THINGS ARE CLEARED UP
AS Polly was a little better, immediately upon receipt of her husband's
letter Betty hurried home.
First she and Anthony had a long talk together until things were once
more quite clear and happy between them.
Of course Anthony insisted that he had been unreasonable and that Betty
was a "Counsel of Perfection" just as he had always believed her;
nevertheless the Princess was by no means ready to agree with him; nor
was Polly's little sermon in Sunrise Cabin ever entirely forgotten.
Naturally Betty was grieved to hear that Anthony considered her old
friend, John Everett, and also Meg's husband, Jack Emmet, dishonest; yet
when he had carefully explained all his reasons for thinking so, she was
finally convinced.
Not for a single instant, however, would she consider the bare
possibility of Angelique Martins' having had anything to do with the
loss of the Governor's important letters. She had known Angel too long
and too well and trusted her entirely. Besides, she had been one of her
own Camp Fire girls who had kept the Camp Fire laws and gained its not
easily acquired honors.
So Betty Graham did the only intelligent thing in all such difficulties
and suspicions--she went directly to Angel and told her that she
believed in her, but asked that they might discuss the whole matter. She
even told her that she and Governor Graham had both wondered at her
having a sum of money which she could scarcely have earned through her
work.
The woman and the girl were in Betty's pretty sitting room when they had
their long talk. It was their first meeting without other people being
present since Mrs. Graham's return. And Angel sat on a little stool at
her friend's feet with her dark eyes gazing directly into those of her
dearest friend.
It was good to have this opportunity for confidences. Angel breathed a
sigh of relief when she learned that the Governor had confessed his own
suspicion to his wife. For she had never a moment's fear that Betty
might fail in faith toward her. Of course, she had never seen the
missing letters and had no idea what could have become of them.
Perhaps it was curious, yet not even to the Governor's wife did
Angelique during this interview speak of her own distrust of Kenneth
Helm. She was hardly conscious of the exact reasons for her reticence,
except she had no possible proof against Kenneth, and Betty and the
Governor were both fond of him. Moreover, it seemed a disloyalty to
Faith Barton to suspect the man to whom Faith had given her affection.
But Angel was very happy to explain where she had acquired her recent
wealth and Betty was as happy and proud as only Betty Graham could be of
her friends' good fortunes. She could hardly wait to see the picture, of
course, and registered an unspoken vow that Angel should have art
lessons when she had so much talent, no matter how much the girl herself
might oppose the idea. Certainly she and Anthony would owe this much to
their little friend for even the faintest doubt of her.
But Angel had other information which she was even more shy in
confessing. It did not amount to very much at present, only she and
Horace Everett had taken a great fancy to each other during Horace's
stay in Concord for the Christmas holidays. She had seen him nearly
every day and Horace had made no secret of his liking for her. He had
not exactly proposed, but had told her that he meant to as soon as he
had known her long enough to make it proper.
It was all very beautiful and unexpected to Angelique, for she had
seldom dreamed of any one's caring for her in just this particular way.
And that it should be so splendid a person as Horace Everett made
everything more wonderful. Of course, Angel could not be so unhappy as
she had been before Christmas; nevertheless, for Betty's and Governor
Graham's sake she felt that the mystery of the lost letters must be
cleared up within the next few days.
There was only one piece of information, however, which Betty had given
her that offered any possible clue to the enigma. Governor Graham
believed that whoever had taken the letters had probably sold them to
the three men who would most profit by their disappearance.
Yet Angel had no experience in the work of a detective and could only
hope to be of use, without the faintest idea of how she might manage it.
There was one thing, however, which Angelique regarded as her absolute
duty after her own talk with Betty Graham. She simply must endeavor to
be better friends with Faith Barton. For somehow Betty's faith and
affection for her had served to remind her of her almost forgotten Camp
Fire loyalties.
Kinder than any one else except Betty, Faith had certainly been to her
long ago, when she had first come, ill and a stranger, to Sunrise Cabin.
Besides, what had Faith ever done except be a little selfish and
unreasonable of late, and Angel knew that she was troubled by her own
affairs?
It was only a few nights after her own interview with Betty, when one
evening immediately after dinner, Angel went up alone to Faith's room
for the first time since their misunderstanding. She did not know
whether Faith would care to see her, but she meant to try. For Faith had
not dined with the rest of the family; she had sent down word that she
had a headache and desired to be left alone.
Nevertheless, when she discovered who it was who was knocking at her
door, she grudgingly said, "Come in."
The truth was that Faith was unhappy and needed consolation. She had
never had any trouble in her life before without some one to comfort
her, and now possibly Angel was the only person who could be of service,
since Angel alone knew her secret.
Faith was sitting up in bed looking very pretty in a pale blue cashmere
dressing gown with a cap of white muslin and lace on her fair hair. Yet
she had plainly been crying, for her eyes and nose were both a little
red. Moreover, she had eaten no dinner, as a tray of food sat untouched
on a small table close beside her.
So Angel's first effort was quietly to persuade Faith to have something
to eat. Then she led her to talking of Woodford and the Christmas with
Rose and Doctor Barton. And within a few moments Faith was again in
tears.
It could not be very wrong, she then decided, to confide what was
worrying her to so insignificant a person as Angel. Surely even Kenneth
could not resent this!
So Faith revealed the fact that she had recently received a letter from
Rose Barton and that Rose had asked her again if she felt any unusual
interest in Kenneth Helm. Rose had been very kind and had said more than
once that she did not wish to force Faith's confidence. Only she cared
for her and her happiness so much that she hoped Faith would keep no
secret of this kind from her.
And Faith had gone immediately with this letter to Kenneth Helm, begging
him that she at least be allowed to confess their engagement to the two
friends who had been almost more than a father and mother to her.
However, Kenneth had absolutely and flatly refused and Faith could not
make up her mind what she should do.
Without a word or a sign Angelique heard the entire story through,
although she was secretly raging with indignation against Kenneth and
wondering how Faith could possibly be so much under his influence that
she seemed to have no mind or will of her own.
Moreover, even after Faith had ended her story and sat evidently waiting
for some comment from her companion, Angel could think of nothing to say
that would be sufficiently circumspect. For if she even so much as
breathed a word against Kenneth, Faith would probably be exceedingly
angry and rally to his defence at once. So the little French girl sat
motionless on the side of the bed, staring rather stupidly at the wall
opposite her.
By and by, however, Faith leaned over and put her arms about her.
"Tell me, Angel, just what you would do if you were in my place?" the
girl pleaded. "Really, I am so miserable I can't decide."
Angel looked at her earnestly. "Do you really mean that?" she queried.
And when Faith bowed her head, she answered decisively:
"Why, if I were you, I should simply write to Kenneth Helm tonight and
say to him that he was either to allow you to tell Rose and Doctor
Barton of your engagement or else you would consider your engagement
broken."
Faith caught her breath and then her cheeks flushed.
"Would you mind getting me some paper and the pen and ink out of my
desk?" she returned quietly.
And Angel, almost dazed by the quickness with which the other girl had
accepted her suggestion, at once walked over to her desk. But the drawer
of the desk which contained the paper had stuck and as she had only one
hand (the other held her cane) she had to tug and tug at it before it
would come loose.
Then of course it behaved in the usual fashion. For suddenly the entire
drawer plunged forward and every single thing it contained scattered
over the floor. There were letters and papers and ribbons and
photographs and pens and pencils and powder puffs.
[Illustration: SHE SPRANG OUT OF BED HERSELF THE NEXT MOMENT]
"Oh, I am so sorry, Faith dear! I am the most awkward person in the
whole world," Angel apologized. "But if you'll just forgive me I'll
clear up in half a minute."
Faith smiled a little restlessly as her friend stooped to her task.
However, she sprang out of bed herself the next moment, for Angel had
picked up a package from the floor which had a blue paper and a rubber
band about it and was also marked with the Governor's official seal.
Faith tried to jerk the letters from her friend's hand.
"Put those down at once, Angel!" she commanded angrily. "Why don't you
do as I tell you? Those papers are not mine; I am keeping them for
Kenneth Helm. He told me they were of the most private nature possible
and that no one was to be allowed to see them."
However, even after this stern injunction, the French girl did not give
up the package of letters. Instead, without Faith's being aware of her
intention, she kept edging nearer and nearer toward the door which led
into the hall and so farther along to Betty's and Governor Graham's
rooms. She remembered that they had also gone up-stairs together after
dinner. And her hope was that they had not yet left the house.
Then suddenly she turned, and running faster than she ever had since her
lameness she got out of Faith's bedroom and was on her way to her
desired destination.
Moreover, for the moment Faith made no effort to follow her, for she
believed Angel to have lost her senses.
Why should she desire to run away with Kenneth Helm's private papers?
Faith could even now hear Angel's cane tapping its way rapidly along the
hall.
Then she ran to the door and stuck her head out, calling the other girl
to return. She didn't quite dare follow her, for she had on only her
night-dress and dressing gown and the servants or Governor Graham might
probably see her.
For another half hour Faith had to remain in anger and suspense. Of
course, she dressed as quickly as possible and went to Angel's room, but
Angel was not there, neither could she be discovered in either of the
children's nurseries or in any room on the ground floor.
At last in desperation Faith knocked on Mrs. Graham's sitting room door.
It was Betty herself who answered the knock, although Faith caught a
glimpse of Angelique Martins standing with the Governor under a
rose-colored electric light and thought they both looked unusually
cheerful.
Moreover, it was Betty and not Angel who returned to the bedroom with
Faith.
Just as carefully and as kindly as she could Betty then explained the
importance of Angel's discovery to her guest. She said that it was very
hard indeed for them to believe that Kenneth Helm had stolen these
letters, since Governor Graham had felt every confidence in him.
However, if Faith declared that Kenneth had given her the letters for
safe-keeping, there was nothing else for them to believe. He must have
demanded a larger sum of money for the papers than the other men were
willing to pay him. Therefore, it had evidently been his intention to
keep them until the last moment in order to accomplish his end.
Of course, this statement of Betty Graham's at the time was only a
surmise on the part of her husband, notwithstanding it turned out to be
the correct one.
For Kenneth Helm finally confessed the truth himself in the face of the
evidence which Governor Graham held against him. His only excuse was the
dangerous and disastrous one that he had longed to grow rich sooner than
he could with the everyday grind of a business career.
So, after all, Faith Barton wrote her letter on the same evening she had
intended. Betty's and Angel's and Governor Graham's suspicions of
Kenneth, besides the facts themselves, were more than enough to convince
her judgment, especially when her heart had been having its own
misgivings for some time past.
It was in entire meekness of spirit and yet in thanksgiving that Faith
Barton decided upon breaking off her engagement, which she was glad
never to have acknowledged to any one save Angelique Martins. Angel, she
knew, would never betray her. Nevertheless, before Faith had been at
home twenty-four hours she had confessed the entire story to Rose Barton
and together they had wept over her fortunate escape.