"Ricky came down to the Christmas hop at the academy, then Aunt Rogers
took her abroad. She went to school in Switzerland a year. I passed from
school to summer camp and then back to school. Ricky sent me some
carvings for Christmas--they arrived three days late."
He stared up at the stone mantel. "Kids feel things a lot more than
they're given credit for. Ricky sent me a letter with some tear stains
between the lines when Aunt Rogers decided to stay another year. And
that was the year I earned the reputation of being a 'hard case.'
"Then Ricky cabled me that she was coming home. I walked out of school
the same morning. I didn't even tell anyone where I was going. Because I
had money enough, I thought I would fly. And that, dear lady, is the end
of this very sad tale." He grinned one-sidedly down at her.
"It was then that--that--"
"I was smashed up? Yes. And Rupert came home without warning to find
things very messy. I was in the hospital when I should have been in some
corrective institution, as Aunt Rogers so often told me during those
days. Ricky was also in disgrace for speaking her mind, as she does now
and then. To make it even more interesting, our guardian had been
amusing himself by buying oil stock with our capital. Unfortunately, oil
did not exist in the wells we owned. Yes, Rupert had every right to be
anything but pleased with the affairs of the Ralestones.
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