GRACE HOLDS COURT
In spite of her displeasure, Arline giggled faintly at Grace's impromptu
session of court. Ruth's sad little face brightened, while Anne listened
to her friend with open admiration. She could have conceived of no surer
way to settle the difference that had made them so unhappy.
"You must remember," Grace said solemnly, "that there can be no dinner
until the court has disposed of its first case. This is a murder trial,
therefore the chief object of the court is to find the murderer of one
friendship, done to death in cruel fashion. I wish I had Emma Dean's
glasses to make me look more imposing. I wonder what kind of voice a
prosecuting attorney would have. Dearly beloved," went on Grace
impressively, "they don't say that in court, I know, but then I'm going
to be different from most prosecuting attorneys."
"There isn't the least doubt of that," interposed Anne slyly.
"Silence," commanded Grace severely. "I shall have you arrested for
contempt of court. Then there won't be any counsel for the defense. The
first witness, that's you, Arline, will please take the stand. You
needn't really move, you know. We will take a few things for granted.
Sit up straight and be as dignified as possible. Fold your hands on the
table. That's right. Now, state where and when you first met the
defendant. Ruth can be the defendant until I question her. Then you'll
have to play the part."
"Over a year ago, at Morton House," stated Arline obediently.
"What was your opinion of the defendant?"
"I liked her better than any other girl I had ever met," confessed
Arline.
"Defendant number two, what did you think of Arline Thayer?" quizzed
Grace, eyeing Ruth expectantly.
"I liked her as much as she liked me," replied Ruth promptly.
"When did your first disagreement occur?" probed Grace, turning from
Ruth to Arline.
"Here, at this very table," returned Arline in a low tone.
"Whose fault was it?" inquired Grace wickedly.
"Mine!" exclaimed Ruth and Arline simultaneously.
"Thank you," returned Grace soberly. "Such spontaneity on the part of
the defendants is very refreshing. It also simplifies the case and saves
the court considerable trouble. There is hope that the court will be
dismissed in time for dinner. As prosecuting attorney I will now deliver
my charge. I shall have to deliver it sitting down or attract too much
attention to the case. Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the
evidence. You think, no doubt, that murder has been done. This is not
so. The friendship between Defendant Number One," Grace bowed to Arline,
"and Defendant Number Two," she made a second bow to Ruth, "received a
blow on the head which rendered it unconscious for some time. It had no
intention of dying, but both prisoners treated it with extreme cruelty,
not allowing it to hold up its poor crippled head. I ask you, Gentlemen
of the jury, to consider well what shall be the penalty for assaulting
and battering friendship with intent to kill. Gentlemen of the jury, are
you ready for the question?"
"We are," Grace answered for the jury in a deep voice that elicited
little shrieks of laughter from her companions.
"What shall be the fate of these malefactors?" demanded Grace in her
prosecuting attorney voice, after the jury had rendered a verdict of
guilty. "Be deliberate in your decision, but don't be all night about
it."
"They shall be made to shake hands across the table or suffer the full
penalty of the law," stated the judge.
"What is the full penalty of the law?"
"No dinner," was the prompt answer.
"Counsel for the defense, have you anything to say? I should have asked
you before sentence was pronounced, but it doesn't matter. The
prosecuting attorney always tries to fix things to suit himself, no
matter what any one else thinks."
"The counsel for the defense is a mere blot on the landscape in this
trial," jeered Anne.
"How did you guess it?" beamed the prosecuting attorney. "Prisoners, the
sentence will be executed at once. Shake hands."
Ruth's hand was stretched across the table to meet Arline's.
"I'm awfully sorry, Ruth," said Arline, her voice trembling slightly. "I
should never have asked you to tell what you wished to keep secret."
"And I shouldn't have been so silly as to refuse to tell," declared Ruth
bravely. "I'm going to tell you now, and you mustn't stop me. I was
brought up in an orphan asylum. That's why I didn't care to tell you
about myself that evening."
"You poor, precious dear!" exclaimed Arline. "How can I ever forgive
myself for being so horrid? Won't you forgive me, Ruth? I never supposed
it was anything like that. I was angry because you called me your best
friend, but wouldn't trust me. I'm so sorry. I'll never speak of it
again to you." Arline looked appealingly at Ruth, her blue eyes misty.
"But I want you to think of it. I had made up my mind to tell you. Then
you passed me on the campus without speaking, and somehow I didn't dare
come near you after that."
"I've been perfectly horrid, I know," admitted Arline contritely. "I've
been so used to having my own way that I try to bend everyone I know to
it."
"I don't mind telling you girls about myself now. At first I was ashamed
of my poverty," confessed Ruth. "After I went to Arline's beautiful home
I hated to say anything about it to any one. Then Arline grew angry with
me. I realized afterward that I had been foolish not to tell her my
story. There isn't much to tell. I was picked up in a railroad wreck on
a westbound train when I was four years old. I can just remember getting
into the train with my mother. She was burned to death in the wreck, but
by some miracle I was saved. I knew my name, Ruth Irving Denton, my age,
and around my neck mother had tied a little packet containing some
money, a letter and a gold watch. A woman who lived near where the wreck
occurred took charge of me, and as no one came for me, in time I was
sent to a home. I lived there until I was fourteen. The matron was good
to us, and considering we were all homeless waifs we fared very well."
"And the letter?" asked Grace.
"It was from my father to my mother, giving all the directions for our
journey west. With it had been enclosed a money order for four hundred
dollars, which my mother had evidently cashed. I still have the letter.
"Then a man and his wife took me. They were good to me and sent me to
school. I studied hard and finished high school when I was seventeen.
Then I won a scholarship of one hundred dollars a year. I was determined
to go to college, but the people with whom I lived thought differently.
So I left them a year ago last fall and came to Overton, resolving to
make my own way. They were so angry with me for leaving them they would
have nothing further to do with me. So you see I had not a friend in the
world until I met you girls."
"But you have me now," comforted Arline, patting Ruth's hand. "I'll
never be so silly again. Poor little girl!"
"And you have Anne and me," added Grace. "Don't forget Miriam and
Elfreda, either."
"I am rich in friends now," said Ruth softly.
"Perhaps your father isn't really dead, Ruth!" exclaimed Grace.
"He must be," said Ruth sadly. "I have only one thing that belonged to
him, a heavy gold watch with his full name, 'Arthur Northrup Denton,'
engraved on the inside of the back case. It is a valuable watch, but I
have always declared I would starve rather than part with it."
"Perhaps it may help you to find him some day," suggested Grace
thoughtfully.
"Don't you know the name of the town in Nevada where he first lived?"
asked Anne.
"He went to Humboldt, and from there into the mountains," replied Ruth.
"Since that time all trace of him has been lost. I never knew my own
story until on the day I became fourteen years of age. Then the matron
told me. It was at the time that I was getting ready to go to live with
the man and his wife of whom I have spoken. After that it seemed as
though the whole world changed for me. I didn't mind being poor, nor
having to work, for I had the glorious thought that perhaps my father
was still alive and that some time I should see him again. I wrote
several letters to him, sending them to Humboldt, but they always came
back to me.
"After a while I gave up all hope and stopped writing. I couldn't bear
to think of having more letters come back unclaimed. I tried to forget
that I had even dreamed of seeing my father again, and began to put my
whole mind on going to college. Now I am so thankful that I persevered
and won the scholarship. There were times when I was very unhappy over
leaving the only home I had ever known, outside the orphanage. Still I
could not rid myself of the conviction that I had taken a step in the
right direction. Later, when I met you girls, I was sure of it. Even
though I didn't find my father, I found true and loyal friends who have
crowded more pleasure and happiness into one short year than I ever had
in all my life before."
"I'll lend you half of my father, Ruth," offered Arline generously. "He
is almost as fond of you as he is of me. You remember he said so."
"Weren't you green with jealousy when he admitted it?" teased Anne.
"Not a bit of it," protested Arline stoutly. "I only wish Ruth were my
sister."
"I'd like to be the one to find Ruth's father," mused Grace.
Anne smiled. "Even college can't uproot Grace's sleuthing tendencies.
She has an absolute genius for ferreting out mysteries."
"No, I haven't," contradicted Grace. "If I had--" she stopped. She had
been on the point of remarking that she would have known who had stolen
and used her theme.
"If you had what?" asked Arline curiously.
"If I had the genius of which Arline prattles, I'd be at the head of the
New York Detective Bureau," finished Grace. And Anne alone knew that
Grace had purposely substituted this flippant answer to conceal her real
thought.