Ruth reached over and gently took from Neale’s hand the latest bit of correspondence from Hop Wong. She read it slowly.
“What do you think it means?” she asked, of no one in particular.
“He wants you and Agnes to meet him at midnight! Just fancy that!” cried Neale indignantly. “He has nerve! I’ll say that much!” He would have said a great deal more, evidently, but Luke intervened.
“I think he must mean ‘meet’ where he says ‘met,’” was the opinion advanced by the young collegian. “You girls have never met him, have you—using the word in its past tense?”
“Never, except perhaps to go occasionally to his laundry,” Agnes answered.
“But what’s this riddle about a boy-pain tree in ‘glarden,’ by which, I suppose, he means ‘garden’?” asked Hal.
“That is a puzzler—boy-pain tree,” mused Neale. “I guess we’d better take it for granted that Hop Wong has a gone crazy and let it go at that.”
“No!” exclaimed Luke. “I’m beginning to understand it. You have an apple tree in your garden, haven’t you?” he asked Ruth.
“You ought to know—you and Ruth have sat under it often enough!” chuckled Agnes.
“That will do, Aggie. This may be serious,” said Ruth rebukingly, but in a quiet voice. “Yes, there is an apple tree,” she went on.