“I have had three rooms arranged for you,” said Holmes, when they reached a great rambling house. “They’re on the second floor. I think you girls will be comfortable and you would rather, I am sure, have the girls with you. You are in no danger.”
CHAPTER XIII
A LUCKY MEETING
Half a dozen men had come out to the Columbia with Holmes and Bates, and now, while Holmes himself disappeared for a minute, beckoning to Trenwith to go with him, the other men watched Eleanor and the three girls. They drew off to a little distance, but they kept their eyes on them.
“They don’t look as if they could run very fast,” said Dolly, hopefully. “Don’t you think we might be able to make a break and get away?”
“Where to, Dolly? This is an island, remember, and we don’t know anything about it at all. We wouldn’t know where to run, if we did have luck enough to get a good start–and we wouldn’t get very far.”
“I suppose that’s so,” said Dolly, her face falling. “Oh, what a horrid shame! Just when everything seemed so nice and peaceful!”
“There’s one thing,” said Eleanor, her face set and stern. “They can’t hold me forever–or, at least, I don’t suppose they can. And someone is going to be sorry for this or my name’s not Eleanor Mercer!”
“I don’t understand it yet,” said Bessie, who, although the capture meant more to her than it did to any of the others, had not given way to her emotions, and seemed as cool and calm as if she had been safely back on Plum Beach.
“It’s only too easy to understand,” said Eleanor, bitterly. “Charlie was deceived in his friend, Mr. Trenwith. He’s just as easy to bribe as Jake Hoover. That’s all. He cares more for money and success than he does for his reputation as an honorable man. I’m disappointed in him–but I suppose I ought not to be surprised.”