"I think she wanted to dig there for something," Ruth replied reflectively. "I wonder what for?"
When they had returned to Dare Hall and had got their things off and were warm again, they looked out of the window. The campfire on the island had died out.
"She's gone away, of course," sighed Ruth. "But I would like to know what she was there for."
"One of the mysteries of life," said Helen, as she made ready for bed. "Dear me, but I'm tired!"
She was asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow. Not so Ruth. The latter lay awake some time wondering about the odd girl on the island and her errand there.
Ruth Fielding had another girl's troubles on her mind, however—and a girl much closer to her. The girl on the island merely teased her imagination. Rebecca Frayne's difficulties seemed much more important to Ruth.
Of course, there was no real reason for Ruth to take up cudgels for her odd classmate. Indeed, she did not feel that she could do that, for she was quite convinced that Rebecca Frayne was wrong. Nevertheless, she was very sorry for the girl. The trouble over the tam-o'-shanter had become the most talked-of incident of the school term. For the several following days Rebecca was scarcely seen outside her room, save in going to and from her classes.
She did not again appear in the dining hall. How she arranged about meals Ruth and her friends could not imagine. Then the housekeeper admitted to Ruth that she had allowed the lonely girl to get her own little meals in her room, as she had cooking utensils and an alcohol lamp.
"It is not usually allowed, I know. But Miss Frayne seems to have come to college prepared to live in just that way. She is a small eater, anyway. And—well, anything to avoid friction."
"Of course," Ruth said to Helen and Jennie Stone, "lots of girls live in furnished rooms and get their own meals—working girls and students. But it is not a system generally allowed at college, and at Ardmore especially. We shall hear from the faculty about it before the matter is done with."