“Don’t care if I do,” replied Harold, and he followed her into the kitchen.
They sat for a while, talking, Harold leading his accomplice to tell him about the farm and the surrounding country. After about half an hour’s chat, they came back to the subject in question.
“And how do you expect to get the girl over here?” asked the woman. “Go across and steal her?”
Harold laughed unguardedly, showing his regular, white teeth, which would have been almost a miracle for one of his assumed age. However, the oil lamp gave a dim light and the woman was unobserving; the incident passed without any notice. But the boy realized that he must take more precaution in the presence of the young people.
“I expect her to come over yere,” he explained, “probably for milk, or butter, or something. And if she does, you invite her into the kitchen, and I’ll bolt the doors. Get an upstairs room ready, and of course I’ll continue to occupy the barn as long as the gals stay. There will be no scandal, no danger; you can assure yourself o’ that. All I want is the money. And remember—if we get it, it’s half yours!”
Not long afterwards, he pumped himself a bucket of water, put his car into an unoccupied part of the barn, and crept up to his straw bed. Though the floor was hard, Harold slept well; he was having a great adventure; and best of all, he was going to make it possible for Ruth to win her heart’s desire.
CHAPTER XI
IN QUEST OF PEACHES
When the Girl Scouts finished their ice-cream, they sat for a few minutes in the little drug store at Rikers, waiting for Ruth to return from her errand.
“She certainly is a devoted daughter,” remarked Alice, as she directed, with a spluttering, over-worked pen, a souvenir postal to her mother. “I never would think of sending a telegram!”