"My fault as much as his," Madam Bellethorne said sadly. "We were both proud and high-tempered. But no more of this now. Something in this gentleman"s long telegram to me----"
She bowed to Mr. Gordon. He quickly stated the matter of the black mare"s ownership to the singer.
"If you will come to the British consulate where Ida"s pa.s.sport must be vised, and sign there a paper empowering me to act in your behalf, you a.s.suming the guardianship of Ida, I can start lawyers on the trail of this swindle."
Miss Bellethorne was a woman of prompt decision and of a business mind, and immediately agreed. She likewise saw that her niece had made powerful friends during the weeks she had been in America and she was content to allow Mr. Gordon to do the girl this kindness.
It was a busy time; but the delay in the sailing of the _San Salvador_ made it possible for everything necessary to be accomplished. Uncle d.i.c.k and Betty and Bob accompanied the Bellethornes aboard the ship again and had luncheon with them. Ida cried when she parted with Betty; but it would be only for the winter. When the opera company returned to New York it was already planned that the younger Ida Bellethorne should join the friends of her own age she had so recently made at Shadyside School.
It was an astonishing sight for Betty and Bob to see the great ship worried out of her dock by the fussy little tugs. It was growing dark by that time and the great steamship was brilliantly lighted. They watched until she was in midstream and was headed down the harbor under her own steam.
"There! It"s over!" sighed Betty. "I feel as if a great load had been lifted from my mind. Dear me, Bob! do you suppose we can ever again have so much excitement crowded into a few hours?"
As Betty was no seeress and could not see into the future she of course did not dream that in a very few weeks, and in very different surroundings, she would experience adventures quite as interesting as any which had already come into her life. These will be published in the next volume of this series, ent.i.tled: "Betty Gordon at Ocean Park; or, Gay Doings on the Boardwalk."
Bob shook his head at Betty"s last observation. "Does seem as though we manage to get hooked up to lots of strange folks and strange happenings.
Certain metals attract lightning, Betty, and I think you attract adventures. What do you say, Uncle d.i.c.k?"
Mr. Gordon only laughed. "I say that you young folks had better have supper and a long night"s rest. I shall not let you go on to school until to-morrow. For once you will be a day late; but I will chance explaining the circ.u.mstances to your instructors."
They got into the taxicab again and bowled away up town. The lights came up like rows of fireflies in the cross streets. When they struck into the foot of Fifth Avenue at the Washington Arch the globes on that thoroughfare were all alight. It was late enough for the traffic to have thinned out and their driver could travel at good speed save when the red lights flashed up on the traffic towers.
"Isn"t this wonderful?" said Betty. "Libbie is always enthusing about pretty views and fairylike landscapes. What would she and Timothy say to this?"
"Something silly, I bet," grumbled Bob. "Cricky! but I"m hungry," proving by this speech that he had a soul at this moment very little above mundane things.
Uncle d.i.c.k chuckled in his corner of the car, and made no comment. And Betty said nothing further just then. The brilliant lights of the avenue were shining full in her face, but her thoughts were far away, with Ida Bellethorne on that ocean-going steamer bound for South America. What a wonderful winter of adventures it had been!
"And the best of it is, it all came out right in the end," murmured the girl softly to herself.
BETTY GORDON SERIES
BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM
BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON
BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL
BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL
BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP
RUTH FIELDING SERIES
RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL
RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL
RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP
RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT
RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH
RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND
RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM
RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES
RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE
RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE
RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE
RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS
RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT
RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND
RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST
RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTH-WEST
RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE