Through the efforts of Mr. Breslin everything regarding the former
hermit was cleared up, and his name was once more restored to its
untarnished honor. There was absolutely no charge against him, and
on learning this, his health took a big change for the better. As
for Laurel, she was happier than she had been in many years.
The injury to Jim Peters did not amount to as much as had been
feared at first and he gradually recovered. There was no trace of
"Tony," as everyone called Brentano. The search for him was given
up, but the officers who had been fooled by the can of "red paint"
had a hard time living down the joke against them. Cora destroyed
all the correspondence she had received. It was like a bad dream,
all but that part about helping Laurel and her father, and she
wanted to forget it. Laurel also destroyed the letter Jack had
picked up the night of the search. It was one from Brentano, and
she, too, wanted no remembrance of him. This epistle had a slight
connection with the mystery.
Old Ben proved a good friend and Cora was sorry for the momentary
feeling she had had against him. He showed the boys many woodland
haunts and took them to secret fishin' "holes" unknown to the
general public. The lads voted him a "brick."
It was a bright, beautiful day and every one was happy--happy
because of the fine weather and because everything had turned out so
well.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193