"Well, if you like to call obstinacy strongmindedness, there is no need to argue. No doubt we both mean the same thing----"
"With a difference," finished Mrs. Marshall.
Jennie Brawn was loud in her lamentations when she came to hear of the Master's departure. She went at once to Ruth, and found that young lady far from tearful, pacing her bedroom in a towering rage. Jennie paused at the door; she saw that Ruth had a pencil-scribbled note in her hand.
"What is the matter?" asked Miss Brawn, amazed at this exhibition of temper. Ruth pounced upon her.
"Matter enough!" she cried, flourishing the letter. "Here is Neil gone to town in the most unexpected manner--without even an excuse to me! Read this, Jennie."
"He says he is called away on business," said that young lady, when she had mastered the contents of the note. "Well, that is, no doubt, the truth!"
"The truth! Pshaw! You don't know men, my dear. They tell lies in the most plausible manner. But Neil cannot deceive me! All I want to know is who the woman is!"
Miss Brawn's freckled face grew crimson. "You have no right to say such a thing as that! It is not like a lady!"
"I am a woman before I am a lady," cried Ruth. "And a jealous woman at that. Don't I know how all the creatures swarm after him just because he is handsome and famous! He has told me all sorts of things about the notes and the presents they send him, and----"
"It was not nice of him to do that," remarked Jennie, for once blaming her idol.