His black suit was very dusty and his yellow shoes proved by the dust they bore, too, that he had walked a long way.
"He wears a rolling collar and a flowing tie," muttered the irrepressible Jennie. "Goodness! it almost makes me seasick to look at them. What can he be? A chaplain in the navy? An actor?"
"Actor is right," thought Ruth, as the man strutted up the walk.
The girls, who were attending Ruth and Ann and Amy Gregg a part of the way to Mrs. Sadoc Smith's, gave the strange man plenty of room on the gravel walk, but when he came near them he stopped and stared. And he stared at Ruth.
"Pardon me, young lady," he said, in a full, sonorous tone. "Are you Miss Fielding?"
The other girls drifted away and left Ruth to face the odd looking person.
"I am Ruth Fielding," Ruth said, much puzzled.
"Ah! you do not know me?" queried the man.
"No, sir."
"My card!" said the man, with a flourish.