“No; quarter,” answered Tom.
“I hope to meet him soon,” went on Madge. “Ruth has promised—— Oh, here she is now,” she interrupted herself to say. “Come in, Ruth, dear. Here is a sort of forty-second cousin of mine, with a message about your brother.”
Tom looked up, to see a tall, dark, handsome girl entering the room. Behind her came a rather stout, light-haired maiden, with laughing blue eyes.
“A message from my brother!” exclaimed Ruth, and she looked at Tom in a manner that made his heart beat rather faster than usual.
“Yes, Ruth,” went on Madge; “but nothing serious. I’m glad you came down, too, Sarah, dear. I want you to meet my cousin.”
“I brought Sarah because I was afraid I didn’t get your pipe message just right,” explained Ruth. “Did you mean you had company you wanted to share with me, or that there was a letter for me? I couldn’t find the code book.”
“It’s both,” declared Madge with a laugh. “But first let’s get the introductions over with,” and she presented Tom to Ruth, and then to Miss Sarah Warden, her roommate, as well as Ruth’s.
“Phil has often spoken to me about you, Miss Clinton,” said Tom. “In fact, he has your picture in our room. It doesn’t look like you—I mean it doesn’t do you justice—that is—er—I—I mean——”
“Better stop, Tom,” cautioned Madge. “Evidently Ruth has played havoc with you already. You should study more carefully the art of making compliments.”
“Miss Clinton needs no compliments other than unspoken ones,” said Tom, with an elaborate bow.