CHAPTER IV

A NEW CLUB


The first days in the new home, while Mr. Shirley was still in New
York and within reach, were hard to bear and unpleasant to think
of afterward. The new friends were so anxious to help her through
the hard time that they scarcely gave her time to think, but in
spite of their kindness, Ruth went to bed at night with a lonesome
ache in her throat, and got up in the morning with the wild desire
to take the first train to New York and catch papa before he should
sail.

When at last the day and hour of sailing had come and gone, Ruth
found it easier to resign herself to the inevitable, and began to
really enjoy life instead of only seeming to do so.

Glenloch was a beautiful town, just far enough from Boston to make
it seem like the country, and yet near enough so that concerts and
shopping were within easy reach. To Ruth, who, except for brief
visits East, had been accustomed ail her life to the level stretches
of the Middle West, the New England hills, just now radiant in
their autumn coloring were a constant source of delight.

She had been kept so busy seeing Glenloch, meeting Mrs. Hamilton's
friends and getting acquainted with her own special chums that she