“I certainly have no idea of going for a walk,” replied Miss Stuart, “after what I’ve been through with these last two days. Nor do I want you to go far, either, or I shall be terribly uneasy.”
But Miss Sallie was not really uneasy. It was one of those enchanting mornings when the mind is not troubled with unpleasant feelings. Perhaps the Gypsies had bewitched her. At any rate she sat back comfortably among the cushions and rugs, with her writing tablet, the new magazines and the latest novel all close at hand, and watched the girls until they disappeared down the leafy aisles of the forest. How charming their voices sounded in the distance! How sweet was the sound of their young laughter! Miss Stuart closed her eyes contentedly. The spell of the place was upon her, and she fell asleep before she had opened a single magazine or cut one leaf of the new novel.
In the meantime, the four girls, led by Zerlina and her dog, were following the little stream in its capricious windings through the forest.
A squirrel darted in front of them with a flash of gray and jumped to the limb of a tree.
Zerlina made a sign for the girls to be silent. Then speaking to her dog in her own language, he sat down immediately on his haunches and never moved a muscle until she spoke to him again. She walked slowly toward the tree, where the squirrel sat watching them uneasily. A few feet off she paused and gave a shrill, peculiar whistle. The squirrel pricked up his ears and cocked his head on one side. Zerlina whistled again and held out her hand. The charm was complete. Down the limb he crept until he reached the ground, paused again, surveyed the scene with his little black eyes, and with one leap, settled himself on her shoulder.
“Oh!” cried the impulsive Ruth and the spell was broken.
Away scampered the frightened little animal.
“How wonderful!” exclaimed the others as they gathered around Zerlina, who held herself with a sort of proud reserve as they plied her with questions.
“It is because I have lived in the woods so much of the time,” she explained. “One makes friends with animals when one has no other friends.”
“Zerlina,” said Ruth, “let me be your friend.”