Bright Arrows (Musaicum Romance Classics). Grace Livingston Hill

locked? And Janet, could I have a cup of tea?"

      "Oh, but I'm not going out again to-night, Cousin Eden. I had planned to stay here all night. Didn't I tell you? You see, my mother is expecting to arrive here in the morning, and I thought we could talk it over and settle about our rooms–"

       But Eden spoke coolly and firmly again.

      "No," she said forcefully, "you are not going to stay here to-night, and your mother is not coming here to-night. If you know how to reach her on the train, you had better wire her when you get to the station. It will not be convenient for me to have either of you stay here at any time. You had better go now, Ellery. I wouldn't like to have to call the police." The young man grinned impudently, as if it were a joke, but Tabor announced carefully:

      "I've already called them, my lady! Your father made me promise to do so, if ever there were intruders–and I think I hear the police car at the door now."

      "Thank you, Tabor," said Eden pleasantly, as if he had just announced friendly callers. Ellery saw by the set of the girl's shoulders and the lifting of her head that this was no joke. And without further adieu he turned to the hall door.

      "Oh, well, if you feel that way about it," he said and vanished into the dimness of the dark hall, retrieving his hat and coat from a chair near the front door and pausing only to shout back: "I'll send you a card with my address, and anytime you need me you can send for me. I'm sorry you took it this way when I merely intended to help you. Good night."

      So the unwanted caller left the house, even as Mike McGregor, the big policeman, entered the kitchen door. Eden stood quietly until she heard the front door shut and Tabor, after a short conference with Mike, returned to the library again. Then Eden slowly sank into her chair and dropped her face down on her folded arms on the desk. It was then that old Janet noticed that her nursling's face was wet with tears.

      Quietly Janet slipped over and put a tender arm around Eden's shoulders.

      "There, my little one," she said tenderly, smoothing the soft hair and patting the beloved shoulders. "How ever did that little rat get intae the hoose, I'd like tae know? I didna sight him at the service. He surely wouldna have had the impertinence tae coom openly. He allus useta work on the sly everything he did. He's not tae be troosted."

      Then Eden lifted her tear-wet face and smiled.

      "It's all right, Janet. It just upset me for a minute, but I'm glad it's over. And now, Janet, I think we had better keep this room locked, at night especially, because I don't like the idea of anybody being able to steal into Daddy's special room where he kept all his important things."

      "Of coorse not, my wee lamb. We'll see tae thet right away," said Janet with a look toward Tabor.

      "Yes, my lady," said Tabor capably. "And I'll have my word with the police to keep an eye on the place. In fact, I'm not sure but they intend to anyway. Your father may have mentioned it to McGregor when he was in to see him the other day. I thought as much for the answer he gave me when I spoke with him earlier this evening."

      "Oh!" said Eden, looking startled. "But Father did not know where Ellery was, I'm sure. I knew he distrusted him, but we haven't heard from him since Father sent him away that time he made all the trouble for him at the bank. I shouldn't think he would dare to come again."

      "That rat would dare onything," said Janet. "He's just been bidin' his time till there wasna onybody tae stop him. But don't ye worry. We'll see thet you're looked after."

      "Why, I'm not worrying, Janet." Eden gave a vague little smile. "Only it was so dreadful to have him come in just when I was reading some last words from Daddy. Janet, I think I would like to take that second drawer up to my room. It's just letters, nothing really valuable except to me, but I wouldn't like to think of anybody like Ellery getting his hands on them."

      "Of coorse not, my lamb. We'll take it right up tae yer room, an' I'll be sleepin' across the hall the night. Tabor will make oop his bed at the end of the downstairs hall, so ye'll be weel guarded, blessed child!"

      "Oh, I'm not afraid, you know, Janet. But it will be nice to know you are near at hand. It is lonely this first night of course."

      "Is it this drawer you want, Miss Eden?" asked Tabor, stooping to lift it out. "But it's locked."

      "Yes, Tabor. Here is the key."

      The man unlocked the drawer and drew it out.

      "Is this the only one you want, Miss Eden?" he asked.

      "Yes, I think so. Wait. None of the rest are locked. I'll see if I need others."

      Swiftly she drew them out one at a time and glanced over the orderly contents.

      "No, they are just routine things. Records, receipts, things that aren't very important." She closed them all and they started up the stairs, Tabor carrying the drawer and leading the way.

      "Just put it down on the table by my desk," said Eden, "and thank you, Tabor. Now don't you two worry any more about me. I shall be quite all right, and I hope you won't lose any more sleep over prowlers. I'm quite sure Ellery Fane is the only one who would dare, and I think you thoroughly scared him off with your promise of the police."

      "Right you are, Miss Eden. I'm positive you'll be entirely safe from any intruders from now on."

      So the two servants were presently gone, and Eden locked her door and sat down to the reading of her father's letter, entirely assured that this time she would not look up to see Ellery's hateful eyes looking at her.

      Sitting there in her own pretty room, in the luxurious chair that had been her father's gift on her last birthday, with all her pretty belongings about her, she could take a deep breath and really enjoy this last little conversation that her father had prepared to help her through the first hard evening after he had left her finally.

      And so she began to read:

      Dear little lass:

      I promised you a last few words, so you could feel this first night that my love is still with you.

      Because I have felt for a long time that you had missed the most beautiful thing out of your little-girl life, when your mother was called away, I have been casting about in my mind to find something that will partly make up for it. So I am now leaving you a packet of her own letters, which have for years been the most precious possession I owned and which nobody else but myself has ever read. Of course, I have told you a great deal about your dear mother, but even at its best the telling of a thing is never as good as the thing itself. Just hearing about what a mother you had could never be like growing up from childhood under her loving care. It is for this reason that I have left you her letters, that you may gather from them the atmosphere of the home into which you were born and really sense what a wonderful mother you had.

      We talked a lot about you before you came, and afterward before she went away. You have a right to know what we said, and how we loved you, and what we hoped for your future. You will gather much of that from these letters, which are now yours, dear lassie. Don't weep when you read them. Just be glad to know we are safe with our heavenly Father, who is always watching over you.

      Good-bye, little one, till we meet in heaven, and don't forget we'll be counting on your coming Home when your work down here is done.

      Your loving father,

       Charles Hamilton Thurston

      Eden did not weep as she read the last words and let her eyes trace the precious familiar signature with a tender glance. But her cheeks were flushed, and there was a wonderful light in her eyes as she lifted them for an instant to look into a far distance, as if she were trying to send a smile beyond the gates of heaven to let her father know that she was being true to her promise that she would not let herself grieve for him.

      A great swelling of her heart came as she folded up her father's letter and slipped it inside her blouse just over her heart. It seemed to her when it was there that she could feel his dear hand resting on her head, his voice telling her to be strong and not to think about her disappointments, but just trust and not be afraid.