"She's gone with Ben Letts."
"Gone where?"
"We don't know, but the officers are looking for them. I think the boy heard me tell the nurse that he would be held as a witness in your father's next trial. He must have warned Letts upon his arrival home, for—"
"He knowed Myry loved Ben," broke in Tess.
"That's what I thought," Young answered. "I found Longman and the mother mourning over the boy. They hope to hear from the girl soon."
"If Myry and Ben was in the storm last night—" began Tess.
"They may be dead," ended Young gravely. "Myra took her child with her. I found this note on the dead boy's bed, and brought it away with me. I would have liked to have put the boy on the witness-stand. Nevertheless, I hope to release your father on the evidence I have, without a trial."
For several moments silence reigned in the hut. The sun streamed through the window, and a steamer sent a shrill whistle over the lake, the sound echoing among the rocks. Tessibel was thinking of Ezra Longman; Professor Young was thinking of her.
Presently she leaned over, and took the letter from the man's hand, spelling out Myra's written message.
"Myry air a-writin' so dum well," she observed, handing it back, "that I can't make it out. What air she a-sayin'? You read it."