and we don't ever want to see her again, do we Kitty-dear?"
"All ashore, who are going ashore!" called out Neal, and at that the
happy party climbed back into the Runner, the auxiliary launch of the
yacht, Royal, and in a few minutes were again at Sea Crest.
"And you can come back with me, Kitty," begged Julia. "I have a big
house and you can have a room to yourself until you are ready to go to
school as Mrs. Alton wishes to arrange."
"And Kitty," said Louise, when the bewildered child was quiet enough to
listen, "you need not worry about the hundred dollars Miss Hannah
refuses to pay you for you own a lot of property on Luna Land."
"Aunt Hannah's property!" she gasped. "I knew it. I'll run her off the
place, but I'll build a nice little house for good old Uncle Pete."
"Here's your bag," said Grace; "don't lose it."
"Oh, wait, girls, sit down until I give you your stockings and things."
They dropped down on the terrace, and she dragged the things from her
bag. She drew a purse from the very bottom of the satchel, and looked
around before she opened it.
"Now wait," she said again, biting her thin lips. Then she pulled out a
piece of yellow paper from a rusty leather purse.
"Our fire-bug threat," exclaimed Louise. "How did you get that?"
"I wanted to tell you long ago, I was the Weasle, but it wasn't all my
fault. Aunt Hannah said if I acted queer folks would shun me, and then I
didn't have to worry so about hiding Royal.
"When I got started at it, it seemed like fun. I had no girl friends,
and I liked to scare the others, so I used to fix fires on the beach,
and let them get fanned into flames by the wind. But I never set fire to
chicken coops, and those other places. I guess robbers did that. Then,
as soon as you girls came around, and acted so brave about it, I saw it
was more fun to have friends than to scare them off," she finished with
an expression of genuine contrition.
"Well, it's all right now, Kitty, and you have been very brave to watch
so faithfully over Royal. That was good scouting," said Isabel.
"But think of Louise saving my life from the pier?" she exclaimed.
"And what a fine moving picture we all made holding that life net for
you this afternoon," Cleo reminded her, laughingly.
"I can't quite believe it about the papers," Kitty reflected aloud.
"The tin box is in my daddy's safe, but the deeds to Luna Land are being
searched by lawyers," explained Louise.
"Suppose we s
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