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On the Sabbath morning previous, they had made a sudden assault on the mission, and had burned many of the buildings, almost ruined the church, and, after much fighting, had driven the Mexicans with the fathers to Mission Santa Inez, twenty-five miles distant. Word had been sent at once to Monterey, and a detachment of soldiers from the presidio there had hastened to the spot.
Old Hooper looks up at her piteously. "Tell us what is to be done, Miss Inez," he implores; "you are mistress here now." She shrinks as if he had struck her. "Shall we send for Sir Victor first?" "Yes," she says, in a sort of whisper, "send for Sir Victor first." The voice in which she speaks is not the voice of Inez Catheron. The butler looks at her, that great fear in his eyes.
Inez only laughed bitterly, but did not resent the words. Why should she? It was not worth while. "I know," she answered, "but I mean to earn some of it all the same, and I want to be sure that there is enough for all of us." "There is enough, I have told you there is enough and to spare," answered the Hebrew Israel as he tapped on a door in a dirty-looking wall.
Bess Harley saw to it that there was no mistake about that. "And we both owe our escape, I verily believe, to little Inez," Nan said, laughing, and stroking the head of the waif fondly. "The dear little thing came right inside and found us in the smoke. I was almost out of breath." Pearl was quietly grateful to Nan, however, and she kissed Inez.
But I am content, for I am far beyond your reach!" She gasped for breath, yet ghastly was the mocking smile which lit up the face. "Not so, Inez! you escaped me once; I have you now! You have defied me in health; but in death I conquer. You cannot die in peace without my blessing. Remember, remember, one sin unconfessed will sink you into everlasting perdition! Think you I will absolve you! Never!
"How are you, Inez?" he said, stretching out his hand with a smile, for really he was delighted to see her. "As well as a poor wanderer in a strange and very damp country can be, Don Peter," she answered in her languorous voice, "and certainly somewhat the better for seeing an old friend whom last she met in a certain baker's shop. Do you remember?" "Remember!" answered Peter.
Walter wired his people and received permission to absent himself from college, ostensibly to help look after Jack. As Harry had said, he could not go, but Mrs. Kimball and Cora fully made up their minds to make the journey with Jack, and close up the Chelton home for the winter months. "But what about Inez and her political problem?" asked Belle, when this much had been settled.
"But, then," the boy thought, "there's only one Nan Sherwood in the world. Guess I can't expect Grace to run a very close second to her." However, when the girls did appear Grace was chattering just as excitedly as Bess Harley herself; and she led Inez by the hand. "Yes, she shall! She'll go right home with me now sha'n't she, Walter?" Grace cried.
By the night train, a few hours later, Inez Catheron went up to London. As Madame Mirebeau's young women assembled next morning, she was there before them, waiting to see Miss Stuart. Edith came a foreknowledge of the truth in her mind. The interview was brief. She left at once in company with Miss Catheron, and Madame Mirebeau's establishment was to know her no more.
But as Inez sat before him, reserved and imposing in air, utterly unconscious of his object, and least of all suspecting the true purport of so extraordinary a visit, the savage felt the influence of a manner to which he was unaccustomed.
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