o hold her, haven't I?" asked Jake, a little dubiously,
as Bessie thought.

"Sure you have!" said Holmes, impatiently. "I've told you that, haven't
I? Weeks has got papers from the court making him her guardian, just as
he did in the case of that other girl."

"All right," said Jake.

And he got on his bicycle and rode off, while Holmes walked back
along the road, and they heard him, a minute later, cranking up his
automobile, which he had evidently found and taken around by another
road.

The information, unintentionally given to her by Holmes, that Weeks
was her legal guardian, made Bessie shiver. She was more afraid of the
miserly old farmer than of anyone she had ever seen, and the idea of
being subject to his authority for any length of time filled Bessie with
dread. He hated her already; she knew that she would be far less happy
in his care than she had ever been at the Hoovers', where, sometimes, it
had seemed to her that the limit of discomfort and severe treatment had
been reached.

So, if Bessie had needed anything to spur her determination to escape
from the trap into which poor Dolly had so innocently led her, this
accidental discovery of what her fate was to be would have been enough.
But as she pondered, she could not, for the time, see what was to be
done.

"Bessie," said Dolly, when they had been quiet for several minutes, "is
that Jake Hoover as stupid as he looks!"

"He's not very bright, Dolly. He's cunning, like some animals, and that
makes him seem cleverer than he is. But I think that he really just acts
by instinct most of the time, and that that's one reason he's so mean."

"Well, have you thought of any way of getting back to the farm except by
the trolley?"

"No--o. The only thing I did think of was that you might go ahead. They
wouldn't bother you, I guess. They'd be afraid to, you see, because
you've got a lot of friends and relatives who'd make an awful fuss if
they tried to bother you. Then I could stay here, and you could tell
Miss Eleanor, and she'd get Charlie Jamieson, or someone to come after
me here in an automobile--"

"I think that's too risky, Bessie. They'd guess that I knew where you
were, and if they're ready to take such big chances to get hold of you,
they might carry me off and keep me somewhere for a few days--long
enough to keep me from taking word to Miss Eleanor and bringing help to
you. And you see you wouldn't know why they didn't come, and, oh, no, I
thin