But Angel had other information which she was even more shy in confessing. It did not amount to very much at present, only she and Horace Everett had taken a great fancy to each other during Horace's stay in Concord for the Christmas holidays. She had seen him nearly every day and Horace had made no secret of his liking for her. He had not exactly proposed, but had told her that he meant to as soon as he had known her long enough to make it proper.
It was all very beautiful and unexpected to Angelique, for she had seldom dreamed of any one's caring for her in just this particular way. And that it should be so splendid a person as Horace Everett made everything more wonderful. Of course, Angel could not be so unhappy as she had been before Christmas; nevertheless, for Betty's and Governor Graham's sake she felt that the mystery of the lost letters must be cleared up within the next few days.
There was only one piece of information, however, which Betty had given her that offered any possible clue to the enigma. Governor Graham believed that whoever had taken the letters had probably sold them to the three men who would most profit by their disappearance.
Yet Angel had no experience in the work of a detective and could only hope to be of use, without the faintest idea of how she might manage it.
There was one thing, however, which Angelique regarded as her absolute duty after her own talk with Betty Graham. She simply must endeavor to be better friends with Faith Barton. For somehow Betty's faith and affection for her had served to remind her of her almost forgotten Camp Fire loyalties.
Kinder than any one else except Betty, Faith had certainly been to her long ago, when she had first come, ill and a stranger, to Sunrise Cabin. Besides, what had Faith ever done except be a little selfish and unreasonable of late, and Angel knew that she was troubled by her own affairs?
It was only a few nights after her own interview with Betty, when one evening immediately after dinner, Angel went up alone to Faith's room for the first time since their misunderstanding. She did not know whether Faith would care to see her, but she meant to try. For Faith had not dined with the rest of the family; she had sent down word that she had a headache and desired to be left alone.
Nevertheless, when she discovered who it was who was knocking at her door, she grudgingly said, "Come in."
The truth was that Faith was unhappy and needed consolation. She had never had any trouble in her life before without some one to comfort her, and now possibly Angel was the only person who could be of service, since Angel alone knew her secret.
Faith was sitting up in bed looking very pretty in a pale blue cashmere dressing gown with a cap of white muslin and lace on her fair hair. Yet she had plainly been crying, for her eyes and nose were both a little red. Moreover, she had eaten no dinner, as a tray of food sat untouched on a small table close beside her.