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Ruby at School

Mrs. George A. Paull




  [Frontispiece: "SHE FILLED HER APRON WITH THE CRISP, FRESH COOKIES."]

  RUBY AT SCHOOL

  The Third Volume of the Ruby Series

  BY

  MINNIE E. PAULL

  AUTHOR OF "RUTH AND RUBY," "RUBY'S UPS AND DOWNS," "PRINCE DIMPLE SERIES," "DOROTHY DARLING," ETC.

  BOSTON

  ESTES AND LAURIAT

  PUBLISHERS

  Copyright, 1894,

  BY ESTES AND LAURIAT.

  University Press:

  JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS.

  CHAPTER

  I. RUBY IN MISCHIEF II. CARRYING OUT HER PLAN III. LOOKING FOR RUBY IV. CONSEQUENCES V. BOARDING-SCHOOL VI. PREPARATIONS VII. MORE PREPARATIONS VIII. READY IX. THE JOURNEY X. MAKING FRIENDS XI. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE XII. MAKING ACQUAINTANCE XIII. GETTING SETTLED XIV. SCHOOL XV. BEGINNING SCHOOL XVI. MAUDE'S TROUBLES XVII. LEARNING XVIII. MISADVENTURES XIX. SURPRISES XX. PERSIMMONS XXI. MAUDE XXII. SUNDAY AT SCHOOL XXIII. GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS XXIV. FINIS

  ILLUSTRATIONS.

  "SHE FILLED HER APRON WITH THE CRISP, FRESH COOKIES" . . ._Frontispiece_

  RUBY AND HER MOTHER (missing from book)

  RUBY MEETING MAUDE AT THE STATION (missing)

  RUBY WRITING A LETTER HOME

  "MRS. BOARDMAN WAS VERY PATIENT WITH THE SPOILED CHILD" (missing)

  MISS KETCHUM AND THE CATERPILLARS (missing)

  "OH, IT HAS DONE SOMETHING TO MY MOUTH!" (missing)

  READING THE INVITATION TO AGNES (missing)

  RUBY AT SCHOOL.

  CHAPTER I.

  RUBY IN MISCHIEF.

  It does seem quite too bad to begin a new Ruby book with Ruby inmischief the very first thing; and yet what can I do but tell you aboutit? for it is very probable that if she had not been in this particularpiece of mischief, this story would never have been written. "Nobodybut Ruby would ever have thought of such a thing," Ann exclaimed, whenit was discovered, and it really did seem as if Ruby thought of naughtythings to do that would never have entered any one else's head.

  Ruby had certainly been having one of her "bad streaks," as Nora calledher particularly mischievous times, and perhaps this was because Rubyhad been left to herself more than she had ever been in all her lifebefore.

  Mamma was sick, and she was only able to have Ruby come into her roomwhen the little girl was willing to be very quiet and move aboutgently, so as not to disturb her; and she knew very little of what Rubywas about in the long hours which she spent in play.

  All summer Ruby had been running wild, coming into the house only toeat her meals, or towards evening nestling down beside mamma, to talkto her for a little while about what she had been doing all day. I amafraid it was not very often that Ruby told her of the many things shehad been doing of which she knew mamma would not approve at all.

  When Ruby went over to Mrs. Warren's house to visit Ruthy, Mrs. Warrentried to have her do as she wished her own little girl to do, but shefound it a very much harder matter to govern quick-tempered, impulsiveRuby than it was to guide her own gentle little daughter, and she oftensighed as she thought how distressed Ruby's mamma would be if she knewhow self-willed and mischievous her little daughter was growing withouther mother's care.

  Ruby's papa was very busy with his patients, and when he was at home hespent most of his time in the invalid's room, so he did not have anyidea how much the little girl needed some one to look after her, andsee that she did not get into mischief.

  Ann did her best to take care of Ruby, but she had more work to do thanusual, so she had very little time to keep watch of the little girl;and besides, Ruby would not mind Ann unless she said she would tell Dr.Harper if Ruby was naughty, and Ann did not like to complain of Ruby ifshe could help it.

  Altogether you can see that Ruby had a pretty good opportunity to bejust as naughty as she wanted to be; and every day it did seem as ifshe thought of more mischievous things to do than she had ever done inall her life put together before.

  Ruby was having a very nice time this afternoon all by herself. Itwould have been nicer to have had Ruthy to help her enjoy it, but Mrs.Warren was not willing to let Ruthy go over to Mrs. Harper's, now thatthere was no one to see what the two little girls were about. Ruthycould be trusted not to get into any mischief by herself, but sometimesshe yielded to Ruby's coaxing when she had devised some piece ofmischief, and then no one knew what the two little girls would do next.

  Some carpenters had been at work down by the stable, building a newhen-house, and Ruby had made a playhouse for herself with the boardsthey had left. She had leaned them up against the low branch of an oldtree, with Ann's help, for the boards were rather too heavy for her tomove alone, and so she had a tent-shaped house of boards in which shethought it was great fun to play.

  Ruby's favorite story was the "Swiss Family Robinson," and she thoughtthat no greater happiness could befall any one than to be cast awayupon a desert island. As long as there did not seem to be any prospectof a desert island before her, when the largest piece of water she hadever seen in her life was the small shallow pond where the boys gotwater-lilies in summer, and skated in winter, she thought the next bestthing would be to live in this little house, and not go home at all,except to see her mother.

  She was very sure that the rest of the family would not approve of thisplan at all, so she did not say anything to them about it, butdetermined to try it and see how she liked it, without running anychances of being forbidden.

  One day, when she knew Ann was busy up in her mother's room, and no onewould see what she was doing, she ran up to the garret, and broughtdown a pair of blankets, an old comforter, and the little pillow thatbelonged to the crib in which she had slept when she was a baby. Shecarried all these out to her little playhouse in the yard, and has onlyjust tucked away the last corner of the comforter out of sight, whenshe heard the sound of wheels as her father's buggy drove into the yard.

  Ruby ran out to meet him, afraid that he might come and look into herlittle wooden tent, and see what she had taken from the house. She wasvery sure that he would not at all approve of her plan of spending thenight out there alone. She slipped her hand into his, and walked up tothe house with him, and then ran back to her play.

  After dinner she chose a time when Nora would not be in the kitchen,and carried some provisions down to her little house; for though shewanted to imitate the Swiss Family Robinson as far as possible, she wasnot sure that she would be able to find meals for herself as readily asthey did; so, though biscuits and cookies were not at all the sort offood shipwrecked people generally eat, she thought that she had betterlay in a supply of them, particularly as there were no kindly cocoanutor bread-fruit trees growing at hand.

  She filled her apron with the crisp fresh cookies which Ann had justmade, and with biscuit from the stone crock, and then spying a littleturnover which she was sure Ann had made for her, she added that to herstore.

  It began to look quite like a castaway's tent, Ruby imagined, as shesat down in her little house and looked around. To be sure, you wouldhardly expect any one wrecked upon a desert island to have such acomfortable roof of boards over his head, and certainly one would notfind a supply of warm, dry bed-clothing at hand, nor fresh cookies; butRuby was quite satisfied, and she thought it would be great fun tospend the night out there all by herself, and imagine herself in themidst of a forest all alone. She shut her eyes, and as the windrustled the branches of the tree, she pretended that she heard thewaves breaking upon the shore of her desert island, and that chatteringmonkeys were jumping about over her head in the branches of great palmand tall cocoanut-trees.

  If Ruthy could only be cast
away with her it would be ever so muchnicer, for then she would not have to enjoy it all by herself; but shereflected that it was just as well that Ruthy could not come over andplay, for she probably would be afraid to sleep out there, and wouldcry and want to go into the house just when the play grew the mostinteresting.

  No thought of fear entered venturesome Ruby's mind. It would be aneasy matter for her to slip out of the house after she was supposed tobe fast asleep in her trundle bed, which was not beside her mother'sbed any longer, but in a room by itself. Ruby did not know that thethe last thing her father did every night before he went to bed, was togo and take a look at his little girl, and see that she was sleepingcomfortably; and very often he went into her room in the evening, soonafter she had gone to sleep.

  Of course she knew that she was going to do a naughty thing, but I amsorry to say that Ruby did not very often let that interfere withanything she wanted to do now, she had her own way so much.

  She was so excited over her plan for the night that she was very quietall the rest of the afternoon, and Ann said rather suspiciously,--

  "You're up to some new mischief, Ruby Harper, I'll venture, or youwould never be so quiet all at once. I know you. Now do be a goodgirl, and don't keep worrying your poor ma so about you."

  "Never you mind what I am going to do," answered Ruby, pertly, and justthen Ann saw that her cookies were missing.

  "Well, where on earth are all my cookies?" she exclaimed. "Now, RubyHarper, you tell me this very minute what you have been doing withthem. I know just as well as anything that you never ate such a lot asthat, and I don't see what you could have been doing with them. You goand get them and fetch them back to me right away."

  Ruby made a face at her and darted away. She was not going to bringthe cookies back nor tell where they were. What would she do when shewas shipwrecked if she did not have a store of provisions in her hut,as she called her little house.

  She knew it would not do to tell Nora about her plan, and she was sofull of it that she felt as if she could not keep it to herself anylonger, so she ran over to Ruthy's house.

  She found Ruthy playing with her paper dolls on the wide back porch,and for a few minutes she pretended that she had come over to see herpaper nieces and nephews, for the children always called themselvesaunts to each other's dolls.

  "Oh, I have got a plan to tell you about, Ruthy," she said presently."I don't want any one to hear me telling you about it, so let's go downunder the apple-tree, with the dolls."

  Ruthy gathered up her children, and in a few moments the two littlegirls were sitting side by side on the low bench, which Ruthy's fatherhad put there just for their comfort.

  "It's the grandest plan," began Ruby.

  "Am I in it, too?" asked Ruthy, half wistfully and half fearfully. Shealways liked to be in Ruby's plans, and felt a little left out when herlittle friend wanted to do without her, and yet sometimes Ruby's planswere so very extraordinary that she did not enjoy helping to carry themout at all.

  "Well, you could be in it, only you see you can't very well," Rubyanswered in a rather mixed up fashion.

  "Why can't I?" Ruthy asked.

  "Well, I'll tell you all about it, and then you will see that youcouldn't very well," Ruby answered. "But first of all you mustpromise me honest true, black and blue, that you will never, neverbreathe a word of it to any one."

  "Not even to mamma?" asked Ruthy, who always felt better when she toldher mother all about everything.

  "No, not to anyone in all the wide world," Ruthy answered. "I won'ttell you a single word unless you promise, and you will be awfullysorry if I don't tell you, for this is the most splendid plan I evermade up in all my life. It is just like a book."

  Ruthy's curiosity overcame her scruples about knowing something whichshe could not tell her mother.

  "All right, I won't tell a single person," she said, earnestly. "Tellme what it is."

  "Promise across your heart," Ruby insisted, for just then the littlegirls had a fashion of thinking that promising across their hearts madea promise more binding than any other form of words.

  "I promise, honest true, black and blue, 'crost my heart," Ruthy saidvery earnestly, and then the two heads were put close together whileRuby whispered her wonderful secret.

  No one could have heard them, not even the birds in their nests up inthe tree, if she had spoken aloud, but a secret always seemed sodelightfully mysterious when it was whispered, that she rarely told onealoud.

  "I am going to be cast away on a desert island," she said, and Ruthy'sblue eyes opened to their widest extent.

  "Why, how can you, when there is n't any desert island anywhere nearhere for miles and miles?" she exclaimed.

  "Oh, you are so stupid," Ruby exclaimed impatiently. "Of course I meanto pretend I am cast away. I am going to pretend that down by the barnis a desert island, and that little house I have built with boards ismy hut, and I am going to sleep out there all by myself to-night, and Ihave some provisions and everything all ready."

  "But will you dare stay out there all alone when it gets dark?" askedRuthy in awed tones, feeling quite satisfied that she was left out ofthis plan, for she knew she should never dare to do such a thing, nomatter how much Ruby might want her to join her.