CHAPTER VI
ON THE TRAIN
"Don't you mind what that mean thing says," whispered Pearl Harrod,quickly.
She had seen Ruth flush hotly and the tears spring to Agnes' eyes whenTrix Severn had spoken so ill-naturedly. The younger Corner Housegirls did not hear, but Ruth and Agnes were hurt to the quick.
"You are very, very kind, Pearl," said Ruth. "But we had thought ofgoing to the tent colony----"
"Didn't Trix Severn ask you to her place?" demanded Pearl, hotly. "I_know_ she did. And now she insults you. If she hadn't asked youfirst, and seemed so thick with your sister, Ruth, I would haveinsisted long ago that you all come to uncle's bungalow. There'splenty of room, for my aunt and the girls won't be down for afortnight."
"But, Pearl----"
"I'll be mad if you don't agree--now I know that Trix has releasedyou, Ruth Kenway," cried the good-hearted girl. "Now, don't let's sayanother word about it."
"Oh, don't be angry!" begged Ruth. "But won't it look as though we_were_ begging our way--as Trix says?"
"Pooh! who cares for Trix Severn?"
"You--you are very kind," said Ruth, yielding at length.
"Then you come on. Hey, girls!" she shouted, running after her ownparticular friends who were climbing aboard the rear car. "I've gottenthem to promise. The Corner House girls are going with us--for twoweeks, anyway."
At once the other girls addressed cheered and gathered the fourKenways into their group, with great rejoicing. The sting of TrixSevern's unkindness was forgotten.
Mr. Howbridge, their guardian, came to the station to see them off,and shook hands with Ruth through the window of the car. When thetrain actually moved away, Neale O'Neil was there in the crowd,swinging his cap and wishing them heaps of fun. Neale expected to goto Pleasant Cove himself, later in the season.
This last car of the special train was a day coach; but thelight-hearted girls did not mind the lack of conveniences and comfortsto be obtained in the chair cars. The train was supposed to arrive atPleasant Cove by three o'clock, and a five hour ride on a hot June daywas only "fun" for the Corner House girls and their friends.
Ruth first of all got the brakeman to turn over a seat so that she andher three sisters could sit facing each other. Mrs. MacCall had putthem up a nice hamper of luncheon and the older girl knew this wouldbe better enjoyed if the seats were thus arranged.
Of course, there was the usual desire of some of the travelers to havewindows open while others wished them closed. Cinders and dust flew inby the peck if the former arrangement prevailed, while the heat wasintense if the sashes were down.
Tess and Dot were little disturbed by these physical ills. But theyhad their own worries. Dot, who had insisted on carrying theAlice-doll in her arms, was troubled mightily to remember whether shehad packed the whole of the doll's trousseau (this was supposed to bea wedding journey for the Alice-doll--a wedding journey in which thebridegroom had no part); while Tess wondered what would happen to TomJonah and Sandyface's young family while they were all gone from theold Corner House.
"I feel condemned--I do, indeed, Dot," sighed Tess. "We ought, atleast, to have named those four kittens before we left. They'll beawfully old before the christening--if we don't come back at the endof our first two weeks."
"What could happen to them?" demanded Dot.
"Why--croup--or measles--or chicken-pox. They're only babies, youknow. And if one should die," added Tess, warmly, "we wouldn't evenknow what name to put on its gravestone!"
"My! lots of things can happen in two weeks, I s'pose," agreed Dot."Do you think we ought to stay away from home so long?"
"I guess we'll have to if Ruth and Aggie stay," said Tess. "But Ishall worry."
Meanwhile Agnes, who sat with her back to the engine beside Ruth, hadbecome interested in a couple sitting together not far down the car.They were strangers--and strangely dressed, as well.
"Oh, Ruth!" Agnes exclaimed, under her breath, "they look likeGypsies."
"If they are, they are much better dressed than any Gypsies we eversaw before," observed her sister.
"But how gay!"
This comment was just enough. The older one had shocking taste inmillinery. She wore, too, long, pendant ear-rings and her fingers werecovered with gaudy looking jewels. Her garments were rich in texture,but oddly made, and the contrasts in color were, as Agnes whispered,"fierce!"
"That girl with her is handsome, just the same," Ruth declared.
"Oh! isn't she!" whispered the enthusiastic Agnes. "A perfectlystunning brunette."
If she were a Gypsy girl she was a very beautiful one. Her featureswere lovely and her complexion brilliant. When she smiled she flashedtwo rows of perfect teeth upon the beholder. She might have been ayear or two older than Ruth.
"I don't know--somehow--she reminds me of somebody," murmured thelatter.
"Who?"
"The girl."
"She reminds me of that chicken-thief Tom Jonah treed on the henhouseroof," chuckled Agnes.
"Oh!" exclaimed Ruth; "all Gypsies can't be alike."
"Humph! you never heard a good word said for them," sniffed Agnes.
"But that doesn't prove there are not good ones. They are a wanderingpeople and have no particular trade or standing in any community.Naturally they have a lot of crimes laid upon their shoulders thatthey never commit," said the just Ruth.
"That was one of them that tried to steal your hens, just the same,"said Agnes.
"I suppose so," admitted her sister. "But surely _these_ two cannotbelong to the same kind of Gypsies. See how richly they are dressed."
"I guess that doesn't make any difference," said Agnes. "They are allcut off the same piece of goods," and immediately she lost interest inthe strange couple when Lucy Poole came up the aisle to speak to her.
Ruth had the gaily dressed woman and her companion on her mind a gooddeal. She often looked at them when they did not notice her. The womanmust have been forty, but was straight, lithe, and of good figure. Shesat on the outer end of the seat, having the girl between her and thewindow.
The latter seemed more and more familiar in appearance to Ruth as shelooked, yet the Corner House girl could not say whom the girl lookedlike.
The latter scarcely spoke to her companion. Indeed, she kept her facetoward the window for the most part, and seemed to be in a sullenmood. She had smiled once at Dot and the Alice-doll, and that was theonly time Ruth had seen the dark, beautiful face with an attractiveexpression upon it.
The woman seemed talkative enough, but what language she jabbered toher companion the Corner House girl could not tell. She frequentlyleaned toward the dark girl, her bejeweled fingers seizing the sleeveof her waist, and her speech was both emphatic and loud.
The rattle of the train drowned, however, most of the woman's words.Ruth arose and went the length of the car for a drink, just for thepurpose of overhearing the strange speech of the Gypsy (if such thewoman was) for she was sure the language was not English.
She heard nothing intelligible. Ruth folded a cup, filled it at theice-water tank, and brought it back for the children. Pearl Harrod wassitting directly behind the two strangers, in a seat with CarriePoole.
"Oh, I say, Ruth!" Pearl said, "is it a fact that Rosa Wildwood iscoming down to the Cove next week?"
Ruth turned to answer. As she did so the girl in the seat with theGypsy sprang to her feet, her face transfigured with amazement, oralarm--Ruth did not know which. The woman grabbed her by the elbow andpulled her back into the seat, saying something of a threateningnature to her companion.
In her excitement the woman knocked the cup of water from Ruth's hand.She turned to apologize, and Ruth, looking over her head, saw thedark-skinned girl sitting back in her corner quite colorless andbroken. The Corner House girl was sure, too, that the strange girl'slips formed the name "Rosa Wildwood"--but she made no sound.
"It is all right," Ruth assured the Gypsy woman. "No harm done."
"I am the ver' awkward o
ne--eh?" repeated the woman, with a hardsmile.
"It does not matter," said Ruth. "I can get another cup of water."
She returned to do so. All the while she was wondering what theincident meant. It was not merely a chance happening, she was sure.Something about the name of her schoolmate, Rosa Wildwood, hadfrightened the beautiful girl who was evidently in the Gypsy woman'scare.
Ruth grew quite excited as she drew another cup of water, and sheswiftly planned to discover the mystery, as she started up the aisleof the coach a second time.