Page:Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point.djvu/155



awoke Ruth in the morning with the question that was bound to echo and re-echo through the bungalow for that, and subsequent days:

"Where is Nita?"

Ruth could truthfully answer: "I do not know."

Nor did anybody else know, or suspect, or imagine. What had happened in the night was known only to Ruth and she had determined not to say a word concerning it unless she should be pointedly examined by Miss Kate, or somebody else in authority.

Nobody else had heard or seen Nita leave the bungalow. Indeed, nobody had heard Ruth get up and go out, either. The catboat rocked at its moorings, and there was no trace of how Nita had departed.

As to why she had gone so secretly—well, that was another matter. They were all of the opinion that the runaway was a very strange girl. She had gone without thanking Miss Kate or