Betty made a comical face and looked at her mother. This man did not look like much of a lawyer. But perhaps he had fallen upon difficult times.
“Sevillas?” asked Mr. Lee.
“Yes,” the man replied, rather fiercely, Betty thought. “That boy is not all that you might think. He has run away because he stole a parcel of jewelry that belonged to a very noble family in Spain. Consequently he has taken a name that belongs to his father’s family. But I traced him in spite of it!”
“Well, do you intend to let the ‘noble family’ prosecute him if you find him?”
“By no means,” and the man’s voice changed, as he realized that he had let a bit of vindictive feeling creep into his tone. “No, I have arranged that. If he will return what he has left of the jewels and let me know if he has found his mother and sister, all will be forgiven. It is a long case and can’t be hastily explained. I must find Ramon first. He did not tell you then that his true name was Sevilla?”
“He said nothing to me about it,” returned Mr. Lee. “Instead, he told some one of the family that he was guarding against injury at the hands of some one who was an enemy. Do you know of any one who would injure Ramon?”
There was a moment’s hesitation. “There is, of course, the matter of the jewels, Mr. Lee. Probably he had that in mind and thought that he was to be brought to justice. But I can prevent that. Now I went out to the school and made some inquiries, Mr. Lee. At the office no one knew what had become of Ramon. I attended a baseball game Friday afternoon and asked some of the boys to direct me to any who knew Ramon best. The coach did not know his whereabouts, but there was one boy who was listening that said you had heard from him recently.”
It was just as well that the visitor could not see Betty’s changes of countenance as she listened to the conversation, perfectly sure that in her role of listener she was quite justified. At the name “Sevillas” Betty’s eyes opened more widely and her mouth formed an “Oh,” as she looked sharply at her mother. Two deep frowns came between her blue eyes now at the mention of the letter. What would her father say to that?
“Yes,” he was replying, “we heard from Ramon just once, some time ago. It was chiefly a letter of courtesy, as we had entertained him and he remembered us pleasantly.”
“Could I see the letter?” eagerly asked the man.