“Oh, I only just wanted to know. I’m a bit that way myself. My mother has a very old brooch that I gave her. I mean it was old when I came across it and bought it. I’ll borrow it some day and let you see it.”
Ruth murmured a polite rejoinder, scarcely knowing what she did say, and then, as one of the lake steamers approached rather dangerously close to the launch, there was a moment of excitement aboard both craft, for Pierce, who should have been steering, had neglected it for the agreeable task of being polite to Mabel Harrison.
But nothing more than a scare resulted. When matters had quieted down, the talk turned into another channel, and Ruth was glad to keep it there.
The topic of the brooch, she thought, was a rather dangerous one for her, since she wanted to keep from her friends, and especially from Tom and her folks, the knowledge of the missing pin. She was hoping against hope that it would be found. She wondered what Boswell meant by his reference, but did not dare ask him.
The ride was a pleasant one, though the girls—all of them—felt that they had, perhaps, been just a bit mean toward their boy chums. Still, as Madge had said, Tom and his friends did have practice.
“We better go back now,” said Ruth, after a bit. “It has been delightful, though.”
“And the engine didn’t break down once,” added Helen.
“Oh I don’t get things that break,” spoke Boswell, with an air of pride. “But you don’t want to go in so soon; do you?”
“We must,” insisted Madge, and, rather against their wishes, the boys turned back.
As Fate would have it, the new launch got to the Boswell dock just as the craft containing Tom and his chums hove in sight. Their wheezy boat puffed slowly along, and as it was steered in toward the dock they had improvised near their tent, the boys saw Boswell and his chum helping the girls out. Then Boswell walked alongside Ruth, seeming to be in earnest conversation with her.