“Nonsense!” Ruth said, and she seemed to speak more sharply than the occasion warranted.  “Just as if Flossy Shipley couldn’t have anything to say to two boys but what she found in the Bible!  Little she knows what is in it, for that matter.  I suppose she wandered out that way because she did not know what else to do with herself, and talked to the boys by way of amusement.  She has often amused herself in that way, I am sure.”

“Ah, yes; but these specimens were rather too youthful and dirty for that sort of amusement, and she had a Bible in her lap.”

“What of that!  Bibles are as common as leaves here.  I found two lying on the seat which I took this morning.  People seem to think the art of stealing has not found its way here.”

“Flossy is changed,” interrupted Marion.  “The mouse is certainly different from what I ever saw her before; she seems so quiet and self-sustained.  I thought she was bored.  Why, I expected her to hail a trip to her dear Saratoga with absolute delight!  She belongs to just the class of people who would find the intellectual element here too strong for her, and would have to flutter off in that direction in self-defense.  Ruthie, you have the temper of an angel not to fly out at me for bringing in Saratoga every few minutes.  It isn’t with ’malice aforethought,’ I assure you.  I forget your projected scheme whenever I speak of it; but you must allow me to be astonished over Flossy’s refusal to go with you.  Something has come over the mousie that is not explainable by any of the laws of science with which I am acquainted.”

“Don’t trouble yourself to apologize, I beg.  I hope you do not think I am so foolish as to care anything about your hints as to Saratoga.  Of course I recognize my right in this world to be governed by my own tastes and inclinations.  I have enjoyed that privilege too long to be disturbed by trifles.”  This from Ruth; but I shall have to admit that it was very stiffly spoken, and if she had but known it, indicated that she did care a great deal.  In truth she was very sore over her position and her plans.  She who had prided herself on her intellectuality bored to the very point of leaving, and Flossy, who had been remarkable for nothing but flutter and fashion, actually so interested that she could not be coaxed into going away!  What was it that interested her?  That was the question which interested and puzzled Ruth.  She studied over it during all the time that Marion and Eurie were chatting about the morning service.

Flossy was different; there was no shutting one’s eyes to that fact.  The truth was that she had suddenly seemed to have little in common with her own party.  She certainly said little to them; she made no complaints as to inconveniences, even when they amounted to positive annoyances with the rest of the party; she had given up afternoon toilets altogether, and in fact the subject of dress seemed to be one that had suddenly sunken into such insignificance as to cease to claim her thoughts at all.