"It's a shame that ye haven't a real broken bone to work on," laughed
Nora.
"Well, that's a nice thing to say," replied Mollie; "suppose you go and cut yourself, Nora Casey, or break your leg."
After studying for a couple of hours the girls declared that Ethel was a promising pupil. She even learned a poem, "The Psalm of Life," by Longfellow.
CHAPTER XXVI
A LOSS AND A DINNER
"Oh! girls," exclaimed Ethel, "I must get my ring. I left it on the box where I washed dishes," and she ran to the kitchen tent, but there was no ring in sight. "I laid it down here and I emptied the water myself," she almost sobbed. "It was a beautiful ring—a diamond cluster. Grandmamma gave it to me. It was her engagement ring."
Kate now came in and they hunted. The girls looked where the water had been thrown but no sign. They swept the tent and searched thoroughly. Mollie Long went back to where Ethel stood half in tears and reported nothing doing.
"Who was with you in the tent?" she asked.
"No one but you and Nora," replied Ethel.
"You remember, Kate," said Ethel, "it was Grandmamma's engagement ring.
I'd have lost anything I own rather than that."