“O Aunt Sallie,” pleaded Grace, “we shall rest well enough when we are back in sleepy old Kingsbridge. There is too much doing in Newport. And, you know, we’ve only about a week longer to stay. What a wonderful time we have had!”
“Let’s see what we have ahead of us,” pondered Mollie. “The only especially big things we know about are the tennis tourney and the ball after it. Then Miss Ruth Stuart and Mr. Hugh Post are to win a silver cup, in order to spread more luster upon the reputation of the automobile girls at Newport. Bab helped pull Ruth out of an abyss! The two girls held up a burglar! Ruth is a famous tennis champion! Only you and I are no good, Grace. What can we do for our country?” finished Mollie.
“Nothing at all, dear!” laughed Miss Sallie, and the rest of the party. “Much as I admire these two clever lassies, I am very glad to have my other two girls of a more peaceful and quiet variety, or my hair would certainly turn whiter than it is now, if that were possible.” Miss Stuart touched her snow-white hair, which was very handsome with her delicate skin and bright color.
“Now I insist,” she said, “that you girls have a quiet day if you are going out again this evening.”
“May I have a row on the bay with Ralph?” asked Barbara. “Have you forgotten, Ralph, that you invited me several days ago?”
“I am sorry, Barbara,” Ralph answered, quietly, “but I had forgotten it. If you will excuse me, I have something else on hand for today that I must attend to. Perhaps you will go with me some other time,” he proposed, without any enthusiasm.
“All right, Ralph,” Bab nodded. “Of course, I do not mind. We did not have a real engagement, anyway.” “He won’t let me make up with him,” Bab thought. “I wonder why he is so angry?”
At five o’clock Barbara came down on the veranda, dressed for the evening. She spied Ralph walking alone down the garden path, which was arched with trellises of crimson and pink rambler roses. There were several seats along the walk, and it had formed a favorite retreat for the girls ever since they had arrived at Mrs. Ewing’s home.
Perhaps another girl than Barbara would not have tried again to make friends with Ralph, after his refusal to take her boating in the morning; but Bab was so open-hearted and sincere that she could not bear a misunderstanding. She was fond of Ralph, he had been kind to her, and his manner toward her had changed so suddenly that she felt she must have done something to wound him. Bab did offend people, sometimes, with her quick speeches and thoughtlessness, but she was always ready to say she was wrong and to make amends.
“Ralph!” she called. “Ralph!” The boy was obliged to stop and turn round, as Barbara was hurrying after him.