There was a rap on the door and Bert Jackson came in.
“Hurrah! I’ve heard all about it!” he cried, delightedly. “It’s all in the paper, and they say you are a daisy! I do hope that woman rewarded you, Marion.”
“She wrote me up,” said Marion, as she introduced him to Miss Allyn, “and the rich woman gave me a thousand dollars.”
Bert did a “two-step” around the room to show his appreciation.
“Now, what the mischief will you do with so much money, Marion?” he asked, jokingly.
“Pay off the mortgage on father’s farm for the first thing,” was the girl’s prompt reply, “and then there’ll be five hundred left for Miss Allyn and Dollie and me, and I guess we’ll find a way to spend it.”
“You must buy some city clothes,” said Bert, with unusual gravity. “I’m just dying to see how you and Dollie will look in swell togs. You are too deucedly pretty to go around looking so dowdy!”
There was a general shout at Bert’s honest words, but through it all Miss Allyn was gazing at Marion admiringly.
“Do you know what I think?” she asked, rather curtly. “Well, I’ll tell you, Miss Marion Marlowe, and you can thank me or not. I think that paying off your father’s mortgage is your crowning act of heroism!”
Just then a messenger boy knocked on the door and handed in a letter.