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diff --git a/34929.txt b/34929.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74bfb2d --- /dev/null +++ b/34929.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5856 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Ranch Girls in Europe, by Margaret Vandercook + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ranch Girls in Europe + +Author: Margaret Vandercook + +Illustrator: Mary Pemberton Ginther + +Release Date: January 12, 2011 [EBook #34929] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RANCH GIRLS IN EUROPE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: Bold text is denoted by =bold= and italic by +_italic_. + +[Illustration: "JACK, DON'T YOU KNOW ME?"] + + + + +THE RANCH GIRLS SERIES + +The Ranch Girls In Europe + +--BY-- + +MARGARET VANDERCOOK + + ILLUSTRATED BY + MARY PEMBERTON GINTHER + + THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY + PHILADELPHIA + + + + + Copyright, 1914, by + THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. BIRDS OF PASSAGE 9 + II. SALVE! 25 + III. NEW ACQUAINTANCES 35 + IV. THINGS PRESENT AND THINGS TO COME 44 + V. A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 54 + VI. RUTH'S ATTITUDE 63 + VII. GIBRALTAR 73 + VIII. A MORE IMPORTANT OBLIGATION 82 + IX. REFLECTIONS 94 + X. ITALIAN VIOLETS 105 + XI. FONTANONE DELL' ACQUA FELICE 115 + XII. AFTERNOON TEA 122 + XIII. JACK 131 + XIV. THE PRINCESS' MYTHOLOGICAL BALL 143 + XV. A SURPRISE 156 + XVI. LEAVING ROME 167 + XVII. THE OVERSEER OF THE RAINBOW RANCH 182 + XVIII. RELIEF OR REGRET? 192 + XIX. RECONCILIATIONS 200 + XX. AN ENGLISH COUNTRY PLACE 209 + XXI. MIDNIGHT CONFIDENCES 217 + XXII. OLIVE'S ANSWER 226 + XXIII. THE WEDDING DAY 234 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + "JACK, DON'T YOU KNOW ME?" _Frontispiece_ + PAGE + HER TONE WAS THAT OF ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY 19 + "DON'T BE FUNNY, DICK; I'M LOST AGAIN" 119 + RUTH STARTED UP THE AISLE ON LORD KENT'S ARM 236 + + + + +The Ranch Girls in Europe + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BIRDS OF PASSAGE + + +"IT seems incredible, girls, but I simply can't find her." + +The young woman who made this remark was standing on the deck of an +out-going ocean steamer. The great boat was ploughing its way through +the Ambrose channel, leaving the long nose of Sandy Hook a thin line of +white on one side. Fading away into the background like dim gray ghosts +were the giant towers of New York City. The speaker was wearing a long, +gray traveling coat with a blue lining, and a felt hat of the same +colors rested close against her ash-brown hair. + +Immediately three girls turned to face her. The minute before they had +been leaning against the ship's railing. One of them revealed a +suspicion of tears in her curiously dark eyes; the second had her lips +shut unnecessarily tight to hide her emotion; while the third showed +only rejoicing. + +"Dear me, Ruth Drew," this girl now began in mock tragic tones, "you +don't suppose that our infant has fallen overboard already, do you? Or +do you suspect some one of having run away with her? At this present +moment I presume that Frieda Ralston is in our stateroom. But it is +possible that she is engaged in making the acquaintance of some one on +shipboard whom she has decided she is crazy to know. The most probable +supposition, however, is that she is trying to persuade a steward to +give her something to eat. For over an hour ago she informed me that she +was starving to death and wished to open one of her boxes of candy +before leaving the New York pier. She is sure to turn up in a moment or +so. Do please stay here with us and help Jack and Olive mourn. They are +shedding tears over having to say farewell to the 'Stars and Stripes,' +and incidentally to our best-beloved friends. But I can't even show a +polite amount of emotion I am so happy over starting off on our trip at +last." + +Here Jean Bruce, one of the four Ranch girls from the Rainbow Lodge, +abruptly ceased talking. She had been noticing for the past few minutes +that a stranger had been listening to her conversation with a kind of +well-bred amusement. And as she happened to be the person whom Jean had +most admired since coming aboard the Martha Washington, it seeming +annoying to be the subject of her smiles. However, Jean should not have +been offended, for her sallies had awakened the first animation in the +young woman's face since the hour of their sailing. Until recently she +had been standing in a listless attitude within a few feet of the Ranch +girls, apparently uninterested in anything in the world. In her slender +arms she carried what looked like an entire tree of American Beauty +roses. And now and then she had pressed her face against them. The +traveler's costume had first attracted Jean's attention--it was so +beautiful and fashionable. The coat was of dull blue silk; the small hat +emphasized the classic outline of the young woman's haughtily poised +head with its crown of pale-gold hair, and at a respectful distance a +maid and a courier waited in attendance upon her. + +Jack and Olive, even in the midst of their absorption, had been brought +to admit that the stranger's appearance was fascinating. While to Jean's +more romantic fancy she suggested no less a heroine than the Princess +Flavia in "The Prisoner of Zenda." + +In the moment of Jean's silence Jacqueline Ralston drew their chaperon's +arm through hers, giving it a reproachful squeeze. + +"If you are going to begin worrying over us, Ruth, in the very first +hour of what Aunt Ellen called 'Our tower,' whatever is to become of you +before we are through? I am sure Frieda is all right. And this time Jean +is telling the truth. Olive and I have been feeling low in our minds +over saying good-by to Jim and Ralph and Miss Winthrop and Peter and +Jessica and a few others. But just the same we are as happy over the +prospect of our trip as Jean Bruce is, every single bit!" + +During this moment Ruth had again allowed herself to be silenced, but +now she moved determinedly back from Jacqueline's detaining grasp. + +"I don't think you girls understand the situation," Ruth argued a trifle +impatiently. "Of course I have already searched for Frieda in every +probable place on the ship and have had the stewardess helping me. She +simply is not to be found! I don't like Frieda's running off from the +rest of us in this fashion and I don't understand it. Where did you +leave her, Jean, when you came on board the second time after going +ashore for another farewell to Mr. Colter? I was so busy having our +steamer trunks put into our staterooms that I could not join you." And +for an instant, remembering that there were other reasons why she did +not wish to be present at this final parting with Jim Colter, Ruth Drew +hesitated and flushed. Would her New England conscience never allow her +to be satisfied with telling only half the truth? + +But Jean, forgetting the presence of her embarrassing audience, shook +her head in protest. + +"Frieda didn't come on board with me. I came on alone. Why, Jim and +Ralph had fairly to shove me up the gang-plank before the last 'all +aboard' was sung out! Frieda came on with Jack and Olive several +minutes before. That is, I thought so. Surely you can't mean----" + +In this same instant Olive Van Mater's arm slipped around Jacqueline +Ralston's waist. For although almost a year had passed since Jack's +recovery from her long illness and operation, she was not yet entirely +strong. Frequently she had to use a cane in walking. Today, however, she +had insisted that she was able to get along without it. So Olive feared +that this sudden and surprising news of her little sister might prove +too much for her. It was characteristic of the two friends' relations +that Olive's first thought in this crisis was not so much for Frieda as +for Jack. + +Nevertheless her friend did not yet require her aid. Although at Jean's +surprising words Jacqueline Ralston had turned pale, she was perhaps not +more so than Ruth and the other two girls. However, she was evidently +doing her best to hold on to her self-control and not to allow the +moment's bewilderment and fright to overwhelm her. + +"No, Frieda did not come on the ship with us the second time, Ruth," she +explained, turning quietly toward their chaperon. "But please do not let +us be alarmed. She must have come aboard by herself beforehand. For I +can remember hearing her say her last good-by to Jim while I was still +talking to Peter. Frieda is nearly seventeen; why, it is ridiculous to +suppose that she would be so foolish as to let the steamer sail off +without her! Besides, wasn't Jim right there! And isn't he always +possessed of the idea that we will be late for things and that unknown +catastrophes will overtake us? If necessary he would have put Frieda on +board by main force. So let's go find her." + +Very quickly, then, the little party of four turned from their former +places. And Jean's face, which had been the gayest in the group at the +beginning of this conversation, was now the most terrified. + +"If Frieda Ralston isn't on board the Martha Washington with us, she +most certainly is not on land with any of our friends," Jean insisted, +"for I know that Frieda left them on the pier before I did. So if she +isn't on this ship something dreadful must have happened to her; some +one must have stolen her away. Oh, what on earth shall we do?" + +Jean was following the others in such a complete state of panic that she +hardly knew what she was saying. So at first she scarcely heard the low +voice sounding close to her ears. Only one thought occupied her mind. +Frieda was lost before they had fairly started on their journey. If she +could not be found on the ship, what were they to do? Of course they +could send Marconigrams back to Jim Colter and Ralph Merrit, who had +come all the way from the ranch to New York City to say farewell to +them. But if Frieda should happen not to be with them or with any of +their other friends, must there not be days and days of horrible waiting +and anxiety before they could return home? Each moment the great steamer +was carrying them farther and farther away from the United States and +not all the gold in the Rainbow Mine could persuade her to alter her +course or to stop until they reached Gibraltar. + +The voice spoke again. Evidently its owner must have pursued Ruth and +the three girls. + +"I am afraid you are in some difficulty. If my maid or courier can be of +any service to you I shall be most happy. Evidently you have not crossed +before." + +This final suggestion, even in the midst of her anxiety, made Jean +flush uncomfortably. Immediately she stopped and turned around, +recognizing the young woman who had previously both attracted and +annoyed her. Something in Jean's expression must have betrayed her +irritation, for the stranger smiled again. + +"I hope I haven't offended you," she apologized. "I only wished to be +useful. You _are_ in trouble, so you must let me try to serve you." + +In their overwhelming anxiety Ruth, Olive and Jack had continued on the +way to their staterooms, leaving Jean to answer for all of them. Now, to +her chagrin, the tears began overflowing her eyes like a frightened +baby's. + +And only a few moments before had she not secretly hoped to make a +favorable impression upon this most interesting of their fellow +voyagers? + +Jean had believed that she was looking unusually well herself. For her +blue silk dress with its touches of red embroidery, her blue chinchilla +coat with its scarlet lining and her hat with the single red wing in it +had been considered the most effective of the Ranch party's going-away +costumes. + +[Illustration: HER TONE WAS THAT OF ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY] + +So why should she be making herself so ridiculous before a total +stranger? + +Jean did not realize that the emotion of parting with her friends and of +leaving her own country had been greater than she cared to admit even to +herself. Then this sudden overwhelming worry about Frieda had left her +nerves completely unstrung. + +Therefore she was extremely grateful when the older woman led her to a +more secluded part of the promenade deck. New York was now out of sight, +and most of the passengers were hurrying off to their rooms. Jean and +her companion were almost entirely alone. + +"We--we have lost our little sister," the young girl began incoherently. +"Or at least we have been unable to find her and do not feel altogether +sure that she came aboard with the rest of us. Oh, I realize that this +must sound absurd and impossible to you. It does to all of us. But what +can have become of her?" + +With a slight but imperious nod of her head, which, even in her +excitement, Jean did not fail to observe, her new acquaintance summoned +her courier. And although she spoke to him in Italian the girl was able +to understand. The man was told to await their return. Then if +ordered he was to see that the ship was thoroughly searched for a +missing passenger without unnecessary notoriety. + +A little later the young woman moved away with Jean. "Your sister is +probably in her own stateroom by this time. However, if she is not and +is on the ship we shall find her in a few moments." Her tone was that of +absolute authority, as though the great vessel were her private yacht. +Jean wondered how any woman not more than twenty-eight could give such +an impression of poise and experience. + +Notwithstanding Frieda had not yet been discovered in any one of the +staterooms. She had been expected to occupy a room with Jean. Olive and +Jack were to be together and Ruth to sleep alone. However, in Ruth's +stateroom, which the girls had chosen as being specially attractive, +Jean and her new friend found Jacqueline Ralston waiting alone. + +"I have promised to remain here while Miss Drew and Olive have gone to +speak to the proper authorities," Jack explained, with the curious +self-control which she was almost always able to summon under special +strain. "We hope my sister has simply mistaken her stateroom and may +come to us at any moment. But if you will be so kind as to have your man +assist us in our search, why we shall be deeply grateful. You see, we +are rather too frightened to be sensible, besides being inexperienced +travelers. And Frieda is so much the younger!" Here, with a break in her +self-command, Jack dropped unexpectedly into the nearest chair. She had +forgotten even to ask their visitor to be seated, nor did she have the +faintest idea of her name, nor the reason for her interest in their +predicament. + +An hour later and the Martha Washington had been thoroughly and quietly +searched for the missing Frieda Ralston. Yet there appeared to be +absolutely no trace of her. Of course her baggage had been brought +aboard the ship with the other girls'. Even her silver toilet bag, Jim's +parting gift, was safely stored in her stateroom. Frieda had been last +seen ashore with nothing in her hands except a small gold link purse. + +Finally when the news reached the Ranch party that Frieda was positively +not to be found on the steamer, for the first time in her career Ruth +Drew collapsed. + +Not that she was more wretched than the girls over Frieda's +disappearance, but because of her greater sense of responsibility. For +almost a year, ever since their return from boarding school to the +Rainbow Ranch, Ruth had been separated from the Ranch girls and living +quietly in her old home in Vermont. In that time she had never heard +from Jim Colter nor of him, except what the girls had written in their +letters. Their meeting in New York had been entirely formal and without +a word of private conversation. Yet now it was the thought of Jim's +sorrow and indignation, should anything have happened to his baby, +Frieda, that Ruth found the hardest thing she had to bear. For had she +not once acted as Jim Colter's upright judge? What now must be his +judgment of her? + +Several hours of this interminable afternoon were spent by Jack and +Olive waiting in the ship's office for answers to their Marconigrams. +But, when the answers finally did arrive, the news was only +discouraging: "Frieda had not been seen by either Jim or Ralph or by any +one of their acquaintances since the sailing of the Martha Washington." + +Yet, notwithstanding the many hours of searching and distress, Jean's +new friend had never deserted them. She had not even gone to her own +room to remove her coat and hat. Indeed, her whole time had been spent +in encouraging Ruth, in making suggestions to the three girls, and in +having her maid and man do whatever was necessary toward assisting them. +Still no one of the Ranch party even knew her name. + +Twilight had come and the lights were shining brilliantly everywhere +over the big ship. A fog horn had sounded and suddenly Jean felt that +she could bear the suspense no longer. She must break down, yet no one +of the others must see or hear her. Slipping out into a dark passageway, +she hid herself and cried for half an hour. Then making up her mind that +since nothing more could be done toward finding Frieda, she might at +least devote herself to comforting Ruth, she walked quietly back into +Ruth's stateroom. There she found their new friend just in the act of +leaving. + +"You will be better by yourselves for a little while," she was saying, +holding Jack's hand in one of her own and Olive's in the other, while +looking sympathetically at Ruth. "My man will see that dinner is served +in your room, and by and by I will come again to say good-night. You +must not lose courage. The American girl never loses courage or ceases +to fight while there is still work to be done." + +Having for the moment forgotten herself and her own sorrow, Jean became +more aware of their new acquaintance's unusual sympathy and kindness. + +"You have been wonderfully good to us," she began chokingly, "and +perhaps at some time we may be able to show you our great appreciation. +But tonight, tonight--" and Jean could get no further. Then, summoning +more strength of character, she continued, "I wonder if you would mind +telling us your name? You must already know most of our history, as we +have talked so much of ourselves in speaking of Frieda." + +For a moment Jean's friend appeared to be hesitating. Perhaps she did +not wish to talk of herself, for she was now looking as weary as Ruth +and the Ranch girls. + +"You must not think I am not a fellow countrywoman when I tell you my +name," she replied slowly, and with the slightly foreign accent which +the girls had neglected to notice in their distress. "I was once a +western girl myself, oh, many years ago, in a little mining town. So I +was able to recognize you as soon as I saw and heard you talking. Now I +am an Italian, however, or at least my husband is. My name is Beatrice, +the Princess Beatrice Colonna." + +Jean actually gasped out loud. Here she had been talking to a real live +Princess without knowing it, when in her most romantic moments she had +only conceived of a literary one. + +If they had not been in such great trouble over Frieda, how thrilling +this meeting would have seemed! Yet, except for their sorrow, they might +never have spoken to the Princess. And now here she was standing right +in their midst talking just like any one else! + +A moment later and she had vanished with these parting words: + +"Promise me not to be too unhappy while I am gone. And perhaps when I +return we may have devised some better scheme for finding your little +Frieda." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SALVE! + + +FOR several moments after the Princess' withdrawal no one moved or spoke +in Ruth Drew's stateroom. Ruth was lying on her berth, almost in a state +of prostration, with Jean kneeling on the floor by her, resting her head +upon the same pillow. On the divan Olive and Jack sat close together, +Olive trying her best to think of some new consolation to offer her +friend. For although the four Ranch girls loved one another with almost +equal affection, after all Jack and Frieda were own sisters. + +For the past year the girls and Ruth had been planning this trip to +Europe. When the school year at Miss Winthrop's had closed and Jack had +concluded her trying experience at the New York hospital, the girls, +escorted by Jim Colter, had gone home to the Rainbow Ranch. In the +autumn they then intended to join Ruth again in the east and set sail. +However, when the fall came around, Jack was not so well, affairs at +the mine were in a kind of a tangle and Olive's grandmother desired her +to spend another school term at Primrose Hall. So the European journey +had been postponed until the following spring. Now it was early March +and the Rainbow Ranch party was starting forth upon the Mediterranean +trip. Their plan had been to stop over for a day in Gibraltar and +afterwards to see Italy thoroughly before entering any other country. + +However, on this, their first evening at sea, when they had anticipated +so much happiness, there was but one question and one desire in the +hearts of Ruth, Jack, Olive and Jean. + +How could they bear the ten unendurable days before their ship reached +Gibraltar and the second ten of their return journey to New York? + +For Ruth and the girls had finally concluded that Frieda had never +sailed on the Martha Washington. Of course a few passengers had been +discovered who claimed to have seen a young girl answering Frieda's +description. However, no one would swear to it. And even if Frieda had +fallen overboard, surely some one would have seen or heard her. Her +disappearance had taken place among a crowd of apparently well-dressed +and well-behaved people. It hardly seemed possible that she could have +been kidnapped. Nevertheless the steerage had been quietly investigated +without the slightest clue having been established. + +It was the old story that was once more repeating itself. Nothing seems +more improbable than that any one whom we know and love can suddenly +vanish without leaving a trace of his or her whereabouts. Yet when this +actually does take place, no one has a sensible suggestion to make. All +is confusion, uncertainty and at last despair. + +However, neither Ruth nor any one of the three Ranch girls were making +any noise, so that they suddenly became aware of a movement down the +short hall leading to Ruth's room. And then followed a knock at the +door. + +Ruth turned over, facing the wall. "The steward is bringing our dinner. +Do please do your best to eat something, girls, for we shall need all +our strength," she pleaded. + +Jacqueline shook her head. "Not tonight. If you will let me get away to +myself for a few hours I shall be stronger by tomorrow." + +For the first time there was something in Jack's voice that brought her +chaperon, cousin and friend to a quick realization of their own +weakness. For, although Jack's right to sorrow was certainly greater +than theirs, until now, had she not been the strongest and most hopeful +of them all? And this when two long years of illness had left her far +from strong. Possibly through suffering she had learned a finer +self-control. + +As she moved toward the closed door with her face white as a sheet, +suddenly Jean flung herself in her cousin's path. + +"Don't go until you have tried eating something," she begged. "We can't +bear to have you ill again besides our anxiety about Frieda." + +Jean flung open the stateroom door, but stumbled back and was actually +caught by Jack. + +For there on their threshold stood the Princess, holding by the hand a +young girl with a quantity of light hair tumbled loosely about a flushed +face. Her blue eyes with their long lashes were looking indescribably +sleepy and injured and in her other hand she held a small, gold-linked +purse. + +Jean sank down on the floor as Jack released her hold on her. Ruth +started up with a cry; Olive rose quickly to her feet, only to drop back +into her old place again. Therefore it was Jack who reached the figures +at the door first. And there her long-controlled self-restraint gave +way, as she flung her arms about the newcomer's neck. + +"Oh, Frieda, Frieda Ralston," she sobbed. "Where have you been and what +has happened to you? Who could have kept you away from us for all these +hours. Hours--why you must have been away years!" + +But Frieda had now come into the stateroom, with the Princess following +her. And though she had kissed Jack dutifully and affectionately enough, +she gazed with astonishment and some resentment from one white face to +the other. + +"I--I haven't been anywhere," she protested. "At least, I have just been +asleep." + +"Asleep!" Jean whispered the single word over several times. "Asleep!" +Yet certainly everything in Frieda's appearance suggested this to be the +truth. Her face was as calm and untroubled as a big wax doll's, her +color and eyes as serene. + +"But how, when, where?" Ruth Drew inquired, struggling between the +hysterical desire to burst into laughter and tears at the same moment. + +"I made a mistake in our stateroom," Frieda explained with that offended +and yet apologetic air which the other girls knew so well. "You see, I +came on the ship a little after Olive and Jack did and saw them standing +together waving to people. I knew they would never stop until we got +clear out of sight of New York. And I--I was so dreadfully tired! You +remember we had been out to the theater two nights in succession and had +just had the long trip from Wyoming to New York; so I thought I would +lie down for a few minutes' rest. I couldn't find Ruth in our stateroom +or in hers, but I supposed that she had gone up on deck. So I took off +my hat and coat and lay down--and--that's all there is to it." + +Olive started the laughter. The nervous tension of the past few hours +had been too great for everybody. Now Frieda's voice, her manner, her +explanation, had turned what had seemed a tragedy but a few minutes +before into a ridiculous farce. + +"Would you mind telling me, Frieda," (Olive struggled to be as serious +as Frieda might consider proper), "how you could find a stateroom in +which you could sleep for five or six hours undisturbed, when every +single room, every spot aboard this big ship has been ransacked to find +you?" + +But here Jean's Princess, who had not spoken before, laughed gaily. + +"Please, this is where I come in. Isn't that the American slang?" she +queried. "I found Goldilocks asleep in my bed just as the little bear +did in the old fairy story. Remember, my stateroom is the only one that +has never been investigated, since I have spent the entire time with +you. It is true that my maid and courier have been into my sitting room, +which adjoins my bedroom, several times. But they have also been too +worried over your loss even to have unpacked my trunks. Imagine what an +odd sensation it was for me to discover two big, blue eyes staring at me +from my very own pillow!" + +And the Princess laughed as naturally and cheerfully as an ordinary +American girl. + +"I wasn't asleep _then_!" Frieda defended. Catching the expression of +her cousin Jean Bruce's face, she realized that she would never hear the +last of this escapade. + +"Then why, baby mine, when you came back from dreamland did you not +struggle into the hall and find out what had become of your family?" +Jean demanded. + +"Because I was cross," Frieda whispered. "You see, I thought it hateful +of you to have let me stay such a long time by myself. And I meant never +to get up until you came and found me, even if I starved!" + +"And speaking of starving!" Jean exclaimed, clasping her hands together +in a dramatic fashion and gazing at Frieda who now appeared as hungry as +she had been sleepy a few moments before. + +But although Ruth and the three Ranch girls had done their best to make +her remain so, Frieda was not a baby. She turned to their new-found +acquaintance. Something in her sister's face showed at least a part of +the strain which her family had been under. + +"I am afraid I hardly know how to thank you, Mrs.--Miss--" she +hesitated. + +"She isn't a Miss or a Mrs. either; she is a Princess!" Jean whispered, +supposing that no one else could overhear her. However, seeing Frieda +shake her head with indignation over her cousin's continued teasing, the +four women, including the Princess, laughed in chorus. + +"I am a Princess, really, Frieda, but my title does not mean anything +serious in Italy. And I hope you may not like me any the less well for +it." + +The girls noticed that the Princess had spoken as informally to Frieda +as though she were one of them, but now as she turned toward Ruth again +her manner changed. + +"For the second time let me bid you good-night and offer my +congratulations," she said. + +And there again was the coldness, the hauteur and the superiority, which +Jean had resented before their misfortune had awakened the young woman's +sympathy. + +In the midst of a murmur of thanks from every one else in the room, Jean +quietly opened the door for their visitor. But it was hardly possible +for the Princess successfully to pass two large men bearing enormous +trays of dishes in their outstretched arms. + +"Dinner!" Jean murmured soulfully, forgetting her new-found dignity. + +And the Princess' tired-looking, big blue eyes were immediately turned +wistfully toward the food. + +"I am dreadfully hungry too," she announced, speaking like a girl again. +"I wonder if you would let me have some of your dinner. You see, it is +too late to dress now and I shall be all alone." + +Five voices answered and several hands reached forward to draw their +guest down into the most comfortable chair. A little later the table was +laid with a bunch of roses, which Ruth had received anonymously, to +serve as the centerpiece. And seated between Jean and Frieda was a real +live Princess; when in their fondest dreams the Ranch girls had only +hoped to see one drive past some day in a coach and four. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +NEW ACQUAINTANCES + + +AMBITION in this world is often gratified in a most unexpected fashion, +and so it happened with Frieda Ralston! + +For weeks before leaving the Rainbow Ranch she had discussed with Jim, +with Ralph Merrit, who was still engineer at the mine, and with her +sister Jack, whether or not they believed she would be able to make +agreeable acquaintances aboard ship or during the months of their travel +on the other side. For Frieda was certain that she should soon grow +weary with nothing to entertain her but miles of salt water, hundreds of +art galleries, thousands of pictures and statues. It was all very well +for Jack and Olive to enthuse over these possibilities and for Jean to +pretend to feel the same way. She wanted _people_ for her diversion and +hoped to be able to make a few friends in the course of their ocean +crossing. Though how this was to be accomplished without a single +introduction Frieda did not know. However, on the morning of the second +day of their voyage the youngest Ranch girl made the discovery. + +In a state of blissful unconsciousness and without reflecting on the +events of the day before, she started down to breakfast with Jean and +Olive. Jack and Ruth were a little too weary to care about making early +appearances. + +The morning was a perfect one, with a smooth sea, and the dining room +was crowded with passengers. One would hardly have expected that the +quiet appearance of three young girls could have attracted any special +attention. For a few moments they waited for the head steward to be +found, and were then led to their seats at the First Officer's table. It +was all very quickly done, yet Jean and Olive were distinctly aware that +a subdued murmur followed them; then that an entirely unnecessarily +large number of heads were turned in their direction. Of course Frieda +noticed this, too, but she merely presumed that their fellow travelers +were curious and had not the good manners that they should have had. The +idea that she or Jean or Olive could be exciting any particular +attention never occurred to her at first, so deeply did the scene hold +her attention. + +Then, without warning, something took place which made Frieda flush and +tremble. Except that she was holding a menu card in her hand at the +moment the tears would have shown in her eyes. + +Seated just across the table opposite her was a large, middle-aged +woman, dressed in black and wearing a quantity of handsome jewelry. She +stared hard at Frieda for the first few moments after her arrival. Then, +turning to the young fellow who sat next her, she announced in a loud +enough voice to be heard from one end of the table to the other, "It was +the plump, yellow-haired one, wasn't it, created such a stir? Seems like +it ain't possible she could have been asleep in some one's stateroom. +Much more likely she was in some kind of mischief! I am going to ask her +what she _really_ was doing?" Then she leaned half-way across the cloth +and, except for the young man's agonized protest, most assuredly would +have asked her question of Frieda. + +But in an instant Jean grasped the situation. She was quicker than any +of the other girls to understand social matters, and now realized that +something must be said and done at once. Not only must she cover up the +awkwardness of the present moment, but save Frieda from further +discussion later on. They had believed that their search yesterday had +been conducted quietly, and yet questions must have been asked of many +passengers aboard and the whole business of the lost girl thoroughly +gone into. Frieda herself should speak now and right the whole matter. +Of course this would have been the better way, Jean thought. And yet one +glance at Frieda showed this possibility hopeless. Should the strange +woman ask her a single question or say another word concerning her +escapade, it was apparent that the youngest of the Ranch girls would +burst into tears before the many strangers at the breakfast table! + +Frieda was not feeling very well. Perhaps because she had slept so long +in the afternoon, or, perhaps, for more sentimental reasons she had lain +awake several hours during the night past worrying over the events of +the afternoon. Not that she dreamed then that she might be talked about +aboard ship, but because she was sorry for the girls' and Ruth's +anxiety. Yet evidently persons had been commenting upon her! Moreover, +had she not just been called plump before everybody at their table? +Frieda was extremely sensitive on this subject and no one of her family +or friends dared mention it. It was because Jack and Olive were both so +absurdly thin and because Jean had a remarkably beautiful figure for a +girl of eighteen that Frieda might seem a little large in comparison. +The real truth was that she had only a soft roundness of outline, which +put attractive dimples, and curves in the places where you might have +expected angularities. + +Therefore, in the pause following the older woman's speech, Jean looked +across the table with an air of quiet amusement. Immediately she held +the attention of the persons nearest them and at the same time gave the +embarrassed young man a reassuring smile. + +He was not a young man, however. Jean decided from the weight of her +eighteen years of masculine experience that he was a college boy +probably in his Freshman year and certainly far more refined in his +manner and appearance than his ordinary-looking mother. + +"If you were kind enough to be interested in our difficulty of +yesterday, I should be glad to explain to you how it had a happy +ending," she began in a friendly voice. "I suppose it was foolish for us +to have been so frightened." + +And then in detail Jean went through the history of the entire +occurrence, beginning with their discovery of Frieda's absence, closing +with the moment of her appearance, and neglecting nothing to make her +story a good one. This in spite of Frieda's hot blushes and imploring +although unuttered requests for silence. In the end, however, every +member of the audience laughed, and Frieda determined never to forgive +Jean's unkindness, while Jean and Olive were both silently +congratulating themselves that any mystery surrounding her proceedings +had been so soon and so easily cleared up. They were fully aware that +their story would soon be circulated among a number of their fellow +passengers. + +Yet for a long time afterwards Frieda Ralston would always recall this +first breakfast aboard the Martha Washington as one of the most +uncomfortable meals of her whole lifetime. More than anything she hated +being laughed at. And even the young man, whose mother had started the +entire unpleasantness, had the impertinence to forget his own +responsibility and to smile and exclaim "Great Scott" over her ability +to sleep so long and well in the midst of such great excitement. Later +in the meal he attempted smiling at Frieda once or twice, hoping that +she might have come in time to regard the situation more humorously. But +she had returned his glances with a reproachful coldness that apparently +had reduced him to a proper state of silence and humility. One thought, +however, upbore Frieda until she was able to withdraw from the dining +room. At least, she need never again recognize the presence of the two +objectionable persons across the table from her. For not only should she +never speak to them, she would not even incline her head in recognition +of their existence at meal times, although she had heard that this was a +polite custom among even the most exclusive of ocean travelers. + +Seated in her steamer chair next her sister Jacqueline half an hour +later, with a veil tied close about her little scarlet velour hat, +Frieda was dumfounded to observe this same objectionable young man +stopping calmly before them. + +Looked at closely he had a well-shaped head with almost too heavy a +jaw, a bright color, brown eyes and hair that he was vainly trying to +train into a correct pompadour. His shoulders were broad and athletic, +of a kind the younger Miss Ralston had previously been known to admire. + +First the young fellow bowed politely to Jack. Then he turned as +directly toward Frieda as though they had already been properly +introduced. + +"I am awfully sorry my mother made you so uncomfortable this morning," +he began bravely, and turned so crimson that Frieda felt her heart +relenting. + +"Mother is an awfully good sort, but she hasn't been around much and did +not guess how you would feel. And--oh, well a fellow can't be expected +to apologize for his mother! Only as she asked me to come and talk to +you, I am trying to do my best." + +Then, answering a nod of invitation from Jack, who had liked his +straightforward manner, he sat down in the vacant chair next Frieda and +pulling out a box of chocolates from his pocket began to tell her the +story of his life. His name was Richard Grant. He and his mother came +from Crawford, Indiana, where his father had been a candy manufacturer +until his death a few months before. Richard was in his second year at +Princeton when his father had died, so, as his mother felt a trip abroad +might help her, he had dropped behind his class for half a year in order +to do what she wished. + +He seemed so straightforward and so good-natured that by and by Frieda +forgot to remain angry. So when he begged her to come and be introduced +to his mother she hardly knew how to refuse. + +Nevertheless Frieda found her first conclusion had been right. Mrs. +Grant was as impossible as she had previously thought her. Could she +ever endure the mother's acquaintance for the sake of the son's? + +Still, Frieda continued walking the deck with her newest acquaintance +until Ruth was obliged to send Olive and Jean to look for her. And a +number of persons aboard had been watching the youngest of the Ranch +girls with a good deal of pleasure. For Frieda had never looked more +attractive than she did in her scarlet steamer coat and cap, with her +blue eyes as wide open and as deeply interested in everything about her +as a clever baby's and her cheeks, without exaggeration, as deeply pink +as a La France rose. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THINGS PRESENT AND THINGS TO COME + + +THE ensuing week at sea was one of the most delightful in the Ranch +girls' lives and in many ways illustrative of their future history. + +An ocean steamer filled with passengers is in itself a miniature world, +so many different types of people are represented, there is such freedom +of association, such a leveling of artificial barriers that often exist +on land. Frequently a fellow traveler reveals more of his character and +history to some stranger whom he may meet in crossing than ever he has +confided to a life-long friend. + +Until the present time the four Ranch girls and their chaperon, Ruth +Drew, had lived singularly sheltered lives. First brought up almost like +boys under the care of their overseer, Jim Colter, three of the girls +had known only the few neighbors scattered within riding distance of +their thousand-acre ranch. While Olive's acquaintance, owing to her +curious childhood, had been even smaller and more primitive. Then had +come the year for Jean, Olive and Frieda at Primrose Hall under Miss +Katherine Winthrop's charge, when their horizon had broadened, admitting +a number of girls and a few young men to be their friends. But this +could hardly be called real contact with the world, since always they +were under Miss Winthrop's wise guidance. While as Jack had spent +exactly the same length of time at a hospital she had had even less +experience with people. The last ten months with three of the girls +again at the Rainbow Ranch had meant a return to the same kind of quiet +every-day existence, varied only by the interests of the working of the +mine. Olive's six months apart from the others had simply been devoted +to further study with Miss Winthrop with week-end visits to her +grandmother at The Towers. + +Then, although Ruth Drew was almost ten years older than any one of the +Ranch girls, in many ways she was fully as ignorant of the world. It had +never yet occurred to her that there were persons capable of +misrepresenting themselves, nor of pretending to be what they were not +and using innocent friendships for purposes of their own. Nor had it +occurred to her that the reputation of the four girls for having +suddenly acquired great wealth might place them in danger. + +From the time Ruth had been a little girl she had never had the +disposition for making many friends. Always she had been timid and +retiring, devoting herself to her father until after his death. Except +for the year spent at the Ranch and the winter at the hospital in New +York with Jack, Ruth had never known anything outside the narrow circle +of a Vermont village life. Not that a village does not furnish almost +all there is to learn of human nature, but that she had shut herself in +from most of it. The freedom of the wonderful ranch life, the contact +and friendship with Jim Colter, which for a while had looked like +something more than friendship, had widened the little Vermont school +teacher's horizon. Then had come the break with Jim, and the past winter +at home she had shut herself up even more completely. During the many +evenings alone in her small cottage there had been plenty of opportunity +for Ruth Drew to regret her decision against Jim, but whatever passed in +her mind she had kept to herself. Not even to Jacqueline Ralston, who +at one time had been her confidante, had she made any confession. + +So perhaps from the standpoint of worldly wisdom the Rainbow Ranch party +was none too well equipped for a long journey or for the meeting with +many different types of people and the making of friendships which might +be of grave importance in after years. + +And, notwithstanding the fact that Ruth and the four girls were +singularly devoted to one another, there was no question but that they +were five widely unlike characters, and that their interests must often +lie in as many different directions now that their opportunities were to +be so much broader. + +For a disinterested observer (if ever there is such an one) it would +have been difficult at this time in the Ranch girls' lives to have +decided which one was the most attractive--beauty and charm are in +themselves so much a matter of personal taste. But perhaps to older and +more thoughtful persons it was now Jacqueline Ralston who would make the +strongest appeal. + +Jack was only a few months older than her friend, Olive Van Mater, less +than a year older than her cousin, Jean Bruce, and yet looked a good +deal more mature and felt so. This was true, not only because after her +father's death she had been in a measure the head of the Rainbow Ranch, +but because her year of illness had given her more time for +introspection than is allowed most girls of her age. Sometimes she +believed that this whole year had been completely lost, and then again +came the knowledge that she could have learned certain lessons in no +other way. Yet now she was determined to waste no further time, but to +get as much as possible out of each passing day and to live fully and +completely. + +Jacqueline Ralston did not look entirely like the brilliant, vigorous +Ranch girl who three years before had ridden alone across the prairie to +search for her lost cattle. She had less color in her cheeks, perhaps, +except under the pressure of some unusual excitement, but her hair was a +deeper bronze, her eyes a clearer gray, and her rather full lips a +brighter crimson. There was something about her expression not always +easy to understand. The old wilfulness was still there, the old habit of +knowing her own mind and wishing to have her own way, but with it a +greater power of self-control than most girls of nineteen have--and +something else. What this other trait was neither Jack herself nor her +friends yet knew. This trip abroad might mean more to her than to any +one of the other four girls. In spite of her lameness, which was never +apparent except when she was greatly fatigued, Jack was tall--five feet +seven inches--and held her shoulders with the erectness of other days. +Slender, Jack would always be, but not thin, for sixteen years of +outdoor life had given her too fine a beginning. + +In each person's atmosphere or aura, if you prefer to call it so, there +is usually a suggestion of some one distinctive quality, some +characteristic that shows above all others. With Jacqueline Ralston it +was purity. She was straightforward and unafraid, without cowardice and +without suspicion. Having once believed in you, Jack would stand by you +through thick and thin. More than anything in the world she hated a lie. +For some reason she had always been and always would be what for want of +a better word is called "a man's woman," meaning that men would +understand and sympathize with her point of view and she with theirs. + +Olive Van Mater was just the opposite of Jack. Although the story of +her strange early life was now fully explained, she would never lose her +shyness and look of gentle mystery. Nor would she ever be able to make +friends among strangers so readily as the three other girls. Many +persons there would always be who would explain her shyness as coldness +and a lack of interest. Still she could reveal herself more easily to +girls and to women than to men. And although her peculiar beauty and +sweetness could not fail to win her admirers because of her sympathy and +self-forgetfulness, all the days of her life her own sex would make the +strongest appeal to her. + +In Jean Bruce the two types were mingled. Jean wanted to attract people. +She wanted to make everybody like her and she always had and always +would. It did not matter to her who the people were, whether they were +young or old, girls or boys, she simply had the desire to be liked and +went about accomplishing it on shipboard just as she had at Primrose +Hall and everywhere else. This proved that Jean had the real social +gift, but then her talent had never been disputed by any member of her +family. + +With Frieda Ralston, however, the question of type was at this time not +important. She was two years younger not only in years but in a great +many other things, and when it did not interfere with her pleasure she +meant to keep so. There was only one thing at present that Frieda was +interested in and that was having a good time, and certainly she was +accomplishing it. When Dick Grant was not dancing attendance upon her, +and very often when he was, there were a dozen other girls and young men +of about Frieda's age aboard, by whom she was constantly surrounded. It +worried Ruth a great deal, but then, unfortunately, Ruth was the only +member of the Rainbow Ranch party who was seasick. And the three girls +simply did not take the trouble to spend much time looking after Frieda. + +Though neither of them wished her to know it, both Olive and Jean tried +to be especially careful of Jack. And this was particularly hard since +Jack resented any suggestion that she was not as strong as they were. +She was under the impression that she could walk without difficulty in +spite of the rolling and pitching of the ship. Nevertheless she did +finally promise Ruth to remain in her steamer chair unless one of the +girls could be with her, and though she did not see any sense in her +promise, meant to keep her word. + +On the fourth afternoon out, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, the +weather became unexpectedly heavy. Ruth had long ago given up and gone +to her room. Frieda was playing games in the salon, but Jack, Olive and +Jean were on deck watching the approach of the storm. Jack adored the +water. She had wanted the ocean to look altogether different from her +prairies, to bring a wholly new impression into her life. But until +today the calm, gentle, even roll of the waves at a sufficient distance +had not been so unlike the far-off rippling of the prairie fields. Now, +with the approach of a storm, with the blackness, everything seemed +different. + +The three girls had been wrapped in their steamer rugs sitting quietly +in their chairs, Jack supposing that Olive and Jean were as interested +in the storm as she was. + +Suddenly Jean sighed. "The face of the waters gets a bit tiresome after +a while, don't you think so?" she asked. "Remember the Princess asked us +to come and have tea with her some afternoon. Suppose we go now. Seems +as though she is a chance that ought not to be neglected. Who knows if +the Princess takes a truly fancy to us she may do something thrilling +for us when we get to Rome. Ask us to a court ball perhaps!" Jean +laughed at the absurdity of her suggestion. + +But Jack frowned a little. She was grateful to the stranger for her +interest and former kindness to them; yet she rather resented the air of +mystery and seclusion surrounding her and her haughty attitude toward +the other passengers. A princess might of course be different from other +human beings; Jack felt she had no way of knowing. Nevertheless the +Princess Colonna had confessed that she was an American girl. Why should +a marriage have made so great a change in her point of view? In a vague +fashion Jack was a little resentful of the homage which Ruth and the +three other girls offered their new acquaintance. Now she slowly shook +her head. + +"You and Olive go, Jean. Really I would prefer to stay by myself for a +little while and watch the storm." + +Five minutes afterwards the two girls had departed, leaving Jack +comfortably wrapped up in her steamer chair, and insisting that they +would return in time to take her down to her stateroom to dress for +dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE + + +JACK may have been asleep for a little while. She was not quite sure. +Anyhow, when she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see how the storm +had increased and how entirely the promenade deck had become deserted. +There had been a few persons about when Jean and Olive had departed, but +now she saw no one except a man walking quietly up and down as though +the pitching of the ship in no way affected him. He was wearing an +English mackintosh with the collar turned up past his ears, but neither +his appearance nor his existence at present interested Jack. Her only +thought was for the oncoming storm. As yet there was no rain falling, +only a cold gray Atlantic mist enveloped the sky and the sea. The waves +had curling borders of white foam as they rolled and broke. There was no +relief in the sky. Once the thunder roared as though they were +cannonading on the other side of the world and then a single flash of +lightning split straight across the horizon. Jack had thrown aside her +steamer rug and was sitting upright in her chair, her hands clasping +both sides. The color had gone from her cheeks (the storm was so +wonderful, almost it was taking her breath away), but her head was +thrown back, showing the beautiful line of her throat, and her lips were +parted with the intensity of her admiration. Then the boat dipped and +half the ocean picture became obscured. + +It never occurred to Jack that she would be running any risk of falling +by moving from her place. Never had she been able to think of herself as +an invalid, even after her two years' experience. Besides, was she not +well by this time and the railing of the deck but a few feet away? + +When the ship had righted itself she stepped forward without any +difficulty, laying her hand lightly on the rail for support. + +Then she became wholly absorbed. The plunging and tossing of the great +steamer was fairly regular, so that Jack found no especial trouble in +keeping her footing. + +So unconscious was she that she did not glance over her shoulder at the +solitary passenger pacing the deck, although in the course of his march +he must have passed her at least half a dozen times. Nevertheless the +man had not been so unmindful of his fellow traveler. He was possibly +twenty years or more her senior. + +Unexpectedly the ship gave an uneven lurch, almost twisting herself +about, and at the same instant an immense amount of spray struck Jack +Ralston full in the face. With a little cry of surprise straightway she +lost her clasp on the rail and would have gone down in a heap if an arm +had not immediately steadied her. + +"I beg your pardon; you might have fallen. At the moment I happened to +be passing." The man spoke stiffly. + +In Jack's position, after her long suffering from a fall, one might have +expected her to be frightened. However, although she was being kept on +her feet by a perfect stranger with no one else in sight, while a storm +raged around them, she was not even embarrassed. + +Catching hold on her old support again, this time more firmly, Jack said +"Thank you" in an even voice. And then, as though she must have sympathy +in her enjoyment from some quarter: "Isn't this storm splendid? It +seems to me that before I have seen nothing but land, land all my life! +I thought I loved it, but somehow all this water gives one quite a +different sensation. I feel as if I weren't a person, but just a pair of +eyes and lungs!" Jack spoke these last words with little gaspings for +breath. So hard was the wind blowing that it had wrapped her heavy coat +close about her; her hat had slipped backward and her heavy yellow-brown +hair whipped across her face. + +Her courage and frankness made her companion smile. And, although until +this moment Jack had not paid any special attention to her rescuer, she +now observed that he had a skin so bronzed as to look almost like +leather, that he had a closely clipped blonde moustache and equally +light hair. Also, that his eyes were of the deep blue seen only with +that complexion, and that his bearing was distinctly military. + +"But the sea is after all not so unlike a distant view of your American +prairies," he replied. And in answer to Jack's expression of surprise: + +"I know your name, Miss Ralston. Among many other things I have tried +running a ranch in the west, although none too successfully." + +Whatever the strange man's intentions, certainly his words succeeded in +arousing Jack's attention. For at once, without liking to ask, she was +curious to find out how he had discovered her name. Then she was always +interested in any ranching experience. The people she had been meeting +on board ship were most of them from cities and without any special +outdoor knowledge. Only a few persons actually have kinship with nature, +and they have usually spent their youth in the _real_ country, in big, +open, unpeopled spaces as Jacqueline Ralston had. + +This time she smiled more shyly. "I thought you were an Englishman--a +soldier." Jack hesitated. She did not think that a few words of +conversation with a stranger, who had been kind to her, made any +difference, but it would not do to talk on indefinitely. + +Instantly, as though divining her thought, the man's hat was lifted, and +he moved a few paces away. + +But at this moment the storm broke. No rain had been falling up to this +time, but now the clouds lightened, and from between two of them a heavy +sheet of water descended, apparently straight on to the ship's deck. + +Why did Jack not run to shelter? Still she stood clinging with both +hands to the ship's rail, her head thrown back inhaling deep breaths of +the salt spray air. She was enjoying the storm but actually was afraid +to move. Surely now that the storm had fairly broken either Olive or +Jean would come for her. Both girls had made her promise not to return +to her stateroom alone and at the present time it was impossible. The +decks were soaking wet and slippery and she was tired from too long +standing and opposing her strength to the fury of the wind. + +Yet the sailors were rushing about, lashing the tarpaulins to the +balustrade, and in a few seconds she would be obliged to move. + +Jack set her teeth. It was absurd to be afraid of falling just because +of a former weakness. She turned, took a few steps forward and then the +ship gave another sudden lurch. + +It was Jean Bruce, however, who made the outcry. She and Olive were +running down the deck without hats or coats and regardless of the storm +for their own sakes. They were not yet near enough to save Jack from +slipping. However, there was no need for them. + +When Captain Madden turned and left Jack he walked only a few steps away +and then as the rain descended swung himself about to enter the door of +the saloon about midway the promenade deck. Naturally he expected the +girl with whom he had just been talking to have run on before him, she +was even less well prepared for the downpour. But to his surprise he saw +that Jack had remained fixed at her place. + +This was carrying a love of nature a little too far. Not only would the +young woman get a thorough soaking, she would be in positive danger in a +few moments should a wave break over the deck. It was odd that no ship's +officer had yet suggested that she go inside. + +Captain Madden did not wish to offend Jack by officiousness. He had +still no idea of her lameness, although he had been watching her more +carefully than any one dreamed for the past few days. However, he did +not wish to see her hurt and so put an end to his scarcely thought-out +plan. + +The second time that the stranger held her up on her feet Jack could +only stammer and blush. It seemed rather absurd to have been rescued by +the same person twice in ten minutes and yet she did not even now wish +to confess her difficulty in walking alone. + +Jean and Olive saved the situation. + +"Thank you ever so much," Olive began, arriving first and a little out +of breath. + +"We never can be sufficiently grateful to you!" Jean exclaimed. "And oh, +Jack, I suppose you can't imagine what had become of us? We sent the +stewardess for you half an hour ago. Ruth is dreadfully worried." + +But Jean was not in the habit of forgetting her manners and so stopped +speaking of their private concerns. She and Frieda had both seen and +spoken of the man who was now with her cousin. He had his place at a +table across from theirs and, possibly because of his soldierly +appearance, had seemed unlike the other men aboard. + +"My cousin isn't very well, or at least she hasn't been," Jean +announced, remembering Jack's sensitiveness. And then as Jack and Olive +moved quickly away she added with a gracious condescension that made the +older man smile: "Our chaperon, Miss Drew, will express her appreciation +to you in the morning." And fled out of the rain as though she had been +eight instead of eighteen. + +Notwithstanding, Captain Madden did not immediately leave the deck after +the girls' withdrawal. + +"Things have turned out rather better than I could have arranged them," +he remarked thoughtfully, pulling at his moustache. "She is an +uncommonly attractive girl. Lots of spirit, but I've an idea she has yet +to learn a great deal about men and women. It's worth trying anyhow. +It's jolly odd my having run across them in this fashion and recalling +what I was once told." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +RUTH'S ATTITUDE + + +BY the next morning the storm had abated, and for the rest of that day +and evening Captain Madden devoted the greater part of his time to +making the acquaintance of the Ranch girls' chaperon. More than this he +accomplished, for he inspired in Ruth Drew a genuine admiration and +liking. And while she and the older man talked together Jack usually sat +quietly by listening to everything that was said. + +In all their lives Ruth and Jack had never known anyone like this +Captain Madden. Here was a man who had traveled all over the world, who +had fought in the Boer war and more recently in Mexico and had hunted +big game in Africa. Indeed he had done most of the things and seen most +of the people that had before appeared to them like events and figures +to be known only through books. And yet he was modest, never once +picturing himself as a hero or even a particularly important person, +although there were times when both Ruth and Jack felt that he was being +hardly fair to himself. And on those occasions, if the man observed any +change in the young girl's face, there was no sign on his part. Captain +Madden was not particularly good-looking, but had unusually charming +manners and the soldierly carriage that can not fail to win admiration. +Then, as he was forty years old and had attracted considerable notice on +board, it was something for the Rainbow Ranch party to be singled out +for his attention. + +Frankly, however, Frieda Ralston thought her sister's rescuer dreadfully +elderly and a bore. Olive and Jean, although agreeing to her first +conclusion, could not accept the second. Nevertheless neither of the two +girls from the beginning of their association liked Captain Madden +particularly well. They both wondered why Ruth and Jack should find him +so agreeable. Then after the passing of another twenty-four hours, there +was not so much a question of Ruth's liking, as of Jack's enjoying +talking to a stranger for hours and hours. + +Actually before the Martha Washington had sighted Gibraltar Jean had +already complained to their chaperon of Jack's intimacy with a +stranger, besides almost quarreling with her cousin. + +It was true that Peter Drummond and Jack had been and were specially +devoted friends and Peter was as old as their new ship acquaintance. But +then Peter had always seemed different somehow, and his fancy for Jack +had been largely explained by her likeness to Jessica Hunt. For while +Jessica was still teaching at Primrose Hall and no word had been spoken +of an engagement between her and Mr. Drummond, the Ranch girls were +still convinced that something would develop between them later on. + +To Jean's grumblings that Jack was making herself conspicuous by seeming +to prefer Captain Madden to any other one of their new friends on the +ship Ruth explained that it was but natural. For while Jean and Olive +and Frieda could walk endless miles with anybody who happened to please +their fancy at the moment, Jack could only take short walks now and then +and with some one who understood her difficulty. And while they danced +every afternoon and evening in the saloon, or pitched quoits for hours +on deck, Jack's only chance for amusement lay in conversation. It was +only because Captain Madden knew more and talked better than their other +new friends that Jack seemed to prefer his society. Since his discovery +of her old accident he had shown her every consideration. + +Of course if Captain Madden had had no introduction to the Ranch girls +and their chaperon, save that of his having assisted Jack at a difficult +moment, Ruth Drew would never have permitted their acquaintance to have +taken so intimate a tone in a few days. However, half an hour after his +first meeting with her, the mystery of his having appeared to guess +Jacqueline Ralston's name in his first conversation with her had been +explained. + +In this world it is perfectly useless to marvel over the coming together +of persons in the most unlikely places, who happen to know exactly the +same people that we do, and yet we will always go on exclaiming and +being tremendously surprised by this fact. + +Not only was Captain Madden intimately acquainted with the Ranch girls' +old friend, Frank Kent, but actually was a cousin of his. Although, as +he confessed, he belonged to the Irish and therefore the poor branch of +the Kent family. It was not until Frank had returned to England, after +spending the winter at the Norton place next the Rainbow Ranch, that +Captain Madden had made up his mind to come to America and try his own +fortune in the west. + +And there could be no question of the truth of his history, since he +chanced to have a photograph of the Kent house in Surrey which Frank had +often in times past shown to Jack. Besides he knew the names and +characters of every member of Frank's immediate family. Moreover, he had +remembered Frank's description of the Rainbow Ranch, Jack's and Frieda's +names and Jean Bruce's and a little something of their discovery of +Olive. He had even heard of Jack's and Frank's finding of the first gold +in Rainbow Creek. And on seeing a group of these same names printed +together on the ship's sailing list, Frank's story had come back to him +and he had then guessed that Jack was the oldest of the girls and must +be Miss Ralston. + +As a matter of course it then followed that this kinship with Frank Kent +proved a bond between Captain Madden and the ranch party, but more +especially with Jacqueline Ralston, who had been Frank's most intimate +friend. + +For nearly two years there had been no meeting between Frank and the +girls, not since his sailing for home, when Jack was taken to the New +York hospital. + +Nevertheless their former intimacy had largely continued, Frank often +writing to Ruth and the four girls. Perhaps Jack had heard oftener than +the others because of her illness; shortly before their sailing Frank +had written to ask if he might join the Rainbow Ranch party in Italy. +But to Jack's letter begging him to wait until their coming to England +in May there had been no time as yet for a reply. + +It was Olive's argument in the beginning that Jack's pleasure in Captain +Madden's society was due to her past fondness for Frank. But from the +first Jean's point of view was otherwise. + +It may have been caused by the old temperamental differences between +Jean and her cousin. Fond as they would always be of one another, never +had they been able to agree on liking the same people or things. So to +Jean's suggestion that she could see nothing in Captain Madden to make +Jack like to talk to him so much, Jack had replied that she could see +nothing in Jean's American-Italian princess to make Jean wish to follow +after her like an admiring shadow. At least Captain Madden had had +exciting experiences that must always interest a girl of Jacqueline +Ralston's disposition. She did not mind his age, for how could he have +known all that he did had he been younger? Jack, it must be remembered, +had been brought up on a ranch, had ridden horseback, hunted, fished and +done most things that usually appeal to a boy more than a girl. She +could not help admiring physical bravery beyond anything else. If the +time of her illness had taught her something of the value of spiritual +courage, there was still a great deal that she had yet to learn. Captain +Madden had fought with Lord Roberts in South Africa, and had lately been +with the Mexicans under Madero. What more reasonable than that the +stories he was able to tell should be deeply entertaining to Jack, who, +after two years of being shut up indoors, was more than ever in love +with the thought of an active life? + +And Jean's Princess would of course appeal to her, since her ideal of +life and romance had always been of so different a kind. + +To her it seemed wonderful almost past belief that a princess should +have taken a fancy to four inconspicuous American girls. Jean did not +say or even think that this liking was more for her than for the others, +but this was plain enough to them. Every day the Princess invited Jean +alone to her stateroom for a little talk, and sometimes would walk about +for hours on the deck with her. Unlike Captain Madden in frankness, she +had told Jean little of herself. Nevertheless in some unexplained +fashion the young girl had guessed that in spite of wealth, beauty and +position, her Princess Beatrice was not particularly happy. Perhaps her +husband was the trouble! Only once or twice had she mentioned the +Prince's name, and that in such a casual fashion that it was impossible +to get any real notion of him. Jean was not without the hope of having +her curiosity gratified later on, however, since in an idle moment (and +perhaps without really meaning it) the Princess had asked Jean to come +and bring her cousins and friends to see her when they reached Rome. +Nobody except Olive, who was always sympathetic with one's wishes and +dreams, believed that this invitation meant anything serious. +Nevertheless Jean cherished the hope of being a guest in a real palace +some day. + +Although the Princess Colonna seemed to have nothing to do with anybody +aboard the Martha Washington, by an odd coincidence she appeared to have +previously met Captain Madden. Probably their acquaintance was a slight +one, for they only bowed in passing and had never been seen talking to +each other. Indeed, Jean's new friend was in a measure responsible for +her prejudice against Jack's. She had hinted several times in a veiled +fashion that the girls must remember not to become too intimate with +strangers in traveling abroad. There was no direct reference to Captain +Madden. So when Jean mentioned her own impression of the Princess' +meaning to her cousin, Jack naturally suggested that the Princess was +equally a stranger and so equally to be avoided. + +However, it must not be supposed that this question of new friendships +had become a really serious one during the early part of their ocean +voyage. For after nine days, when the Martha Washington was to make her +first stop at Gibraltar, the girls were equally delighted at the +prospect of being shown over the great English fort by a British army +officer. Also Captain Madden agreed to have any other friends that Ruth +or the Ranch girls desired to join their party. And at Ruth's invitation +the Princess Colonna consented to be one of them. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +GIBRALTAR + + +EARLY on the morning of their steamship's first landing during the +voyage, Jack came up on deck. She had asked Olive to come with her, but +she was at the moment engaged in writing to Miss Winthrop at Primrose +Hall, who had become more like her mother than a friend. She promised to +join her room-mate in a few moments. + +It was an ideal morning, and Jack hoped to have a long look at the sea +before the other passengers were about to distract her with +conversation. In a short while their steamer was due to pass Cape +Trafalgar, where Lord Nelson won his famous victory over the French and +Spanish in 1805, and from then on every traveler aboard, except the ill +ones, would be crowding about the ship's railing for the best views. + +Jack felt wonderfully well. Only a few days more than a week at sea, and +how much she had already improved! Not since the winter at the ranch +when she was sixteen had she felt so vigorous and had such joy in +living. Surely before their trip was over she would be her old self +again. And if this part of their journey had been so unusually +interesting, what would their trip through Italy mean, with Switzerland +and England to follow in May? + + "How much of my young heart, O Spain, + Went out to thee in days of yore, + What dreams romantic filled my brain + And summoned back to life again + The paladins of Charlemagne, + The Cid Campeador." + +Jack laughed, recognizing the speaker's voice at once. + +"I am the wrong person to be quoting poetry to, Captain Madden," she +replied, scarcely turning her head. "I told you the other day that Jean +and Olive are the literary members of our family. I hardly ever used to +read a book, except now and then my school ones, until my accident. Then +I took to reading from necessity. I am not in the least clever or +romantic, and reading has so often seemed to me like finding out things +second-hand. I am afraid I really want to _do_ the exciting things +myself." + +Jack was hardly looking or thinking of her audience as she talked. One +of the nicest things about their new acquaintance was that one was able +to say almost anything to him and he would understand. She was feeling +curiously gay this morning, as though something of unusual importance +was about to happen to her. Of course it was the thought of their first +leaving the steamer after nine days of ocean travel. Nevertheless, Jack +had dressed with unusual care, not intending to make another toilet +before going ashore. Instead of her usual brown steamer coat she was +wearing a long, heavy white woolen one, with a soft white hat trimmed in +a single feather curling close around the crown. And under the brim her +hair was pure bronze in the sunlight and all the old color of the ranch +days had this morning come back into her cheeks. + +"I am only quoting guide-book poetry," Captain Madden explained, after a +moment's admiring glance at his young companion. + +Suddenly Jack ceased gazing over the water to look at him. "Captain +Madden," she asked with the directness which some persons liked and +others disliked in her, "you told us once that you were a British army +officer, didn't you? Then would you mind explaining why when you are to +show us over the English fort at Gibraltar today, you are not wearing an +English officer's uniform?" + +If for the fraction of a second there was a slight hesitation before +Captain Madden's reply Jack failed to notice it. + +"I am very glad you asked me that question, Miss Ralston," he answered, +coming to the edge of the ship's railing and leaning one arm upon it as +he talked. "I am afraid I have been sailing under false colors with you +and the other members of your little party. I simply meant you to +understand that I was at one time a member of the British army. Several +years ago I resigned my commission. Else, my dear young lady, how do you +suppose I could have attempted to run a ranch in your west and been +permitted to fight with the Mexicans on the losing side? I am a soldier +of fortune or misfortune, whichever way you may choose to put it." + +The older man spoke half in jest, but Jacqueline Ralston stared at him +in a more critical fashion than she ever had before. Could she have been +making a hero in her mind of a man who was no hero at all? + +"But I can't understand how a man who has once been in the army could +stop being," she remarked slowly. + +Her companion shook his head. "No, of course you rich Americans can't +understand," he replied. "The fact of the matter was that I did not have +money enough to keep up my position. Though I can hardly expect a young +American girl with a gold mine at her disposal to realize what a lack of +money means." + +Jack moved her shoulders impatiently, letting her clear gray eyes rest +for the moment upon her companion's profile. He looked a soldier every +inch of him and a brave man. Yet what could his confession mean? + +"I haven't been a rich American girl always, Captain Madden," she +returned. "And I don't know why you think I am one now. But a lack of +money would never have made me give up my profession if I cared for it." + +It was perfectly self-evident that Jack was feeling a sense of +disappointment in her companion. Although they had only known one +another for a week, and Captain Madden was so much older, intimacies +develop more rapidly aboard ship than anywhere else in the world, +except perhaps on a desert island. Jack suddenly realized that she had +been giving more thought to her companion's history than there was any +reason for doing. + +She looked back over her shoulder. Numbers of persons with field glasses +in their hands were coming on to the deck. + +"Miss Drew and the girls will soon be joining us," she suggested, +meaning for Captain Madden to understand that she no longer wished to +discuss his personal affairs. "I must go and search for them if they +don't come at once. I think I can already see the point of Cape +Trafalgar. In a short time we must be entering the Straits of +Gibraltar." + +The next second Jack started to move away, but a glance from the man at +her side held her. It was curious that she, who had never yielded to any +one in her life except of her own will, should feel his influence. + +"You are only a young girl and I am possibly twice your age," Captain +Madden began, "yet our acquaintance aboard ship has been so pleasant +that I do not wish to have you misunderstand me. There were other +reasons for my leaving the British army, but you may believe this to be +the chief one: I am not a good soldier in times of peace. When the Boer +war was over, I wanted to be where there was still fighting to be done. +My country was weary of war and so I joined the Russians in their war +with Japan." + +Jack shyly extended her hand. "That is all right, Captain Madden," she +replied. "I know Ruth and Olive think it dreadful for me to be +interested in fighting. Of course I hope there may never be any more +great wars, but--" and here Jack laughed at herself, "to save my life I +can't help being interested in battles and heroes who fight on against +losing odds. I had a grandfather who was a general in the Confederate +army." + +And Jack, resting her chin on her hand with her elbow on the balustrade, +gazed out to sea, apparently satisfied. Indeed, she was so vitally +interested in the view before her that she hardly heard Captain Madden +add: + +"If your friend, Frank Kent, should ever offer you any other reason for +my resignation--" But at this instant Ruth Drew and Olive appeared +between them, and Ruth slipped her arm through Jack's. At once Captain +Madden stepped aside, surrendering his place to Olive. + +It was odd, but as Ruth approached Jack and her companion, for just a +passing moment an uncomfortable impression entered her mind. Jack and +Captain Madden did seem to be talking together like intimate friends. +Perhaps Jean had been justified in her grumbling. Nevertheless, Captain +Madden was twice Jack's age, and why should they not be friends? It was +as absurd to feel uneasy over them as over Frieda and her chocolate-drop +boy. + +And hearing Frieda's laugh behind her, the next second, Ruth turned +around with a smothered sigh of relief. Here came Frieda in her crimson +coat and hat with Dick Grant at her side holding the inevitable box of +candy in his hand. Following them were Jean and her Princess. + +They were just in time, because the Martha Washington was at this moment +entering the Straits of Gibraltar. To the right there loomed, like a +gray mirage in the background, the Mountain of the Apes in Africa. And +there, directly ahead, was the historic Rock of Gibraltar. + +"Isn't it thrilling to have reached a foreign country at last!" Jack +exclaimed, turning again to her first companion. But on her other side +Frieda pulled at her coat sleeve impatiently. + +"If you are going into raptures over everything you see while we are +abroad, I don't know what is to become of you, Jacqueline Ralston!" she +argued. "Of course the Rock of Gibraltar is fairly large, but I have +seen almost as big stones in Wyoming. Have a piece of candy." + +And when everybody in the little company laughed, Frieda would have been +offended if she had not already grown accustomed to starting just such +foolish attacks of laughter. What had she said that was in the least +amusing, when she had just made a plain statement of fact? For how could +she possibly have guessed how her point of view typified that of many +American travelers? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A MORE IMPORTANT OBLIGATION + + +IT was in the late afternoon of the same day and over toward the west +appeared the flaming colors of an African sunset. + +Since mid-day hundreds of the Martha Washington's passengers had been +landed at Gibraltar. They had been shown through the famous English +stronghold, where guns and ammunition are so strangely stored for +defense and had seen the town at the northwest foot of the rock +protected by formidable batteries. Then, weary in mind and body, they +had been again transferred to the special tender and put aboard their +steamer. + +Standing at the edge of the water and leaning on Olive's arm waiting her +turn to be taken back, Jack wondered if among all their fellow +passengers there was one half so fatigued as she? She had not mentioned +it, but this was hardly worth while, for Jack's face, except for her +lips and the shadows under her eyes, was perfectly colorless, yet that +morning she had thought herself as strong as anyone else. However, Jack +need not have felt discouraged, for every member of the Rainbow Ranch +party looked almost equally used up. The truth is that, through Captain +Madden's guidance, they had seen more of the great fort than the other +ship's passengers. Then by accident they had lost their return places in +the tender, and so been obliged to wait until a later trip. + +The celebrated Rock of Gibraltar runs north and south three miles and is +about three-quarters of a mile in width. The entire rock is undermined +with subterranean galleries containing cannon in great number. Some of +the lower galleries that are not in use may be visited by travelers, but +both Frieda and Jean assured Captain Madden that if there were any +possible passages which they had not journeyed through, it was indeed +hard to believe. + +Each member of the expedition was cross. For there is nothing more +trying to the nerves and disposition than too strenuous sight-seeing. + +Ruth was worried at having permitted Jack to undertake a trip that was +so plainly too much for her strength. Jean was annoyed because the +Princess Colonna, who had been one of their party all day, had scarcely +spoken to any of her friends. Even Captain Madden she had acknowledged +only by the coldest greeting, while absolutely ignoring every one else. +And although Dick Grant and his mother had been included in the Ranch +girls' immediate party, solely on Frieda's account, she and the young +man had been on the verge of quarreling at least half a dozen times. +However, it was not altogether the young people's fault, because Mrs. +Grant had been trying. Every once in a while Frieda had felt obliged to +decide that in the future she must have nothing more to do with the son. +If there was a possible stupid question to be asked, always Mrs. Grant +had asked it; if there was a place where the rules forbade her entrance, +that was the particular place which she had insisted upon seeing. +Indeed, if Frieda had been able to foretell how Mrs. Grant was to end +the long day with them, she would have wished that their original +uncomfortable acquaintance could have closed on the morning it begun. + +Suddenly from the signal station on top the Rock of Gibraltar the little +company in waiting on shore heard the loud report of the six o'clock +gun. Six o'clock and yet here they were on land! The ship's officer had +announced that the Martha Washington must steam away again promptly at +six! Nevertheless there seemed no real danger of the Rainbow Ranch +party's being left behind. For half a mile out at sea their ship still +waited at anchor, while approaching within a few yards of the Spanish +shore was the small boat known as the tender. + +Watching it come toward them Jack swayed and might have fallen except +that Olive kept a tight hold on her. + +"Please help me up the gang-plank when we go on board, Olive dear?" Jack +whispered, "I don't want any one to guess how wobbly I feel." + +And Olive nodded reassuringly. + +A little later and the tender had reached the big ship. Now, however, +the transference of the passengers was not to be so easily made. The +waves were no longer blue and quiet as they had been all day. From +somewhere a high wind had blown up off the land and each time the +smaller boat attempted anchoring alongside the big one, a breaker drove +it backward or forward. There was grave danger of the tender's being +shattered against the great ship. + +Nevertheless no one aboard either of the two boats seemed seriously +frightened, excepting Mrs. Grant. Frieda was so scornful in watching the +stout, elderly woman clutching at her son, asking dozens of hysterical +questions that she quite forgot to be nervous herself. Indeed, she +almost failed to appreciate the scene, so unique to her experience. + +Ruth and the other three Ranch girls were not so oblivious. For the time +being they were standing close together, having in the excitement +forgotten all past weariness. The Spanish and English sailors, manning +their small boat, were splendidly capable. Through a megaphone orders +were called out to them from the big steamer, and instantly the men made +ready to obey. But whatever the discipline and intelligence, the will of +the sea was not to be soon conquered. + +Had there been more time the smaller boat could have been finally +brought alongside the larger one and her few remaining passengers safely +put on board, but the night was coming down, and both the officers and +travelers were growing impatient. A few moments afterward and the tender +was brought to anchor within a safe distance of the Martha Washington. +Then a life boat was lowered. When this came alongside the tender a +ladder was dropped overboard and the Ranch party and their friends +ordered to embark. The method appeared a simple enough one. One had only +to climb down the ladder and be lifted into the small boat. +Nevertheless, five persons looked anxiously at Jacqueline Ralston, and +Jack purposely refused to return any gaze. Not for worlds would she have +Ruth or the girls guess that she felt any nervousness at having to do so +easy a thing, with several persons at hand to help her. + +During this period of waiting, Captain Madden had been standing not far +away, talking in low tones to the Princess. Now he moved quietly +forward. His face was flushed as though his conversation had not been +agreeable. However, his manner toward Jack was extremely kind. + +"If the climbing down the ladder will be too much for you, Miss Ralston, +won't you allow me--" + +Jack shook her head. Already Jean was descending the side of the boat, +the Princess following soon after. And although the small tender plunged +with the movement of the waves and the rowboat rocked unceasingly, half +a dozen hands held the ladder firm. + +There was no danger. Jack joined Frieda in frowning impatiently at Mrs. +Grant, who was nervously protesting to her son that she could never make +the necessary effort. Then her gray eyes lighted with amusement. With a +slight inclination of the head she suggested that Captain Madden play +knight errant to the only female in distress. + +Olive and Frieda went down one after the other. Ruth, however, would not +leave the tender until she saw Jack safely through the climb overboard. +And in the meantime the rowboat had made a journey to the steamer, put +its occupants aboard and returned once more to the smaller ship. + +But by this time the gorgeous sunset colors had faded and the twilight +was fast closing down. And although Mrs. Grant, having at last mustered +sufficient courage, insisted on being allowed to enter the rowboat +first, Ruth Drew would not hear of it. She had waited, watching the +other girls in order to see how difficult the climb might be for Jack. +Now it was wiser to have no further delay. + +If Jack had felt any nervousness previously it had now entirely passed. +How absurd to be frightened by anything so simple! With a gesture to the +man in the boat below she flung her heavy white coat down to him. Then +she swung herself over the side of the boat and commenced descending the +ladder with all the ease of her athletic days. The distance was not +great. Although the boats were rocking and plunging the experience was +exhilarating. + +It happened during the few moments required for Jack's descent that +Captain Madden and Dick Grant chanced to be standing on either side of +Mrs. Grant. Therefore, what afterwards occurred could hardly have been +prevented. + +Of course Mrs. Grant was under the impression that Jack had reached the +end of the ship's ladder. Some call from below or some mental +hallucination must have given her the idea. For without a word she +suddenly darted forward and before any one could speak or move seized +hold of the top rung of the overhanging rope ladder. It was only for an +instant. Immediately the sailor standing alongside, grasped her firmly +by the arm, but the single movement had been sufficiently disastrous. + +Jack had nearly reached the end of her climb. So near was she to +stepping into the rowboat that one of the men below had his arms +outstretched to receive her. So possibly she had relaxed the firmness of +her hold. For when the surprising jerk came from the top of the ladder +the girl wavered half a second and then appeared to let go altogether. +She fell not backwards but over to one side. And only her own family +understood why she had happened to collapse in this fashion. + +Instantly, however, before an other sound could be heard, there came the +queer rushing noise of the water closing over her. And then followed a +cry that seemed to come from a hundred throats at once. Above them all +Ruth believed she heard Frieda on the deck of the big steamer. + +Ruth did not utter a sound. Really there seemed not to be time. Almost +instantaneously did Captain Madden's coat drop at her feet. Then +followed his dive overboard. There were plenty of people nearby to have +pulled Jack out of the water. Perhaps his action was unnecessary. +However, Captain Madden had at once recognized Jack's grave danger. They +were only half a mile from shore, where he suspected the undertow was +dangerously strong. It was now almost dark so that her body might be +drawn under one or the other of the two large boats. And his suspicion +must have been true, because Jack did not come up near the spot where +she had gone down. There were half a dozen sailors ready to offer aid +had it been necessary. But the moment after Captain Madden's dive, he +rose again holding the girl easily with one hand and swimming. When they +reached the side of the life-boat the sailors pulled them in, wet of +course, but otherwise unhurt. + +"I am exceedingly sorry and ashamed and grateful," Jack murmured in +Captain Madden's ear later when, safely wrapped in his coat, she was +being rowed back to the Martha Washington. "In the words of Mr. Peggoty, +if it hadn't been for you I might have been 'drowndead.'" + +Captain Madden shook his head. More than anything else he admired +Jacqueline Ralston's courage. Indeed, he was beginning to think that the +task which he had set for himself might not be so disagreeable to +perform. + +"Oh no, there were dozens of other men equally ready to do just what I +did, only I managed to have the honor first," he returned lightly. And +of course by his ignoring his own action, Jack was the more impressed by +it. + +For she looked at the older man gravely. "I can understand that you +don't want to be thanked for what you have done. I know that from my own +experience once. But just the same I shall always be grateful to you. +And if ever there is a time when I can in any way show my gratitude--" + +To do Captain Madden justice he felt uncomfortable over Jack's excessive +gratitude, for whatever his other faults of character, he was a +physically brave man. + +Although insisting that she was perfectly well and that her wetting had +not done her the least harm, Jack was straightway put to bed and dosed +with warm drinks. So that Olive, in order to talk with the other girls +and yet allow Jack to sleep, was obliged to slip into Ruth's stateroom +soon after dinner. + +There she found Ruth and Jean engaged in argument. + +"Of course I am grateful to Captain Madden," Jean was saying in an +irritated tone of voice, "but just the same, I don't see why he could +not have waited for one of the sailors whose business it was to rescue +Jack. We all of us know what a queer disposition Jack has and how if she +once likes a person she sticks to him through thick and thin. And +I--well, candidly, I don't want her to like this Captain Madden any too +much. I don't trust him and I would write to old Jim tonight if I knew a +single thing to say against him or any reason for saying it." + +"But you are simply prejudiced, Jean dear. Anyhow we will be landing in +Naples in a few days and after that see no more of our ship friends," +Ruth argued. "So if I were you I would say and think nothing more about +this. Really, such a casual acquaintance is not of so great importance." + +And Ruth frowned, because Frieda was staring at her cousin with her big +blue eyes wide open with the effort to guess what possible reason Jean +could have for showing so much unnecessary feeling. For her own part, +her anger was directed entirely against Mrs. Grant and her son. And she +firmly made up her mind not to speak to either one of them again, no +matter how humble their apologies. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +REFLECTIONS + + +RUTH had her way. When the Martha Washington finally arrived in Naples, +good-byes were said to all their ship's acquaintances and the Rainbow +Ranch party had their first ten days in Italy to themselves. There was a +little time of rest and then visits to the Island of Capri, to the ruins +of Pompeii, to Mount Vesuvius. And before very long Ruth and the four +girls found themselves yielding more than they had dreamed to the +wonderful spell of southern Italy. Not that any one object or place made +so great an impression beyond another, but because Italy seemed so +different from their own land. It was as though they had one day been +transported by an airship for a journey through the planet Jupiter or +Mars. + +The soft Italian voices with their tuneful cadences, the laziness and +air of having all eternity for the performance of a task, the big, +brown-eyed beauty of the women and children--it was all irresistible. +Actually the girls felt their own characters changing. Where was their +old energetic desire to take long walks, to rise up early and certainly +never to waste a moment in a nap in the afternoon? Why in Naples one +felt always drowsy, less inclined to talk, and wished only to drive and +dream and feast one's eyes and ears and nose, all the senses at once. +For here was beauty, music and such fragrance, surely the three graces +of nature! And the roses, they were everywhere in bloom, climbing over +every ruined wall and broken gateway, covering whole hillsides, until at +last Jack was obliged to admit that they were as abundant and even more +beautiful than her own wild prairie roses. + +But Naples was only to be the Ranch girls' first introduction to Italy, +their first taste of her delights. Rome was really the central object of +their pilgrimage, where the greater part of their time was to be spent. + +And Rome Ruth had decided must be taken seriously. + +In Naples she had let things drift, had even felt as inactive and +pleasure-loving as her younger companions. But then she had been tired +from her sea voyage. Many persons had said that it required a week or +ten days for recovery if one had been seasick. Also this may have +explained why so frequently of late she had caught herself thinking of +Jim Colter. Why should the nights in Naples recall moonlit evenings on +the ranch which they had spent together years before? + +Almost the only suggestion that Jim had made to her before their sailing +was that the girls should acquire enough culture on their European trip +to compensate him for the loss of their society. And Ruth had +conscientiously determined to do her best. All the winter past she had +devoted to the study of Roman history. Indeed, it had helped her pass +many a lonely evening, when otherwise the picture of the Rainbow Lodge +living room, with the girls seated about the fire and the big figure of +their guardian stalking in and out half a dozen times within the hour, +had a fashion of appearing before her eyes. + +Ruth had begun her acquaintance with the Ranch girls as their teacher. +So that now, although they were nearly grown, it was hard for her to +give up all her old principles and practices. In their different ways +the four girls were charming, and yet there was much Ruth felt that +they should know. However, the past year had made more changes in their +characters than she could ever have supposed. She had been surprised to +find how much they now cared for people and society, and had been +disappointed as well; for Ruth had not realized that the Ranch girls +were yet old enough for these interests, in spite of the fact that Jack +was nearly twenty and Olive and Jean not so far away. Jack in particular +had been a revelation to Ruth, who had been making special plans for her +intellectual development. For she was the oldest of the four girls and +yet had never had the advantage of Primrose Hall and Miss Winthrop. +After their trip abroad then, there would be time enough for society, +their chaperon decided, actually believing that the natural experiences +of life can be persuaded to wait for set times and set places. + +So all the way along the road from Naples to Rome, Ruth was making her +own plans for the four girls, little guessing what was occupying their +minds. Nevertheless their thoughts were as eternal to youth as any +symbol of eternity in the most wonderful of all cities. + + "'Tis the center + To which all gravitates. One finds no rest + Elsewhere than here. There may be other cities + That please us for a while, but Rome alone + Completely satisfies." + +Or at least this was Ruth Drew's idea, as she sat watching the landscape +fly past her window, with these lines keeping time to the turning of the +car wheels. + +Notwithstanding that, Jean Bruce sat exactly opposite, with her eyes +closed showing the length of her dark lashes against the clear pallor of +her cheeks, Jean was not devoting all her energies to reflecting upon +the historic curiosities of ancient Rome. She wanted to see everything +of importance, of course, but she was also wondering if the Princess +Colonna would keep the promise made in their farewells on the steamship. +Would she call on them in Rome and afterwards invite them to meet her +friends? The invitation might possibly be to an afternoon tea; yet even +then there was a chance of meeting some member of the Italian nobility +or other prominent person. And Jean did not think herself a snob because +she wanted to meet big people as well as to see big things. Always they +had led such a quiet life at the ranch, and boarding school had offered +but few opportunities for making outside friends. Indeed, her only other +chances for mingling with the world had been their summer trip through +the Yellowstone and her week's visit to Margaret Belknap during the +Christmas holidays at Primrose Hall. So Jean's social aspirations were +possibly not unreasonable. + +And, curiously enough, Olive Van Mater, for at least a portion of their +pilgrimage to Rome, was considering certain friends whom she might +possibly meet there, instead of the marvels of the city itself. For she +was expecting that her cousins, Mrs. Harmon, Donald and Elizabeth, might +make their appearance. And although Olive was fond of all three of them, +she could not look forward to their meeting with pleasure. The truth is +that Olive's grandmother, as we must know from the past volume in this +series, was a self-willed, unwise old woman. No sooner had she seen +Olive and Donald together half a dozen times and noticed the young +fellow's liking for her granddaughter, than she had made up her mind the +way she intended to escape her own difficulty. Why puzzle to decide +whether she should leave her large fortune to the Harmons, as she had so +long promised, or give it to the newly found granddaughter? + +"Let the two young persons marry and share the money between them. +Elizabeth could be comforted with a reasonable legacy." This decision +Madame Van Mater had confided to Miss Winthrop almost as soon as the +idea had come into her head. And then, in spite of Miss Winthrop's +openly expressed disapproval, after Olive's return from the ranch for +her second winter at Primrose Hall, her grandmother had made known her +wishes to her. + +"So that you may not get any other love nonsense into your head," Madame +Van Mater explained to Olive, as though there could be no possibility of +her desire being disobeyed. And this in spite of the fact that Olive had +insisted that Donald could never care for her or she for him, and that +nothing would induce her to follow her grandmother's wishes. Indeed, +except for Miss Winthrop, Olive might have been made extremely unhappy. +But her friend had explained that Madame Van Mater was growing childish +with age and would probably change her mind in regard to the willing of +her wealth many times before her death. Also she assured her that +Madame Van Mater had never mentioned her purpose to Donald Harmon, and +if Miss Winthrop could influence her, never should. Nevertheless Olive's +peace of mind and pleasure in her cousin's society had been successfully +destroyed by her grandmother's suggestion. Actually the girl lived in a +kind of shy dread of Don's ever finding it out or attempting to follow +Madame Van Mater's wishes. She had always protested that the greater +share of the family fortunes should be left to the Harmons. She herself +would be content with very little and wanted no special favors, since +her grandmother had never brought herself to care for her. +Notwithstanding this, the old lady had seen that her granddaughter had +an even larger sum than the three Ranch girls for her traveling expenses +in Europe. And had said that she was to buy whatever she liked and to +send for more money whenever it was necessary. + +Yet Ruth and the girls were traveling in a far more expensive fashion +and spending more money than they ever had before. For, in spite of the +discovery of the Rainbow mine, they had continued to live simply. +Nevertheless, in starting off on their European trip, Jim had advised +them to have a good time and not to worry, as he guessed the gold mine +could do the rest. + +So that Jack in the course of her journey from Naples rather wondered if +Captain Madden had not received a wrong impression of the amount of +their wealth. Or possibly Frank Kent had told him. In any case it was +annoying for Frank to have mentioned their financial affairs to so +complete a stranger as Captain Madden had then been. Jack was glad she +had written asking Frank not to join them in Italy. Two years might have +made a great change in his character, so that they could not be friends +as they had once been. Besides, had she not guessed, without actually +having been told, that Captain Madden and Frank, in spite of being +cousins, were not particularly good friends? And as Captain Madden had +mentioned that there was a bare chance of his spending the spring in +Rome it might be awkward meeting them together. Of course Jack had not +spoken of the chance of running across Captain Madden in Rome to any of +her family. In the first place, Captain Madden had been by no means sure +of his presence there, and in the second, Jack had the impression that +Jean, Olive and Frieda did not like him. This was absurd, of course, +with a man so much older! As he had traveled and spent other seasons in +Rome, surely he would be an agreeable guide and help them to see the +right things in the right way? + +Only Frieda, besides Ruth, was not looking forward with either pleasure +or dread to any persons whom she might happen to run across in Rome. +Certainly Dick Grant and his mother were to be there (Dick had told her +every detail of their plans in the course of their early acquaintance), +but whether they were in Rome or not was of no interest to Frieda. For +the younger Miss Ralston had been true to her decision and not once in +the two-day-and-a-half sail from Gibraltar to Naples had she +acknowledged the existence of either Mrs. Grant or her son. And this in +spite of their humble apologies to Jack, and her sister's ready +acceptance of them. + +However, this much justice must be accorded the Ranch girls that when, +at sunset, they at last entered "the eternal city" all personal thoughts +and considerations were swept from their minds. High in the distance +they could see the tower of St. Peter's; in the midst of the town ran +the muddy stream of the Tiber; and over all Rome's beauty and antiquity +hovered the golden atmosphere for which the city is also justly famous. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ITALIAN VIOLETS + + +"DO make up your minds and let us go somewhere," Frieda pleaded. "I +don't see that it is so important where we go first." + +She was wearing a new lavender cloth frock trimmed in silk and a hat of +the same shade, with a big bunch of violets resting against her yellow +hair. From her hand dangled her adored gold-link pocketbook. So there +was no question of Frieda's preparedness for beginning their first day's +sight-seeing in Rome. Ruth and the other three girls showed no such +signs of being ready for immediate departure. + +They were together in their big sitting room, which overlooked a +beautiful enclosed court, characteristic of Italian hotels and homes. +And at least half an hour of their morning the girls had devoted to +gazing out of their windows. In the center of the courtyard a fountain +played continually--not a fountain of an ordinary kind, but the figure +of a beautiful boy, with his arms high in the air, holding two great +shells into which the water poured and then splashed down to the ground +below. Around the enclosure were copies of famous statues and miniature +orange and lemon trees. + +Jack in a comfortable silk dressing gown was placidly gazing at this +scene when Frieda's speech arrested her attention. + +"Why be in such a hurry, Frieda mia?" she inquired. "You know we have +firmly decided not to begin our labors too early. Besides, this morning +we are tired and don't you see that Ruth, Jean and Olive are deeply +engaged in laying out our plan of campaign? It has got to be arranged +where we are to go, what we are to do on our arrival, what things we are +to thrill over and what to pass by." And Jack laughed, letting her eyes +rest for a moment on Ruth's face. Their chaperon's expression was so +serious. Did Jack guess that her education was about to be solemnly +taken in hand? Well, she felt very young this morning and very much in +need of learning a great many things. Rome gave one such an overpowering +sense of ignorance! + +But Frieda was much displeased. "You told me you would be ready at +half-past ten, Jacqueline Ralston, and let me go and dress. Now it is +after eleven. And if nobody will come with me I shall just go out and +walk up and down by myself." + +From the pages of her Baedeker Ruth looked up quickly. It was not often +that she was positive with the girls, but she had insisted that during +their stay in Italy no one of them go anywhere alone. + +Frieda blushed penitently. "I didn't mean it, Ruth, of course. Still, I +think it's hateful for none of you even to start to get ready." + +"Oh, do be quiet, Frieda, and sit down and wait, or, if not, go to your +own room," Jack remarked impatiently. "I think you are forgetting our +compact very soon. One more objection and you will kindly place your +fine in Ruth's charge." + +Without replying, Frieda marched haughtily out of the sitting room and +into her own and Jean's bed room. + +It was true that the night before leaving Naples the Rainbow Ranch party +had made a kind of "Traveler's Agreement Society," setting down a number +of rules for their mutual benefit and promising to follow them. + +The suggestion had come from Olive who was always the peacemaker in all +differences of opinion. For although the travelers had been only a few +weeks upon their journey, already they had learned that there is nothing +that is a surer test of one's amiability than constant sight-seeing, +which entails a continuous moving from place to place of people who are +expected to do the same things at the same time regardless of their +personal tastes and inclination. + +From the top of her suit-case Frieda drew forth a sheet of paper. +Possibly Jack had been right, for the rules of their compact read: + +First: In all questions pertaining to travel, such as the selection of +places to be visited, choice of hotels, etc., the rule of the majority +shall prevail. + +Second: In all questions in which there is a moral issue at stake, a +matter of right or wrong to be decided, the chaperon's judgment is to be +followed. + +Third: If any member of the party becomes weary during the course of the +journey, all are to rest. (This rule was made for Jack's protection and +was Olive's proposal, knowing that her friend would never voluntarily +give up, if she thought her fatigue might interfere with their +pleasure.) + +Fourth (and this was of Jack's recommendation): Each one shall try to be +as agreeable as possible to the others' friends, since it is not to be +expected that they could like the same people equally well. + +Fifth: If any one of the five travelers shall make three cross speeches +in the course of one day, the said traveler is to pay into the keeping +of Ruth Drew a fine to the amount of fifty cents, United States money. +For the fourth cross speech, one dollar, and so on, with the amount +doubling. And at the end of the European trip, this sum, whatever the +amount, is to be employed for the purchase of a gift for the girl +against whose name there is the smallest number of bad counts. + +And Frieda had rather expected that this prize would fall to her. +Indeed, she had quite made up her mind to attain it. For certainly she +was far more amiable than Jack or Jean, and Ruth was apt to grow nervous +if things went wrong. For instance, take this question of her going out +on the street alone. Ruth might have known that she had had no real +intention of being disobedient. Indeed, Olive was the only member of +their party whom Frieda believed she had reason to regard as her rival +in amiability. And of course one opponent was necessary to make the +contest interesting. Really, Frieda desired this prize more than most +anything she could think of--not just for the prize itself, although +there was no telling what its value might be, but because it could be +retained forever like a conqueror's flag to be waved over her family. + +For ten minutes more, therefore, Frieda sat down in an upright chair, +waiting patiently. Notwithstanding this, Jean did not even come in for +her coat and hat, or with any suggestion that they ever intended leaving +the hotel. + +It was abominably stupid to continue loitering forever, so finally the +young girl concluded to go down into the hotel lobby and watch the +people moving in and out, until her family at last made up their minds +to start. She would not go back into the sitting room again to argue the +question with them, but leave a little note near Jean's hat explaining +where she might be found. + +In the corridor leading to the open front door Frieda discovered an +inconspicuous place and was entirely happy observing the hotel guests +and the small vista of the Roman street which she could see like a +picture through the opening. + +An Italian priest passed by, wearing a solemn, long black robe tied +about his waist with a huge cord and a round, stiff black hat with a +broad brim and a flat crown. Frieda stared at him curiously. Then a +young fellow, evidently an artist from his costume, appeared, and, after +hesitating a moment, entered the hotel corridor. A few moments +afterwards he was joined by an older woman with two daughters in whom +Frieda at once became deeply interested. They were English girls--she +guessed this by a kind of instinct, they were so tall and fair and +slender, with drooping shoulders and pink and white complexions. The +little party left the hotel together and then there was a short interval +in which nothing happened to interest Frieda particularly, except the +foreign look of the people moving past in the street. + +Weary of waiting, she was glancing at a queer carved clock on the wall +opposite her, when unexpectedly a fragrance enveloped her. Without +understanding why, the young girl felt a sudden wave of homesick +yearning for the Rainbow Ranch. Why should she think of home so +suddenly? For a few seconds Frieda was unconscious of any special +reason, and then, turning, she beheld standing in the doorway a small +Italian boy, beautiful as one of Raphael's cherubs, with a great basket +of Italian violets hanging on his arm. + +Frieda smiled. No wonder she had recalled her home and the violet beds +planted next the Lodge in the days when she had expected to add to the +family fortunes by selling flowers. This was before there was ever a +thought of a gold mine hidden in Rainbow Creek. + +What fun to buy a lot of violets for Ruth and the girls and have great +bunches of them to present, if ever they did decide to come down stairs! + +A western girl, Frieda Ralston had always been accustomed to doing +things for herself. So now it never occurred to her to call a "facchino" +to accomplish her errand, although this Italian word for porter was one +of the few words that Frieda had already acquired from her phrase book. + +Besides, was the boy not standing right there by the door? Quickly she +moved toward him. But at the same moment another customer must have +called from the street or else some servant in the hotel frightened the +child, for he slipped away and in an instant was half down the block. +And Frieda followed close behind, entirely oblivious of anything except +her present purpose. The boy ran lightly along and danced around a +corner like a sunbeam. There, where he made the turn, a fountain stood +in the center of the square that Frieda noticed particularly so there +might be no danger of her getting lost. Fortunately another customer +stopped the lad when, quite out of breath, Frieda finally managed to +catch up with him. + +She didn't know the Italian words which should be employed in purchasing +violets, but fortunately the sign language was the original one with all +the peoples of the world. Very soon the basket of violets transferred +from the child's arm was swinging on the young girl's. When, with a +smile and a "buon giorno" (good morning) at the American Signorita's +prettiness and amazing wealth, the lad vanished as abruptly as he had +arrived. + +Frieda glowed with pleasure. The violets were so exquisite, the sky so +blue, and the air so sparkling. Surely by the time of her return to the +hotel her family would be ready to begin their adventures. And there, +just ahead, was the fountain that she had observed so as not to make +any mistake about getting back safely. + +Walking on in the direction of the fountain for a moment Frieda stood +admiring its beauty. But not for long of course, because Ruth and the +girls must never discover her absence. Turning away from the fountain, +straightway her puzzle began, for there were now half a dozen streets +leading from this central square and the wanderer had no idea which one +contained their hotel. Certainly Rome was very queer and unlike any +other city she had ever seen before. Many of the streets seemed to twist +and curve, winding in and out among the others. Nothing seemed to go +straight ahead in any given direction. However, Frieda, having concluded +that one of them looked a little more familiar than the others, tried it +first. There was nothing within a block, however, that resembled the +Hotel l'Italia and she was convinced of only having followed the boy for +a single street. She had best return to the fountain and start forth +again. But by the time one has followed this method of procedure three +or four times without success the effect is apt to be disheartening. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +FONTANONE DELL' ACQUA FELICE + + +SEVERAL tears watered the violets. Frieda Ralston was seated on one of a +flight of stone steps bordering the antique fountain, with an immense +stone lion on either side of her and in high eminence behind her the +figures of the prophets. But Frieda was not in the slightest degree +interested at this moment in Roman art. For one hour, recorded on the +face of the small watch in her pocket, she had been engaged in wandering +up and down likely looking streets in search of their hotel, only to +return to her starting place again. And this when she had only gone a +block and a half away in the first place. + +Neither had the wayfarer trusted entirely to her own judgment. In spite +of Ruth's repeated warnings against talking to strangers, she had once +accosted a man in a queer uniform, thinking him a policeman. He wore a +dark blue coat, blue-gray trousers, a white cap and belt, so how could a +newcomer have known him to be a member of the Roman garrison? However, +when once the soldier had discovered Frieda's desire, his directions +were so explicit, so accompanied by much waving of his hand and +statements of "destra" (right) and "sinistra" (left), that Frieda +believed her way clear at last. Nevertheless, though doing exactly what +she believed she had been told, the result was the same. Frieda had +again to return to her fountain, a now painfully familiar spot. In the +course of this wandering, however, she had passed an ancient church with +a high flight of steps, where she paused to gaze for a few moments in +awe and wonder. A number of pilgrims were climbing the wooden steps on +their knees and children were running about among them offering rosaries +and small wooden images for sale. Frieda had purchased a St. Joseph and +then regretted her investment, for at least half the crowd of children +followed her back to her resting place. They were still whining about +her begging for pennies, when some time ago she had given them all the +change she had. Yet they would _not_ leave her alone. Happening to +glance down at her arm Frieda now made the painful discovery that her +beloved gold-link purse had disappeared. Still the poor child had her +violets! + +They were no great comfort, however, for, sighing, she glanced through +an opening among her persecutors to see if aid might be found anywhere. +There not far away did she not behold the familiar figures of Richard +Grant and his mother, the acquaintances who had been so scorned toward +the close of their sea voyage. + +With a little extra energy the lost girl might have called to them. For +they were loitering and studying the pages of their guide-book, +evidently on their way to visit the famous church which had previously +attracted her attention. Once Frieda believed that she saw them glance +in the direction of her fountain. But their purpose must have changed, +for the next instant they moved off toward the church. + +Nevertheless, in spite of her need, the wanderer did not stir or call +out. For how could she ask assistance of people to whom she had been so +rude and overbearing but a short time before? And she was so near their +hotel, surely Ruth would send some one to look for her or come herself +in a few minutes. No, she must wait a while longer and perhaps, when +rested, if no one had found her, try to discover her own way again. +Often Jim Colter had told the Ranch girls to search for things first +with their heads before beginning to explore with their hands and feet. +Yet it was pretty difficult to think clearly, and when weary and +discouraged to remember how one has managed to get lost. This habit of +getting separated from her family was a trying one, and certainly this +time Ruth and the girls would be angry as well as frightened. + +[Illustration: "DON'T BE FUNNY, DICK; I'M LOST AGAIN"] + +Not long after Frieda was wishing sincerely that she had put her pride +in her pocket and begged Dick's and Mrs. Grant's help in spite of all +that had passed. She was frightened as well as tired. The children had +run away on finding that the Signorita's purse had gone. But a few yards +from her seat an Italian had been curling his black mustache for quite +an extraordinary length of time, staring all the while at the little +blonde girl on the fountain steps. + +"If you don't mind speaking to me this once, Miss Frieda, would you +explain just why you are ornamenting the steps of this particular +fountain alone for so long a time?" a friendly voice inquired. + +Frieda jumped to her feet. There were the amused brown eyes, the square +jaw and the athletic shoulders of Mr. Richard Grant. However, he was +at the present moment engaged in holding his red Baedeker open and in +slowly reading aloud: "This fountain is known, I believe, as 'Fontanone +dell' Acqua Felice,' which, if I recall my Latin correctly, means 'water +of happiness.'" + +"Don't be funny, Dick, please," begged Frieda, forgetting titles and +squeezing two left-over tears out of her eyes; "I'm lost again!" + +"I rather supposed so," the young man replied, "so I left mother to moon +among the Saints in the church nearby, while I came back to look after +you. You see, we thought we recognized you sitting here and yet could +hardly believe our eyes. Tell me what has happened and where you wish to +go?" + +A moment later, after a second careful consultation of his guide book, +Frieda was escorted through the streets of Rome by a youth, who was +unconcernedly carrying her large basket of violets in one hand and +feeding her chocolates from a box which he held in the other. He did not +seem to bear the least malice, and Frieda herself was extremely +cheerful, considering her talent for getting into scrapes. + +She even promised gratefully to accept the gift of a red Baedeker of her +own and not to depend on their chaperon's possession of one. + +Arriving at the Hotel l'Italia Frieda begged that Dick Grant come in +with her and let her family know of his presence in Rome and of his +kindness to her. In reality she wished for a stranger to be present so +that she might in a measure escape the disapproval awaiting her. + +And this time Frieda was correct in her judgment, for Ruth and the girls +were more irritated with her than alarmed. And even after her +explanation as to just how the accident happened Ruth seemed +unreasonable. Actually, right in Richard Grant's presence, she scolded +Frieda more than she had before in years. However, the young man did +have the good sense to turn his back and be engaged in earnest +conversation with Jack during the worst of Ruth's tirade, for which the +younger Miss Ralston was truly grateful. She was also grateful to her +sister Jack for inquiring after Mrs. Grant just as though nothing +unpleasant had occurred between them. For Jack asked either that Mrs. +Grant come to see them or that they be permitted to call on her. + +When Dick had finally departed to join his mother (who must have been +weary of waiting, except that her good nature was as certain as her bad +taste), Frieda found as usual that it was Jean's teasing which was +harder to bear than any scolding. For just as they were at last about to +leave their hotel and right in the presence of the English lady and her +two daughters who were returning, Jean pulled a long pale blue ribbon +from her pocket (one of Frieda's own ribbons) and tied it in a kind of +lasso about the younger girl's wrist. + +"Better keep a string attached to our one ewe lamb, don't you think, +Ruth dear?" she inquired innocently. And the strangers stared with a +kind of cold surprise, when Ruth was obliged to produce the pair of +scissors she always carried in her hand bag to cut the knot, so close +had the ribbon been drawn. + +For the rest of the day Frieda kept close to her sister and Olive, +feeling too deeply wounded with the other members of their party to care +to have much to say to them. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AFTERNOON TEA + + +"ON Pincian Hill my father feeds his flocks," remarked Frieda pensively +one afternoon several days later. + +And while Ruth, Jack and Jean tried their best to keep from laughing +aloud, Olive had to explain. + +"It was not Pincian hills but Grampian, Frieda dear, and the speech +refers to Greece and not Italy." + +But Frieda was too blissfully happy and deliciously entertained to care +either about her mistakes or the cause of the others' laughter. + +For at last the Ranch girls were having afternoon tea in the beautiful +gardens of the Pincio. Near them a military band was playing, and in +their vicinity apparently most of the best people in Rome, besides the +summer travelers, had gathered. There were hundreds of carriages moving +to and fro and stopping now and then while friends exchanged greetings. +A short half hour ago little King Victor Emmanuel, whose stature is the +only small part of him, and his beautiful big Queen had driven by, +giving the four girls and their chaperon one of the most delightful +thrills of their whole trip. For no matter how good Democrats we +Americans are at heart, the first sight of royalty cannot fail to be +interesting. It is only after the royal persons have been viewed often +enough and long enough that they appear like ordinary persons. + +Then, beneath the hill of the Pincio, lay the most wonderful of all the +panoramas of Rome. There was St. Peter's again (and already the Ranch +party had spent one entire day in this largest and perhaps most +beautiful church in the world). There the castle of St. Angelo, the roof +of the Pantheon, and innumerable other churches and towers, which Ruth +even after an almost painful study of her map of Rome was not able to +name. But more fascinating than the buildings, at least to Jacqueline +Ralston's outdoor loving vision, were the far-off hills with their +groupings of cypress, palms and pines. + +The Rainbow Ranch party had found seats at a table not far from the +small cafe in the center of the gardens. And although delectable sweets +were being served to them, together with very poor tea, not even Frieda +had been able to display her usual appetite. + +Unexpectedly a hand was placed on Jean Bruce's shoulder, and turning in +surprise she saw standing by her side no other person than the Princess +Colonna! If Jean had thought her American-Italian Princess beautiful on +shipboard, the sight of her now in her Parisian toilet almost took away +her breath. Waiting a few feet away were her companions, two young +Italians of about twenty and twenty-five years of age, besides an +elderly man, who was nearer sixty years old than half a century. + +"I thought my little Miss Bruce was to let me know when she and her +friends reached Rome," the Princess began, shaking hands with Ruth and +the other three girls, while continuing to smile upon Jean. "Is it that +you do not wish more of my society?" + +Jean, having regained her self-possession, shook her head. "That is such +a ridiculous question I shan't pretend to answer it," she returned. "It +is only that we have been such a few days in Rome and thought perhaps +you--" + +The Princess made a slight motion of her hand toward the three men back +of her so that they approached. "_I_ have not a short memory, but +_you_," she replied. "But permit me to introduce to you my husband, the +Prince Colonna, and his two nephews." + +Fortunately at this instant no one in the group chanced to be gazing +toward Frieda. For although the older girls had sufficient self-control +to conceal any expressions of surprise, this was not true of her. At +this moment her blue eyes opened wider than usual. + +The Prince Colonna with his snow-white hair and stately manner, bowing +courteously over Ruth Drew's hand, was assuredly twice his wife's age. + +Jean, Olive and Jack were feeling sufficiently embarrassed by the +meeting with the two Italian nephews. In less than a moment, however, +Jean gave a slight but characteristic shrug of her shoulders and then a +sigh of relief. For both Signor Leon, the younger, and his brother +Giovanni Colonna spoke excellent English. + +"We were so afraid we should not be able to talk to you," Jean confessed +so frankly that immediately any awkwardness in the situation passed +away. "You see, we Americans are dreadfully stupid about foreign +languages. We never realize how important they are until we come abroad, +and that is apt to occur after our school days have passed. +Nevertheless, we dearly love to hear ourselves talk." + +This was a long speech for the commencement of a conversation with +strangers, but Jean was soon glad to have had the first opportunity. +For, drawing a chair close beside hers, Signor Giovanni Colonna never +gave her much of a chance afterwards. It seemed, by the young man's own +confession, that he had always wanted to know American girls. His only +acquaintance so far had been with his aunt, and of course she had +increased his desire. But the Princess had lately told him and his +brother of meeting on the steamer four delightful western girls whom +they might possibly see later on in Rome. From the first Giovanni seemed +to prefer Jean's society, leaving Leon to the other three girls to +entertain. The entire conversation between the young man and Jean could +hardly have lasted ten minutes. + +Before saying farewell, however, the Princess had made an engagement to +call on Ruth at her hotel on the following afternoon with the promise +that she should bring the four girls to her villa later in the week. + +Unfortunately Jack laughed when the two young men were safely out of +hearing, though still in sight. They were both below medium height, with +clear, dark skins and curling black hair, and to Jack's American ideas +were almost too well dressed and formal of manner, although Giovanni was +really handsome except for a scar across his left cheek. + +"They are rather funny, don't you think?" she inquired idly and without +any special meaning. "I don't believe I could ever learn to like +foreigners as much as I do American men. They are not so big for one +thing, are they, Ruth?" And Ruth, before whose eyes Jim Colter's big +figure straightway loomed, shook her head. + +Jean flushed slightly. She had liked the two young men fairly well. +Moreover, they were her Princess' nephews. Anyhow, her cousin's speech +had irritated her, although Jack had already forgotten what she had said +and was once more gazing in fascination at the scene about her. + +"Your dislike of foreigners does not include Englishmen, does it, cousin +of mine?" Jean queried with a too great pretense of innocence. + +Jack's clear gray eyes faced Jean's dark ones in such surprise that +Jean's were the ones to droop. + +"If you mean Frank Kent or Captain Madden, why of course I like both of +them, don't you?" she returned. And then, "Whatever in the world, Jean, +has made you so cross about Captain Madden? I wonder what idea you have +in your head! If you knew anything against him on shipboard why didn't +you tell me?" + +Jean discovered that Ruth was frowning upon her more severely than +usual. Besides, what answer had she to make to her cousin? Really, she +had no actual reason for disliking their new acquaintance and the +impression that had once or twice come into her mind on shipboard may +have been absurd. Ruth had thought it ridiculous and had not agreed with +her. Now certainly the stupidest possible thing she _could_ do would be +to permit Jack to guess her suspicion. + +"Oh, of course I like them too, I was only bad tempered," Jean replied, +giving Jack's gloved hand a penitent squeeze and thinking how unusually +beautiful she was looking this afternoon. Somehow no one appeared so +well in white as Jack did. She was so fine and pure, so different in +many ways from other girls. It would never dawn on her to dream of evil +in man or woman. Jean found herself blushing. + +"I like Frank Kent better than most anybody, Jack dear. He is one of our +oldest and truest friends, I feel sure. Sometimes I wish we were going +to see him before arriving in England," she murmured. + +Half an hour later, driving slowly down the long hill away from the +wonderful Pincian gardens into the city of Rome, Ruth and the four girls +were equally surprised at seeing a stiff, military figure on horseback +lift his hat to them. + +"It is Captain Madden, I do believe! I didn't know he was to be in +Rome!" Frieda exclaimed, and no one made answer. + +Later that evening, however, when a great box of her favorite red roses +containing the English army officer's card mysteriously arrived for Jack +at their hotel Jean did not know whether to be glad or sorry for having +held her tongue. Of course Jack was pleased, just as any other girl +would have been with the attention. But for the life of her Jean could +not have explained why she felt so convinced that in some fashion or +other this Captain Madden was to be the evil genius of their European +trip. However, Ruth Drew was her cousin Jack's chaperon and she did not +appear concerned. That night, after having thought the subject over for +an hour when the other girls and Ruth were probably asleep, Jean finally +came to this conclusion: undoubtedly she must be more foolish than +anybody else. So no matter what she herself believed, if Ruth and Olive +remained unsuspicious of Captain Madden's attentions the wrong thinking +must be her own. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +JACK + + +TEN days later if Ruth and Jean had again talked this same matter over +together, it is possible that their points of view might not have been +so far apart. But this was difficult, since Jean was then spending +several days with the Princess Colonna at her villa several miles from +the city of Rome. + +From the hour of meeting with Captain Madden near the gardens of the +Pincio, apparently his time had been entirely at the disposal of the +Rainbow Ranch party. And Ruth having completely banished her momentary +fear that his kindness meant more than a passing fancy for Jack, was at +first glad enough to accept his attentions. If she thus revealed a lack +of wisdom, there would be time enough for regret later on. + +It was extremely agreeable to have some one to act as their guide +through Rome. For in spite of her winter of study Ruth found herself +becoming dreadfully confused. Rome was so overpowering that actually +there were hundreds of things one wished to do all at once. Then the +girls developed such different interests! She and Olive desired to make +a real study of the many churches in Rome, while Jack curiously enough, +as she had known nothing of art before, was enthusiastic over the old +sculpture. Jean and Frieda had no great fancy for the antique, but were +open in their preference for visiting the shops and for driving about to +the wonderful gardens and villas about Rome. So every now and then Ruth, +departing from her original rule of keeping their entire party together, +had allowed Captain Madden to have charge of several of the girls, while +she went elsewhere with the others. + +And more often than any other way it turned out that Frieda was in the +habit of accompanying Captain Madden and her sister. For Frieda's +attitude toward their elderly friend had lately changed. From her former +dislike she had now become his warm advocate. And if Ruth Drew had been +suspicious or even properly worldly-minded this fact in itself should +have begun to open her eyes, so assiduously had Captain Madden been +cultivating Frieda's liking. When a box of flowers arrived for Jack, or +sometimes for Ruth, a box of sweets came with them for the youngest of +the Ranch girls. In their morning riding parties Captain Madden +announced his preference for keeping by Frieda's side and leaving Jack +to ride a little in advance as she seemed to prefer. + +Once, however, Frieda had innocently repeated a conversation held +between herself and her escort, which made Jack angry and Ruth +uncomfortable. For it appeared that she had told Captain Madden the +entire history of their Rainbow mine, even to the amount of gold taken +out of it the previous year. And this, when Jack had particularly asked +her younger sister never to discuss their affairs with strangers, and +especially their recent wealth. Older now and realizing the good taste +of this, Frieda, in explaining the subject to their chaperon, was +puzzled to remember how she had been drawn into the conversation. Of +course no questions had been asked by Captain Madden, he was too much of +a gentleman, but somehow in telling him of their past life on the ranch +and of their acquaintance with his cousin, Frank Kent, naturally she had +spoken of their mine. To Ruth this explanation did not appear +unreasonable. Besides it did not seem of importance then whether or not +Captain Madden might be too much concerned in their private affairs. + +Afterwards an evening came while Jean was away at the Princess' villa +when the Ranch girls' chaperon had her first awakening. The incident was +a slight one in itself, yet aroused great uneasiness. + +Almost every pilgrim who makes his way to Rome has the desire to see its +ancient ruins by moonlight. And this had been Olive's wish ever since +their arrival in the eternal city. Her suggestion was that some night +they drive around the broken walls of the Coliseum and afterwards wander +about inside the Forum Romanum. Surely in the moonlight it would be +easier to forget the modern world! Perhaps one might even conjure up a +mental picture of the great days of pagan Rome, when these same decaying +arches, columns and temples were monuments and buildings of wonderful +beauty. For it was past them that the Roman generals used once to lead +their victorious cohorts bringing home captive the barbarian armies of +the western world. + +One evening, rather laughing over her friend's enthusiasm, Jacqueline +Ralston had repeated Olive's ambition to Captain Madden. And straightway +he had suggested that the moonlight excursion actually take place, and +that he be permitted to act as escort. The moon was now almost in the +full and certainly Rome was as well worth seeing under its glamor as +under day-time skies. + +Therefore, twenty-four hours afterward, at about nine o'clock, a party +of seven persons set out from the Ranch girls' hotel. Ruth was riding in +one carriage with Captain Madden and Jack, while Mrs. Grant, Frieda, +Olive and Dick were together in the other. + +No one talked much. Even Frieda and Mrs. Grant, though not specially +susceptible to beauty, were somehow silenced. The road to the Coliseum +led away from the crowded centers of Rome into a kind of eerie +stillness. Although the radiance of the moon seemed partially to have +obscured the stars, the night was brilliantly clear. Twice both +carriages drove about the outside walls of the Coliseum. And through its +broken spaces the riders could catch strange glimpses of the big +amphitheater, the crumbling tiers of seats, and now and then the outline +of a small stone chamber overgrown with moss and lichen, where the +early Christian martyrs, were once imprisoned before being fed to the +lions. + +In the course of the drive Ruth and Captain Madden spoke to one another +occasionally, commenting on the unusual beauty of the night and the +weird and fantastic shadows cast by the moon. But Ruth noticed that Jack +hardly made a remark and that she was pale. This made no special +impression, for Jack was probably tired. She was wearing her long white +cloth coat and a small white hat and for some reason or other looked +almost younger than Frieda. + +But by and by Jack asked that their carriage stop at the entrance to the +Forum. There a guide could be found with a lantern, should the moonlight +prove insufficient to light their way about the ruins. + +Captain Madden first assisted Ruth to descend from the carriage and then +something in his manner as he turned to help Jack, gave Ruth a sudden +feeling of discomfort. What could he have to say to her which her +chaperon should not hear? And yet Captain Madden did whisper to Jack in +a low voice as though there were some secret understanding between +them. + +A moment later, when the second carriage had driven up and its occupants +were alighting, for just a moment Ruth Drew had a brief chance to speak +to Olive alone. + +"Don't leave Jack by herself tonight if you can help it, and on no +account let her be with Captain Madden without the rest of us." Then, +scarcely waiting for Olive's reply, Ruth moved off slipping her own arm +firmly through Jack's. + +Certainly the next hour afforded no opportunity for interchange of +confidences between Jacqueline Ralston and her new friend. But the girl +seemed glad enough to have Ruth and Olive close beside her. Now and then +she even asked aid of one or the other of them. For stumbling about in +semi-darkness among crumbling earth and stone seemed to be making her +nervous. + +Then came a moment when both Olive and Ruth lost sight of Jack +completely. It was the simplest possible accident. They were in a place +of shadows, lit only by the moon, which made the spaces behind the +ruined buildings of almost impenetrable blackness. And although their +guide and Dick Grant carried lanterns, it was difficult to catch their +reflections unless one were near. + +Olive, believing Ruth to be with her friend, had drawn closer to the +guide to listen to some bit of information that he was struggling to +impart to Mrs. Grant. While Ruth, thinking that Olive was discharging +her task, and finding Dick Grant and Frieda engaging in one of their +frequent quarrels, had interposed herself between them. + +It was at this time that Jack, wearier than she cared to confess, sat +down on one of the steps beyond the Arch of Titus, descending toward the +Coliseum. For the moment a cloud had passed half over the moon, making +the ancient ruin before her appear more gigantic and mysterious. The +next instant a figure seated itself beside her and Captain Madden's +voice spoke: + +"You think you don't care for poetry, Miss Jack, but surely tonight is +made for poetry, or poetry is made for tonight. Do you know these lines +of Byron's in Childe Harold?" + +Captain Madden moved nearer the girl so that he might see into her face. +Then he pointed toward the magical scene close by. + + "A ruin--yet what a ruin! from its mass + Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been rear'd; + Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass, + And marvel where the spoil could have appear'd, + Hath it indeed been plunder'd, or but clear'd? + Alas! developed, opens the decay, + When the colossal fabric's form is near'd: + It will not bear the brightness of the day, + Which streams too much on all years, men, have reft away. + + "But when the rising moon begins to climb + Its topmost arch and gently pauses there; + When the stars twinkle through the loops of time, + And the low night breeze waves along the air + The garland forest, which the gray walls wear, + Like laurels on the bald first Caesar's head; + When the light shines serene, but doth not glare, + Then in the magic circle rise the dead; + Heroes have trod this spot--'tis on their dust ye tread. + + "'While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; + When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; + And when Rome falls,--the world.'" + +Jack made no answer for a moment. Then she said quietly, "It is a +beautiful description; thank you for repeating it to me." She did not +feel in the mood for talking tonight. The world was too beautiful and +too strange. Here was she, Jacqueline Ralston, a girl raised on a ranch +in far-off Wyoming, in the ancient city of Rome. And Captain Madden, +the friend near her, why should a man so much older and wiser and with +so great a knowledge of the world that even Rome itself did not seem +unfamiliar to him, feel an interest in her? She was neither beautiful +nor clever like Olive and Jean. Yet Jack, though not twenty, was woman +enough to realize that Captain Madden liked her best. + +The next instant she started to get up when, placing his hand on her +arm, her companion held her back. + +"I don't want to speak to you too soon," he whispered. "I don't wish to +hurry or frighten you. But you must know why I have so longed to be with +you alone for a few minutes tonight." + +"Please," Jack faltered. + +And then, suddenly appearing from out of nowhere, Ruth Drew actually +seemed to swoop down upon the man and girl. Almost immediately she took +tight hold on Jack. + +"Let us go to our carriage at once, if you please, Captain Madden," she +demanded brusquely. "We have stayed out in the night air far too long as +it is. It is time we were safe in bed." + +Then, although Jack kept obediently close to her chaperon until they +were back in their hotel, that night when the three girls had fallen +asleep, Ruth was so restless that, putting on her dressing gown, she +walked up and down her room for a quarter of an hour. It simply could +not be possible that this Captain Madden was falling in love with their +Jack or that she could entertain the slightest interest in him! Why Jack +was still a child and the man twice her age! Besides, what in the world +did they know of him except what he himself had told them? The man might +be a fortune hunter, he might be most anything! Ruth wiped her eyes in +consternation at the thought of what Jim Colter would say and do if she +allowed his splendid, brave Jack to become entangled in an unfortunate +romance. Then she asked herself: Was there no one in Rome who could tell +them of Captain Madden's history? Recalling Jean's statement that the +Princess Colonna and Captain Madden were acquaintances before their +meeting on board the Martha Washington, Ruth relieved her anxiety by +writing a long letter to Jean. In it she confessed her own uneasiness +and asked that Jean inquire of the Princess what knowledge she had of +Captain Madden's past. But she also insisted that Jean keep her reason +for wishing to know a secret and that beyond everything else she should +never betray their suspicions to Jack. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE PRINCESS' MYTHOLOGICAL BALL + + +FOR some little time before and after the event, the Mythological Ball +given at her villa by the Princess Colonna was the most talked-of +entertainment in Roman society. + +The Princess was young, an American and immensely rich. Having married +into one of the noblest families in Italy, in spite of their poverty, it +was but natural that she had soon become a conspicuous social leader in +Rome. Her parties were always regarded with deep interest, but this +latest ball was to outstrip all the others in novelty and beauty. For +her guests were invited to appear as characters from ancient Greek or +Roman mythology. Surely the idea was sufficiently original and daring to +excite wide curiosity. + +And to the Ranch girls, naturally, the Princess' ball was _the_ +important social occasion of their lives. For days Jean had written of +nothing but the preparations going on at the villa and to inquire what +parts they wished to impersonate and what costumes to wear. Several +times she had driven into the hotel for long consultations with Ruth and +the other girls, for Jean had been asked to remain at the villa until +after the costume ball. As a matter of course the four girls were a good +deal overwhelmed at the decisions before them. For in the first place +Ruth positively declined to be present at the entertainment unless she +were permitted to appear in a regulation evening dress. For Ruth would +always be a Puritan at heart and the thought of arraying herself as a +Pagan goddess, or even as an humbler heroine, actually made the cold +shivers run up and down her back. To Ruth the Princess' idea seemed +fantastic and absurd. Nevertheless, she did not wish to spoil the Ranch +girls' pleasure, and was in reality more deeply anxious than any one of +them that they should make as beautiful an impression as possible. The +girls were lovely enough, she felt sure; their only problem was to +select suitable characters and to see that their toilettes were +exquisite and appropriate. + +Of course the Princess Colonna agreed to Ruth's desire about herself, +assuring her that there would be others of her guests who would dress +as she did. However, she made a great point of the Ranch girls' coming +in costume. For she had been talking of her four American girls to her +friends in Rome and was counting on their making a sensation. She and +Jean together had decided on their heroines and also what they were both +to wear. Jean had then kept her character a secret from the other three +girls and from Ruth, wishing to be a complete surprise to them as well +as to everybody else. + +The drive from the hotel to the Princess' villa would require almost an +hour. Notwithstanding, when Captain Madden asked that he might accompany +the Rainbow Ranch party, Ruth thanked him and declined. There were only +Jack, Frieda and Olive, she herself making the fourth, so with Jean +away, one carriage would hold them all comfortably. She did not care to +separate their little party. They would see Captain Madden later at the +ball. + +No one could have guessed whether or not Jacqueline Ralston had noticed +it, but it was perfectly true that her chaperon had never allowed her a +minute alone with her new friend since the night of their moonlight +excursion. Captain Madden was well aware of it, though he had not yet +made any protest or given any sign. He had been studying Jack pretty +closely in the few weeks of their acquaintance and felt fairly sure that +if she could once be persuaded to make a decision, no amount of +opposition afterwards would have the power to change her. It was not for +nothing that her chin had that slightly square outline and that she held +her head with an unconscious and therefore a beautiful pride. Jack had a +look of purity and faithfulness that sometimes made older persons watch +her with a kind of wistful anxiety. Would life ever make her lose her +faith in her ideals and in the few persons to whom she would give her +undivided love? + +The entrance to the Prince Colonna's estate was through a long avenue of +magnolia trees so that the night air was heavy with their fragrance. As +there were several hundred guests driving into the grounds at nearly the +same time, the Ranch girls' carriage was compelled to move slowly. And +for this they and Ruth were devoutly thankful. Because they were one +instant thrilled beyond measure at the prospect of the brilliant scene +before them, and the next terrified at the thought of the parts they +were expected to play. + +"I don't see how Jean Bruce has ever managed to spend an entire week in +such grandeur as this and with strangers. I should have died of +embarrassment!" Olive exclaimed, in a rather shaky voice, slipping her +hand inside Jack's and giving it a gentle squeeze. She wished to assure +herself of the reality of the fairy world about her and also to receive +strength for the coming ordeal from the sense of Jack's presence. For +never, for an instant, had these two friends swerved in their devotion +to each other, the one always finding in the other just the qualities +she herself lacked. + +Jack laughed. "Jean, you must remember, is never afraid of any one and +is the only truly society person among us. Then, if you please won't +mention it, I've an idea that the Italian nephew is entertaining Miss +Bruce mightily. Remember she confided that he was teaching her Italian +and she instructing him in English, poor Ralph! I am afraid Jean will +never be content at the Rainbow Ranch any more after this experience of +foreign life." + +With her pale blonde hair carefully concealed from the night air in +clouds of pale blue chiffon, Frieda, from the opposite seat, now leaned +over toward her sister. + +"Jack," she demanded seriously, as only Freida could, "why do you say, +'poor Ralph!' Do you think Ralph Merrit has ever been in love with Jean? +They were always friends at the ranch, I know, but Ralph is poor and +isn't good-looking and doesn't care for society. I am sure he would +never suit Jean one bit." + +But before she had finished speaking, Jack's gloved fingers were laid +lightly on her small sister's lips. "For goodness sake, baby mine, do +hush," she implored. "Of course I was only joking about Jean and Ralph. +I can see how Ruth is frowning at me even in the dark. Who would ever +have supposed that an infant like you would talk about 'being in love' +in such a solemn fashion! You don't know the meaning of the word." + +"Do you?" Frieda returned, speaking just as seriously. + +But Jack only shook her head without replying. + +The wonderful ivory-colored house, built in the fashion of the Italian +Renaissance, was now coming into view with hundreds of low-growing +evergreen shrubs close at its base. The house itself was lighted with +golden, shaded lights. To one side was the Italian garden, where the +girls had had tea with the Princess several afternoons before. It was +also lighted, but hardly discernible now from the driveway. + +By the Princess' orders, Ruth and the three Ranch girls were shown +immediately to Jean's bedroom, which was apart from the dressing rooms +provided for her other guests. + +There Jean was waiting for them in her fancy costume and in a delicious +state of excitement. As her door opened, the newcomers, forgetting +themselves altogether, gave a cry of surprised admiration and were then +curiously silent. + +Jean had been standing in front of a long, gold-framed mirror, and now, +turning swiftly, moved in their direction. Her costume was of the palest +pink. The little bodice was of pink silk and pink chiffon, simply made +and cut with a girlishly rounded neck, trimmed with a narrow edging of +old lace. But from her silk girdle the skirt showed a wonderful +arrangement of chiffon drapery, falling below her feet into a slightly +pointed train at the back. She wore pink sandals bound with pink +ribbons. + +All this Ruth and the three girls observed in the instant that she ran +to greet them. But the next moment, swinging slowly around on one +lightly poised toe that the full effect of her appearance might be +disclosed, between Jean's shoulders could be seen a tiny pair of +butterfly wings. Her dark hair was parted low over her forehead and +drawn into a loose knot high toward the back of her head. The costume +was a lovely one, and Jean looked exquisite in it. + +"Can you guess whom I represent?" she asked shyly, abashed by the +admiration of her own family. + +In answer Jack did something unusual between the two cousins, who were +not usually as demonstrative with each other as with Ruth or with Olive +and Frieda. For suddenly she leaned over, and holding Jean's chin in her +white gloved hand kissed her, afterwards studying her face closely. + +"I think I can guess, Jean," she returned. "I have been reading so much +mythology lately, besides seeing so many famous statues. Your butterfly +wings tell me that you are Psyche. I remember your story. Psyche was +the daughter of a king and so beautiful that Venus, the goddess of +beauty, grew jealous of her and sent her son Cupid to punish her for her +presumption. But Cupid wounded himself with his own arrow and so fell in +love with Psyche. There is a great deal more to the story, of course; +afterwards Psyche and Cupid quarreled and for many years she had to +wander around the world performing difficult tasks before being reunited +with her love again. Psyche is the Greek name for soul and a butterfly +the ancient emblem of the soul. Somehow you don't look like yourself +tonight, Jean," here Jack hesitated; "you are like a spirit. Please +don't be finding your fate too soon and so flying away from us." + +But although Jean blushed and seemed for half a second troubled by her +cousin's suggestion, she shook her head and began helping Frieda remove +her wraps. When the blue cloak and the blue veil were thrown aside, the +youngest of the Ranch girls stepped into the center of the room. + +"Do I look almost as well as Jean?" she inquired earnestly. "I thought +my costume so pretty when we left the hotel. But now that I have seen +hers--" + +Jean was dancing around Frieda as though she had been in reality a +butterfly. Ruth, Jack and Olive would not allow the maids to take off +their cloaks in order to give her their undivided attention. + +"Frieda is the star of us all, isn't she?" Jack declared, since the +spoiling of her small sister was a sin upon which the entire ranch party +agreed. Unwrapping a round gold bowl, she then handed it to her. "Frieda +represents the lovely goddess, Hebe, who served nectar and ambrosia to +the high gods on Mount Olympus," she explained. + +Quite oblivious of the admiring Italian maids, Ruth knelt down on the +floor to rearrange Frieda's skirt. The young girl's dress was of corn +color, almost the shade of her blond hair. So her eyes looked bluer and +her cheeks pinker than ever. It was odd that her toilet had been copied +from an old Greek model and yet was not unlike the modern style. A tunic +of soft yellow crepe was loosely belted at the waist, the overskirt +falling to her knees. About this was a border of gold braid in the +Trojan wall pattern and beneath it hung the narrow, plain skirt. +Frieda's yellow hair was caught together in a bunch of curls and a gold +fillet encircled her head. + +Olive was by this time ready to be admired. She seemed shy at being seen +even by her dearest friends; but then Olive would never entirely recover +from her timidity. Tonight she wore Nile green, the shade always best +suited to her. She was dressed as Amphitrite, the wife of Neptune. Her +costume was unlike the others. It was of India silk, because of its +peculiar glistening quality, and strung with tiny sea shells. Around her +slender throat was a string of pearls, which she had lately bought for +herself in Rome as a gift from her friend, Miss Winthrop. In and out +among the braids of her black hair were other strands of pearls. Above +the middle of her forehead was a jeweled spear with three points. This +represented a tiny trident, the symbol of Neptune's power over the sea. + +Notwithstanding the assistance of the maids, after Ruth Drew had finally +given a hurried glance at herself in Jean's mirror and had seen that +three of the girls were ready to go down to the ball room, to her +surprise she found Jack loitering. The girl had seated herself in a +chair and, in the face of Olive's and Jean's protestations, still had +her opera coat wrapped close about her. + +"Are you ill, Jack?" Ruth queried, observing that she was paler than any +one of them. + +But Jack shook her head, smiling nervously. All of a sudden she did not +seem like herself. + +"I am _frightened_," she confessed the next moment. "It does not seem +possible for me to go down to the ball room dressed as I am before so +many strangers. I don't want to keep the rest of you waiting, but can't +I stay here by myself for a few moments, Ruth? I want to think about +something." + +But before Ruth could answer Jean had almost forcibly pulled off her +cousin's wrap. "If you are not ill, Jack dear, how can you be so absurd! +If it were Olive now who suddenly had an attack of stage fright we might +forgive her. But you! Why you have never been afraid of people or of +things in your life. Besides you will only have to speak to the Princess +and the Prince Colonna. We won't know any one else except Captain Madden +and--perhaps a few other persons. The others we can just enjoy seeing." +During her speech Jean had tried to catch her cousin's expression. But +Jack had her eyes down. Now she jumped hurriedly to her feet and went +out of the room ahead of the others. Evidently she did not wish to hear +herself or her costume discussed. She did look unlike the other three +Ranch girls tonight--taller and older. And while their costumes were in +colors, hers was pure white, nothing but soft folds of drapery from her +shoulders to her feet. Her only ornament was a half moon of brilliants +in the bronze coils of her hair. For Jacqueline, partly because the +girls had used to call her Diana in the old days at the ranch on account +of her love of hunting and supposed coldness of character, had dressed +as the far-famed Latin goddess of the moon. + +Slipping down the marble staircase in her gray evening gown, Ruth Drew +felt like a chimney swallow amid an assemblage of brilliant, gaily +colored birds. Yet she was glad enough to be inconspicuous. Never in +their lives had the four Ranch girls been so lovely. Ruth was almost +sorry. She did not wish them to attract too much attention. The interest +they had taken in their toilets had been for their own and for her +pleasure and because of the Princess Colonna's kindness. At this instant +Ruth decided that so soon as their greetings were spoken she would find +a secluded place, where they might have their first sight of foreign +society and yet be properly out of the limelight themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A SURPRISE + + +JACQUELINE RALSTON was sitting alone in a quiet portion of the Princess +Colonna's Italian garden, listening to the soft splashing of a fountain +at no great distance away. Now and then she put her hands to her face. +Why were her fingers so cold and her cheeks so warm? For Jack was no +longer pale; indeed, her whole countenance was curiously flushed. No +longer did she look the tall, stately goddess of a few hours before, but +like a tremulous and startled girl. For Jack had just received her first +proposal and could not for the life of her tell whether she had accepted +or rejected it. + +Captain Madden had gone away. She had sent him to find Ruth, as she did +not wish to remain alone; neither did she wish him to stay with her. It +was not that Jack wanted to confide what had taken place to her +chaperon. Nothing was further from her intention at the present time. +For Jack had not yet been able to make up her mind whether or not she +cared for the man who had just told her that he loved her. And +fortunately or unfortunately it was not Jacqueline Ralston's habit to +ask the advice of other people about what seriously concerned herself. +She must decide one way or the other, and then it would be time to tell +Ruth. But suddenly she had felt very young and lonely and forlorn with +an absurd disposition to cry. If only Ruth would come to her now she +could say that she was tired and not feeling particularly well. It would +be quite true. Tonight had been the most wonderful in her whole life; +never had she dreamed of such beauty and such splendor. Yet suddenly +Jack had felt a kind of homesick longing for Jim Colter and the +simplicity of their old life on the ranch. + +And yet Jack could not truthfully have said that she had been taken +completely by surprise by Captain Madden's proposal. Ever since their +meeting with him in Rome, there had been times when she had wondered if +it could be possible that he was learning to care for her with more than +a friendly interest. For even a girl as young and as innocent as Jack +cannot be wholly blind. + +Ruth had believed herself a careful chaperon. Little did she dream of +the intimate talks the girl and man had had together, standing side by +side in some church or gallery, looking at some special object, when the +other members of their party had wandered away. + +Then had come tonight! Jack had grown tired; Ruth was talking to some +new acquaintances, Jean and Frieda and Olive were dancing. Captain +Madden had asked that she walk into the garden with him to rest. + +There were many people about and yet they had managed to find a secluded +place. Jack could see a number of men and women passing near her, some +of them in wonderfully beautiful costumes, others looking a trifle +absurd. She closed her eyes, not wishing to see but to think! + +Captain Madden had told her that he loved her. He had confessed also +that he was twice her age and poor. But could Jack forget these things +and care for him notwithstanding? + +One wonders how the man had come to appreciate Jacqueline Ralston's +nature so thoroughly in the few weeks of their acquaintance? Did he know +that this appeal would be the surest way to awaken her sympathies? Jack +had always a passion for doing things for other people rather than +having them do for her. If she loved Captain Madden, she would gladly +share all her money with him. It was stupid of her, however, not to +realize that no true man could have been willing to ask _all_ the +sacrifices of her. Jack's only present problem was: "Did she care +enough?" Captain Madden was older and wiser and so much better and +braver! Think of all the stories he had told them in which she felt sure +he must have been a hero! Although never once had he so spoken of +himself! Then, too, had he not saved her life? Jack had never forgotten +that moment of danger at Gibraltar, however little her rescuer had made +of his part in it. + +Jack sat up suddenly. Captain Madden had consented that she have a week +in which to make up her mind, but had asked that his suit be kept a +secret. Now some one was evidently coming toward her and there must be +nothing in her face or manner to betray her. + +What a picture she made at this moment Jacqueline Ralston would never +know! For nowhere could there be surroundings more beautiful nor a +figure which seemed so unreal and yet so ideally lovely! Surely Diana +had wandered to earth from the groves of high Olympus and was resting +here, waiting for her nymphs. She was sitting on a three-cornered marble +bench under a group of palms, with the moonlight flooding her white +dress and sending forth tiny sparks of light from the crescent of +brilliants in her hair. + +In surprise she lifted her head to watch the stranger approaching her. +She had thought at first that it might be Captain Madden with Ruth or +one of the other girls. But the man was taller, younger, more slender +and was alone. Who on earth could he be? Jack rose hurriedly and took a +step forward. The man was holding out both hands with an oddly familiar +gesture. + +"Jack," he said slowly, "don't you know me? Aren't you glad to see me? I +arrived in Rome only an hour ago and came directly here. I have spoken +to Jean and Ruth and now have found you." + +"Frank Kent!" Jack repeated, too surprised by the young man's unexpected +appearance to show any other emotion. "You _have changed_, but in the +daylight of course I should have recognized you. It was only that I +should never have dreamed of your coming to Rome without letting us +know. I asked you to wait to see us until we arrived in England." + +She had given both her hands to her old friend and was trying not to +have her manner appear cold. Yet she could feel rather than see that +Frank's face was flooding with color, just as it had so easily in those +old days of their first acquaintance at the Rainbow Ranch. + +"That is a discouraging greeting after a two years' separation. I hoped +you might feel more pleasure in seeing me," Frank suggested. + +Jack and the young man had walked slowly forth from her retreat and were +now within the glow of the yellow-shaded electric lights. Jack looked up +into her companion's face. He was older and tonight seemed graver. Also +he wore the expression of dignified displeasure, which Jack recalled so +readily. She could almost remember this same look on his face the day +she had run away to the round-up and so lost Olive and brought +tremendous unhappiness upon herself and her family. Less than anybody in +the world did Jacqueline Ralston desire to see Frank Kent during this +particular week of her life. Yet she could not willingly hurt his +feelings. + +Now she laughed, looking a little more like the girl of the past. + +"I didn't mean to sound ungracious, Frank. Of course I am glad to see +you, for you must have had some good reason for coming to Rome just now. +Otherwise I know you would have granted me my wish and waited until we +got to England for our meeting. What was your reason?" + +But Frank Kent did not at the present moment have to answer this +question. For within a few feet of them were Captain Madden, Ruth and +Olive. + +And whatever of kindness Jack's reception may have lacked was made up +for by Olive's enthusiasm. Forgetting her shyness for one of the +occasional times in her life, she ran forward with her eyes shining and +a lovely color in her cheeks. Jack thought she had never seen her friend +prettier or happier. + +"Oh, I am so delighted you have come, Mr. Kent--Frank," she declared. +"It seems too much like old times to be formal. Ruth had just told me of +your arrival and I could hardly give you time even to speak to Jack." + +There could be no doubt of how much pleasure Olive's frank welcome +afforded the Ranch girls' former friend. Frank Kent had always been +much interested in Olive and her peculiar history from the day when his +presence saved her from being taken away from Rainbow Lodge by the +Indian woman Laska and her son. He had seen her develop from an +apparently poorly educated, part-Indian into a gentle and charming +American girl. + +And now she was no longer a girl, but almost a woman. + +The expression of Frank's brown eyes changed. He gazed so steadily at +Olive that she blushed and then smiled. + +"I have been seeing so many visions tonight I ought to be prepared for +most anything," he remarked. "But I confess I am not for this +transformation of Olive into a sea nymph." The young man made no effort +to conceal his admiration as he held Olive's hand in his own a little +longer than was necessary. + +For just half an instant Jack wondered; then she brought herself sharply +to task. Because of her own recent experience why should she be dwelling +so much on one subject? Besides, without wishing any one to guess it, +she was interested in Frank Kent's and Captain Madden's manner toward +each other. Captain Madden approached to shake hands with his cousin +with entire amiability, but to Jack's irritation Frank's behavior was +hardly civil. The young man never had been able to disguise his real +feelings (the trait is not an English one); so now he bowed coldly. Then +he continued talking to Ruth and Olive, almost as though the older man +were not present. + +If all of Jack's friends had been doing their level best to force her +into the championship of Captain Madden, they could hardly have arranged +a better method. She slipped her arm through the older man's at this +moment in a very pretty fashion and together they led the way back to +the ball room. + +It was now a good deal past midnight and Ruth decided that the time had +come for saying farewell. Jean was dancing with Giovanni Colonna and +Frieda with Leon. But in a few moments they were persuaded to stop, and +the Ranch party found the Princess Colonna, to say good-night. + +The Princess had appeared at her ball in the character of Atalanta, the +maiden who could run more swiftly than any man in the world. To all her +suitors she had imposed the condition that she should be the prize of +the man who could conquer her in a race, and had been finally won by the +youth who dropped the golden apples at her feet, which she stooped to +pick up. + +Jean's Princess wore a crimson robe and around her yellow hair a wreath +of golden laurel leaves. In her hand she carried a golden apple. + +Yet in spite of the magnificence of the scene about her, she excused +herself from her guests and went with the Ranch girls to Jean's room. +Jean was going home tonight with her family. + +Quite like another girl, who was neither a Princess nor yet a +mythological character, the Princess Colonna kissed Jean good-by. + +"I do wish you could let one of your girls stay with me always," she +said, when she and Ruth were parting. "I think I am often homesick for +America and the old life in the west which I led as a child. Jean has +made me feel almost young again." + +And though Ruth and the four girls laughed at the suggestion of the +Princess' needing to feel young, each one of them noticed that when one +studied her face closely there were lines about her mouth and eyes. + +On the way home, the five women crowded into one carriage, Jean turned +to her chaperon: "I know it isn't good taste to talk about people, Ruth +dear, when one has been visiting them, so please don't reproach me. But +I could not help seeing while I was the Princess' guest that, without +knowing it, she has been a kind of Atalanta. Only in the race for +happiness the golden apple she stopped to pick up was not money. She had +wealth enough, but it was a title and a great position. The Prince may +be very nice. I did not learn to know him very well, but certainly he +seemed more like his wife's father than her husband. How can a girl ever +marry a man twice as old as she is?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +LEAVING ROME + + +"I AM sorry, Jean, that you think no one could care for me for myself, +and that it is my money that is my sole attraction. If that is true I +could wish for my own part that the Rainbow mine had never been +discovered." + +The two cousins, Jack and Jean, were alone in their sitting room in +their hotel in Rome. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, six +days after the Princess' ball, and although it was raining and a cold, +disagreeable afternoon, Ruth, Olive and Frieda had gone forth on another +sight-seeing pilgrimage. + +Jack had been writing letters, but had ceased and gone over to stand by +the window when Jean began her conversation. There was just a chance +that it might be wiser for her cousin not to be able to see her face, +for she was quicker to arrive at conclusions than any other one of them. + +But Jean had said more than Jack supposed she would have dared. Now she +turned from pretending to view the dismal picture of chilly orange trees +and chillier marble statuary and her gray eyes met Jean's brown ones +coldly. + +Jean sighed. Somehow she and Jack had so often managed to misunderstand +each other, ever since they were little girls. And now, when she +particularly wanted to keep her cousin from growing angry and to talk +things over candidly, why, as usual, she had begun matters by putting +her foot in it. Jack had such an uncomfortable fashion of growing white +and quiet when she was furious, instead of crimson and teary like Jean +and Frieda. Why on earth had Ruth ever appointed her to tell Jack Frank +Kent's account of his cousin and to find out whether she cared for him. +It was certainly Ruth's place to have done it herself. Why in the world +hadn't she had the sense to decline. + +"But I never said anything in the least like that, Jack, and it is not +fair of you to suggest it," Jean replied, doing her best to answer as +gently as possible. "It was only that I told you we had good reason to +believe that Captain Madden is a fortune-hunter. I don't know, of +course, whether you care in the least who or what he is, but he is +desperately poor, has had to resign from the British army because he +didn't or couldn't pay his debts, and, and--do you care to hear anything +else?" + +Jack's eyes flashed curiously. Jean remembered how ever since she was a +little girl her cousin's eyes had had this fashion of turning dark when +any one opposed her will. And they had all thought Jack so entirely +changed by her illness, so much softened, so much readier to give up her +own way to other people's. At this instant Jean wondered if any one ever +really changed in the leading traits of character? + +"I don't care to learn anything more just now to Captain Madden's +discredit," Jack was saying quietly and reasonably enough, "but I would +like very much to know how you and Ruth, and Olive and Frieda for that +matter, have heard so much in such a short time? Is it Frank Kent who +has told you? Because if he has, I should like to tell you that Captain +Madden had warned me Frank was apt to say disagreeable things about him. +As for his being poor and having had to leave the army because of it, +why of course I knew that. And I don't believe I care to hear anything +more on the subject that you may wish to say." + +"But you _must_, Jack," Jean ordered unwisely. "Unless you can +positively swear to me that Captain Madden means nothing in the world to +you and that you do not intend having any further friendship with him. +Ruth told me if I could make you promise this, we need not speak of the +matter again." + +Jack bit her lips. However angry Jean's interference might be making +her, this was no time to be losing her temper like a silly child. + +"I can make you no such promise, Jean, and I don't think Ruth should +have allowed you to ask it of me. But there is one thing I should like +very much to have you tell me. How did Frank Kent happen to come to Rome +at this especial time? Before we left America I asked him to wait until +we reached England before joining us, and all of you knew of my letter +and made no objections. I thought it would be better for us to have the +first of our journey to ourselves while we were learning to be more +experienced travelers. Frank said he understood and agreed, and yet here +he turns up in Rome without writing me and straightway begins +interfering in my affairs. I used to like Frank very much in the old +days at the ranch, but no amount of friendship can make me forgive--" + +"You need not be so unfair to Frank, Jack," Jean interrupted, losing +control of herself at this evidence of Jack's liking for the middle-aged +man whom she had always detested, and whom the other members of her +family were now learning to dislike almost as much. "I wrote Frank Kent +while I was staying with the Princess Colonna, begging him to join us +here in Rome at once. Ruth had said she was afraid you were growing too +much interested in Captain Madden and that we ought to be finding out +more about him. I knew Frank would know, and I thought you would believe +what _he_ said. Frank is here now, waiting downstairs to talk to you. +Perhaps he will have more influence than I can." And without daring to +find out whether or not her cousin would consent, Jean darted quickly +from the room. Something or other Jack called after her. Nevertheless +Jean preferred neither to hear nor heed and a few minutes after +reappeared with Frank Kent. + +During her brief absence Jacqueline was trying desperately hard to make +up her mind what she had best do. To run away, declining to see Frank, +would look as though she feared what he might have to tell her. To +stay--Jack wondered how far in her present mood she might trust herself? + +Certainly, on his entrance, Frank appeared as supremely uncomfortable as +a young man could, which should have softened Jack's heart or her +temper. + +However, his first words were as unfortunate as Jean's had been. + +"I never could have dreamed it would be necessary for me to tell you all +this, Jack," he began. "I never have thought of you except as a +child--well, not a child exactly, but a jolly, sensible kind of a girl. +And now, oh, it is too absurd to find you thinking you have a liking for +a man like Bob Madden! He is more or less of a rascal, you know," Frank +blurted with the dreadful English directness which the Ranch girls had +used to like in him. + +Jack had been listening so quietly that he had no idea of what mood she +was in. The next instant, however, it was easy enough for him to guess. +Jack was sitting quite still in a tall carved chair with her head bent +a little forward and both hands clasped so tightly together in her lap +that the knuckles showed white. The lines of the girl's face were always +clearly cut, but today they seemed more so. Even Jean noticed how deeply +gray her cousin's eyes looked and how crimson her lips. The bronze of +her hair was of an even richer tone than usual. Inwardly Jean sighed +again. If only Jack could realize how splendidly handsome she was and +how worth while, would she waste any more of her time and their's on +such an undesirable friendship? + +But Jack was speaking. "No, I am not a child, Frank," she declared, +"though I am sorry you think I am no longer a jolly or sensible girl. +You see, I am nearly twenty and I don't believe you are more than three +years older. Ever since you and Jean began talking to me this afternoon +I have been wondering why you had agreed that I cared for Captain +Madden. I have never said a word of his liking for me or of mine for +him. And I am sure he has never spoken to Ruth or anybody else." + +"That is just the horridest part of it," Jean murmured irritably. But +her cousin went on without heeding her. "The truth is I have been +trying this whole week to find out whether or not I cared enough for +Captain Madden to promise to be his wife. I was intending to write to +him and beg him to wait a little longer, when Jean came in to talk to +me. Now you have both helped me make up my mind. I shall not ask him to +wait. I shall tell him that I do care and that I do not believe the +things I hear against him. Oh, he warned me long ago, Frank, of the +trouble he had had with your family, of how your father had inherited +all the money so that no one else had any--" + +But the rest of Jack's declaration was discontinued because of Jean's +bursting suddenly into tears and rushing out of the room. + +Frank picked up his hat uncertainly. "I suppose it is not worth while +for me to tell you anything further, Jack, if you have determined not to +believe me," he declared. "Nevertheless I feel it my duty to warn you +that I shall talk freely to your chaperon, Miss Drew, and that I shall +also write Jim Colter. Oh, say, Jack, I can't bear it, you know, for you +to go and throw yourself away like this!" Frank had started his reproof +like Jack's grandfather, but the ending was a good deal more like the +boy friend for whom she had once had such an affection. + +Then for a moment Jack's lips trembled and she wanted to say something +kinder, except for her fear of following Jean's example and beginning to +cry. + +At this moment, however, Ruth Drew, still wearing her hat and coat, came +hurrying into the room. She had just seen Jean and knew what had passed +between Frank and the two girls. + +Ruth put her arms around Jack. "It is my fault, dear, and I shall never +forgive myself. I have been blind and a coward straight through. You are +too young to know anything of the world and have been left too much to +your own judgment. I ought to have stopped this acquaintance at once and +I ought to have talked to you myself this afternoon instead of having +Jean do it. I was just hoping against hope that we had all been mistaken +and that you would laugh at our idea. But, oh Jack, you won't write the +letter you have just said. You _must not_, dear; I forbid it. You are +not yet of age and I am here in Europe as your chaperon, temporarily as +your guardian. What will Mr. Colter think and say?" + +Quietly Jack drew herself away from Ruth's agitated embrace. Frank had +already gone out of the room. + +"Please don't talk to me as if I were a silly child, too, Ruth, please," +Jack pleaded. "I am sorry to be disobedient; but you can't forbid my +writing to the man who has asked me to be his wife. After all, it is +_my_ life and _my_ love Captain Madden has asked for. But I don't want +you and Jean and Olive and Frieda to be angry with me and not love me +any more. I must write Captain Madden, of course, but after that I will +wait until you hear from Jim." Jack's self-control was giving way now +and she covered her face with her hands. + +"Of course you will tell Jim what you think and what Frank says, and +poor Jim will be nearly crazy. Because he is sure to believe you as long +as he has always been in love with you. But Jim has more charity and +sympathy and will want me to be happy and--" Jack could not go on. + +Ruth was by this time shedding tears herself, so that the atmosphere of +the room with the rain pouring down outside was distinctly dismal. + +"Don't we want you to be happy too, Jack? You must believe that; but I +suppose you consider we are unjustly prejudiced. Still, dear, won't you +promise me at least not to see Captain Madden again until we have heard +from Jim?" Ruth implored. + +There was no immediate answer, and for this much the older woman was +distinctly thankful. If Jacqueline Ralston would only once give her word +there would be no going back upon it. + +"Yes, Ruth, I promise," she replied after a little while. + +The next moment Ruth had led her to a chair and after Jack had seated +herself, she rested on the arm for a moment, pressing her cheek against +the girl's golden-brown hair. For although Ruth was a good many years +the older, Jack was now several inches taller than her chaperon. + +"Are you so sure Captain Madden does mean your happiness?" Ruth +whispered, and then held her breath, so fearful did she feel of the +answer. + +For the second time Jack hesitated. "Yes, I _think_ so; that is, Captain +Madden says he will spend his life trying to make me happy. But, oh +Ruthie, please don't let's talk about anything more that is serious +just now. It seems to me that everybody has been scolding me all +afternoon and I'm tired." This was spoken so like a fretful child that +actually Ruth was able to summon a smile. + +Before her reply, however, Frieda came strolling in, carrying a box of +chocolate drops and thoughtfully biting one in two. + +She extended her refreshments to her sister and chaperon. "Dick Grant +has just brought me these; they are American, and I _am_ grateful to +him," she remarked pensively. "That foolish Mrs. Grant told me that the +candy business was such a be-au-ti-ful business and I laughed at her. +Now I am beginning to think so too. I am so homesick for most anything +that is American. Isn't Rome dismal today? Ruth took Olive and me to +another old picture gallery and just as we were trying to take an +interest in things, suddenly she decided that we had to rush back to the +hotel. Don't you think we have had enough of Rome? Jean says she is +tired and I am, and Ruth and Olive say they are a little bit. Besides, +if we are to see enough of Europe to count, this summer, ought we not to +be starting out again?" + +Ruth had risen and walked toward the window. She was not sure of how +much Frieda knew of what was troubling all of them this afternoon. +However, she devoutly hoped that there might be no further reference to +it until the atmosphere was more peaceful. + +Frieda placed herself on a stool facing her sister. + +"Jack, let's go away from Rome in a few days?" she demanded. "I am sure +the rest of us would like to if you are willing." + +Jack shook her head. "No, no, Frieda, not for another week or two," she +protested. "I am sure there are still lots of things that we ought to +see." + +"There would be if we stayed here until we died," the younger girl +grumbled. "Look here, Jack, you know you like to preach to me sometimes, +though you are mostly pretty good about it, now I would like you to +remember our compact. Didn't we promise that if three of us decided that +we wanted to go to a certain place or do a certain thing the other two +had to follow suit. So if Ruth and Jean and Olive and I are weary of +Rome and want to go away, don't you think it your duty to do what we +like? Just think it over, dear!" And Frieda popped a chocolate drop +into her sister's mouth and then one into her own with instant +promptness. + +Jack got up and moved toward the door. Somehow, in the face of the +question she was now having to solve, Frieda's reference to their +compact seemed childish and absurd. Could she actually have felt young +enough not a month ago to have entered into such an agreement with all +seriousness? And yet to give one's word was final. + +"All right, Frieda baby," Jack assented, as she was about to cross the +threshold, "if the others really do want to leave Rome now, it would not +be fair to keep you here on my account. Wherever you go I will come +along." + +When Jack had finally disappeared and was safely out of hearing, Ruth +turned from pretending to stare out the window and gave Frieda an +ecstatic hug. "That is the best thing that has happened to us this day, +baby!" she exclaimed, not pretending to explain her remark. + +Frieda received the mark of affection placidly; she was perfectly +accustomed to being embraced by her family at unexpected moments. + +"Yes, I thought it would be best to get Jack away from the chance of +seeing him, though I did not want her to guess that was our reason," she +remarked sagely. "Of course Captain Madden is Jack's first truly beau +and she takes love and things like that so seriously. She and Olive are +not like Jean and me. She'll get over it, though, I am pretty sure, if +we can only get her into the country where she can hunt and fish and do +the things she used to do. The sky is too blue and there are too many +flowers in Italy." + +Then Frieda went on pensively devouring dozens of chocolates, while Ruth +retired into her own room to lie down. She was half amused and half +aghast at Frieda's sudden burst of worldly wisdom. Indeed, she was not +at all sure whether she wished to shake the youngest of the Ranch girls +or whether she desired to embrace her again. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE OVERSEER OF THE RAINBOW RANCH + + +"OH," sighed Frieda sleepily, "isn't it too delicious to hear the +American language spoken once again!" + +Ruth and the three other Ranch girls laughed almost as sleepily as +Frieda had spoken. They were on the night train coming up from +Folkestone to London, after having crossed the English channel from +Boulogne earlier in the afternoon. It was now the first week of June. + +"Bravo, Frieda!" teased Jean. "One can always count on the younger Miss +Ralston's saying _the_ memorable thing as soon as the Rainbow Ranch +party arrives on a new soil. Who would have thought of the American +tongue being employed in the British Isles. I shall mention it to Frank +Kent as soon as we see him." + +"Oh, for goodness' sake, don't be funny, Jean Bruce," the first speaker +protested, "for you know exactly what I mean. I suppose I should have +said the English language. But even if the English do speak deep down +in their throats and their voices are kind of choky and queer, at least +one can understand what they mean without consulting a dictionary or +trying to remember something one has learned at school. After having +heard nothing but Italian, German and French for over two months, I +could almost have hugged that porter who carried our bags off the boat." + +Frieda had been resting her head on her chaperon's shoulder, but now +lifted it to continue her argument with Jean. However, Ruth drew her +back to her former place. + +"Don't be a purist at this late date, Jean," Ruth murmured, shaking her +head in a kind of mild reproof. "I must confess I am feeling pretty much +as Frieda does. English or American, whichever you may prefer to call +it, after our continental wanderings, England does seem almost like +home." + +And Ruth closed her eyes, she and Frieda both dropping off into a gentle +doze, while Olive and Jean talked in whispers, and Jack stared out of +the window into the darkness. + +Since leaving Rome, the five young women had become proverbial Cook's +tourists. They had been traveling almost continuously, sight-seeing +during every possible hour, and allowing no time for loitering. For +after Rome had followed Florence, Venice and then Paris, until now they +were on their way to spend the fashionable season in London. + +Such rapid journeying had not been Ruth's original idea, but somehow +after Jack's experience in Rome it had seemed best to keep her +constantly busy, allowing as little time as possible for reflection or +argument. + +Faithful to her word, Jacqueline Ralston had not seen Captain Madden +since the afternoon of her talk with Ruth. At that time, it is true, she +had promised to wait only until an answer could arrive from her own and +Ruth's letters to her guardian, Jim Colter, but later she had made a +further promise to Jim. + +Almost from the day of his arrival at the Rainbow Lodge, the overseer of +the ranch and afterwards the girls' devoted protector and friend, had +had a peculiar understanding of Jack's character. When she was a small +girl, insisting on some order of hers being obeyed or angered because it +had not been, Jim's "Steady, boss!" used always to help her control +herself. For reasonableness was ordinarily one of Jack's strongest +characteristics. Always she wished to be just and patient. Her +wilfulness came not so much from original sin as because she had had too +much her own way as a child and had had to depend too much on her own +wisdom. + +Her mother had died when she was a very young girl and her father not so +many years after. Why, when Jacqueline Ralston was fourteen, virtually +she was, under Jim's guidance, the head of a thousand-acre ranch, and a +kind of mother to little Frieda and Jean. + +So, though Jim Colter was more broken up by the news in Ruth's and +Jack's letters than he had been by anything since Ruth's refusal of his +love, he wrote to Jack with more tact than you could have expected from +a big, blunt fellow like Jim. + +It took him almost one entire night, however, to write the letter. + +For one thing, he did not say that he believed just what Ruth Drew had +written him of Captain Madden, nor did he mention Frank Kent's +information, which painted an even worse picture of Jack's friend. Nor +did he demand that Jack immediately break off her engagement or stop +writing Captain Madden. He simply suggested, as he had in the old days +at the ranch, that "the boss go slow" and would Jack agree not to see +Captain Madden and not to think of him more than she could help, until +Jim himself could find out something more about him? For of course Frank +Kent might be prejudiced and Ruth might be mistaken. Jim would see to +the whole matter himself, and Jack could surely count on his wanting to +give every man a square deal. + +Jack had at once agreed to her guardian's request. She realized that +Jim's efforts must take time, as he was a long way from proper sources +of information. So she had meant to be and had been very patient, +trusting that Jim would never believe Captain Madden the kind of villain +that Frank Kent had declared him. + +Jack was reflecting on this now as the lights from hundreds of small +houses along the line of the road blinked at her like so many friendly +eyes. Probably Jim would let her hear what conclusion he had reached +some time during their stay in England. She was rather dreading this +visit to London. For not once had she seen Frank Kent since their +interview in the hotel sitting room in Rome. Frank had come to say +good-bye the next day, as he was leaving that evening for home; but +Jack had excused herself from meeting him. Now there would be no way of +escaping, for Frank was Ruth's and the other girls' devoted friend, as +he had formerly been hers. They would want to be with him as much as +possible. Jack glanced at Olive. Had she not imagined several years ago +that Olive liked Frank better than any other young man of their +acquaintance? Certainly she had seemed to prefer him to Donald Harmon, +in spite of Don's devotion. + +Well, for the sake of her family, she must conquer her own unfriendly +attitude. Candidly, she was sorry not to be able to like Frank herself +as she once had. How much they had used to talk of her first visit to +England! Then Frank had insisted that Ruth and the four Ranch girls were +to make a long visit at his country estate in Surrey. He wished them to +know his family intimately, as for several years he had been talking +continuously of his western friends. Jack regretted the loss of this +visit. Frank had made her almost love his beautiful English home in his +homesick days in the west, when he was ill and had chosen her for his +special confidante. + +Just in time, a sigh that was about to escape into their compartment +was surreptitiously swallowed. Ruth was stirring and begging Frieda to +wake up. Olive and Jean were dragging down luggage from the racks +overhead. And where the twinkling lights outside had been hundreds, now +there were thousands. They must have reached the outskirts of London and +would soon be entering the Charing-Cross station. + +"I believe," announced Jack, who had not spoken for the past half hour, +"that I have more real feeling about seeing London than any other city +in the world. I think we have something more in common than just the +language, baby." And she helped Frieda get into her traveling coat. + +Perhaps Ruth had been asleep, for she appeared more than commonly +flurried. "I hope you girls understand just exactly what we are to do," +she began nervously. "I declare, I don't consider that I shall ever make +a successful traveler, I do so hate the excitement and responsibility of +arriving in places. I wish now I had allowed Frank to meet us. He was +good enough to offer to come in from the country, but I declined." + +"But, my beloved Ruth, what have we to do but get ourselves and our +belongings into cabs and drive to our hotel? I will manage if you prefer +it," Jack proposed. + +Their train had stopped and a guard was opening the door. Several +porters soon had their bags and steamer rugs, and almost before they +were aware of what they were doing the five young women were following +the men down the station platform, Jack in advance, Ruth and Olive +together, and Jean and Frieda bringing up the rear. + +Once inside the gate, however, the four girls were startled past speech +on seeing the usually dignified Jack stop for an instant, clasp her +hands tight together, then stare and with a cry rush forward and +positively fling herself into a tall man's arms. + +Their silence and stupidity only lasted for an instant. Ruth was next to +run after Jack and seize the man's one disengaged hand. + +"Oh, Jim, oh Mr. Colter, why didn't you tell us you were coming to +London? I never was so glad to see anyone before in my life!" And this +from the former dignified "school marm." Probably Ruth had never +forgotten her reserve so completely in her life as at this moment. Tears +of delight gathered unheeded in her eyes. + +Jack and Ruth were both swept aside by the onslaught of Frieda, Jean and +Olive. + +"How on earth did you decide to come? When did you come? Why did you +come?" Jean demanded all in one breath and then stopped to laugh at +herself. + +Jim was staring at the little party critically. He looked more western +and unconventional than ever in his big, broad-brimmed, felt hat, his +loose fitting clothes, with the tan of his outdoor life still showing on +his strong, handsome face. + +Jim's deeply blue eyes suddenly crinkled up at the corners in a way they +had when he wanted to laugh or to show any particular emotion. + +"Well," he drawled in his slowest and most exaggerated cowboy fashion. +"I've been thinkin' lately that I was gittin' a bit tired of bein' +everlastingly left at the post. Seems like you been acquirin' so much +culture and clothes I was kind of afraid you might not want to know me +when you got back to the ranch. I ain't so sure about the culture, but +I'll capture the glad rags all right soon as you girls are able to go on +a shoppin' party or so with me." And Jim, glancing at an Englishman just +passing them, attired in a top hat and frock coat, pretended to wink. + +No one was deceived in the least by his poor pretense of a joke. Jim was +really so much upset by the pleasure of seeing Ruth and the girls that +he was talking foolishness to cover his emotion. + +Frieda's break, therefore, saved them all "Oh Jim, won't you look too +funny, dressed like a gentleman!" she exclaimed, and in mock wrath Jim +marched the five of them off to their cabs. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +RELIEF OR REGRET? + + +"TELL me what you have found out, Jim. I think I know why you have come +all this way to London," Jacqueline Ralston said. + +The man and girl were seated on a bench in Kew Gardens, the wonderful +park a few miles out from London, two afternoons after the arrival of +the Rainbow Ranch party. Ruth and the three other girls had gone to view +Westminster Abbey. But Jack, pleading a need of fresh air, arranged for +a few quiet hours with Jim. + +The man rose and thrusting his hands deep into his pockets, started +striding up and down. His blue eyes were curiously gentle, but his mouth +was stern. Indeed, he represented a strange combination of anger and +nervousness. Finally, before speaking, he placed himself on the seat +next Jack again, but this time so that he could look directly into her +face. + +Jack's eyes were down, her manner quiet and reserved. The man had no +way of guessing how his news would affect her. + +"See here, boss," he began after a moment, "you and I've been pretty +much on the level with each other _all the time_, haven't we? We ain't +tried to keep things back 'cause they hurt." He took the girl's gloved +hand, patting it softly. "Sometimes, maybe, I've seemed harder with you, +Jack, than with the others. But I always thought you'd understand. You +kind of like to face the music, to know the worst and have things +settled quick. Well--" + +Possibly Jacqueline's face turned a shade paler; certainly her lips did. +Nevertheless, they curved into a kind of a smile. + +"Well, we aren't getting them settled very quickly today, are we, Jim?" +she returned. "You are right, though, I do like to know the truth. What +have you found out about Captain Madden." + +"That he ain't no good," Jim replied, forgetting his grammar and all his +carefully planned methods of breaking the unpleasant news to the girl. +"Seems like the English know how to put it better than we do when they +say a fellow is a _cad_. I tell you, Jack, this is honest. I've found +out every thing I could from the time this man was a boy. He has never +done an honest day's work in his life. Why, I even learned that he had +written back to Wyoming to ask what the Rainbow Mine was worth. 'Course, +I don't claim he don't care for you, child--most any man might be able +to manage that. But to think of John Ralston's daughter and my old boss +of the Rainbow Ranch marrying a man old enough to be her father, and +such a man!" Jim had been trying his best to hold in, but now he swore +softly under his breath. "Say, Jack, old girl, say you believe I'm +telling you the truth. I hate to hurt you, the Lord only knows how much, +but if you don't tell me you'll break it all off, I think I'll go plumb +crazy." And Jim mopped the moisture from his brow, though it was a +peculiarly cool day. + +Jack was so painfully silent. Could a girl not quite twenty suffer much +over an interrupted love affair? Jim did not know. He remembered his own +grief when Ruth refused him. It had been awful! He carried the ache +inside of him to this day. Glancing at the girl near him, he saw that +the tears, which came so rarely, were now in her clear gray eyes. + +"I believe you, Jim," she returned finally. "I believe you'd play fair +with me and with Captain Madden even if you loathed the idea of my +caring for him. Don't worry, old man. I promise this is the end. But, +please, would you mind if I cried a while? No one is paying any +attention to us and I think I'd like to very much." + +Without waiting for permission, Jack's shoulders shook, and she covered +her face with her hands. But a few seconds later Jim sighed so miserably +that Jack slipped one of her hands inside his and held it close. + +"I am not crying because my heart is broken, Jim dear," she explained; +"I think I am crying because I am ashamed of myself. Sometimes I wonder +how many lessons it will take before I learn not to be so self-willed. I +have made things so hard for Ruth and for the other girls. Yet I +believed what Captain Madden told me; I thought people were prejudiced +against him just because he was poor. And I hate that. So when Ruth and +Frank said such horrid things I told him I would marry him if you would +give your consent. And, oh Jim, I have been so afraid lately--" + +Jack began crying softly again. + +"Been so afraid, poor little girl! If you only knew how I dreaded +telling you this, I haven't had a good night's sleep in two weeks, and +waiting for you to arrive in London nearly broke my nerve." Jim Colter +probably had not shed any tears in almost twenty years, yet he looked +perilously on the verge of them now. + +Jack pulled at his coat sleeve uncertainly. "But Jim, dear, you don't +know what I have been afraid of! I have been afraid you would discover +that Captain Madden was all right and that I would then _have_ to marry +him. I had given him my word. It would not have been honest to go back +on it. You see, when we were in Rome I did believe I cared for him. He +was awfully kind and interesting and different from any one I had ever +known. Then I suppose I was flattered in thinking a so much older, wiser +man could care for a stupid girl like me. And Ruth and Frank were +dreadfully dictatorial. But since we left Rome, I've been thinking--I +feel I have not been doing anything else _but_ think. And I realized +that I did not really love Captain Madden. I felt as if I should die if +he took me away from my family. Still I didn't know just what to do. I +was so frightened, Jim, until I saw you there at Charing Cross." + +Jim Colter took off his big western hat. The English sky of a June day +can be a very lovely thing--soft fleecy clouds, floating over a surface +of translucent blue. Jim looked up into it. "I thank Thee, Lord," he +whispered reverently, and then, stooping over, kissed Jack. + +The next moment he was up on his feet. And though he failed to electrify +Kew Gardens by giving his celebrated cowboy yell, he waved his sombrero +and the yell apparently took place inside him. + +"Come on, Jack, let's do something quick to celebrate or I'm liable to +bust with gladness!" he exclaimed. "This is a right pretty park we're +in. I hear it's one of _the_ most famous on the map, with every known +tree growing inside it. Wouldn't you like me to buy it for you, or maybe +you can think of some other little remembrance?" + +Jack hung on to his arm and the man and girl started off on their +sight-seeing expedition together, both feeling as though they were +treading on air instead of the velvet softness of the English turf. + +"I should like to go back and tell Ruth at once and apologize for being +a nuisance," Jack confided, "but I don't want any one to guess I have +been crying, and then Ruth will probably be mooning over tombstones in +the Abbey until dinner time. I tell you what, Jim, we will have a +wonderful dinner party tonight to celebrate and you can wear the new +evening clothes you bought yesterday. Then, afterwards, you must take +all of us to the theater. Now I have got you to myself, we might as well +see Kew and have some tea. I am dreadfully hungry. You can bring Ruth +some time by herself and I will promise to keep the girls away." + +Jim did not answer. But, under the circumstances, it is perfectly +certain that he could have refused Jack nothing in the world. + +For the next two hours he could hardly keep his eyes off her. And he +seemed especially happy when she devoured three English scones and drank +two cups of strong tea. + +"Ain't intendin' to pine away, are you, Jack?" he asked. And then, when +the girl blushed, he laughed and held out his hand. + +"Shake on it once more, boss," he demanded, "and you can count on this, +sure thing. You ain't going to make but one man happier than you've made +me this day. And that is when you say 'yes' to the right fellow." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +RECONCILIATIONS + + +LATER that evening the four girls and Ruth were dressed and waiting in +their sitting room for Jim Colter to come to them, when Frank Kent's +card was sent up to their room. By accident the man at the door gave it +first to Jack. The girl's face flooded with color, but she turned at +once to Ruth. + +"Frank Kent has come to see us," she explained, "and I want very much to +see him by myself for a few minutes. If you don't mind, I will go down +to meet him." + +And as Ruth nodded, Jack disappeared. + +Before she got near enough to speak to him, Frank realized that some +change had taken place in his former friend since their last meeting in +Rome. + +For one thing, Jack looked younger and happier. Then she had on some +thin white girlish dress, and was coming forward with a smile to greet +him. + +"I have been perfectly horrid to you, Frank, and I apologize with all +my heart," she began immediately. "Yet you knew I had a bad disposition +years ago, and still managed to like me a little. Please try again. Our +dear Jim Colter is here from the ranch and has made me see things in the +right light. But don't let's talk about my mistakes. We are having a +dinner and a theater party tonight. Do join us. Olive and Ruth and +everybody will be so glad." + +In the elevator on the way upstairs to their apartment, Jack looked at +Frank critically for a moment. Not until now had she been willing to +make a fair estimate of the changes the two years had wrought in him. + +In the first place she could see that Frank had grown a great deal +better looking. He had lost the former delicacy which had sent him to +the west, and seemed in splendid physical condition. He was six feet +tall and had the clear, bright color peculiar to young Englishmen. +Frank's expression had always been more serious than most young +fellows', and this had been lately increased by his wearing glasses. +Tonight, however, his clever brown eyes positively shone with relief. +And though he could hardly dare express himself so openly or so +eloquently as Jim Colter, Jack appreciated that he was unfeignedly happy +over her escape. + +Possibly the Rainbow Ranch party and their two men friends had never had +a more delightful evening in their lives. They were in such blissfully +good spirits. Indeed, each one of the seven felt as though an individual +load had been lifted. And particularly because Jack appeared to be the +gayest of them all. And Jack _was_ happy in feeling herself released +from an obligation which lately had begun to weigh upon her like a +recurrent nightmare. Moreover, she was particularly anxious not to have +her family regard her as broken-hearted. + +She whispered to Jean and Frieda before starting for the theater that +they were to leave Ruth and Jim and Frank and Olive together as much as +possible, for in so large a party it was necessary to make divisions. + +Olive and Frank did sit next one another at the play, but the three +girls were not so successful with Jim Colter and Ruth. For there was no +doubt but that Jim avoided being alone with Ruth whenever it was +possible. He had always been perfectly polite to her, but not once since +the night of their parting had he ever voluntarily spent an hour in her +society, unless one of the Ranch girls happened to be present. + +Of course Ruth was aware of this. What girl or woman can ever fail to +be? Nevertheless on their way back to the hotel Ruth turned to Jim. + +"Would you mind, Mr. Colter, staying in the sitting room with me for a +little while after the girls have gone to bed. I am so anxious to talk +to you?" And there was a gentleness and a hesitation in her manner that +made it impossible for the man to refuse. Also, he understood what it +was she wished to discuss. + +Although Jim's manner was gay enough as he told the four girls +good-night, Ruth saw with regret that it altered as soon as the last one +of them had disappeared. He did not even sit down, but waited by the +door, awkwardly fingering his hat like an embarrassed boy who wished to +run away but did not quite dare. + +Ruth did not ask him to have a chair. She, too, was standing by the open +fire, with one foot resting on the fender and her head half turned to +gaze at him. She looked a little unlike herself tonight, or else like +her best self. For the Ranch girls had seriously objected to their +chaperon's nun-like costumes, which she had had made in Vermont, and +insisted on getting her some new clothes in Paris, while they were +making their own purchases. Ruth had objected but Olive had solved the +problem. Each one of the four girls had presented Ruth with a toilet +shortly before leaving Paris. And so much care and affection had each +donor put into her gift that she had not had the heart to decline. + +Tonight she was wearing Jean's offering, which had been voted the +prettiest of the lot. Over an underdress of flame-colored silk there +were what Jim considered floating clouds of pale gray chiffon. And at +her waist, with a background of the chiffon, was a single flame-colored +flower. + +Ruth had lost a good deal of her Puritan look; somehow the man thought +she seemed more human, more alive. She had a vivid color, and her hair, +which Jean had insisted upon dressing, was looser about her face. Jim +remembered the moonlight ride they had had together when a lock of her +hair had blown across his cheek. Then he brought himself sharply to +task. + +Ruth had already begun speaking. + +"Mr. Colter," she said, "there are so many, many things I want to say to +you I hardly know where to begin. I know how you must feel toward me, +how you must feel that I have utterly failed in my duty toward Jack, and +how nearly I have come to allowing her to wreck her life. There is +nothing that you can think about me that I do not about myself. Of +course, you know, I erred through ignorance, and yet ignorance is no +excuse. A woman with so little knowledge, so little tact--" Ruth's face +was crimsoning all over and she had to put her handkerchief to her eyes +to wipe away her tears. + +Jim had stepped forward and stood towering above her so that he had to +bend his handsome head to see into her face. + +"Miss Drew, you are not to go calling yourself bad names and then +declare that I feel as you say I do. Honest Injun, Miss Ruth, I haven't +had a single one of those feelings about you. Since I have known about +this tragedy that poor Jack has nearly gotten us all into, I have been +plumb sorry for you with all my heart. How could a little New England +girl like you know anything about an accomplished rascal like this +fellow Madden? Yet I guessed if Jack wouldn't give in (and she is +usually a hard-headed customer), why you'd be blaming yourself for a +thing you couldn't prevent until the end of your days. I tell you, Miss +Ruth, that thought, besides my love for Jack, kept me hot on that man's +trail. And it even helped me break the news to Jack today, which was the +hardest part." + +Ruth looked up into the deeply blue eyes above hers. + +"Jim Colter," she announced quietly, "I believe you are the very best +man in the world." + +But instead of being pleased, Jim drew back as though his feelings had +been deeply hurt. "Don't say that, Miss Ruth," he begged. "And don't you +go and believe because I don't mention it that I have forgotten that sin +I committed a way back in my youth and the way it made you feel about +me. You have been awfully good treating me so kind and polite whenever +you have to meet me around with the girls. I've done my best not to +worry you any more'n I could help." + +"Oh, Mr. Colter, oh Jim," Ruth faltered, "please don't say a cruel +thing like that to me. Haven't you forgiven me after almost three years? +You must have known that in a few months, as soon as I got away from the +ranch, I realized how narrow and foolish and blind I had been. You are a +good man; you are the bravest, kindest, most forgiving in the whole +world. And I don't care, I know you have forgotten about me long ago, +but I want you to know I love you. It seems to me sometimes a woman must +have the right to say this just to prove she can be as generous as a +man. But I don't care whether I have the right or not. I am just saying +it because it is true." + +"For heaven's sake, stop, Ruth," the big man implored. + +But the little New England school teacher, who had hardly ever dared +show her real feelings before in her life, would not be silenced. + +"Don't worry, Jim, I shall never regret what I have said, though I shall +never speak of it again--and perhaps never see you after you sail for +America." + +Jim swept the little woman off her feet and held her for a moment to his +heart. + +"Don't you dare say a thing like that to me, child," he threatened. "And +don't you believe you are going to lose sight of me more than a few +hours at a time while both of us are living in this world. Why, you +little white, New England snow-maiden. The very idea of your having the +nerve to stand up right before my face and say you love a big, +good-for-nothing, sinful fellow like me. But I kind of wish you'd wake +Jack and the other three girls up and tell them we are going to get +married tomorrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AN ENGLISH COUNTRY PLACE + + +TWO figures on horseback galloped rapidly across the English downs, the +one a number of yards in advance of the other. + +A low stone fence divided the adjoining meadows. But at a slight touch +from its rider the first horse rose easily in the air, clearing the +fence without difficulty. On the farther side it stumbled, plunged +forward until steadied by the hands on its reins and came gradually to +the earth upon its knees. Then the rider slid off and talking quietly to +the horse brought it up on its feet again, just at the moment that her +escort jumped the fence and drew up alongside her. + +"Jacqueline Ralston, I take off my hat to you. You are one of the best +riders I ever saw in my life. Goodness, but you gave me a nasty moment +when you made that unexpected plunge forward and I had a vision of your +going over head-foremost." Frank Kent's face was pale from the moment's +alarm, but he tried making his voice as calm as possible. + +"Yes, it was stupid of me," Jack returned. "There evidently was a hole +this side the fence and I managed to make straight for it. Look, will +you, Frank, while I get my breath." + +Jack took the reins of both horses and waited for a moment, while the +young man made the search. It required hardly a second, for the +depression in the ground was only a few feet back of them. There it was +a hole not more than twelve inches in diameter and half as many inches +deep, yet of a peculiarly dangerous character for horseback riders. + +"Suppose I had broken your father's finest riding horse's leg!" Jack +exclaimed, when her companion had made the report and pointed out the +spot to her. "Gracious, I should have been so sorry, both because of him +and because of the horse, too!" Jack added. Having now given up both +bridles into Frank's keeping, she continued patting the quivering sides +of the beautiful animal, which had not yet recovered from its moment of +danger. + +"Let us sit down here a few moments and rest, Jack," the young man +suggested. "I can tie the horses nearby and it will be a good idea to +let them have a short breathing space. The others won't miss us for a +while yet; we were too far ahead." + +Several yards beyond there was a clump of old chestnut trees, and Jack +sat down in the shade of one of them, where Frank joined her a little +later. + +Flinging himself down lengthwise on the ground, the young man rested his +head in his hands, facing his companion. + +Jacqueline had taken off her riding hat and was adjusting the heavy +braids of her hair, which had become loosened by her plunge. + +"I say, Jack, you do look awfully fit these days. You turned a bit pale +a few moments ago, but now your color is as good as ever. I was afraid +you might feel kind of used up. It was like you to start talking about +the possible loss of a horse when you might have been smashed up," Frank +began. + +Jack laughed rather faintly. "Oh, I had a bad moment too," she +confessed. "What is the use of pretending to be a heroine when it is not +true? But one can't be laid up for nearly two years as I was without +even being able to walk and face the chance of another accident with +altogether steady nerves. And just when I was feeling exactly like my +old self. I tell you, Frank, this visit to your father and mother has +been a beautiful experience for all of us. I can't tell you how grateful +we are. I believe it has been this delicious outdoor life and the news +of Ruth's and Jim's engagement that has made me absolutely well in a +hurry, after taking rather a long time to get fairly started." + +"It can't mean to you, Jack, what it has to me," the young man answered +in such a queer, constrained voice that the girl looked at him curiously +from under her downcast lids. + +Jack wondered if he were going to tell her of his love for Olive. +Earnestly she hoped that he would not--at least, not today. She hated +this business of growing up. Perhaps her own unfortunate experience +earlier in their trip had given her this foolish prejudice. That must be +the reason why she had developed such an odd, choking sensation as soon +as she believed that Frank intended making her his confidante. She +wished that they might all remain good friends as they had in the past. +How dreadful it would be to have to give Olive up--or Frank! Besides, +think of Donald Harmon's feelings! A month ago Donald had joined them in +England and since had been Olive's shadow. Indeed, the young man had +not made the slightest effort to disguise his attitude. He was in love +with Olive and did not seem to mind the whole world's knowing it. + +But Olive! Jack glanced carefully at Frank and was glad to see that he +was not looking at her, but was still trying to reach a decision. There +could be little doubt in Jack's mind that Olive must prefer Frank Kent +to Donald. Not that Olive had ever confided in her. But there had always +been something in her friend's manner to make Jack feel this +unconsciously. She believed that she had noticed it particularly in the +past two weeks while they had been the guests of Frank's parents, Lord +and Lady Kent, at their wonderful country estate. + +Jack stirred. Then she must not be keeping Frank so long away. + +The entire house party from the castle was spending the day in the +woods, and the others must have halted somewhere nearer home and would +be expecting them to return and join them. + +"I think we had best go back now, Frank, please. I am not in the least +upset by my near tumble," the girl announced. "But you will not mention +it to Ruth or Jim or any of the girls? It did not amount to anything, +yet I don't want Ruth and Jim to have the slightest shade of anxiety to +spoil their beautiful time of being engaged. Poor Jim was desperate at +first at the thought of waiting almost six weeks before his marriage, +but now the ceremony is so near I think he would not have given up this +time for a great deal. You see, he and Ruth are only going to take a +week's honeymoon journey, as your mother has been good enough to promise +to look after us. And then we are all going back to the ranch together. +This time poor Ruth will be dreadfully well chaperoned." + +"Yes, I know, Jack, but please don't go just yet. There is something +that--" Frank hesitated. Evidently, however, Jacqueline had not heard +him, for she had gotten up as she finished speaking and was moving off. + +The young people found the rest of their party about half a mile back, +where they had chosen their picnic grounds in the neighborhood of a +brook. Jim and Ruth were not with them, but Olive and Donald Harmon, +Frieda and Dick Grant, Jean and the young Italian, Giovanni Colonna, +Lord and Lady Kent and Frank's two sisters, Marcia and Dorothy, were +sitting in a great circle and in the center was evidently a gypsy woman. +Frank had met Dick Grant in London and thinking him a nice American boy +had asked him down to Kent castle for the day. Giovanni Colonna had been +his guest for a week. + +Apparently the advent of the two newcomers had interrupted the flow of +the fortune-teller's narrative, for she was standing perfectly silent +with her big, rather impertinent black eyes fastened on Olive's face. + +"Please send the gypsy away, Lady Kent," Olive begged. "She seems to be +making up her mind to say something to me. And years ago I had such a +dismal fortune told me by a gypsy who stopped at the Rainbow Lodge that +I have never been able to forget it." + +Frank was paying off the woman and telling her to be gone, so that he +did not hear the next few moments' conversation. + +"What did she tell you, Olive?" Frieda asked. "I remember we thought it +queer at the time, but I have forgotten what it was." + +Olive flushed. She had her old childish dislike of being the center of +attention, and yet she had brought this upon herself. + +"Oh, she told me that I was going to find out my parentage some day, and +I have. Then she told me that I would inherit a large fortune." Olive +glanced a little nervously at Donald Harmon, adding, "but of course that +will never come true. And--and I can't remember much else. The story was +told in a kind of jingle." + +"Yes, and I recall it better than you do, Olive dear," Jack suddenly +broke in. "The ridiculous woman suggested such abominable things about +me. She said that without knowing it I was going to bring sorrow upon my +best-beloved Olive. I don't know just in what way she meant it, but of +course it was a ridiculous falsehood." And Jack flushed so hotly and +spoke with such unnecessary intensity that her listeners laughed. + +At the same time a man servant appeared, announcing that luncheon was +about to be served. And Olive and Donald, who had been informed where +the lovers were to be found, went off together to summon Ruth and Jim. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MIDNIGHT CONFIDENCES + + +A FAINT knock at her bedroom door several nights after their picnic in +the woods startled Jean. It was half-past twelve o'clock, and thirty +minutes before all the guests in the castle had gone to their own +apartments, an informal dance having made them more tired than usual. + +But Jean was not a coward, and, still brushing her hair, walked over to +her door. Immediately she heard Jack's voice on the outside. + +"Please let me in, Jean dear, I hope I haven't frightened you." Then +Jack slipped inside and stood irresolutely in the center of the big +chamber. She was ready for retiring, clad in a pink dressing gown, with +her hair hanging in two braids over her shoulders. + +"I was kind of lonely," she explained. "It is very grand for each one of +us to have an apartment to ourselves, but I am not used to it." + +She sank down on a low cushion in front of the big open fire and in a +few moments was staring into it, having apparently forgotten her +cousin's presence in her own room. + +However, without speaking, Jean went on quietly undressing. Then, when +she had finished, she too got into a kimona and piled her grate high +with fresh logs. The next moment she had placed herself on another +cushion by the side of her unexpected visitor. + +But Jean asked no questions. + +"I hope you are not very sleepy, dear," Jacqueline remarked finally. "Of +course you know that I wouldn't have disturbed you at such an unholy +hour except that there was something important I felt I must talk to you +about." + +"It isn't--" Jean began. But to her intense relief Jack immediately +shook her head. + +"No, it isn't and never will be again. And the sooner that all of my +family forget my miserable mistake, the happier you will make me. It is +something different and yet it is such a kind of intimate, personal +thing, I can't decide whether I have the right to mention it even to +you." + +"Ruth and Jim?" the other girl queried. For the second time Jack +demurred. + +"No." But she kept on gazing at the fire rather than at her confidante. + +"See here, Jean," she inquired suddenly. "I wonder if it has ever +occurred to you that Frank Kent cared, well, cared more than just an +ordinary lot for Olive? Perhaps it does not seem exactly square of me to +be prying into Frank's and Olive's feelings for each other, but on my +honor I have a real reason for wishing to know." + +Jean's big brown eyes opened wide with amazement. Was there any question +in the world farther from her imagination than this unexpected one? + +Notwithstanding, Jean gave the subject a few moments of serious +consideration. "No," she replied at length, "I have been thinking over +all the time I can recall from Olive's and Frank's first acquaintance +with each other. And I don't remember a single occasion when he seemed +more than just a good friend of hers. To tell you the truth, Jack, I +personally should never have dreamed of Frank's being in love with Olive +in a thousand years! Whatever put it into your mind? Why you and Frank, +after you got over your first prejudice against his being the guest of +our old enemies, the Nortons, were much more intimate than the rest of +us. I always took it as a matter of course that he liked you best until +you had that quarrel in Rome. Lately, though, you seem to have made up." + +Jack frowned. "Oh, certainly we were more intimate then. But in those +days Olive was too shy to reveal her real self or her emotions to anyone +except us. Besides, we were only children. Still, I used to notice even +then that Olive grew more cheerful and animated when Frank was around. +And afterwards in Rome and the last month since our arrival in England, +why haven't you _seen_ the change in her? Please think, Jean dear, for +it may be of the very greatest importance what you tell me. You see, I +am so stupid and make such dreadful mistakes about people caring or not +caring for each other; but somehow you are wiser. I feel I may trust to +your judgment. Do you think Olive--" Jack stumbled a little bit over the +fashion for putting her next question. "Do you think that Olive likes +Frank Kent better than anybody else?" + +The silence was longer this time and Jean did not happen to catch a +glimpse of her cousin's face, being too deeply concerned over her +inquiry. + +"I should never have conceived of such a thing myself, Jack," she +declared after pondering for two or three minutes, "but as you have put +it into my mind, why, possibly Olive _may_ be interested in Frank. He +has always been awfully good to her ever since their first meeting, and +he thinks her wonderfully beautiful and charming. I can't say, though, +that I am at all convinced that her feeling is serious. Oh, dear me, why +can't you two girls be as frivolous over affairs of the heart as I am! I +should like at least a dozen romances before I settle upon one." + +"Well, I presume you are in a fair way to have them, sweet cousin," +Jacqueline returned. "And tonight I feel as though I could almost echo +your wicked wish. But, Jean dearest, I have _got_ to find out how Olive +really feels. I can't tell you why now, yet it is of more interest to me +to know than anything else in the world." + +And suddenly Jack's face flushed with such a wonderful, radiant color +that Jean caught her breath. + +What she saw, however, made her turn her eyes away. + +"I will find out for you if I possibly can, Jack," she then replied +quietly, without asking any further questions or attempting to probe +the mystery of why Olive's attitude toward their host should be of such +vital import to Jacqueline Ralston. + +"You know though that Olive is desperately shy and reserved," Jean +added, "and has never confided in anybody except you and Miss Winthrop. +Don't you think, after all, perhaps Olive likes Donald Harmon more than +we guess? She and Don would be such a suitable match and her grandmother +is so anxious for it." + +But Jack shook her head. "No, I am afraid not," she returned and was not +aware of how much the word "afraid" meant to her cousin's ears. "Olive +told me yesterday that Don had asked her to marry him and that she had +refused him. She told him that she would take the whole responsibility +for the refusal upon her shoulders, that she would write her grandmother +and explain that Don had done his best. The opposition to the plan had +been hers. So Madame Van Mater must do as she had threatened and leave +Don the larger share of the fortune. Poor Don was dreadfully broken up +over Olive's thinking that he had asked her on account of her +grandmother's desire, or because of the money that they were to share +if she accepted him. Don honestly loves Olive, I think, though I don't +believe she returns it in the least. Indeed, Olive told me that she had +never given up her old plan of going out west to teach the Indians as +soon as she feels she has learned enough through her studying with Miss +Winthrop at Primrose Hall. Actually she announced that she was going to +take a teacher's place there next winter for the experience it would +give her. But of course I don't think that Olive means this not if she +cares--if she cares for Frank." Jack got up from the floor. "Dear, I +won't keep you awake any longer. Only there is one more favor I should +like to beg. Will you stay with me as much as possible until you can +find out what I have asked you?" + +And Jean only nodded, as her cousin kissed her good-night and went away. + +She sat for some time gazing into the fire instead of getting into bed. +Not a particularly good mathematician in her school days, still Mistress +Jean had rather a talent for putting two and two together under certain +circumstances. She had not felt it fair to ask questions of Jack, yet +there could be nothing disloyal in trying to penetrate a mystery for +herself. Especially as she should never betray her conclusions. + +Jean pondered. In the first place there was not the least doubt in her +own mind that among the four Ranch girls Frank Kent certainly liked Jack +best. He always had liked her and it was perfectly plain how much her +unfortunate affair with Captain Madden and her unkind treatment of him +had hurt him, although he was not the type of man to betray himself so +openly as Donald Harmon had. Jack's feeling for Frank, Jean had believed +until tonight to be merely friendly. They had many of the same +interests, both loved horses, animals of all kinds, and the business +that went with the running of a big place like their old ranch or the +immense estate, which had been in the Kent family for many generations. +However, since the last hour, Jean was no longer assured of Jack's +impersonal attitude. There was no doubt that her cousin had in her mind +at present two fears--one that Olive, her dearest friend, cared for +Frank, the other that Frank, instead of returning Olive's affection, was +beginning to fall in love with her. Something must have recently +occurred to give Jack this impression. Jean did not believe that she +would ever have attempted to probe Olive's emotions unless this had been +the case. + +So here was the difficulty of the situation according to her train of +thought. If Olive really did care for Frank Kent, Jean understood +Jacqueline Ralston well enough to realize that nothing could induce her +to accept his suit. For Jack would never accept her own happiness at the +price of another's; and surely not when the other person was her dearest +friend, for whom she had always felt a kind of protecting devotion. + +Yet if Olive did not love Frank, and Jack felt herself able to return +his affection, it would be both cruel and unnecessary to refuse to +listen to him. + +At last Jean tumbled into her big, four-posted bed; but even then she +could not go at once to sleep. What a delicate mission she had taken +upon herself and how ever was she to perform it? For Olive must never +suspect any possible motive behind her questioning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +OLIVE'S ANSWER + + +JEAN BRUCE'S task did not prove any simpler than she had anticipated. +For one thing, events at the castle left little time for leisure or for +making individual plans of one's own. Almost every hour there were +visits from the neighbors of surrounding country estates, calls to be +returned, riding parties, dinners and dances. For the Kents seemed +determined to give Ruth and the Ranch girls as agreeable an impression +as possible of English country life. And the time was short, since Ruth +and Jim were soon to be married. + +Undoubtedly Frank's family had taken a decided fancy to his American +friends, but if one of the number was a greater favorite than the +others, assuredly it was Jim Colter. + +At first Jim had strenuously resented becoming a visitor at Kent Castle. +The idea of having to hobnob with titles, as he put it, was extremely +distasteful. He was sure that he would turn out to be an embarrassment +to Ruth and the girls, and that Frank would be sorry for having invited +him. Nevertheless, when Ruth, and therefore the four Ranch girls, +positively refused to leave without him, Jim was compelled to give in. +And now, when there was no opportunity for the overseer of the Rainbow +ranch to be with Ruth, he and Lord Kent were inseparable. The two men +were as unlike as any two extremes could be, and yet they were alike in +that each man was absolutely himself. Lord Kent represented all that +money, education and a high position can do; Jim only what good sense, a +strong heart and energy can accomplish. Yet so far had Jim Colter +learned to forgive Lord and Lady Kent, that actually he had consented +that his marriage to Ruth take place from their home and that the +ceremony be performed at the little English church nearby. He and Ruth +had both been unwilling to delay their wedding until their return home +and had also objected to the strangeness of a wedding in London. So now +everything had been delightfully arranged. They were to be married at +high noon with the Ranch girls as their attendants and only a few +intimate friends of their host and hostess present. + +Yet, in spite of their expressed wish to have "no fuss or feathers," +according to Jim's description, necessarily there were many reasons why +Jean found it peculiarly hard just then to have her quiet interview +alone with Olive. Especially when the interview must appear as an +entirely accidental one. + +Nevertheless, Jean did manage to keep one of her promises to her cousin. +She did very often succeed in interfering with any situation which would +apparently throw Frank and Jack together without the rest of the party. +And many times in the face of this, Frank would then seek out Olive's +companionship. So that in the days of her watchfulness Jean herself +became more and more puzzled and anxious. Finally, however, came her +desired opportunity. + +Frank had begged as a particular favor that the house party ride or +drive as they preferred to a famous old ruin in the neighborhood. And +just as they were about to leave Olive had suddenly pleaded a headache, +entreating to be left behind. To Jack's and Ruth's requests to remain +with her, Olive had insisted that she would be far more apt to recover +if she might stay alone. And as this was a perfectly sensible statement, +both her friends agreed. Jean, however, made no such offer, said +nothing of her own intentions, but simply, when the party started, could +not be found. Nevertheless, she had left a proper explanation with one +of the servants, so that no time was lost in searching for her. + +As Olive had looked really ill, Jean first went for a long walk, hoping +to give her a chance to recover before having their talk. + +Tip-toeing softly in at about four o'clock in the afternoon, she found +her friend lying on the bed with a shawl thrown over her. And even in +the semi-light of the great oak chamber Jean could see that Olive's face +was white, and that there were circles about her eyes. + +"I would not have let you come in if I had known who you were. I thought +you were one of the maids," Olive protested querulously. And her manner +was so unlike her usual gentle one that the other girl's heart sank. + +"I didn't know; I am sorry. I thought you were better or that I might do +something for you," Jean explained hurriedly, making up her mind not to +approach the subject she had anticipated for anything in the world. + +Then both girls were silent for a few moments. And finally Jean tried to +slip quietly out of the room. + +A voice from the bed called her back. "Don't go, dear. I am sorry I was +cross. I believe I am homesick today. I have been thinking a whole lot +of Miss Winthrop and wanting to go back to my own country. Dear me, I am +glad Ruth and Jim are so soon to be married and we shall then be sailing +for home!" + +Jean smoothed Olive's dark hair back from her lovely Spanish face. + +"I am glad Jack is not hearing you say this, Olive child," she +whispered. "Think how jealous it would make poor Jack feel to hear that +you felt nearer Miss Winthrop than you do to her. I thought you used to +love her best." + +"I did. I do," Olive replied faintly. "But Jean, haven't you or Ruth +guessed that we are not going to be able to keep Jack at the old ranch +always, much as she adores it. Frank Kent is deeply in love with Jack. +And I believe Jack cares for him. Of course I know you will think this +strange after the other affair with Captain Madden. But that is just the +reason why Jack will be able to realize she is in love with Frank. Her +feeling for him is so entirely different." + +Jean was glad that her own face was in shadow. This was her opportunity. +But what could she, what should she say? + +"Why Olive, I don't believe for a moment old Jack cares a great deal +about Frank," Jean protested, trying to make her manner appear as light +as possible under the circumstances. "Indeed, I am almost sure of it. It +must be a fancy on your part, for I am almost sure Jack thinks that +Frank cares for you." + +"Then she is very foolish," Olive returned. + +"But why foolish? It seems to me Frank is always preferring to go off +alone with you. And he always has been tremendously fond of you. Once he +told me that he thought you quite the prettiest of the four of us." + +The other girl laughed. And Jean wondered if it was her imagination or +if there was a sound in Olive's laugh which she did not like. + +"Frank has always cared for Jack. It would have been absurd of me ever +to have failed to see it. Why, he began caring when we were almost +children at the ranch. He has always been a good friend to me, but +nothing else. And lately, if you have suspected anything because we have +been alone together, it was only because poor Frank wished to talk to me +about Jack. He does not believe that she cares for him in the least. He +says that once when he began to try to tell her she stopped him +immediately. Frank is afraid Jack may still have some feeling about the +old affair. I have done my best to make him see things differently. And +he has no right not to make Jack listen to him, even if he believes she +may refuse him. Deep down in her heart Jack has always cared for Frank. +Don't you think so yourself, Jean?" + +"I--oh, I don't know anything about it. I am so surprised!" Jean +stammered. + +"Frank has asked me to talk to Jack, to find out if she would be wounded +by his telling her of his love so soon after Captain Madden. But +somehow, Jean," and here Olive's voice faltered, "I don't believe I know +how to do it very well. Why, if I began poor Jack might think that I had +believed Frank in love with me and was telling her this to prove to her +I had no feeling for him. It would be like old Jack to get some such +absurd fancy as that into her head. And then, of course, we both know +that Jack would rather die than give poor Frank the slightest chance." + +"But don't you care for Frank?" It was on the tip of Jean Bruce's tongue +to ask Olive this question. Yet just in time she stopped it. + +Never so long as she or any one else lived could this question be put to +Olive Van Mater. By her own words and manner had she not chosen forever +to silence it. And actually Jean herself did not know what to think. It +was so easy in this world to receive a false impression. + +"Would you like me to tell Jack then, Olive dear?" Jean queried, for her +own sake keeping her eyes away from her friend's. "Of course I should +not dare say anything about Frank's feelings. But I could kind of +intimate what you have just told me." + +Olive drew the cover a little closer about her. "You are awfully good, +Jean. Yes, that will be best. Now, please, you won't mind if I ask you +to leave me. And will you make my excuses to Lady Kent at dinner? My +head really aches too severely for me to come down." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE WEDDING DAY + + +IN England the roses bloom all the summer through. And nowhere are they +more lovely and plentiful than in the county of Surrey. + +So the little English church on the Kent estate was filled one August +morning with white, pink, red and yellow roses. + +Ruth wore a simple white tulle dress and hat. For she did not wish a +wedding veil, and Jim announced that he did not intend having his Ruth's +face concealed at the time he most desired to see it. + +Olive, Jean and Frieda were bridesmaids, and Jack maid of honor. Frank +Kent was best man, Richard Grant, Giovanni Colonna and another friend of +Frank's acted as ushers. Donald Harmon had returned to London, +explaining that he felt compelled to join his mother and sister there. + +Since the bride would have no unnecessary adornments, the Ranch girls' +toilets were of the same character--French organdies trimmed in Irish +point lace, and big picture hats. The three bridesmaids wore white, and +Jack, pale yellow. + +Of course Ruth carried a big loose bunch of white roses and the four +girls yellow ones. Indeed, all the wedding arrangements were perfect in +their simplicity. There was only one possible flaw in the success of the +program and that was the behavior of the bridegroom. + +For Jim began by insisting in the early days of the preparations that he +was more than likely to give a cowboy yell of triumph at the conclusion +of the ceremony, and the day of the wedding rehearsal became so nervous +and unreasonable that Frieda decided he would never be able to go +through with the real thing. + +Jim did look white as a ghost as he came out into the chancel, supported +by Frank, to wait for Ruth. The English vested choir was chanting, "Oh, +Perfect Love;" the atmosphere of the church was heavy with the odor of +flowers; the light through the old stained glass windows shone dimly +golden. + +There was a moment when Jim Colter had a strange and incongruous +sensation. What a queer setting this for _his_ wedding! Surely he would +have felt more at home under a group of tall pines somewhere out in his +western plains or under the roof of one of their homely neighborhood +churches. + +[Illustration: RUTH STARTED UP THE AISLE ON LORD KENT'S ARM.] + +Nevertheless, when Ruth started up the aisle toward him on Lord Kent's +arm and Jim caught the expression of her face, he did not know or care +about anything else in the world. Frieda always insisted that he never +answered the responses, since not a single sound was she able to hear +fall from his lips. There were other witnesses though, Jack and Frank +for instance, who agreed that the bridegroom did mutter "I will" at the +critical moment after being prompted by the bride. So that Frieda was +finally persuaded to believe that the ceremony was fairly legal. + +Back at the castle Ruth had entreated that they need have only the +family to breakfast with them. Mr. and Mrs. Colter were leaving in +little more than an hour for London to take the train to Harwich and +cross on the night boat for Holland, where they meant to spend their +week of honeymoon. And Ruth had also said that she wanted a few quiet +moments alone with each one of the girls. + +The marriage was probably as satisfactory a one as had ever taken place, +yet unquestionably the bride and the four Ranch girls were uncommonly +teary all during the wedding feast. Indeed, Frieda actually sniffled +when she drew the thimble from the cake proclaiming that she would be +the old maid of the group, and only recovered when Olive insisted that +some mistake had been made and exchanged the ring for the thimble. + +But Jim had entirely regained his spirits, and he and Frank devoted +their best energies toward making the breakfast party as cheerful as +possible. Nevertheless, both Jean and Olive guessed that Frank Kent was +not so gay as he pretended to be. For his brown eyes had a way of +looking grave, even while he was actually laughing. And at least one of +the two girls believed that he had a definite purpose in his mind, which +must be accomplished before the day was past. + +By and by Ruth slipped away to her room, asking that Jack be alone with +her for the first five minutes, and then that each one of the other +girls follow in turn, according to age. + +Because Jim liked her best in the colors that he had been used to seeing +her wear in the old times at the ranch, Ruth's traveling costume was as +Puritanical a gray as in her most nun-like New England days. But the +hat was a coquettish Parisian creation with a pink rose under the brim. +Besides, Ruth's expression had so changed in the last weeks that there +was no chance of her ever again suggesting an old maid. + +She had only taken off her wedding gown, however, when Jack, putting her +arms about her, stooped to kiss her. + +"Ruth, dearest," Jack announced, holding the older woman at a little +distance from her, "I want to tell you again that nothing that has ever +happened to me in my whole life had made me so happy as your marriage to +Jim. I know I have always given both of you about twice as much trouble +as the other three of us. Yet I kind of feel it has been made up to you +by having known each other through your coming to teach us at the Lodge. +But I am grown-up now, I think. And this last experience has taught me +more than any of you can guess. If you and Jim can make up your minds to +live on at the old ranch I will try my best never to be a nuisance +again, not if I live to be a hundred years old!" + +"Do you expect to live always at Rainbow Lodge, Jack?" Ruth asked, +smiling, but watching Jack's face pretty closely. + +Jack nodded. "I don't think I shall dare trust myself again." + +But Ruth shook her gently. "That is what I wanted to speak to you about +alone, dear. It was a foolish fancy of mine, wishing to say farewell to +each one of you this way. You must remember how much happiness I have +kept from Jim and myself because of a mistaken idea. Don't repeat it, my +dear. If ever you feel you can care a great deal for any one and that +your love is returned, don't get any silly fancies in your head. Don't +let your one mistake--" + +"But, Ruth," Jack interrupted, more seriously than the older woman had +expected, "suppose your foolish fancy happened to be connected with some +one else? Suppose you could only be happy at another's expense! You see, +you never had a rival in Jim's affections." + +"And I never would have paid any attention to her if I had," Ruth +replied so emphatically that her companion laughed. "If a man loves a +woman and she loves him, that is the end of it. The third person I am +afraid is the one that must suffer. For can't you see that she must +suffer any way if her affection is not returned!" + +There was no thought in Ruth's mind at the present moment that Jack's +words had any special bearing on her own case. For although Ruth and Jim +had suspected Frank's feeling for Jack, their imaginations had gone no +further. Indeed, they were both afraid that the girl had no more than a +passing affection for her former friend. + +Ruth now walked over toward her mirror to fasten a diamond brooch in her +dress, which had been the Ranch girls' engagement present. + +"I believe our time alone is almost up, and Olive will be appearing in +another moment. But Jim and I have a gift for each one of you which we +want you to keep always if you can in remembrance of our wedding day." + +And Jack noticed that there were four jewel cases side by side on Ruth's +bureau, a white, a green, a blue and a scarlet one. + +Ruth opened the white one first and clasped a string of pearls about +Jack's throat. Then before the oldest of the Ranch girls could thank +her, she gave her a gentle push toward her bedroom door. + +"Go now, Jack, I hear Olive outside. And promise not to let any one shed +a single tear when Jim and I drive away." + +Olive flung her arms about the bride with more emotion than Ruth had +ever seen her show. "I wish I could say things like the other girls!" +she exclaimed. "But oh, Ruth, you do understand how grateful I am to you +and Mr. Colter for all you have done for me? Because, however kind the +girls wanted to be, they could not have succeeded without your aid and +Jim's." + +"You are as dear as the other girls to me, Olive, I know no difference +between you," Ruth answered, choking a little over Olive's unusual +display of feeling. And as she clasped an emerald chain about her neck +she whispered, "I can hope in return that some day you may be as happy +as I am." + +Olive said nothing; only shook her dark head quietly, but before Ruth +could speak again, Jean danced into the room. + +"Jack stayed so long there won't be any good by turns for Frieda and +me," she pouted, "unless Olive comes away at once. Jim is already raging +up and down the veranda like a bear, saying that he is sure you will +miss the train." + +Jean's gift was a necklace of sapphires set with tiny diamonds in +between. And Ruth had only a chance to kiss her favorite Ranch girl +(for Jean was her favorite, though she would never have admitted it) and +whisper: + +"If you don't leave Giovanni alone while we are away, I will make Jim +lock you up alone in your stateroom for the entire voyage home." + +Then Frieda, with a slice of wedding cake in her hand, made her +appearance. "I didn't have a chance to eat hardly any at the table," she +defended immediately, answering Jean's teasing glance. "Jim says you +must say what you have to say to me when you get back from your trip, +Ruth; you simply must come on down now right away." + +So Ruth had only time to push the scarlet jewel case into the hand +Frieda did not have occupied with cake. And begging her to be a good +baby and not eat too many of Dick's chocolate drops in her absence, she +hurried off to her impatient bridegroom. + +Faithfully the four girls kept their promises and not a tear followed +the departing carriage. However, when the last sounds of the wheels had +rolled away they stared at one another as though the world had suddenly +come to an end. + +"Well," Frieda remarked, as she held her pretty chain of rubies in her +hand, "I must say I never supposed that Ruth and Jim would ever want to +get married. They _knew_ each other so well. Now take the rest of us. +Nobody would ever want to marry any one of us except a stranger. Jack is +too high-tempered and wants her own way too much, Jean is a perfectly +horrid tease, Olive goes and stays by herself and cries when her +feelings are hurt--" + +The day was saved! The three Ranch girls burst into laughter instead of +tears, in which Frank and his sisters, who were standing near, joined. + +"And what about you, Frieda Ralston?" Jack demanded, pulling at one of +Frieda's blond curls. "Could anybody ever know you and love you? Tell +us, because a good many times we have felt the strain." + +Frieda blushed slightly. "Oh, I suppose I have some faults," she +conceded. "But though I suppose Ruth's wedding has made you forget it, I +would like to mention that I have been cross fewer times than any one of +us on our European trip. Ruth showed me the record and I am to have the +prize when she gets back." + +In the face of this evidence there was no chance for a dispute, so +within a few minutes the girls disappeared to their rooms. They were +tired, and each one of them wanted to be alone and to rest in her own +particular way. + +To Jacqueline resting meant being out of doors, now that she was strong +again. So within an hour, after the bride and groom's departure, their +maid of honor slipped down the big oak staircase, arrayed in a very +different toilet. She wore a short brown corduroy skirt, leather boots +and leggings, and a soft hat, much the same style of costume that she +had been accustomed to wearing at the Rainbow Ranch. + +Five minutes later she was off across the fields on the riding horse +which her host had designated for her especial use during her visit. It +was not a customary thing for an English girl to ride alone; +nevertheless Jack refused the services of the groom. She knew the +English roads and lanes in the neighborhood thoroughly well by this +time. All afternoon she rode, sometimes galloping across an open stretch +of meadow, often walking her horse along a narrow, wild rose-bordered +lane. + +The English country was fascinating to Jack, perhaps because of its +utter unlikeness to her own broad, open country. She had been amused at +first by its smallness, its trimness and look of dignified old age. Yet +she had since learned to love the wonderful greenness of the English +landscapes, the quantities of exquisite flowers and trees, such as she +had never seen in her own land. + +Certainly the scenery on this special afternoon must have been unusually +fascinating, for suddenly Jack realized that the darkness was coming +down and that she was some distance from the castle. She must not allow +Lord and Lady Kent to become uneasy on account of her absence. Her horse +was comparatively fresh; she would enjoy a hard gallop home. + +So Jack paid little attention for the first half mile or so to the sound +of another horse's hoofs pounding after hers. Finally, however, Frank +got within calling distance. "Look here, Jack," he said, "this style of +riding after you reminds me of our first meeting on the Norton ranch. +Remember how you rushed off without allowing me to show you the trail. I +was pretty well out of breath when I caught up with you then, and I am +now." + +Jack laughed and slowed her horse down a trifle. "No such thing, Frank; +you look cool as a cucumber. You English people never seem to get upset +and disheveled as Americans do. But it is awfully jolly, Frank, that you +are perfectly strong these days. You used to look pretty sick sometimes +when we first knew you." + +"Wyoming gave me two great gifts, Jack; it gave me back my health and it +gave me my love for you." + +Frank said this so quietly and so simply that Jack felt she must have +been mistaken. Surely she had not understood him! He ought to have given +her some warning, allowed her a few moments of preparation. She could +never have imagined that a man could declare his love in such a +matter-of-fact tone of voice. Jack hardly knew what to do or say. +Surreptitiously she made a movement of her bridle so that her horse +quickened his pace. + +But Frank's hand reached out and caught hold of hers firmly. "You must +not run away from me, Jack," he protested. "For you would not like to +have me ride after you shouting out my love for you for all the +neighborhood to hear. And if you won't listen to me quietly, that is +exactly what I will do. Why is it you have been unwilling to listen, +Jack? If it is only that you don't love me in return, I understand that. +But a girl like you has got to get used to refusing men." + +"Oh, Frank," Jack protested, "please don't say such foolish things." + +Nevertheless, she slowed down her horse, seeing that Frank was +determined that she should listen this time. + +"I have loved you always, Jack, from the first day of meeting you. I +have never cared for any one else. I think it only fair to let you know +that I mean to make you love me in return some day." + +Frank's tone was so quiet and so positive that Jack smiled. She was not +accustomed to being spoken to in this fashion, but she was not at all +sure she disliked it. + +"Why don't you answer me?" Frank asked a few moments afterwards. "By and +by, when you have gone back to the ranch, I suppose you know I shall +follow you. Will you give me my answer then?" + +Just for a moment Jack's face turned the warm, radiant color Jean had +seen there once before. Bending slightly from her horse she took Frank's +hand that was now hanging at his side and an instant held it close. + +"Don't think, Frank, I don't appreciate what you have told me, or that I +am so cold and unfeeling, as you seem to think I am. It is only that I +don't know, that there is something I may be mistaken about, that I +can't trust to any one else's judgment except my own. But, Frank dear, +if you think I am worth coming across the water and the land to far off +Wyoming to see, why then, then I shall know what to say." + +Frank kissed the hand that had held his the moment before. They were now +riding up the avenue within a short distance of Kent castle. + +"There is no land and no water that can divide us, Jack," Frank +answered, "if ever there is a chance of my hearing you say you love me +on the other side." + +The fifth and closing volume of the well-known Ranch Girls Series will +be known as "The Ranch Girls at Home Again." + +In this volume the love stories of the four girls will be finally +concluded. It will also introduce old and new characters at the Rainbow +Ranch. + + + + +Eclipse Series of the Lowest Price Alger Books + + +[Illustration] + +This low-priced series of books comprises the most popular stories ever +written by =Horatio Alger, Jr.= As compared with other low-priced +editions it will be found that the books in this series are better +printed, on better paper, and better bound than similar books in any +competing line. Each volume is handsomely and durably bound in cloth +with new style colored inlay, assorted designs, and stamped in three +colors of ink. New and attractive colored jackets. 12mo. Cloth. 40 +Titles. + + Adrift in the City + Andy Grant's Pluck + Ben's Nugget + Bob Burton + Bound to Rise + Boy's Fortune, A + Chester Rand + Digging for Gold + Do and Dare + Facing the World + Frank and Fearless + Frank Hunter's Peril + Frank's Campaign + Helping Himself + Herbert Carter's Legacy + In a New World + Jack's Ward + Jed, the Poorhouse Boy + Lester's Luck + Luck and Pluck + + Luke Walton + Only an Irish Boy + Paul Prescott's Charge + Paul, the Peddler + Phil, the Fiddler + Ragged Dick + Rupert's Ambition + Shifting for Himself + Sink or Swim + Strong and Steady + Struggling Upward + Tattered Tom + Telegraph Boy, The + Victor Vane + Wait and Hope + Walter Sherwood's Probation + Young Bank Messenger, The + Young Circus Rider + Young Miner, The + Young Salesman, The + +Price per volume, .60 cents + + * * * * * + + THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., _Publishers_ + WINSTON BUILDING PHILADELPHIA + + + + +EVERY CHILD'S LIBRARY + + +Books "That Every Child Can Read" for Four Reasons: + + 1 Because the subjects have all proved their + lasting popularity. + + 2 Because of the simple language in which they are + written. + + 3 Because they have been carefully edited, and + anything that might prove objectionable for + children's reading has been eliminated. + + 4 Because of their accuracy of statement. + +=This Series of Books= comprises subjects that appeal to all young +people. Besides the historical subjects that are necessary to the +education of children, it also contains standard books written in +language that children can read and understand. + +=Carefully Edited.= Each work is carefully edited by Rev. 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The volumes, 12mo. in size, are bound in + Extra English Cloth, and are attractively stamped in colors and + full gold titles. Sold separately or in sets, boxed. + + Price $1.00 per volume. Postpaid + + * * * * * + + THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., _Publishers_ + WINSTON BUILDING PHILADELPHIA + + + + +Harry Castlemon's Books for Boys + + +NEW POPULAR EDITION + +[Illustration] + +This series comprises thirty titles of the =best stories= ever written +by =Harry Castlemon=. But few of these titles have ever been published +in low-priced editions, many of them are copyright titles which will not +be found in any other publisher's list. We now offer them in this =new +low-priced edition=. The books are printed on an excellent quality of +paper, and have an entirely new and handsome cover design, with new +style colored inlay on front cover, and stamped in ink. 12mo. Cloth. 30 +titles. + + =A Sailor in Spite of Himself= + =Buried Treasure= + =Carl, the Trailer= + =Floating Treasure, The= + =Frank, the Young Naturalist= + =Frank Among the Rancheros= + =Frank Before Vicksburg= + =Frank in the Mountains= + =Frank in the Woods= + =Frank on a Gunboat= + =Frank on Don Carlos' Rancho= + =Frank on the Lower Mississippi= + =Frank on the Prairie= + =Haunted Mine, The= + =Houseboat Boys, The= + =Mail Carrier= + =Marcy, The Refugee= + =Missing Pocketbook, The= + =Mystery of the Lost River Canyon, The= + =Oscar in Africa= + =Rebellion in Dixie= + =Rod and Gun Club= + =Rodney, the Overseer= + =Rodney, the Partisan= + =Steel Horse= + =Ten-Ton Cutter, The= + =Tom Newcomb= + =Two Ways of Becoming a Hunter= + =White Beaver, The= + =Young Game Warden, The= + +=THE VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES COMPRISE SOME OF THE BEST WRITINGS OF THIS +POPULAR AUTHOR= + +=Price per volume, .75 cents= + + * * * * * + + THE JOHN C. 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TROWBRIDGE + Price $1.25 per volume + + Jack Hazard and His Fortunes + A Chance for Himself + Doing His Best + Fast Friends + The Young Surveyor + Lawrence's Adventures + + + FRANK NELSON SERIES + By HARRY CASTLEMON + Price 75 cents per volume + + Snowed Up + Frank in the Forecastle + The Boy Traders + + + SPORTSMAN CLUB SERIES + By HARRY CASTLEMON + Price 75 cents per volume + + The Sportsman Club in the Saddle + The Sportsman Club Afloat + The Sportsman Club Among the Trappers + + + ROUGHING IT SERIES + By HARRY CASTLEMON + Price 75 cents per volume + + George in Camp + George at the Fort + George at the Wheel + + +[Illustration] + +LAUNCH BOYS SERIES + + Launch Boys' Cruise in the Deerfoot + Launch Boys' Adventures in + Northern Waters + + +ARIZONA SERIES + + Off the Reservation + Trailing Geronimo + The Round Up + + +FLYING BOYS SERIES + + The Flying Boys in the Sky + The Flying Boys to the Re + + +[Illustration] + +CATAMOUNT CAMP SERIES + + Captain of the Camp + Catamount Camp + + 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. + + Price per volume, 45 cents + + * * * * * + + THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., _Publishers_ + WINSTON BUILDING PHILADELPHIA + + + + + NOTABLE NOVELS _and_ + GIFT BOOKS OF VERSE + + _BY_ JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE + + +JACK BALLINGTON, FORESTER + +The story concerns the fortunes of Jack Ballington, who, on account of +his apparent lack of fighting qualities, seems to be in danger of losing +his material heritage and the girl he loves, but in the stirring crisis +he measures up to the traditions of his forefathers. + + "Will captivate by its humor, set all the heart + strings to vibrating by its pathos, flood one's + being in the great surge of patriotism ... a story + that vastly enriches American fiction."--_Albany + Times-Union._ + + =12 mo.= =Cloth.= =341 pages= + =Price= $1.20 Net. Postage 13 cents. + + +THE BISHOP OF COTTONTOWN + +A STORY OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY + +Love, pathos and real humor run through the book in delightful measure. +Over all is shed the light of the "Old Bishop," endearing himself to +every reader by his gentleness, his strength and his uncynical knowledge +of the world which he finds so good to live in. 31 editions have already +been sold. + + =12mo.= =Cloth.= =606 pages= + =Price= $1.50 Postpaid. + + +UNCLE WASH: HIS STORIES + +A book of stories centering about the character of "Uncle Wash," which +even in the brief time since its publication has achieved a large and +notable success among all classes of readers. Many editions have already +been sold. + + "One of the few great books."--_Rochester Union + and Advertiser._ + + "A mine of humor and pathos."--_Omaha + World-Herald._ + + =12mo.= =Cloth.= =329 pages= + =Price= $1.50 Postpaid + + +A SUMMER HYMNAL + +A ROMANCE OF TENNESSEE + +The story of Edward Ballington and his love affairs with two delightful +girls in charming contrast, forms the plot of this captivating love +story. On the threads of + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: Two different copies of this book were searched and +both end in the middle of the final ad. + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Page 80, "rock" changed to "Rock" (historic Rock) + +Page 85, "along side" changed to "alongside" (anchoring alongside the) + +Page 166, "chaperone" changed to "chaperon" to match rest of usage +(turned to her chaperon) + +Page 201, "to night" changed to "tonight" (theater party tonight) + +Advertising page, Harry Castlemon's Books, "the" changed to "The" +(Houseboat Boys, The) + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Ranch Girls in Europe, by Margaret Vandercook + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RANCH GIRLS IN EUROPE *** + +***** This file should be named 34929.txt or 34929.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/2/34929/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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