“Bentley,” he muttered. “They said he had been arrested.”
“Yes, and I want you to hear just what he told me. Will you listen?”
“Go ahead.”
Then, as well as he could in his excited condition, Don told of the confession Leon had made; and a change came over the face of the injured lad who listened, for Dolph began to see how this repentant boy who stood before him had been misled by his own passions and by the deceptions of an unscrupulous and rascally companion. Don did not spare himself in the least, and he did not try to shoulder all the blame onto Bentley. When he told of the forged letter, he was astounded to find that Dolph knew absolutely nothing about it. Fearing to bring further discord into the team, Sterndale had told Renwood nothing of that letter.
Some moments after this, on her way downstairs, Zadia Renwood passed the door of her brother’s room. That door was ajar, so that, glancing in, she saw two boys standing face to face, the one with his head bandaged having both hands on the shoulders of the other, and she heard her brother saying:
“It was a misunderstanding and a mistake, Scott, that’s all. It’s all right now, and I think we’ll know each other better in the future. Let’s forget it.”
When Don Scott came down from Dolph’s room, his face wore a look of relief that was almost happiness. He found Renwood’s sister in the hall, and she let him out.
“I’m so glad!” she said, giving him a happy smile; “I’m so glad you and Dolph are to be friends now. I’m sure you’ll like each other.”
Alone in the night, Don halted, took off his hat and lifted his throbbing forehead to the cool wind that came off the open sea roaring along the Eastern Shore. The sky was heavily overcast with clouds, but, as he looked upward, they broke and parted in one place, and through the rift he saw a calm, pure white star.