A BOY AND A FORTUNE.
“Now,” said Katherine after all the preliminaries of a business meeting
had been gone through, “I’ll begin all over again, so that this whole
proceeding may be thoroughly regular. I admit I went at it rather
spasmodically, but you know we girls are constituted along sentimental
lines, and that is one of the handicaps we are up against in our efforts
to develop strong-willed characters like those of men.”
“I don’t agree with you,” Marie Crismore put in with a rather saucy
pout. “I don’t believe we are built along sentimental lines at all. I’ve
known lots of men—boys—a few, I mean—and have heard of many more who
were just as sentimental as the most sentimental girl.”
There were several half-suppressed titters in the semicircle of Camp
Fire Girls before whom Katherine stood as she began her address. Marie
was an unusually pretty girl, a fact which of itself was quite enough to
arouse the humor of laughing eyes when she commented on the
sentimentality of the opposite sex. Moreover, her evident confusion as
she tangled herself up, in her efforts to avoid personal embarrassment,
was exceedingly amusing.
“I would suggest, Katherine,” Miss Ladd interposed, “that you be careful
to make your statement simple and direct and not say anything that is
likely to start an argument. If you will do that we shall be able to get
through much more rapidly and more satisfactorily.”
Katherine accepted this as good advice and continued along the lines
suggested.
“Well, the main facts are these,” she said; “Mrs. Hutchins has learned
that the child whose property she holds in trust is not being cared for
and treated as one would expect a young heir to be treated, and
something like $3,000 a year is being paid to the people who have him in
charge for his support and education. The people who have him in charge
get this money in monthly installments and make no report to anybody as
to the welfare of their ward.
“The name of this young heir is Glen Irving. He is a son of Mrs.
Hutchins’ late husband’s nephew. When Glen’s father died he left most of
his property in trust for the boy and made Mr. Hutchins trustee, and
when Mr. Hutchins died, the trusteeship passed on to Mrs. Hutchins under
the terms of the will.
“That, you girls know, is the property which was lost for a year and a
half following Mr. Hutchins’ death because he had hidden the securities
where they could not be found. Although Hazel, no doubt assisted very
much by Harriet, is really the one who discovered those securities and
returned them to her aunt, still Mrs. Hutchins seems disposed to give us
all some of the credit.
“For several months reports have reached Mrs. Hutchins that her
grandnephew has not been receiving the best of care from the relatives
who have charge of him. She has tried in various ways to find out how
much truth there was in these reports, but was unsuccessful. Little
Glen, who is only 10 years old, has been in the charge of an uncle and
aunt on his mother’s side ever since he became an orphan three or four
years ago. His father, in his will, named this uncle and aunt as Glen’s
caretakers, but privately executed another instrument in which he gave
Mr. and Mrs. Hutchins guardianship powers to supervise the welfare of
little Glen. It was understood that these powers were not to be
exercised unless special conditions made it necessary for them to step
in and take charge of the boy.
“Mrs. Hutchins wants to find out now whether such conditions exist. At
the time of the death of Glen’s father, he lived in Baltimore, and his
uncle and aunt, who took charge of him, lived there, too. It seems that
they were only moderately well-to-do and the $3,000 a year they got for
the care and education of the boy was a boon to them. Of course, $3,000
a year was more than was needed, but that was the provision made by his
father in his will, and as long as they had possession of the boy they
were entitled to the money. Moreover, Mrs. Hutchins understands that
Glen’s father desired to pay the caretakers of his child so well that
there could be no doubt that he would get the best of everything he
needed, particularly education.
“But apparently his father made a big mistake in selecting the persons
who were to take the places of father and mother to the little boy. If
reports are true, they have been using most of the money on themselves
and their own children and Glen has received but indifferent clothes,
care, and education. Now I am coming to the main point of my statement
to you.
“Mrs. Hutchins talked the matter over with Miss Ladd and me and asked us
to put it up to you in this way: She was wondering if we wouldn’t like
to make a trip to the place where Glen is living and find out how he is
treated. Mrs. Hutchins has an idea that we are a pretty clever set of
girls and there is no use of trying to argue her out of it. So that much
must be agreed to so far as she is concerned. She wants to pay all of
our expenses and has worked out quite an elaborate plan; or rather she
and her lawyer worked it out together. Really, it is very interesting.”
“Why, she wants us to be real detectives,” exclaimed Violet Munday
excitedly.
“No, don’t put it that way,” Julietta Hyde objected. “Just say she wants
us to take the parts of fourteen Lady Sherlock Holmeses in a Juvenile
drama in real life.”
“Very cleverly expressed,” Miss Ladd remarked admiringly. “Detective is
entirely too coarse a term to apply to any of my Camp Fire Girls and I
won’t stand for it.”
“We might call ourselves special agents, operatives, secret emissaries,
or mystery probers,” Harriet Newcomb suggested.
“Yes, we could expect something like that from our walking dictionary,”
said Ernestine Johanson. “But whatever we call ourselves, I am ready to
vote aye. Come on with your—or Mrs. Hutchins and her lawyers’—plan,
Katherine. I’m impatient to hear the rest of it.”
Katherine produced an envelope from her middy-blouse pocket and drew
from it a folded paper, which she unfolded and spread out before her.
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