“I see you haven’t forgotten me, Mr. Harper.  I am very glad to see you again.”

Ruth looked up in amazement as Uncle Jerry took the white hand in both of his.  “Why, Miss Burton,” he began impetuously, “I—­” and then something made him look up to the hall above where three heads were gazing over the railing with eager curiosity.

“I am more than glad to meet you here,” he continued lamely.  “I—­I had no idea of meeting an old friend.”

“Miss Burton, you never told me that you knew my Uncle Jerry, and I’ve talked about him lots of times,” protested Ruth in an aggrieved voice.

“Well, of course, I supposed your Uncle Jerry was Jeremiah Shirley,” laughed Miss Burton.  “You never told me that Jerry stood for Jerome, nor that his last name wasn’t the same as yours.”

“Why, so I didn’t.  And I suppose all the girls think your name is Jeremiah, and they’re probably sorry for you.  I’ll run up now and get my hat, and bring them down to be properly introduced.”

It seemed only a minute, and a very short one at that, to Jerome Harper, before Ruth came down-stairs again with the girls behind her.  He ventured a little protesting glance at Miss Burton as she stepped into the background, and allowed the chattering girls to absorb him.  Being Ruth’s Uncle Jerry it was plainly his duty to show himself in the best possible light to these, her friends, and he did it in so charming a manner that they all fell in love with him on the spot.

They left the house together, and only Dorothy noticed that Uncle Jerry lingered a little to say good-bye to Miss Burton.  Dorothy usually did notice everything connected with Miss Burton, and just then she had been thinking how pretty she looked in her simple white wool gown, with her fair hair low on her neck and her brown eyes shining.

“What under the sun made you say that some one might be coming to play an important part in Miss Burton’s life, Char?” she said in a low tone to Charlotte as they started off.  “Did you really have a feeling?”

“A feeling?  No, goosey; of course I didn’t.  Why do you ask?”

Dorothy pinched her arm to hush her, and nodded significantly at Uncle Jerry, who was just ahead of them with Betty and Ruth.

Charlotte looked surprised and then scornful.  “I hate to see any one getting up a romance out of nothing,” she whispered almost crossly.  “They’re just old acquaintances, of course.”

But Dorothy knew that Charlotte hadn’t seen Uncle Jerry’s face as he said good-bye.

CHAPTER XVII

UNCLE JERRY

Uncle Jerry stayed only until Monday morning, and his visit seemed so short to Ruth that after he had gone she could hardly believe that it had really happened.  Neither could she quite reconcile herself to the fact that out of that brief time he had taken two whole hours away from his only niece to call on Miss Burton.  Her only consolation was that he had promised to return for the night of the grand entertainment, and he thought it probable that he should be able then to stay a week.