“Did she leave you alone for long?” burst in the listeners.
“No, she didn’t—not that time. She was dreadfully anxious about Sybil still; and I—it just shows how stupid I am!—I got such a fright about the poor old man being so ill, and all that, that I’d forgotten all about her.”
“Well?” asked the others.
“Well, the next time mother came to me the rector was with her, and they arranged that he was to bring me back to school in the car and see Miss Slater, and ask if Sybil had returned; and then fetch the doctor on his way back again. Then mother and Long Jake were left with the old man, you see.”
“But why leave Long Jake?” inquired Josy. “You’d think he’d have brought you, and then we might have seen him!”
“Well, I wondered about that,” replied Margot, “and I asked the rector. I hadn’t time to ask mother; she was busy cooking something for the old man when we came away. But the rector said the most queer thing. He said, when I asked him: ‘Under the circumstances Long Jake, as you call him, is the right one to hear the old man’s confession!’”
“What on earth did he mean?” burst in Josy; here was another rôle for the dormitory hero. “He’s not a clergyman as well, is he?”
“No, of course not; and I said, ‘Why?’ to the rector; and he said, ‘I can plainly see the hand of Providence in the fact of the arrival of Mr. Courtney at that moment!’”
“Mr. Courtney?” inquired Josy. “Oh, yes, that’s his right name, isn’t it? But I don’t understand.”
“Nor did I, and then the rector said the old man had recognized Long Jake as soon as he went into the room, and had said that he had been praying to live long enough to make his confession before he died. Then the car reached the school, and the rector was in such a hurry to get news of Sybil for mother, and to fly back for the doctor, and all that, that I didn’t hear another word. Oh, Josy, after all I will have something if there’s anything left! I’d like a meringue best!”