“I mean it,” smiled Countess Coletti. “Finish the lace now. Come tomorrow and by that time I will have consulted our new housekeeper and considered the matter of furniture and just what rooms shall be cleared for you and your mother. There is every arrangement for cooking light meals there, since it was often necessary.”
“Mother is more sick with worry than anything,” said Rosie. “This news will make her happy—and to be safe! She is old and has been through so much that it will be like heaven here! I will do everything. No work is too hard for me.”
The countess smiled. “You shall do enough to earn the way of both of you, never fear, though I shall want to know some time what daughter of Spanish nobles is living on our third floor.”
Rose smiled at that. “You shall know all, perhaps, some day. I thank you for trusting me!”
At last the trail was laid to bring Ramon and his mother and sister together. Betty felt satisfied. Her neglect or carelessness earlier in the steps of identification had not been fatal to the final outcome. And it was Lucia and the carolling that were finally responsible, as she told Lucia.
“Yes, and who got me to join the Girl Reserves?” asked Lucia. “Now bring my father over here, Betty, and you will fix us all up!”
“That is beyond little me,” laughed Betty. “That is quite your job, Signorina Coletti!”
CHAPTER XIX
BETTY SEES “X” SURPRISED
The weeks went by. Father’s little goldfish had passed the life-saving tests! She could also do some more diving “stunts” and in “endurance tests” was growing proficient. She was a candidate for more G. A. A. honors at the final award of honors. Hikes you would do anyway, of course. She tramped ten miles one day with a Lyon “Y” group whose leader became rather mixed as to route and the five-mile hike became ten. Oh, well, Betty said, it would count just that much more toward your points. But she had gotten some gravel in her shoes and limped for the rest of the week-end. Life was not always free from drawbacks!
School was nearly out. Betty Lee, junior, would soon be Betty Lee, senior. As usual, the girls “couldn’t realize it.” Some of them were going to attend summer school. Betty, still keeping on the honor roll, knew that there would be no necessity for her doing it; still if you were in the city, there might be something interesting to take. Yet there was always her violin to practice. She wanted to be a member of the “senior orchestra” next year as well as in the senior class, and that you won by ability, not by rank.