“And did you see how he looked? Why, the boy is in rags. He even looks much worse than when we last saw him—when he saved me from that deer at Norfolk,” and Helen began to giggle at the recollection.
“Something has happened to poor Curly since then,” said Ruth, with a sigh. “I guess he has found out that it is not so much fun to run away as he thought.”
“The man said he was starving,” sighed Helen.
“He certainly must have been having a hard time,” Ruth returned. “I’ll write to his grandmother again. Her answer to my letter written at Old Point Comfort has not arrived yet; but I think she ought to know that we have found Curly again.”
“And tell her he is ragged and hungry. Maybe it will touch her heart,” begged Helen. “But we ought to do something for him, Ruth.”
“Maybe.”
“Of course we should. Why not?”
“It might scare him away if he knew that anybody here had recognized him. It is such a coincidence that he should come right here to this Merredith plantation,” Ruth said. “What do you suppose it means? Could he have known that we were coming here, and is he trying to find us?”
“Oh, Ruth! He’d know we would help him, wouldn’t he?”
“I didn’t think that Curly was the sort of boy to hunt up girl’s help in any case,” laughed Ruth.