Ruth said no more. But after the visit of Bilby to the mill she could not help but feel some little anxiety. She remembered that Dakota Joe, in whose show Wonota had once worked, had tried his best to make trouble for her and Mr. Hammond because of the Osage maiden; and this Bilby was plainly a much shrewder person than the Westerner had been.
She and Helen aided Aunt Alvirah out to the car. It was a heavy, seven passenger machine; but Helen could drive it as well as Tom himself.
“And Tommy-boy,” she explained as she tucked the robe about Aunt Alvirah before following Ruth into the front seat, “went to town to-day with father.”
“I hope he will really get down to work now,” said Ruth softly, as Helen began to manipulate the levers.
“Pooh!” exclaimed Helen carelessly. “Work was made for slaves. And Tom had a hard time over in France. I tell dad he ought not to expect Tommy-boy to really work for a long, long time to come.”
“Do you think that is right, Helen?” admonished her chum. “Idleness was never good for anybody.”
“It isn’t as though Tom was poor. He hasn’t got to toil and delve in an old office—”
“You know it isn’t that,” cried Ruth warmly. “But he should make good use of his time. And your father needs him. He ought to be idle now, not Tom.”
“Grandmother Grunt!” laughed Helen. “You’re twice as old as Aunt Alvirah right now.”
“After what we have been through—after what the world has been through for five years—we all ought to be at work,” said Ruth rather severely. “And Tom is no exception.”