At this juncture Ruth Stuart came in, having heard Bab's voice as she was passing through the hall.
"Bab! When did you get back?" exclaimed Ruth. "Oh, I beg your pardon," she added, laughingly, as she discovered Olive and Bab engaged in serious conversation. "I see I am intruding."
"Come in, Ruth," answered Olive. "I found Bab crying here. I think Tom must have played pranks on her. Wait until I get my hands on the young man. You say you haven't seen him since you left the passage, Barbara?"
Bab shook her head.
"I shall find him at once," announced Olive, rising and starting for the door.
"Please, please don't scold him," begged Bab. "Really, it isn't that that is the matter with me." But Olive insisted and went on her way in search of the irrepressible Tommy. Ruth stepped over and sat on the edge of the bed, gazing down at Barbara.
"Now, tell me all about it," urged Ruth gently.
"There—there isn't anything to tell," murmured Bab.
"I know what the trouble is. You are homesick," declared Ruth Stuart. "To-morrow we have planned to give you an interesting day. We are going to explore the old place and I am going to take you to the Indian Cemetery. Quite likely some of the same gentlemen who scalped Olive's ancestors are buried out there. Bab, do you love me just the same as you used to?" asked the girl, bending a questioning gaze on Barbara's tear-stained face.
"You ought not to ask me that question, dear," answered Bab. "You know I do. It seems to me that I have known you for ever and ever so many years. Perhaps our friendship began in some other life. Sometimes I think it must have. But you haven't acted quite the same of late. It has seemed to me that you didn't love me as dearly as you used to and the thought has hurt me, oh, so much, Ruth."