But Roberta disappeared. Around the turn of the hall she scanned her
card.
"_Thorns to the thorny_," she read, and stood staring at the unexpected
words written in a firm, masculine hand. That was all. Did it sting?
Yet, curiously enough, Roberta rather liked that odd message.
When she came back, Ruth, in the excitement of examining many other
Christmas offerings, had rushed on, leaving the box of roses on
Roberta's bed. The recipient took out a single rose and examined its
stem. Thorns! She had never seen sharper ones--and not one had been
removed. But the rose itself was perfection.
CHAPTER X
OPINIONS AND THEORIES
Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Gray were the last to leave the city, after the
house-party. They returned to their brother Robert's home for a day,
when the other guests had gone, and it was on the evening before their
departure that they related their experiences while at the house of
Matthew Kendrick. With most of the members of the Gray household, they
were sitting before the fire in the living-room when Aunt Ruth suddenly
spoke her mind.
"I don't know when I've felt so sorry for the too rich as I felt in that
house," said she.
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