RUTH'S ATTITUDE
BY the next morning the storm had abated, and for the rest of that day
and evening Captain Madden devoted the greater part of his time to
making the acquaintance of the Ranch girls' chaperon. More than this he
accomplished, for he inspired in Ruth Drew a genuine admiration and
liking. And while she and the older man talked together Jack usually sat
quietly by listening to everything that was said.
In all their lives Ruth and Jack had never known anyone like this
Captain Madden. Here was a man who had traveled all over the world, who
had fought in the Boer war and more recently in Mexico and had hunted
big game in Africa. Indeed he had done most of the things and seen most
of the people that had before appeared to them like events and figures
to be known only through books. And yet he was modest, never once
picturing himself as a hero or even a particularly important person,
although there were times when both Ruth and Jack felt that he was being
hardly fair to himself. And on those occasions, if the man observed any
change in the young girl's face, there was no sign on his part. Captain
Madden was not particularly good-looking, but had unusually charming
manners and the soldierly carriage that can not fail to win admiration.
Then, as he was forty years old and had attracted considerable notice on
board, it was something for the Rainbow Ranch party to be singled out
for his attention.
Frankly, however, Frieda Ralston thought her sister's rescuer dreadfully
elderly and a bore. Olive and Jean, although agreeing to her first
conclusion, could not accept the second. Nevertheless neither of the two
girls from the beginning of their association liked Captain Madden
particularly well. They both wondered why Ruth and Jack should find him
so agreeable. Then after the passing of another twenty-four hours, there
was not so much a question of Ruth's liking, as of Jack's enjoying
talking to a stranger for hours and hours.
Actually before the Martha Washington had sighted Gibraltar Jean had
already complained to their chaperon of Jack's intimacy with a
stranger, besides almost quarreling with her cousin.
It was true that Peter Drummond and Jack had been and were specially
devoted friends and Peter was as old as their new ship acquaintance. But
then Peter had always seemed different somehow, and his fancy for Jack
had been largely explained by her likeness to Jessica Hunt. For while
Jessica was still teaching at Primrose Hall and no word had been spoken
of an engagement between her and Mr. Drummond, the Ranch girls were
still convinced that something would develop between them later on.
To Jean's grumblings that Jack was making herself conspicuous by seeming
to prefer Captain Madden to any other one of their new friends on the
ship Ruth explained that it was but natural. For while Jean and Olive
and Frieda could walk endless miles with anybody who happened to please
their fancy at the moment, Jack could only take short walks now and then
and with some one who understood her difficulty. And while they danced
every afternoon and evening in the saloon, or pitched quoits for hours
on deck, Jack's only chance for amusement lay in conversation. It was
only because Captain Madden knew more and talked better than their other
new friends that Jack seemed to prefer his society. Since his discovery
of her old accident he had shown her every consideration.
Of course if Captain Madden had had no introduction to the Ranch girls
and their chaperon, save that of his having assisted Jack at a difficult
moment, Ruth Drew would never have permitted their acquaintance to have
taken so intimate a tone in a few days. However, half an hour after his
first meeting with her, the mystery of his having appeared to guess
Jacqueline Ralston's name in his first conversation with her had been
explained.
In this world it is perfectly useless to marvel over the coming together
of persons in the most unlikely places, who happen to know exactly the
same people that we do, and yet we will always go on exclaiming and
being tremendously surprised by this fact.
Not only was Captain Madden intimately acquainted with the Ranch girls'
old friend, Frank Kent, but actually was a cousin of his. Although, as
he confessed, he belonged to the Irish and therefore the poor branch of
the Kent family. It was not until Frank had returned to England, after
spending the winter at the Norton place next the Rainbow Ranch, that
Captain Madden had made up his mind to come to America and try his own
fortune in the west.
And there could be no question of the truth of his history, since he
chanced to have a photograph of the Kent house in Surrey which Frank had
often in times past shown to Jack. Besides he knew the names and
characters of every member of Frank's immediate family. Moreover, he had
remembered Frank's description of the Rainbow Ranch, Jack's and Frieda's
names and Jean Bruce's and a little something of their discovery of
Olive. He had even heard of Jack's and Frank's finding of the first gold
in Rainbow Creek. And on seeing a group of these same names printed
together on the ship's sailing list, Frank's story had come back to him
and he had then guessed that Jack was the oldest of the girls and must
be Miss Ralston.
As a matter of course it then followed that this kinship with Frank Kent
proved a bond between Captain Madden and the ranch party, but more
especially with Jacqueline Ralston, who had been Frank's most intimate
friend.
For nearly two years there had been no meeting between Frank and the
girls, not since his sailing for home, when Jack was taken to the New
York hospital.
Nevertheless their former intimacy had largely continued, Frank often
writing to Ruth and the four girls. Perhaps Jack had heard oftener than
the others because of her illness; shortly before their sailing Frank
had written to ask if he might join the Rainbow Ranch party in Italy.
But to Jack's letter begging him to wait until their coming to England
in May there had been no time as yet for a reply.
It was Olive's argument in the beginning that Jack's pleasure in Captain
Madden's society was due to her past fondness for Frank. But from the
first Jean's point of view was otherwise.
It may have been caused by the old temperamental differences between
Jean and her cousin. Fond as they would always be of one another, never
had they been able to agree on liking the same people or things. So to
Jean's suggestion that she could see nothing in Captain Madden to make
Jack like to talk to him so much, Jack had replied that she could see
nothing in Jean's American-Italian princess to make Jean wish to follow
after her like an admiring shadow. At least Captain Madden had had
exciting experiences that must always interest a girl of Jacqueline
Ralston's disposition. She did not mind his age, for how could he have
known all that he did had he been younger? Jack, it must be remembered,
had been brought up on a ranch, had ridden horseback, hunted, fished and
done most things that usually appeal to a boy more than a girl. She
could not help admiring physical bravery beyond anything else. If the
time of her illness had taught her something of the value of spiritual
courage, there was still a great deal that she had yet to learn. Captain
Madden had fought with Lord Roberts in South Africa, and had lately been
with the Mexicans under Madero. What more reasonable than that the
stories he was able to tell should be deeply entertaining to Jack, who,
after two years of being shut up indoors, was more than ever in love
with the thought of an active life?
And Jean's Princess would of course appeal to her, since her ideal of
life and romance had always been of so different a kind.
To her it seemed wonderful almost past belief that a princess should
have taken a fancy to four inconspicuous American girls. Jean did not
say or even think that this liking was more for her than for the others,
but this was plain enough to them. Every day the Princess invited Jean
alone to her stateroom for a little talk, and sometimes would walk about
for hours on the deck with her. Unlike Captain Madden in frankness, she
had told Jean little of herself. Nevertheless in some unexplained
fashion the young girl had guessed that in spite of wealth, beauty and
position, her Princess Beatrice was not particularly happy. Perhaps her
husband was the trouble! Only once or twice had she mentioned the
Prince's name, and that in such a casual fashion that it was impossible
to get any real notion of him. Jean was not without the hope of having
her curiosity gratified later on, however, since in an idle moment (and
perhaps without really meaning it) the Princess had asked Jean to come
and bring her cousins and friends to see her when they reached Rome.
Nobody except Olive, who was always sympathetic with one's wishes and
dreams, believed that this invitation meant anything serious.
Nevertheless Jean cherished the hope of being a guest in a real palace
some day.
Although the Princess Colonna seemed to have nothing to do with anybody
aboard the Martha Washington, by an odd coincidence she appeared to have
previously met Captain Madden. Probably their acquaintance was a slight
one, for they only bowed in passing and had never been seen talking to
each other. Indeed, Jean's new friend was in a measure responsible for
her prejudice against Jack's. She had hinted several times in a veiled
fashion that the girls must remember not to become too intimate with
strangers in traveling abroad. There was no direct reference to Captain
Madden. So when Jean mentioned her own impression of the Princess'
meaning to her cousin, Jack naturally suggested that the Princess was
equally a stranger and so equally to be avoided.
However, it must not be supposed that this question of new friendships
had become a really serious one during the early part of their ocean
voyage. For after nine days, when the Martha Washington was to make her
first stop at Gibraltar, the girls were equally delighted at the
prospect of being shown over the great English fort by a British army
officer. Also Captain Madden agreed to have any other friends that Ruth
or the Ranch girls desired to join their party. And at Ruth's invitation
the Princess Colonna consented to be one of them.