Ruth first of all got the brakeman to turn over a seat so that she and her three sisters could sit facing each other. Mrs. MacCall had put them up a nice hamper of luncheon and the older girl knew this would be better enjoyed if the seats were thus arranged.
Of course, there was the usual desire of some of the travelers to have windows open while others wished them closed. Cinders and dust flew in by the peck if the
former arrangement prevailed, while the heat was intense if the sashes were down.
Tess and Dot were little disturbed by these physical ills. But they had their own worries. Dot, who had insisted on carrying the Alice-doll in her arms, was troubled mightily to remember whether she had packed the whole of the dolls trousseau (this was supposed to be a wedding journey for the Alice-doll a wedding journey in which the bridegroom had no part); while Tess wondered what would happen to Tom Jonah and Sandyfaces young family while they were all gone from the old Corner House.
I feel condemned I do, indeed, Dot, sighed Tess. We ought, at least, to have named those four kittens before we left. Theyll be awfully old before the christening if we dont come back at the end of our first two weeks.
What could happen to them? demanded Dot.
Why croup or measles or chicken-pox. Theyre only babies, you know. And if one should die, added Tess, warmly, we wouldnt even know what name to put on its gravestone!
My! lots of things can happen in two weeks, I spose, agreed Dot. Do you think we ought to stay away from home so long?
I guess well have to if Ruth and Aggie stay, said Tess. But I shall worry.
Meanwhile Agnes, who sat with her back to the engine beside Ruth, had become interested in a couple sitting together not far down the car. They were strangers and strangely dressed, as well.
Oh, Ruth! Agnes exclaimed, under her breath, they look like Gypsies.
If they are, they are much better dressed than any Gypsies we ever saw before, observed her sister.
But how gay!
This comment was just enough. The older one had shocking taste in millinery. She wore, too, long, pendant ear-rings and her fingers were covered with gaudy looking jewels. Her garments were rich in texture, but oddly made, and the contrasts in color were, as Agnes whispered, fierce!
That girl with her is handsome, just the same, Ruth declared.
Oh! isnt she! whispered the enthusiastic Agnes. A perfectly stunning brunette.
If she were a Gypsy girl she was a very beautiful one. Her features were lovely and her complexion brilliant. When she smiled she flashed two rows of perfect teeth upon the beholder. She might have been a year or two older than Ruth.
I dont know somehow she reminds me of somebody, murmured the latter.
Who?
The girl.
She reminds me of that chicken-thief Tom Jonah treed on the henhouse roof, chuckled Agnes.
Oh! exclaimed Ruth; all Gypsies cant be alike.
Humph! you never heard a good word said for them, sniffed Agnes.
But that doesnt prove there are not good ones. They are a wandering people and have no particular trade or standing in any community. Naturally they have a lot of crimes laid upon their shoulders that they never commit, said the just Ruth.
That was one of them that tried to steal your hens, just the same, said Agnes.
I suppose so, admitted her sister. But surely these two cannot belong to the same kind of Gypsies. See how richly they are dressed.
I guess that doesnt make any difference, said Agnes. They are all cut off the same piece of goods, and immediately she lost interest in the strange couple when Lucy Poole came up the aisle to speak to her.
Ruth had the gaily dressed woman and her companion on her mind a good deal. She often looked at them when they did not notice her. The woman must have been forty, but was straight, lithe, and of good figure. She sat on the outer end of the seat, having the girl between her and the window.
The latter seemed more and more familiar in appearance to Ruth as she looked, yet the Corner House girl could not say whom the girl looked like.
The latter scarcely spoke to her companion. Indeed, she kept her face toward the window for the most part, and seemed to be in a sullen mood. She had smiled once at Dot and the Alice-doll, and that was the only time Ruth had seen the dark, beautiful face with an attractive expression upon it.
The woman seemed talkative enough, but what language she jabbered to her companion the Corner House girl could not tell. She frequently leaned toward the dark girl, her bejeweled fingers seizing the sleeve of her waist, and her speech was both emphatic and loud.
The rattle of the train drowned, however, most of the womans words. Ruth arose and went the length of the car for a drink, just for the purpose of overhearing the strange speech of the Gypsy (if such the woman was) for she was sure the language was not English.
She heard nothing intelligible. Ruth folded a cup, filled it at the ice-water tank, and brought it back for the children. Pearl