with fear.
Perhaps after all nothing good had turned up yet.

Suddenly Reyburn sprang up and came toward him with an open letter,
holding out his hand in a joyous greeting:

"Read that, Ryan! We're made at last, and I shan't have to let you go
after all!"

Ryan read, the letters dancing before his delighted eyes, every one
wearing an orange blossom on its brow. It was from an old established
and influential firm, asking Reyburn to take full charge of all their
law business, and saying they had been referred to him by two old
friends in Boston, who by the way were Betty's two trustees.

"Come on, Ryan, come out to lunch with me! We've got to celebrate," said
Reyburn. "I have a hunch somehow that you have been the one that brought
me this good luck. You and a Miss Jane Carson. You both share alike, I
guess, but you were the first with your five-thousand-dollar reward
story."

"Jane Carson!" said Jimmie mystified. "Why, _she's_ my _girl_!"

"Your girl?" said Reyburn, a queer look coming in his eyes. "You don't
say! Well, you're in some luck, boy, with a girl like that! And, by the
way, next time you see her, ask her to show you her wedding dress!"

And not another word would Reyburn tell him, though he recurred
frequently to the subject during the very excellent lunch which they had
together in friendly companionship.

They spent the afternoon composing the brief and comprehensive letter in
response to the momentous one of the morning, and in the evening
together they sought out Jane Carson, Reyburn staying only long enough
to outline the ending of the Elizabeth Stanhope story, while Jimmie
remained to hear the beginning, and get a glimpse of the wedding gown,
which Reyburn assured Jane he was sure she need never return. He said he
thought if the owner of it was married ever in the future she would be
likely to want a gown that had no unpleasant associations.

Great excitement prevailed in Tinsdale as the weeks went by. Betty had
bought the lots either side of the Carson house, and wonderful
improvements were in progress. A windmill was being erected and water
pipes laid scientifically. Workmen arrived, some of them from the
village, some from the city. Extensive excavations went on about the old
house, and stone arrived. It began to be whispered about that "Miss
Stanhope," as Betty was now called, was going to build the house all
over and all of stone.

The work went forward rapidly as work can go when there