Anne, and tell you such heaps of things. You and I were always good chums,
weren’t we?”
Ruby slipped her arm about Anne’s waist with a shallow little laugh. But just
for a moment their eyes met, and, behind all the luster of Ruby’s, Anne saw
something that made her heart ache.
“Come up often, won’t you, Anne?” whispered Ruby. “Come alone—I want
you.”
“Are you feeling quite well, Ruby?”
“Me! Why, I’m perfectly well. I never felt better in my life. Of course, that
congestion last winter pulled me down a little. But just see my color. I don’t look
much like an invalid, I’m sure.”
Ruby’s voice was almost sharp. She pulled her arm away from Anne, as if in
resentment, and ran downstairs, where she was gayer than ever, apparently so
much absorbed in bantering her two swains that Diana and Anne felt rather out
of it and soon went away.