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.

"Some day you must have pretty dresses, too, Zerlina," said Ruth from the depths of the wardrobe, as she replaced the things; "some day when you are a great singer."

There was no reply, and Bab, who was busy folding her dress, looked quickly around. Zerlina's arm was in the sc.r.a.p basket. She had looked up as Ruth spoke, and catching Bab's eye, dropped the crumpled note she had just seized. An angry blush overspread her face and she bit her lip in embarra.s.sment.

"I must be going," she said. "It is late."

Bab did not answer. She was thinking deeply. Here was positive proof that Zerlina and Jose were working together in some way.

"Wait a minute, Zerlina," called Ruth, kindly. "Won't you accept this red velvet bow? It would look pretty in your black hair."

"Thank you," exclaimed the girl, her eyes filling with tears. "You are very good to me." Her lip trembled as if she were about to burst into tears, but she conquered them with an effort and started to the door.

"Good-bye," she said, looking at Bab so reproachfully that the latter's heart was melted to pity.

At dinner that night there was much concern expressed for poor Jimmie who, with his face swathed in bandages, was sound asleep in his own room. Stephen had been closeted with his uncle for half an hour before the gong sounded, and the major's usually placid face was haunted by an expression of deep worry.

"Do tell us about the hermit, Stephen," cried Grace, and that being a safe subject the four adventurers plunged into a description of the strange old man and the miniature that so resembled Bab.

"Do you remember when he came, Major?" asked Miss Stuart.

"Only vaguely," replied the major, "I was quite a little chap then, eight or ten, I think I was, and we were living in France at the time.

He had become a fixture when we came back, but he always shunned advances from my family. Undoubtedly he was a fugitive from somewhere.

However, this is not such an out-of-the-way place but that he could have been found if they had looked for him very hard. I have not seen him for many years. How does he look?"

"Like an exiled prince," answered Ruth. "He is a very n.o.ble looking old man."

"Jose, did you play croquet with the girls this morning?" asked Stephen.

"Wasn't he mean?" interrupted Mollie. "No sooner had you gone than he was off on his motor cycle."

The young Spaniard's face had flushed scarlet at the question, but he smiled at Mollie's teasing reply and looked Stephen squarely in the eye.

"It must have been rather hot work motoring this morning, wasn't it, Jose?" went on Stephen.

"I went only to the forest," answered Jose.

The four friends stirred uneasily, and the major looked down at his plate. It hurt him deeply to see Jose put on the rack in this way.

"How far did you go into the woods, Jose? It's curious we didn't meet you."

"Only to the haunted pool," replied Jose.

"You were not far off, then," said Stephen. "Did you hear us yodeling?"

"No," answered Jose; "er-that is, yes. I did hear something like that, but I was not there long." His face was still flushed and he looked as if he would like to run away from his inquisitors; but the soft-hearted major could endure the painful situation no longer and he changed the conversation to another topic.

"Why don't you young people ever dance?" he asked. "I had planned to see young couples whirling around the red drawing room. It would be a pretty sight, Sallie. Would it not?"