race, "that Fred thought
nearly all of his friends had turned against him, and that he felt
terribly hurt about it. I know I have not turned against him, and I
shall write and tell him so; then he will know he has one friend at
least."

"He already knows it," said Nellie, in a slightly bitter tone.

"Why, how can that be, and what leads you to think so?" asked Grace,
with surprise.

"I mean--probably he knows it. Dave might have told him," replied
Nellie, with evident embarrassment at the fact she had unintentionally
disclosed, and her inability to explain how she came by this information
without making reference to Fred's letter to her.

Grace looked puzzled, and after a pause said:

"Yes, possibly he knows it, but I wish to be sure of it; and as I have
no opportunity of seeing him now he is at work in the factory, I will
write the letter and mail it to him. It can do no harm."

When Nellie had been left alone she could not resist referring once more
to that part of Fred's letter that spoke of Grace's friendship. This,
and the fact that she was intending to write him a friendly, encouraging
letter, troubled Nellie. She was very glad that he had been found
innocent, and that he had merited the praise of the judge, and yet she
felt depressed that another should feel so happy over it. If only she
had learned the news from some other source, or if Grace had shown some
indifference, she would have been delighted.

Why this should trouble her she hardly knew, but that it did she was
certain. She wondered if Grace would say anything about her in the
letter she would write to Fred. "I am afraid she will," Nellie said to
herself. "I wish I had shown more sympathy for him, and I wanted to so
much. But why should she be so happy over his triumph? The idea of her
writing to him to tell him of her friendship!"

These thoughts annoyed Nellie, and she felt--yes, we may as well confess
it--a little jealous of her friend Grace.

XXII.

The next morning, as Fred was busy at his work, Carl came in from the
post office, whither he had gone for the mail for several of the
employees, and handed him two letters. On looking at them Fred was
surprised to find both postmarked "Mapleton."

He tore one of them open nervously, hoping it might be the long looked
for and much coveted answer to his own letter to Nellie Dutton. He
looked at the signature--"Grace Bernard."

"What can this mean?" The thought shot through his mind,