gested Madge.

"Aunt Kate would never let you go," said Heavy.

"I'll go to-morrow morning, then!" cried the runaway.

"Why, we don't mean to nag you," interposed Ruth, soothingly. "But of
course we're curious--and interested."

"You're like all the other Eastern folk I've met," declared Nita.
"And I don't like you much. I thought _you_ were different."

"You've been expecting some rich man to adopt you, and dress you in
lovely clothes, and all that, eh?" said Mercy Curtis.

"Well! I guess there are not so many millionaires in the East as they
said there was," grumbled Nita.

"Or else they've already got girls of their own to look after,"
laughed Ruth. "Why, Helen here, has a father who is very rich. But you
couldn't expect him to give up Helen and Tom and take you into his
home instead, could you?"

Nita glanced at the dry-goods merchant's daughter with more interest
for a moment.

"And Heavy's father is awfully rich, too," said Ruth. "But he's got
Heavy to support----"

"And that's some job," broke in Madge, laughing. "Two such daughters
as Heavy would make poor dear Papa Stone a pauper!"

"Well," said Nita, again, "I've talked enough. I won't tell you
where I come from. And Nita _is_ my name--now!"

"It is getting late," said Ruth, mildly. "Don't you all think it
would be a good plan to go to bed? The wind's gone down some. I guess we
can sleep."

"Good advice," agreed Madge Steele. "The boys have been abed some
time. To-morrow is another day."

Heavy and she and Mary went off to their room. The others made ready for
bed, and the runaway did not say another word to them, but turned her
face to the wall and appeared, at least, to be soon asleep.

Ruth crept in beside her so as not to disturb their strange guest. She
was a new type of girl to Ruth--and to the others. Her independence of
speech, her rough and ready ways, and her evident lack of the influence
of companionship with refined girls were marked in this Nita's character.

Ruth wondered much what manner of home she could have come from, why she
had run away from it, and what Nita really proposed doing so far from
home and friends. These queries kept the girl from the Red Mill awake
for a long time--added to which was the excitement of the evening, which
was not calculated to induce sleep.

She would have dropped off some time after the other girls, however,
had she not suddenly heard a door latch somewhere on this upper floor,
and then the