, she spied the recreant
Tom.

"Why, Tom!" she cried cheerfully, "are you sitting out this dance too?
And the music is so pretty."

"The music is all right," he agreed.

"Don't you want to dance?"

"No. I do not want to dance," he answered sourly.

"Not--not even with me, Tom?" she ventured, smiling rather wistfully at
his averted face.

"With nobody. I am waiting for Helen and the rest of you to get enough of
this foolishness and go home."

"Why, Tom! You--you are not ill?" she ventured, putting out a hand to
touch his shoulder yet not touching it.

"Not at all, Ruth," he said, and now he glanced up at her. His look was
cold. "Not at all."

"You are not yourself," she said, more composedly. "What are you thinking
of?"

"I am thinking," said Tom, looking away again and with the same
moodiness, "that I was a fool to leave the army. That was my job. I
should have stuck to it. I should have used my commission and father's
influence to stay in the army. But it's too late now. I guess I had my
chance and didn't know enough to use it."

He arose abruptly, bowed stiffly, and walked away. If Tom had actually
slapped her, Ruth could have felt no more hurt.

CHAPTER XIII

THE KINGDOM OF PIPES

Ruth Fielding at first felt only hurt; then she felt angry. She was no
longer the timid, sensitive girl who had faced Jabez Miller when she
first came to the Red Mill with a tremulous smile, to be sure, but tears
standing thick in her eyes. No, indeed!

The present Ruth Fielding, a young woman of purpose and experience, not
only could hide her feelings--especially if they were hurt ones--but
possessed a saving sense of humor. And to her mind, just a moment later,
Tom Cameron's very military looking shoulders and stride seemed rather
funny.

He had hurt her; but then, he had hurt her as a boy might. It was true,
perhaps, Tom was not grown up. Ruth considered that she was--very much
so!

There he was, daring to complain because his army career had ended so
suddenly--wishing that he had remained in uniform. And how would his
father and his sister have felt if he had done so!

"He's a great, big booby!" Ruth whispered to herself. Then her smile came
back--that wistful, caressing smile--and she shook her head. "But he's
Tom, and he always will be. Dear me! isn't he ever going to grow up?"

So she hid her hurt and accepted the first partner thereafter who
offered; but it was not Chess. Secretly she knew what the