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Page 61
"Mrs. Curtis," declared Madge, when the three minutes had gone by, "I
can't--I can't decide what you ask me now. Please don't think I do not
love you. It is too wonderful for you and Tom to wish me to come to
live with you. But may I have a few days to think things over before I
give you my answer? The thought of leaving Aunt Sue and Uncle William
and Nellie does--does----" Madge could not go on.
"Never mind, dear," soothed Mrs. Curtis. "It was not fair in me to
take you unawares, and then expect you to make up your mind so soon.
Suppose I give you three days, instead of three minutes, to think
things over. Even then, Madge, we can't be sure that your uncle and
aunt will be willing to let you be my girl instead of theirs."
CHAPTER XXI
MOLLIE'S BRAVE FIGHT
Mollie was sitting alone on the deck of the houseboat. She and Miss
Jenny had just finished an early tea. The girls were still away at
their dinner, and Miss Jenny Ann had gone up to the nearest farmhouse
to get some eggs for breakfast. It was the first time Mollie had ever
been left by herself on the houseboat. But Miss Jenny Ann did not
think there was any possible danger. Neither Captain Mike nor Bill had
made the slightest attempt to get possession of Mollie. Nor did Miss
Jones intend to be out of call for more than fifteen minutes.
Mollie had begun to lose the vague dread that had haunted her all her
life. The peaceful hours of the past ten days seemed more real to her
than the dreary, ugly years of her childhood. She began faintly to
realize what life could mean when one was not afraid.
Mollie's hands, a little roughened from hard work, were folded
peacefully in her lap. Her beautiful head, with its crown of
sun-colored hair, was resting against the cushion of the big steamer
chair. She was on the small upper deck, facing the bow of the boat. A
strolling breeze had blown the hair back from her forehead, and the
ugly scar was visible. But, now that Mollie's head no longer ached
from the hard work she had been forced to endure, the throbbing and the
old pain in this scar had almost gone. The girl was slowly finding
herself. So far she had accepted her new life without a question,
taking what was done for her like a contented child. Now she sat
looking up the bay for the return of her friends. They would not be at
home for several hours, but time meant very little to Mollie, and she
had been lonely since they had gone away.
A skiff came down the bay with a single figure seated in it.
Mollie heard the faint splashing of the oars, but since water sounds
had been familiar to her all her life she did not even turn her head to
see if any one were coming near to the houseboat.
She knew the girls were due from the other direction.
The boat moved slowly in toward the shore. It made almost no sound,
now that it drew nearer the land. With a final dip of the oars and a
strong forward movement the small boat glided well within the shadow of
the stern of the houseboat. There it stopped.
Mollie did not see nor hear it. For some moments the boat rested
quietly in the shallow water, moving only with the faint movement of
the evening tide. The solitary boatman sat without stirring. He
leaned forward, listening intently for any sounds of life aboard the
houseboat. He had espied the deserted figure on the upper deck.
In almost complete silence the man fastened his boat to the houseboat
and in his stocking feet clambered up the side of "The Merry Maid" and
came aboard. He slipped around the deck, crouching on his hands and
knees. He listened at the doors of each room in the cabin. No one was
about except the girl in the steamer chair. The man moved like a cat,
with almost complete noiselessness. He made no effort to onto the
deserted cabin. Nor did he, at first, make any movement that showed
the least interest in Mollie.
At the farther end of the deck, outside the kitchen, the prowler made a
discovery which caused him great satisfaction. He smiled. He picked
it up and shook it furtively. The treasure was a big tin can, nearly
full of kerosene.
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