A GREAT TEMPTATION
About this time Ruth suffered a great temptation. She was so little
given to covetousness or envy, that other girls of her class might have
dresses, jewelry, and many other things dear to girlish hearts, without
Ruth's being at all disturbed.
Her one great, overmastering passion was for Independence! She envied
none of her mates anything but _that_.
Now she fell under temptation, and this was the way of it: Ruth belonged
to the picked class that the physical instructor had chosen for
exhibition gymnasium work at the mid-winter entertainment. This year
there were to be important visitors at the school, and Mrs. Tellingham
wished to make the occasion a more than ordinarily successful
entertainment.
The class of twenty girls, selected from the best of the seniors and
juniors, was to drill, dance, and go through other gymnastic exercises.
And it was agreed among them that each girl should have a brand new
costume, although this was no suggestion of either the teacher or Mrs.
Tellingham.
The class invented this idea itself. It was agreed--nineteen in favor,
at least--to appear at the entertainment in a brand new outfit. And how
could Ruth say "No?"
Every girl in the class but herself had only to write home for money and
order the uniform. As it chanced, Ruth had plenty of money to pay for a
costume. Helen, who was one of the number, knew Ruth had that fifty
dollars in gold that Uncle Jabez had given the girl of the Red Mill the
day she left home.
This was the temptation: Ruth had promised herself never to use that
money. She had a small sum left from her vacation money, and she was
making that do for incidentals, until she could earn more in some way.
She was already tutoring both Nettie Parsons and Ann Hicks in their more
advanced textbooks, and they were paying her small sums for this help.
But she could not earn enough in this way--nor in any other--to buy the
new gymnasium costume. And there were the five ten-dollar gold pieces
lying in a little jeweler's box in the bottom of her trunk.
She went with Helen to the dressmaker in Lumberton, when Helen ordered
_her_ new costume. "Why don't you let her fit you now, too, Ruth?"
demanded Miss Cameron.
"Oh, there is plenty of time. Let us see first how well she makes
yours," Ruth returned, with a forced laugh.
She knew she could not wear her usual costume with the picked class
without looking odd. The girls had decided on crimson trimming on the
blue skirt and blouse, instead of the regulation white. Nineteen girls
with crimson bands and one with white--and that soiled!--would look odd
enough.
It would fairly spoil the picture, Ruth knew. She was worried because of
this, for she did not want to make her mates look ridiculous. Never had
Ruth Fielding been so uncertain about any question since she had been
old enough to decide for herself.
She was really so troubled that her recitation marks were not as high as
they should have been. The teachers began to question her, for Ruth
Fielding's course at Briarwood had been a triumphant one from the start!
"You are not ill, Miss Fielding?" asked Miss Gould. "I am surprised to
find that you are going below your past averages. What is the matter?"
"I am sure I do not know, Miss Gould," declared Ruth. Yet she feared
that the reply was not strictly truthful. She _did_ know; night and day
she was worrying about the new gymnasium costume.
Should she order one, or should she not? Could she buy a little of the
crimson ribbon and put it on her old uniform and thus pass muster? What
would the girls say, if she did that?
And what would they say if she appeared at the exhibition in her old
costume? Was she purely selfish in trying to get out of buying the new
dress? Was her reason for not wishing to break into that roll of coin a
bad one, after all?
Those questions kept coming to Ruth Fielding, and got between her and
her books. Mrs. Tellingham called her into the office early in October
and pointed out to her that, unless her averages increased, her standing
in her class would be greatly changed.
"You are doing no outside work, Miss Fielding?" inquired the principal.
"No, Ma'am."
"I hear you are helping two of the other girls--in a perfectly
legitimate way, of course. It is not taking too much out of you?"
"Oh, no, dear Mrs. Tellingham!" cried Ruth, fearful that her tutoring
would be forbidden.
"You are not working too hard in the gym.?"
"I do not think so," stammered Ruth.
"And _this_ is ridiculous," said Mrs. Tellingham, with a smile. "I do
not think there is a more robust looking girl in my school. But, there
must be something."
"I suppose so," murmured Ruth.
"But you do not know what it is? If you do, tell me."
"I study just as hard, Mrs. Tellingham," said Ruth, non-committally. "I
spend quite as much thought over my books. Really, I think I shall do
better again."
"I hope so. I do not want to see any bright girl like you fall behind.
There is always some reason for such changes, but sometimes we teachers
have hard work to get at it. I want all my girls to have confidence in
me and to tell me if anything goes wrong with them."
"Yes, Ma'am," said Ruth, guiltily.
But she could not take the principal of Briarwood Hall into her
confidence--she positively could _not_ do it! How ridiculous it would
seem to the dignified Mrs. Grace Tellingham that she did not dip into
the money her uncle had given her to buy that costume!
And she was losing her standing, and worrying everybody who cared,
because of this temptation. She knew she was doing wrong in falling
behind in her studies.
Surely _that_ was not the way to give Uncle Jabez the best return
possible for his investment. If she fell back in her books this year,
Ruth knew she would never be able to make it up. She must either be
prepared for college half a year later, or skip some work that would be
found wanting at a later time--would be a thorn in her flesh, indeed,
for the remainder of her school life.
One hour Ruth told herself that she would be decisive--she would be
brave--she would not move in her determination to keep the fifty dollars
intact. And then, the next hour, her heart would sink, as she looked
forward to what would be said and thought by her companions when the
exhibition day came around and she appeared in her old suit.
She thought seriously of trying to withdraw in season from the
exhibition class. But unfortunately she could not easily do that. The
instructor had selected the twenty girls herself, and what excuse--what
honest excuse--could Ruth give for demanding her release?
"Oh, dear me!" she thought, tossing on her pillow at night, "if I could
only be the means of returning that necklace to Mrs. Parsons! My
troubles would all be over for sure.
"Mr. Cameron's detectives will _never_ find that old Queen Zelaya, but I
bet Roberto knows just where she has gone for the winter."
With this in mind she tried again and again to get some information out
of Tony Foyle's new helper. Roberto always had a smile for her, and
seemed willing enough to try to make signs about anything and everything
but his tribe and his grandmother.
And so smart was he that his gestures were very understandable indeed,
when he wished to give information about the new work that he loved, and
about the fall flowers and bulbs which were being taken up for storage
in the conservatory against the cold of winter.
It seemed strange--indeed, it made Ruth suspicious--that Roberto could
convey his meaning so easily by gesture when the subject was not one
regarding the missing Gypsies!
Again and again the thought came to the girl that the Gypsy boy was
actually "playing possum." Knowing, perhaps, that he would be questioned
about his grandmother, and not wishing to give information about her or
her tribe, he had decided to become dumb.
Yet, if this was so, how wonderfully well he did it! Even the doctor at
the hospital could not understand the case.
Roberto's condition certainly was puzzling. And Ruth believed that he
held the clew to the whereabouts of Queen Zelaya and the pearl necklace.
That being the case, he stood between Ruth and that great reward which
the girl of the Red Mill was so anxious to win.