h a smile as an apology for her little sermon, though it was
well meant and timely.
"Can't you find a flower for me?" Beth asked wistfully, her thin face
looking whiter than usual from her fatigue and in contrast with the
brilliant, glowing health of the ranch girls.
Ruth looked at the spoiled girl tenderly. Like Jack, she had taken more
of a fancy to her than to any member of the Harmon family.
"Here is a flower for you, Beth?" she returned gently. "I hope you will
like it. See, it's pure white and like velvet, and though it looks
fragile and delicate it keeps its beauty longer than any of the other
flowers. Out here in the West they call it an 'immortelle.' It is a
prettier name than our eastern title of 'everlasting.'"
Elizabeth's eyes swam with tears of pleasure, and Jack, reaching over,
found the white buds in Ruth's lap and made them into a crown for her
friend's flowing gold hair, until in the soft light the pale girl looked
like a mythical princess in an old Scandinavian legend.
Frieda's eyes were big and wistful and her lips trembled slightly, for
she was not accustomed to being overlooked while a strange girl was made
much of by her own sister; indeed both Olive and Frieda had to stifle
many pangs of jealousy at Jack's interest in Elizabeth Harmon.
But fortunately Ruth caught Frieda's expression. "Dear me, baby, I
haven't forgotten you," she announced. "Won't you be a bitter-root
blossom? The flower hasn't a pretty name, but you remember it was the
first you gathered when we entered the park yesterday, and the reason I
select it for you is because the old gypsy fortune teller said you were
sweet and good enough to eat, and this flower is used for food by the
Indians, isn't it, Carlos?"
Frieda now smiled placidly, not understanding Ruth's meaning nor any of
the other nonsense they were talking, but just the same not wishing to
be ignored.
"Now we all have our flowers except Jack," Olive remarked fondly.
"Oh, Ruth hasn't a flower for me. She has exhausted the whole
collection," Jack answered. "It is just as well, for I am the most
prosaic and unflowerlike character in the entire assembly."
"I don't believe that, Miss Ralston," Mrs. Harmon exclaimed, breaking
unexpectedly into the conversation. "You are not like the other girls--I
never saw girls so unlike as you ranch girls. I suppose you mean that
you are more matter-of-fact and have less sentiment than they have, but
you would do anything
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