“The picture ought to be just as good,” said Ruth thoughtfully. “I know Mr. Hammond hoped great things from it.”
“I wonder what the difficulties are he speaks about,” said Tom.
Ruth shook her head.
“That we can only find out by a personal interview,” she said. “But one thing I do know—that whatever his trouble is, it must be pretty bad or he would never have sent this hurried call to me. What shall I do, Tom?”
“I know what you’ll do,” said Helen, with decision. “You will pack your things and take the next train to New York. I know Ruth Fielding,” with a fond little squeeze of Ruth’s hand, “and my experience of her is, that she never deserts a friend in distress. How about it, Tommy-boy?”
Since Helen was one of the very first friends Ruth Fielding had ever had, her prophecy of Ruth’s future action in regard to Mr. Hammond was apt to prove a fairly accurate one. For since Ruth, a little girl of twelve and an orphan, came to the house at the Red Mill to live with her Uncle Jabez Potter and his sweet-tempered housekeeper, Aunt Alvirah Boggs, Ruth Fielding and Helen Cameron had been the warmest and closest of friends.
In point of fact, Tom was probably Ruth’s oldest friend, since she had met him first and through him, his twin sister, Helen.
The Red Mill was situated just outside the town of Cheslow. About a mile away in a handsome big house Helen and Tom Cameron lived with their father, who was a widower and wealthy. In the first volume of the series, entitled “Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill,” is narrated the meeting of these young people and their subsequent adventures.
Uncle Jabez Potter was something of a miser and a crabbed old soul to boot. However, when Ruth contrived to save the old man a considerable amount of money, his heart relented to the extent of permitting Ruth to enter boarding school with Helen Cameron. Looking backward, Ruth always felt that all her good times and adventures dated from those good old days at Briarwood.
At school and college Ruth’s friends were numerous, but none were ever quite as dear to her as Helen. While still engaged in school work, Ruth developed her talent for scenario writing, and from that small beginning commenced the steady climb that was to lead eventually to her present success.