
+I shall leave you to bestow them as you think fit, and only hope
+that they will enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed choosing them.'
+
+"Isn't that the loveliest thing you ever heard of?" said Ruth,
+turning to Mrs. Hamilton. "Won't we have fun deciding about them?"
+
+"Let's have an impromptu party, to-night, if we can get the girls
+and boys together," said Mrs. Hamilton, who was as much a girl as
+Ruth about some things.
+
+"Splendid!" said Ruth, and then added in comical dismay, "I don't
+see how you expect me to eat any lunch with such exciting times in
+prospect."
+
+"We'll eat and plan at the same moment," consoled Mrs. Hamilton,
+"and then you won't feel that you're losing precious time."
+
+It was decided that they should invite only the Social Six girls,
+and the boys of the Candle Club, and to Ruth was left the pleasant
+task of telephoning where she could, and sending John with notes
+to the others. Every one in the house was busy, for each wanted to
+have a hand in making Ruth's first party in her new home a happy
+one. Delicious odors began to come from the kitchen, where Ellen
+was flying around with a red and beaming face, and even Arthur was
+shut up in his room carrying out mysterious directions his mother
+had given him.
+
+"I've been racking my brains to think up some quite novel way to
+give these presents," said Ruth as she and Mrs. Hamilton finished
+making their selections.
+
+"Just leave it to me. I have a plan for that, and all you need to
+do is to make them into nice little packages. You can use these
+small cards for marking them."
+
+Ruth sat in her room making her parcels gay with gold cord and sprigs
+of holly until she heard Mrs. Hamilton calling her. Then she went
+down-stairs to find the family assembled in the dining-room for
+a light and early supper. Until they had met at the table it had
+not occurred to Ruth to wonder how Arthur would take this sudden
+festivity.
+
+So it was with real purpose but with an apparently careless manner
+that she stopped him on his way to the stairs to say, "Do be down
+before any one comes, for I want you to help me out. I feel really
+embarrassed over my first party."
+
+"I'm not coming down," he answered abruptly.
+
+"Not coming down? Oh, Arthur, that's too bad of you. Does your
+mother know?"
+
+"No, not yet. I told her I'd try, and I have, but I can't manage
+it." Arthur's face and manner were so forlorn that it took all
+Ruth's courage to continue. She glanced around but there was no
+one within hearing, and at last she said, "Why won't you come down?
+Is it because you can't bear to have the boys and girls see you on
+crutches?"
+
+Arthur nodded uncomfortably. He hated to talk of this to any one,
+and he hadn't expected any determined interference in his plans.
+
+"Don't you suppose they ail know about it? And if they do will just
+seeing you make any difference?" continued Ruth, quite surprised
+at her own eloquence, and still persistently barring the way to
+the stairs. "I know that they are all longing to have you with them
+again, and that none of the good times seem the same without you.
+I heard Frank and Joe say the other day that if you kept up this
+sort of thing much longer they were going to make a raid on your
+room and have it out with you."
+
+"I wish they would," answered Arthur gloomily. "Perhaps they might
+knock some sense into me."
+
+"Well, if you want to know what I think," Ruth went on, feeling that
+her courage was fast departing, and on that very account growing
+more and more severe, "I think it's cowardly to shut yourself away
+from your friends and spoil everything like this. I dare say you
+are one of the very boys who think that ail girls are cry-babies,
+but I can't see why it isn't playing baby to do as you are doing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ARTHUR COMES BACK
+
+
+As soon as Arthur was out of sight Ruth flew up the stairs and into
+her room.
+
+"Oh, dear! Now I have done it!" she thought, throwing herself on
+the couch and clasping her hands behind her head. "Just as we were
+beginning to be good friends, too. Why didn't I keep still and let
+his mother manage it?"
+
+Ruth's cheeks were very red and her hands hot and unsteady as she
+put on her dainty silk gown. She had expected to enjoy the evening
+so much, and now, for the moment, at least, she would be thankful
+if there were to be no party. She tormented herself by thinking that
+perhaps if she had not interfered things might have gone better.
+What boy could ever forgive being called a coward and a baby? Would
+she, herself, have been braver or more cheerful if she had suddenly
+been condemned to crutches and so inactive a life?
+
+Fortunately for her the sound of the door-bell made her run hastily
+down-stairs to receive her guests. It was a relief to find Mrs.
+Hamilton in the big music-room, for though she was accustomed to
+meeting the three boys who had arrived first, they seemed strangely
+formal and unfamiliar in the dignity of their party clothes. They
+were doing their best to be cheerful and entertaining, for all felt
+oppressed by the fact that there was to be a party in the Hamilton
+house without Arthur as host.
+
+Joe, who with Frank and Arthur had formed a trio noted for its
+loyalty and good fellowship, looked as solemn as a boy who resembled
+a good-natured cherub could, and shook hands with Mrs.  Hamilton
+and Ruth with a fervor that made them wince. Arthur had been his
+hero and chum ever since they were small boys in knickerbockers.
+They had gone to school together, and had been preparing for the
+same college when the accident happened which had so changed Arthur.
+It had been the first real sorrow of Joe's life to be shut away
+from Arthur, and he felt that he should never be reconciled to it.
+
+Philip and John Canfield were brothers who had come lately to Glenloch,
+and were much liked by the boys and girls. Phil, the elder, was a
+quiet, studious boy, much interested in mechanics and electricity,
+and preparing for a course in one of the well-known scientific
+schools. He was devoted to his younger brother, who was a brilliant,
+artistic lad, but not very strong. The family had come to Glenloch
+on account of the fine air, and the out-of-door life.
+
+Glenloch young people were never late in arriving at a party, and
+almost before Ruth realized it ail her guests had come.
+
+"What shall we do first?" she whispered to Charlotte, who was
+looking really pretty in her red dress, though a little pale still
+from her recent fright.
+
+"Let's play Twenty Questions. That breaks the ice beautifully, for
+we always get so excited over it."
+
+Dorothy and Bert Ellsworth were selected as leaders and began at once
+to choose their supporters. They had not progressed far, however,
+when an exclamation from Joe, who was standing in the background,
+made them all turn to look at him. He was staring past Mr. and
+Mrs. Hamilton out into the hall, his eyes very big and round, and
+a broad smile on his face. Before he could speak a voice from the
+hall, a voice that tried very hard to be steady, said:
+
+"Can you find a place for me on one of the sides?"
+
+Then, and only then, Joe came to life. Leaping toward the door he
+seized the owner of the voice by the shoulders with a force that
+threatened to overbalance him.
+
+"It's Art!" he almost shrieked, "by glory, it's Arthur. Of course
+you can have a place. You can be on both sides. You can own the
+whole party if you want to."
+
+"Hold on, old man," said Arthur with a laugh as he started slowly
+into the room with Joe's arm around his shoulders. "Don't rush me
+too hard, for I'm not so steady on my pins as I used to be."
+
+Almost before the words were ont of his mouth there was a general
+rush of boys in his direction.
+
+"Take care of the sticks, Joe," ordered Frank; "now, Phil, gently
+there," and before Arthur could protest he was lifted skilfully
+in the arms of his chums, borne in triumphal procession across the
+long room, and deposited in the biggest armchair.
+
+"What's the matter with Arthur?" piped Jack, as the boys settled
+themselves on the floor around the big chair, and in response a
+ringing chorus of boys and girls lustily asserted, "He's all right!"
+
+Arthur held his head high and smiled bravely, but his paleness told
+what a struggle for self-control he was making. Quite unconsciously
+he looked appealingly at his mother, but saw only her back as she
+went quickly from the room.
+
+Betty, who had a positive genius for sensing situations and smoothing
+over hard places, saw the look and came to the rescue at once. "Get
+up, children," she commanded with mock severity; "this is a party,
+and we don't sit on the floor at parties. Besides, we're going to
+play a game."
+
+"Oh, we'd rather talk to Arthur," answered Bert bluntly. "You girls
+can play games in the library if you want to."
+
+There was a chorus of protest from the girls, in the midst of
+which Frank and Joe set Bert forcibly on his feet, while Phil said
+paternally, "Son, son, is that the way you talk to your sister?
+You're going to have plenty of chance to talk to Arthur from now
+on, so come along and play like a good little boy."
+
+It was Dorothy's turn to choose, and she took what her brother called
+a mean advantage by immediately choosing Arthur and establishing
+her camp around the big chair. Bert's side went reluctantly into
+the library, and the game began by sending Philip and Katharine
+into the hall to choose what the others should guess.
+
+In spite of the fact that what she most wanted had come to pass
+Ruth still felt uncomfortable, indeed almost unhappy. To be sure
+Arthur had come down, but would he ever forgive what she had said
+to him? She had been quick to see that at first he had resented
+her advent into the family, and it was with a secret pride that
+she had lately realized that they were getting to be good friends.
+"Now I have spoiled all that," she thought mournfully. "He may be
+glad I made him come down, but I know he'll never forget the horrid
+things I said."
+
+Katharine and Philip fondly hoped that they had chosen something
+which would puzzle their friends for some time. It was not long,
+however, before Charlotte, whose skilful questioning was the admiration
+of her own side and the despair of the other, had gradually drawn
+from Philip the fact that the object thought of was the right eye
+of the first fish Frank had caught the last time he went fishing. As
+Philip reluctantly assented there was a shout of joy from Bert's
+side, and an answering chorus of groans from the music-room.
+Then Charlotte and Jack went out and tried their best to think of
+something almost unguessable, and at last Ruth was sent out to wait
+for some one from the other side who seemed to be slow in coming.
+
+She sat down in one of the hall chairs, but started up again and
+would have liked to run away when she heard the familiar tap of the
+crutches on the polished floor. It was silly to feel so embarrassed,
+she thought; she had meant well, at least, in what she had done,
+and if she had gone too far she was sorry but it couldn't be helped
+now. She tried to think only of the game they were playing and said
+brightly to Arthur as he approached:
+
+"I hope you've thought of something hard, for I'm so stupid I can't
+think of a thing."
+
+"Oh, hang the game," he answered impatiently. "See here, Ruth, it's
+not very easy for me to say things, but I've just been waiting for
+the chance to tell you that you've done something for me to-night
+that I shall never forget."
+
+"Oh, but I want you to forget all those horrid things I said, and
+I take them all back this very minute. I think it's very fine and
+brave of you to come down and act just the same as ever."
+
+Arthur looked as if the little speech pleased him, though, being
+a boy, of course he couldn't say so.
+
+"It's taken three of you to reform me," he said with a little laugh.
+"Mother has tried her hand at it, and good old Ellen, and now you
+have put on the finishing touch. At least, I hope it's the finishing
+touch," he added soberly.
+
+"Of course it is. You can never feel like shutting yourself up
+again when you see how they all want you, and how happy you make
+your mother and father."
+
+"I shall be an ungrateful beast if I don't please my mother and
+father. You must give me a push if you see me going backward, Ruth.
+What's the use of a borrowed sister if she can't help a fellow
+along?"
+
+"I will, and you must help me, for boys always have very strict
+ideas as to how their sisters should behave," said Ruth with a
+mischievous twinkle. "My, but I feel better," she added with a sigh.
+"You've been such an awful load on my conscience, Arthur Hamilton,
+that I haven't enjoyed one minute of my party. Now I'm going to
+have a good time."
+
+She started toward the door of the library just as Joe's voice
+called from the music-room, "What under the sun are you two people
+taking so long about?"
+
+Ruth flew back to Arthur in dismay. "Oh, in another second I should
+have walked straight back to my own side without choosing a thing,"
+she gasped. "Do think of something quick."
+
+Arthur shouted with laughter. "I'd have given anything if you had,"
+he choked. "I should have liked to see your face when you came to."
+
+"Mean boy!" she said sternly. "You can only pay up for that by
+thinking of something immediately, before I count five. One, two,
+three, four---"
+
+"The tip of Fuzzy's tail," answered Arthur, making a useless grab
+for the object in question as its small proprietor disappeared up
+the stairs.
+
+"All right. But they'll guess it in a minute," declared Ruth as they
+took their separate ways. Contrary to her expectations it proved
+a hard one, and they were all in gales of merriment before Betty,
+whose thoughts turned easily to cats, started the questioning in
+the right direction. Charades came next, then a game proposed by
+Philip, and after that supper was announced.
+
+Ruth, who had not been let into the secret of the final arrangements,
+felt a thrill of delight when she saw the pretty table. A tiny
+Christmas tree hung with glittering ornaments, and dotted with
+twinkling candies was the centerpiece, while a border of delicate
+green vine brightened with sprigs of holly ran all around the table.
+At the foot of the little tree were heaped mysterious parcels wrapped
+in white tissue-paper and tied with gold cord. Now Ruth knew what
+Arthur had been so busy over all the afternoon, for the place cards
+were small and very funny snapshots of the guests themselves, neatly
+mounted, and with the date in gold lettering.
+
+"The mental effort of playing guessing games gives me almost
+an appetite," said Joe pensively, as he watched with hungry eyes
+a platter of chicken coming his way. There was a general shout at
+this, for Joe was always eating, and never hesitated to proclaim
+that he considered the serving of the refreshments the nicest part
+of a party.
+
+"You have a fairly good appetite for a boy," remarked Ruth, "or
+for a white-haired lady either," she added demurely.
+
+Every one laughed and Joe groaned. He had tried to keep it a dead
+secret that his grandmother had been highly indignant because
+he had borrowed her best gown without leave, and had cut off his
+allowance for several weeks, but it had leaked out, and the girls
+didn't mean he should hear the last of it.
+
+"Never mind, old boy," said Arthur. "There's more food in sight
+and still more in the kitchen, so pitch in."
+
+It was a delicious supper of chicken and creamed potatoes, crisp
+rolls and foamy chocolate, and Ellen's unrivaled ice-cream and
+cake to top off with. As they were finishing the ice-cream, Katie
+appeared with a tray on which reposed six pound boxes and an equal
+number of half pound boxes. All eyes were upon her as she gave a
+large box to each girl and a small box to each boy.
+
+"Wow!" said the irrepressible Joe, lifting his box and letting it
+fly into the air, so great was his astonishment at finding it empty.
+
+"Oh, here's richness!" cried Dorothy, taking off the cover of hers
+to disclose row upon row of tempting chocolates.
+
+The boys with one accord uncovered their boxes, only to find them
+empty, and a low groan went around the table.
+
+"I say, Betty, I always did like you," said Frank, gazing covetously
+at the sweets so near at hand.
+
+"Tell them about it, Ruth," laughed Mrs. Hamilton.
+
+Ruth tried to look very solemn as she gazed around the table.  "This,
+boys," she said impressively, "is intended for an object-lesson, to
+show you how nice and kind and generous, and--and everything else
+that's good, girls can be when they have the slightest chance. My
+Uncle Jerry, who hopes soon to know you all, has sent this candy
+to the girls, and now it's their turn to do the next thing."
+
+"Give me your box then, and let me fill it at once before I am
+tempted to keep it ail myself," groaned Charlotte, reaching for
+Joe's box. "And 'think shame to yourself' for your greediness in
+the past."
+
+Meanwhile Mrs. Hamilton was busy with the packages placed around the
+little Christmas tree. From somewhere in the midst of the greenery
+she extracted a bunch of red and white ribbons and, holding them so
+that it was impossible to see to which packages they were attached,
+she offered them to each in turn saying, "Girls white, and boys
+red, please.
+
+"Now pull and see what you'll get," she said as the last ribbon
+left her hand. "These are gifts which have come across the ocean
+to you from Ruth's father."
+
+The ribbons were purposely so tangled that at first it was like
+pulling in an unwilling fish. There was much friendly squabbling,
+and then a chorus of ohs and ahs as the gifts were finally opened.
+
+"Just what I wanted," contentedly sighed Dorothy as she clasped
+a turquoise-studded bracelet on her round arm. "What a perfectly
+elegant father you must have, Ruth!"
+
+"I should say so," came in a duet from Betty and Katharine who were
+respectively gloating over a string of pearl beads and a pretty
+hatpin. Alice had found a silver belt-buckle in her parcel, and
+Charlotte was gazing at a coral necklace with great satisfaction.
+
+"What vain creatures girls are," said Frank maliciously as he gazed
+at the absorbed young ladies. "Now we men, ahem, are presented with
+practical gifts." As he spoke he held up a fine knife with views
+of Nuremberg on the handle.
+
+"You spoke too soon, Frank," said Phil, showing a pair of cuff
+links, while Joe made every one laugh by assuming dandified airs as
+he stuck in his tie a pretty scarf-pin. Arthur peacefully attached
+a silver pencil to his watch-chain, Bert transferred his small
+change to a pigskin purse, and Jack slashed imaginary villains with
+a knife similar to Frank's.
+
+"But where's your present, Ruth?" asked Betty. "You ought to have
+the nicest of all." Ruth, who had been absorbed in watching the
+others, came to herself with a start. "Why--why, I actually forgot
+to choose something for myself. I meant to, though," she added
+honestly.
+
+"How will this do?" asked Mrs. Hamilton, producing a package that
+no one had seen before.
+
+"Why, did father send another package?" said Ruth, looking so surprised
+that every one shouted with laughter. The girls eagerly crowded
+around her as she cut the cord and disclosed an attractive-looking
+box. Opening this she discovered a dainty velvet case in which
+reposed the prettiest watch she had ever seen. It was hung on a
+slender chain, and Ruth put it around her neck at once and tucked
+the little watch under her belt.
+
+"Isn't it a darling?" she said happily. "Father always gives me
+what I most want."
+
+"Let's see the wheels go round," suggested Phil, and Ruth opened
+the case to find a little picture of her father, taken since he
+went away, and looking so very like him that for a moment she could
+hardly speak.
+
+"That's my father," she said when she could find her voice. Both
+girls and boys crowded around to look at the kind, handsome face
+gazing at them from out the little watch, and Ruth's heart swelled
+with pride and affection as she listened to their admiring remarks.
+
+"Let's show them the game we tried the other night," said Dorothy
+to her brother as they all returned to the music-room.
+
+"Oh, that's too hard for them," answered Frank with affected
+superiority. "They couldn't guess anything so difficult as that."
+
+"Try it and see," clamored two or three voices.
+
+So Frank with one finger drew a large circle in the air, and with
+elaborate gestures made two points for the eyes and a line each
+for nose and mouth. As he did so he recited solemnly:
+
+
+
+"The moon is large and full and round; Two eyes, a nose and mouth."
+
+"Now see if you can do it just as I did," he said to Jack, who sat
+next him.
+
+Jack tried, imitating as nearly as he could remember all of Frank's
+peculiar movements of hand and arm, but as he finished Dorothy and
+Frank shouted, "No; not right."
+
+"Do it again, Frank," begged Charlotte, watching him sharply.
+
+Frank did it again, and this time with even more elaboration
+of gesture. The eyes were poked in with great firmness, the nose
+in its airy curves looked like no possible human feature, and the
+mouth was so decidedly turned up at the comers that one might have
+fancied it was laughing at them.
+
+Charlotte thought she knew; she had noticed a peculiar curve in
+Frank's little finger, and the sudden way in which he had dropped
+his hand both times. So she tried her fate with great courage, only
+to fail as Jack had done.
+
+"You do it, Dorothy," said Betty.
+
+Dorothy did it, but her method was so different from Frank's that
+she gave them no discoverable clue. The features she made were
+all small and precise, and she put in a few meaningless flourishes
+which puzzled them more than ever.
+
+Then Arthur, who had been watching quietly, said the little speech
+and made the drawing in a way quite different from either Frank
+or Dorothy, and to the surprise of all the two wise ones admitted
+him at once into their fellowship.
+
+"All right, old fellow," laughed Frank. "Now there are three of us
+who know."
+
+At last Betty, with a gurgle of triumph, did it in the required
+way. Then Phil saw the point, and Alice discovered it almost at the
+same time. Finally there was a circle of waving arms, and a chorus
+of voices announcing that:
+
+"The moon is large and full and round; Two eyes, a nose and mouth."
+
+Only Ruth failed to guess the secret, and, though she waved with
+the others and tried her best to imitate all the various methods
+at once, she still failed every time.
+
+"Your arm's in my way, Ruth," said Joe, who happened to be sitting
+on her right.
+
+"I'll do it with the other, then," responded Ruth good-naturedly.
+To her surprise this attempt was greeted with a shout of, "That's
+right," and then every one laughed at her dazed expression.
+
+"Why, I've done it that way dozens of times," she protested.
+
+"No, you haven't," came in a laughing chorus. "Look at us once
+more."
+
+Ruth looked and for the first time realized that each one was using
+the left hand to make the picture. "What a stupid I am," she said
+ruefully. "To think I let all you Glenloch girls and boys get ahead
+of Chicago."
+
+"You're a Glenloch girl yourself, now," put in Katharine.
+
+"So I am, and I know a trick game, too. If Betty will come out in
+the hall with me I'll have my revenge on you."
+
+She started toward the door as she spoke, but a loud peal of the
+door-bell sent her flying back into the room again.
+
+Mr. Hamilton opened the door and took in a yellow envelope which
+he handed to Ruth.
+
+She tore it open eagerly and her face flushed with pleasure as she
+read the message. "It's from father," she cried, looking at the
+expectant faces around her. "He must have guessed that we might be
+having a party, for he says, 'Merry Christmas to all.' I just wish
+he could know you all, for I'm sure he'd like you."
+
+As she stood there smiling happily, Frank had a sudden inspiration.
+Seizing the hands of Charlotte and Alice, who were nearest him, he
+began to dance around Ruth, singing at the top of his voice:
+
+"For she's a jolly good fellow, For she's a jolly good fellow, For
+she's a jolly good fellow, And we're very glad she came."
+
+All joined in as Mrs. Hamilton caught it on the piano, and Ruth
+stood surrounded by a circle of beaming faces, and feeling that
+the world was a very good sort of place after all.
+
+As the laughing crowd broke ranks, Ruth was mysteriously drawn
+aside by Charlotte, Betty and Dorothy.
+
+"Allow us to crown you," said Charlotte, placing an available holly
+wreath on Ruth's head, "as the only successful member of the 'S.
+F. T. R. O. A. H. T. T. W.' The object of this society having been
+fulfilled, the society will now be officially dissolved."
+
+"Why, what do you mean?" asked Ruth much mystified.
+
+"Don't you remember the society we planned the first day we met
+in your room?" demanded Dorothy. "Well, look there, and there, and
+see if you haven't accomplished its object."
+
+Ruth looked and found it truly a pleasant sight. Arthur, the central
+figure of a group of boys, looked happier than she had ever seen
+him, and was evidently making plans for future good times, while his
+father and mother beamed contentedly on him from a little distance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+LOST AND FOUND
+
+
+Ten days after Christmas the ice was declared quite perfect, and
+the Social Six were to have their first skating-party of the season
+on Holden's Pond. It was planned to invite the usual boys, to begin
+skating at about half-past six, and to go to Katharine French's
+house at half-past eight for supper and games. Betty's married
+brother and his wife, who were great favorites with the girls and
+boys, were to chaperone the party.
+
+Ruth was greatly excited over the prospect, for she had hardly
+done more than learn to stand up on her Christmas skates, and she
+longed to be able to glide off as gracefully as Dorothy did. She
+looked very gay in her red suit, with a jaunty tam-o'-shanter set
+rakishly on the brown curls, and even Arthur smiled involuntarily
+at the pretty picture as she came into the library to say good-bye.
+
+"I wish you were going, Arthur," she said. "But, at least, you'll
+escape one trial; you won't have to hold me up."
+
+"I believe I could stand even that," answered Arthur wistfully.  And
+then because he had set himself to the task of keeping cheerful,
+he added, "Just wait until next winter; I'll get up a special
+skating-party for you, and whiz you over the ice at a great rate."
+
+"I hope by that time I'll be able to whiz a little by myself. Just
+now I can only wabble and squeal. Oh, I must hurry, for there's
+the whistle," and with a gay good-bye Ruth flew out of the house.
+
+Arthur went slowly over to the window to watch the jolly crowd
+out of sight. Then he went back to his book and began reading with
+an unconscious sigh which made his mother and father look at each
+other with troubled eyes.
+
+As they neared the pond with its twinkling bonfires, it seemed
+to Ruth there would be small chance for an inexperienced skater
+in the midst of the many dark figures which were gliding in every
+direction. She felt better about it, however, when she found Philip
+taking possession of her to put on her skates, and then starting
+off at a slow, steady glide which at once gave her confidence. She
+had almost begun to feel that she could really skate, when Frank
+came up and took her for a mad dash around the pond at a pace that
+fairly made her tremble. She was glad to get back once more to the
+little inlet which the club had chosen for its meeting-place, and
+where on the bank they had built their bonfire. Joe and Charlotte
+skated along at about the same moment, and Ruth was secretly glad
+to have Joe claim her as his next partner.
+
+"You're doing wonders, my dear," said pretty Mrs. Ellsworth,
+as Ruth came back to the meeting-place after her comfortable spin
+with Joe. "Here's Jack waiting to take you out as soon as you are
+rested, and I'll get Joe to help me find my husband."
+
+Jack was a fine skater, and Ruth felt so encouraged by her last
+attempt that she really enjoyed her skate with him and began to
+long to do something by herself. As they came back after circling
+the pond, she said earnestly, "Now you go and have a skate with some
+one who knows how. I want to rest a minute, and try all by myself
+in this inlet, where I shall be out of the way."
+
+Jack refused at first to leave her alone, but she insisted, and
+as Betty went by at that moment he was off in pursuit before he
+fairly realized what he was doing. He quieted his own conscience
+and Betty's protests by promising to find Bert and send him back
+to Ruth immediately.
+
+Left to herself, Ruth started out, very timidly at first and very
+unevenly. Finding herself still on her feet she gained confidence
+and struck out more boldly. The inlet seemed altogether too small,
+and she skated out a little way, still keeping near the shore and
+well out of the track of the skaters.
+
+She was so busy watching her own feet that she didn't notice Betty
+and Jack as they flashed by until they shouted their congratulations
+on her success. Then Bert and Dorothy came along and stopped to
+tell her that they would all meet at the bonfire in fifteen minutes,
+and go from there to Katharine's house. They tried to persuade her
+to skate around the pond with them, but she was so in love with
+her own efforts that she said no and sent them off in a hurry. Then
+she tried again with new courage, and struck out with such energy
+that before she knew it she had left the edge of the pond, and
+was skating with quick and fairly steady strokes in the direction,
+opposite to that in which Bert and Dorothy had gone. It startled her
+when she realized that she had left the meeting-place far behind,
+and she knew she ought to turn about and try to get back there.
+But she was so fascinated by her own success that she hated to turn
+for fear the spell would be broken.
+
+Suddenly she caught the toe of her skate in a crack, made a frantic
+effort to keep herself from falling, and then went with a crash flat
+on her face on the ice. It seemed an age to her before she could
+move; then she tried to get up, and some one, rather unskilfully,
+helped her to her feet. As she stood there half dazed and shaking,
+she put her hand to her face and brought it away all wet.
+
+"Oh, dear, my nose is bleeding," she said aloud, and then became
+conscious that she had an audience of two small boys, who were
+grinning at her unsympathetically.
+
+"Won't you please take off my skates?" she said as pleasantly as
+she could, for it made her very angry to see them laughing at her.
+She longed to get out of their sight as quickly as possible, and
+she wondered if she could ever make her way across the ice and back
+to the meeting-place with her knees trembling under her in such
+unwonted fashion. Then she thought of how she must look with her
+face streaked with blood, and she decided it would be better to
+go home. She felt quite sure that if she went a little way across
+the field to the left she should find the road they had come down
+earlier in the evening.
+
+"It didn't take us so very long to come down here," she thought,
+as she plunged through the snow, "and after I've repaired damages
+Uncle Henry will see that I get back to the party."
+
+Her nose was still bleeding, but she stopped it after a while
+with applications of snow. Her head ached, and she felt sure the
+afflicted nose was swelling and that she should be a fright. She
+wished that she hadn't tried to be so smart, that she had stayed
+in the little inlet, and all the useless wishes that one makes when
+it is too late.
+
+When she came to the road she felt better, and walked along as
+cheerfully as her increasing aches would permit. Now that she was
+getting farther away from the pond it was very still, painfully
+still, she thought. The moon had disappeared, but the sky was thickly
+sown with stars and the glistening snow-mantle was more beautiful
+than ever. For some reason the road seemed strangely unfamiliar,
+and Ruth faltered and almost turned back as she remembered that
+she had never before been out alone in the evening. It had been so
+light at the pond, with the many bonfires, and so noisily gay that
+she had not realized until now what the loneliness of the walk
+would be.
+
+"It was stupid of me not to have one of those small boys go for Bert
+or Phil," she said to herself. "I should rather it would be Phil,
+because he takes care of one so nicely, and I'm sure he wouldn't
+laugh. I'd be willing to have them laugh at me, though, if I could
+only see them."
+
+By this time Ruth should have begun to see houses, and she had
+already decided that she should stop at the first one she saw and
+ask for help. But to her dismay no houses appeared, and the road
+seemed narrower and more shut in by trees than it had before.
+
+Still she clung tenaciously to the idea that she was on the right
+road, and that if she kept on long enough she should come to the
+houses. She tried to comfort herself by thinking that she had been
+too absorbed on the way down to notice how the road turned and how
+far the houses really were from the pond. Her head ached enough
+to make her feel a little dazed, and her nose seemed as large as
+a small apple when she cautiously touched it.
+
+Suddenly she was quite sure that she was on the wrong road,
+and realized that she had no idea in which direction to go to get
+home. Besides that she was so tired that she could hardly keep on
+walking. Tears started to her eyes, but she winked them away. "I
+won't cry," she said boldly, as though she thought that speaking
+aloud would make it more binding upon her. "And I will keep moving,
+for then I can't freeze, and it seems terrifically cold."
+
+She stood still for a moment trying to peer into the darkness
+ahead of her and wondering whether there might be houses near, or
+whether it would be better to go back and try to find the pond.
+
+Suddenly on the still, cold air floated the sound of a voice.  "Ruth!"
+it called,--and then after a moment of silence, "Ruth Shirley!" The
+sound was so drawn-out, so far-reaching, that as it echoed about
+her Ruth positively shook with fright and excitement.  Then she
+started in the direction from which it seemed to come, a pathetic
+little figure stumbling from weariness.
+
+After Ruth's departure Arthur tried hard to fix his mind on his
+story, but even the charm of Treasure Island failed to distract
+him. In spite of himself his thoughts turned always to the starlit
+winter night, and to the pond gay with bonfires and torches and
+covered with boys and girls. After a while he closed the book with
+a snap, and went to the piano, where he softly tried over some new
+music Ruth had left there. Then came a sound of sleigh-bells, the
+tramp of feet on the piazza, and the peal of the door-bell.
+
+As Katie opened the door, a cyclone swept in which resolved itself
+into Phil, Frank and Joe, all talking at once. "We've come to take
+you over to Katharine's for the supper, and you've got to go," they
+announced almost as one man.
+
+"It's no use for you to say no," continued Phil, "for we shall use
+force if necessary. We've had our orders not to come back without
+you, and you surely wouldn't deprive our dear little Joe of the
+chance of a supper."
+
+Joe clasped his hands and wriggled imploringly, while Frank tried
+to hasten matters by going in search of Arthur's overcoat.
+
+"Well, I'll go," said Arthur hesitatingly. "You'll have to boost
+me out to the sleigh, for I couldn't take a step on this snow."
+
+"Of course. Frank and I will bear your lordship to the sleigh, and
+Joe can bring the stick. I'm glad that it's only one crutch now,
+old fellow," ended Phil so affectionately that Mrs. Hamilton could
+have hugged him.
+
+"It's going to be one cane in--well, I don't dare to say just how
+long, but soon," announced Arthur with such determination that,
+"Hurrah," "Bully for you," "You're a brick," came from the boys
+simultaneously.
+
+To Arthur the quick rush through the keen air, the tingle of
+the flying snow-needles against his face, above all the wholesome
+companionship of his chums, were as rain in thirsty places. The
+jokes of the boys seemed the wittiest things he had ever heard,
+and he shouted with laughter.
+
+As they reached the piazza Betty opened the door. "Have you seen
+Ruth?" she asked anxiously. "She has disappeared, and all the others
+except Katharine are out hunting for her."
+
+"Disappeared!" said Frank, looking as though he could not believe
+his ears. "How under the sun could she manage to disappear? Wasn't
+Jack with her?"
+
+"Yes, but she wanted to be left alone for a while to practice, and
+when we were ready to start for Katharine's she was nowhere to be
+found. Oh, do hurry and don't stop for explanations." Phil and Joe
+were already out of the house, and Frank was soon at their heels.
+
+"It's horrid to be left behind to wait, isn't it, Arthur?" said
+Betty, feeling very helpless and realizing how much more so Arthur
+must feel.
+
+"It makes me feel like a log," answered Arthur. He was tramping up
+and down the long parlor and in his excitement doing better work
+with his crutch than he had ever done. "I'm going out on the piazza,
+Betty," he announced. "I can't stand it any longer in the house."
+
+As he went through the hall his eye fell on the megaphone which
+hung there, and with a dim idea that it might be of use to him he
+tucked it under his free arm. The piazza was clean and dry, and he
+walked its length, finding the exertion a relief to his feelings.
+The megaphone was an awkward burden, and he started to put it down,
+only to snatch it up again before it had touched the piazza floor.
+When he had brought it out he had thought he might shout a triumphant
+"found" through it. Now a better purpose suggested itself to him.
+
+"Ruth! Ruth Shirley!" he called, and his ringing voice flew through
+the air in waves of sound.
+
+"Oh, do you see her?" shrieked Katharine, opening the front door.
+
+"No, but I hope she can hear me. I've an idea that she tried to
+go home for some reason, and that she has lost herself on one of
+those winding roads that lead from the pond. Anyway, I'm going to
+shout every two minutes, and the sound may help her find her way."
+Katharine retreated, and the two girls wandered about restlessly
+in the house and listened for each call of Ruth's name. Suddenly
+there was a hurried thump of the crutch and Arthur shouted excitedly:
+"She's coming, girls; run and meet her."
+
+The two girls flew out of the house to see just turning into the
+yard a weary-looking girl who was unmistakably Ruth. They rushed
+to meet her and half carried her up the steps and into the house,
+while Arthur shouted a rousing "found" through the megaphone.
+
+"Is that the voice that's been calling me?" asked Ruth as he followed
+them into the house. "I believe if it hadn't been for that I should
+have given up."
+
+"But where have you been and how did you manage to get lost?"
+questioned Betty.
+
+"Oh, don't ask me any questions now, but give me a looking-glass
+and some powder so that I can fix this dreadful nose before the
+others get here," implored Ruth. "I'm tired to death, but I started
+out to make myself look better before I came to your party, and I
+want to do it."
+
+The three girls vanished up-stairs, leaving Arthur to poke the fire
+and chuckle quietly over this truly feminine ending to the tragedy.
+
+"She's the real thing," he said to himself. "Doesn't want to be
+pitied and fussed over."
+
+By the time the others had gathered, Ruth came down-stairs and was
+besieged at once with questions.
+
+"It was so foolish of me," she said as she finished telling her
+story. "I might so easily have sent one of those small boys across
+the pond. All I could think of at first was to go somewhere where
+I could take care of my poor nose." As she spoke she shut one eye
+and gazed with the other at her red and swollen nose.
+
+"I think the swelling's going down a little, don't you?" she asked
+anxiously.
+
+They all laughed, and Jack said almost as if he felt it a personal
+grievance, "I don't believe you were so scared as we were after
+all."
+
+It was a jolly supper, but to Ruth, who ached from head to foot,
+it seemed as if it would never end. She did her best to behave as
+usual, and succeeded so well that for some time no one noticed how
+pale and tired she looked.
+
+As they got up from the table, Arthur said suddenly: "Say, Phil,
+I'm awfully tired. Do you mind getting out your old nag now? And,
+Ruth, wouldn't you like to go home too?"
+
+"Oh, yes," answered Ruth, so eagerly that the others realized at
+once the cause of Arthur's sudden weariness. No one said a word,
+but the girls almost fell over each other in their endeavors to
+assist her, and the boys rushed the sleigh to the door in great
+haste.
+
+"Ladies first," said Phil gallantly, and before Ruth realized what
+was happening, he and Frank had gently picked her up and deposited
+her in the sleigh. Then came Arthur, and then the boys piled in on
+the front seat.
+
+Mrs. Hamilton met them at the front door. "I'm so glad you came home
+early, children. Ruth, you must be tired to death after skating."
+
+"I am. Oh, I am," answered Ruth with a little laugh, and then she
+surprised herself by throwing both arms about Mrs. Hamilton's neck
+and bursting into tears.
+
+"Don't you dare to think I'm crying, Arthur Hamilton," she managed
+to say between her sobs. "I said I wouldn't, and I won't," and
+then realizing the absurdity of what she was saying, she laughed
+as unrestrainedly as she had cried.
+
+The sight of Mrs. Hamilton's worried face and Arthur's helpless
+alarm brought her to her senses, and she said penitently, "Do forgive
+me for being so foolish. I've tried so hard not to cry that when
+I felt Aunt Mary's arms around me it just had to come out."
+
+"Darling, the best place for you is in bed, and I shall see that
+you're tucked in all 'comfy,'" said Mrs. Hamilton tenderly.
+
+As she started up the stairs, Ruth turned to Arthur who was slowly
+following. "I really do believe you saved my life," she said
+earnestly. "I was so frightened and tired and achy that I couldn't
+have gone many more steps if that blessed old voice hadn't led me."
+
+"Oh, some one would have found you before long," answered Arthur,
+who hated to take any undeserved credit to himself.
+
+"Perhaps," assented Ruth doubtfully. "At any rate it would have
+been a trifle cold sitting there waiting to be found, and I prefer
+to think you saved my life. It makes me feel much more important."
+
+"Ail right, we'll call it so then," said Arthur with a laugh. "And
+now we're square again, as we were on the night when we first ate
+dinner together, for if I saved your life you have certainly saved
+my common sense."
+
+"I must say I like it to hear you compare your common sense with
+my life. However, I'll shake hands on it," and with a laughing
+good-night Ruth followed Mrs. Hamilton into the pink room.
+
+Arthur thumped along into his own room and went happily to bed,
+feeling that girls were pluckier that he had thought them, and that
+even crutch-bearers could accomplish something in the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+MISS CYNTHIA
+
+
+"Come down to the pond with me this afternoon," said Dorothy as
+she and Ruth parted on their way home from school a few days after
+the skating-party, "and we'll go into a quiet comer and practice
+until you feel sure of yourself."
+
+"All right; I'll go," Ruth answered, "but I can't stay long; I must
+study for at least an hour before dinner."
+
+"Well, be at my house by two, and then we shall have the pond
+almost to ourselves for a while, and we'll be ready to go home by
+the time the crowd gets there."
+
+Dorothy was a good teacher and in the hour they spent on the pond
+Ruth gained both skill and confidence.
+
+"I never shall be nervous again about it," she said with enthusiasm
+as they took a last swing around the pond together.  "It's like
+so many other things; you have to get the feeling of it before you
+can really enjoy it."
+
+"That's so," assented Dorothy; "you probably never will lose
+it now. My, but it's growing colder every minute, isn't it? Let's
+hurry home, and I'll make some hot chocolate. You'll have plenty
+of time before you need to study."
+
+Ruth stooped to take off her skates at once. "I'm really as hungry
+as a bear," she confessed, "and a cup of your chocolate will be
+fine."
+
+When the girls entered the house Dorothy stopped short as she
+caught the sound of voices in the library. She listened intently a
+second, then she frowned, put her finger on her lips, and grasping
+Ruth by the hand led her softly across the hall and up-stairs. Not
+until they had reached the large room in the third story and had
+closed the door did she break the silence which enfolded them.
+
+"For pity's sake," asked Ruth as she took off her coat and hat,
+"what is it and who is it?"
+
+"Oh, it's only Miss Cynthia," answered Dolly carelessly. "I didn't
+want mother to know I'm in the house."
+
+"Who's Miss Cynthia?" pursued Ruth with great curiosity, "and why
+don't you want your mother to know?"
+
+"Why, Miss Cynthia Atwood, of course. Don't you know her yet?
+You're fortunate, that's all I can say. She lives in that funny
+little house near the library, and she's the last surviving member
+of one of the oldest families here. I ought to know, for she's told
+me times enough."
+
+"But why don't you like her?" persisted Ruth, who was toasting herself
+in front of the open fire while Dorothy got out the materials for
+the chocolate.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," answered Dolly with a shrug. "She's tiresome
+and inquisitive, and she's always coming round to make visitations
+on days when she ought not to be out, and then we girls or the
+boys have to see that she gets home safely. I can't help slipping
+out of her way whenever I can."
+
+"Well, you certainly slipped this time," said Ruth with a laugh.  "I
+didn't really know what was going to happen to me. What a good-timey
+looking room this is, Dolly," she went on, glancing about her.
+"I always feel when I am up here as if I can't go away until I've
+tried every one of these games."
+
+It was a huge room, rather bare of ornament except for the pictures
+Frank and Dorothy had put up, but wholly suggestive of good times,
+as Ruth had said. Nothing was too good for use, and everything
+promised pleasure of the most wholesome kind.
+
+"Father and mother like us to have our best times at home," said
+Dolly sipping her chocolate with a critical air, "and Frank and I
+have had this room for a playroom ever since I can remember."
+
+"It must be fine to have a brother or sister," said Ruth wistfully.
+"I don't think only children have half so much fun."
+
+"They miss some quarrels, too," laughed Dolly. "Poor old Frankie!
+He's splendid discipline for my temper, for he can be the most
+exasperating boy I ever saw. I suppose I'm just as exasperating,
+though," she added honestly.
+
+"Is that four o'clock?" asked Ruth suddenly. "Dear me, I must go,
+though I'd much rather stay here. Your chocolate is great, Dolly,
+and those nice little wafers were perfect with it."
+
+"I hate to have you go, but I'll walk over with you just to get a
+little more air," said Dolly, settling her fur turban on her blonde
+locks. "Now we must go down softly, for Miss Cynthia may still be
+here. I dare say Frank is somewhere about, and mother can get him
+to take her home," she added, as if she half felt the need of an
+apology. "I'm sure it's his turn to go, anyway."
+
+It was with the feeling of being guilty conspirators that the girls
+stole down-stairs and tiptoed softly across the hall, and they
+both jumped violently, when, even as Dorothy had her hand on the
+door-knob, Mrs. Marshall's voice called:
+
+"Dorothy, is that you, dear?"
+
+"Yes, mother," answered Dorothy in a voice expressive of resigned
+despair. Then she added in a tragic whisper, "We are lost! There
+is no escape from our unhappy fate!"
+
+"Dorothy, Miss Cynthia is here, and I want you to see that she gets
+safely home," said her mother.
+
+"Yes, mother," answered Dorothy again, looking at Ruth with an
+I-told-you-so expression. "Don't you dare to leave me, Ruth Shirley,"
+she went on fiercely. "You'll have plenty of time to go with me.
+Come on in now and be introduced to her."
+
+Ruth hardly knew what picture she had formed of Miss Cynthia, but
+she certainly hadn't expected to meet the pretty, pink-cheeked old
+lady to whom Mrs. Marshall presented her. She was the smallest,
+most delicate of creatures, with snowy hair and bright blue eyes,
+which in darting glances seemed to absorb in minutest detail the
+person to whom she was talking.
+
+"And so this is Ruth Shirley," she said, holding one of Ruth's
+hands in both her tiny ones. "I'm very glad to know you, my dear.
+It seems as if Mrs. Hamilton might have brought you over to call
+on me before this. But then I'm used to being forgotten. How are
+Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton, and how is that dear boy, Arthur?" Miss
+Cynthia paused for breath and Ruth gladly released her hand.
+
+"Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton are very well," she answered, "and Arthur
+is much--"
+
+"I always said he would be better if he would only make an effort,"
+interrupted Miss Cynthia triumphantly. "But I began to be afraid
+he never would, and I thought it most likely that he would go off
+into a decline, I've often told Mary Hamilton that I should be
+worried to death if he were my boy. Do you hear from your father
+often? It must be pretty bad to have him so far away; so many things
+can happen nowadays that you can't tell from one day to the next
+where you'll be or how you'll be. Of course you know that, though,
+having lost your mother, poor child."
+
+"She hears very often from her father," said Mrs. Marshall, noticing
+Ruth's flushed cheeks, "and he makes the distance seem very short
+by sending cablegrams every once in a while. Now, Miss Cynthia, let
+me help you on with your cape, and then you can start out with an
+escort on each side of you."
+
+"Now, girls, you'll have to excuse me if I don't talk much," said
+Miss Cynthia apologetically, as they were leaving the house; "this
+icy wind makes my throat feel sore. But I shall be delighted to
+hear you talk. Girls always have such a lot to say to each other."
+
+"Please come in and rest yourselves," said Miss Cynthia with urgent
+hospitality, as they reached the door of the small old-fashioned
+looking house which Ruth had often noticed before.
+
+Dorothy began hasty explanations about being in a hurry to get
+home, but Miss Cynthia laid an imploring hand on Ruth's arm and,
+looking at her with real appeal in her blue eyes, almost drew her
+into the house.
+
+"We'll let Dorothy go if she must," she said decidedly, "but I want
+to get acquainted with you, child, and I'm terribly lonesome, too,
+these winter afternoons."
+
+Even with every desire to escape Ruth couldn't resist the pleading
+old eyes which were looking at her almost tearfully.
+
+"Do come in, Dolly," she begged; "I shall have time before I need
+to study to stay a little while." But almost as she spoke Dorothy
+vanished unaccountably, and there was nothing left for Ruth but to
+follow Miss Cynthia.
+
+"Come right into the parlor and sit down, while I find Luella and
+have her light a lamp," said the old lady, hurrying out of the room
+with surprising agility.
+
+The room was so dark that at first Ruth hardly dared to move, then
+as her eyes became accustomed to the gloom she found her way to a
+chair and sat down on the edge of it. She didn't enjoy the situation
+in which she found herself, and she wished she were out of it. Even
+the algebra which she must study as soon as she got home possessed
+a charm for her in comparison with the present moment. She half
+smiled as she thought of the suddenness with which Dorothy had
+faded from sight.
+
+"She might have waited after getting me into this," she said to
+herself impatiently.
+
+Just then with a suddenness which sent her flying out of her chair
+a harsh voice said almost in her ear:
+
+"Cheer up! Cheer up! Don't you cry!" and then followed an unintelligible
+variety of sounds ending with a cackling laugh.
+
+Ruth knew almost at once that it must be a parrot, but the surprise
+had been so great that she stood shaking in the middle of the
+room, not daring to move for fear of stepping on the uncanny bird.
+She remembered that once when she was a very little girl she had
+confidingly held out her finger to a parrot and that the unfriendly
+creature had immediately taken a bite out of it. She wished that
+the light would come; it made her nervous to be in a dark room with
+only a voice for company.
+
+"Who's afraid?" asked the parrot with surprising distinctness.
+
+"I am, Polly," answered Ruth with great truthfulness, and just then
+the maid brought in a lamp and her mistress followed.
+
+"Oh, you bad bird," said Miss Cynthia reproachfully, as the friendly
+gleam of the lamp disclosed the parrot perched on the back of the
+chair next to the one on which Ruth had been sitting.  "You bad
+Ebenezer, you've opened your cage again. Isn't it clever of him.
+to do it?"
+
+"Very clever," answered Ruth politely, but she still kept a safe
+distance from Ebenezer, who cocked his head on one side to look
+at her. and then burst into a hoarse, chuckling laugh as though he
+had seen something very funny.
+
+"That bird is such a comfort to me," sighed Miss Cynthia, smoothing
+the gay plumage. "I named him Ebenezer because it's so nice to have
+a man's name that you can call naturally in case you think some
+one's in the house. I got a man that worked for us to teach him
+what to answer when I call his name. Just listen, my dear."
+
+Miss Cynthia stepped into the hall. "Ebenezer! Ebenezer!" she
+called loudly, and to Ruth's amusement Ebenezer answered promptly
+in a voice that sounded surprisingly like that of a man, "Yes, I'm
+coming."
+
+"I guess that would scare a burglar some," remarked Miss Cynthia,
+complacently, "particularly as you never could tell but that Ebenezer
+might be right close to the man's ear when he answered. I taught
+him to say 'Cheer up, cheer up; don't you cry,' because sometimes
+I'm dreadfully lonesome. It helps out even to have a bird to talk
+to."
+
+She looked very sober as she ended, but Ebenezer, fixing a solemn
+eye on her, barked loudly and then mewed like a cat, evidently
+desiring to make his mistress feel that she had a large family to
+comfort her.
+
+"He thinks he's a whole menagerie," laughed Ruth.
+
+"Shake hands with her, Ebenezer, and settle it," commanded Miss
+Cynthia, and at the word the bird stretched out his funny claw,
+which Ruth took in gingerly fashion.
+
+"Ebenezer likes young folks as well as I do," said his mistress
+soberly, "but somehow they don't care much about coming to see
+us.  Aren't you the girl who likes lace and embroidery?" she asked
+suddenly. "I've heard about your going over to see that Swiss girl
+make lace. I've been looking over a chest this morning and I've
+left all the old dresses out to air. Would you like to see them?"
+
+Ruth assented eagerly. This would be an easy way for her to finish
+her call, and she loved to see old-fashioned things. Miss Cynthia
+was pleased at her enthusiasm, and after returning Ebenezer to his
+despised cage, an attention which he acknowledged by pecking gently
+at her white hair and screaming "Bad bird, bad bird," led the way
+up the short, steep flight of stairs.
+
+"What a dear room!" exclaimed Ruth giving a quick glance about
+her. Then as her eyes fell upon the treasures spread upon the bed
+she cried out with pleasure.
+
+"What a beautiful blue gown! Did somebody really ever wear it?"
+
+"That was my great-aunt's wedding gown, my Great-aunt Cynthia. It
+was given to the niece who was named for her, and then to me on
+account of the name."
+
+Ruth gazed admiringly at the shining satin, blue as a summer sky,
+and made in the quaint fashion of years long past.
+
+"Here are the shoes and the gloves which went with it," continued
+Miss Cynthia, "and a fan which she carried. These little lace
+tuckers were hers, too. She never lived to wear out all her pretty
+fineries, poor little soul, but I've been told that her short life
+was a happy one and a very sweet memory to all who knew her."
+
+Miss Cynthia's voice and eyes were strangely gentle as she talked
+about the youthful great-aunt whose shining gown had been one of
+her choicest treasures for so many years, and Ruth began to like
+her.
+
+"Do you know how she looked?" she asked with real interest in her
+voice. "I should like to imagine her in this lovely dress."
+
+"My aunt," answered Miss Cynthia musingly, "was too young when
+she died to remember her; but she has told me many times that her
+father, who was the first Cynthia's brother, often said she was
+the prettiest creature the sun ever shone on, with black hair and
+rosy cheeks and blue eyes that were like violets. I like to talk
+about her," added Miss Cynthia. "Here are more things my Aunt
+Cynthia left me."
+
+Ruth, who had an instinctive liking for delicate fabrics and fine
+embroideries, reveled in the beautiful pieces of hand-work which
+Miss Cynthia showed her. There was a muslin gown embroidered
+so profusely that one wondered if the patient needlewoman had any
+eyes left when her artistic work was completed. There were fichus,
+small and large, with patterns simple and elaborate, looking as
+though a breath might blow them out of existence, so fragile was
+their substance. Ruth laughed gleefully at the face which looked
+out at her from the mirror when Miss Cynthia told her to put on
+a queer, old bonnet which she called a calash. There was a ribbon
+hanging under her chin which the old lady called a bridle, and when
+Ruth pulled it the bonnet stretched like the top of an old-fashioned
+chaise.
+
+"How funny," laughed Ruth. "Did you. really ever wear one like
+this?"
+
+"That was my dear mother's," answered Miss Cynthia, "but I can just
+remember having one when I was a little girl."
+
+"Oh, dear. I hate to leave all these interesting things, but I must
+go home," said Ruth, reluctantly laying the calash on the bed, and
+taking a last look at the beautiful things displayed there. "I've
+had a lovely call, Miss Cynthia, and I thank you so much for letting
+me see these wonderful old dresses."
+
+"My dear, if you would prize it I should like you to have this
+handkerchief which was my Great-aunt Cynthia's."
+
+"Oh, Miss Cynthia, I couldn't take anything so lovely," protested
+Ruth.
+
+"My dear child, there's no one else who will care for these things
+as I have done, and it's been a great pleasure to show them to
+some one who is sympathetic, and--and I know my little great-aunt
+would have liked you to have it if she could have known you."
+
+Miss Cynthia's voice was trembling and her eyes looked clouded and
+wistful. Ruth could hardly believe that this was the sharp-voiced,
+prying old lady whom she had wished to escape meeting earlier in
+the afternoon.
+
+"Dear Miss Cynthia," she answered impulsively, "I never shall forget
+your Great-aunt Cynthia, and I shall be delighted to own something
+that belonged to her. I'm sure I never had anything half so lovely
+as this cobwebby handkerchief. Have the other girls," she went on
+hesitatingly, "ever seen these beautiful old things?" She would
+have liked to ask that they might all see them together some day,
+but she hardly dared.
+
+"No," said Miss Cynthia ungraciously, "they haven't. The girls in
+this town don't care anything about me or my belongings, and they
+never come here if they can help it. The boys are nicer." And
+forthwith Miss Cynthia told Ruth some of the kind things the boys
+had done for her, and grew quite gentle and friendly again in the
+telling.
+
+"I often wish I knew something I could do for them," she added.
+"It's so hard to think of anything that would really please boys."
+
+"If they should see the bundles of letters you have there, Miss
+Cynthia," suggested Ruth, "I'm sure they'd ask you if you could
+spare any stamps. They're all crazy over their collections."
+
+"Are they really?" asked Miss Cynthia, as if a new idea had been
+given her. "Why, my dear, those are letters from all over the
+world written to my blessed father. One of his dearest friends was
+a sea-captain who sailed everywhere, and always mailed letters to
+my father from every port he touched."
+
+Even as she spoke, Miss Cynthia was excitedly slipping the letters
+out of their envelopes. "Here," she said, thrusting a package into
+Ruth's hands. "You help me, and then you may take them home to
+Arthur, and he can divide with the others. Of course I don't know
+which ones they will like, so I'll send them all."
+
+"Good-bye, Miss Cynthia. I can hardly wait to show these to the
+boys," said Ruth as her hostess came slowly down the steep stairs
+behind her, and then she jumped and almost screamed when, "Good-bye,
+good-bye; come again," came hoarsely from under her very feet.
+
+"It's only Ebenezer out again," said Miss Cynthia serenely. "I must
+have the catch on that door made stronger."
+
+Five minutes later Ruth rang the door-bell at home, and, as she
+stepped into the house, Dorothy came toward her from the library.
+
+"Oh, did you think I was perfectly dreadful?" cried Dolly, putting
+on a very penitent expression.
+
+"Well, yes, I did just at first. Then Ebenezer told me to 'cheer
+up' and after that, to tell the truth, I forgot all about you.
+I've had a perfectly lovely time."
+
+"A lovely time!" echoed Dorothy. "Well, you are a funny girl."
+
+"Are the boys here with Arthur?" Ruth went on, noticing for the
+first time the hum of voices in the library.
+
+"Yes," answered Dolly. "They're busy over their everlasting stamps
+as usual. I've just been in to see if Frank was ready to go home
+and I told them where you were."
+
+"Do come in again with me," begged Ruth, "and see if they like what
+I have for them."
+
+A stormy discussion was in progress when they entered the room,
+but Phil, who never forgot his good manners, got up to find chairs
+for the young ladies, and the other boys fired a volley of questions
+at Ruth, who could hardly stop to answer them, so great was her
+excitement. She laid the old envelopes on the table with an air
+of triumph. "I do hope you'll find something there that's really
+valuable," she added, "for Miss Cynthia was so pleased at the idea
+of giving you something you would like. She said you boys had always
+been so nice to her."
+
+Ruth's face and manner were the perfection of innocence, but for
+some reason there was a tinge of discomfort in the manner of the
+boys gathered around the table.
+
+"That looks like a good one, Phil," said Arthur, pushing an envelope
+across the table. "Just look it up in the catalogue, will you?"
+
+"She said that Joe," Ruth went on relentlessly, "had always been
+very good about doing errands for her and seeing her home from his
+grandmother's."
+
+"I never did anything for her," blustered Joe, turning red, "except
+what I had to."
+
+"And she told me that for one whole winter, Frank and Bert kept all
+her paths clean," pursued Ruth, purposely refraining from looking
+at her unhappy victims, "and wouldn't take a cent for it when she
+wanted to pay them."
+
+"We did it just because we happened to want to," growled Frank,
+looking as uncomfortably guilty as though he had been discovered
+in some bad action.
+
+"Say, there are some dandy stamps here," said Phil, fearing that
+his turn was coming next and anxious to change the conversation.
+"Did you ever see one like that, Art?"
+
+The boys poked over the stamps in an excited silence, gazed at
+them through lenses, and hunted in the catalogue with an absorbed
+interest which seemed to make them quite forget their guests.  Every
+few minutes they found a new treasure.
+
+At last Ruth got up with an air of pretended indignation and walked
+toward the door saying, "Come on, Dolly; let's go. We don't seem
+to be wanted here."
+
+"Please don't go," said Arthur with an air so distressingly polite
+that it wouldn't have deceived any one.
+
+"All right for you," laughed Ruth as she closed the library door
+behind her; "just wait until I bring you stamps again."
+
+For a few minutes after the departure of the girls not a word was
+spoken. Then Joe gave vent to a sudden groan and put his hand to
+his head.
+
+"Is my hair entirely burnt off on the top of my head?" he asked
+in comical despair. "These are the hottest coals of fire I've ever
+had handed out to me, That wretch of a Ruth knew she was making us
+squirm."
+
+"I'm afraid the poor old lady never had any chance to be grateful
+to me," said Arthur uncomfortably.
+
+"The worst of it is," confessed Frank, "that father was paying Bert
+and me for every bit of that shoveling and Miss Cynthia never knew
+it. I feel as if I wanted to go right round there and do something
+for her this very minute."
+
+"So do I," agreed Joe and Bert almost at the same time.
+
+"Let's form a secret order," suggested Arthur, "and pledge ourselves
+to make Miss Cynthia as happy as possible for the rest of her life."
+
+No one answered for a moment and then Phil said thoughtfully, "We
+might call it the 'Order of the Moon.' Cynthia is one of the names
+for the moon, you know. Don't you remember, Art, we were reading
+in class this morning about 'fair Cynthia's rays' or something like
+that?"
+
+"That's great!" said Frank, "and that name will drive the girls
+wild, for they'll never guess what it means."
+
+And so the "Order of the Moon" was established then and there,
+and to the credit of the boys be it said that the fine purpose for
+which it was started was faithfully carried out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+TINY ELSA
+
+
+It was the usual custom for Ruth and Arthur to play together for
+an hour after dinner, and they had just got fairly under way one
+evening when Arthur stopped in the middle of a measure and began
+to count the fire alarm. In a small town every one listens when an
+alarm is struck, and many go to the fire.
+
+"Sixty-five," said Arthur, as the sound died away on the air.
+"That's in the factory settlement, isn't it, father?"
+
+"Yes," answered his father, counting again as a second alarm sounded.
+"Get on a warm coat, Ruth. and we'll see what's burning."
+
+"Why don't you let John take you in the sleigh," suggested Mrs.
+Hamilton, "and then Arthur can go with you." She had been quick to
+notice the regret in Arthur's face, for now that he was beginning
+to get out again he longed to do everything the others did.
+
+"Oh, mother, they can't wait for John to harness," he said quickly,
+as his father hesitated before replying. "If they did the fire
+would be out."
+
+"That's right, son. Very likely it's not much of a fire anyway,
+but a little run in this frosty air won't hurt Ruth and me. Are
+you warmly dressed, little girl; overshoes on and mittens?" added
+Mr. Hamilton, as Ruth came down-stairs.
+
+"Very warmly dressed, Uncle Henry. I've got so much on that probably
+I shan't be able to run at all."
+
+Once out in the cold, starlit night none of the warm garments seemed
+superfluous, and Ruth ran and walked by turns in order to keep up
+with Mr. Hamilton's long strides. As they reached Mr.  Marshall's
+house Dorothy and her father and Frank joined them, and just ahead
+they could see the Ellsworth boys with Betty and Charlotte.
+
+"Some one says it's that old brown house that was almost ready to
+fall to pieces anyway," said Jack coming up behind them with Phil.
+
+"Was any one living there?" asked Mr. Marshall.
+
+"I saw some children playing out in the yard when I drove by the
+other day," answered Frank. "Come on, boys, let's run for it," he
+added, as a turn in the road enabled them to see the fire.
+
+"Isn't it dreadful?" shuddered Ruth as, with fascinated gaze, she
+watched the flames fasten hungrily upon one part after another
+of the doomed house, and sweep into the air as though exulting in
+their triumph. "Do you suppose these other houses will have to go
+too?"
+
+"I hardly think so," answered Mr. Hamilton. "They are beginning to
+get the fire under, and they are keeping the other roofs wet."
+
+"Stay here with the girls and Mr. Hamilton, Dolly," said Mr.  Marshall
+suddenly. "I want to go over and talk to some of these people."
+
+A little crowd had collected around the door of one of the cottages,
+and as Mr. Marshall walked toward them the girls looked after him
+with eyes that were frankly curious.
+
+"I remember coming up here with Aunt Mary the day before Christmas,"
+said Ruth. "And she left a Christmas basket at this very same
+brown house, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, I'm sure of it, and there
+were five or six children in the family. Oh, I hope they all got
+out safely."
+
+"Lucky that it was early in the evening," observed Charlotte,
+stamping her feet to get some warmth into them. "I can't stay much
+longer, girls; I'm so cold that--"
+
+"Here comes Mr. Marshall," interrupted Betty eagerly. "Wait a
+minute, Char, and we'll all go."
+
+Mr. Marshall, who had been inside one of the houses, came toward
+them with something clasped in his arms, and as he drew near they
+could see that it was apparently a baby rolled in a heavy shawl.
+The child had put both arms around his neck and was hiding her eyes
+on his shoulder when he reached the little group. He looked very
+grave, and the girlish faces grew sober in sympathy even before he
+spoke.
+
+"Oh, father, is the baby hurt?" asked Dorothy anxiously.
+
+"Not injured, dear, but left very much alone. She is a little German
+girl, and she and her mother had only been here a few days.  The
+mother wanted to get work in the factory, and had taken a room
+for herself and the baby with the German family which lived in the
+brown house. Every one got out safely, but the excitement was too
+much for the poor young mother. She must have had a weak heart,
+I'm afraid, for she had to go away and leave her baby."
+
+Ruth's eyes filled with tears as she realized what he meant, and
+she stretched out her arms impulsively toward the baby.
+
+"Poor little soul," she said with a choke in her voice; "is she
+old enough to know what happened?"
+
+As she spoke the baby raised her head and stared in startled wonder
+at the pitying faces about her. The shawl fell back a little from
+her head, and, in the brilliant light from the fire, the girls could
+see golden rings of hair clustering around a face delicately pink
+and white. The big brown eyes gazed at them for a moment, then with
+a little sob she buried her head on Mr.  Marshall's shoulder again.
+
+"I must look like some one she has known," he said softly, as he
+wrapped the shawl closely around her, "for the minute she saw me
+she held out her arms to me, and no one could get her away. These
+poor people around here have enough to look out for over night, so
+I'll take this baby home. Do you think you can help take care of
+her for a while, daughter?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I'd love to," assented Dolly eagerly. "I wish she'd let
+me take her," but for the present, at least, the sorrowful baby
+refused to leave her safe resting-place, and only clung more tightly
+to Mr. Marshall when the girls tried to beguile her.
+
+Mr. Hamilton and Betty's older brothers stayed to make some arrangements
+for the poor family that had been turned out-of-doors, and, as by
+this time the fire was well under control, the spectators dispersed
+in various directions. The girls and boys escorted Mr. Marshall
+and the baby home, and then left Ruth at her own door.
+
+By the time she had finished telling Mrs. Hamilton and Arthur about
+the fire and the forlorn baby, Mr. Hamilton appeared and was at
+once besieged with questions.
+
+"I wish you had been there, Mary," he said to his wife; "you always
+seem to know how to make every one comfortable. It is wonderful to
+me to see how good those people are to each other.  They were only
+too anxious to shelter that poor Schmidt family, in which there are
+six children, and I didn't know whether we should ever get them
+peaceably divided up. I tried to get more information about the
+baby's mother; but no one seems to know anything except that she
+was called Mrs. Winter, and had lost her husband quite recently."
+
+"Was she a young woman?" asked Mrs. Hamilton.
+
+"She looked hardly more than a girl as she lay there, and her face
+was so refined and sweet that I couldn't help fancying that the
+early part of her life had been spent under very different conditions
+from these."
+
+"Didn't the woman they lived with know anything more about them?"
+asked Ruth, much disappointed.
+
+"Poor Mrs. Schmidt was so excited, and so anxious to see that her
+own brood was safe and to be well cared for, that she didn't know
+much about anything else. The poor little mother had only been
+with her a few days, and beyond the fact that she seemed very sad
+and had cried a great deal, and that the little one's name was
+Elsa, she could tell me nothing. Oh, she did say that the mother
+and baby looked very much alike, the same large, brown eyes, and
+the same fair complexion and fair hair."
+
+"The baby is a perfect little beauty," said Ruth, "and I quite
+envy Dolly the fun of having her in the house. I'm going over the
+first thing in the morning to see her."
+
+Fortunately the next day was Saturday, and one by one the girls
+dropped into Dorothy's house to see the pretty baby. Alice and
+Katharine, who hadn't seen the fire the night before, had to hear
+the whole story from the other girls, and all were much impressed
+when Ruth happened to mention that Mr. Hamilton had thought the
+poor young mother looked better than her surroundings.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder a bit," said Dorothy impressively. "Everything
+about this baby was just as clean and sweet as could be. Her mother
+must have taken her right out of bed, for she had nothing on but
+her little nightie when father brought her home. Mother found some
+baby clothes of mine, and I had such fun dressing her this morning."
+
+"How old do you suppose she is?" asked Betty.
+
+"Oh, I know. Mrs. Schmidt told father last night that she was two
+years old," answered Dorothy.
+
+While the girls were talking about her the baby had sat quietly on
+Dorothy's lap looking from one to another with her solemn, brown
+eyes. Ruth and Betty had made several attempts to get her to sit
+with them, but she only turned her head away and nestled closer to
+Dorothy, much to that young lady's delight.
+
+"I wish mother would let me keep her always," said Dolly with a
+little sigh. "I should just love to take care of her."
+
+"For how long?" laughed Charlotte.
+
+"Now, Charlotte, don't be horrid. Just because you get tired of
+children is no reason I should," answered Dorothy, putting on the
+superior air which Charlotte couldn't stand.
+
+"Oh, fudge, you wouldn't like it any better than I do if you really
+couldn't get out of it," snapped Charlotte.
+
+"I'm the only one who really needs her, because I haven't any
+sister or brother," said Ruth, holding out her arms once more to
+the baby. "And, of course, I can't have her."
+
+To her surprise this time the little Elsa half smiled at her, and,
+as though wanting to make up to her for the sister she couldn't
+have, put out her own chubby hands. Ruth took her quickly before
+she should have time to repent and sat down with her.
+
+"She saw your watch," said Dorothy as the baby put up a timid finger
+to touch it.
+
+"I'm glad there's something about me she likes," retorted Ruth
+quickly. "Perhaps in time, Dolly, she'll love me for myself alone,
+as she does you."
+
+Dorothy colored, and it seemed as if the baby were likely to be the
+innocent cause of trouble, but Betty, who was a born peacemaker,
+stepped into the breach with eager unconsciousness.  She had been
+thinking deeply for some minutes and her smooth forehead was puckered
+perplexedly as she spoke.
+
+"You're always laughing at me for my queer ideas, girls, but this
+time I've really thought of something," she said with repressed
+excitement."
+
+"Does it hurt, Betsy?" inquired Charlotte with pretended anxiety.
+
+"Why can't the Social Six," went on Betty, ignoring her flippant
+friend, "adopt the baby and bring her up?"
+
+"For goodness' sake, Betty, what do you think we are, millionaires?"
+protested Charlotte.
+
+"No, of course not. But I know that I could earn a little money
+every week if I wanted to work for it, and I can't bear to think
+of this darling baby going into an orphan asylum."
+
+Betty leaned over and kissed the dimpled hand as she spoke, looking
+so tender and motherly that the girls forgot to laugh at her. The
+baby, who had been sitting contentedly on Ruth's lap, received the
+kiss with favor, and then looking at the girls hovering around her
+smiled sweetly as if taking them all into her affection at once.
+
+"Isn't she a perfect dear?" cried Dorothy, going down on her
+knees before her. "I'm with you, Betty; she shall have most of my
+allowance every week, and I know that we can get lots of help if
+we are only in earnest about it."
+
+"I'd just love to have the club do it," said Ruth with her usual
+enthusiasm. "And wherever I am I shall be a member of the club just
+the same, and always be ready to help out with little Elsa. I know
+father and Uncle Jerry will be interested in her, too."
+
+"We can all sew for her," suggested Alice, a proposition which caused
+Dorothy and Charlotte to look at each other in disgusted silence.
+
+"But where is she going to live?" inquired Katharine, who frequently
+put a damper on the enthusiasm of her friends by some exceedingly
+practical question. "We can't plant her out in the square at an
+equal distance from all of us."
+
+"Oh, dear!" sighed Betty. "I hate to be brought down so suddenly.
+I'd forgotten that she'd have to have a home. I was just thinking
+of clothes and education, and I had it all planned that she should
+be a great singer or a writer, and take care of us in our old age."
+
+Betty's flight of fancy was so absurd that the girls shouted with
+laughter, and seeing them so merry little Elsa laughed too, and
+showed her white teeth.
+
+"She's ail right, girls; she can see a joke," said Charlotte, who
+in spite of herself began to feel the baby's charm.
+
+"Poor little kiddie! I'm sure she's very brave to laugh at the idea
+of having to support us all," giggled Ruth.
+
+"Let's ask mother about it," suggested Dorothy, as Mrs. Marshall
+came into the room, and the busy woman, who was never too much
+occupied to listen to her daughter's plans, or to lend a helping
+hand, sat down as calmly as though she had nothing else to do. She
+had already begun to consider the problem of Elsa's future, and
+she decided immediately that Betty's idea was a good one, and as
+helpful for the girls as for the baby.
+
+"You might board her at Mrs. Hall's," she suggested, after listening
+to a rather disjointed narrative from the entire club.
+
+"Of course. The very thing," murmured Betty. "Why didn't we think
+of it ourselves?"
+
+"And you must organize your work in a businesslike way," continued
+Mrs. Marshall. "You might start an Elsa fund with what you can
+collect among yourselves, no matter how small. Then you can see
+who will be willing to promise regular subscriptions. You will need
+a treasurer to take charge of the fund, and a secretary to manage
+your correspondence."
+
+The girls looked very thoughtful; they had hardly realized that
+their plan would assume so much importance.
+
+"You must understand, girls, before you go into this, that you are
+undertaking a serious thing and one you cannot give up lightly,"
+continued their adviser. "For my own part I can't think of any
+better use to which you can put your energy and your club funds
+than to the care of this dear, motherless baby. Of course, you know
+that we shall do all we can to find out if she has any relatives,
+but there seems small chance of success, as we haven't the slightest
+clue to follow."
+
+The girls were silent as Mrs. Marshall went out of the room. Then
+Betty, taking the baby in her arms said, "Come here, littlest club
+girl; we can't initiate you yet, but you've got six new mothers,
+and you'll be taken care of to within an inch of your life."
+
+Then began a busy time for the members of the Social Six. Dorothy
+was made secretary and Charlotte treasurer of the Elsa Fund, which
+started out with the imposing sum of three dollars, taken bodily
+from the club treasury.
+
+In order to help the cause along, Mrs. Marshall invited the
+ladies of the Fortnightly Club to meet at her house, and Betty was
+persuaded to tell them what the girls hoped to do for the baby. It
+was rather a halting little speech, but she ended it most effectively
+by stepping to the door and bringing in little Elsa, who had been
+waiting in the hall for this very moment. As Betty stood there
+before them all smiling at the rosy baby in her arms, the sound
+of Ruth's violin broke the silence. It was the simplest lullaby
+she was playing, but she made it so tender and appealing that the
+hearts of the mothers went out to the dear baby who had no mother,
+and all were eager to help.
+
+By the time Mrs. Hall came in to take Elsa home, a substantial
+sum was promised for the fund, and duly noted by Charlotte, who
+comforted herself for her own lack of money by keeping the accounts
+in the most businesslike manner. It was no small task, for promises
+of contributions came in so readily that the treasurer was obliged
+to take most of her spare time out of school to keep her books in
+order.
+
+To her surprise Melina came to her with an air of great mystery
+and, first making sure that no one was within sight or hearing,
+held out to her a five dollar bill.
+
+"I want to git that five dollars off my mind and start it movin',"
+she said grimly when Charlotte looked at her in wonder. "No, there
+ain't no use of your refusing. That baby needs it as much as any
+one I know just now, and that was the idea, you know, that I should
+pass it on."
+
+Charlotte realized that she couldn't refuse without hurting Melina's
+feelings. "All right," she said, "I'll take it for her, and when
+she gets old enough to understand it I'll explain that she must
+start it on again."
+
+For a while it seemed almost as though little Elsa might be hurt
+by too much care. The six young mothers made all sorts of errands
+into Mrs. Hall's that they might have a chance to play with the
+baby, who seemed to love them all with great impartiality. Ruth
+and Dorothy almost quarreled one afternoon because each claimed
+the privilege of taking her out and neither one was willing to give
+up. Just as it threatened to become serious, Betty, who had come
+in a few minutes later, slipped off with the baby while the other
+two were arguing. She did it so cleverly that when they discovered
+her treachery they made common cause against her, and went amiably
+home together vowing vengeance upon Miss Betty for her slyness.
+
+By the end of three weeks the novelty had worn off a little and
+the girls no longer struggled to be first in the baby's affections,
+but were frequently willing to omit going to see her for a day or
+two. And just then, when the mothers were beginning to smile and
+shake their heads over the situation, something happened which
+again made little Miss Elsa the centre of interest.
+
+Mrs. Schmidt, prowling around the blackened ruins of her former
+home, came upon a metal box, locked and little harmed by the flames,
+which she remembered as belonging to the baby's mother. In great
+excitement she took it to Mrs. Hamilton and that evening the girls
+were called in solemn conclave to see the box opened.
+
+First, Mr. Hamilton took out four photographs which were passed
+from one to another. One pictured a gray-haired man in military
+clothes, very erect, very stern and fine-looking. Another was
+of a plump, placid, elderly lady who looked the very picture of
+motherliness.
+
+"I know that's the baby's grandmother and grandfather," said Dorothy
+positively, and no one had any other opinion to offer.
+
+Mr. Hamilton uttered an exclamation of surprise as he took the third
+picture from the paper which enfolded it. "That's the poor little
+mother," he said softly, and the girls crowded around eagerly
+to gaze at the pretty, girlish creature looking out at them with
+hopeful eyes which foreshadowed no hint of her sad fate.
+
+The girls were very sober, and no one broke the silence as Mr.
+Harnilton unwrapped the remaining picture. It was a young man with
+a thim, delicate face and large eyes rather sad in their expression.
+On the back was written in German, "Karl von Winterbach, to his
+beloved wife."
+
+"He looks like the picture of some German poet," murmured Charlotte
+thoughtfully.
+
+"The poor little soul had evidently dropped part of her name," said
+Mr. Hamilton, "for the people in the settlement knew her only as
+Mrs. Winter."
+
+There was not much else in the box; a few ornaments, a little faded
+needlebook which looked as though it had been kept for memory's
+sake, and two letters. One of the letters was unsealed, and Mr.
+Hamilton took out a slip of paper which said with pathetic brevity,
+"If I am dead please send this letter to my dear father.  He will
+care for my baby. Emilie von Winterbach."
+
+The girls scrutinized the address on the other letter with the most
+excited interest.
+
+To the Herr Baron von Grunwald, 10 Sommerstrasse, Dresden, Germany,
+read Ruth slowly over Mr. Hamilton's shoulder. "Why, girls, he's
+a baron; Elsa's grandfather is a baron."
+
+"I knew she looked aristocratic," remarked Betty in a satisfied
+tone. "I shall go the first thing in the morning to offer her my
+humble services."
+
+"Well, young ladies, it looks very much as if the Social Six would
+be deprived of their youngest member," said Mr. Hamilton as he put
+pictures and letters back into the box. "I shall send that letter
+to-morrow morning, and another with it telling all we know about
+little Elsa's mother, and I am sure we shall hear something as soon
+as possible from the Herr Baron von Grunwald."
+
+The prospect of losing the club baby made her all the more precious
+in the eyes of her six adopted mothers, and during the weeks while
+they waited for news from across the ocean, they were lavish in
+care and affection. They planned to make an elaborate traveling
+wardrobe for her, and worked courageously at it every minute they
+could spare. Even Charlotte and Dorothy took a hand.  Time was
+lacking, however, and their ideas of what their baby really needed
+grew less expansive as the days went on. The Candle Club boys felt
+that they were offering a neat and appropriate tribute when they
+presented the small lady with six pairs of shoes, two black, two
+white, and a pair each of red and blue.
+
+"Those are good enough for a baron's granddaughter, don't you think?"
+asked Jack, who had been deputed to present them at a meeting of
+the Social Six. "I think they're rather neat, myself," he added
+with modest pride, as he stood off and gazed admiringly at them.
+
+"They are lovely," said Ruth warmly. "Have some fudge. And here,
+take some back to the boys to show that we appreciate their kindness."
+
+"I just know they waited to give them. until they felt sure we
+were making fudge," grumbled Dolly as Jack departed. "I know their
+tricks."
+
+"I don't care," laughed Ruth. "We've had plenty anyway, and it was
+nice of them to spend their money on shoes."
+
+The girls were in Ruth's room, and the rest of the house was very
+still, for Mrs. Hamilton had gone to Boston and Arthur was out
+with the boys. Tongues were flying fast, and no one heard the bell
+ring. Presently Katie appeared in the doorway with the card-tray
+saying:
+
+"Miss Ruth, there is a gentleman down-stairs who wants to see Mrs.
+Hamilton, and I can't make him understand where she is."
+
+Ruth looked at the card curiously and then fell back on the sofa
+with a startled face.
+
+"Girls, it's the Baron von Grunwald," she gasped, "and he's come
+without any warning. Oh, why did Aunt Mary go into town to-day!"
+
+"It's much more likely to be one of the boys playing a joke
+on us," said Dolly who hadn't had a chance to see the exceedingly
+correct-looking card which Ruth was crushing in her agitation. "I
+don't believe there has been time yet for Elsa's relatives to get
+here."
+
+"Pretty nearly four weeks ago that Uncle Henry sent the letters,"
+replied Ruth. "You can't make me believe the boys could get up
+anything like this," she added, displaying the card.
+
+"You'll have to go down right off," said Dorothy, quite convinced.
+"You mustn't keep him waiting."
+
+"Oh, why not one of you?" groaned Ruth. "He won't know the difference,
+and you've lived in Glenloch longer."
+
+"Goosey. As if that made any difference," laughed Charlotte.
+
+"You know more German than any one of us," said Katharine comfortingly.
+
+"Horrors! Shall I have to talk to him in German?" asked poor Ruth
+in despair.
+
+"Of course," said Betty. "Didn't Katie say that she couldn't make
+him understand?"
+
+Ruth would have liked to run and hide, but instead she went slowly
+down-stairs and walked straight into the parlor without giving
+herself time to think.
+
+The tall, gray-haired man who rose to meet her was so like the
+picture in the box that Ruth felt almost as if she knew him, and
+she would have known just what to say if the dreaded German hadn't
+embarrassed her. She shook hands with him in silence, and then for
+a moment struggled to find a conversational opening which shouldn't
+plunge her into deeper distress.
+
+The kind old man evidently understood her difficulty, for his sad
+face grew gentle as he said with slow distinctness:
+
+"I can understand English, Fraulein."
+
+He smiled at the extreme relief expressed in Ruth's face and went
+on speaking.
+
+"I have come so quick as I can from Germany, Fraulein, my little
+grandchild to see, and I find that I am arrived before my letter
+gets here. I have seen in Boston Mr. Hamilton, and he has told me
+how to find his home and that he will come also so soon as he can."
+
+Ruth drew a breath of relief. "If you will excuse me I will send
+for the baby this very minute," she said, and went quickly from
+the room.
+
+"Girls, go get Elsa and bring her here as fast as you can," she
+exclaimed, popping her head into her own room. "He's perfectly
+elegant," and then she was gone again.
+
+Betty and Dorothy running down the stairs soon after heard the
+steady hum of conversation in the parlor, and smiled to think how
+soon Ruth's terror had vanished. For Ruth the next twenty minutes
+seemed very long, and she spent it trying to make the Herr Baron
+feel at home, and hoping against hope that Mrs. Hamilton would
+arrive by the next train.
+
+To her joy it happened as she had wished, for Mrs. Hamilton and the
+baby arrived at the house almost in the same moment. Little Elsa
+had grown so used to petting and attention that she was friendliness
+itself and went to her grandfather with a gurgle of delight. He,
+poor man, almost lost his self-control at sight of her, for she
+was wonderfully like his own lost daughter. Ruth slipped out of the
+room, because she couldn't bear to see his grief, and went back to
+the girls, who were waiting for her with eager curiosity.
+
+A little later Mrs. Hamilton came to them.
+
+"Uncle Henry has come and has taken the Baron off to talk with
+Mrs. Schmidt and Mrs. Hall," she said in answer to their questions.
+"The poor man says his only daughter married against his wishes,
+but that he should have willingly forgiven her and her husband if
+they had only given him the chance. He is delighted with little
+Elsa, and so grateful to you girls for befriending her. He hopes
+to get Mrs. Hall to go with him and the baby to Dresden, and then
+he will send her back here. He is very anxious to meet the club
+girls and thank them for what they have done, and he's invited us
+all to visit him if we go to Germany."
+
+"When will he start for home?" asked Ruth.
+
+"As soon as he can get away," answered Mrs. Hamilton. "And that
+reminds me that I must see if I can do anything for Mrs. Hall to
+help matters along. I can sympathize with the poor grandfather's
+desire to get the baby to her grandmother as soon as possible."
+
+Left to themselves the girls looked at each other blankly.
+
+"So that's the end of the club baby," sighed Betty.
+
+"Why, no, she can be our German member," said Ruth decidedly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+PETER PAN
+
+
+It was Saturday morning, and Ruth sat down at her desk to write
+her regular letter to her father. She laid out her paper, fitted a
+fresh pen into the silver holder, and then looked at the calendar.
+As she found the date her eyes grew very thoughtful.
+
+"Six months to a day," she murmured. "How fast the time has gone."
+Then she began her letter.
+
+"Glenloch, March 17th.
+
+"Darling father:
+
+"I wonder if you remember that just six months ago to-day you and
+I were celebrating your birthday together, and that I was heartbroken
+when you told me what was going to happen to us.  Nothing could
+have made me believe then that I could be so happy now, or that
+the time could possibly seem so short. I wonder if you would think
+I've changed any. I'm an inch taller than I was when you saw me
+last, and I weigh ten pounds more, so I've accomplished something
+in six months. I don't believe you've grown an inch; at least not
+an up and down inch.
+
+"I just wish you could taste some of my cooking. If I went out as
+cook now, I shouldn't have to feed the family on birthday cake,
+for I can make perfectly scrumptious little baking-powder biscuit,
+and my salad dressing is a joy forever. I can do other things, of
+course, but these are my specialties. Oh, and I can make a maple
+fudge that just melts in your mouth. I sent a box of it to Uncle
+Jerry, and he wrote back right off that I could consider myself
+engaged as cook whenever he set up housekeeping.
+
+"I read almost every bit of your German letter myself, though I had
+to get Aunt Mary to help me out once or twice. It made me want to
+study all the harder to see how quickly she read it. It's ten times
+easier now to work hard on French and German, because I hope that
+I shall need to use them before very long. Oh, Popsy, won't it
+be joyful when I can come over to you!!!! It would take more than
+four hundred exclamation points to express my feelings, so you must
+please imagine the rest of them.
+
+"I don't want to make you too proud of your daughter, but I must
+just tell you that I got an A in French history last month. We have
+a dandy history teacher who makes everything interesting, and then
+I keep thinking that I must know all about these things before I
+go abroad, and that helps lots.
+
+"More than anything I love the Gym. I just wish you could see Miss
+Burton; she's the dearest, sweetest teacher I ever had, and so
+pretty that I want to look at her all the time. She's a splendid
+teacher, too, and the girls are all wild over the lessons and over
+her.
+
+"I take only one violin lesson a week now, because, though you may
+find it hard to believe, I am really working too hard at school to
+go into Boston twice a week. I practice every day and Arthur and
+I play together almost every evening. Arthur is so changed and so
+jolly now. He uses only one cane and says he means to walk without
+any soon. He acts as if he couldn't get enough of the boys and
+girls, and his father and mother look perfectly radiant whenever
+their eyes light on him. He's gone back to school, and he and Joe
+are making all sorts of plans about college.
+
+"I suppose you never noticed that I didn't tell you what Uncle Henry
+gave me for a Christmas present, or perhaps you thought he didn't
+give me anything. Well, he did give me one of the very nicest presents
+I ever had, and that was a course of lessons at a riding-school in
+Boston. I was perfectly delighted, and I knew I shouldn't have to
+ask you about it because you've always meant to have me learn to
+ride. I've been going in every Wednesday since Christmas, taking
+a violin lesson first, and then meeting Uncle Henry to go to the
+riding-school. He said he was so particular about borrowed articles
+that he would never let me go alone. My, but it was hard at first,
+and I thought I never should learn to hold my whip and my reins
+and myself in the proper way. I had such a darling horse, though,
+and it was such fun, that I couldn't help sticking to it, and now
+the riding-master says that I really ride very well.
+
+"A week ago Uncle Henry surprised me by buying the horse I've been
+riding and he's out in the stable this very minute. He thinks I'm
+quite ready to ride with him out here, and he's coming home to lunch
+so that we can start off early this afternoon. That last sentence
+sounds rather mixed. Of course I mean that it's the horse that's
+in the stable, and it's Uncle Henry, not the horse, who's coming
+home to lunch.
+
+"There, that cat is out of the bag and I feel better. I suppose
+they'll all laugh at me for telling, but I don't care. I thought
+at first it would be great fun to surprise you after I got over
+there, but I might have known I couldn't keep such a lovely secret
+all that time.
+
+"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that Aunt Mary said her part of
+the present was to be my riding-habit, and the first time Arthur
+went into Boston he brought me the prettiest little riding-crop
+I've ever seen.
+
+"Mercy! My arm's stiff from writing so much, and my little watch
+tells me that it's almost lunch-time. I never wrote such a long
+letter before and I do hope you'll be properly grateful for it.
+I've known you to complain of the shortness of my letters, but you
+can't this time.
+
+"With heaps of love to you, I am "Your faithfulest, lovingest chum,
+
+"Ruth."
+
+"There! The dearest of fathers ought to be satisfied with that,"
+thought Ruth as she slipped her letter into the envelope, sealed
+it and stamped it. "Now for lunch and then my ride."
+
+"Isn't he a beauty, Arthur?" called Ruth, coming out on the piazza
+in all the glory of her dark-blue habit, high boots and gauntlet
+gloves.
+
+Arthur, who had a pocketful of sugar and was dividing it impartially
+between the two horses, turned at the sound of the voice and gave
+her an approving glance.
+
+"He certainly is," he answered, "and he's going to have a very
+swell-looking rider, too. I like that blue dress and that neat
+little hat."
+
+"Glad you're suited," laughed Ruth. "He ought to have a name; do
+think up a nice name right off now so that I can have something to
+call him this afternoon."
+
+"I like your way of ordering me to think up things on the moment,"
+protested Arthur in an aggrieved tone.
+
+"Of course you like it. Do think quick, because Uncle Henry is just
+ready to start."
+
+"Peter Pan," suggested Arthur. "And then he'll never grow old and
+bony and lame."
+
+"Clever boy," said Ruth approvingly as they started off. "That name
+suits me exactly. Can't you just see him doing a shadow dance with
+me on his back?"
+
+Arthur watched them until a curve in the road hid them from sight.
+Then as he started toward the house a familiar voice hailed him, and
+he turned to see Dr. Holland looking at him with approving eyes.
+
+"Pretty nice looking pair of riders, aren't they? Why don't you go
+in for that sort of thing, my boy?"
+
+"I shall just as soon as you say I can, doctor."
+
+"Go ahead then, with my blessing. You've always been so used to
+riding that the exercise will be the best thing in the world for
+you. Leg still pain you any?"
+
+"A little, but it's growing stronger every day."
+
+"Well, keep it up, young man, and you'll come out all right," said
+the doctor heartily as he drove off, leaving Arthur to find his
+mother and tell her the good news.
+
+In the meantime Ruth and Mr. Hamilton were riding at an easy pace
+down the road past the old mill. It was a rare day for March. The
+snow had been gone for a fortnight, and to-day the air and sunshine
+were full of promises of spring.
+
+To Ruth the ride was a perfect delight. She was happy because the
+sun shone, and because fleecy clouds were chasing each other across
+a blue sky. She loved the hint of spring in the air, and the fresh
+breeze which blew over the lake. Most of all she delighted in Peter
+Pan, who responded to her slightest touch, and flew over the ground
+so smoothly and surely that fear was impossible.
+
+As they rounded the lake and came out on the side nearest the centre
+of the town, Ruth saw a house which seemed strangely familiar to
+her.
+
+"Why, it's Mrs. Perrier's house, and there's Marie out on the
+porch," she said in great surprise. "I haven't seen it from this
+side before and I didn't know it at first. Do you think we might
+stop and see Marie for just a few minutes? I haven't been to see
+her for two weeks, and I'm afraid she'll think I'm neglecting her."
+
+Mr. Hamilton looked at his watch. "Yes, we shall have time to make
+a short call on that sunshiny porch and still get you back in time
+for Miss Burton."
+
+Marie was sitting in a steamer chair, well wrapped up, and so
+absorbed in her work that she saw nothing of her guests until they
+were almost at her side. When she looked up a warm color flushed
+her pale cheeks, and she tried to conceal the sheet of paper on
+which she had been working.
+
+"This is Mr. Hamilton, Marie, and this is my friend, Marie Borel,
+Uncle Henry," said Ruth quickly. "You two should be very good
+friends, for Uncle Henry's just been telling me how fond he is of
+Switzerland."
+
+"Ah, do you love my country?" cried Marie, all her embarrassment
+forgotten. "It ees so good to hear that; I am sometimes so homeseeck
+for my mountains."
+
+"Indeed I do love your mountains and your lakes and the good
+people who live there," responded Mr. Hamilton with a warmth that
+delighted Marie's homesick heart.
+
+"But I must speak to my aunt," said Marie struggling to rise from
+her many wraps. "You will perhaps come into the house." "No, sit
+still, and I'll tell Mrs. Perrier we're here," urged Ruth. "We can
+stay only a few minutes, and we like to sit here in the sunshine."
+
+She disappeared into the house, and while she was gone Mr.  Hamilton
+set himself to the pleasant task of getting acquainted with the
+shy girl whose wonderful dark eyes looked so confidingly at him.
+It needed only a few sympathetic questions to induce her to tell
+him of the little town nestled at the foot of the Jura Mountains,
+of the sparkling lake on which she used to look from her chamber
+window, and of the Jungfrau, seventy miles away, but seeming so
+near in clear weather.
+
+"I know just where your old home is, Marie," he said kindly, when,
+in her pretty, broken English, she had pictured her birthplace to
+him. "I don't wonder that you are homesick, for even I often long
+for a sight of those beautiful mountains."
+
+"It gives me much good to talk of them to some one who knows how
+beautiful they are," answered Marie simply. "But here comes Miss
+Ruth, and--"
+
+"Now, Marie, don't you scold me," interrupted Ruth gaily. "I just
+couldn't help bringing out your lace pillow and your embroidery
+for Uncle Henry to see."
+
+"Oh, a gentleman," laughed Marie, "a gentleman, he does not care
+for fine stitches."
+
+"There, isn't that beautiful, Uncle Henry?" persisted Ruth. "And
+what do you think? I've learned to make a very simple pattern."
+
+"You don't say so!" said Uncle Henry, much impressed. "Couldn't
+you--couldn't you make me something to wear?"
+
+"What shall it be?" laughed Ruth. "I'll tell you. If you'll promise
+to have a black velvet suit and wear it to the office every day,
+I'll make you a large lace collar to wear with it."
+
+"I'll let you know when I leave the order for the suit. It will be
+time enough to begin. on the collar then," answered Mr. Hamilton,
+much amused at the idea. "I'm afraid we must be saying good-bye
+to Marie now," he added with a glance at his watch, "or you won't
+have any time to rest before starting out again."
+
+But just then Mrs. Perrier came out on the porch carrying a tray,
+and nothing would do but that Mr. Hamilton and Ruth must taste her
+home-made grape-juice, and the little cakes made from a recipe she
+had brought from Switzerland. They were almost as thin as paper,
+and so deliciously crisp and toothsome-looking that Ruth couldn't
+resist them.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Henry," she cried impulsively, "I am so hungry: and you
+have a hungry look, too, hasn't he, Marie? Never mind if we don't
+get home quite so soon; I can rest while I'm eating."
+
+"Just as you say, my dear," answered Mr. Hamilton with proper meekness.
+He was having an unusual and interesting experience himself, and
+didn't in the least mind staying.
+
+The little lunch was delicious, and Ruth sighed as she finished the
+last cake she felt she could possibly eat. Mr. Hamilton stooped to
+pick up his whip before saying good-bye, and as he did so dislodged
+a book which was tucked into the steamer chair. It fell to the
+floor, and a paper fluttered out of it and floated almost to Ruth's
+feet. She picked it up to return it, but her eye was caught by a
+pencil sketch which stood out boldly.
+
+"Why, Marie," she cried in astonishment, "did you draw this? It's
+that little piece of the shore of the lake that I've been looking
+at while I've sat here. Do let me show it to Uncle Henry."
+
+"Eet ees nothing," faltered Marie, full of shy embarrassment. "I
+cannot make eet look as I see eet."
+
+Mr. Hamilton studied the little sketch with kindly, critical eyes.
+Then he apparently forgot that there was need to hurry, for to
+Ruth's surprise he sat down again by Marie's chair, saying earnestly:
+"Have you more sketches in that book I knocked down, child? Let me
+see them if you have."
+
+His manner was so serious, so compelling, that Marie gave him the
+book without a word. There were sketches in pencil and sketches in
+water-color. Those in the first part of the book were tiny drawings
+of the interior of Mrs. Perrier's house, with now and again that
+smiling woman herself in a characteristic pose. Once in a while
+there was a sketch in color of mountains, lake and sky done evidently
+from memory. All crude and faulty, but showing so much strength,
+so much individuality and color-sense, that Mr.  Hamilton turned
+the leaves of the little book again and again, and finally laid it
+down reluctantly, saying:
+
+"If I only had time, Marie, I should like to talk them all over
+with you. There is so much promise in them that you must keep on
+trying; you must study as soon as you are strong enough."
+
+"I am so glad that you think I am not wasting my time when I do
+such things," she answered wistfully. "They will never look as I
+want them to look, but I cannot help trying. I shall hope to study
+some day."
+
+Marie walked to where the horses were tied to show Ruth how much
+she had improved, and as they turned to wave a last good-bye to her
+Mr. Hamilton said impressively, "Ruth, do you know we've discovered
+a genius there. I firmly believe that girl will make a name for
+herself some day. We must help her."
+
+"I should like to," answered Ruth, who all the way home seemed to
+be in a brown study.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+TELLING FORTUNES
+
+
+"I'm very sorry to be late," said Ruth penitently, as she walked
+into Miss Burton's little sitting-room to find the three other
+girls there before her.
+
+"We were just wondering whether that fiery steed had carried you
+off so far that you couldn't get back," laughed Miss Burton.
+
+"He's a beauty, and I'd have given anything to have my father see
+you ride off on him," said Dorothy, who longed to ride, but hadn't
+yet been able to persuade her father that it was a necessary part
+of her education.
+
+"You see we didn't wait for you," continued Miss Burton, "so take
+off your hat and coat, and you shall have a cup of chocolate and
+some bread and butter as soon as you are ready."
+
+"Riding does give one such an appetite," murmured Ruth apologetically,
+forgetting that they didn't know that she had been feasting only
+about an hour before. "But what were you talking about, girls, as
+I came up-stairs? Your voices sounded so earnest that I felt quite
+curious."
+
+"We were talking about Mildred Walker," answered Betty. "I don't
+believe you ever heard of her, Ruth, but she's a girl who always
+lived here until about three years ago. Her father had a good deal
+of money, and suddenly he made a great deal more and they went to
+New York to live. They lived pretty extravagantly, I guess, and now
+he has lost all his money and is very sick, and Mildred will have
+to do something to help support the family. She's only nineteen,
+and she's never done anything but have a good time all her life,
+so we were wondering how she would get along."
+
+"When my father heard about it," said Dorothy, "he slapped his
+hand down on the table and said, 'There, that settles it; my girl
+shall learn to do something to support herself in case need comes.'
+He looked so fierce and decided that I should have been quite worried
+if I hadn't made up my mind some time ago what I wanted to do."
+
+"Oh, Dolly, what is it?" cried Ruth, almost upsetting her cup in
+her earnestness.
+
+"Why, physical culture, of course," answered Dorothy. "I haven't
+any talent for anything else, and I just love that."
+
+"It's a very good choice, Dorothy, for, even if you're never obliged
+to teach, it helps one in many ways," said Miss Burton.  "I've
+always been very thankful that my wise father felt just as yours
+does, for when the time came I was able to take hold and do my part.
+When father helped me plan my education there seemed no possible
+chance that I should be obliged to earn my own living, but it came
+suddenly, as as it so often does, and I'm glad to think that both
+father and mother lived to see me working happily and successfully."
+
+Miss Burton was smiling as she finished, but there was a soft
+mistiness in her brown eyes which touched the hearts of her adoring
+audience.
+
+"Dear little Miss Burton," said Ruth, giving her a swift hug, "we
+can't be sorry that you had to earn your living if we try, for if
+you hadn't we never should have known you."
+
+"Who can tell?" said Charlotte with mock solemnity. "Perhaps she
+might have come into our lives in some other way. Perhaps even
+now some one is drawing near to us who may be destined to play an
+important part in our lives or hers." Charlotte's voice grew deeper
+as she spoke, and her eyes had a faraway look.
+
+"Oh, Charlotte, you goose. You make me feel positively creepy,"
+cried Betty.
+
+"You don't see any one over my shoulder, I hope," said Dorothy with
+an involuntary backward glance.
+
+"Now, Miss Burton," said Charlotte with a laugh, "I leave it to
+you if that isn't sufficient proof that I ought to be an actress."
+
+"I'm afraid the modern manager would require still more proof
+than that, Charlotte," answered Miss Burton, much amused. "But you
+certainly did that well."
+
+"Let's all tell what we think we could do if we had to," proposed
+Betty. "What should you do, Ruth?"
+
+"I suppose that after I've studied the violin a few years more I
+could give lessons," said Ruth thoughtfully. "But somehow I don't
+seem to look forward to it with any wild joy. Whenever I plan ahead,
+I always think of myself as in a home, making things look pretty,
+and having lots of dinner-parties. I believe I should like to be
+a model hostess," she added honestly.
+
+"Oh, Ruth, just a society woman?" asked Charlotte with scorn in
+her voice.
+
+"Ruth's idea means more than that, Charlotte, if you think of it
+in its broadest sense," interposed Miss Burton. "To be a perfect
+hostess implies capacity for managing one's household, a wide
+culture, forgetfulness of self and a ready appreciation of the needs
+of others, sincerity, charm, interest in one's fellow beings, and
+so many other good qualities that I can't stop to mention them.
+It's really a beautiful ideal, and Ruth is fortunate in living with
+a woman who is one of the few perfect hostesses I know."
+
+"I don't think I quite realized before how much it meant," said
+Ruth. "But it must have been watching Aunt Mary that made me think
+of it, for I used to have quite different ideas. It just occurs
+to me," she added with an infections laugh, "that the last time I
+remember saying anything about it I told father that when I grew
+up I should keep a candy-shop."
+
+"And eat all you wanted, of course," added Charlotte as they all
+laughed. "That was my first idea, too."
+
+"And what's your present idea?" asked Betty.
+
+"Oh, mine's so big and impossible, and so slow in coming, that I
+can't bear to talk about it," answered Charlotte, grown suddenly
+shy, and then she relapsed into silence, and no amount of urging
+would make her speak.
+
+"No one asks me about mine," said Betty plaintively after a pause
+in the conversation, "and I'm just dying to tell."
+
+"Oh, Betty, forgive us, and divulge the secret this very minute,"
+laughed Miss Burton.
+
+"Well," began Betty slyly, "I'm going to be different from the rest
+of you; I'm going to be married and keep house. And my husband's
+going to be an invalid, at least I think I shall have him an invalid,
+and I shall have to support the family. Oh, I forgot to say that
+before I'm married I'm going to learn all about cooking and--and
+domestic science. Then I shall do all my own housework, and make
+cake for the neighbors, and cater for lunch-parties, and raise
+chickens and squabs, and keep bees, and grow violets and mushrooms,
+and have an herb-garden. Oh, and in my leisure moments--"
+
+Miss Burton and the girls were quite helpless with laughter by this
+time, and Betty interrupted herself to look at them with pretended
+astonishment.
+
+"I was just about to say," she went on severely, "when you
+interrupted me by laughing so rudely, that in my leisure moments I
+should make clothing for the children and myself, and also furnish
+fancy articles for the Woman's Exchange."
+
+"Oh, Betty, when you are funny you are the funniest thing I ever
+saw," gasped Charlotte, going off into a fresh burst of laughter.
+
+"I'm much obliged to you, Betty, for that laugh," said Miss Burton,
+wiping her eyes, "and I hope I'll be there to see when you get that
+model establishment of yours in running order."
+
+"I'll send you samples of the various things if you're not on
+hand," responded Betty with a twinkle. "But really, Miss Burton,"
+she added with sudden seriousness, "I do want to take a course in
+cooking and domestic science."
+
+"Judging by the specimens of your cooking I've eaten I should think
+it would be the thing for you to do," replied Miss Burton heartily.
+"The opportunities for teaching in that line are many, and even if
+you never have to earn money by it, to know how to cook is a very
+great accomplishment."
+
+"I dare say," said Charlotte, "that we shall all do something
+absolutely different from what we are planning now. Probably Betty
+will marry a millionaire, and Dolly will take in sewing. Who can
+say that Ruth may not be an artist? And I--well, I think my strong
+point is cooking, and I shall undoubtedly be feeding starving
+families on baked apples for years to come."
+
+"Oh, fudge," said Dolly, much disgusted with her part of the prophecy.
+"You can't tell fortunes for me, Charlotte; I won't have it."
+
+"I'm sure to be an artist," laughed Ruth. "I can draw a pig with
+my eyes shut just as well as I can with them open. I should love
+to splash on color, though."
+
+"You might be a house-painter," said Betty meditatively. "When my
+millionaire builds his house I'll employ you to do the painting."
+
+"And Charlotte can be cook," suggested Ruth. "But speaking of
+artists, girls, makes me think of what I've been wanting to ask
+you ever since I got here. Uncle Henry and I called on Marie this
+afternoon and found her sitting on the piazza in the sunshine.
+Just as we were leaving we found out quite by accident that she
+has been making perfectly lovely little sketches, and Uncle Henry
+thinks she's a genius. He told her she must study as soon as she
+got strong, and you should have seen the longing look in those
+great dark eyes of hers."
+
+"I suppose she hasn't a cent that she feels she can use for lessons,"
+said Miss Burton thoughtfully. She, as well as Ruth's special chums,
+had become very much interested in Marie, and Mrs.  Perrier's little
+house had been the goal of many a breezy walk.
+
+"I think Uncle Henry means to help her, of course," continued Ruth,
+"but I was wondering if there wasn't something we could do to earn
+money. Wouldn't it be great if the Cooking Club could do something
+to help?"
+
+"I should say it would," responded Dorothy with the greatest
+enthusiasm. "Didn't we begin to try even at our first meeting to
+make our club helpful to others?"
+
+"I hope we shan't miss the mark the way we did that time," groaned
+Charlotte with a disgusted expression on her face.
+
+"Oh, but didn't Joe look too absurd in that ladylike black skirt
+and bonnet?" said Ruth going off into a fit of laughter. "I don't
+care if the joke was mostly on me; it was the funniest thing I ever
+saw."
+
+"We never could pay him off with anything half so clever," laughed
+Betty. "But, girls, it's Marie who wants to be an artist, not Joe.
+Who's got an idea?"
+
+"Let's have a supper in the Town Hall and cook all we can ourselves
+and solicit the rest," proposed Dorothy.
+
+"Too much outside work when we're in school," protested Charlotte.
+
+"If we could have it four weeks from now it would come in the April
+vacation," persisted Dorothy.
+
+"Why not have some sort of an entertainment," suggested Miss Burton,
+"and seat your audience at small tables? Then at the end of the
+entertainment you could serve light refreshments."
+
+"And we could have tableaux and perhaps some music," cried Ruth in
+a burst of inspiration. "You'd help us out with it, wouldn't you,
+Miss Burton?"
+
+"Of course I would. I've had to plan such things several times."
+
+"Let's choose the prettiest girls we can find in the school for
+waitresses," said Betty, "and have them wear cunning aprons and
+big bows on their heads."
+
+"Why not have the thing open an hour or so before the entertainment
+begins, and give them a chance to buy home-made candy and salted
+almonds and some of those specialties which the gifted members of
+our club delight in making?" suggested Charlotte. "We shall need
+all the money we can get, for just the price of the tickets won't
+amount to very much."
+
+"That's a practical idea, Charlotte," said Miss Burton. "And
+if you'd like it perhaps I can make some money for you by reading
+palms. The boys could build a little tent for me, and I could give
+each applicant five minutes of my valuable time."
+
+"Oh, Miss Burton, can you really read palms?" cried Betty much
+impressed.
+
+"Well, Betty," said Miss Burton with her radiant smile, "I can,
+at least, make it interesting for persons who like to have their
+palms read. And fortunately I have a costume which I wore for this
+same purpose at a Charity Bazar in Chicago."
+
+"That will be great," said Dorothy. "Oh, girls, I think this is
+going to be the grandest affair we've ever had in Glenloch. Can't
+you just see how everything is going to look?"
+
+"We'll get the boys to help decorate the hall," suggested Betty.
+
+"They'll be useful in lots of ways," added Charlotte. "Boys come
+in handy sometimes."
+
+"We must have a business meeting right away with Kit and Alice,"
+continued the practical Dorothy. "We shan't accomplish anything
+until we know just what each one is to do."
+
+"There's just one thing," said Ruth hesitatingly. "Do you suppose
+we can make a success of it without telling people what we are going
+to do with the money? Of course I know," she went on hurriedly,
+"that our own families must be told, but it seems to me it will be
+much pleasanter for Marie if it isn't generally known."
+
+"That's so," declared Dorothy. "It would be horrid for her to feel
+that she is being made an object of charity for the town. Let's
+tell just our mothers and fathers, and swear them to secrecy."
+
+"If we give a good entertainment," added Charlotte, "no one will
+have any right to ask what we're going to do with the money."
+
+"Good," cried Ruth, much relieved. "I felt almost sorry I'd proposed
+it when I began to think about poor Marie."
+
+"Girls, girls, it's half-past six," cried Betty, as Miss Burton's
+clock struck the half-hour. "I actually haven't heard that clock
+strike before this afternoon."
+
+"Mercy me! We have dinner at six," and Ruth turned to find her coat
+and hat.
+
+At that moment there was a knock, and Miss Burton's landlady poked
+her head into the room to say there was a gentleman at the door
+who wanted to see Miss Ruth Shirley.
+
+"It must be Mr. Hamilton," said Ruth, who felt guilty on account
+of the lateness of the hour. "I'll call down and tell him I'll be
+there in a minute."
+
+"It's not Mr. Hamilton. It's no one I know," answered Mrs.  Stearns.
+
+Ruth looked puzzled. "Oh, do come down with me," she implored,
+catching Miss Burton's hand, and together they went along the hall
+and down to the turn in the stairs. Then, as Ruth caught sight
+of the tall, handsome man standing in the hall with the lamplight
+shining full upon his face, she forgot everything else in the world,
+and getting over the remaining stairs in some incomprehensible way,
+threw herself into his outstretched arms.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Jerry, Uncle Jerry!" she cried with a little break in
+her voice as she buried her head on his shoulder. She was quite
+unconscious that, though his arms tightened around her, his eyes
+were fixed with eager longing on the smiling girl who had stopped
+half-way down the stairs. There was a long second of silence.  Uncle
+Jerry's face went white and then red. Margaret Burton's smile faded,
+and an expression of perplexity took its place. Then she came down
+the stairs, and holding out her hand said:
+
+"I see you haven't forgotten me, Mr. Harper. I am very glad to see
+you again."
+
+Ruth looked up in amazement as Uncle Jerry took the white hand in
+both of his. "Why, Miss Burton," he began impetuously, "I--" and
+then something made him look up to the hall above where three heads
+were gazing over the railing with eager curiosity.
+
+"I am more than glad to meet you here," he continued lamely. "I--I
+had no idea of meeting an old friend."
+
+"Miss Burton, you never told me that you knew my Uncle Jerry, and
+I've talked about him lots of times," protested Ruth in an aggrieved
+voice.
+
+"Well, of course, I supposed your Uncle Jerry was Jeremiah Shirley,"
+laughed Miss Burton. "You never told me that Jerry stood for Jerome,
+nor that his last name wasn't the same as yours."
+
+"Why, so I didn't. And I suppose all the girls think your name is
+Jeremiah, and they're probably sorry for you. I'll run up now and
+get my hat, and bring them down to be properly introduced."
+
+It seemed only a minute, and a very short one at that, to Jerome
+Harper, before Ruth came down-stairs again with the girls behind
+her. He ventured a little protesting glance at Miss Burton as she
+stepped into the background, and allowed the chattering girls to
+absorb him. Being Ruth's Uncle Jerry it was plainly his duty to
+show himself in the best possible light to these, her friends, and
+he did it in so charming a manner that they all fell in love with
+him on the spot.
+
+They left the house together, and only Dorothy noticed that Uncle
+Jerry lingered a little to say good-bye to Miss Burton. Dorothy
+usually did notice everything connected with Miss Burton, and just
+then she had been thinking how pretty she looked in her simple
+white wool gown, with her fair hair low on her neck and her brown
+eyes shining.
+
+"What under the sun made you say that some one might be coming to
+play an important part in Miss Burton's life, Char?" she said in
+a low tone to Charlotte as they started off. "Did you really have
+a feeling?"
+
+"A feeling? No, goosey; of course I didn't. Why do you ask?"
+
+Dorothy pinched her arm to hush her, and nodded significantly at
+Uncle Jerry, who was just ahead of them with Betty and Ruth.
+
+Charlotte looked surprised and then scornful. "I hate to see any
+one getting up a romance out of nothing," she whispered almost
+crossly. "They're just old acquaintances, of course."
+
+But Dorothy knew that Charlotte hadn't seen Uncle Jerry's face as
+he said good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+UNCLE JERRY
+
+
+Uncle Jerry stayed only until Monday morning, and his visit seemed
+so short to Ruth that after he had gone she could hardly believe
+that it had really happened. Neither could she quite reconcile
+herself to the fact that out of that brief time he had taken two
+whole hours away from his only niece to call on Miss Burton. Her
+only consolation was that he had promised to return for the night
+of the grand entertainment, and he thought it probable that he
+should be able then to stay a week.
+
+She had little time to think about her own affairs, for with the
+date of the entertainment once set the days flew by on wings. It
+was planned for the second Wednesday in April, which would come in
+the middle of the spring vacation, and thus give the girls a chance
+to rest after it was over. Once in the midst of their preparations,
+the girls began to realize how big a thing they had undertaken, and
+were fearful that they should not be able to make it a financial
+success. Fortunately their elders realized it, too, and came
+promptly to the rescue. Mr. Hamilton offered to pay for the hall,
+Mr. Marshall agreed to provide the tables and chairs, and to pay
+for having the stage enlarged, and the Candle Club boys devoted
+themselves to their hard-working friends, and were ready to do
+anything to help.
+
+As time went on the lofty ideals with which the girls had started
+gradually diminished in fervor. At first they had planned to make
+the ice-cream and cake, but later they accepted with a gratitude
+that was almost pathetic Mrs. Hamilton's offer to take upon her
+own shoulders the duty of providing both of these necessities.
+
+In spite of all this assistance, however, the week before the
+performance passed in a mad whirl of rehearsals and preparation of
+costumes, topped off on the very day before by the making of candy
+and the doing of innumerable last things. Even at nine o'clock on
+Tuesday evening Ruth and Arthur were still at work packing into
+paper boxes the crisp wafers which Ruth had engaged Mrs. Perrier
+to make for her.
+
+"Fifteen, seventeen, nineteen," murmured Ruth. "Oh, dear, I'm
+so tired and sleepy I don't know whether there are twenty-five or
+twenty-four in two dozen."
+
+"Go to bed then," laughed Arthur, "and I'll finish. There are not
+many more, anyway, and you've got the hustle of your life before
+you to-morrow."
+
+Ruth pulled herself out of her chair slowly but with evident
+willingness. "Some folks don't give boys credit for being half so
+nice as they are, but I do," she announced with a smile of sleepy
+gratitude as she started out of the room.
+
+Wednesday morning the Town Hall was the scene of such excited
+animation that it was difficult to tell whether anything was being
+accomplished or not. The Cooking Club girls and the Candle Club
+boys together with a dozen picked helpers had assembled to decorate
+the hall, and for the moment there seemed an endless confusion of
+boys, step-ladders, hammers and cheese-cloth.
+
+"For goodness' sake, Phil," begged Dorothy, leaving a group of girls
+and running over to where Phil and Arthur were talking together,
+"won't you and Arthur take the management of this decoration? You've
+done it before and you know how it ought to look."
+
+"All right, your Majesty," responded Phil. "Come on, Art; let's
+agree on a general scheme, and then you can boss this side of the
+room and I'll take the other."
+
+"Ruth! Ruth! you're wanted," called a half-dozen voices at once,
+and Ruth stopped her work to find John, Mr. Hamilton's man, waiting
+at the door with a good-sized box.
+
+"It's just come by express, Miss Ruth," said John, "and 'twas labeled
+Town Hall, so Mrs. Hamilton thought you'd better open it here."
+
+"Help me open it, some one, please," begged Ruth, and as the top
+boards were quickly ripped off, she took out first a letter from
+New York in Uncle Jerry's writing.
+
+"Dear Ruth" (it began):
+
+"I have just stumbled on a little shop devoted to souvenirs of
+Switzerland. The proprietor has a bad attack of homesickness, and
+can't stand New York any longer, so he is selling out at a sacrifice.
+It occurred to me that I might kill two birds, etc., by contributing
+to the good cause at Glenloch and helping this poor fellow at the
+same time. I thought you might make a little something by selling
+them for any price you can get.
+
+"I shall probably get there almost as soon as the box, so won't
+stop to write more.
+
+"Yours with love, Uncle Jerry."
+
+Ruth had an interested audience as she unrolled some of the packages
+and peeped into others to see what they contained, and could he
+have heard the enthusiastic comments Uncle Jerry would have felt
+still more sure of his place in the hearts of his Glenloch friends.
+
+"It's wasting time to look at them now," said Ruth with a sigh.
+"We must arrange a table and put them on it this afternoon."
+
+"What a pity that we couldn't have some one in Swiss costume to
+sell them," suggested Charlotte, who had paused in her work to take
+one look.
+
+Ruth took in a quick breath as the idea struck her. "Do you suppose
+Mrs. Perrier,--or Marie," she thought aloud. "Why, Marie might
+even feel well enough to come herself if we sent for her and sent
+her home. Couldn't some one, couldn't you, Arthur, ride over and
+ask her?"
+
+"Why, yes," agreed Arthur, hurrying after John to tell him to bring
+Peter Pan to the hall. He came back again in a minute to find Ruth
+and say coaxingly:
+
+"Say, Ruth, John's got the carriage outside here, and why can't
+you just slip out and drive over with me? It'll do you good to get
+away from this noise and confusion for a while."
+
+"Oh, I can't, possibly. It would be mean when the others are working
+so hard."
+
+"You'll be back before they know you're gone," pleaded Arthur.
+"It'll do you so much good that you'll be able to work a great deal
+faster," added the wily youth.
+
+"Go away, and don't tempt me," laughed Ruth. She started to leave
+him, but turned back to say earnestly: "Let's make Charlotte go
+with you. She's got a splitting headache, and she won't be fit for
+anything to-night if she doesn't rest for a while."
+
+Arthur felt that he hadn't got quite all he was asking for, but
+he fell in with Ruth's idea cheerfully, and their united arguments
+persuaded Charlotte to go for the restful drive through the wooded
+roads.
+
+They were back almost before Ruth could realize that they had
+started, and announced with an air of triumph that Marie would be
+delighted to come, and that Mrs. Perrier had a costume which could
+easily be made to do.
+
+"And I begged her to bring her lace pillow," said Charlotte. "I
+thought that would add a touch to the whole occasion."
+
+Ruth gave her a rapturous hug. "It will," she said joyfully. "And
+isn't it all going to be the finest thing you ever saw?"
+
+The hall hummed like a beehive as the work went on, and little by
+little things took shape and began to promise a harmonious whole.
+It really seemed as though some good fairy were watching over
+affairs, for the carpenters finished their work and went at an
+early hour, the chairs and tables arrived in good season, and the
+big picture-frame which had been put together for the girls proved
+to be all that could be desired.
+
+To be sure there were disagreements, and even accidents, for Bert
+and a step-ladder had a difference of opinion and collapsed together,
+and Betty dropped a pail of paste on Jack, who had politely stopped
+to admire the artistic work she and Frank were doing on the palmist's
+tent. As he was looking up and had just opened his mouth to say
+something complimentary the result was disastrous, and the poor
+fellow stood there blinded and gasping until Dorothy carne to the
+rescue with a wet towel.
+
+At one o'clock the workers departed for lunch, a few of the boys
+and girls promising to come back in the early afternoon to finish
+the little that was left.
+
+"I haven't the slightest idea whether it is going to look pretty
+or not," said Ruth wearily as they left the hall.
+
+"Just wait until it's lighted," consoled Betty. "Then you'll see."
+
+When the earliest of the audience arrived that evening the old
+hall, dressed in her best, was waiting to receive them. The cool
+green and white of the draperies softened the plainness of the walls,
+and a huge, round ball made of red and yellow roses and glittering
+with diamond dust swung from the centre chandelier and glowed in
+its light. Smaller balls hung from the side-brackets, each enclosing
+an electric bulb which shone with soft radiance through the vivid
+red and pale yellow of the roses.
+
+In the comer nearest the door was a booth draped in pink and blue,
+and here two pretty girls in white were ready to sell the various
+delicacies made by the members of the Cooking Club. The girls had
+worked hard, and Ruth's maple fudge, Dorothy's creamed walnuts and
+dates, Katharine's salted nuts, and Alice's peanut brittle made
+such a tempting array that none could see without wanting to buy.
+Betty's contribution was a dozen glasses of delicious-looking orange
+marmalade, and behind them were piled boxes of Mrs.  Perrier's
+crisp Swiss wafers.
+
+As a joke Charlotte had brought in quite unexpectedly at the last
+moment a huge pan of baked apples, and she insisted on having them
+on the table in spite of the fact that the pan in its nest of pink
+crepe paper took up a large amount of space.
+
+"The rest of you are represented by your masterpieces," she said,
+rolling out the long words with great relish. "So why shouldn't I
+put mine there? I'm sure I shall never achieve anything more perfect
+than those baked apples, and they're much more digestible than all
+that sweet stuff."
+
+As usual Charlotte's argument was unanswerable, and the apples
+remained on the table, forming a sturdy and wholesome contrast to
+their more dainty companions.
+
+At the front of the hall and quite near the stage sat Marie dressed
+in the pretty Bernese costume with its velvet bodice, and silver
+pins and chains. Before her was a table covered with Swiss carved
+work, bears, paper-knives, picture-frames, watch-stands and dainty
+edelweiss pins. Her eyes were sparkling and a faint color stole
+into her cheeks as she chatted in her soft voice with those who
+came to look at her wares.
+
+In spite of the attractiveness of good things to eat and pretty
+things to see, the most popular place in the hall was the gaily
+decorated tent where Miss Burton in gypsy costume read palms. From
+the time the hall was opened there was a waiting group outside the
+tent where Dorothy took the money, and cut each five minutes off
+on the dot so that she might get in as many as possible. So many
+applicants were there that, when at half-past seven Ruth's Uncle
+Jerry arrived with the Hamiltons and a party of their Boston
+friends, there seemed to be no immediate chance that he would be
+able to penetrate the mysteries of the future with the aid of Miss
+Burton.
+
+"Dear me, Miss Dorothy," he said beseechingly, "can't you make a
+special appointment for me? I'm afraid my life-line isn't strong
+enough to bear me up under such a disappointment."
+
+"I'm afraid I can't, Mr. Harper," answered Dorothy firmly. "There
+are enough waiting now to keep the palmist busy until the entertainment
+begins, and after that you must take your chance with the others."
+
+In the depths of her heart Dorothy was glad to turn away Uncle
+Jerry. He was altogether too much in a hurry, she thought with a
+little frown. She didn't want any one to like Miss Burton too much.
+
+Uncle Jerry wandered off disconsolately, but solaced himself by
+buying candy and Swiss carvings until his hands were so full that
+he couldn't manage his parcels. Then, in a fit of desperation, he
+returned them all to the young ladies from whom he had bought them,
+begging them to sell them over again for the good of the cause.
+
+At five minutes before eight there was a burst of applause as Phil
+appeared on the stage and requested the audience to be seated at
+the small tables, as the entertainment was about to begin.
+
+When the confusion had subsided into silence, some one at the piano
+began to play softly, and the curtain parted to show in the frame
+a beautiful Spanish girl with fan and mantilla. Following her in
+quick succession came a fair-haired English girl, a smiling maiden
+from Japan with arched eyebrows and bright-colored parasol, and a
+rosy Dutch girl in cap and kerchief. Then a Turk sitting cross-legged
+upon his cushion smoked his long pipe and beamed affably on the
+audience, an Esquimaux gentleman came from his igloo in the north
+to pose for a moment, and a boyish Uncle Sam and John Bull shook
+hands fraternally.
+
+Each picture was shown twice, but it was ail too short for the
+enthusiastic audience, which applauded so vociferously that Frank
+was obliged to step before the curtain and announce that owing to
+lack of time no encores could be given.
+
+Then followed representations of celebrated paintings; the Girl
+with the Muff, a pathetic Nydia, and the charming little Dutch girl
+holding a cat. Molly Eastman posed for that with Bagheera, Betty's
+largest cat, clutched tightly in her arms. When Bagheera heard the
+applause he struggled wildly to escape, nearly knocking Molly over
+as he leaped from her arms just as the curtain covered the frame.
+Molly looked ready to cry because her picture could not be shown a
+second time, then snatching up her beloved Teddy bear, which went
+everywhere she did, she stood, triumphant, waiting for the curtain
+to be drawn. It was too good to be lost, and the boys pulled the
+curtain twice, much to Molly's joy and the delight of the audience.
+
+This was the end of the first part of the program, and there was
+a buzz of conversation which softened into silence as the school
+orchestra filed on the stage. It was warmly greeted, for this was
+its first public appearance, and the proud parents of the performers
+were anxious to hear the results of their practice together. Like
+wise boys they didn't try to do anything great, but delighted the
+hearts of their hearers with a simple arrangement of some of the
+old patriotic songs that every one loves. They ended with the Star
+Spangled Banner and played it with so much spirit that the entire
+audience rose to do honor to the grand old song.
+
+With the second drawing of the curtain, ten dainty Japanese ladies
+fluttered upon the stage with mincing steps, waving gay fans and
+bowing low as they drew up in line before the audience. So much
+did the flowing garments, the fan-bedecked hair and the slanting
+eyebrows change the girls that even some of the mothers failed at
+first to recognize their own daughters.
+
+"I see Charlotte, and that one on the end is Ruth," announced the
+irrepressible Molly Eastman loudly, and then buried her head on
+her father's shoulder when every one turned to look at her.
+
+The fan drill was beautiful to see, for the intricate marching, the
+delicate swaying of the figures, was done with a precision which
+gave no chance for criticism. The performers came out to bow their
+thanks for the hearty applause, and, when the audience refused to be
+satisfied, fluttered out again with fans held coquettishly before
+their faces. Then each girl extracted from her flowing sleeve
+a paper bird, and holding it as high as she could reach began to
+fan it into motion. It was a pretty sight; the gaily-colored birds
+flying in all directions, and the graceful girls, quick of eye and
+action, doing their utmost to keep them from falling. There were
+one or two narrow escapes, but not one really reached the floor,
+and at a signal they were caught upon the outstretched fans and
+the little ladies had fled.
+
+"If that looks easy to you just try it," said Mrs. Hamilton during
+the pause in the program. "I made an attempt at it the other day
+when Ruth was practicing at home, and I found it the hardest thing
+I've undertaken for some time. It's wonderful training for the eye
+and muscles."
+
+As she finished speaking, slow, dreamy music began on the piano
+and the curtains were pulled apart, disclosing a pedestal on which
+stood Dorothy in a flowing Greek robe and with her golden hair
+dressed in classic fashion. At first she was like a beautiful statue,
+then, as the music proceeded, she went through a series of poses,
+each one so vivid and graceful that when she became a statue once
+more and the curtain hid her from sight the hall rang with applause.
+
+The program was already so long that Dorothy refused to repeat her
+number, and when the curtain was drawn again four fine lads stepped
+out to swing Indian clubs. The boys did it well and the fathers
+and mothers glowed with pride over the straight young figures and
+the easy grace which made the clubs seem like mere toys.
+
+The last number was announced as a march by the Glenloch Academy
+children, and the boy who made the announcement couldn't keep from
+laughing as he hurriedly got out of sight.
+
+"Rather unusual, isn't it, for boys and girls of that age to allow
+themselves to be called 'children'?" asked Mr. Hamilton, but even
+as he spoke his question was answered, for as the piano began
+a simple melody in rushed twelve children, blowing horns, jumping
+ropes, and pinching and pulling each other in very real fashion.
+There was a roar of laughter from the audience, for the boys were
+all figures of fun in their checked aprons and tassel caps. Tall
+Phil was a sight never to be forgotten as he smiled amiably on the
+world at large, but Joe had the best of it, for he was so plump and
+rosy that he looked fairly like the child he was trying to represent.
+The girls wore skirts which stuck out stiffly all around, and had
+their hair braided in pigtails and tied with ribbons to match their
+sashes. Betty looked the very picture of innocent, chubby childhood,
+and couldn't forbear making eyes at her adoring father, who sat
+near the stage, and seemed to find it difficult to look at any one
+but his engaging little daughter.
+
+The piano struck up a stirring march, and the merry children dropped
+their toys and formed in line with Jack and Ruth as leaders. The
+performers did their best to make it as childlike as possible,
+and it was an amusing procession that the two captains led through
+intricate ways. It had an ending alike unexpected by performers and
+audience, for as they were going through one of the last figures,
+Joe slipped, made a heroic effort to recover his balance, and then
+sat flat on the floor facing the audience. He had such a funny,
+surprised look on his face that every one in the hall roared with
+laughter, much to his discomfiture. Then an idea seized him, and
+scrambling to his feet he put both fists in his eyes and bellowed
+like a naughty child. The others kept on marching, but he stood
+there inconsolable, until Betty, always quick to think, gave him a
+little shake in passing and held out to him a bright red apple she'd
+been nibbling. An ecstatic smile spread over his face, he grabbed
+the apple, took a big bite, and fell into line just as they all
+marched off the stage. So cleverly was it done that the audience
+decided that the fall had been intentional, and the whole thing
+a part of the performance, and gave Master Joe an extra salvo of
+applause when the children returned to make their bows.
+
+As the curtains fell together for the last time, twenty-five girls
+dressed in white and carrying trays came into the hall. They wore
+coquettish little aprons, and large ribbon bows in a variety of
+color, and suggested butterflies as they flitted among the tables.
+One by one the performers, most of them still in costume, slipped
+out from behind the scenes.
+
+"Is your lemonade good, Uncle Jerry, and are you having a nice
+time?" asked the Japanese maiden leaning confidingly on Mr.  Harper's
+shoulder.
+
+"Yes, to both the questions, 'Yuki-San,'" replied her uncle
+affectionately. "But, Ruth," he was speaking now in a low tone, "I
+shan't be really happy until I have my palm read; and perhaps not
+then," he finished inaudibly.
+
+Ruth glanced quickly toward the palmist's tent. "Miss Burton said
+she should keep busy while the refreshments were served so as to
+make as much money as possible. I'll see if she can take you now."
+
+Uncle Jerry watched until he saw Ruth beckon to him. Then he made
+his way quickly to the tent, and started in just as Dorothy resumed
+her position outside as guardian.
+
+"Only five minutes, Mr. Harper," said Dorothy decidedly.
+
+"Give me ten, Miss Dorothy," pleaded Uncle Jerry, "and I'll give
+you four times the price of admission. It's for the good of the
+cause, you know."
+
+"For the good of the cause, then," she answered grudgingly. "Ten
+minutes and not an atom more."
+
+"You're a terror, Dolly," laughed Ruth, slipping into the chair
+beside her. "How can you be so severe with my beloved Uncle Jerry?"
+
+Dorothy's answer was slow in coming, and Ruth went on happily without
+waiting. "Don't you think we've made a big success?  Everything's
+sold except two or three boxes of candy and a loaf or two of cake.
+And Marie's perfectly radiant because several people have given
+her orders for lace and embroidery."
+
+Dorothy was holding her watch in her hand and almost counting each
+second as it ticked away. "Eight and a half," she murmured. "Why,
+yes, I do think it's a success, and won't it be fun when we can
+take the money over to Mrs. Perrier's and surprise Marie? Time's
+up, Mr. Harper," she added with cruel promptness, and Uncle Jerry,
+fearing the invasion of other applicants, didn't dare to disobey.
+
+Dorothy looked at him critically as he emerged from the tent.  There
+was no mistaking the triumphant light in his eye, and she saw that
+she must resign herself to defeat.
+
+"Did she give you a good fortune, Uncle Jerry?" inquired Ruth.
+
+"Splendid. The best in the world," he answered with such happiness
+in his voice that Dorothy felt her resentment fading away. "Now,
+Miss Japan, let's go and buy everything there is left," he added.
+
+Dorothy watched them as they strolled away, and saw Uncle Jerry
+draw Ruth into a quiet comer, where he told her something that made
+her clasp her hands and look at him with beaming eyes.
+
+"They haven't the least idea I've guessed," said Dolly to herself
+with a sad little shake of the head, "but I'll show them that a
+girl can keep a secret even when she hasn't been asked to."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THOSE RIDICULOUS BOYS
+
+
+"It's terribly romantic," said Ruth with a satisfied sigh. "She
+didn't know he cared anything about her, and he thought she couldn't
+care for him because she went away from Chicago without letting
+him know or leaving him her address."
+
+"And they're really engaged?" asked Betty for the third time. "I
+can't believe it."
+
+It was a warm afternoon in May, and all the girls were out in
+Mrs.  Hamilton's garden drying their hair after a shampoo. To the
+surprise of every one the spring had made good its early promises,
+and buds and blossoms had hurried forth with quivering eagerness.
+The soft breeze which rustled the leaves and played caressingly
+with the floating locks was as mild as in summer, and the girls
+felt that pleasant languor which comes with the first warm days.
+
+"Yes, really engaged. Uncle Jerry wanted to settle it when he first
+found her here in Glenloch, but she made him wait until he came the
+second time," answered Ruth shaking her hair to the breeze which
+curled it into tendrils. "I've been simply bursting to tell you
+ever since the entertainment, but I had to wait until Miss Burton
+said I might."
+
+"I think it's funny you didn't guess. I felt it in my bones from
+the first minute I saw him," said Dorothy. "And I was perfectly
+sure of it when I saw him tell you, Ruth."
+
+"Why, Dolly, you're a witch! And you never said a word to any one?"
+asked Ruth incredulously.
+
+"No. I didn't think Miss Burton would want me to. And I'm so jealous
+of you that I can't see straight, because, of course, she'll have
+to like you best," finished Dorothy with a mournful sigh.
+
+"She'll think you're a trump when I tell her that you truly guessed
+and never said a word," comforted Ruth. "The only other thing I
+can do is to offer you a share in Uncle Jerry."
+
+"You'll have to divide him in small pieces if you're going to share
+him," said Charlotte. "Did you ever see anything like the way the
+boys took to him?"
+
+"Between the two clubs he had small chance to be alone with Miss
+Burton that week he was here," laughed Betty.
+
+"He was a dear to take us all to Boston and give us such a dandy
+time," murmured Charlotte.
+
+"What a week we had," said Alice, pulling her black locks apart to
+get out the snarls. "Can't you just see Marie's face when we gave
+her that two hundred dollars?"
+
+"She's so happy now," added Ruth, "and she's getting better every
+day. Arthur and I rode by there yesterday, and she was out helping
+her aunt make a garden."
+
+"Isn't your hair most dry, girls?" asked Dorothy, with a sudden
+change of subject. "Let's hurry and put it up any old way, and then
+have some tennis."
+
+There was a simultaneous groan from Katharine and Charlotte.
+
+"I didn't expect anything of you two lazy things," said Dorothy
+coolly. "I'm glad you don't want to, for that leaves just the four
+of us without any fuss about deciding."
+
+"I'd like to play," said Ruth, tugging at her refractory curls,
+"only you'll have to wait till I do my hair properly, and take this
+mess of towels into the house."
+
+"Oh, Ruth, if I didn't like you so much I should say you were
+pernickety," cried Dorothy impatiently.
+
+"I suppose I am fussy," confessed Ruth. "But mother was always
+very particular about having me keep my own things in order, and
+especially about leaving other people's belongings the way I found
+them, and I can't get over the habit."
+
+"For goodness' sake, you sound as if you thought it was a crime,"
+said Charlotte. "I only wish I had a few such bad habits as that."
+
+"I'm a shining example for you, Charlotte," laughed Betty, "for I
+cleared up my top bureau drawer to-day."
+
+"You're a shining example for me in more ways than one, Betsy,"
+answered Charlotte with such unexpected earnestness that rosy Betty
+grew rosier than ever.
+
+For a few minutes the girls worked busily, and the hair, black,
+brown, shining gold and burnished copper, was soon adorning the
+heads of its owners in the accustomed way. Ruth and Betty took
+in the towels and brought out racquets and balls. Charlotte and
+Katharine languidly changed their seats to where they could watch
+the court, and the other four began a vigorous game.
+
+It was a long and hotly contested deuce set, and ended in favor of
+Dorothy and Alice just as Katie appeared with tray and glasses.
+
+"Ellen thought you'd like some lemonade, Miss Ruth. I'll bring it
+out directly."
+
+Ellen's lemonade was a work of art; full of tantalizing and unexpected
+flavors of orange, mint and clove. The girls, who knew it of old,
+groaned with pleasure at sight of the frosty-looking pitcher with
+sprigs of mint at the top.
+
+"This is richness," sighed Dorothy, as she settled herself on the
+big rug and took one of the fresh chocolate-frosted cakes that
+Katie had brought out.
+
+"Ellen's the best old dear," said Ruth. "I never even have to ask
+for things."
+
+"There's a letter on the tray," said Betty suddenly. "No, not a
+letter, because there's no stamp on it, but it's for you, Ruth."
+
+Ruth picked it up and opened it. Then she laughed and held it out
+to the girls, reading aloud as she did so.
+
+The Candle Club Presents its compliments to The Cooking Club And
+requests the pleasure of its company Saturday, May eighteenth, At
+half-after six
+
+The Club Room
+
+"My, but they're formal," said Dorothy. "Will you look at the
+elegance of 'half-after six'?"
+
+"Jack did the invitations with his new typewriter, I suppose," said
+Betty. "I wonder how many sheets of paper he spoiled."
+
+"Of course we'll all go," said Charlotte, lazily pulling herself up
+from her seat on the ground. "It's perfectly lovely sitting here
+and drinking this delicious lemonade, and I hate to mention it,
+but I've got to get home, girls. Betty, you ought to walk 'round
+my way to-night; I went with you last night."
+
+"Wait till I get the last drop out of my glass," gurgled Betty,
+pulling away at her straw with great diligence.
+
+"We're all going," added Dorothy. "It's almost six anyway."
+
+Ruth went with them to the front of the house and then back to the
+tennis ground to pick up racquets and balls. It was so cool and
+still and beautiful in the garden that she sat down on the rug
+again with her hands clasped around her knees. The old apple-tree
+covered with pink and white blossoms rustled softly overhead, a
+fat robin cocked his eye at her as he listened for worms, and from
+the other side of the garden came the faint, melodious tinkle of
+the little fountain.
+
+Something flipped into the grass beside her and the robin flew
+away.
+
+"It's just a penny," called a gay voice, "the one they're always
+offering for your thoughts, you know."
+
+Ruth looked up as Arthur dropped down on the rug beside her.
+"They're worth so much more that I couldn't let you have them for
+a penny," she said with a laugh.
+
+"Make it a spring bargain sale and give 'em to me at a great
+reduction," he suggested.
+
+"They were perfectly good thoughts," answered Ruth. "I was just
+wondering how I happened to drop down in such a lovely place, and
+why every one is so nice to me, and thinking how I shall miss you
+all when father sends for me."
+
+"Don't begin to think about that," protested Arthur quickly. "You
+know you came for a year, a whole year."
+
+"I know," laughed Ruth. "I don't believe you were a bit pleased
+when you heard that I was coming for a whole year. I really think
+you've got used to me very nicely."
+
+"It's astonishing how soon we get used to things that we know we
+must put up with," said Arthur with a sigh of resignation. "Oh, by
+the way, there's something I forgot to tell you," he added.
+
+"What is it?" cried Ruth eagerly.
+
+"You won't tell the other girls, will you?"
+
+"Why no, if you really don't want me to."
+
+Arthur looked thoughtful. "I wouldn't for a while, anyway," he said
+at last.
+
+"I won't tell until you say I may," said Ruth with great decision.
+
+"Well, then,--I was sent out here to ask you to come in to dinner,"
+chuckled the graceless youth, picking himself up from the ground,
+and making off with surprising agility.
+
+"Oh, you villain," groaned Ruth, throwing a tennis ball at him with
+such unexpectedly good aim that it hit him squarely in the back.
+
+"Good shot! How did it happen? Oh, but you did bite nicely that
+time," and Arthur laughed again at her pretended rage.
+
+"If you ever want to be forgiven, come back here and help me take
+in the racquets and balls," called Ruth, starting toward the house.
+
+"Sure, I will," responded Arthur amiably. "Give me all the racquets
+and you can take the balls. I know," he continued a moment later,
+"why every one is so nice to you."
+
+"Is this another sell?" demanded Ruth.
+
+"No, this is truth. You'll find the answer in Mary's Little Lamb
+if you change the words a little. You look up the last verse and
+see if I'm not right."
+
+Ruth looked thoughtfully at him as they entered the house, and then
+sternly repressing the pleased smile that flitted over her face
+said with assumed indifference:
+
+"I hope that's a compliment, but how can you expect me to remember
+the rhymes of my childhood?"
+
+The days went by so fast that Ruth could hardly keep the run of the
+calendar. They were full days, with hard work at school, delightful
+rides on Peter Pan with Arthur or his father to accompany her, and
+pleasant afternoons with the girls at one house or another. Then
+there were important letters from her father and Uncle Jerry which
+necessitated lengthy replies, and frequent conferences with Miss
+Burton and Mrs. Hamilton.
+
+On the night of the Candle Club party the girls met first at Dorothy's
+house, and went out into the stable together. A large room on the
+second floor had been given up to the boys who had furnished and
+decorated it to suit their taste and their opportunities. An old
+piano, begged for by Frank when the Marshalls were buying a new
+one, stood under one of the electric lights and looked well-used.
+That it had outlived its most tuneful days was not to be denied,
+but Arthur could still coax college songs out of it, and for
+miscellaneous strumming and tunes with one finger it was invaluable.
+It was also a convenient place on which to leave sweaters, hats
+and books, and altogether the boys considered it one of the most
+valuable of their possessions.
+
+The furniture of the club room could hardly be called ornamental,
+but it was certainly comfortable. A couple of steamer chairs, a
+roomy couch covered with bright cushions, and an ancient bookcase
+offered an impartial welcome to the lazy and the studious, and
+bore mute witness to the fact that many happy hours had been passed
+there. The boys had made the room gay with banners, and trophies
+of past victories, and red curtains and a few rugs added to the
+general cheerfulness.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Marshall went out to the stable with the girls, and as
+they went up the narrow stairs there was a shout of laughter from
+the club room, laughter so mirth-compelling that the girls giggled
+involuntarily. At Mr. Marshall's peremptory knock there was a sudden
+stillness; then the door opened a crack and in a choked voice Arthur
+said, "Just hold the line a second, please, and we'll let you in."
+
+Almost as he spoke there was a low, "all right now," from Joe, and
+Arthur threw the door wide open. For an instant the guests coming
+from the dark stairway into the brightly lighted room could hardly
+see; then as they took in the general appearance of their hosts
+the room rang with laughter.
+
+The boys were all dressed in shirt-waists and skirts, with neat
+white collars and little bows of various kinds. The skirts came
+to the tops of their boots, and as they had donned the heaviest,
+biggest boots they could find, the result was amusing. They all
+wore frivolous little aprons, and on their heads jaunty white caps
+perched on hair which made the girls go off into fresh fits of
+merriment. It was the most wonderful hair-dressing the girls had
+ever seen; heavy braids, thick curls, even pompadours--and all made
+out of yarn.
+
+"What happened that made you keep us waiting?" asked Ruth as she
+wiped real tears from her eyes.
+
+"Betty fell over his skirt and had to fix it on again," said Phil
+with a twinkle, realizing that the girls hadn't yet taken in the
+full meaning of the performance.
+
+Then it was the boys' turn to laugh, for, looking at Joe's red wig,
+the girls knew at once what Phil meant, and each hurried to pick
+out the imitation of herself.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me I look like that?" asked Dorothy, pointing
+a scornful finger at Jack, who was deeply engaged in tightening a
+large, black bow which dangled at the end of his long, yellow braid.
+
+"Why, Dolly, I flattered myself I was the handsomest one of the
+bunch, and now you speak harshly to me," protested Jack in a tone
+of great grief.
+
+"So far as beauty goes there isn't much choice between you," said
+Charlotte meditatively. Her eye was taking in Phil's tall, slender
+figure, upon which the skirt hung in limp folds. His brown braids
+were twined about his head in a coronet, a style with which
+Charlotte's mirror was familiar.
+
+"Oh, those ridiculous boys! Do see my bunch of curls," shrieked
+Ruth, getting around where she could better see the back of Arthur's
+head.
+
+"Whatever made you think to do it, you silly things?" asked Betty,
+eyeing with disfavor the magenta-colored hair which graced the head
+of her double.
+
+"Why, we are going to cook a supper for you to-night, and we thought
+we couldn't follow better models as to dress than the celebrated
+Cooking Club," answered Phil making a low bow with his hand on his
+heart.
+
+"Do get to work, then," said Dolly with great disdain. "Let's see
+if you can imitate our cooking as remarkably as you have our looks."
+
+A long table stood in the middle of the room, covered with a white
+cloth, and on it reposed several chafing-dishes, a pile of plates,
+forks, spoons and knives, and a quantity of paper napkins. Olives,
+crisp little pickles and plates of crackers were the only visible
+evidences of food, and to the hungry girls the prospect was not
+encouraging.
+
+"If you will kindly be seated, young ladies," said Frank, whose
+woolly black locks made his imposing manner ridiculous, "we will
+now show you how much we know."
+
+"How little, you mean," added his sister in an audible whisper.
+
+"I'm not going to have Dolly near me while I cook," said Frank
+decidedly. "You go and watch Arthur, Dolly; that's a good girl."
+
+"Don't watch me," groaned Arthur. "Charlotte and Ruth have got their
+eyes glued on everything I'm doing already. Watch Phil, Dorothy.
+He's much nicer than I am."
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Marshall slipped quietly away about this time, and
+then, with their guests showing an irritating and undue interest
+in all that they did, the boys began the preparation of the supper.
+As the work progressed, wigs were pushed out of place and finally
+discarded; hooks and eyes, too fragile for such muscular young
+ladies, loosed their hold, and skirts were trampled under foot and
+cast aside. At last it was only six boys in girlish-looking waists
+who were working with pretended confidence but real anxiety under
+the eyes of their unsparing critics.
+
+It leaked out afterward that the boys had been practicing for
+several weeks on the special dishes they made, and it was a great
+relief to the girls to find this out. On this evening, however,
+the lordly creatures asserted that cooking was an art that reached
+perfection only when man undertook it, and that a man knew by
+instinct quantities, seasoning and time of preparation.
+
+The girls, though not half believing, watched with a surprise not
+unmixed with awe while Phil cooked a lobster a la Newburg, seasoned
+to perfection, Arthur prepared delicious creamed potatoes, and Frank
+did up cold lamb in hot currant jelly in the most approved style.
+There were potato chips and buttered brown bread to eat with the
+lobster, and warm rolls to go with the second course. Everything
+was so good that the girls could only wonder and eat.
+
+"Could I have a glass of water, please?" begged Ruth just before
+the feast began.
+
+"Sure. Oh, wait a minute and I'll get you something better than
+water," said Joe, plunging down the stairs and into the house, to
+return in a moment laden with bottles of ginger-ale.
+
+"Now watch him open them, Ruth," said Charlotte with pretended
+admiration. "See how skilfully he does it. No girl could ever attain
+to anything like that. After all boys are superior beings and--"
+
+"Wow," gasped Joe, as a fountain of ginger-ale rose from the bottle
+and struck him squarely in the face.
+
+"Here, take that bottle out of the way. It's going all over my
+creamed potatoes," shouted Arthur.
+
+Blinded and dripping, Joe made a frantic effort to head the bottle
+another way, and in the attempt turned a liberal portion over Bert,
+who was standing near.
+
+"I was just about to say," continued Charlotte calmly, "that boys
+always do everything in such a complete way."
+
+"Well they know when not to talk," growled Joe, mopping himself
+with a napkin, and frowning darkly at the offending young lady.
+
+It was a supper of gayety, and good things to eat. The boys were so
+proud of their cooking that they disliked to let the conversation
+wander from that particular subject, and brought it back by some
+skilful remark whenever they thought the interest of the girls was
+flagging. Each club toasted the other, and Jack toasted the ladies,
+ending with the sentence, which became a byword in Glenloch, "Girls
+are all right if you only know how to manage 'em."
+
+"What a lot of dishes," said Betty with a sigh as they rose from
+the table.
+
+"We will now show you how the powerful masculine mind handles the
+problem of dishes," proclaimed Phil.
+
+"Do those dishes worry us? Not at all," added Bert as the boys
+lifted the table bodily and put it in a comer of the room.
+
+"Now you see 'em," said Joe, helping to unfold two screens borrowed
+for the occasion, "and now you don't."
+
+"Yes, but they're there all the same," argued Dorothy unconvinced.
+
+"Mrs. Flinn will change all that, little sister," answered her
+brother condescendingly. "We have bribed her to spend to-morrow
+morning cleaning the club room, and she thinks we are 'blissed
+young gintlemen.'"
+
+"Get over on the piano stool, Art, and give us that new music you
+were playing last night," begged Joe.
+
+"No, don't play new things," implored Dorothy. "Play some college
+songs."
+
+And so Arthur played and they all sang; some on the pitch and some
+off, but all happy, and each one deeply satisfied with his own share
+of the performance. At last, swinging around on the piano stool,
+Arthur looked at Ruth and said mysteriously, "You may as well tell
+them your news now, Ruth."
+
+Every one turned to look at Ruth with such sudden interest that
+the color flashed into her face.
+
+"It isn't enough to make you all look so curious," she laughed.
+"It's only that I can't have many more parties with you, because
+my father has sent for me, and I am to sail on the 'Utopia' a month
+from to-day."
+
+There was a moment of mournful and incredulous silence; then Dorothy
+said indignantly, "I call that a mean shame; you were promised to
+us for a year, and that would make it next October."
+
+"I know. But you see father will be ready for me sooner than he
+thought, and much as I should love to spend the summer here, I do
+want to be with him."
+
+"Strange," murmured Joe.
+
+"And--and there's more news," continued Ruth. "Uncle Jerry and Miss
+Burton are going to be married a week before I sail, and go over
+with me for a wedding trip,"
+
+"Tell us all about it," pleaded Betty, throwing herself on the
+floor at Ruth's feet.
+
+"I have; just about. You see Miss Burton's father and mother are
+dead, and she hasn't any near relations except a sister who lives
+way out in Seattle. So Mrs. Hamilton has invited her to be married
+at her house, and it's going to be a very private wedding."
+
+Distinct disappointment was visible in the girlish faces as Ruth
+finished.
+
+"But." she continued hurriedly, "there is to be a reception after
+the ceremony, and all of us girls are to be invited to help receive
+and the boys to usher."
+
+"How perfectly lovely!" exclaimed Betty.
+
+"I don't think so," mourned Dolly. "What shall we do with Ruth and
+Miss Burton both gone?"
+
+"Tell them the rest, Ruth," urged Arthur.
+
+"The rest? Oh, yes. After the reception Uncle Jerry and his
+wife--doesn't that sound grand?--are going off somewhere for a week,
+and Mrs. Hamilton is going to take me to New York to meet them."
+
+"And Mr. Hamilton and Mr. A. Hamilton are going, too," added Arthur
+with great satisfaction.
+
+It was Ruth's turn to look surprised. "Why how perfectly grand!
+You never said a word."
+
+"Father just suggested it to-night and I thought I'd surprise you.
+He's planning to have four days there before you sail."
+
+"Fine old plans," said Betty soberly. "It's all very nice for Ruth,
+but I feel as if all the dolls I ever had were stuffed with sawdust."
+
+"So do I," added Dorothy, with a little catch in her voice.
+Charlotte said nothing, but to the surprise of every one she put
+her arm around Ruth in a way that was more eloquent than words.
+
+The Candle Club party threatened to end in melancholy fashion,
+but the irrepressible Joe came to the rescue as usual. "Ruth can't
+leave the country," he announced decidedly. "She has too much live
+stock to look after. To my knowledge she owns half a horse, and
+the whole of a very enterprising kitten."
+
+Every one laughed, for all knew that Fuzzy's latest escapade had
+been the theft of a string of sausages which he had proudly brought
+home untouched to show to his mistress.
+
+"It's just as well for me to go before my live stock gets me into
+trouble," laughed Ruth. "As for my half of Peter Pan, I shall will
+that to Arthur to keep until--"
+
+"Until you come back, of course," interrupted Arthur. "Your father
+may have you for a while, and then you must come back to Glenloch,
+and this time for a whole year."
+
+"Hear, hear," came in eager chorus from the others, and the party
+broke up happily after all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+"HOME, SWEET HOME"
+
+
+As the "Utopia" made her slow way out into the harbor Ruth's
+eyes clung lovingly to the three people who were waving farewell
+to her from the end of the pier. For some time she could see them
+distinctly, could tell which was Aunt Mary and which Arthur. Then
+the figures on the pier began to melt into each other, the waving
+handkerchiefs became mere white specks in the distance, and Ruth
+looked up to find Uncle Jerry watching her with quizzical gaze.
+
+"I don't see why that band wants to play 'Home, Sweet Home,'" she
+said impatiently as she turned away from the side. "I don't think
+it's nice to work on people's feelings that way."
+
+Uncle Jerry laughed. "You're not the first one who's thought that,"
+he said consolingly. "Your aunt and a steamer chair are waiting
+for you on the other side, so come along and look at your letters
+and parcels."
+
+"My aunt," repeated Ruth. "How ridiculous it seems to think of that
+little young thing being my aunt."
+
+"Not any more absurd, I'm sure, than that a little young thing like
+me should be your uncle. I'm only five feet eleven, and a hundred
+and eighty pounds in weight."
+
+Ruth laughed merrily, as Uncle Jerry meant she should, and just
+then they came to their chairs, and to the pretty new aunt smiling
+a welcome.
+
+"You were so absorbed that we left you for a moment while we secured
+our chairs." she said as Ruth dropped down beside her.  "I'm glad
+you've come, for I'm so anxious to know what's in these mysterious
+packages."
+
+"I brought them up from your stateroom in my bag," added Uncle
+Jerry. "I thought you could entertain your youthful uncle and aunt
+by taking out one at a time. Sort of a grab-bag arrangement, you
+know."
+
+Ruth drew out one of the packages and looked at it curiously.  "That's
+Katharine's writing," she said, as she studied the address. Inside
+was a round flat pincushion made of blue velvet and embroidered with
+a spray of apple-blossoms. Around its edge was a fancy arrangement
+of pins of all colors, and fastened at the back hung a sort of
+needle-book with leaves of coarse net in which were run invisible
+hairpins. On a sheet of paper was written in Alice's small, neat
+hand:
+
+Pins for your collar and pins for your hair, Pins for your belt,
+and some to spare For any old thing you may want to do. And not
+only pins, but our love so true We send in this little package to
+you.             Katharine--Alice.
+
+"Isn't that dear of them?" cried Ruth. "I suppose they made it,
+and I shall hang it up in my room just as soon as I get a room."
+
+Number two proved to be a letter from Charlotte, and as Ruth opened
+it a dainty handkerchief trimmed with narrow lace insertion and
+bordered with pink wash ribbon dropped into her lap.
+
+"DEAR OLD RUTH" (the letter ran):
+
+"Don't fall overboard when I tell you I trimmed this handkerchief
+myself, and more than that, don't look at the stitches. I thought
+I couldn't show my devotion to you more than by poking a needle in
+and out.
+
+"Glenloch won't seem the same without you, and I can't bear to
+think you've really gone. Do write to me often and tell me all the
+interesting things you see and do.
+
+"I can hear weeping and wailing out in the yard, and I know the
+twins are into some mischief, so I must stop.
+
+"Love to Uncle and Aunt Jerry from "Yours disconsolately, "CHARLOTTE."
+
+"I should say that was devotion," said Ruth much touched.  "Charlotte
+hates sewing, and that handkerchief must have been awfully fussy
+to do. But isn't that a nice name she's given you, Aunt Jerry? I
+like that and think I shall use it."
+
+The next package was a small book from Marie, filled with little
+water-color sketches of Glenloch. Ruth and Mrs. Jerry took such a
+long time over it that Uncle Jerry got quite impatient, and threatened
+to draw the next one himself if Ruth didn't hurry.
+
+This time she brought out a rolled sheet of paper, and opening it
+found a snapshot of Betty's merry face stuck in the centre, and
+all around her a circle of kitten pictures. At the bottom she had
+written:
+
+"DEAR RUTH:
+
+"Once a lady told me that nothing tasted so good to her on shipboard
+as some home-made cookies some one had given her, so I thought I'd
+try it for you. I packed them in a new tin pail with a tight cover,
+and I hope they'll keep crisp until you can eat them.
+
+"Arthur promised to leave them in your stateroom, so if you don't
+find them you'll know it's his fault.
+
+"I shall go in often and pet Fuzzy so that he won't miss you too
+much.
+
+"Yours with love and kisses,
+
+"BETTY."
+
+"Isn't that Betty all over?" said Mrs. Jerry with a laugh. "So
+practical and helpful and anxious to comfort some one, if it's only
+a kitten."
+
+"That accounts for the package down below that I didn't bring up,"
+said Uncle Jerry. "I didn't realize it belonged to Ruth."
+
+"Those cookies will taste good," laughed Ruth. "She couldn't have
+sent anything more--more Bettyesque."
+
+The next thing was carefully packed and required much unwrapping,
+but as the last paper was taken off Ruth squealed with delight over
+a little traveling clock in a brown leather case. Enclosed with
+it were five cards each bearing a message. The first one that she
+read said in a small, even hand:
+
+"This clock is to tick away the hours until you come back to us.
+Please hurry so that it won't get too tired.--PHIL."
+
+Then a boyish-looking writing announced, "'Time and tide wait for
+no man,' but Glenloch and the Candle Club will wait for the nicest
+girl that ever came out of the West.--JACK."
+
+"Dear me! Am I blushing, Aunt Jerry?" asked Ruth quite overpowered
+by this last tribute. "This next is Frank's; I know his funny,
+scrawly writing."
+
+"'Backward, turn backward, oh, Time in thy flight.' Give us our
+Ruth again just for to-night."
+
+"Isn't that neat and sentimental? Now I shall go in and play and
+sing 'My Bonnie lies over the Ocean.' Aren't you glad you're out
+of ear-shot?--Frank."
+
+Card number four was enlivened by a funny drawing of a boy with
+his fists in his eyes standing in a pool of tears, and under it
+the inscription: "Bert; his feelings to a T."
+
+The last card said in writing so small that Ruth could hardly read
+it:
+
+"Dear Ruth:
+
+"Hope you'll like the clock. We know you are fond of a good
+time(-keeper). I am growing thin because I miss you so. Not a morsel
+of food has passed my lips to-day; it has all gone in. My kindest
+regards to Emperor William.
+
+"Love to Uncle Jerry and Mrs. Jerry.
+
+"Yours,"
+
+"Joe."
+
+Ruth sat back in her chair quite overwhelmed by her latest gift.
+"Isn't that a dear clock, and aren't they perfectly dandy boys?"
+she asked as she fished around in the bag which was growing empty.
+
+"Here's something from Dolly," she added as she drew out a tiny
+package with a note attached.
+
+"DEAR RUTH" (the note said):
+
+"I've decided not to be jealous any more, and just to prove it I'm
+sending you my heart.
+
+"Do write soon to
+
+"Yours lovingly, DOROTHY."
+
+Ruth hastened to open the package and found in a little box a tiny,
+gold heart. "How lovely! Dolly heard me say I wanted one of these
+little hearts," she said in a satisfied tone. "And isn't it sweet
+of her to forgive me for letting Uncle Jerry marry you?" she added
+with a laugh.
+
+"Now there are just two more packages; a small and a large. Which
+shall I take?"
+
+"Take the large one; you've just opened a small one," advised Uncle
+Jerry.
+
+Ruth pulled out a large, square package, and opened it to find a
+handsome album filled with snapshots of Glenloch scenes and Glenloch
+friends.
+
+"That's from Arthur, I know, though it doesn't say so, and that's
+what he's been so busy and secret over all these last weeks."
+
+Ruth turned the leaves knowing that here, at least, she should
+find an unfailing source of pleasure. There were single pictures
+and groups of all the girls and boys she knew best, some of them
+so funny she could hardly see for laughing. There was Joe as the
+nice old lady; all the Candle Club boys in the costumes they wore at
+the last party; Ruth herself starting off on Peter Pan for a ride
+with Uncle Henry; Fuzzy in his most bewitching attitudes; and others
+so suggestive of the good times that had been that Ruth finally
+closed the book with almost a sigh.
+
+"Well, now for the last package," she said diving into the bag.
+"Oh, here's a note from Arthur that I didn't find before." She
+tucked the envelope down in her lap, and opened first the little
+box to which was attached a note from Mrs. Hamilton. In the box
+was a brooch, a holly wreath in delicate greenish gold with tiny
+rubies for berries. The note said:
+
+"DEAREST OF BORROWED DAUGHTERS:
+
+"This is from Uncle Henry and me to remind you of the Christmas
+when you did so much for us. I am beginning to miss you even as
+I write this, and I don't like to think of our home without you.
+Come to us again soon. With much love,
+
+"AUNT MARY."
+
+Ruth's eyes were suspiciously misty as she held the note and the
+little box out to Mrs. Jerry. "You'll have to read that for yourself,"
+she said with a choke in her voice.
+
+Then she opened Arthur's note, which began:
+
+"DEAR RUTH:
+
+"This is not a sell, but a real secret. Father has just told me
+that if everything goes well we three will take a trip abroad next
+year and meet you and your father. We want you to travel with us
+if we do. Isn't that great? You can tell your people, but we don't
+want it told in Glenloch just yet. I'm going to work like everything
+this fall so that when the time comes there won't be anything on
+my part to keep us from going.
+
+"Keep jolly, and remember that you're a Glenloch girl and must come
+back to us before long.
+
+Yours, ARTHUR."
+
+"Here's a grand surprise, and you two can be in the secret," she
+said as she handed the note to Uncle Jerry. "Isn't it fine to think
+that the Glenloch good times haven't come to an end?" she continued.
+"Do you remember the story of the 'Princess and the Goblins,' and
+how the little Princess always felt safe so long as she held one end
+of her fairy grandmother's thread? Well, I feel as if I am taking
+with me the ends of any number of threads; one from each of the
+girls, and a very important one from Aunt Mary, and a great many
+others, too. I'm going to keep tight hold of them all, and some
+day they will pull me back to Glenloch, I'm sure."
+
+Ruth sat silent for some time looking out with eyes that hardly saw
+the heavenly blue of the sky, or the sparkle of the waves as they
+rose and fell in the sunshine. Then, as though her spirit had already
+traversed the unending stretch of ocean, she said with a throb of
+exultation in her voice:
+
+"Now, six days of this, and then Germany and--my father."
+
+Other Stories in this Series are GLENLOCH GIRLS ABROAD
+GLENLOCH GIRLS' CLUB GLENLOCH GIRLS AT CAMP WEST
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, GLENLOCH GIRLS ***
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