Nan was speechless, and red with confusion. Professor Krenner was smiling, as though he rather enjoyed Nan Sherwood’s position.
“Oh, Miss Harley!” Linda Riggs cried to her new acquaintance. “They say that dear, brave girl is in this car.”
“Is she?” asked Bess, feebly. “Oh, Nan! what do all these people want?”
“We want your friend, Miss Harley,” Professor Krenner said drily. “I expect Linda did not know that. Nancy Sherwood, does she call herself? Well, Nancy Sherwood is a very brave girl, and we have all come to tell her so.”
“Nan!” shrieked Bess, seeing a great light suddenly. “It was you! You are the heroine!”
“She most certainly is the girl, Miss,” the conductor laughingly said. “And she has been trying to hide her light under a bushel, has she?”
Bess was stunned. The flushed countenance of Linda Riggs was a study. Professor Krenner seemed to be secretly enjoying the unpleasant girl’s amazement.
Linda seized Bess by the shoulder with a fierce grip—a grip that made the girl from Tillbury wince.
“Why didn’t you tell me you knew her?” she hissed in Bess’ ear as the passengers crowded about the much troubled Nan.
“I—I didn’t know I knew her,” gasped Bess. “How should I know Nan Sherwood was the girl who killed the rattlesnake?”