addle-pated this
morning. I need my family to help me."

"Of course you do, child," said mother. "Families were made to cling
together, and stand by each other in every circumstance of life--joy or
sorrow. Of course you need your family."

May began sorting the letters by dates so Shelley could start on the
one that had been written first. Father ran his knife across the top
of each, and cut all the envelopes, and Shelley took out the first and
read it; that was the train one. In it he told her about sending the
boy with the note again, and explained more about how it was so very
important for him to hurry, because the only man who could help him was
so sick. We talked it over, and all of us thought the boy had kept the
money and torn up the note. Father said the way would have been to
send the note and pay the boy when he came back; but Shelley said Mr.
Paget would have been gone before the boy got back, so father saw that
wouldn't have been the way, in such a case.

Next she read one written on the boat. He told more about sending the
boy; how he loved her, what it would mean to both of them if he got the
evidence he wanted and won his first case; and how much it would bring
his friend. The next one told it all over again, and more. In that he
wrote a little about the ocean, the people on board the ship, and he
gave Shelley the name of the place where he was going and begged her to
write to him. He told her if the ship he was on passed another, they
were going to stop and send back the mail. He begged her to write
often, and to say she forgave him for starting away without seeing her,
as he had been forced to.

The next one was the same thing over, only a little more yet. In the
last he had reached England, the important man was still living, but he
was almost gone, and Mr. Paget took two good witnesses, all the
evidence he had, and went to see him; and the man saw it was no use, so
he made a statement, and Robert had it all written out, signed and
witnessed. For the real straight sense there was in that letter, I
could have done as well myself.

It was a wild jumble, because Robert was so crazy over having the
evidence that would win his case; and he told Shelley that now he was
perfectly free to love her all she would allow him. He said he had to
stay a while longer to find his friend's people so they would get back
their share of the money, but it was not going to be easy to locate
them. You w