y handed in a tin of water.

The strange girl opened her eyes, looked about in fear, and then, seeing
herself surrounded by the friendly faces of our girls, on her own
countenance there came a look of relief.

"What--what happened?" she gasped. "Oh, I remember. I fainted. I heard
someone in the house, and I thought it was--I thought he was coming for
me. Oh, he isn't here; is he?"

"We don't know who you mean," said Mollie, gently.

"My--the man who calls himself my guardian, but who has used me very
cruelly," she said. "I ran away from him, and then I learned that there
might be a way to escape him forever. I came back to get certain
papers--but I heard noises in the old house, and----"

"I guess we made the noises," said Betty, with a smile. "We were looking
for a--ghost!"

"A ghost!" cried the strange girl, starting up.

"There! I am sorry I said that!" exclaimed Betty, who thought, too late,
of the effect it might have on the overwrought nerves of the stranger.
"But really there isn't any ghost, you know."

The girl smiled weakly.

"Take some more water," urged Mrs. Mackson. "And smell these ammonia
salts."

"I'll go get some of that cold chocolate in the vacuum bottle,"
volunteered Grace.

"No, please," said the girl. "I shall be all right presently. I can go
on. I didn't find the papers I wanted. I was sure he had hidden them
here."

"We hope you won't go until you have told us a little something about
yourself," said Betty, with an inviting smile. "We don't want to pry
into your private affairs," she went on, "but we would like to help you.
And please don't disappear so mysteriously again. You are the girl who
fell out of the branches of a tree; aren't you?"

"Yes," and she smiled faintly, "I am Carrie Norton. I knew you as soon
as I saw you all again. Oh, please don't think harshly of me, but I have
been so worried I did not know what I was doing. I have always regretted
repaying your kindness so shabbily, but really----"

"Now don't worry a bit about that!" broke in Mollie. "Just rest
yourself, and when you feel able, tell us all you wish to, and we'll do
all we can for you. Do you feel better?"

"Oh, yes, much. I am not given to fainting. It was just fright that made
me call out when I heard the noise you made, and then I went over--all
got black before me. Oh, I am feeling stronger every minute."

She proved it by getting up, and the girls helped her arrange her dress,
dusting it for her,