What more was there to say? Ruth did not wish to disappoint Chessleigh. She felt that Helen Cameron had no reason for treating the young man as she did.
So, as she had done before, and without much interest in the evening sailing party, Ruth left the bungalow to join the waiting Chessleigh at the dock.
CHAPTER XIX
SUSPENSE
Tom and his party in the other motor-boat had not appeared, nor had the Gem come back from the town of Chippewa Bay with Mr. Hammond. Why should not Ruth and Chessleigh spy about among the islands for a time?
It was not now moonlight; and there was some haze which gave a smouldering effect to the stars peering through it. But these soft, hazy nights had their own charm and Ruth had come to love them.
Especially on the water. Amid the tamarack-clothed islets the motor-boats crept in and out in a delightful way. To lie on the cushions in the cockpit of the Lauriette and bask in the pearly starlight was an experience the girl from Cheslow was not likely to forget.
To-night, when the Lauriette got away from the moving picture camp, there were no other boats in sight. Chess dimmed his lights and the craft crept through the narrow passages between the islands, heading up stream.