ing
breakfast, over the state line, and they went to a camp on a lake a
little way from a village called Hedgeville."

"I know the place," nodded Trenwith. "Never been there, but I know where
it is."

"Well, one morning they discovered these two--Bessie and Zara. And
they'd had a strange experience. They were running away!"

"Bad business, as a rule," commented Trenwith. "But I suppose there was
a good reason?"

"You bet there was, old chap! Bessie had lived for a good many years
with an old farmer called Hoover and his wife. They had a son, too, a
worthless young scamp named Jake, lazy and ready for any sort of
mischief that turned up!"

"Is she related to them in any way, Charlie?"

"Not a bit of it! When she was a little bit of a kid her parents left
her there as a boarder, and they were supposed to send money to pay for
her keep until they came back to get her. For a while they did, but then
the money stopped coming."

"But they kept her on, just the same?"

"Yes, as a sort of unpaid servant. She did all the work she could
manage, and she didn't have a very good time. Zara, here, has a father.
How long ago did Zara and her father come to Hedgeville, Bessie?"

"They'd been there about two years when we--we had to run away, Mr.
Jamieson. They came from some foreign country, you know."

"Yes. And the people around Hedgeville couldn't make much out about
them, so they decided, of course, being unable to understand them, that
there must be something wrong about Zara's dad. No real reason at all,
except that he only spoke a little English, and liked to keep his
business to himself."

Trenwith laughed.

"I know," he said. "I see a lot of that sort of thing."

"Well, the day before the two of them ran away--or the day before they
found the girls, rather--there'd been a fine shindy at the Hoovers. Zara
went over to see Bessie, and Jake Hoover locked her in a tool shed. Then
he managed, without meaning to do it, to set the tool shed afire, and
said he was going to say that Bessie had done it."

"Fine young pup, he must be!"

"Yes--worth knowing! Anyhow, Bessie had only too good reason to know
that his mother would believe him and take his word, no matter what she
and Zara said. So, being scared, she just ran. I don't blame her! I'd
have done the same thing myself. You and I both know that knowing he's
innocent doesn't keep a man who is unjustly accused from being afraid."

"No," said Trenwith, thoughtfull