Page:Ruth of the U.S.A. (IA ruthofusa00balm).pdf/84

 not just say yes to his yes and no to his no, but must try at once to work out the difference between them.

Not to know it is hard on that girl, particularly when she is setting out upon an adventure which at once cuts her off from everyone whom she has known.

Ruth had no companion at all. She had to write to her own mother in Onarga, of course; and, after buying with cash an order for two thousand dollars, she sent it to her mother with a letter saying that she was assigned to a most wonderful work which was taking her abroad. She was not yet free to discuss the details; but her mother must trust her and know that she was doing a right and wise thing; and her mother must say nothing about it to anyone at all. It might keep her away for two years or more; so the people who were paying her expenses had forwarded her this money for home. Ruth wished her mother to send for her clothes and her trunk from the boarding house; Ruth would not need them. And if any, inquiry came for Ruth from Hilton Brothers or elsewhere, Ruth had gone East to take a position. There was no use writing her at the old addresses; she would send an address later.

She knew her mother; and she knew that her mother was sure enough of her so that she would do as asked and not worry too much.

So upon that same afternoon, Ruth packed up Cynthia Gail's things; and she wrote to Cynthia Gail's parents and to Second Lieutenant George Byrne at Camp Grant, signing the name below the writing as Cynthia Gail had signed it upon her passport.

That passport was ceasing to be a mere possession and