"Now, can you beat _that_?" demanded the housekeeper, of nobody in particular. "What won't that young one get in her head!"
Meanwhile Ruth was helping Rosa Wildwood all she could, so that the girl from the South would be able to pass in the necessary examinations and stand high enough in the class to be promoted.
Housework certainly "told on" Rosa. Bob said "it jest seems t' take th' puckerin' string all out'n her--an' she jest draps down like a flower."
"We'll help her, Mr. Wildwood," Ruth said. "But she really ought to have a rest."
"Hi Godfrey!" ejaculated the coal heaver. "I tell her she kin let the housework go. We don't have no visitors--savin' an' exceptin' _you_, ma'am."
"But she wants to keep the place decent, you see," Ruth told him. "And she can scarcely do that and keep up with her studies--now. You see, she's so weak."
"Hi Godfrey!" exclaimed the man again. "Ain't thar sech a thing as bein' a mite _too_ clean?"
But Bob Wildwood had an immense respect for Ruth; likewise he was grateful because she showed an interest in his last remaining daughter.
"I tell you, sir," the oldest Corner House girl said, gravely. "Rosa needs a change and a rest. And all us girls are going to Pleasant Cove this summer. Will you let Rosa come down, too, for a while, if I pay her way and look out for her?"
The man was somewhat disturbed by the question. "Yuh see, Miss," he observed, scratching his head thoughtfully, "she's all I got. I'd plumb be lost 'ithout Rosa."
"I know. And I wouldn't want tuh stand in her way. I crossed her sister too much--that's what _I_ did. Juniper was a sight more uppity than Rosa--otherwise she wouldn't have flew the coop," said Bob Wildwood, shaking his head.
Ruth, all tenderness for his bereavement, hastened to say: "Oh, you'll find her again, sir. Surely you don't believe she's dead?"
"No. If she ain't come to a _bad_ end, she's all right somewhar. But she'd oughter be home with her sister--and with me. Ye see, she was pretty--an' smart. No end smart! She went off in bad comp'ny."
"How do you mean, Mr. Wildwood?" asked Ruth, deeply interested.
"Travelin' folks. They had a van an' a couple team o' mules, an' the man sold bitters an' corn-salve. The woman dressed mighty fine, an' she took June's eye.