THE BOY DODGED IN FRONT OF THE AUTOMOBILE WITH DOROTHY AT HIS HEELS.
“Dorothy Dale to the Rescue.” Page [32]
Dorothy had an absurd desire to giggle, but Tavia’s words had been enough to turn uncertainty into active distrust. Still she held herself in check, not speaking with the severity she thought the unpleasant lad deserved.
“I have reason to know you were with Joe on the morning that Haskell’s store burned down,” she said, and Tavia gave a surprised exclamation which, while instantly stifled, caused the swift rush of color to Dorothy’s face.
“Aw, who tol’ you that? It ain’t so!” muttered Popella.
With these words something seemed to snap in Dorothy’s brain. Her horrible anxiety of the past few hours fanned the indignation she felt against this lad. She reached out and gripped him fiercely by the shoulders.
“It is so, and you know it,” she said in a tone that terrified the cowardly boy. “And if you don’t tell me the truth now, Jack Popella, I will turn you over to some one who will make you. Maybe they will be able to find out then, who really set Jud Haskell’s store on fire!”
It was a chance shot, but it went home. Popella writhed and wriggled in Dorothy’s grip, sputtering and protesting.
“I didn’t set his store on fire, I tell you!” he cried. “It was Joe that did it!”