“O girls, I have had the most splendiferous time!” cried Bab, bounding into the hotel sitting room. She wore Ruth’s tan colored riding habit and a little brown derby. Her curls were drawn up in a knot at the back of her head. Her brown eyes were sparkling. She pranced into the room, as though she were still on horseback.
“Miss Sallie, I never knew what horseback riding could mean until to-day. Dorothy Morton has lent me a perfect dream of a horse. Its name is Beauty. It is black and slim and has a white star on its nose. My, don’t I wish it were mine! Well, Beauty and I took our hurdles to-day, at the Ambassador’s farm, as though we had been jumping together all our lives. See, here!” Barbara vaulted lightly over a low stool, and stood in the center of the room, brandishing her riding crop.
“Barbara Thurston!” Mollie exclaimed.
“Good gracious!” protested Bab. “I didn’t dream we had a visitor. I am so sorry! I have been practising for the hurdle jumping next week,” Bab ended tamely.
A stout man, with iron gray hair and a kindly expression, smiled at Barbara.
“Oh, don’t mind my presence,” he said. “I have a daughter of my own who is fond of horseback riding.”
“Barbara,” explained Miss Stuart, “this is Doctor Lewis. He has been good enough to come over from the hospital to tell us about Eunice.”
Barbara noticed that Ruth, Grace and Mollie had been listening to the doctor with absorbed attention.
“The Indian girl has asked for her friends several times in the last few days,” the doctor continued, “but she has not been well enough to be permitted to talk. The nurses tell me the child had been most patient. They are much attracted toward her. Now, I think it may do the little girl good to see you. Naki, your guide has explained to me the circumstances of your finding of the child. It is most remarkable. But I wonder if you are really interested in the girl, or whether you are being kind to her, now, only because of her accident?”
“Why do you ask me, doctor?” Miss Stuart inquired quietly.