Margaret Vandercook

“ Except for the year spent at the Ranch and the winter at the hospital in New York with Jack, Ruth had never known anything outside the narrow circle of a Vermont village life. Not that a village does not furnish almost all there is to learn of human nature, but that she had shut herself in from most of it. The freedom of the wonderful ranch life, the contact and friendship with Jim Colter, which for a while had looked like something more than friendship, had widened the little Vermont school teacher's horizon. ”

“ This trip abroad might mean more to her than to any one of the other four girls. In spite of her lameness, which was never apparent except when she was greatly fatigued, Jack was tall—five feet seven inches—and held her shoulders with the erectness of other days. Slender, Jack would always be, but not thin, for sixteen years of outdoor life had given her too fine a beginning.
In each person's atmosphere or aura, if you prefer to call it so, there is usually a suggestion of some one distinctive quality, some characteristic that shows above all others. With Jacqueline Ralston it was purity. ”

“ Who knows if the Princess takes a truly fancy to us she may do something thrilling for us when we get to Rome. Ask us to a court ball perhaps!" Jean laughed at the absurdity of her suggestion.
But Jack frowned a little. She was grateful to the stranger for her interest and former kindness to them; yet she rather resented the air of mystery and seclusion surrounding her and her haughty attitude toward the other passengers. A princess might of course be different from other human beings; Jack felt she had no way of knowing. ”

“ Jean was dancing around Frieda as though she had been in reality a butterfly. Ruth, Jack and Olive would not allow the maids to take off their cloaks in order to give her their undivided attention.
"Frieda is the star of us all, isn't she?" Jack declared, since the spoiling of her small sister was a sin upon which the entire ranch party agreed. Unwrapping a round gold bowl, she then handed it to her. "Frieda represents the lovely goddess, Hebe, who served nectar and ambrosia to the high gods on Mount Olympus," she explained. ”

“ And as she happened to be the person whom Jean had most admired since coming aboard the Martha Washington, it seeming annoying to be the subject of her smiles. However, Jean should not have been offended, for her sallies had awakened the first animation in the young woman's face since the hour of their sailing. Until recently she had been standing in a listless attitude within a few feet of the Ranch girls, apparently uninterested in anything in the world. In her slender arms she carried what looked like an entire tree of American Beauty roses. ”

“ Only a few persons actually have kinship with nature, and they have usually spent their youth in the real country, in big, open, unpeopled spaces as Jacqueline Ralston had.
This time she smiled more shyly. "I thought you were an Englishman—a soldier." Jack hesitated. She did not think that a few words of conversation with a stranger, who had been kind to her, made any difference, but it would not do to talk on indefinitely.
Instantly, as though divining her thought, the man's hat was lifted, and he moved a few paces away. ”

“ However, his first words were as unfortunate as Jean's had been.
"I never could have dreamed it would be necessary for me to tell you all this, Jack," he began. "I never have thought of you except as a child—well, not a child exactly, but a jolly, sensible kind of a girl. And now, oh, it is too absurd to find you thinking you have a liking for a man like Bob Madden! He is more or less of a rascal, you know," Frank blurted with the dreadful English directness which the Ranch girls had used to like in him. ”

“ Olive exclaimed, in a rather shaky voice, slipping her hand inside Jack's and giving it a gentle squeeze. She wished to assure herself of the reality of the fairy world about her and also to receive strength for the coming ordeal from the sense of Jack's presence. For never, for an instant, had these two friends swerved in their devotion to each other, the one always finding in the other just the qualities she herself lacked.
Jack laughed. "Jean, you must remember, is never afraid of any one and is the only truly society person among us. ”

“ She did not feel in the mood for talking tonight. The world was too beautiful and too strange. Here was she, Jacqueline Ralston, a girl raised on a ranch in far-off Wyoming, in the ancient city of Rome. And Captain Madden, [140] the friend near her, why should a man so much older and wiser and with so great a knowledge of the world that even Rome itself did not seem unfamiliar to him, feel an interest in her? She was neither beautiful nor clever like Olive and Jean. Yet Jack, though not twenty, was woman enough to realize that Captain Madden liked her best. ”

“ Jack had a look of purity and faithfulness that sometimes made older persons watch her with a kind of wistful anxiety. Would life ever make her lose her faith in her ideals and in the few persons to whom she would give her undivided love?
The entrance to the Prince Colonna's estate was through a long avenue of magnolia trees so that the night air was heavy with their fragrance. As there were several hundred guests driving into the grounds at nearly the same time, the Ranch girls' carriage was compelled to move slowly. And for this they and Ruth were devoutly thankful. ”

“ Afterwards an evening came while Jean was away at the Princess' villa when the Ranch girls' chaperon had her first awakening. The incident was a slight one in itself, yet aroused great uneasiness.
Almost every pilgrim who makes his way to Rome has the desire to see its ancient ruins by moonlight. And this had been Olive's wish ever since their arrival in the eternal city. Her suggestion was that some night they drive around the broken walls of the Coliseum and afterwards wander about inside the Forum Romanum. Surely in the moonlight it would be easier to forget the modern world! ”

“ But before Ruth could answer Jean had almost forcibly pulled off her cousin's wrap. "If you are not ill, Jack dear, how can you be so absurd! If it were Olive now who suddenly had an attack of stage fright we might forgive her. But you! Why you have never been afraid of people or of things in your life. Besides you will only have to speak to the Princess and the Prince Colonna. We won't know any one else except Captain Madden and—perhaps a few other persons. The others we can just enjoy seeing." During her speech Jean had tried to catch her cousin's expression. ”

“ For in the first place Ruth positively declined to be present at the entertainment unless she were permitted to appear in a regulation evening dress. For Ruth would always be a Puritan at heart and the thought of arraying herself as a Pagan goddess, or even as an humbler heroine, actually made the cold shivers run up and down her back. To Ruth the Princess' idea seemed fantastic and absurd. Nevertheless, she did not wish to spoil the Ranch girls' pleasure, and was in reality more deeply anxious than any one of them that they should make as beautiful an impression as possible. ”

“ I am not a good soldier in times of peace. [79] When the Boer war was over, I wanted to be where there was still fighting to be done. My country was weary of war and so I joined the Russians in their war with Japan."
Jack shyly extended her hand. "That is all right, Captain Madden," she replied. "I know Ruth and Olive think it dreadful for me to be interested in fighting. Of course I hope there may never be any more great wars, but—" and here Jack laughed at herself, "to save my life I can't help being interested in battles and heroes who fight on against losing odds. ”

“ Psyche is the Greek name for soul and a butterfly the ancient emblem of the soul. Somehow you don't look like yourself tonight, Jean," here Jack hesitated; "you are like a spirit. Please don't be finding your fate too soon and so flying away from us."
But although Jean blushed and seemed for half a second troubled by her cousin's suggestion, she shook her head and began helping Frieda remove her wraps. When the blue cloak and the blue veil were thrown aside, the youngest of the Ranch girls stepped into the center of the room. ”

“ Nevertheless, when Ruth, and therefore the four Ranch girls, positively refused to leave without him, Jim was compelled to give in. And now, when there was no opportunity for the overseer of the Rainbow ranch to be with Ruth, he and Lord Kent were inseparable. The two men were as unlike as any two extremes could be, and yet they were alike in that each man was absolutely himself. Lord Kent represented all that money, education and a high position can do; Jim only what good sense, a strong heart and energy can accomplish. ”

“ I know how you must feel toward me, how you must feel that I have utterly failed in my duty toward Jack, and how nearly I have come to allowing her to wreck her life. There is nothing that you can think about me that I do not about myself. Of course, you know, I erred through ignorance, and yet ignorance is no excuse. A woman with so little knowledge, so little tact—" Ruth's face was crimsoning all over and she had to put her handkerchief to her eyes to wipe away her tears.
Jim had stepped forward and stood towering above her so that he had to bend his handsome head to see into her face. ”

“ Jacqueline had taken off her riding hat and was adjusting the heavy braids of her hair, which had become loosened by her plunge.
"I say, Jack, you do look awfully fit these days. You turned a bit pale a few moments ago, but now your color is as good as ever. I was afraid you might feel kind of used up. It was like you to start talking about the possible loss of a horse when you might have been smashed up," Frank began.
Jack laughed rather faintly. "Oh, I had a bad moment too," she confessed. "What is the use of pretending to be a heroine when it is not true? ”

“ You have been awfully good treating me so kind and polite whenever you have to meet me around with the girls. I've done my best not to worry you any more'n I could help."
"Oh, Mr. Colter, oh Jim," Ruth faltered, [207] "please don't say a cruel thing like that to me. Haven't you forgiven me after almost three years? You must have known that in a few months, as soon as I got away from the ranch, I realized how narrow and foolish and blind I had been. You are a good man; you are the bravest, kindest, most forgiving in the whole world. ”

“ Jim did look white as a ghost as he came out into the chancel, supported by Frank, to wait for Ruth. The English vested choir was chanting, "Oh, Perfect Love;" the atmosphere of the church was heavy with the odor of flowers; the light through the old stained glass windows shone dimly golden.
There was a moment when Jim Colter had a strange and incongruous sensation. What a queer setting this for his wedding! Surely he would have felt more at home under a [236] group of tall pines somewhere out in his western plains or under the roof of one of their homely neighborhood churches. ”

“ Nothing seems more improbable than that any one whom we know and love can suddenly vanish without leaving a trace of his or her whereabouts. Yet when this actually does take place, no one has a sensible suggestion to make. All is confusion, uncertainty and at last despair.
However, neither Ruth nor any one of the three Ranch girls were making any noise, so that they suddenly became aware of a movement down the short hall leading to Ruth's room. ”

“ At this moment, however, Ruth Drew, still wearing her hat and coat, came hurrying into the room. She had just seen Jean and knew what had passed between Frank and the two girls.
Ruth put her arms around Jack. "It is my fault, dear, and I shall never forgive myself. I have been blind and a coward straight through. You are too young to know anything of the world and have been left too much to your own judgment. I ought to have stopped this acquaintance at once and I ought to have talked to you myself this afternoon instead of having Jean do it. ”

“ But until today the calm, gentle, even roll of the waves at a sufficient distance had not been so unlike the far-off rippling of the prairie fields. Now, with the approach of a storm, with the blackness, everything seemed different.
The three girls had been wrapped in their steamer rugs sitting quietly in their chairs, Jack supposing that Olive and Jean were as interested in the storm as she was.
Suddenly Jean sighed. "The face of the waters gets a bit tiresome after a while, don't you think so?" she asked. "Remember the Princess asked us to come and have tea with her some afternoon. ”

“ I know it isn't good taste to talk about people, Ruth dear, when one has been visiting them, so please don't reproach me. But I could not help seeing while I was the Princess' guest that, without knowing it, she has been a kind of Atalanta. Only in the race for happiness the golden apple she stopped to pick up was not money. She had wealth enough, but it was a title and a great position. The Prince may be very nice. I did not learn to know him very well, but certainly he seemed more like his wife's father than her husband. How can a girl ever marry a man twice as old as she is? ”

“ Ruth replied so emphatically that her companion laughed. "If a man loves a woman and she loves him, that is the end of it. The third person I am afraid is the one that must suffer. For can't you see that she must suffer any way if her affection is not returned!" [240]
There was no thought in Ruth's mind at the present moment that Jack's words had any special bearing on her own case. For although Ruth and Jim had suspected Frank's feeling for Jack, their imaginations had gone no further. ”