"Yes, and no. Father has—misunderstood some letters of mine. He found them since I came away—and he blames me—— Oh, Doro!" and Tavia covered her face with her hands. "How I wish I had told you before!"
Tavia was sobbing bitterly. Instantly there came to Dorothy's mind the thought of Miss Brooks' warning, her advice to tell Tavia before it was too late, before all the harm was done. And had she delayed too long? Even that one day might have been sufficient time in which the threatened danger had become a certainty.
"Tavia, dear, don't go on so! It cannot be—so very dreadful."
"Oh, but it is! I never should have done such a thing. I knew better, and I tried to convince myself that I did not. Then I should never have taken your money. Oh, Doro, I deceived you, and I have deceived everybody!"
"You are excited and everything seems worse to you now, dear. Try to be calm and tell me how I can help you."
"You cannot—nobody can. Father is angry—he wrote such a terrible letter, and how I dread to face him!"
"Perhaps we can arrange it so you will not have to go," said Dorothy in her own way of promptly attempting to save Tavia from the consequences of her own folly. "It is all about money, I know."
"You know?"
"Yes; Miss Brooks told me that much."
"Miss Brooks told you!"