Dorothy looked at him critically as he emerged from the tent.  There was no mistaking the triumphant light in his eye, and she saw that she must resign herself to defeat.

“Did she give you a good fortune, Uncle Jerry?” inquired Ruth.

“Splendid.  The best in the world,” he answered with such happiness in his voice that Dorothy felt her resentment fading away.  “Now, Miss Japan, let’s go and buy everything there is left,” he added.

Dorothy watched them as they strolled away, and saw Uncle Jerry draw Ruth into a quiet comer, where he told her something that made her clasp her hands and look at him with beaming eyes.

“They haven’t the least idea I’ve guessed,” said Dolly to herself with a sad little shake of the head, “but I’ll show them that a girl can keep a secret even when she hasn’t been asked to.”

CHAPTER XVIII

THOSE RIDICULOUS BOYS

“It’s terribly romantic,” said Ruth with a satisfied sigh.  “She didn’t know he cared anything about her, and he thought she couldn’t care for him because she went away from Chicago without letting him know or leaving him her address.”

“And they’re really engaged?” asked Betty for the third time.  “I can’t believe it.”

It was a warm afternoon in May, and all the girls were out in Mrs. Hamilton’s garden drying their hair after a shampoo.  To the surprise of every one the spring had made good its early promises, and buds and blossoms had hurried forth with quivering eagerness.  The soft breeze which rustled the leaves and played caressingly with the floating locks was as mild as in summer, and the girls felt that pleasant languor which comes with the first warm days.

“Yes, really engaged.  Uncle Jerry wanted to settle it when he first found her here in Glenloch, but she made him wait until he came the second time,” answered Ruth shaking her hair to the breeze which curled it into tendrils.  “I’ve been simply bursting to tell you ever since the entertainment, but I had to wait until Miss Burton said I might.”

“I think it’s funny you didn’t guess.  I felt it in my bones from the first minute I saw him,” said Dorothy.  “And I was perfectly sure of it when I saw him tell you, Ruth.”

“Why, Dolly, you’re a witch!  And you never said a word to any one?” asked Ruth incredulously.

“No.  I didn’t think Miss Burton would want me to.  And I’m so jealous of you that I can’t see straight, because, of course, she’ll have to like you best,” finished Dorothy with a mournful sigh.

“She’ll think you’re a trump when I tell her that you truly guessed and never said a word,” comforted Ruth.  “The only other thing I can do is to offer you a share in Uncle Jerry.”

“You’ll have to divide him in small pieces if you’re going to share him,” said Charlotte.  “Did you ever see anything like the way the boys took to him?”