 Chapter 42 Harold and the Diamonds When Harold sprang upon the train as it was moving from the station and entered the rear car he found Billy and Peterkin near the door, the latter buttonholing Judge St. Clair to whom he was talking loudly and angrily of Wilson who had brought the suit against him. Yes, yes, I see, I know. But all that will come out on the trial, the Judge said trying to silence him. But Peterkin held on until his eye caught Harold when he at once let the Judge go and seating himself beside the young man began in a soft coaxing tone for him. I don't see why in thunder you are going again me who have always been your friend and again you work when you couldn't get it anywhere else and I can't imagine what you're going to say or what you know. Harold's face was very red but his manner was respectful as he replied. You cannot be more sorry than I am that I am subpoenaed as a witness against you. I did not seek it, I could not help it, but being a witness I must answer the questions truthfully. Thunder and lightning man, of course you must, don't I know that? The irascible Peterkin growled getting angry at once. Of course you must answer questions but you needn't blab about stuff they don't ask you so as to lead them on. I know them, the bloodhounds. They'll squeeze you dry once let them get an inkling you know something more. Now if this goes again me I'm out at least thirty thousand dollars and between you and I I don't mind giving a cool two thousand or three or maybe five rate out of pocket cash down to anybody whose testimony without being a lie. I don't want nobody's swear false remember but heavens and earth can't a body forget a little and keep back a lot if they want to. What are you trying to say to me? Harold asked his face pale with resentment as he suspected the man's motive. Say to you, nothing, only that I'll give five thousand dollars down to the chap whose testimony gets me off and flings Wilson. Mr. Peterkin Harold said looking the old wretch fully in the face if you are trying to bribe me let me tell you at once that I am not to be bought. I shall not volunteer information but shall answer truthfully whatever is asked me. Go to thunder then. I always knew you were a bad egg. Peterkin roared and as there was nothing to be made from Harold he changed his seat to the one his son was occupying. Left to himself Harold had time to think of the diamonds which indeed had not been absent from his thoughts a moment since Jerry gave them to him. They were closely buttoned in his coat pocket where they burned like fire as he wondered where and how Jerry had found them. In the trap house it must have been, he said to himself, but who put them there and how did she chance to find them and why did she look so wild and excited so like a crazy person when she gave them to me bidding me let no one see them. These questions he could not answer and his brain was all in a whirl when the train reached Springfield and with the others he registered himself at the hotel. Suddenly there came back to him with horrible distinctness the words Jerry had spoken to him years ago when he walked homeward with her from the park house where he had been questioned so closely by Mrs. Tracy with regard to her diamonds and what he had been doing in the house on the morning of their disappearance. I believe I know where the diamonds are she had said and in his excitement he had scarcely noticed it but it came back to him now with fearful significance as after the gas was lighted he sat alone in a little reception room opening from one of the parlors. Did Jerry know where they were and had not spoken? And if so was she not guilty of trying to shield another? For that she took them herself he never for a moment dreamed. It was someone else and she knew and did not tell. He was certain of it now as every incident connected with her strange sickness came back to him when she seemed to be doing penance for another's fault. She had called herself an accessory and that was what she was or rather what the world would call her if it knew. To him she was Jerry the girl he loved and he would defend her to the bitter end no matter how culpable she had been in keeping silence so long. But who took them? That was the question puzzling him so much as he sat thinking with his head bent down and so absorbed that he did not hear a step in the adjoining room or know that Peterkin had seated himself just where a large mirror showed him distinctly the young man in the next room who he recognized at once though Harold never moved for a few moments or lifted his head. At last however he unbuttoned his coat and after glancing cautiously around to make sure no one was near he took the box from his pocket and holding the stones to the light examined them carefully taking in his hand first the earrings and then the pin and holding them in such a way that two or three times they flashed directly in the eyes of the cruel man watching him. Yes they are Mrs. Tracey's diamonds there can be no mistake. He whispered just as he became conscious that there was someone in the door looking at him. Quickest thought he put the box out of sight while Peterkin's voice exultant and hateful called out, Hello Mr. Prayer Book your piety won't let you keep back a darn thing you know again me. But it lets you have in your possession diamonds which I'd ena most swear was them stones Miss Tracey lost years ago and suspected you have taken. I know the box anyway I heard it described so often and I believe I know them diamonds. I seen them in the looking glass set in another room and seen you look all round like a thief before you opened them. So fork over and maybe you can give me back may Jane's pin you stole at the party the night Mr. Arthur came home. Fork over I say. Too much astonished at first to speak Harold looked at the man who had attacked him so brutally while his hand closed tightly over the diamonds in his pocket as if fearing they might be wrenched from him by force. Will you fork over or shall I call the police? Peterkin asked. Call the police as soon as you like Harold replied but I shall not give you the diamonds. Then you own that you've got them. Let's have the battle. Peterkin said coming close up to him and looking at him with a meaning smile more detestable than any menace could have been. I know you've got them and I can ruin you if I try and then muddle your doxy think of you. Will she refuse my bail for a thief and treat me as if I was dirt? What do you mean sir? Harold demanded feeling intuitively that by his doxy Jerry was meant and feeling a great horror too lest by some means her name should be mixed up with the affair before she had a chance to explain. The reference to Billy was a puzzle but Peterkin did not long leave him in doubt. I mean that you think yourself very fine and always have and that our gal of the carpet bag thinks herself fine too and refused my bail for you who ain't a scent in the world. I seen it in her face when I twitted her on it and she rose up again me like a cat amount. But I'll be even with you about yet. I've got you in my power young man, but... And here he came a step or two nearer to Harold and dropping his voice to a whisper said. I shan't do nothing nor say nothing till you've given your evidence and if you can hold your tongue I will. You tickle me and I'll tickle you, see? Harold was too indignant to reply and feeling that he was degrading himself every moment he spent in the presence of such a man he left the room without a word and went to his own apartment but not to sleep for never had he spent so wretched a night as that which followed his interview with Peterkin. Of what the man could do to him he had no fear. His anxiety was all for Jerry. Where did she find the diamonds and for whom had she kept silence so long and what would be said of the act when it was known as it might be though not from him. Two or three times he arose and lighting the gas examined the diamonds carefully to see if there was not some mistake. But there could be none. He had seen them on the lady's person and had heard them described so accurately that he could not be mistaken and then the box was the same he had once seen when Jack took him to his mother's room to show him what Uncle Arthur had brought. That was a turdous shell of an oval shape and lined with blue satin and this was a turdous shell oval shaped and lined with blue satin. Harold felt when at last the daylight shone into his room that if it had tarried a moment longer he must have gone mad. He was very white and haggard and there were dark rings under his eyes when he went down to the office where the first person he met was Billy who also looked pale and worn with a different expression upon his face from anything Harold had ever seen before. It was as if all life and hope had gone leaving him nothing to care for. In his anxiety and worry about the diamonds Harold had scarcely given a thought to what Peterkin had said of Jerry's refusal of Billy for it seemed so improbable that the latter would presume to offer himself to her. But at sight of Billy's face it came back to him with a throb of pity for the man and a thrill of joy for himself for whom Peterkin had said his son was rejected. Does Billy know of the diamonds I wonder, he thought. As if to answer the question in the negative Billy came quickly forward and offering his hand bad Harold good morning and then motioning him to a seat took one beside him and began. I'm awful sorry, Harold, that you are mixed up in this, but I suppose you must tell the truth. Yes I must tell the truth, Harold said. Father will be so mad, Billy continued. I wish I could testify for you, but I can't. You were there, I want, and all I know father told me, but don't volunteer information. No, Harold said slowly, wishing that the ocean were rolling between him and this detestable suit. Once he resolved to go to Judge St. Clair deliver up the diamonds and tell him all he knew about them, but this would be bringing Jerry into the matter and so he changed his mind and wandered aimlessly about the town until it was time for him to appear at the courthouse where a crowd was gathering. It was late before the suit known as Wilson versus Peterkin was called and later still when Harold took the stand. White and trembling so that both his hands and his knees were shaking visibly he looked more like a criminal than a witness and he was so agitated and preoccupied too that at first his answers were given at random as if he hardly knew what he was saying. Nor did he for over and beyond the sea of faces confronting him, Judge St. Clair's wondering and curious, Billy's wondering too, Wilson's disappointed and surprised, and Peterkin's threatening and exultant by turns he saw only Jerry coming to see him in the lane and asking him to keep the diamonds for her, saw her too away back years ago in the little room with her fever-stained cheeks and shorn head talking the strangest things of prisons and substitutes and accessories and assuring someone that she would never tell and was going for him if necessary. Who was that man? Where was he now? And why had he imposed this terrible secret upon Jerry? These were the thoughts crowding through his brain while he was being questioned as to what he knew of the agreement between the plaintiff and defendant while in the office of the latter. Once a thought of Maude crossed his mind with a keen pang of regret as he remembered the lovely face which had smiled so fondly upon him, mistaking his meaning utterly and appropriating to herself the love he was trying to tell her was another's. And with thoughts of Maude there came a thought of Arthur, the very first which Harold had given him. Arthur, the crazy man who himself had hidden the diamonds and for whom Jerry was ready to sacrifice so much. It was clear as daylight to him now the anxiety and strain were over and those who were watching him so intently as he gave his answers at random with the sweat pouring down his face were electrified at the start he gave as he came to himself and realized for the first time where he was and why he was there. Arthur would never see Jerry wronged. She was safe and with this load lifted from him he gave his whole attention to the business on hand answering the questions now clearly and distinctly. When at last the lawyer said to him, Repeat what you can remember of the conversation which took place between the plaintiff and defendant on the morning of blank, eighteen hundred blank, he gave one sorry look at poor Billy who was the picture of shame and confusion and then in a clear distinct voice which filled every corner of the room told what he had heard said in his presence and what he knew of the transaction proving conclusively that the plaintiff was right and Peterkin a rascal and this in the face of the man who had asked him not to blab and who shook his fist at him threateningly as the narrative went on would you believe the defendant under oath was asked at the close and Harold answered promptly under oath yes would you if not under oath if an untruth would be to his advantage no and then Harold was through as he stepped down from the witness stand Peterkin arose so angry that at first he could scarcely articulate his words you dog you liar you thief he screamed to stand there and lie so about me I'll teach you I'll show him what you are if there's a pearly cycle on him to arrest this fellow for them diamonds of Miss Tracy's they are in his pocket or was last night I seen him myself and he doesn't deny it by this time the courthouse was in wild confusion as these spectators arose from their seats and pressed forward to where Peterkin stood denouncing Harold who looked as if he were going to faint as Billy hastened to his side whispering lean on me and I will get you out of this father is mad but order was soon restored though not until Peterkin had yelled again as Harold was leaving the room search him I tell you don't let him escape he's got him in his pocket Miss Tracy's diamonds Lord of Heavens don't you remember the row there was about him years ago of what followed during the next hour Harold knew very little there was a crowd around him and cries of he is going to faint while Billy's stammering voice called pleadingly to stand back can't you and give him air then a deluge of water in his face then a great darkness and the voices sounded a long way off and he felt so tired and sleepy and thought of Jerry and Maude and lived over again the scene in the trap house when he found the former in the bag and felt her arms around his neck as he staggered with her through the snow wondering why she was so heavy and why her feet were dragging on the ground when he came more fully to himself he was in a little room in the courthouse and Billy's arm was lying protectingly across his shoulder while Billy's father was bellowing like a bull be you going to let him go ain't you going to get a written arrest him why don't you handcuff him somebody and you bill be you a fool to stand there hugging him as if he was a gal what do you mean Hal is my friend father he never took the diamonds Billy answered sadly while Judge St. Clair who had the box of jewels in his hand and was looking very anxious turned to the angry man clamoring so loudly for a writ and said sternly even if Harold took the diamonds which he did not I am certain of that there is some mistake which he will explain but if he took them it is too late to arrest him a theft committed 10 years ago cannot be punished now may the lord give you sense Peter can rejoined with a derisive laugh don't tell me that a body can't be punished for stealing diamonds of twist done a hundred years ago but it is true nevertheless the judge replied turning to another lawyer who was standing near Peter can asked is that so square is it so a writ is that the law that is the law was the response well I'll be condemned if that don't beat all Peter can exclaimed can't be sent to prison I swole there ain't no law nor justice for nobody but me and I must be kicked to the wall I'll give up and won't try to be nobody I've um and as he talked he walked away to ruminate upon the injustice of the law which could not touch Harold Hastings but could throw its broad arms tightly around himself meanwhile the judge had ordered a carriage and taken Harold with him to his private room in the hotel where the hardest part for hell was yet to come now my boy the judge said after he had made Harold lie down upon the couch and had locked the door now tell me all about it how came you by the diamonds it was such a pitiful pleading agonized face which lifted itself from the cushion and looked at judge St. Clair as Harold began I cannot tell you now I must not but by and by perhaps I can they were handed to me to keep by someone just for a little while I cannot tell you who it was I think I would die sooner than do it surgeonly I would rather go to prison as Peter can wishes me to there was a thoughtful perplexed look in the judges face as he said this is very strange Harold that you cannot tell who gave them to you and with some people will be construed against you I know it but I would rather bear it than have that person's name brought in question was Harold to reply do you think that person took them the judge asked no a thousand times no and Harold leaped to his feet and began to pace the floor hurriedly they never took them never I'd swear to that with my life don't talk any more about it please I can't bear it I have gone through so much today and last night I never slept a wink oh I am so tired and with a groan he threw himself again upon the couch and closing his eyes dropped almost instantly into a heavy slumber from which the judge did not rouse him until after dinner when he ordered some refreshments sent to his room and himself awoke the young man who could only swallow a cup of coffee and a part of a biscuit I am so tired he kept repeating but I shall be better in the morning and along before the night train had come he was in bed sleeping off the effects of the day's excitement the next morning when he went down to the office he was surprised and bewildered at the crowd which gathered around him the friends who had come on the train to stand by and defend him if necessary and as the home faces he had known all his life looked kindly into his and the familiar voices of his boyhood told him of sympathy for and faith in him while hand after hand took his in a friendly class that of Dick St. Clair clinging to his with a grasp which said plainer than words could have done I believe in you Hal and I'm so sorry for you the tension of his nerves gave way entirely and sinking down in their midst he cried like a child when freed from some terrible danger he had not thought before that he cared for himself what people said but he knew now that he did and this assurance of confidence from his friends unnerved him for a time then dashing away his tears and lifting up his face on which his old winning smile was breaking he said excuse me for this weakness only girls should cry but I have borne so much and you're coming with such a surprise thank you all I cannot say what I feel I should cry again if I did never mind old boy Dick's cheery voice called out we know what you would say we came to help you just a few of us but if anything had really happened to you why all Shanondale would have turned out to the rescue thank you dick Harold said then as his eye fell for the first time upon Tom he exclaimed with a glad ring in his voice and you too Tom yes I thought I'd come with the crowd and see the fun Tom answered indifferently as he walked away by himself Tom had said very little on the train or after he reached the hotel but no one had listened with more eagerness to every detail of the matter than he had done and all that morning he was busy gathering up every item of information and listening to the guesses as to who the person could be who gave the diamonds to Harold the jewels had been identified by his father and by himself although an identification was scarcely necessary as Harold had distinctly said they are the Tracy diamonds the person who gave them to me said so but who was the person that was the question puzzling the heads of all the Shanondale people as the morning wore on and each went where he liked at last toward noon Tom found himself near Harold in front of the courthouse and going up to him said hell I want to talk to you a little while yes Hal said and selecting a retired corner Tom began hell I've never shown any great liking for you and I don't suppose I have any but I don't like to see a man kicked for nothing and so I came over with the rest thank you Tom Harold replied I don't think you ever did like me and I don't think I cared if you didn't but I'm glad you came is that all you wish to say to me no Tom answered Jerry is very sick Jerry Jerry sick oh Tom it was a cry of almost despair as Harold thought what if she should die and the people never know she had an awful headache when you left her in the lane and the next morning she was raving mad kind of a brain fever I guess Harold was stupefied but he managed to ask does she talk much what does she say there was alarm in his voice which the sagacious Tom detected and strengthened in his suspicion he replied nothing about the diamonds and the Lord knows I hope she won't what do you mean Harold asked in a frightened tone don't you worry Tom replied I wouldn't harm Jerry any more than you would but well Hal you are a Trump yes you are to hold your tongue and let some think you are the culprit Hal Jerry gave you the diamonds I saw her do it in the lane as I came up to you I did not think of it at the time but afterward it came to me that you took something from her and slipped it into your pocket and that you both look scared when you saw me Jerry was abstracted and queer all the way to the house and had a bruise on her head and she keeps talking of the tramp house and Peter can who she says dealt the blow I went to the tramp house and found the old table on the floor with three of the legs on it the fourth I couldn't find I thought at first that the old wretch had quarreled with her about you on account of the suit and she had squared up to him and he had struck her but now I believe he had the diamonds and she got them from him in some way and he struck her with a missing table leg if you say so I'll have him arrested Tom had told his story rapidly while Harold listened until he suggested the arrest of Peter can when he exclaimed no no Tom no don't you see that would mix Jerry's name up with the diamonds and that must not be she must not be mentioned in connection with them until she speaks for herself and besides I do not believe it was Peter can who took them it might have been your uncle Arthur uncle Arthur Tom said indignantly why he gave them to mother I know he did Harold continued but in a crazy fit he might have taken them away and secreted them and then forgotten it and Jerry might have known it and not been able to find them till now many things go to prove that and very briefly Harold repeated some incidents connected with Jerry's illness when she was a child that looks like it certainly Tom said but I am awfully loathe to give up arresting the brute and believe I shall do it yet for assault and battery he certainly struck her you will see for yourself the lump on her head so saying Tom arose to go away but before he went he made a remark quite characteristic of him and his feeling for Harold to whom he said with a laugh don't for thunder's sake think us a kind of daemon and pithiest twins because I've joined hands with you against Peter can and for Jerry Harrod and pilot you know became friends but I guess at heart they were pilot and Harrod still no danger of my presuming at all upon your friendship for myself though I thank you for your interest in Jerry Harold replied then the two separated Tom going his way and Harold his until it was time for the afternoon train which was to take them home the suit had gone against Peter can and it wasn't a towering rage that he stood in the depot denouncing everybody and swearing he would sell out lube or two and every dumb thing he owned in shannondale and take his money away and then see how they get along without his capital to boost them and Harold he would not even look for his testimony had been the most damaging of all and he frowned savagely when on entering the car he saw his son in the same seat with him talking in low earnest tones while Harold was evidently listening to him with interest the suit had been a pain and trouble to Billy from beginning to end for he knew his father was in the wrong and he bore no malice toward Harold for his part in it and when the diamonds came up and his father was clamoring for a writ he was the first to declare Harold's innocence and to say he would go his bail now there was in his mind another plan by which to benefit his friend and rival to for Billy knew he was that and the heart of the little man eight with a bitter pain and sense of loss whenever he thought of Jerry and lived over again the scene under the butternut tree by the river when her blue eyes had smiled so kindly upon him that her hands had touched his even while she was breaking his heart when Billy reached his majority his father had given him one hundred thousand dollars and thus he had business of his own to transact and a part of this was just now centered in Washington territory where in Tacoma on Puget sound he owned real estate and had dealings with several parties to attend to this an agent was needed for a while and he said to himself I'll offer it to hell with such a salary that he cannot refuse it that will get him out of the way until this thing blows over Billy knew perfectly well that although everybody said Harold was innocent and that nine tenths believed it there would still be a few in Shenondale whose opinions his father's money controlled who without exactly saying they doubted him would make it unpleasant for him in many ways and from this he would save him by sending him to Tacoma at once and thus getting him out of the way of any unpleasantness which might arise from his father's persecutions or those of his clan it was this which he was proposing to Harold who at once thought favorably of it not because he wished to escape from the public he said but because of the pay offered and which seemed to him far more than his services would be worth you are a noble fellow Billy he said I'll think of the plan and let you know after I've seen Jerry and Judge St. Clair all right he'll advise you to go Billy said as he arose to leave the car followed by Peterkin who had been engaged in a fierce altercation with Tom that young man having accused him of striking Jerry and threatening to have him arrested for assault on battery the moment they reached Shenondale thunder and lightning and guns old Peterkin exclaimed while the spittle flew from his mouth like the spray from Niagara I assault and batter Jerry Crawford a gal what do you take me for young man I'm a gentleman I be if I ain't a Tracy and I never assaulted nor battered nobody and she'll tell you so herself heavens and earth this is the way it was and Peterkin shook from his head to his feet for like most men who clamor so loudly for the law he had a mortal terror of it for himself and Tom's threatening looks and words made him afraid this is how it was I found her in the tramp house and I was all fired mad at her about something I shan't tell what for Bill would kill me but I pitched into her right and left and by gum she pitched into me so that for a spell it was nip and tuck betweeks dust and by George if she didn't order me out of the tramp house and said it was her and I'll be dumbed if I don't believe she'd have put me out to body and bones she was just like a tiger and I swan I was feared on her and backed out with a kind of flourish of my fist on that darned old rotten table which went all to smash and that's all I know you don't call that salt and bad or do you Tom could not say that he did but he replied that's your version of it Jerry may have another and her friends ain't going to have her abused by a chap like you and my advice is that you hold your tongue both about her and Harold it will be better for you do you understand you bet Peter can said with a meaning nod breathing a little more freely as he caught sight of the highest hour of Lubber to and more freely still when he arrived at the station where he was met by his coat of arms carriage instead of a and was suffered to go peaceably home a disappointed if not a better man and of chapter forty two chapters forty three through forty five of Gretchen by Mary Jane Holmes this leap of ox recording is in the public domain chapter forty three Harold and Jerry the news which so electrified all Shanondale was slow in reaching mrs. Crawford but it did reach her at last crushing and overwhelming her with a sense of shame and anguish until as the day wore on grace atherton and mrs. St. Clair and Nina and many others came to reassure her and to say that it was all a mistake which would soon be cleared up thus comforted and consoled she tried to be calm and wait patiently for the train but there was a great pity for her boy in her heart as she sat by Jerry's bedside and watched her in all her varying moods now perfectly quiet while her wide open eyes stared up at the ceiling as if she were seeing something there now talking of Peterkin and the tramp house and the table and the blow and again of the bag which she said was lost and which her grandmother must find thinking she meant the carpet bag mrs. Crawford brought that to her but she tossed it aside impatiently saying no no the other one which tells it all where is it I must have lost it find it find it to be so near and yet so far what did it say why can't I think am I like mr. Arthur crazy like him mrs. Crawford thought her crazier than Arthur and waited still more impatiently for Harold until she heard his step outside and knew that he had come Harold Grand Ma was all they said for a moment while the poor old lady was sobbing on his neck and then he comforted her as best he could telling her that it was all over now that no one but Peterkin had accused him that everybody was ready to defend him and that after a little he could explain everything and now I must see Jerry he continued starting for the stairs and glad that his grandmother did not attempt to follow him Jerry had heard his voice and had raised herself in bed and as he came in met him with the question have you brought them has anyone seen them the strange light in her eyes should have told Harold how utterly incapable she was of giving any rational answers to his questions but he did not think of that and instead of trying to quiet her he plunged at once into the subject she had broached do you mean the diamonds he asked yes she replied the diamonds that diamonds where are they mrs. Tracy has them by this time Harold replied mrs. Tracy Jerry exclaimed what has she to do with them they are not hers they are mine they are mine bring them to me bring them to me she was terribly excited and for a time Harold meant all his energies to soothe her and at last when from sheer exhaustion she became quiet he said to her Jerry where did you find the diamonds she looked at him curiously but made no reply and he went on you must tell me where you found them it is necessary I should know still she did not reply and he continued those diamonds have caused me a great deal of trouble and will cause me more unless you tell me where you found them try and think was it in the tramp house that started her at once and she began to rave of the tramp house and the rat hole and the table and peterkin who dealt the blow the bruise on her head had not proved so serious as was at first feared and with her tangled hair falling over her face Harold had not noticed it but he looked at it now and questioned her about it asking if peterkin struck her there no she said and began again to babble of rat holes and table legs and bags and diamonds until Harold was convinced that there was nothing to be learned from her in her present condition and started for the tramp house to see what that would tell him the table was still upon the floor with the three legs upon it while the fourth one was missing but Harold found it at last for remembering what Jerry had said of the rat hole he investigated that spot and from its enlarged appearance drew his own conclusion Jerry had found the diamonds there he had no doubt of it and he said so to Tom Tracy who appeared in the doorway just as he was leaving it sitting down upon the bench inside the two young men who had been enemies all their lives but who were now drawn together by a common sympathy and love for Jerry talked the matter over again each arriving at the same theory as the most probable one they could accept Arthur in a crazy fit had secreted the diamonds and Jerry knew it though possibly not where he had put them this accounted for her strange sickness when a child while her finding them later on added to other causes would account for her sickness now Peter can owns that he was blowing her up for something and that he knocked the table down with his fist but he swears he didn't touch her Tom said repeating in substance all Peter can had said to him in the train when shaking with fear of a writ and do you still mean to keep silent with regard to Jerry he asked yes Harold replied her name must not be mentioned in connection with the diamonds I can't have the slightest breath of suspicion touching Jerry my sister sister be hanged Tom began savagely then checked himself and added with a laugh don't try to deceive me Hal with your sister business you love Jerry and she loves you and that is one reason why I hate you or shall when this miserable business is cleared up just now we must pull together and find out where she found the diamonds and who put them there to write to uncle Arthur would do no good though seeing him might the last we heard he was thinking of taking the coast voyage from San Francisco to Tacoma Tom Harold exclaimed with great energy as he sprang to his feet that decides me and then he told of the offer Billy had made him on the car when I saw how sick Jerry was I made up my mind not to accept it although I need the money badly but now if she gets no worse I shall start for Tacoma in a few days and shall find your uncle Arthur if he is to be found it was growing dark when the two young men finally emerged from the house and stood for a moment outside while Harold inquired from odd she is not very well that's a fact Tom said gloomily and no wonder when mother keeps her cooped up in one room without enough fresh air and that's nobody see her except the family and the doctor for fear they will excite her she knows nothing about the diamonds or that Jerry is sick I did tell her though that you had come home and by Joe I pretty near forgot it she wants to see you bad but Lord mother won't let you in no use to try she's like a she-wolf guarding its cub good night and Tom walked away while Harold went back to the cottage where he found Jerry sleeping very quietly with a look on her face so like that it had born in her babyhood when he called her his little girl that he involuntarily stooped down and kissed it as one would kiss a beautiful baby the next morning Jerry was very restless and wild and Harold began to doubt as to whether he ought to take the western trip or not if he went he must go at once and to leave Jerry in her present state seemed impossible he would consult the physician first and judge St. Clair next the doctor gave us his opinion that Jerry was in no danger if she were only kept quiet she had taken a severe cold and overtaxed her strength but he had no fear for the result and he thought Harold might venture to leave her yes I'd go if I were you he added for like Billy he too thought it might be pleasanter for Harold to be out of the way for a time although he did not say so and this was the view the judge took of it after a few moments conversation his first question had been well my boy can you tell me now who gave them to you no I can't was Harold to reply and then acting upon a sudden impulse he burst out impetuously yes I will for I can trust you and I want your advice so badly so he repeated rapidly all he knew and his theory with regard to Arthur whom he wished to find and of Billy's proposition that he should go on his business to Tacoma for a few moments the judge seemed perplexed and undecided if Harold stayed he might have some unpleasant things to bear and hear for there were those who would talk in spite of their protestations of his innocence while to go might look like running away from the storm with the matter unexplained on the whole however he thought it was better to go Jerry's interests are safe with me he said and by the time you return everything will be explained but find Mr. Tracy as soon as possible I am inclined to think your theory with regard to him correct so it was decided that Harold should go and the next night was appointed for him to start had he known that Peterkin and even Mrs. Tracy were each in her own in his own way insinuating that he was running from public opinion nothing could have induced him to leave but he did not know it and went about his preparations with as brave a heart as he could command under the circumstances Jerry was more quiet now though every effort on his part to learn anything from her concerning the diamonds brought on a fit of raving when she would insist that the jewels were hers and must be brought to her but you told me they were Mrs. Tracy's he said to her once and she replied so they are or were but oh how little you know and this was all he could get from her he told her he was going away but that did not affect her and she began to talk of mod who she said must not be harmed have you seen her she asked him not yet he replied but I am going to say goodbye and on the day of his departure he went to the park house and asked if he could see mod of course not was Mrs. Tracy's prompt reply when the request was taken to her no one sees her and I certainly shall not allow him to enter her room but Dolly Frank began protesting Lee but was cut short by the lady who said you needed Dolly me or tried to take his part either I have my opinion and always shall he cannot see mod and you may tell him so now turning to the serpent who had brought Harold's message and who softened it as much as possible Harold had half expected a refusal and was prepared for it taking a card from his pocket he wrote upon it dear mod I'm going away for a few weeks and I'm very sorry that I cannot see you but your mother knows best of course and I must not do anything to make you worse I shall think of you very often and hope to find you much better when I return Harold will you give this to her he said to the girl who answered that she would and who took it to her young mistress late in the afternoon while the family were at dinner and she was left in charge of the invalid Mr. Hastings sent you this she said handing the card to mod into whose face the bright color rushed but left it instantly as she read the few hurried lines going away gone and I didn't see him she exclaimed regardless of consequences and mother did it I know she did I will talk she continued as the frightened girl tried to stop her and then ran for Mrs. Tracy who came in much alarm asking what was the matter you sent Harold away you didn't let him see me and he is mod gas but could get no farther for the paroxysm of coughing which came on together with a hemorrhage which made her so weak that they thought her dying all night she lay so white and still and insensible save at times when her lips moved and her mother heard her whisper sent for Harold Chapter 44 Jerry clears Harold the next day two items of news went like wildfire through the little town of shannondale the first set afloat by Peterkin and helped on by Mrs. Tracy that Harold had run away from public opinion which was fast turning against him since he could not explain where he found the diamonds and the second that both mod Tracy and Jerry Crawford were much worse which made Harold sudden departure all the more heinous in the eyes of his enemies for what but conscious guilt could have prompted him to leave his sister who it was said was calling for him with every breath and charging him with having taken the diamonds this was false for although Jerry's fever had increased rapidly during the night and her babbling was something terrible to hear there was in it no accusation of Harold although she was constantly talking to him and asking for the diamonds and the bag it is a pity he ever told her about them the doctor said as twice each day for four successive days he came and looked upon her fever stained cheeks and counted her rapid pulse and took her temperature and listened to her strange talk and then with a shake of his head drove over to Tracy Park and stood by poor little mods couch and looked into her death white face and counted her faint heartbeats and tried in vain to find some word of encouragement for the stricken man who looked about as much like death as the young girl so dear to him and every morning on his way from the cottage to Tracy Park the doctor saw under the pines two young men Tom and Dick seated upon the iron bench each whittling a bit of pine which one was unconsciously fashioning into a cross and the other into a gravestone Tom had found Dick there working at his cross and after a simple good morning had sat down beside him and whittled in silence upon another bit of wood until the doctor appeared on his way to Tracy Park then the whittling ceased and both young men arose and going forward asked how Jerry was pretty bad Hal oughtn't to have gone though I told him there was no danger we must telegraph if she gets worse was the reply as the doctor rode on then Tom and Dick separated and saw no more of each other until the next morning when they went again and whittled in silence under the pines until the doctor came in sight when the same question was asked and answered as on the previous day Billy never joined them but sat for hours and hours under the butternut tree where Jerry had refused him watching the sluggish river and wondering what the world would be to him if Jerry were not in it had Billy been with Tom and Dick he would not have whittled as they did for all the nerve power had left his hands which lay helplessly in his lap and when he walked he looked more like a withered old man than a young one of twenty seven Maude was the first to rally her first question for Harold her second for Jerry and her father who was with her answered truthfully that Harold had not returned and that Jerry was sick and could not come to her he did not say how sick and Maude felt no alarm and waited patiently as the days went by and Jerry did not appear but grew worse so fast that the whole town was moved with sympathy for and interest in her Jerry was a general favorite and flowers and fruits and delicacies of every kind were sent to the cottage carriage after carriage stopped before the door offer after offer of assistance was made to Mrs. Crawford while Nina and Marion Raymond were there constantly and Billy went to Springfield for a chair in which to wheel his sister to the cottage for she could not yet mountain to the dog cart and Tom and Dick whittled on until the cross and the gravestone were finished and with a sickly smile Tom said to Dick would you cut Jerry's name upon it no oh no Dick answered with a gasp she may be better tomorrow and when the crisis was passed and Jerry's strong constitution triumphed over the disease which had grappled with it the village wore a holiday air as the people said to each other gladly Jerry is better Jerry will live her recovery was rapid and within a week after she awoke to perfect consciousness she was able to sit up a part of every day and had walked across the floor and read a letter from Harold full of solicitude for herself and enthusiasm for his trip over the wild mountains and across the vast plains to the lovely little city of Tacoma built upon a cliff and looking seaward over the sound dear Harold Jerry whispered I shall be so glad when he comes home nothing can be done till then I am so bewildered when I try to think in her weak state everything seemed unreal to Jerry except the fact that she had found her mother and many times each day she thanked her God who had brought her this unspeakable joy and asked that she might do right when the time came to act she knew the bag was safe for she found it just where she had put it but where were the diamonds had Harold taken them with him had he told anyone did his grandmother know anything about them she wondered and she tried in many ways to draw Mrs. Crawford out but was unsuccessful for there was now too much pain and bitterness connected with the diamonds for Mrs. Crawford to speak to her of them but the poisonous breath of gossip had been at work ever since Harold went away quietly aided and abetted by Mrs. Tracy and openly pushed on by Peterkin until Tom Tracy went to him one day and threatened to have him tarred and feathered and ridden on a rail if he ever breathed Harold's name again in connection with the diamonds while I swole was all Peterkin said as he put an enormous good of tobacco in his mouth and walked away thinking to himself to a taken all fired while to scrape them tar and feathers off me I'm so big and I believe the failure meant it them high bucks wouldn't like no better fun than to make a spectacle of me so I guess I'll dry up a spell but the trouble did not stop with Peterkin's talk for a neighboring Sunday paper which fed its readers with all the choices bits of gossip came out with an article headed the Tracy diamonds and after narrating the story in a most garbled and sensational manner went on to comment upon the young man's having run away rather than face public opinion and to comment also upon the law which could not touch him because the offense was committed so long ago one after another and without either knowing that the other had done so Tom and Dick and Billy waited upon the editor of the Sunday news threatening to sue him for libel if he did not retract every word of the offensive article in his next issue which he did but the mischief was done and the paper found its way at last to Jerry sent unwittingly by Annalisa who covered it over a basket of fruit and flowers which was carried one afternoon to the cottage Jerry had been downstairs several times and had walked a little way in the lane but was in her room when the basket was brought to her raising the paper she was about to throw it on the floor when her eye caught the words the Tracy diamonds and with bloodless lips and wildly beating heart she read the article through understanding the situation perfectly and resolving at once how to act it seemed to her that she was lifted above and out of herself she felt so strong and light and well as she put on her bonnet and shawl and taking the leather bag in her hand hurried downstairs in quest of Mrs. Crawford grandma she exclaimed why haven't you told me about Harold and the suspicion resting on him and why did you let him go until I was better and what are the people saying tell me everything Jerry would not be put off and Mrs. Crawford told her everything she knew and that she herself had added to the mystery by the strange thing she had said in her delirium about the diamonds which she insisted were hers and they are mine Jerry said while Mrs. Crawford looked at her in alarm lest her madness had returned where are you going she gasped as Jerry turned toward the door to Tracy Park to claim my own and clear Harold was the reply when I come back I will tell you all but now I can't wait but Jerry you are not strong enough to walk there and besides they have company this afternoon some kind of a new fangled card party and you must not go Mrs. Crawford said I have the strength of 20 horses Jerry replied and if they have company so much the better for there will be more to hear my story goodbye she was off like an arrow and went almost upon a run through the woods until the house was reached and then she stopped a moment to take breath and look about her how fair and beautiful was everything and Jerry's heart beat so hard that she felt for a moment as if she were choking to death as she sat under a maple tree and tried to think it all over to make sure there was no mistake opening the box she took out two papers and read them again as she had the night she was taken sick one was a certificate of marriage the other of a birth and baptism there was no mistake holding the papers in one hand and the bag in the other she went on to the house from which shouts of laughter were issuing Nina's voice and Marion's and Tom's and Dick's and Mrs. Tracy's she could hear that distinctly and she shuddered a little at the sound for it brought back to her mind all the slights she had received from that woman who was so cruel to Harold and the pity which had been springing up in her heart ever since she looked at the windows of Maud's room and thought of the white-faced girl lying there died out and it was more anemesis than a gentle forgiving woman who walked boldly into the hall and stood in the drawing room door. Mrs. Tracy was having a Progressive Euker party that afternoon a friend in Boston had written her about it and proud to be the first to introduce it in Shanondale she stood flushed and triumphant with the restored diamonds in her ears and at her throat laughing merrily at Judge St. Clair who had won the booby prize a little drum as something he could beat and who looked as if he did not quite see the joke apart from the rest Frank Tracy sat looking on though with no apparent interest in the matter he had joined in the game because his wife told him he must and had borne meekly her sarcastic remarks when he trumped her ace and ordered up on nothing his thoughts were not with the cards but upstairs with Maud who seemed to be better and for whom there was constantly a prayer in his heart spare her and I will make reparation I will tell the truth he was trying to bribe the Lord to hear him when he saw Jerry in the door tall thin and white from her recent sickness with eyes which rolled and shone and flashed as Arthur's did sometimes and which fell at last upon Mrs. Tracy where they rested with an intensity which must have drawn that lady's notice to her if Frank had not exclaimed as he rose to his feet Jerry how did you get here then all turned and looked at her and crowded around her with exclamations of surprise and wonder for a moment Jerry stood like one in catalepsy with no power to move or speak but when Mrs. Tracy came forward and in her iciest tone said to her good afternoon Miss Crawford to what am I indebted for this unexpected pleasure her faculties came back her tongue was loosened and she replied in a clear voice which rang through the room like a bell and was indeed the knell to all the lady's greatness I am here to claim my own and to clear herald from the foul suspicion heaped upon him I have seen the paper have heard the whole from grandma and I'm here to defend him it was I who gave him the diamonds it was for me he kept silent and let you think what you would you gave him the diamonds Mrs. Tracy repeated you gave him the diamonds and have come to confess yourself a she never finished the sentence for something in Jerry's face frightened her while her husband who had come forward late his hand warningly upon her arm so absorbed where they all that no one saw the little girl who at the sound of Jerry's voice had in her eagerness to see her crept down the stairs and now stood in the doorway opposite to Jerry her large bright eyes looking in wonder upon the scene and her ears listening intently to what was as new to her as it had been to Jerry an hour ago don't give me the name you have more than once given to herald Jerry said as with the gesture she silenced Mrs. Tracy the diamonds are mine not yours can one steal his own yours your diamonds what do you mean Mrs. Tracy asked they were my mother's Jerry replied and she sent them to me they all thought her crazy except Frank to whom there had come a horrid percentage of the truth and who clutched his wife's arm hard as she said in a mocking aggravating tone and your mother was then Jerry stepped into the room and stood in their midst like a queen among her subjects as she answered my mother was Marguerite Heinrich of this button better known to you as Gretchen and my father is Arthur Tracy and I am their lawful child it is so written here and she held up the papers and the bag I am Jerry Tracy chapter 45 what followed thank God that it is out I couldn't have born it much longer came involuntarily from Frank slips but no one heard it for with one bound as it seemed to the petrified spectators who divided right and left to let her pass Jerry reached the opposite doorway and stooping over the little figure lying there so still lifted it tenderly and carrying it upstairs laid it down in the room it would never leave again until other hands than hers carried it out and laid it away in the Tracy lot where only Jack and the dark woman were lying now mod had heard all Jerry was saying and understood it too and at the words I am Jerry Tracy she felt an electric thrill pass over her like what she had experienced when watching the acting in some great tragedy then all was darkness and she knew no more until Jerry was bending over her and she heard her mother saying leave her to me miss Crawford you have done harm enough for one day you have killed my daughter no mod cried exerting all her strength she has not hurt me she must not go I want her her if what she said is true she is my own cousin oh Jerry I am so glad and throwing her arms around Jerry's neck mod sobbed convulsively and clung tightly to Jerry who nearly distraught herself did not know what to do she knew that Mrs. Tracy looked upon her as an intruder and possibly a liar but she geared little for that lady's opinion she only thought of Frank and what he would say lifting up her head at last from the pillow where she had lain it for a moment she saw him standing at the foot of the bed taller straighter than she had seen him in years with a look on his face which she knew was not adverse to herself Jerry he said slowly and thickly for something choked his speech I can't tell you now all I feel only I am glad for you and Arthur but gladder for myself what did he mean Jerry wondered while mods eyes sought his questioningly and his wife said sharply you are talking like a lunatic do you propose to give up so easily to a girl's bare word let Jerry prove it before she is mistress here then mod whispered there were papers in your hand Jerry and you said it is so written here bring the papers and read them to us I can bear it I must hear them I must know better let her have her way Frank said and Dolly could have knocked him down he spoke so cheerfully while Jerry answered I can't read them myself aloud I couldn't bear it but Marion can she understands German let them all come up they will all have to know mod persisted after a moment during which a powerful tonic had been given to his daughter Frank went down to his guests who were eagerly discussing the strange story which not one of them doubted in the least in her haste to reach mod Jerry had dropped the bag and the two papers which judge St. Clair picked up and held for a moment in his hand then passing the papers to Marion he said it can be no secret now and Jerry will not care what do the papers contain running her eyes rapidly over them Marion said the first is a certificate of marriage between Arthur Tracy and Marguerite Heinrich who were married October 20th 1800 blank in the English Church of East Badden by the Reverend Mr. Eaton then the officiating clergyman the second is a certificate of the birth and baptism of Gerin daughter of Arthur and Marguerite Tracy who was born at East Badden January 1st 1800 blank and christened January 8th 1800 blank by the Reverend Mr. Eaton then a deep silence fell upon the group while Tom stood like one paralyzed he understood the situation perfectly and knew that Jerry was mistress of Tracy Park may as well vacate at once he said at last with an attempt to smile as he walked slowly out of the house just then Frank came down saying that mod insisted upon knowing what was in the papers which Marion was to read while the others were to come up and listen he did not seem at all like a man who had lost anything but bustled about cheerily and when the judge said to him apologetically we know the contents of two of the papers they are certificates of the marriage of Arthur with Gretchen and of Jerry's birth I hope you don't mind if we read them he answered briskly not at all not in the least Arthur and Gretchen I thought so where is Tom he must hear the papers he found his son sitting under the tree where he had been sitting the morning when Jerry came near fainting there and in his hand was a bit of wood finished like a gravestone the same he had whittled under the pines and on which he was now carving Eucard August blank 1800 blank this is the monument to our downfall he said as his father came up to him with something so pitiful in his face and voice that Frank gave way suddenly and sitting down beside him laid his hand upon his tall son's head and cried for a moment like a child while Tom's chin quivered and he was mortally afraid there was something like tears in his own eyes and he meant to be so brave and not show that he was hurt I am sorry for you my boy Frank said at last but glad for Jerry so glad and she will not be hard upon us I shall ask no favors of her I can stand it if you can though money is a good thing to have and then without in the least knowing why he thought of Annalisa and wondered how her ankle was getting along and if he ought not to have called upon her again Marion is going to read the papers in Maud's room and I have come for you Frank said I don't care to hear them Tom replied I am satisfied that we are beggars and Jerry the heiress but Frank insisted and Tom went with him to his sister's room followed by their friends for whom the dinner was waiting and spoiling in the kitchen whereas yet no hint of what was transpiring had reached save the fact that Maud had been downstairs and fainted she was propped upon pillows and her eyes were fixed upon Jerry who sat by her side holding her hands which she occasionally kissed and caressed where did you find the bag the judge asked and then Jerry narrated the particulars of her interview with Peterkin whose destruction of the table had resulted in her finding the bag with the diamonds in it they were mothers she said the last word almost a sob as she turned her eyes upon Mrs. Tracy who stood like a block of stone with no sympathy or credulity upon her face father bought them for her at the same time with Mrs. Tracy's which they are exactly alike it is so written in her letter and she sent them for me they are mine and I gave them to Harold to keep until I could think what to do the diamonds are mine she was still looking at Mrs. Tracy on whom all eyes were resting as the precious stones flashed and glittered and shown in the sunlight for an instant the proud woman hesitated then quickly unclasping the earrings and the pin she laid them in Jerry's lap you are welcome to your property if it is yours I am sure she said and was about to leave the room but her husband kept her back no dolly he said you must stay and here and no it concerns us all as he had closed the door and stood against it she had no alternative except to stay but she walked to the window and stood with her back to them all while Marion put into English and read that message from the dead end of chapters 43 44 and 45 chapters 46 and 47 of Gretchen by Mary Jane Holmes this LibriVox recording is in the public domain chapter 46 the letters there were four of them two in Arthur's handwriting one directed to Mrs. Arthur Tracy V's baton postmarked Liverpool one to Magalete Heinrich V's baton postmarked Shannondale one in a strange handwriting to Arthur Tracy if living and one to Arthur Tracy's friends if he were dead or incapable of understanding it and it was this last which Marion read four as Arthur was living she felt that with his letters strangers had nothing to do the letter to the friends which had evidently been written at intervals as the writer's strength would permit was as follows V's baton December blank 1800 blank to the friends of Mr. Arthur Tracy if he is dead or incapable of understanding this letter from his wife who was Marguerite Heinrich and whom he always called Gretchen I want to tell you about it for the sake of my little Jerry whom if her father is dead I give to your care praying God to deal with you as you are good and just to her and I want you to forgive my husband and not to be angry with him for marrying me a poor obscure girl with neither money nor name I was 17 when I first saw Mr. Tracy my father was dead I was an only child and my mother kept a little fancy shop in V's baton I went to school and learned what other girls like me learned to read and write and knit and sew and fear God and keep his commandments people called me pretty I don't know that I was but he told me so when he came to me one day as I was knitting under a tree in the park he had a picture made of me as I was then and it is on the wall but I have bonded for the rent as I have almost everything oh Jerry Marion exclaimed at this point but Jerry's face was buried in mods pillow and she made no response so Marion went on he came many times for I was always there waiting for him I am afraid but when he said he loved me and wanted me for his wife I could not believe it he was so grand so like nobility and I so poor and plain then mother died suddenly well today dead tomorrow with cholera and I was left alone Gretchen we must be married now he said to me the night after the funeral and I answered him yes we must be married and we were the next day in the little English church by Mr. Eaton the pastor he will find the certificate with the other papers do you ever remember a beautiful moonlight night when the air was soft and warm and sweet with many summer flowers and there was music in the distance and heaven seems so near that you could almost touch the blue lining which separates it from us well just like that was my life with Arthur for a few months oh how I loved him and how he loved me it frightened me sometimes he was so fierce and I don't know what the word is so something in his love he never left me a moment he couldn't he said for I was his balance wheel and without me he was lost I think now he was crazy then I know he was afterward when he did such queer things and forgot so often sometimes the house we lived in sometimes his own name and at last me his Gretchen that was so sad when he went away and stayed away for weeks and said he had forgotten but he was sorry to and made it up and for ten days heaven came down again so I could touch it then he went away and I have never seen him since you must excuse me his friends if I stopped a little while to cry it makes me so lonesome to think of the long years for and more which have been buried with the yesterdays under the flowers and under the snow since Arthur went away and left me all alone if I had told him he might have come back he was so fond of children but I was not sure and I would not tell a lie and let him go without a hint I wrote him once I had something to tell him when he came which would make him glad as it did me and he never replied to it though he wrote two or three times more and sent me money but did not tell where he was only he was being cured he said that was all in January my baby was born and I had her christened Jareen by Mr. Eton you will find it with the papers then how I longed for him and waited and watched but he never came and I knew he had forgotten but I did not doubt his love for a moment or that he would one day come back and I tried to improve myself and learn what was in books so I could mate with him better when he came home which he never did and the years went on and my little Jerry grew more lovely every day she is standing by me now and says are you writing to him darling Jerry you will be kind to her won't you for his sake and for me too who will be dead when you read this Jerry was sobbing now and Maud's arm was around her neck while Frank had walked to a window and like his wife was looking out upon the lawn which he did not see for the tears which filled his eyes when the money stopped the letter went on we grew so poor Jerry and I and Nanine that is the French woman who lives with me and whom Jerry calls money she will bring my child to you when I am dead and oh be kind to her for a true or more faithful woman never lived she is such a comfort to me except when she scolds about Arthur and calls him a bait noir which he is not as you will see he was shut up I don't know where but think it was where they put people with bad heads and he forgot everything till he was out and as far as Paris on his way to America then he remembered and wrote me from Liverpool such a letter full of love and sorrow for the past and sent me such lovely diamonds just like those he had bought for his sister in America he said and he was going home at such a date on the Scotia and he wished me to join him in Liverpool I send the letter with this to prove that I write true but it was too late for I was too weak to travel neither could I write to him in America for he gave me no address that was last September and I have been dying ever since for my heart broke when I thought of what was and what might have been could I have found him the money he sent me then I am saving for Nanine and Jerry to take them to America when I am dead all the days and nights I prayed that Arthur might remember and write me again and God heard and he did in five days ago I received his letter so crazy it was but just as full of love and tenderness and a desire to see me he told me of his lovely home and the Gretchen room where my picture is in the window and in case there should be no one to meet me at the station when I arrived he sent me directions out to find Tracy Park and told me just what to do when I reached New York he would come for me himself he said only the sea made him so sick and he was afraid he should forget everything if he did but you will see in his letter what he wrote and how fond he was of me and if he is alive and too crazy to understand now tell him when he is better how I loved him and prayed for him every hour that God would bring him at last where I'm going so soon Nanine will take him my Bible with passages marked by me and a photograph which I had taken a year ago and which will tell you how I looked then now I am so thin and pale that Arthur would hardly know me I send to a lock of Jerry's hair cut when she was three weeks old she is such a comfort to me and so old and womanly for her years she will remember much of our life here for she notices everything and understands it too and goes over as in a play which she sees and hears we have been cold and hungry sometimes but not often the neighbors are so kind and when I am dead they will see that Nanine is made ready for America with Jerry and the papers and the diamonds which I might have pond when our need was greatest but I could not I must save them for Jerry and may she wear them many days and years to come when her mother is dust and ashes in the ground but a glorified spirit in paradise where I shall watch over her and if I can be with her often and keep myself in her mind so that she will never forget my face or the old home in Germany God bless my little daughter and to make her a true noble woman and God bless you Arthur's friends who read this and incline you to be kind and just to Jerry and see that she has her own for there must be money at Tracy Park and if you are poor and Jerry comes rich tell her from her mother to be kind to you and give as you have given to her now I must stop I am so tired and it is growing so dark that Nanine has opened the stove door to let the light fall on the paper in my lap and Jerry is standing by me and says are you going to God pretty soon yes darling very soon tonight perhaps or tomorrow or when he will the air grows cold the night is coming on my eyes are dim my head is tired I think yes I think it will be tomorrow goodbye Gretchen Tracy as she finished reading Mary in a Rose and going up to Jerry kissed her lovingly and said to her in German that was your mother's picture in our old home in Beastbottom I am so glad for you a low sob was Jerry's reply and then Judge St. Clair asked is that all yes Marion said all except Mr. Tracy's letters to Gretchen oh no she added there is something more and feeling in the bag she drew out two small papers one crumpled and worn as if it had often been referred to the other folded neatly and tied with a white ribbon this Marion opened first and found it to be a certificate written in English to the effect that Mrs. Arthur Tracy named Marguerite Heinrich died at such a date and was buried by the Reverend Dr. Bellows the resident rector of the English Church the other was in Arthur's handwriting and the directions he had written to his wife as to what she was to do and how to find Tracy Park yes Judge St. Clair said coming forward and taking the paper from her hand this is what the stationmaster saw the poor woman examining that night in the storm she probably dropped it into the bag without stopping to fold it there can be no doubt then a deep silence reigned for a moment in the room until Mrs. Tracy who all through the reading had stood like a block of granite by the window turned and walking up to Jerry said in a bitter tone of course there is no mistake I do not doubt that you are mistress here and I'm ready to leave at once shall we pack up and quit tonight dolly mother came angrily and sternly from both Tom and Frank and oh mama please came faintly from mod while Jerry lifted up her head and looking steadily at the cruel woman said why are you so hard with me I cannot help it I am not to blame I mean to do right only wait a little I am so sick now so dizzy and blind will somebody lead me out where I can breathe I am choking here it was Tom who took her into the open air and to a seat under the tree where once before she had almost fainted as she did now with her head upon his shoulder for he put it there and then pushed her hair back from her face as he said lightly don't take it so hard if we can stand it you can then Jerry straightened up and said Tom do you want to kill me now what do you mean he asked and she replied don't you know you said under the pines that you would kill any claimant to Tracy Park who might appear against you I remember it Tom said but I didn't think then that the claimant would be you and he put his arm around her as he continued I can't say that I am not awfully cut up to be turned at neck and heels out of what I believed would be my own but if I must be I am glad it is you who do it for I know you'll not be hard upon us or let uncle Arthur be even if mother is so mean remember Jerry that I loved you and asked you to be my wife when I believed you poor and unknown Tom was very politic but all the good there was in him seemed now to be on the surface and while inwardly rebelling at his misfortune he felt a thrill of joy in knowing that Jerry was his cousin and would not be hard upon him shall we go back to the house he said at last and they went back meeting the people upon the piazza where they stopped for a moment while Jerry's hands were shaken and she was congratulated that at last the mystery was cleared and her rights restored to her Mr. Arthur Tracy ought to be here Judge St. Clair said yes I thought of that Tom replied and shall telegraph him tomorrow then they said good night and without going in to see either Mr. or Mrs. Tracy again Tom and Jerry walked toward the cottage through the woods where the trees met in graceful arches overhead and the moonlight fell in silver flecks upon the grass and the summer air was odorous and sweet with the smell of the pines in the balm of Gilead trees scattered here and there it was a lovely place and Tom thought so with a keen sense of pain as after leaving Jerry at her gate he walked slowly back until he reached the four pines where he sat down to think and wonder what he should do as a poor man with neither business or prospects I don't suppose father has laid up much he said for since Uncle Arthur came home he has done very little business and has spent what really was his own recklessly and without a thought of saving he was so sure to have enough at last and Uncle Arthur was so free to give us what we asked for but that will end when he knows he has a daughter and as he never fancied me much I shall either have to beg or work or starve or marry a rich wife which is not so easy for a poor dog to do I don't suppose that governor's daughter would look at me now nor anyone else who is anybody by George I ought to have called on Analyze again I wonder if it's too late I believe I'll walk around there anyway and if I see a light I'll go in and if old Pat Airfamilias how I'd like to kick him is there I'll tell him the news and that I know now he did not strike Jerry with the table leg and perhaps I'll apologize for what I said in the car Tom Tracy you are a scoundrel and no mistake he added with energy as he arose and struck into the field through which he had dragged Analyze the night of the storm there were lights at libato and Tom was soon shaking hands with old Pat Airfamilias and with Analyze who was now able to come downstairs chapter 47 Arthur he had enjoyed himself immensely from the moment he first caught sight of grand old Pike speak on the distant plains until he entered the city of the golden gate and standing on the terrace of the cliff house looked out upon the blue Pacific with the sea lions desporting on the rocks below for he went there first and then to Chinatown and explored every nook and corner and opium den in it and drank tea at twenty dollars a pound in a high toned restaurant and visited the theater and the Jaws house and patronized the push cars as he called them every day and experienced a wonderful exhilaration of spirits as he sat upon the front seat with the fresh air blowing upon his face and only the broad steep street lined with palaces before him this is heaven this clears the cobwebs he said to Charles who sat beside him with chattering teeth and his coat collar pulled high about his ears for the winds of San Francisco are called even in the summer Arthur's first trip was to the Yosemite taking the Milton route and meeting with the adventure he's so much desired for in the early morning between Chinese camp and priests the stage was suddenly stopped by two masked marauders one of whom stood at the horse's heads while the other confronted the terrified passengers with their blood curdling words hands up every soul of you and the hands went up from timid women and strong men until click click came in rapid succession from the driver's box where Arthur sat and shot after shot followed each other one bullet grazing the ear of the highway man at the horse's heads and another cutting through the slouched hat of his comrade near the stage leave or I'll shoot you dead I five more shots in this one and two more revolvers in my pockets and I'm not afraid Arthur yelled jumping about like a maniac and so startling the robbers that they fled precipitately followed for a little distance by Arthur who had leaped from the stage and who started in pursuit with a revolver in each hand and ball after ball flying ahead of him as he ran when at last he came back the passengers flocked around him grasping his hands and blessing him as the preserver of their money if not of their lives after that Arthur was a lion whom all the people in the valley wish to see and talk with and with whom the landlord bore as he had never born with a guest before for Arthur found fault with the rooms which he likened to bathtubs and fault with the smells which came from the river and fault with the smoke in the parlor but made ample amends by the money he spent so lavishly the scores of photographs he bought and the puffs he wrote for the San Francisco papers extolling the valley is the very gate of heaven and the hotel a second only to the palace and signing himself bumblebees he went on every trail and climbed the highest possible peak and when he stood on the top of old Capitan and looked down upon the world below he capered and shouted like a madman singing at the top of his voice my eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the lord glory glory alleluia until the rocky gorges rang with the wild echoes which went floating down the valley below where the sun was shining so brightly and the grass was growing so green on his return to San Francisco after an absence of several weeks he took up his abode at the palace hotel which he turned top Citervi with his vagaries but the landlord could afford to bear much from one who spent his money so freely and so he was allowed to change rooms every day if he liked and half the plumbers in the city were called in to see what caused the smells which he declared worse than anything he had ever met in his life and which were caused in part by the disinfectants which he bought by the wholesale and kept in his bathroom his washroom and under his bed until the chambermaid tied up her nose and camphor when she went in to do her work but his career was brought to a close suddenly one morning when just as he was taking his coffee and rolls in his room Charles brought him the following telegram come immediately there's the devil to pay Tom Tracy Arthur read the message two or three times not at all disturbed by it but vastly amused at its wording then putting it down he went on with his breakfast until it was finished when he took a card from his pocket and wrote upon it pay him then for our chat come Arthur Tracy this was handed to Charles with instructions to forward it to Tracy Park this done he gave no further thought to the message so full of such import to himself but began to talk of and plan his contemplated trip to Tacoma by the next steamer which sailed it was six o'clock when he had his dinner in his own private parlor where he was served by both Charles and a waiter and where a second telegram was brought him confound it he said have they nothing to do at home but to torment me with telegrams didn't I tell them to pay the old Harry and done with it what do they mean and putting the envelope down by his plate he went quietly on with his dinner until he was through when he took it up and breaking the seal read come at once I need you Jerry that changed everything and with a bound he was in the next room gesticulating fiercely and ordering Charles to step lively and get everything in readiness to start home on the first eastward bound train which left San Francisco that rascally Tom is a liar he said it's not the devil to pay it's Jerry do you hear it's Jerry bring me some paper quick and don't stand staring at me as if I were a lunatic it's Jerry who needs me Charles brought the paper on which his master wrote coming on the wings of the wind yours respectfully Arthur Tracy in less than half an hour this singular message was flying along the wires across the continent and within a few hours Arthur was following it as fast as a steam horse could take him end of chapters forty six and forty seven chapter forty eight of Gretchen by Mary Jane Holmes this LibriVox recording is in the public domain chapter forty eight what they were doing and had done in Shannondale if the earth had opened suddenly and swallowed up half the inhabitants of Shannondale the other half could not have been more astonished than they were at the news which Peterkin was the first to tell them and which he had risen very early to do before someone else should be before him irascible and quick-tempered as he was he was easily appeased and the fact that Jerry was Arthur Tracy's daughter changed his opinion of her at once the biggest heiress in the county except my aunt Liza and by gum I'm glad on't for her and Arthur I always said she was his and by George to think I helped her into her fortune for if I hadn't up knocked that rotten old table down she'd have never found them memoirs he said to the first person to whom he communicated the news and then hurried off to enlighten others until everybody knew and was discussing the strange story before noon scores of people had found it in their way to walk past the cottage hoping to catch sight of Jerry while a few went in to tell her how glad they were for her and Mr. Arthur but Jerry was in her room too sick and tired to see them and they could only question Mrs. Crawford who was herself half crazed when Mrs. Crawford heard the story Jerry told her after her return from the parkhouse she had been for a few moments stupefied with amazement and had sat motionless until she heard Jerry say to her dear grandma I told you your working days were over and they are for what is mine is yours and Harold's and my home is your home always so long as you live then the poor old lady put her head upon Jerry's arm and cried hysterically for a moment then she rallied and kissed the young girl who had been so much to her and whom for a brief moment she feared she might have lost for a long time they talked of the past and the future and of Harold who wasn't Tacoma where he might have to remain for three or four weeks longer he had written several times to his grandmother and once to Jerry but had made no mention of the diamonds while in her letters to him Mrs. Crawford had refrained from telling him what some of the people were saying and the construction they were putting upon his absence Jerry had not yet written to him but I shall tomorrow she said and tell him to come home for I need him now if ever Jerry was very tired when she went at last to bed but the dreamless sleep which came upon her and which lasted until a late hour in the morning did her good and probably saved her from a relapse which might have proved fatal still she was very weak and too sick to go downstairs for the excitement of the previous night was telling upon her and when Tom came asking to see her she received him in her room he had been up since sunrise strolling through the park with a troubled look on his face for he was extremely sorry for himself though very glad for Jerry who's sworn ally he was and would be to the end in a way he had tried to comfort his mother by telling her that neither his uncle or Jerry would be unjust to her if she'd only behave herself and treat the latter as she ought and not keep up such a high and mighty and injured air as if Jerry had done something wrong in finding out who she was but Dolly would not be comforted and her face wore a sullen defiant expression as she moved about the house where she had queened it so long that she really looked upon it as her own resenting bitterly the thought that another was to be mistress there she had talked with her husband and made him tell her exactly how much he was worth in his own right and when he told her how little it was she had exclaimed angrily we are beggars and may as well go back to Langley and sell caught fish again she had seen Tom that morning and went to her question why are you up so early he replied to attend to Jerry's affairs she tossed her head scornfully and said before I'd crawl after any girl much less Jerry Crawford you'd better be attending to your own sister she's worse this morning and looks as if she might die at any minute then Tom went to Maude who since the shock of the night before had lain as if she were dead except for her eyes in which there was a new and wondrous light and which looked up lovingly at Tom as he came in and kissed her a most unusual thing for him to do dear Tom she whispered come closer to me and as he bent down to her she continued is everything Jerry's yes or will be she is uncle Arthur's daughter shall we be very poor yes poor as a church mouse then there was a pause and when Maude spoke again she said slowly for me no matter sorry for you and father and mother but glad for Jerry stand by her Tom tell mother not to be so bitter it hurts me tell Harold when he comes I meant to do so much for him but Jerry will do it instead tell her I must see her and sent for uncle Arthur there was a lump in Tom's throat as he left his sister's room and going to the village telegraphed to his uncle's headquarters at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco at least a hundred people stopped him on his way to the office asking if what they heard was true and to all he replied true as the gospel we are floored as Peter can would say and then he hurried to the cottage to see Jerry and tell her of the message sent to Arthur though not how it was worded after a moment he continued hesitatingly as if have ashamed of it I called at Lubber to last night to inquire after analyze as foot and you ought to have seen Peter can when I told him the news at first he could not find any word in his vocabulary big enough to swear by but after a while one came to him and what do you think it was Jerry could not guess and Tom continued he said by the great Peter can and then he swowed and vowed and snummed and bummed and dumbed and finally said he was glad of it and had always known you were a Tracy and Eliza was so glad she cried and I think Billy cried too for he left the room suddenly with very suspicious looking eyes why everybody is glad for you Jerry and nobody seems to think how mean it is for us but I'm not going to wine I'm glad it's you and so is mod and she wants to see you I believe she's going to die and and Jerry something choked Tom for a moment and then he went on if uncle Arthur should get high and order us out at once as father seems to think he will you'll let us stay while mod lives won't you Tom Jerry said reproachfully what do you take me for and why does your father think his brother will order him out I don't know Tom replied but he seems awfully afraid to meet him mother says he was up all night walking the floor and talking to himself and yet he says he is glad and he is coming this morning to see you and talk it over I believe I hear him now speaking to Mrs Crawford yes does he so I guess I'll go and when I hear from my telegram I'll let you know goodbye a moment after Tom left the room his father entered it looking haggard and old and frightened too it seemed to Jerry as she met him with a cheery good morning Uncle Frank it was the first time she had addressed him by that name and her smile was so bright and her manner so cordial that for an instant the cloud lifted from his face but soon came back darker than ever as he declined the seat she offered him and stood trembling before her Frank had not slept the previous night but had walked his room until his wife said to him angrily I thought you were glad seems to me you don't act like it but for pity's sake stop walking or go somewhere else to do it and not keep me awake then he went into the hall outside and there he walked the live long night trying to think what he should say to Jerry and wondering what she would say to him for he meant to tell her everything nothing could prevent his doing that and as soon as he thought she would see him he started for the cottage taking with him the Bible the photograph and the letter he had secreted so long all the way there he was repeating to himself the form of speech with which he should commence but when Jerry said to him so graciously good morning Uncle Frank the words left him and he began impetuously don't call me uncle don't speak to me Jerry until you have heard what I have come to confess on my knees with my white head upon the floor if you will it so and that would not have expressed the shame and remorse with which I stand before you and tell you I am a cheat a liar a villain and I have been since the day when I first saw you in that dead woman we thought your mother Jerry was dumb with surprise and did not speak or move as he went on rapidly telling her the whole with no attempt at an excuse for himself except so far as to repeat what he had done in a business point of view making provision for her in case of his death and then joining it upon his children to see that his wishes were carried out here is the Bible he said laying the book in her lap here is the photograph and here the letter which you gave me to post in which had it been sent might have cleared the mystery sooner he had made his confession and he stood before her with clasp hands and an expression upon his face such as a criminal might wear when awaiting the jury's decision but Jerry neither looked at him nor spoke for through a rain of tears she was gazing upon the sweet face sadder and thinner than the face of Gretchen in the window but so like it that there could be no mistaking it and so like to the face which had haunted her so often and seemed so near to her mother mother I remember you as you are here sick and sorry but oh so lovely she said as she pressed her lips again and again to the picture with no thought or care for the wretched man who had come a step nearer to her and who said at last will you never speak to me Jerry never tell me how much you despise me then she looked up at the face quivering with anguish and entreaty and the site melted her at once indeed as he had talked she had scarcely felt any resentment toward him for she was sure that though his error had been great his contrition and remorse had been greater and she thought of him only as Maud's father and the man who had always been kind to her and she made him believe at last that she forgave him for Maud's sake if not for his own had my life been a wretched one because of your conduct she said I might have found it harder to forgive you but it has not I have not been the daughter of Tracy Park it is true but I have been the petted child of the cottage and I would rather have lived with Harold in poverty all these years than to have been rich without him and you know I think it was noble in you to tell me when you might have kept it to yourself no no I couldn't have done that much longer he exclaimed energetically as he began to walk up and down the room I could not bear it in the shadow which for years has been with me night and day counseling me for bad was growing so black and huge and unendurable that I must have confessed or died but it is gone now or will be when I have told my brother told your brother you don't mean to do that Jerry exclaimed but I do mean to do it Frank replied as a part of my punishment and he will not forgive as you have done he will turn me out at once as he ought to Jerry thought this very likely and with all her powers she strove to dissuade Frank from making a confession which could do no possible good and might result in untold harm remember Maud she said and the effect this thing would have upon her if your brother should resort to immediate and violent means as he might in his first frenzy but I mean to tell Maud too Frank replied then Jerry looked upon him as matter than Arthur himself and talked so rapidly and argued so well that he consented at last to keep his own counsel for the present at least unless the shadow still haunted him in which case he must tell as an act of contrition or penance he will think the photograph came with the other papers in the bag Jerry said as she again kissed the sweet face which looked so much like life that it was hard to think there was not real love and tenderness in the eyes which looked into hers so steadfastly it was the hardest to forgive the letter hidden so long and Jerry did feel a pang of resentment or something like it as she took it in her hand and thought of the day when Arthur had confided it to her saying he could trust her when he could not another and she had trusted Frank who had not been true to her trust and here after the lapse of years was the letter with its singular superscription covering the whole side in its seal unbroken but she would break it now she surely might do that if Arthur was never to see it and after a moment's hesitancy she opened it and read first wild crazy sentences full of love and tenderness for the little Gretchen to whom they were addressed and whom the writer sometimes spoke to as living and again as dead there was a strong desire expressed to see her a wish for her to come and get her diamonds before they were taken from her a second time here Jerry started with an exclamation of surprise and involuntarily read aloud the most exquisite diamonds you ever saw and I long to see them on you they are safe too from her Mrs. Frank Tracy who had the boldness to flot them in my face at a party the other night how she came by them I can't guess but I know how she lost them I found them on her dressing table when she left them when she went to breakfast and took possession at once that was no theft for they are mine or rather yours and are waiting for you in my private drawer where no one has ever looked except a young girl called Jerry who interests me greatly she is so much like what you must have been when a child there has been some trouble about the diamonds I hardly know what my head isn't such a buzzing most of the time that everything goes from me but you oh if I had remembered you years ago as I do now Jerry could read no further for the letter dropped from her hands as she cried joyfully I knew he had them I was sure of it though I did not know where they were then very briefly she explained to Frank that on the morning when the diamonds were missed Arthur was so excited because Harold had been in a way accused that he had rambled off into German and said things which made her think he had taken them himself and secreted them you remember my sickness she said and how strangely I talked of going to prison as an accessory or a substitute well it was for your brother I was ready to go and when he told me as he did one day that he knew nothing of the diamonds I was never more astonished in my life but afterwards as I grew older I believed that he had forgotten them as he did other things and that sometime he would remember and make restitution I am glad we know where they are but we cannot get them until he returns when do you think that will be Frank did not know it would depend he said upon whether he was in San Francisco when Tom's telegram was received if he were and started at once traveling day and night he would be home in a week it seemed a long time to wait in Jerry's state of mind and very very short to the repentant man who shrank from his brother's return as from an impending evil although it was a relief to think that he need not tell him what a hypocrite he had been thank you Jerry he said at last as he arose to go thank you for being so kind to me I did not deserve it I did not expect it heaven bless you I am glad for you and so is mod oh Jerry heaven is dealing hard with me to take her from me and yet it is just I sinned for her sinned to see her in the place I was sure was yours for I knew you were Arthur's child and I meant to go to Germany someday when I had the language a little better and clear it up and then I had promised myself to tell you will you say again that you forgive me before I go back to mod he was standing before her with his white head dropped upon his hat the very picture of misery and remorse and Jerry laid her hand upon his head and said I do forgive you Uncle Frank fully and freely for mod say get for no other and if she lives what is mine shall be hers tell her so and tell her I'm coming to see her as soon as I am able I am so tired and sick today and everything is so strange oh if Harold were here Jerry was indeed so tired and exhausted that for the remainder of the day she saw no one but Judge St. Claire and Tom both of whom came up together the latter bringing the answer to his telegram and asking what to do next why Tom Jerry said as she read Arthur's reply pay him then for I shan't come what does he mean what did you say to him and whom are you to pay with a half comical smile Tom replied I told him the old Nick was to pay though I'm afraid I used a stronger name for his satanic majesty than that I guess you'll have to try what you can do and so Jerry's message I need you went across the continent and brought the ready response coming on the wings of the wind it was Judge St. Claire who wrote to Harold for Jerry who said tell him everything and how much I want him here and tell him too of Maude whose life hangs on a thread that may bring him sooner it was three days before Jerry was able to go to the parkhouse and then Tom came for her saying Maude was failing very fast the news which had come upon her so suddenly with regard to Jerry's birth and the suspicions resting upon Harold shortened the life nearing its close and the moment Jerry entered the room she knew the worst and with the storm of sobs and tears knelt by the sick girl's couch and cried oh I can't bear it I'd give up everything to save you oh Maude you don't know how much I love you Maude was very calm though her lips quivered a little and the tears filled her eyes as she put her hand in Jerry's a great change had come over Maude since the night when she heard Jerry's story a change for the better some might have thought although the physician who attended her gave no hope she neither coughed nor suffered pain and could talk all she liked although often in a whisper she was so very weak yes Jerry she said I know you love me and it makes me very glad and dying seems easier for I know you will be cared for once when I first thought I must die I wrote something on paper for father and uncle Arthur to see when I was dead and it was that this should take you in my place you and Harold Maude's voice shook a little here but she soon steadied it and went on I wanted them to give you what I thought would be mine had I lived and what all the time was yours oh Jerry how can you help hating me who have stood so long where you ought to have stood and enjoyed what you ought to have enjoyed Maude Jerry cried don't talk like that as if I or anyone could ever have hated why I worshiped you as some little Empress when I used to see you in your bright sashes and yellow kid boots with the amber beads around your neck and if the contrast between your finery and my high neck gingham apron and white sun bonnet sometimes struck me painfully I had no wish to take the boots and sashes from you whom they fitted so admirably and as we grew older and you did not shrink from or slight Jerry Crawford I cannot tell you how great was the love which grew in my heart for you the dearest girlfriend I ever had and a thousand times dearer now I know you are my cousin Maude was silent for a moment and then she asked abruptly Jerry why did you never fall in love with Harold oh Maude and Jerry started as if Maude had struck her while the telltale blood rushed to her face and into her eyes there came a look which even Maude could understand Jerry she exclaimed forgive me I didn't know I never guessed I was so stupid but I have been thinking so much since Harold went away does he know about you who you are I mean and how long before he will come home Judge St. Clair wrote him everything three days ago Jerry replied and told him how sick you were that will surely bring him at once if it is possible for him to leave but it will be three or four days now before the letter will reach him and it will take a week for him to come would you like to see him very much yes Maude answered but I never shall Jerry did Harold ever did he does he love you he never told me so Jerry said frankly but I thought that he loved you no Maude answered piteously it was all a mistake and when I am dead and Harold comes promised to tell him something from me will you yes Jerry replied and Maude continued tell him the very first time you and he are alone together and speak of me that I have been thinking and thinking until it came to me clear as day that it was all a mistake a stupid blunder on my part I was always stupid you know but I believe my brain is clear now will you tell him Jerry mistake about what Jerry asked with a vague apprehension that the task imposed upon her might not be a pleasant one if she knew all that involved Harold will tell you what Maude answered he will understand what I mean but I shall not be here when he comes I am sure of it I hope to live till uncle Arthur comes for I must see him and ask him not to be too hard on poor father and tell him I am sorry that I have been so long in the place where you should have been you will stay here and be with me to the last I want you to hold my hand when I say goodbye forever you are so strong that I shall not be afraid with you to see and hear as long as I hear and see anything and are you afraid Jerry asked and Maude replied of the death struggle yes but not what lies beyond where he is the saviour for I know I am going to him and when they think me asleep I am often praying silently for more faith and love and for you all that you may one day come where I soon shall be heaven is very very beautiful for I have seen it in my dreams a material heaven some would say for there are trees and flowers and grass and on a golden bench beneath a tree whose leaves are like emeralds and whose blossoms are like pearls I am sitting on the back of a shining river resting and waiting as little pilgrim waited for the coming of the master and for you all Maude was very tired and her voice was so low that Jerry could scarcely hear it while the eyelids drooped heavily and in a few moments she fell asleep with a wrapped look on her face as if she were already resting on the golden seat beneath the tree whose leaves were emeralds and whose blossoms were like pearls that night Jerry wrote as follows Dear Harold Maude is very low and unless you come soon you will never see her again the judge has written you of me but I must tell you myself that nothing can ever change me from the Jerry of old and the fact which makes me the happiest is that now I can help you who have been so kind to me How I long to see you and talk it all over We expect Mr. Arthur in a few days I cannot call him father yet until he has himself given me the right to do so by calling me daughter first but to myself I am calling Gretchen mother all the time my darling little mother Oh Harold you must come home and share my happiness which will not be complete till you are here Jerry During the next few days Jerry stayed with Maude waiting anxiously for tidings from Arthur until one lovely September morning a telegram was brought to Frank from Charles which said they would be home that afternoon End of Chapter 48