CHAPTER XXII
A GREAT TEMPTATION
About this time Ruth suffered a great temptation. She was so littlegiven to covetousness or envy, that other girls of her class might havedresses, jewelry, and many other things dear to girlish hearts, withoutRuth's being at all disturbed.
Her one great, overmastering passion was for Independence! She enviednone of her mates anything but _that_.
Now she fell under temptation, and this was the way of it: Ruth belongedto the picked class that the physical instructor had chosen forexhibition gymnasium work at the mid-winter entertainment. This yearthere were to be important visitors at the school, and Mrs. Tellinghamwished to make the occasion a more than ordinarily successfulentertainment.
The class of twenty girls, selected from the best of the seniors andjuniors, was to drill, dance, and go through other gymnastic exercises.And it was agreed among them that each girl should have a brand newcostume, 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 howcould Ruth say "No?"
Every girl in the class but herself had only to write home for money andorder the uniform. As it chanced, Ruth had plenty of money to pay for acostume. Helen, who was one of the number, knew Ruth had that fiftydollars in gold that Uncle Jabez had given the girl of the Red Mill theday she left home.
This was the temptation: Ruth had promised herself never to use thatmoney. She had a small sum left from her vacation money, and she wasmaking that do for incidentals, until she could earn more in some way.She was already tutoring both Nettie Parsons and Ann Hicks in their moreadvanced 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 thenew gymnasium costume. And there were the five ten-dollar gold pieceslying 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 makesyours," Ruth returned, with a forced laugh.
She knew she could not wear her usual costume with the picked classwithout looking odd. The girls had decided on crimson trimming on theblue skirt and blouse, instead of the regulation white. Nineteen girlswith crimson bands and one with white--and that soiled!--would look oddenough.
It would fairly spoil the picture, Ruth knew. She was worried because ofthis, for she did not want to make her mates look ridiculous. Never hadRuth Fielding been so uncertain about any question since she had beenold enough to decide for herself.
She was really so troubled that her recitation marks were not as high asthey should have been. The teachers began to question her, for RuthFielding's course at Briarwood had been a triumphant one from the start!
"You are not ill, Miss Fielding?" asked Miss Gould. "I am surprised tofind 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 fearedthat the reply was not strictly truthful. She _did_ know; night and dayshe was worrying about the new gymnasium costume.
Should she order one, or should she not? Could she buy a little of thecrimson ribbon and put it on her old uniform and thus pass muster? Whatwould the girls say, if she did that?
And what would they say if she appeared at the exhibition in her oldcostume? Was she purely selfish in trying to get out of buying the newdress? Was her reason for not wishing to break into that roll of coin abad one, after all?
Those questions kept coming to Ruth Fielding, and got between her andher books. Mrs. Tellingham called her into the office early in Octoberand pointed out to her that, unless her averages increased, her standingin 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 perfectlylegitimate way, of course. It is not taking too much out of you?"
"Oh, no, dear Mrs. Tellingham!" cried Ruth, fearful that her tutoringwould 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 donot think there is a more robust looking girl in my school. But, theremust 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. "Ispend quite as much thought over my books. Really, I think I shall dobetter 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 teachershave hard work to get at it. I want all my girls to have confidence inme 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 herconfidence--she positively could _not_ do it! How ridiculous it wouldseem to the dignified Mrs. Grace Tellingham that she did not dip intothe 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 fallingbehind in her studies.
Surely _that_ was not the way to give Uncle Jabez the best returnpossible 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 beprepared for college half a year later, or skip some work that would befound 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 bebrave--she would not move in her determination to keep the fifty dollarsintact. And then, the next hour, her heart would sink, as she lookedforward to what would be said and thought by her companions when theexhibition day came around and she appeared in her old suit.
She thought seriously of trying to withdraw in season from theexhibition class. But unfortunately she could not easily do that. Theinstructor had selected the twenty girls herself, and what excuse--whathonest excuse--could Ruth give for demanding her release?
"Oh, dear me!" she thought, tossing on her pillow at night, "if I couldonly be the means of returning that necklace to Mrs. Parsons! Mytroubles would all be over for sure.
"Mr. Cameron's detectives will _never_ find that old Queen Zelaya, but Ibet Roberto knows just where she has gone for the winter."
With this in mind she tried again and again to get some information outof Tony Foyle's new helper. Roberto always had a smile for her, andseemed willing enough to try to make signs about anything and everythingbut 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, andabout the fall flowers and bulbs which were being taken up for storagein the conservatory against the cold of winter.
It seemed strange--indeed, it made Ruth suspicious--that Roberto couldconvey his meaning so easily by gesture when the subject was not oneregarding the missing Gypsies!
Again and again the thought came to the girl that the Gypsy boy wasactually "playing possum." Knowing, perhaps, that he would be questionedabout his grandmother, and not wishing to give information about her orher tribe, he had decided to become dumb.
Yet, if this was so, how wonderfully well he did it! Even the doctor atthe hospital could not understand the case.
Roberto's condition certainly was puzzling. And Ruth believed that heheld the clew to the whereabouts of Queen Zelaya and the pearl necklace.That being the case, he stood between Ruth and that great reward whichthe girl of the Red Mill was so anxious to win.