Presently they were all walking along the beach, and Elizabeth found herself walking with Ruth, though she could not tell exactly how it had come about. No one seemed to have planned to pair off in that way. It just happened, though both Peggy and Mr. Chambers seemed to be very much dissatisfied with the arrangement.
"Buddy would love a day like this," Elizabeth said. "He's shut up in that old hospital, you know, and he can't get out till he gets better, and he can't get better till he gets out. I want to get him down to the Cape, where I can take care of him."
"You must be very worried about him," Ruth said. "I didn't even know that he wasn't discharged or anything about him, until Peggy found out all these things through you."
"He's been too sick to write much."
"He writes to you, doesn't he?" Ruth said, so very carelessly that Elizabeth's heart sank.
"Yes, he does. He says that I'm the only girl that answers his letters whether he writes to them or not."
"Does he expect to have girls write to him that he doesn't take the trouble to inform of his whereabouts?"
"I think he would be very pleased if they did."
"Why should they?"
"Why—why shouldn't they?" Elizabeth stammered.