“No,” laughed Mollie. “I was thinking of the story in it of the salmon and the trout. Have you forgotten it?”
“Of course I have,” admitted Barbara.
Mollie chuckled gleefully. “Our high and mighty cousin, Gladys, reminds me very much of the salmon, who thought the trout a very common fish, and disliked him all the more because he was a relation. Feel like a trout, Bab?”
“Not at all, Mollie; but do hurry and go out on deck. That young freshman, who came down in the automobile with us to amuse you, is wandering around outside, looking frightened to death. You must go and talk to him.”
As Barbara stepped into the big salon, which was fitted up like a library, she saw one of the young men disappear quickly through the open door. Bab went over to their wraps, which they had dropped in a heap on a couch when they boarded the yacht, and selected her own jacket. Ruth’s pocketbook was in full view among their belongings, and Bab covered it over before she went on deck.
Before dinner ended the moon had risen, the pale crescent hanging like a slender jewel in the sky.
Barbara was standing alone, for a second, when Mrs. Erwin approached her.
“Pardon me, dear,” she said, “but did you or your sister see a small pin on the dressing table of the guest room, when you went in there before dinner? I have misplaced a ruby and diamond circle of no great value. I went into the guest chamber this morning, while the maid was cleaning my room, and I thought perhaps I had laid it down in there.”
“No,” said Bab, frowning. It did seem curious how losses were following them! “I didn’t look, although it was probably there. I am most unobservant. I will ask my sister.”
“No, no,” said Mrs. Erwin, hastily; “please don’t. I shall probably find it again. I don’t want Mrs. Post to hear.”