The four girls clasped hands. They could not foresee into what difficulties this compact would lead them.
Tap! tap! Miss Sallie knocked again at the door.
“Go to bed at once; it is very late,” she ordered.
Ruth dreamed that night that the four girls were sitting in a circle with the Countess Sophia von Stolberg. They had hold of one another’s hands. They were repeating their vow about Maud. Suddenly they were interrupted. Monsieur Duval appeared in their midst. The Countess Sophia saw the Frenchman. She gave a cry of terror and fainted.
Ruth awakened with a start. The night was still. The moon shone brightly through the open windows and the air was filled with the perfume of magnolia blossoms.
“I wonder what the Countess Sophia’s history is?” thought Ruth sleepily, as she dropped into slumber once more.
At her villa, looking across the moonlit lake, the beautiful young countess was at that moment writing a letter. It was a long letter, penned in close fine handwriting. When she had finished she slipped the letter into an envelope, which she addressed carefully to “M. Le Comte Frederic de Sonde.”
CHAPTER V
THE DAUGHTER OF MRS. DE LANCEY SMYTHE