Part 23 (1/2)

It would not have been difficult for him to have found out at the hotel where we were going. I am afraid he is in an awful mess, yet, in spite of everything, there is something about him that disarms suspicion.”

Ruth was a loyal friend to people she liked. She believed that her chosen circle consisted of a superior cla.s.s of beings, and she was as blind to their faults as a mother to those of her favorite child. There was a tap on the door, and the maid informed them that Zerlina, the Gypsy girl, wished to speak to them.

”Send her up,” said Ruth, and presently Zerlina was ushered into the room.

There was a scared look in her eyes as they wandered hastily around the charming apartment and finally rested on the two girls who were stretched on the bed in muslin kimonos.

”How do you do, Zerlina?” said Ruth. ”Excuse our not getting up. We are just dead tired. Won't you have a cup of tea?”

”Thank you,” replied the Gypsy stiffly, ”I do not care for tea. I came--” she paused. ”I thought--” she hesitated again.

”Well, Zerlina, what did you think?” asked Ruth.

Bab was looking at the girl curiously.

”I came because you asked me,” she said finally.

”So we did,” replied Ruth, ”and we are delighted to see you. Did your grandmother come with you?”

”No,” answered Zerlina and paused again.

”Perhaps you had some special reason for coming, Zerlina,” hinted Bab.

”Was it to ask us a question?”

The girl's face took on the same stubborn expression it had worn when Bab had asked her to show the knife used in the dance.

”I came because you asked me,” she repeated, in the same sing-song tone.

Again there was a tap at the door and Bridget appeared, bringing a note for Bab.

”Another note from Stephen,” observed Bab, reading it carefully and handing it to Ruth. The note said:

”If you and Ruth don't mind, kindly keep the fight, if possible, a secret from everybody for a day or two. It would be necessary to explain about the pistols, and if Jose is the man who owns them, telling would give everything away. I shall tell uncle, of course. People will think that Jimmie fell out of a tree or down into a hollow. Keep as quiet as possible about the particulars of our adventure. S.”

”I'm sorry,” exclaimed Ruth; ”it would have been such fun to tell it all.”

”The telling is only a pleasure deferred for a while,” said her friend.

In the meantime, the Gypsy girl had lost nothing of the conversation except the contents of the note, which Bab had rolled into a little ball and thrown into a waste paper basket.

”Will the ladies not show me some of their beautiful dresses?” asked Zerlina presently.

”We haven't much to show,” replied Ruth, ”but we'll be glad to show what we have.” She pulled herself lazily from the bed and opened the door of a wardrobe at one side of the room.

”Ruth, you show her your fine things,” called Bab. ”I haven't a rag worth seeing. Get out your pink lingerie and your leghorn with the shaded roses. They would please her eye.”

”Why don't you show her your organdie, Bab?” asked Ruth. ”It's just as pretty as my pink, any day.”

”Oh, very well,” returned Bab, opening her side of the ma.s.sive clothes press and spreading the dress on the bed before the admiring eyes of Zerlina. ”'A poor thing, but mine own,'” she said. ”I certainly never thought to be displaying my rich wardrobe to anyone. It's entirely a new sensation.”

In the meantime Ruth had piled her own gauzy finery on the bed beside Bab's, and Zerlina feasted her gaze on the pink lace-trimmed princess dresses and the flower bedecked hats.