Ruth Fielding At College; or, The Missing Examination Papers

saw that the drifting boat with its single occupant was very near to t

stroke oar, Uncle Jabez was obliged

n't so pertic'lar, is it,

gh to the drifting boat for Ruth to glance over her shoulde

ruffly demand

It's a girl!

iller. "I swanny! The Red Mill is allus l

pulled more vigorously, nevertheless, and t

t at all a commonplace looking girl-lay in the bottom o

nted," Rut

ere! hold steady. I'll take that painter and 'tach it to the boat. We'll tow her in. But lemme tell ye," added Uncle Ja

't conscious!

e Jabez, "I mean th

really worse than he was. When a little girl she had been almost afra

eved she saw the true gold beneath. She was frequently afraid that others would hear and not understa

ed the strange girl, still unconscious into the Red Mill farmho

over to Cheslow for

him?" growled Uncle

said the youth, his black eyes flashin

rtation," Uncle Jabez said drily. "O

scoffed at the

y, findin' herself adrift in that boat. You

s somewhat marred, it was not damaged, and Uncle Jabez was satisfied th

hen Aunt Alvirah had brought her out of her faint. Ruth was particu

was," she explained to Ruth, later. "But all the folks went last night, and this

ghed. "It is here,

ke me across the river, and I sat down and waited, and nobody came, and by and by I fell

or going back to the camp?

season. I'll look for another situation

river and tell them you

ank you

ions, and although Maggie was rese

abez asked that evening after supper, when he an

ea and toast in to the pat

hired help" whom she had seen. She seemed much more refined than one

question. She was very sure that, after all, he would be kind to the strange girl if Maggie act

Red Mill said to the old man, s

ow a hull lot more than you young

rily at him. "I mean that I have discovered something,

d, eyeing her curiously. "I'll tell

Alvirah is g

the miller. "And who a

much worse, and it

rse she's gittin' older; and of course her rheumatiz is bound to grow wuss. Doctors ain't never yet f

nt Alvirah," Ruth said gently, determined to pursue her i

y fault?" ask

shaking her head, and very serious.

uh

do somethin

he old miller, eyeing Ruth much as one strange dog might

her do the work while I am a

s cheeks, and for once gave him a litt

e Ruth," he declared hotly. "Ye air a gr

irah called "the Potter economical streak," she did own to a spark of the Potter

ther tartly, "have I been spen

how to take proper keer of yer own-trap

edge. Some of it comes high, I have

t that brand of l'arnin

tell him that he had not lived, only existed. Bu

tting too old to do

her some when she's a

" Ruth told him, decidedly. "No, Aunt Alvira

snapped the miller. "Work gals d

I believe,"

uh

iver. She has no job, she says, and s

demanded Uncle Jabez, getting

ously. "But you must feed her. And she must be fed well,

e ketchin' disease?"

ied drily. "But unless she is we

ty of milk and egg

laughed outright at him. "Four people at table means a depletion of y

al

," his niece said, firmly, "Otherwise, Aunt Alvirah will

"I couldn't let her go back

n; but Ruth could not see his

ifteen years!" exclaimed the girl. "Do you know wh

' fullish

nd find a tiny cottage for her, and mayb

ly. "You think you have all the money in the world. Tha

s, too. She realized that she could not be independent of the old miller had not chance and kind-hearted

n she was a little, homeless, orphan girl who was "taken in out of charity" by Uncle Jabez. And very keenly an

and in a measure wins old Uncle Jabez's approval. The miller was a very honest man and always paid his debts. Because of something Ruth did for him he felt it to be his duty to pay her first year's tuition at boarding school, where she w

anch, in Montana; at Cliff Island; at Sunrise Farm; with the Gypsies, which was a very important adventure, indeed, for Ruth Fielding. In this eighth story Ruth was able to recover for Mrs. Rachel Parsons, an aunt of one of her

d that she could write a good scenario-a very good scenario, indeed. Mr. Hammond, president of the Alectrion Film Corporation, encouraged her to write others. When the West Dorm

the profits going toward the building fund. "The Heart of a Schoolgirl" was not only locally famous, but was shown all ove

Helen Cameron were taken south by Nettie Parsons and her Aunt Rachel to visit the Merredith plantation in South Carolina. Their adventures were fully related in the sto

y at the Red Mill. She was engaged upon another scenario for Mr. Hammond, in which the beautiful old mill on

ege was quite another thing from looking forward to a term at a preparatory school. Nev

gh a strange coincidence, Ruth looked upon as providential. She urged Uncle Jabez to agree to her proposal, and the very next morning she sounded Maggie upon the subject. The strange girl was sittin

ut the college, aren't

Very pretty,"

college," Ruth explained. "I

eretofore colorless face flushed warmly. "

d, hav

of Bliss Island at one side. She continued to stare at the pictur

lad of the work. And you're very libera

re about you if you brought a doz

t out that "Miss," and Ruth, who was keenly observant,

ateful to Ruth, knowing full well that there must have been a "battle royal" betw

ave deference to the quaint little old housekeeper, and seemed to like Aunt Alvirah ver

rather an odd interest for a girl of her class. But Maggie was rather an odd g