Part 36 (1/2)

”Brenda,” said Miss South, drawing near, ”I suppose that you would like me to tell you about Mrs. Rosa's money, yet I do not feel that it is a matter with which I ought to meddle. I had nothing to do with raising the money, only I have been interested in the plan by means of which you all wished to help the poor woman.”

”We all think that you have been very kind,” interposed Nora, politely.

”Ah, I have been. I am very much interested in Mrs. Rosa and her family--and so I know is Brenda,” for she saw a cloud settling on the young girl's face.

”But you were not exactly wise, Brenda, in leaving that money with Mrs.

Rosa.”

”Has it been stolen?” gasped Brenda.

”Well, not exactly stolen, although Mrs. Rosa no longer has it.”

”Brenda,” interrupted Nora, ”I certainly begged you not to leave it there. Though I never imagined that you would do so.”

”Well, Brenda,” continued Miss South, ”Nora received a letter this morning from Angelina, written apparently in great haste last night.

What she said was very vague, but she spoke of the loss of two hundred dollars in such a way as to recall to Nora your suggestion that you might leave the money with Mrs. Rosa. Nora was so excited that she left her breakfast--so she tells me--almost untasted. She gave her mother a hasty account of what Angelina had told her, and her mother advised her to see me. The upshot was that we went at once to Mrs. Rosa's, and there we found that the young man who has been troubling her lately to pay a debt which he claimed that she owed his mother had called to see her soon after you and Nora were at the house. He caught sight of the purse that you had left with Mrs. Rosa, and when her head was turned, pulled it from under the pillow and began to examine its contents. Naturally he was astonished to find that it contained two hundred dollars, and when Mrs. Rosa saw him with the purse in his hand he refused to give it up to her. The poor woman was alone and very weak, and so completely in his power that she could not refuse when he compelled her to tell him how the money had come into her possession. When he learned that it had been raised for her at a Bazaar, and that it was to be used for her benefit he seemed very much pleased. 'It is really your own,' he said, 'or else the young ladies would not have left it with you. If it is to do you any good you had better give it to me to keep you out of prison, for that is where I shall send you for not paying your debts, unless you give me this money.' So by continued threats he finally made her sign a paper saying that she paid the money willingly to rid herself of a debt owed to his mother. He even made her think that he had done her a great favor in not trying to get the fifty dollars--the balance of the debt which he claimed.”

Brenda had listened with an almost dazed expression while Miss South told this strange story.

”But he did not really take it, did he?” she murmured.

”He not only took it,” said Miss South, ”but we have reason to think that he has left the country with it. His friends say that he had been getting ready for weeks to go to South America, and that he expected to sail from New York this morning.”

”Can't he be stopped?” asked Brenda. Her voice sounded very weak, and her face was not at all the face of the usually cheerful young girl.

”He cannot be stopped now, Brenda, and I doubt if in any case we could recover the money. He was very clever in getting Mrs. Rosa to sign that paper. If he were in Boston we might recover the money on the ground that it did not belong to Mrs. Rosa, and that therefore she had no right to give it away. But we can hardly make that a ground for any action now. Besides, I know that she thought that the money belonged to her, in some way you gave her that impression, and any testimony of hers would not help us very much if you had a case in court against young Silva.”

”But she knew,” moaned poor Brenda, ”that the money was only to help her to go to the country. I am sure that I said so to her.”

”You cannot expect a woman of her limited intelligence, a foreigner, too, who only half understands English, to grasp the meaning of all that is said to her. The fact was clear to her that you had brought her some money, and when her creditor claimed it, she believed that he had a right to it, and that to use it in this way would benefit her more than to spend it in going to the country.”

”Well, it seems to me that she just deceived me,” cried Brenda, angrily.

”No,” responded Nora, ”you must be fair. Miss South and I both believe that she didn't mean to do anything with the money when she took it from you, but she thought that you had given it to her----”

”And she never has been as anxious to move from the city as we have been to have her,” continued Miss South, ”yet it is so much the best thing, and our plans are all carefully made, that I hope we can carry them out.”

”I have one hundred dollars at home,” said Brenda, ”but, oh, dear, I do not like to think about it; how angry Belle and Edith will be. Do they know yet?”

”No,” said Miss South, ”I thought it better to tell you first. Nora and I are the only persons except Mrs. Rosa and her friends who know anything about the money. But of course you must tell the other girls as well as your father and mother. It might be worth while for them to consult a lawyer, at least they might feel better satisfied. For my own part, I am confident that the money cannot be recovered.”

”Come, come, Brenda, now do cheer up,” cried Nora. ”It's no use crying about spilled milk, and perhaps we can think of some way to straighten things out.”

”I might sell my watch,” said Brenda, as they walked away from the school, ”and give up my allowance for the rest of the year, for it is just as if I had thrown that money away--and we all worked so hard for it.”

”Well, we all had a good time out of the Bazaar,” replied the optimistic Nora, ”and perhaps the money has done some good in going to Mrs. Rosa's creditor. I shouldn't wonder if we could get a subscription for all that we need to help the Rosas,” and so Nora chattered on, in her efforts to cheer Brenda. For the latter, always at one extreme or the other, was now very low-spirited.

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