21 Darrell puts things Right
Where was Ruth? She wasn’t in the common-room or the dormy or the classroom. Where could she be?
“Anyone seen Ruth?” asked Darrell, when she met any girls in her search. Nobody had. But at last a second-former said she thought she had seen Ruth going into the gardeners’ shed by the stables.
Darrell sped off to look. She came to the shed, where the gardeners kept their tools, and stopped outside the door to try and think what she was to say.
As she stood there, she heard a curious sound. Somebody was certainly in the shed—and the sound was like a kind of groan¹. Darrell pushed open the door quietly and looked in.
Ruth was there, right at the back, sitting on some sacks. In her hand she held the cut and broken riding-whip, which she had obviously been trying to mend.
She didn’t see Darrell at first. She put her hand over her face and made another sound—either a groan or a sob², Darrell didn’t know which.
“Ruth,” said Darrell, going up. “Ruth! What’s the matter?”
Ruth leapt up in fright. When she saw it was Darrell she sat down on the sacks again, and turned her face away, still holding the broken whip.
“Ruth,” said Darrell, going right up to the girl, “why did you spoil that lovely whip of Connie’s?”
Ruth looked up quickly, amazement³ and dismay on her face. “What do you mean?” she said. “I didn’t spoil it! Who said I did? Who said so? Did Connie?”
“No. Nobody said so. But I know you did,” said Darrell. “And it was you who did all the other horrid⁴ things, wasn’t it?—took this and that, hid things, and broke things, anything you could get hold of that belonged to Connie.”
“Don’t tell anyone,” begged Ruth, clasping Darrell’s hand tightly. “Please don’t. I won’t do it again, ever.”
“But Ruth—why did you do it?” asked Darrell, very puzzled. “Anyone would think that you hated your twin!”
Ruth slapped the broken whip against the sacks. She looked sulky. “I do hate her!” she said. “I always have done—but oh, Darrell, I love her, too!”
Darrell listened to this in surprise. “But you can’t love a person and hate them at the same time,” she said, at last.

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