“Don’t say that, my dear,” remonstrated her husband. “If Betty never is found, of course it’s right Eleanor should have the pearls. I am the next Varian to Fred, and my daughter is the rightful heir,—after Betty.”
“That’s true,” said Minna. “But let that matter rest for the present. If Betty is never found, Eleanor ought to have the pearls. If Betty is found, I shall be so happy, I don’t care what becomes of them!”
“You’re right, Minna,” Doctor Varian said, “in thinking I ought to get back to the city. But Janet or Nell or both will stay here with you as long as you need or want them.”
“Only till I can get somebody else. I’ve about concluded to take Rodney Granniss as secretary and have him settle up Fred’s estate. With the co-operation of Fred’s own lawyers. Then, I’ll have a sort of nurse companion who can look after me, and then, I shall devote my life and, if need be, all my money to solving my mysteries. I shall get the best detectives in the country. I shall follow out also some ideas of my own, and if success is possible, I shall attain it.”
Minna sat upright, her eyes shining with a clear, steady determined light. She seemed another being from the one who had screamed in hysterics at first knowledge of her sorrows.
“I’ve found myself,” she said, in explanation. “I’ve risen above my dead self of grief and sorrow. Why, my desolation is so great, so unspeakable, that I must do something or go mad! I’m not going mad,—I have too much to do. Now, Janet, if you and Eleanor,—or one of you, will stay a day or two longer, I’ll get a nurse up from the city, and as soon as she arrives you can go. I know you’ll be glad to get away from this place of horrors——”
“Not that, Minna, dear, but we have several engagements——”
“Yes, of course, I know. Well, plan for two days more,—I’ll be settled by that time.”
And she was. Inside of forty-eight hours, the now energetic woman had Rodney Granniss installed as her secretary and man of business, and had secured the services of a capable and kindly woman as nurse and companion. Her new household made up, she let her relatives go back to their own summer home, and devoted herself to her life work.
“Of course,” she said to Granniss, “we must go ahead on the supposition that Betty is alive.”