They scuffed along on the snowshoes, soon reaching the edge of the lake. Nobody was about the boathouse, for the ice would have to be swept and scraped by the horse-drawn machines before the girls could go skating again.
The moon was pushing through the scurrying clouds, and the snow had ceased falling.
"Look back!" crowed Helen. "Looks as though two enormous animals had come down the hillside, doesn't it?"
"The girls will wake up and view our tracks with wonder in the morning," said Ruth, with a smile. "Perhaps they'll think that some curious monsters have visited Ardmore."
"That would cause more wonderment than the case of Rebecca Frayne. What do you suppose is finally going to happen to that foolish girl?"
"I really cannot guess," Ruth returned, shaking her head sadly. "Poor thing!"
"Why! she can't be poor," gasped Helen. "Look at all those trunks she brought with her to Ardmore. And her dresses are tremendously fancy—although we've not seen many of them yet."
Ruth stared at her chum for a moment without replying. It was right there and then that she came near to guessing the secret of Rebecca Frayne's trouble. But she forbore to say anything about it at the time, and went on beside her chum toward the white island, much disturbed in her mind.
Now and then they caught sight of the dancing flames of the campfire. But when they were nearer the island, the hill was so steep that they lost sight completely of the light.
"Suppose it's a man?" breathed Helen, suddenly, as they began to climb the shore of Bliss Island.