they'll be here, ready to take the train from Cheslow, shortly."

"I--I don't want to stay here," stammered the boy. "I--I don't want
to see that man again."

"But he expects to see you, and I could not let you go before he
comes."

"You're just the meanest girl I ever saw!" cried Hatfield, almost in
tears. "I'd got away in the night if it hadn't been for you."

Ruth fairly giggled at that--she couldn't help it.

"Well, don't you be nasty about it," she said. "You are a dreadfully
foolish boy--"

"What do you know about me?" he gasped, turning to look at her
finally with frightened eyes.

"I know that running away isn't going to help you," Ruth Fielding
said, with returning gravity.

"You think that man--that Cameron man--will take me back?"

"Back where?"

"To--to Scarboro?"

"I don't know."