Glenloch Girls | Page 5

horrid to me when I think of being without you, papa," she said slowly,
"that I can't make any choice. You'll have to do just as you think best,
and perhaps I shall learn to be brave."
Mr. Shirley hugged her tight for a moment without speaking. Then he
said tenderly, "Darling, go to bed now and try to sleep. Perhaps in the
morning things will look brighter to you. We'll talk it over then and see
what is best to be done."
Ruth kissed him and tried to smile, "Goodnight, papa; I'll be a better
chum tomorrow," she said with an effort, and then went quickly from
the room.

CHAPTER II

THREE CHUMS
"Why, how delightful, Henry," cried Mrs. Hamilton, as she finished
reading a letter which her husband had just handed to her. "Of course
we want the little girl to come at once."
"Of course," agreed Mr. Hamilton with equal heartiness. "It will be nice
to have a little daughter around the house to bring me my slippers and
play and sing to me when I am tired. But what will Arthur think of it?"
inquired Mr. Hamilton with a note of anxiety in his voice.
"I hadn't thought of that," answered his wife, her bright face clouding.
"I dare say he won't like it at all, but I don't see that we can let him
decide it. Perhaps it may do him good in the end."
"Well, I shall leave you to settle it with him," said Mr. Hamilton rising
from the table. "For some reason nothing I say seems to make much of
an impression on him nowadays."
"I must say that I get dreadfully discouraged, too," confessed his wife.
"He is so hopelessly indifferent to everything he used to like; he utterly
refuses to see one of the boys or girls, and he sits for hours at a time
doing absolutely nothing. I can see that the doctor is really anxious
about him," she continued.
"Keep up your courage, dear," said Mr. Hamilton with more
cheerfulness than he felt. "Perhaps we shall find a way out of it soon."
"I'll go up now and tell Arthur about Ruth," said Mrs. Hamilton as she
said goodbye to her husband in the hall. "That will give him something
to think of, whether he likes the prospect or not."
As Mrs. Hamilton entered the little sitting-room which used to be the
pride of her son's heart, it was so full of warmth and light and
brightness that, for a moment, in spite of herself, she felt as if she must
see the cheery boy of six months before. Everything so suggested him,
and it was so clearly the room of a boy who loved all kinds of outdoor
exercise. A pair of tennis racquets crossed on the wall had evidently

resigned their place for the time being to the golf clubs which stood in
one comer. A couple of paddles occupied another comer, and rigged on
the wall near the door was a complicated arrangement of ropes, pulleys
and weights designed to exercise every muscle in the human body. Mrs.
Hamilton sighed involuntarily as her eye rested on a silver cup which
stood proudly on the centre table, a mute witness to the prowess of its
owner. It was the prize for a hundred yard dash in which Arthur had
borne off the honors.
"He'll never be able to do that again, poor laddie," she said to herself, as
she waited a moment to brush the tears from her eyes before opening
the door into the next room.
"Good-morning, dear boy," she said brightly, as she entered a room
which seemed doubly gloomy to her after the brightness of the one she
had left. "You should provide a boy with a torch so that your visitors
can see to get across the room. What ho! have I found you at last?" she
continued, as she took her son's hand in a tender grasp and gave him a
good-morning kiss.
"Do let's have some sunshine, Arthur," she said, putting up the curtain
and letting in a flood of light. "There, now I feel more at home. Why
don't you get the benefit of the morning sunshine?"
"I don't like to look out just at this time in the morning, mother," he
answered briefly.
Mrs. Hamilton understood in a flash, for just as they were speaking a
gay group of boys and girls had passed the window, and Arthur, who
had turned involuntarily to look at them, had closed his eyes quickly as
though to shut out the pleasant sight.
"Dr. Holland says you may begin to study again, now, Arthur," said his
mother cheerfully, "and it seems to me you might be ready for college
next fall if you