Then Adele told the whole story, and Miss Grackle indignantly exclaimed: “That shows the ingratitude of people! There never was a sick child in the country round but that Mrs. Quigley was there to help the tired mother care for it, and never a tramp passed her door but that she made him a cup of tea and gave him a bite to eat, and talked to him all the time in that bright, cheerful way of hers; and some of them, I know, took to honest work after that, and they said that it was just because of her. And the town let the Quigleys go to the poorhouse! Well, they’ll not stay there! At least they can live in the cottage, and perhaps in the spring Mr. Quigley could work the garden on shares.” Then she added simply, “My income is not as large as it was, Adele, and my sister Miranda may come home at any time and be in need, so I must be saving for her sake. But there,” she added more brightly, “the Quigleys shall move into the cottage at once, and a way to provide for them will surely open up.”
Soon after that two happy girls drove away. “Isn’t it just like magic, the way things are happening!” Adele exclaimed, and Gertrude agreed. The girls were to have a strange adventure the next day, as you shall hear.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
A MYSTERY SOLVED
After school on Friday the Sunny Seven danced over the Buttercup Meadows on their way to the cabin.
“We ought to call it Golden-rod Meadows now,” Betty Burd declared.
“I love the purple asters tangled in with the gold!” Gertrude Willis exclaimed. “Dame Nature is a wonderful artist.”
“And the maple wood is so bright and red,” Doris Drexel said. “We might have Granny Dorset’s party here. Surely, no ball-room could be more splendid.”
As they were talking they approached the cabin, and Peggy Pierce, finding the key, opened the door.
“Girls!” Rosamond exclaimed, as she peered in. “I almost wish that Grandpa Dally had not told us about that miser. It makes me feel shuddery to think of him. Long and lank, he sat right there at our table as he counted out his gold pieces by the light of a candle.”
“Well, he isn’t here now,” said practical Bertha, as she entered the cabin and threw open the window.