Ruth Fielding At College or The Missing Examination Papers   By: Alice B. Emerson

OR

THE MISSING EXAMINATION PAPERS

BY ALICE B. EMERSON

Author of "Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill," "Ruth Fielding on Cliff Island," Etc.

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1917, by Cupples & Leon Company

Ruth Fielding at College

Printed in U. S. A.

[Illustration: "ASHORE! PUT US ASHORE!" RUTH GASPED.]

CONTENTS

I. Looking Collegeward

II. Maggie

III. Expectations

IV. First Impressions

V. Getting Settled

VI. Miss Cullam's Trouble

VII. Fame Is Not Always an Asset

VIII. The Stone Face

IX. Getting on

X. A Tempest in a Teapot

XI. The One Rebel

XII. Ruth Is Not Satisfied

XIII. The Girl in the Storm

XIV. "Oft in the Stilly Night"

XV. An Odd Adventure

XVI. What Was in Rebecca's Trunk

XVII. What Was in Rebecca's Heart

XVIII. Bearding the Lions

XIX. A Deep, Dark Plot

XX. Two Surprises

XXI. Many Things Happen

XXII. Can It Be a Clue?

XXIII. The Squall

XXIV. Treasure Hunting

XXV. The End of a Perfect Year

RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE

CHAPTER I

LOOKING COLLEGEWARD

"Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!"

By no possibility could Aunt Alvirah Boggs have risen from her low rocking chair in the Red Mill kitchen without murmuring this complaint.

She was a little, hoop backed woman, with crippled limbs; but she possessed a countenance that was very much alive, nut brown and innumerably wrinkled though it was.

She had been Mr. Jabez Potter's housekeeper at the Red Mill for more than fifteen years, and if anybody knew the "moods and tenses" of the miserly miller, it must have been Aunt Alvirah. She even professed to know the miller's feelings toward his grand niece, Ruth Fielding, better than Ruth knew them herself.

The little old woman was expecting the return of Ruth now, and she went to the porch to see if she could spy her down the road, and thus be warned in time to set the tea to draw. Ruth and her friends, who had gone for a tramp in the September woods, would come in ravenous for tea and cakes and bread and butter sandwiches.

Aunt Alvirah looked out upon a very beautiful autumn landscape when she opened the farmhouse door. The valley of the Lumano was attractive at all times in storm or sunshine. Now it was a riot of color, from the deep crimson of the sumac to the pale amber of certain maple leaves which fell in showers whenever the wanton breeze shook the boughs.

"Here they come!" murmured Aunt Alvirah. "Here's my pretty!"

She identified the trio striding up the roadway, distant as they were. Ruth, her cheeks rosy, her hair flying, came on ahead, while the black haired and black eyed twins, Helen and Tom Cameron, walked hand in hand behind her. This was their final outing together in the vicinity of the Red Mill for many months. Helen and Tom were always very close companions, and although they had already been separated during school terms, Tom had run over from Seven Oaks to see his sister at Briarwood for almost every week end.

"No more of 'sich doin's now, old man," Helen said to him, smiling rather tremulously. "And even when you get to Harvard next year, you will not be allowed often at Ardmore. They say there is a sign 'No Boys Allowed' stuck up beside every 'Keep Off the Grass' sign on the Ardmore lawns."

"Nonsense!" laughed Tom.

"Oh, I only repeat what I've been told."

"Well, Sis, you won't be entirely alone," Tom said kindly. "Ruth will be with you. You and she will have your usual good times."

"Of course. But you'll be awfully lonely, Tommy."

"True enough," agreed Tom.