Ruth Fielding Down East Part 10

"No she won't," Ruth rea.s.sured her. "Don't be afraid of your aunt any longer."

"That is what I tell her," Tom said warmly.

"Say! You won't put me in no home, will you?" asked Bella, with sudden anxiety.

"A 'home'?" repeated Ruth, puzzled.

"She means a charitable inst.i.tution, poor dear," said Aunt Kate.

"That's it, Missus," Bella said. "I knew a girl that was out of one of them homes. She worked for Mrs. Grubson. She said all the girls wore brown denim uniforms and had their hair slicked back and wasn't allowed even to whisper at table or after they got to bed at night."

"Nothing like that shall happen to you," Ruth declared.

"Where is your father, Bella?" Tom asked.

"I don't know. Last I saw of him he came through here with a medicine show. I didn't tell Aunt Suse, but I ran away at night and went to Broxton to see him. But he said business was poor. He got paid so much a bottle commission on the sales of Chief Henry Red-dog's Bitters. He didn't think the show would keep going much longer."

"Oh!"

"You know, they didn't know he was Montague Fitzmaurice, the great Shakespearean actor. Pa often takes such jobs. He ain't lazy like Aunt Suse says. Why, once he took a job as a ballyhoo at a show on the Bowery in Coney Island. But his voice ain't never been what it was since."

"Do you expect him to return here for you?" Ruth asked, while the other listeners exchanged glances and with difficulty kept their faces straight.

"Oh, yes, Miss. Just as soon as he is in funds. Or he'll send for me. He always does. He knows I hate it here."

"Does he know how your aunt treats you?" Aunt Kate interrupted.

"N--not exactly," stammered Bella. "I haven't told him all. I don't want to bother him. It--it ain't always so bad."

"I tell you it's got to stop!" Tom said, with warmth.

"Of course she shall not remain in this woman's care any longer," Aunt Kate agreed.

"But we must not take Bella away from this locality," Ruth observed. "When her father comes back for her she must be here--somewhere."

"Oh, lady!" exclaimed Bella. "Send me to New York to Mrs. Grubson's. I bet she'd keep me till pa opens somewhere in a good show."

But Ruth shook her head. She had her doubts about the wisdom of the child's being in such a place as Mrs. Grubson's boarding house, no matter how kindly disposed that woman might be.

"Bella should stay near here," Ruth said firmly, "as long as we cannot communicate with Mr. Pike at once."

"Let's write a notice for one of the theatrical papers," suggested Helen eagerly. "You know--'Montague Fitzmaurice please answer.' All the actors do it."

"But pa don't always have the money to buy the papers," said Bella, taking the suggestion quite seriously.

"At least, if Bella is in this neighborhood he will know where to find her," went on Ruth. "Is there n.o.body you know here, child, whom you would like to stay with till your father returns?"

Bella's face instantly brightened. Her black eyes flashed.

"Oh, I'd like to stay at the minister's," she said.

"At the minister's?" repeated Ruth. "Why, if he would take you that would be fine. Who is he?"

"The Reverend Driggs," said Bella.

"Do you suppose the clergyman would take the child?" murmured Aunt Kate.

"Why do you want to go to live with the minister?" asked Tom with curiosity.

"'Cause he reads the Bible so beautifully," declared Bella. "Why! it sounds just like pa reading a play. The Reverend Driggs is an educated man like pa. But he's got an awful raft of young ones."

"A poor minister," said Aunt Kate briskly. "I am afraid that would not suit."

"If the Driggs family is already a large one," began Ruth doubtfully, when Bella declared:

"Miz Driggs had two pairs of twins, and one ever so many times. There's a raft of 'em."

Helen and Jennie burst out laughing at this statement and the others were amused. But to Ruth Fielding this was a serious matter. The placing of Bella Pike in a pleasant home until her father could be communicated with, or until he appeared on the scene ready and able to care for the child, was even more serious than the matter of going without breakfast, although Jennie Stone said "No!" to this.

"We'd better set up an auction block before the door of the hotel and auction her off to the highest bidder, hadn't we?" suggested Helen, who had been rummaging in her bag. "Here, Bella! If you want a s.h.i.+rt-waist to take the place of that calico blouse you have on, here is one. One of mine. And I guarantee it will fit you better than Heavy's did. She wears an extra size."

"I don't either," flashed the plump girl, as the boys retreated from the room. "I may not be a perfect thirty-six----"

"Is there any doubt of it?" cried Helen, the tease.

"Well!"

"Never mind," Ruth said. "Jennie is going to be thinner."

"And it seems she will begin to diet this very morning," Aunt Kate put in.

"Ow-wow!" moaned Jennie at this reminder that they had been refused breakfast.

Captain Tom, however, had handled too many serious situations in France to be browbeaten by a termagant like Miss Susan Timmins. He went down to the kitchen, ordered a good breakfast for all of his party, and threatened to have recourse to the law if the meal was not well and properly served.

"For you keep a public tavern," he told the sputtering Miss Timmins, "and you cannot refuse to serve travelers who are willing and able to pay. We are on a pleasure trip, and I a.s.sure you, Madam, it will be a pleasure to get you into court for any cause."

On coming back to the front of the house he found two of the neighbors just entering. One proved to be the local doctor's wife and the other was a kindly looking farmer.

"I knowed that girl warn't being treated right, right along," said the man. "And I told Mirandy that I was going to put a stop to it."

"It is a disgrace," said the doctor's wife, "that we should have allowed it to go on so long. I will take the child myself----"

"And so'll Mirandy," declared the farmer.

"It is an auction," whispered Helen, overhearing this from the top of the stairs.

The party of guests came down with their bags now, bringing Bella in their midst--and in the new s.h.i.+rt-waist.