her in ignorance of the truth a little longer. I only made the
discovery myself today, you see, and I need time to think it all out
and determine how best to take advantage of my good fortune."

"I shall respect your wish, sir," said Mr. Merrick.

The girls came trooping back then, and instead of running away Anson
Jones remained to talk with them.

Beth and Patsy were really surprised to find the "Sad One" chatting
pleasantly with Uncle John. The Major looked at the man curiously, not
understanding the change in him. But Myrtle was quite proud of the
progress he was making and his improved spirits rendered the girl very
happy indeed. Why she should take such an interest in this man she
could not have explained, except that he had been discouraged and
hopeless and she had succeeded in preventing him from destroying his
life and given him courage to face the world anew. But surely that was
enough, quite sufficient to give her a feeling of "proprietorship," as
Patsy had expressed it, in this queer personage. Aside from all this,
she was growing to like the man who owed so much to her. Neither Patsy
nor Beth could yet see much to interest them or to admire in his
gloomy character; but Myrtle's intuition led her to see beneath the
surface, and she knew there were lovable traits in Mr. Jones' nature
if he could only be induced to display them.

CHAPTER XXII

THE CONFESSION

After that evening the man attached himself to the party on every
possible occasion. Sometimes in their trips around Coronado he rode
in their automobile, at other times he took Myrtle, and perhaps one
other, in his own car. Every day he seemed brighter and more cheerful,
until even Major Doyle admitted he was not a bad companion.

Three weeks later they moved up to Los Angeles, taking two days for
the trip and stopping at Riverside and Redlands on the way. They
established their headquarters at one of the handsome Los Angeles
hotels and from there made little journeys through the surrounding
country, the garden spot of Southern California. One day they went to
Pasadena, which boasts more splendid residences than any city of its
size in the world; at another time they visited Hollywood, famed as
"the Paradise of Flowers." Both mountains and sea were within easy
reach, and there was so much to do that the time passed all too
swiftly.

It was on their return from such a day's outing that Myrtle met with
her life's greatest surprise. Indeed