“Doing to us!” she exclaimed. “He never did anything to us that wasn’t as good and kind as it could be,—and to everybody else, too, for that matter. And that is just what mother sent me to tell you. She would have come herself, but she couldn’t; and she thinks it’s a shame! And we all think it’s a shame that a boy like Philip Berkeley, who is all the time trying to do the best he can, and who has ever so many dreadful things to contend with, should get such a letter as the one you wrote to him. Everything that French boy told you was a falsehood, and he knew it; and all that Phil told you was true about the housekeeper and her money and all. My brother Chap, who is with him all the time, and knows everything he does, has told me all about everything from beginning to end. And he never ran away with anybody’s hat, except by accident.”
And then Helen, who had waxed as warm and eloquent as if she had been her own brother Chap, gave Mr. Welford a detailed account of the actual facts in connection with the matters that had excited his indignation.
She put the cases so clearly and strongly before him, and with such an earnestness and evident interest in the subject, that at last Mr. Welford could not help smiling.
“As far as young Berkeley is concerned,” he said, “it is just as well, perhaps, that your mother did not come, for I don’t believe she would have advocated his cause half so warmly as you have. If what you say is correct——”
“And it is, every word of it,” said Helen. “I wouldn’t come here to tell you things that were not true, sir!”
“Oh, of course!” said Mr. Welford. “I understand that perfectly. I meant to say if you are correctly informed.”
“My own brother told me,” said Helen. “And as to the letter, Phil read that to me himself. There could be no mistake about that.”
“You seem to think my letter the worst part of the whole proceeding,” said Mr. Welford.
“Of course, I do, sir!” said Helen. “And we all do,—that and the French boy’s story.”
“Well,” said Mr. Welford, “you appear to be turning the tables pretty completely. The accounts I received regarding Philip Berkeley were so straightforward, and apparently so well based upon fact, that I could not help believing them, especially when I remembered what I knew about him myself. But, after what you have said, I will carefully investigate each one of these charges, and if I find I have been mistaken I will say so. Will that be satisfactory to you and to your mother, and to the rest of the family?”