“And my Mary,” said Mrs. Little.
“Mary will be with us again before another night,” spoke up Larry. “Only this evening I learned of a strange thing, and I was coming to tell you of it. Lucy Howlitt was up to Deacon Cornhill’s this afternoon, and Mrs. Cornhill told how Mary, as she thought, had been taking things, and it wasn’t half an hour after that before Lucy caught a tame crow belonging there carrying off a silver spoon in its bill. She called Mrs. Cornhill, and they watched the crow go straight to a place where he had hidden all the things that had been lost. Then Mrs. Cornhill knew that the crow, and not Mary, had stolen what she had missed, and she cried, she felt so bad over it.”
“That will set Mary free, and Mrs. Cornhill is willing to do anything she can to be forgiven.”
“I am so glad,” murmured the mother. “I knew my daughter could not be guilty of such a thing as stealing.”
“It looks as if we were coming out all right,” said Rob.
“So you are, my boy,” said the doctor. “Right always triumphs in the end. I had rather be in your place than ’Squire Hardy’s, by a big difference. Now listen, Aunt Vinnie, for I have a bit of news that will give you joy as well as the others.
“The boy who was out on a night’s lark with Phil Hardy has confessed that he and Phil were at the sawmill the night it burned, and that young Hardy set it on fire. Of course Phil denies it, but it is a crushing blow for the Hardys, and it will save your boy from jail.”
“Hurrah!” cried Aunt Vinnie, shaking her apron in the air. “This is the happiest moment in my life, or will be when I clasp my boys once more in my arms. I did not never see anything like this,” getting her language somewhat twisted, but her heart was all right, and the others felt as joyous as she did.
Leaving the inmates of the old red house to enjoy their new peace of mind, and to anticipate the happiness of the coming day, Dr. Menter looked to the safety of their prisoners.
When he had seen that they were still secure, he called Rob to one side, saying: