Soon the last trunk was locked and strapped and they were ready to depart.
"Let's run to town for a last visit to Mrs. Bragley," proposed Nan.
Bess gladly acquiesced, and the two girls were off. They were delighted to find Mrs. Bragley sitting up and able to get around a little with a cane. She greeted them gratefully and was profuse in her thanks for all the care they had shown her. And she was intensely interested in their story of the explosion at the school.
"And now," said Nan, after they had chatted for a while, "how about those papers? We are going home sooner than we thought, and if you will give them to me I will show them to Grace Mason's father. He is a very able lawyer and will get to the bottom of this orange grove if any one can."
"That will be fine," was the gratified reply. "The papers are right here. I have been looking them over. Take them if you wish, dear."
Mrs. Bragley took them from the table and handed them to Nan, and the latter tucked them safely away in her bag.
"I may be carrying a fortune away in this bag," she said jokingly, as she snapped the catch and rose to go.
"I'm afraid they're not worth the paper they're printed on," said the woman dubiously.
"Hope on, hope ever," quoted Bess gaily, as, with a last wave of the hand, she followed Nan out of the door.
They were almost to the school when Bess suddenly asked: