“Even if that’s so, I guess there were plenty who did believe it, and who think now that Mr. Holmes is a pretty good man to leave alone. You see, that proved absolutely that he had really hired that gypsy to carry you off, and that is a pretty mean thing to do. And people must know by this time that if there was any legal way of getting you and Zara away from the Camp Fire and Miss Mercer, he would do it.”
“But he didn’t get into any trouble for doing it, Dolly.”
“He’s got so much money that he could hire lawyers to get him out of almost any scrape he got in, Bessie. That’s the trouble. Those people at Hamilton were afraid of him. They know how rich he is, and they didn’t want to take any chance of making him angry at them.”
“Yes, that’s just it. And I’m afraid he’s got so much money that a whole lot of people who would say what they really thought if they weren’t afraid of him, are on his side. You see, he says that I’m a runaway, just because I didn’t stay any longer with the Hoovers. And probably he can make a whole lot of people think that I was very ungrateful, and that he is quite right in trying to get me back into the same state as Hedgeville.”
“They’d better talk to Miss Eleanor, if he makes them think that. They’ll soon find out which is right and which is wrong in that business. And if she doesn’t tell them, I guess Mr. Jamieson will—and he’d be glad of the chance, too!”
“Let’s not worry about him, anyhow. I hope he won’t find out where we are, too. We haven’t seen or heard anything of him since we went back to Long Lake from Hamilton, so I don’t see why there isn’t a good chance of his letting us alone for a while now.”
They reached Windsor, the little town at the other end of Indian Gap, late in the afternoon, having cooked their midday meal in the gap.
“I know the people in a big boarding-house here,” said Eleanor, “and we’ll be very comfortable. In the morning we’ll take an early train, so that we can get to Plum Beach before it’s too late to get comfortably settled. I’ve sent word on ahead to have the tents ready for us, but, even so, there will be a good many things to do.”
“There always are,” sighed Dolly. “That’s the one thing I don’t like about camping out.”
“I expect really, if you only knew the truth, Dolly, it’s the one thing you like best of all,” smiled Eleanor. “That’s one of the great differences between being at home, where everything is done for you, and camping out, where you have to look after yourself.”