CHAPTER XXIIA GREAT TEMPTATION
About this time Ruth suffered a great temptation. She was so little given to covetousness or envy, that other girls of her class might have dresses, jewelry, and many other things dear to girlish hearts, without Ruth's being at all disturbed.
Her one great, overmastering passion was for Independence! She envied none of her mates anything butthat.
Now she fell under temptation, and this was the way of it: Ruth belonged to the picked class that the physical instructor had chosen for exhibition gymnasium work at the mid-winter entertainment. This year there were to be important visitors at the school, and Mrs. Tellingham wished to make the occasion a more than ordinarily successful entertainment.
The class of twenty girls, selected from the best of the seniors and juniors, was to drill, dance, and go through other gymnastic exercises. And it was agreed among them that each girl shouldhave a brand new costume, although this was no suggestion of either the teacher or Mrs. Tellingham.
The class invented this idea itself. It was agreed—nineteen in favor, at least—to appear at the entertainment in a brand new outfit. And how could Ruth say "No?"
Every girl in the class but herself had only to write home for money and order the uniform. As it chanced, Ruth had plenty of money to pay for a costume. Helen, who was one of the number, knew Ruth had that fifty dollars in gold that Uncle Jabez had given the girl of the Red Mill the day she left home.
This was the temptation: Ruth had promised herself never to use that money. She had a small sum left from her vacation money, and she was making that do for incidentals, until she could earn more in some way. She was already tutoring both Nettie Parsons and Ann Hicks in their more advanced textbooks, and they were paying her small sums for this help.
But she could not earn enough in this way—nor in any other—to buy the new gymnasium costume. And there were the five ten-dollar gold pieces lying in a little jeweler's box in the bottom of her trunk.
She went with Helen to the dressmaker in Lumberton, when Helen orderedhernew costume."Why don't you let her fit you now, too, Ruth?" demanded Miss Cameron.
"Oh, there is plenty of time. Let us see first how well she makes yours," Ruth returned, with a forced laugh.
She knew she could not wear her usual costume with the picked class without looking odd. The girls had decided on crimson trimming on the blue skirt and blouse, instead of the regulation white. Nineteen girls with crimson bands and one with white—and that soiled!—would look odd enough.
It would fairly spoil the picture, Ruth knew. She was worried because of this, for she did not want to make her mates look ridiculous. Never had Ruth Fielding been so uncertain about any question since she had been old enough to decide for herself.
She was really so troubled that her recitation marks were not as high as they should have been. The teachers began to question her, for Ruth Fielding's course at Briarwood had been a triumphant one from the start!
"You are not ill, Miss Fielding?" asked Miss Gould. "I am surprised to find that you are going below your past averages. What is the matter?"
"I am sure I do not know, Miss Gould," declared Ruth. Yet she feared that the reply was not strictly truthful. Shedidknow; night andday she was worrying about the new gymnasium costume.
Should she order one, or should she not? Could she buy a little of the crimson ribbon and put it on her old uniform and thus pass muster? What would the girls say, if she did that?
And what would they say if she appeared at the exhibition in her old costume? Was she purely selfish in trying to get out of buying the new dress? Was her reason for not wishing to break into that roll of coin a bad one, after all?
Those questions kept coming to Ruth Fielding, and got between her and her books. Mrs. Tellingham called her into the office early in October and pointed out to her that, unless her averages increased, her standing in her class would be greatly changed.
"You are doing no outside work, Miss Fielding?" inquired the principal.
"No, Ma'am."
"I hear you are helping two of the other girls—in a perfectly legitimate way, of course. It is not taking too much out of you?"
"Oh, no, dear Mrs. Tellingham!" cried Ruth, fearful that her tutoring would be forbidden.
"You are not working too hard in the gym.?"
"I do not think so," stammered Ruth.
"Andthisis ridiculous," said Mrs. Tellingham, with a smile. "I do not think there is amore robust looking girl in my school. But, there must be something."
"I suppose so," murmured Ruth.
"But you do not know what it is? If you do, tell me."
"I study just as hard, Mrs. Tellingham," said Ruth, non-committally. "I spend quite as much thought over my books. Really, I think I shall do better again."
"I hope so. I do not want to see any bright girl like you fall behind. There is always some reason for such changes, but sometimes we teachers have hard work to get at it. I want all my girls to have confidence in me and to tell me if anything goes wrong with them."
"Yes, Ma'am," said Ruth, guiltily.
But she could not take the principal of Briarwood Hall into her confidence—she positively couldnotdo it! How ridiculous it would seem to the dignified Mrs. Grace Tellingham that she did not dip into the money her uncle had given her to buy that costume!
And she was losing her standing, and worrying everybody who cared, because of this temptation. She knew she was doing wrong in falling behind in her studies.
Surelythatwas not the way to give Uncle Jabez the best return possible for his investment. If she fell back in her books this year, Ruth knewshe would never be able to make it up. She must either be prepared for college half a year later, or skip some work that would be found wanting at a later time—would be a thorn in her flesh, indeed, for the remainder of her school life.
One hour Ruth told herself that she would be decisive—she would be brave—she would not move in her determination to keep the fifty dollars intact. And then, the next hour, her heart would sink, as she looked forward to what would be said and thought by her companions when the exhibition day came around and she appeared in her old suit.
She thought seriously of trying to withdraw in season from the exhibition class. But unfortunately she could not easily do that. The instructor had selected the twenty girls herself, and what excuse—what honest excuse—could Ruth give for demanding her release?
"Oh, dear me!" she thought, tossing on her pillow at night, "if I could only be the means of returning that necklace to Mrs. Parsons! My troubles would all be over for sure.
"Mr. Cameron's detectives willneverfind that old Queen Zelaya, but I bet Roberto knows just where she has gone for the winter."
With this in mind she tried again and again to get some information out of Tony Foyle's new helper. Roberto always had a smile for her, andseemed willing enough to try to make signs about anything and everything but his tribe and his grandmother.
And so smart was he that his gestures were very understandable indeed, when he wished to give information about the new work that he loved, and about the fall flowers and bulbs which were being taken up for storage in the conservatory against the cold of winter.
It seemed strange—indeed, it made Ruth suspicious—that Roberto could convey his meaning so easily by gesture when the subject was not one regarding the missing Gypsies!
Again and again the thought came to the girl that the Gypsy boy was actually "playing possum." Knowing, perhaps, that he would be questioned about his grandmother, and not wishing to give information about her or her tribe, he had decided to become dumb.
Yet, if this was so, how wonderfully well he did it! Even the doctor at the hospital could not understand the case.
Roberto's condition certainly was puzzling. And Ruth believed that he held the clew to the whereabouts of Queen Zelaya and the pearl necklace. That being the case, he stood between Ruth and that great reward which the girl of the Red Mill was so anxious to win.
CHAPTER XXIIINETTIE PARSONS' FEAST
Incidentally there was as much fun going on at Briarwood Hall as usual this fall, but Ruth Fielding did not entirely enjoy any of the frolics in which she necessarily had a part.
The work of the Sweetbriar organization was all that really interested her in this line. Several new girls who entered the school in September who were old enough, joined the association, besides others who were advanced from the lower classes.
It was an honor—and was so considered by all—to be invited to become a Sweetbriar. Within the association was much innocent entertainment. Picnics, musicals, evening parties approved by the school faculty—even little feasts after curfew—were hatched within the membership.
Nettie Parsons, the daughter of the "sugar king," was destined never to be very popular in the school. Those girls who hoped to benefit by Nettie's wealth soon found that money meant as little to Nettie as to any girl at Briarwood.
On the other hand, she was no brilliant scholar,and she made friends slowly. Ruth and Helen determined to help the "poor little rich girl," as they called her, and they egged her on to give a midnight reception in the room Nettie occupied with three other girls in the West Dormitory.
"There's no way so sure to the hearts of these girls than through their stomachs," Mercy said, when she heard of the plan. "Let poor Net stuff them full of indigestible 'goodies,' and they will remember her for life!"
"Why put it that way, Mercy?" drawled Heavy. "You know, you are fond of a bit of candy, or a pickle, yourself. The 'goodies' which we do not get at the school table are 'gifts of the gods.' They are unexpected pleasures. And when eaten after hours, with a blanket for a tablecloth and candles for lights, they become 'forbidden fruit,' which is known to be the sweetest of all!"
"Listen to Jen going into rhapsodies over eatables!" sniffed The Fox. "Give her her way, and every composition she handed in to Miss Gould would be a menu."
"Bah!" scoffed Heavy. "You eat your share when you get a chance, I notice."
"When Heavy is free from the scholastic yoke, and bosses her father's house for good," said Helen, "every dinner will make old Luculus turn in his grave and groan with envy——"
"Or with indigestion," snapped Mercy. "The girl will positivelyburstsome day!"
"I don't care," mourned Heavy, shaking her head. "It isn't what I get to eat at Briarwood that makes me fat—that's sure."
"No," chuckled Ruth. "You grow plump on the remembrance of what you have already eaten, dear. Who was it ate three plates of floating island last night for supper?"
"Well!" cried Heavy, with wide open eyes, "you wouldn't want me to leave them and let them go to waste, would you? Both you and Helen left your shares, and the cook would have been hurt, if the pudding had come back untouched."
"Kind-hearted girl!" said The Fox, with a sniff.
After-hour parties were frowned upon by Mrs. Tellingham and the teachers, of course; not for the mild breaking of the school rules entailed, but because the girls' stomachs were apt to suffer.
In the West Dormitory, too, Miss Picolet was known to be very sharp-eyed and sharp-eared for such occasions. It took some wit to circumvent Miss Picolet; perhaps that is why the girls on Ruth's corridor so delighted in holding orgies unbeknown to the little French teacher.
Miss Scrimp, the matron, was a heavy sleeper. The girls did not worry about her.
Nettie Parsons' room was at the very end of the cross-corridor, and farthest from the stairway. The stairway went up through the middle of the big brick dormitory building, and perhapsthatwas not the best arrangement in case of fire; but there were plenty of fire escapes on the outside.
The question which at once arose, when the sixteen girls Nettie chose had been invited to the feast, was who should stand guard?
This was always a matter for discussion—sometimes for heart burnings, too. It was no pleasant task to sit out upon the cold stairway and watch for the opening of Miss Picolet's door below.
Sometimes they decided by casting lots. Sometimes some girl who was very good-natured was inveigled into taking her plate of goodies out there in the dimly lit corridor. And sometimes one had to be bribed to stand watch for the others.
Miss Picolet was always known to light her candle when she was disturbed by any sound, or suspicion; then she would come to her door and listen. She never moved about her room without a light, that was one good thing! The girl on watch had warning the instant the French teacher opened her door.
But of the sixteen girls Nettie Parsons had chosen, not one wanted to play sentinel. Some ofthem said they would rather not attend the jamboree at all!
The season was far enough advanced for the nights to be cold, and the corridors were not warm after the steam went down. The party was called for ten o'clock. By that time frost would most likely be gathering on the window panes.
"Catchmebundling up in a fur coat and mittens and stopping out there in that draughty place!" cried The Fox, "while the rest of you are stuffing yourself to repletion in a nice warm room."
"Thought you didn't care for the goodies?" demanded Heavy, slily.
"I don't care for catching my death of cold, Miss!" snapped Mary Cox.
Neither Lluella, nor Belle, would "be the goat." Of course, it was understood that Heavy herself could never be out of reach of the cake plates! Nettie would not hear of Ruth being on watch.
"I have it!" said Ruth, at last. "Leave it to me. I'll find a new guard, and I know he will not fail us."
"Who is that?" demanded her chum.
"Roberto."
"Goodness me!" exclaimed Nettie. "Not that boy who helps Foyle?"
"That's the one. And he'll do anything for Ruth," declared Helen, promptly.
"Anything but talk!" thought Ruth, to herself, but she did not say it aloud.
"I don't see howhecan help us," Ann Hicks said. "He can't come into the dormitory."
"I—guess—not!" cried Helen.
"But he won't mind watching outside," Ruth explained. "At least, I'll ask him——"
"But what good willthatdo?" demanded Heavy. "If Miss Picolet gets up out of her warm nest,hewon't know it."
"Yes, he will," said Ruth, nodding.
The Fox began to laugh. "Don't letherhear you say that, Fielding. Picolet is an awful old maid. She would be horrified, if she thought a male person even imagined her in bed!"
"But how will he know?" demanded Ann.
"That's easy," laughed Ruth. "He will stand where he can watch her window. If he sees her candle lit, he will give the alarm."
"How?" asked Nettie.
"We'll rig a 'tick-tack'—you know what I mean?"
"Oh, don't I!" giggled Heavy.
"Roberto can pull the string below, and that will make a tick-tack rap on Nettie's window."
"Splendid!" cried the giver of the feast. "You just see if he will do it, Miss Fielding.And I'll give him a dollar—or more, if he wants it."
"A dollar will be a lot of money for Roberto," laughed Helen. "But he won't do it for that."
"No?"
"Of course not. He'll only do it because Ruth asks him."
Which was really the fact. Roberto understood well enough what was desired of him. Ruth pointed out the French teacher's window, and the windows of Nettie Parsons' quartette room. From one of them would hang a weighted string on that night. Everything was agreed, and the feast planned.
It was a starlight night, when it arrived, but Roberto could find a place to hide in the shrubbery, where he could watch both windows, as agreed. He slept in a little back room of Tony Foyle's suite in the basement of the main building, and could get out and in without disturbing Mr. and Mrs. Foyle.
If he were caught out of his room after hours, Ruth knew that Tony would be angry, but she had great influence with the little Irishman and promised Roberto that she would "make it all right" for him, if he were caught.
The hour of the party came. The West Dormitory had apparently been "in the arms of Morpheus" for half an hour, at least.
"But Mr. Murphy didn't get a strangle hold on us to-night," giggled Heavy, as she led the procession from her room.
The girls were all in their kimonas, and many brought plates, knives and forks, cups, and other paraphernalia for the feast. There was to be hot chocolate and there were two alcohol lamps and two pots.
The Fox presided over one lamp and Heavy bossed the other one. There was something wrong with the plump girl's lamp; either it had been filled too full, or it leaked. From the start it kept flaring and frightening the girls.
"I really wish you would not use that old contraption!" exclaimed Ann Hicks. "It's just as uncertain as a pinto pony."
"Never you mind," snapped Heavy. "I guess I know——"
Pouf!
The flames flared suddenly. Heavy leaped back, stumbled over another girl, and went sprawling. The flames did not touch her, but theydidignite the curtain at the window.
There was a great squealing as the girls ran. Nobody dared tear down the blazing curtain, and the flames leaped higher and higher each instant.
Then one of the most frightened of the company jerked open the door, put her head out into the corridor, and shrieked "Fire!"
CHAPTER XXIVROBERTO FINDS HIS VOICE
That settled it! There was a full-fledged panic in that quartette room in an instant. It bade fair, too, to spread to the whole building.
Ruth, who had been busy distributing cakes before the accident, sprang to the open door, seized the girl who had yelled, and literally "yanked" her back into the room. Then she banged the door to and placed her back against it.
"Stop!" she cried, yet in a low voice. "Don't be foolish. It's only a little fire. We can put it out. Don't rouse the whole house and frighten everybody."
"Oh, Ruth! I can't reach it!" wailed Helen, who was really trying to pull down the curtain.
Ann ran with a bowl of water and tried to splash it over the burning curtain. But the bowl tipped backwards and part of the water went over Heavy, who was just trying to struggle to her feet.
"Oh! oh! wow!" gasped the plump girl. "I'm drowning! Do you think I'm afire, Ann Hicks?"
Some of the others were sane enough to laugh, but the more nervous girls were already in tears, and the firewasspreading from one curtain to the other. There was a smell of scorching varnish, too. The window frame was catching!
In the very midst of the confusion, when it seemed positive that the whole school must be aroused, there came a commanding rap upon the window pane. It was not the gentle signal of the tick-tack—no, indeed!
"Will you hearthat?" gasped Belle Tingley. "Miss Picolet's up."
"No!" cried Ruth, from the other end of the room. "Open that window, Ann! It's Roberto. He's climbed the fire-escape."
"My goodness me!" gasped The Fox. "I never was so glad to see a boy in all my life! Let him in—do!"
No sooner said than done. The girl from Silver Ranch had her wits about her. She snapped open the catch and raised the sash.
Into the room bounded the Gypsy lad. He had seen the flames from the ground and he immediately knew what to do when he got inside.
He seized a chair, leaped up into it, and with his long arms was enabled to tear down the blazing hangings. These he thrust into the bowl of water.
"Oh, Roberto! your hands are burned!" criedRuth, darting to his side, as the fire was quenched.
"Never you mind, little Missy——"
He halted, staring at her. Then his face flushed like fire and his eyes dropped before her accusing gaze.
"Youcanspeak!" exclaimed the girl from the Red Mill. "Youcan!"
"He's gotten back his tongue!" cried Helen, in surprise. "Isn't that wonderful?"
But Ruth was sure, by the Gypsy boy's shamefaced look, that there was nothing wonderful about it at all. Roberto had been able to speak all the time, but he did not wish to. Now, in his excitement, he had betrayed the fact.
There was too much confusion just then for the matter to be discussed or explained. The girls, seeing that the fire was out, scattered at once to their rooms. Roberto left instantly by the window, and Ruth helped Nettie and her roommates repair the damage as well as possible.
"I'll buy new curtains for the windows," said the "sugar king's" daughter. "And I'm only glad nothing worse happened."
"The worst hasn't happened yet," giggled one of her roommates.
"What do you mean?"
"I saw Jennie Stone take a bag of pickles, some seed cakes, a citron bun, and about half a pound of candy with her, when she flew. If she absorbsall that to-night, she will be sick to-morrow, that's all!"
"Well," Ruth advised, "the best we can do won't hide the damage. Miss Scrimp will find out about the fire, anyway. The best thing to do is to make a clean breast of it, Nettie. I'm sorry the feast was a failure, but we all know you did your best."
"I'm thankful it was no worse," returned the new girl. "And how brave that Gypsy boy was, Ruth! I must thank him to-morrow."
"You leave him to me," said the girl of the Red Mill, grimly. "I want to talk to Roberto myself."
When she got back to her excited roommates, she said little about the wonderful recovery of the Gypsy boy's power of speech, until Mercy and Ann were asleep. Then she said to Helen Cameron:
"I am going to telegraph to your father the first thing in the morning. Roberto has been fooling us all. You can't tell me! I know he's been able to talk all the time."
"You don't really think so, dear?" asked Helen.
"I do. He must have been conscious when we picked him up that time and carried him to the carriage. And we mentioned his grandmother then and the necklace. He's just as sharp as aknife, you know; he's been dumb for a purpose. He did not want to be questioned about Zelaya and the missing pearl necklace."
"My goodness me! Father will besoangry," cried Helen.
"Roberto will have to tell. I like him, and he was very brave to-night. But I do not believe the boy is a thief himself, and he would be better if he entirely left his thieving relatives."
"Maybe he'll run away," suggested Helen.
But Roberto would have been obliged to start very early that next morning to have run away. Ruth Fielding was the first person up in the school, and she was standing outside Tony's door, when the little Irishman first appeared.
"Helen Cameron wants you to take this telegram down to the office at once, Tony," she said. "Mrs. Tellingham knows about it. We are in a dreadful hurry. Is Roberto inside?"
"Sure he is, Miss——"
"You take the message; don't let Roberto see it, and you keep your eye on that boy to-day, until Mr. Cameron arrives. He'll want to see him."
"Now, don't be tellin' me th' bye has been inter mischief?" cried the warm-hearted Irishman.
"Not much. Only he's suddenly recovered the use of his tongue, Tony, and Mr. Cameron wants to talk with him."
"Gracious powers!" murmured Tony. "Recovered his spache, has he? The saints be praised!"
He obeyed Ruth, however, in each particular. If Roberto had it in his mind to run away, he had no chance to do so that day. Tony watched him sharply, and in the evening Mr. Cameron arrived at Briarwood Hall.
The gentleman greeted his daughter and Ruth in Mrs. Tellingham's parlor, but when he interviewed Roberto, it was downstairs in Tony Foyle's rooms.
The girls saw Mr. Cameron only for a moment after that. He was just starting for the train, and Roberto was going with him.
"The young rascal has admitted just what Ruth suspected," said Mr. Cameron, chuckling a little. "He fooled us all—including the doctor. Though the Doc., I reckon, suspected strongly that the boy could talk, if he desired to.
"Roberto did not want to be questioned. Now he has told me that his grandmother did not go south at all. He says she often spends the winter in New York City as do other Gypsies. She is really a great character among her people, and with the information I have gathered, I believe the New York police will be able to locate her.
"I shall hang on to Master Roberto until the matter is closed up. He will say nothing aboutthe necklace. He'll not even own up that he ever saw it. But he tells me that his grandmother is a miser and hoards up valuables just like a magpie."
Helen's father and the Gypsy boy went away then, and the chums had to possess their souls with patience, and attend strictly to their school work, until they could hear how the matter turned out.
CHAPTER XXVFIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS
It was not likely that Ruth found it any easier, after this, to attend strictly to her school duties, but after her conversation with Mrs. Tellingham shehadput forth a greater effort to recover her standing in her class.
Whether Mrs. Parsons' necklace was found, or not; whether Ruth obtained a portion of the reward in pay for the information she had lodged, the girl realized that she had no right to neglect her studies.
She had come to one conclusion at least: whether or no, she would not break into that fifty dollars Uncle Jabez had given her so unwillingly. And she would use no more of his money for vacation jaunts, or for luxuries.
"I must accept his help in gaining my education," she told herself. "But beyond that, I need not go. I have gone about, and had good times, and bought many things just as though I really had a right to expect Uncle Jabez to supply every need.
"No more of that, Ruth Fielding! You prateof wishing to be independent: be so in any event!"
She was young to come to such a determination; yet Ruth's experiences since her parents had died were such as would naturally make her self-assertive. She knew what she wanted,and she went after it!
As for the matter of the new gymnasium suit—why! that Ruth gave up entirely. She decided that she had no business to use Uncle Jabez's money for it, and of course she could not go into debt for a new costume.
No matter what the other girls thought, or what they did,shewould have to be content with her old uniform when it came to the exhibition games.
She did not have the courage yet to tell even Helen of this decision; nevertheless she was determined to stick to it. At once she had begun to pick up in recitation marks, and Miss Gould no longer scowled over Ruth's reports.
The strain of mind had been considerable, however; Ruth had much to make up in her studies; she wasted no time and began to forge ahead again.
She would not even think of Roberto and Mr. Cameron's search for Queen Zelaya. Helen was full of the topic, and often tried to discuss it with Ruth, but the latter put it aside.
She had done all she could (or so she thought)to help restore the missing pearl necklace to Nettie's aunt. Worrying about it any more was not going to help a bit.
It seemed too ridiculous to think ofherever obtaining five thousand dollars—or any part of that generous reward!
So the busy days passed. Helen heard from her father several times, but although she knew he was in New York, ostensibly buying goods, and that he had Roberto with him, the gentleman said very little about the other Gypsies and the missing necklace.
Then one day Mrs. Tellingham sent for Ruth. To be sent for by the principal never frightened the girl of the Red Mill—much. She stood well on the principal's books, she knew.
But the lady had called her to discuss nothing about the school work. She had a letter and a railroad ticket in her hand.
"Tony has telephoned for Dolliver to come for you, Ruth," said Mrs. Tellingham. "You must go away——"
"Nothing has happened at home? Uncle Jabez—Aunt Alvirah——?"
"Nothing is wrong with them at all, my dear," declared the lady, kindly. "It is Mr. Cameron. He wants you to come to New York at once. Here is transportation for you. He will meet your train at the Grand Central Station."
"Mrs. Parsons' necklace!" gasped Ruth.
"He says something about that—yes," said Mrs. Tellingham. "It is important for you to come and identify somebody, I believe. You must tell him that, at this time in the term, you can be spared only a short time."
All was bustle and confusion for Ruth during the next two hours. Then she found herself on the train bound for New York. She had a section of the sleeper to herself, and arrived in the city the next morning at an early hour.
She was making her toilette, as the electric engine whisked the long train through the upper reaches of the city, and she marveled at the awakening Bronx and Harlem streets.
When she came out through the gateway of the trainshed, she saw a youth standing by, watching the on-coming passengers sharply. But she was almost upon him, and he had stepped forward, lifting his hat and putting out a hand to take her bag, before she recognized Roberto, the Gypsy boy.
But how changed in appearance! Of course, he was still dark of skin, and his black eyes flashed. But he had removed the gold rings from his ears, his hair had been trimmed to a proper length, he was dressed smartly in a gray suit, and wore a nice hat and shoes.
Altogether Roberto was a very handsome youthindeed—more so now than when he had been a wild boy!
"You do not know me, Miss Fielding?" he said, his eyes twinkling and a warm blush rising in his cheeks.
"You—you are so changed!" gasped Ruth.
"Yes. Mr. Cameron is a fine man," said the boy, nodding. "I like him. He do all this for me," and he made a gesture that included his new outfit, and flashed her another brilliant smile.
"Oh! how it does improve you, Roberto!" she cried.
"Robert, if you please," he said, laughing. "Iam going to be American boy—yes. I have left the Gypsy boy forever behind—eh?"
Ruth fairly clapped her hands. "Do you mean all that, Robert?" she cried.
"Sure!" he said proudly. "I like America. Yes! I have been here now ten years, and it suit me. And Mr. Cameron say I can go to school and learn to be American business man. That is better than trading horses—eh?"
"Oh, isn't that fine!" cried the girl of the Red Mill. "Now, where are you going to take me?"
"To the hotel. Mr. Cameron will wait breakfast for us," declared the lad, and in ten minutes Ruth was greeting her chum's father across the restaurant table.
"And I suppose you are just about eaten upwith curiosity as to why I sent for you?" Mr. Cameron asked her, smiling, when Robert had gone out on an errand.
"Just about, sir," admitted the girl.
"Why, I want to tell you, my dear, that you are likely to be a very lucky girl indeed. The five thousand dollars reward——"
"You haven't found the necklace?"
"Yes, indeed. That has been found and identified. What I want you for is so you can identify that old Gypsy, Queen Zelaya. I did not want to force her grandson to appear against her before the authorities. But you can do so with a clear conscience.
"Queen Zelaya will be sent back to Bohemia. She has a bad record, and entered the country secretly some years ago. Your evidence will enable the Federal authorities to clinch their case, and return the old woman to the country of her birth.
"It is not believed that she actually stole the pearl necklace, but it is plain she shared in the proceeds of all the Gypsies' plundering, and in this case she took the giant's portion.
"We could not prove robbery upon her, but she can be transported, and she shall be," concluded Mr. Cameron, firmly.
This was what finally happened to Queen Zelaya. Her clan was broken up, and not one ofthem was ever seen in the neighborhood of the Red Mill—or elsewhere in that county—again.
Robert Mazell, as is the Gypsy boy's Americanized name, promises to be all that he told Ruth he hoped to be—in time. He must begin at the bottom of the educational ladder, but he is so quick to learn that his patron, Mr. Cameron, tells Tom, laughingly, thathe, Tom, will have to look to his laurels, or the boy from Bohemia will outstrip him.
Having carried out the trailing of the Gypsy Queen at his own expense, and recovered the necklace privately, Mr. Cameron did not have to divide the reward offered by Mrs. Rachel Parsons with anybody.
The entire five thousand dollars was deposited in Ruth's name in the Cheslow Savings Bank. And this happened in time so that Ruth could draw enough of her fortune to get a new gymnasium costume for the mid-winter exhibition!
She did not have to use the money Uncle Jabez grudgingly gave her. Her tuition fees were paid in advance for this year at Briarwood Hall, but she determined thereafter to pay all her own expenses, at school and elsewhere.
At last she felt herself to be independent. By going to Mr. Cameron, she could get money when she wished, without annoying the miller, and for this situation she was very very thankful.
Her life stretched before her over a much pleasanter path than ever before. There were kind friends whom she could help in the future, as they needed help—and that delighted Ruth Fielding.
Her own future seemed secure. She could prepare herself for college and could gain the education she craved. It seemed that nothing could balk her ambition in that direction. And so—this seems to be a very good place indeed in which to bid good-bye for a time to Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill.
THE END
The Ruth Fielding Series
By ALICE B. EMERSON
12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 40 cents, postpaid.
Ruth Fielding was an orphan and came to live with her miserly uncle. By her sunny disposition she melted the old miller's heart. Her adventures and travels make stories that will hold the interest of every reader. The Ruth Fielding Series is the biggest and best selling series of books for girls ever published.Ruth Fielding of the Red Millor Jaspar Parloe's SecretRuth Fielding at Briarwood Hallor Solving the Campus MysteryRuth Fielding at Snow Campor Lost in the BackwoodsRuth Fielding at Lighthouse Pointor Nita, the Girl CastawayRuth Fielding at Silver Ranchor Schoolgirls Among the CowboysRuth Fielding on Cliff Islandor The Old Hunter's Treasure BoxRuth Fielding at Sunrise Farmor What Became of the Raby OrphansRuth Fielding and the Gypsiesor The Missing Pearl NecklaceRuth Fielding in Moving Pictures(New)or Helping the Dormitory FundRuth Fielding Down in Dixie(New)or Great Days in the Land of CottonSend For Our Free Illustrated CatalogueCUPPLES & LEON CO., PublishersNEW YORK
Ruth Fielding was an orphan and came to live with her miserly uncle. By her sunny disposition she melted the old miller's heart. Her adventures and travels make stories that will hold the interest of every reader. The Ruth Fielding Series is the biggest and best selling series of books for girls ever published.
Ruth Fielding of the Red Millor Jaspar Parloe's Secret
Ruth Fielding at Briarwood Hallor Solving the Campus Mystery
Ruth Fielding at Snow Campor Lost in the Backwoods
Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Pointor Nita, the Girl Castaway
Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranchor Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys
Ruth Fielding on Cliff Islandor The Old Hunter's Treasure Box
Ruth Fielding at Sunrise Farmor What Became of the Raby Orphans
Ruth Fielding and the Gypsiesor The Missing Pearl Necklace
Ruth Fielding in Moving Pictures(New)or Helping the Dormitory Fund
Ruth Fielding Down in Dixie(New)or Great Days in the Land of Cotton
Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue
The Motor Girls Series
By MARGARET PENROSE
Author of the highly successful "Dorothy Dale Series"
12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid.
Since the enormous success of our "Motor Boys Series," by Clarence Young, we have been asked to get out a similar series for girls. No one is better equipped to furnish these tales than Mrs. Penrose, who, besides being an able writer, is an expert automobilist.The Motor Girlsor A Mystery of the RoadThe Motor Girls on a Touror Keeping a Strange PromiseThe Motor Girls at Lookout Beachor In Quest of the RunawaysThe Motor Girls Through New Englandor Held by the GypsiesThe Motor Girls on Cedar Lakeor The Hermit of Fern IslandThe Motor Girls on the Coastor The Waif from the SeaThe Motor Girls on Crystal Bayor The Secret of the Red OarThe Motor Girls on Waters Blueor The Strange Cruise of the TartarThe Motor Girls at Camp Surprise(New)or The Cave in the MountainSend For Our Free Illustrated CatalogueCUPPLES & LEON CO., PublishersNEW YORK
Since the enormous success of our "Motor Boys Series," by Clarence Young, we have been asked to get out a similar series for girls. No one is better equipped to furnish these tales than Mrs. Penrose, who, besides being an able writer, is an expert automobilist.
The Motor Girlsor A Mystery of the Road
The Motor Girls on a Touror Keeping a Strange Promise
The Motor Girls at Lookout Beachor In Quest of the Runaways
The Motor Girls Through New Englandor Held by the Gypsies
The Motor Girls on Cedar Lakeor The Hermit of Fern Island
The Motor Girls on the Coastor The Waif from the Sea
The Motor Girls on Crystal Bayor The Secret of the Red Oar
The Motor Girls on Waters Blueor The Strange Cruise of the Tartar
The Motor Girls at Camp Surprise(New)or The Cave in the Mountain
Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue
The Dorothy Dale Series
By MARGARET PENROSE
Author of "The Motor Girls Series"
12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid.