t never like that. Oh! I wish I was _her_ little girl
again and not this----"

Seth laid his finger on her lip and the wish she might have uttered
and bitterly regretted was never spoken. But the old man's face was
grave as he said:

"You did not know, but my Cousin Betty means that you have excited her
beyond physical safety. She has a weak heart and has always been
cautioned against undue agitation. It has been a sad business
altogether and I wish you had had more confidence in me and come to me
with that letter before you sent it. As for the 'expenses' of your
Party--it is yours, dear, entirely--they are slight and my
contribution to the general happiness. The only real thing that does
matter, that will be most difficult to set straight is--your suspicion
of old Ephraim. It was that I believe which angered Mrs. Calvert, far
more than the money loss, although she is exact enough to keep a cent
per cent account of all her own expenses--giving lavishly the
meanwhile to any purpose she elects. Poor Ephraim! His heart is
wellnigh broken, and old hearts are hard to mend!"

Dorothy was aghast.

"Does he know? Oh! has anybody told him that I suspected him?"

"Not in words; and at first he didn't dream it possible that his
honesty could be doubted. But--that's the horrible part of
suspicion--once started it's incurable. Side glances, inuendoes,
shrugged shoulders--Oh! by many a little channel the fact has come
home to him that he is connected in all our minds with the loss of
your one hundred dollars. Haven't you seen? How he goes about with
bowed head, with none of his quaint jests and 'darkyisms,' a sober,
astonished old man whose world is suddenly turned upside down. That's
why he refused my money this morning which I offered him for his
circus expenses. 'No, Massa Seth, I'se gwine bide ter home.' Yet of
all the family of Deerhurst, before this happened, he would have been
the most eager for the 'Show.' However, he refuses; and in a certain
way maybe it is as well. Otherwise the place would be left unguarded.
I should keep watch myself, if I didn't think my Dorothy and her mates
were better worth protecting than all Deerhurst.

"So now, shorten up that doleful countenance. The mischief that has
been done must be undone. Aunt Betty must come home to a loving,
forgiving child; old Ephraim must be reinstated in his own and
everybody's respect; and to do this--that money must be found! Now,
for our friends--and brighte