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Timidly she raised her arms and drew down her father's face to hers. "I'm glad, I'm awful glad that you're mine and you're Floyd's, too. Oh, I'm so glad! And you say my mother " "Yes, Dear," Vandecar murmured, deeply moved; "a beautiful mother, who is waiting and longing for her girl. Dear God, how thankful I am to be able to restore you to her!"
He did not expect to have her make any impression upon the Shellington brother and sister; but wished her assistance as far as her husband was concerned. He kept his gaze so long upon the floor that Mrs. Vandecar spoke: "I'm glad you came to me, Everett." "Yes, I'm glad, too, and I need your help just now. The fact is, Ann and I have had words over a case I have taken charge of in the office."
As the door opened, she raised her eyes wonderingly; but when she saw a tall stranger she dropped them again someone had lost his way and needed Pappy Lon. Cronk looked up and, recognizing Vandecar, suddenly slid like a serpent around the hut wall until he was in touching distance of the girl. "Ye'd better not come any closer, Mister," he said darkly.
The boys called our attention to numbers of huts on the west shore, near the head of Cayuga. I suppose it must be one of those places the children left." "I presume so," replied the governor. "Ann telephoned over that the boy was ill with a rheumatic heart. She seemed quite alarmed over it." "He probably won't get well, if that's the case," murmured Vandecar.
Vandecar is very much in sympathy with the boy. She has seen him, since talking with you." Everett stood up abruptly. "She has changed her mind; so her letter tells me, Brimbecomb," went on the elder man, "and, as I am working with Horace, and this thing touches him so deeply, I shall have to ask you not to come to me for advice or help.
I beg of you to wait, won't you? There are many things to be attended to before she can leave her mother and me. We've only just found her." "I must see her, though," replied Horace stubbornly. "You shall, if you will promise me " "I won't promise anything," said Horace, slowly raising his eyes. "After I have spoken to her, we'll decide." Vandecar sighed and touched the bell.
Shellington opened the dining-room door and went out hurriedly, leaving Everett Brimbecomb and Katherine Vandecar still surveying the disarranged table. "It all seems strange to me, Katherine; I mean this," said Everett, waving his hand. "I scarcely believed Horace when he said he had allowed it." As he spoke, he approached the table and lifted the soiled cloth between his fingers.
"I can see no reason why the man, although poor, should not have his own children. Do you?" It was a pointed question, and Vandecar waived it by saying: "There are always circumstances surrounding these things, such as when parents are cruel to their children, which might make it advisable, almost imperative, to take the youngsters away and put them with reputable people.
The squatter's condition made it impossible to allow Katherine to be with him, and they dared not leave him alone in the hut. Later, when they were making plans for Cronk's future, Vandecar said: "We can't leave him here, Ann dear. Can't we take him with us, Katherine?" "It's the only thing I can see to do," replied Ann, with catching breath.
"A squatter woman's place be in her home with her man," he said. Vandecar turned helplessly upon Katherine. "You persuade him," he entreated in an undertone. Katherine whispered her desire in her father's ear. "We'll go only for a few days," she promised. "And ye'll come back here?" he demanded. The girl glanced toward Governor Vandecar, and caught the slight inclination of his head.
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