"No, no! Oh, no! It is n't that, Jack. I know you love me, and will always, as long as I live—just as I love you. I am happy to have Mary for my own sister; but I—I—" And she broke down again.
"Now see here, little girl," he said, stroking the round white arm her fallen-back sleeve left bare; "don't fret in your heart about to-night, or whatever you may have done. It is never any use to worry over what is past and gone. 'T is not a maidenly act, Dot, for a girl to array herself in men's garments, and you must never do it again. But we must all admit that 't was a lucky thing you did it this night; and the help you rendered us far more than makes up for your own thoughtlessness. So you need fear no blame on account of it."
"Does father know?" she asked nervously.
"Not as yet; but I will tell him the whole story of your bravery, so he'll not misjudge you."
She raised her face and kissed him; then after a little hesitation she asked shyly, "And the Britisher I locked in the shed,—did you release him, as you said you would?"
Jack smiled down into the upturned face. "He was gone when Hugh and I got there; and the bar was wrenched off, sockets and all."
"He is strong," Dorothy said, a light coming to her eyes that her brother did not see; and she laughed softly.
"Well, had he the strength of Samson, he'd best take heed to himself how he comes prowling about my father's premises at unseemly hours."
He spoke with angry emphasis; and Dorothy was glad the two had not met.