XVI. THE DISAPPOINTED KNIGHTS 173

XVII. CAN WE GO TO THE RESCUE? 183

XVIII. A NEW USE FOR A KITE 193

XIX. THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPENS 201

XX. THE RECOGNITION 212

XXI. BACK TO THE "MERRY MAID" 219

XXII. THE STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER 226

XXIII. THE SURPRISE 237

XXIV. THE TELLING OF THE SECRET 248

Madge Morton's Secret

CHAPTER I

THE INTERRUPTED STORY

A girl in a green gown was cosily ensconced among the spreading
branches of an old apple tree. She was reading, and she never stirred
except to turn the pages of her book or to reach out for another red
apple after dropping the core of the previous one.

It was a glorious morning in early September, and the old Virginia
orchard was sweet with the odor of ripening apples. A press under a
tree still dripped with the juices of yesterday's cider-making. The
bees and flies buzzed lazily about it. There was no one but the girl in
sight.

Some distance to the left was a red brick house, separated from the
orchard by a low stone fence and the length of the kitchen garden. It
had a big, white colonnaded balcony in front and a smaller veranda in
the rear.

The girl in the apple tree read on, unaware that a carriage had driven
up to the front of this house and that a woman and a young man were
alighting from it. A few moments later a girl came out on the back
veranda. She put her hands to her lips and hallooed. She whistled and
called. Then she ran up and down the garden, searching everywhere.

"Madge, Madge! where are you?" she cried. "Oh, do answer me in a hurry!
I have something so important to tell you!"

The girl in the apple tree did not stir. She was oblivious to
everything except her story. Her cousin, Eleanor, called and called
again, then ran to the stables. Pompey, the colored boy, declared that
he had not seen Miss Madge all morning. Once Eleanor leaned over the
orchard fence. The green of Madge's frock was too near the color of the
foliage to show through the trees. Eleanor gave up her search in
despair.

"All right, Madge Morton," she murmured, "if you will go off by
yourself without telling a soul where you are going, you must take the
conseq