Part 7 (1/2)
”It's true,” he declared doggedly. ”She hasn't. Father and I have talked it over. Nell is crazy to go-and I tell father he would be crazy to let her. But it may be that he will go to London and Paris himself, for there is some work he can do for the Government. Of course, Helen would insist upon accompanying him in that event.”
”Oh, Tom!” exclaimed Ruth again.
”Why, they'd take you along, of course, if you wanted to go,” said Tom.
”But I don't wish to go in any such way,” the girl of the Red Mill declared. ”I want to go for just one purpose-_to help_. And it must be something worth while. There will be enough dilettante a.s.sistants in every branch of the work. My position must mean something to the cause, as well as to me, or I will stay right here in Cheslow.”
He looked at her with the old admiration dawning in his eyes.
”Ah! The same old Ruthie, aren't you?” he murmured. ”The same independent, ambitious girl, whose work must _count_. Well, I fancy your chance will come. We all seem to be on our way. I wonder to what end?”
There was no sentimental outcome of their talk. After all they were only over the line between boy-and-girlhood and the grown-up state. Tom was too much of a man to wish to anchor a girl to him by any ties when the future was so uncertain. And nothing had really ever happened to them to stir those deeper pa.s.sions which must rise to the surface when two people talk of love.
They were merely the best of friends. They had no other ties of a warmer nature than those which bound them in friends.h.i.+p to each other. They felt confidence in each other if the future was propitious; but now--
”I am sure you will make your mark in the army, Tom, dear,” Ruth said to him. ”And I shall think of you-wherever you are and wherever I am-always!”
CHAPTER VIII-THE NEAREST DUTY
The county drive for Red Cross funds had been a great success; and many people declared that Ruth's work had been that which had told the most in the effort. Uncle Jabez inspired many of the more parsimonious of the county to follow his lead in giving to the cause. And, of course, ”The Boys of the Draft” was making money for the Red Cross all over the country, as well as in and about Cheslow.
After Tom Cameron went back to camp Ruth's longing for real service in the war work fairly obsessed her mind. She could, of course, offer herself to do some unimportant work in France, paying her own transportation and expenses, and become one of that small army of women who first went over, many of whom were more ornamental, if the truth were told, than useful in the grim work that was to follow.
But the girl of the Red Mill, as she told Tom Cameron, wished to make whatever she did count. Yet she was spurred by no inordinate desire for praise or adulation. Merely she wanted to feel that she actually was doing her all for Uncle Sam.
Being untrained in nursing it could not be hospital work-not of the usual kind. Ruth wanted something that her capabilities fitted.
Something she could do and do well. Something that was of a responsible nature and would count in the long run for the cause of humanity.
Meanwhile she did not refuse the small duties that fell to her lot. She was always ready to ”jump in” and do her share in any event. Helen often said that her chum's doctrinal belief was summed up in the quotation from the Sunday school hymn: ”You in your small corner, and I in mine!”
One day at the Cheslow chapter it was said that there was need of somebody who could help out in the supply department of the State Headquarters in Robinsburg. A woman or girl was desired who would not have to be paid a salary, and preferably one who could pay her own living expenses.
”That's me!” exclaimed Ruth to Helen. ”I certainly can fill that bill.”
”But it really amounts to nothing, dear,” her chum said doubtfully. ”It seems a pity to waste your brain and perfectly splendid ideas for organization and the like in such a position.”
”Fiddle-de-dee!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Ruth, quoting Uncle Jabez. ”n.o.body has yet appreciated my 'perfectly splendid ideas of organization,'” and she repeated the phrase with some scorn, ”so I would better put forward some of my more simple talents. I have a good head for figures, I can letter packages, I can even stick stamps on letters and do other office work.
My capabilities will not be strained. And, then,” she added, ”I feel that in State Headquarters I may be in a better position to 'grab off'
something really worth while.”
”'Johannah on the spot,' as it were?” said Helen. ”But you'll have to go down there to live, Ruthie.”
”The Y. W. C. A. will take me in, I am sure,” declared her friend. ”I am not afraid of being alone in a great city-at my age and with my experience!”
She telephoned to Robinsburg and was told to come on. Naturally, by this time, the heads of the State Red Cross, at least, knew who Ruth Fielding was.
But every girl who had raised a large sum of money for the cause was not suited to such work as was waiting for her at headquarters. She knew that she must prove her fitness.