Chapter XXV: Welcome Home

"Oh, Neale!" gasped Agnes, hanging to his arm as the big car came roaring down to the Hickton railway station. "Oh, Neale! that's that horrid Brady man."

It was plain to be seen that one of the men in the middle of the road was the Milton politician, Jim Brady. But the other man----

"It's the surveyor. I know him," whispered Neale, shutting off the engine. "Mr. Philip Collinger, Mrs. Heard's nephew. It's all over now but the shouting, Aggie. I bet he doesn't let that car of his get away again."

Indeed, the two men from Milton had stopped the runabout, and the freckled-faced fellow and the ugly man with him were caught, red-handed.

"Get out of my car!" Neale and Agnes heard Mr. Collinger command the two rascals. "I'd like to know how you got it again? I know that it was in the hands of friends of mine yesterday. This henchman of yours, Brady, is a born thief."

"He's a born fool," growled the fat man, mopping his bald brow and glaring at the cringing Joe.

The other fellow was quietly slipping around the corner of the railroad station. He was not going to be present during this altercation.

"He's something besides a fool," said Mr. Collinger sternly. "It's _you_, Brady, who have shown a lack of wit. I know very well you put this fellow up to taking my car because you thought I was carrying those road maps around in it."

"You think a whole lot, Collinger," snarled the big man. "But you can't prove a thing."

"No. Not unless Joe, here, turns state's evidence, and he wouldn't dare do that. I know the sort of hold you have on such fellows, Brady. But, nevertheless, _you_ are the goat in this matter."

"Huh?" queried the politician.

Mr. Collinger went to his car, drawing a bunch of keys from his pocket as he did so. He selected a flat key and quickly inserted it in a tiny aperture in the face-panel of the seat--an aperture that the uninitiated would never dream was a keyhole.

To the amazement of all, the county surveyor slipped aside the panel and displayed a shallow closet filled with rolls of parchment.

"Just what I thought, Brady," he said, with scorn. "You had 'em in the stolen auto all the time. Now the time has come to deliver them to the commission and I sha'n't carry them any more. Now, who was the fool, Brady?"

But the big man was stamping away to the platform. Saleratus Joe slunk after him like a whipped cur.

"You are two of the young folks my aunt is traveling with, I take it?" said Mr. Collinger, turning to Neale and Agnes. "And I guess you were chasing those fellows."

"Yes, Mr. Collinger," Agnes said. "And they would not have got away from us."

"I am sure they would not," he returned, smiling. "Tell me about it."

So the story was told, and then Mr. Collinger decided to drive back to the Higgins place and see Mrs. Heard before starting for Milton. He was warm in his praise of the Corner House girls and Neale, as well as of Sammy Pinkney, for what they had done toward aiding him in securing the car.

The girls did not understand fully the reasons underlying the stealing of the runabout, or why Mr. Collinger did not intend to prosecute Jim Brady and the freckled-faced man.

"I wouldn't make anything out of it," the surveyor said. "And I have the car back and, best of all, the maps and papers they wanted to get from me. I am satisfied."

He remained to dinner with the touring party, and then started back for Milton. But it was not the intention of the Corner House girls and their party to go home immediately.

They spent four more days on the road--days of pure delight for all the Kenway sisters, for even Sammy behaved well during that part of the tour.

Yet, after all, they were glad to get home when the car rolled up to the Willow Street gate of the Stower homestead. Mrs. MacCall and Linda ran out of the gate to welcome them. Uncle Rufus hobbled around from the garden, swinging his tattered straw hat and cheering. Even Aunt Sarah Maltby appeared on the porch to welcome somewhat grimly her nieces and Neale O'Neil.

Then, from across the street came Mrs. Pinkney, with a delighted scream of welcome.

"Oh, Sammy! How you've grown!" she declared, when she had hugged and kissed the would-be pirate, and then stood off to look at him.

"Huh! that's Ruth's fault," he said. "She made me wash so often. You know, watering things like that is what makes 'em grow."

"This Corner House is the loneliest place in the world without you lassies in it," declared Mrs. MacCall, having hugged the four girls in rotation, and then started all over again.

Aunt Sarah expressed herself as glad to see her nieces again. "As long as you haven't been killed in that automobile, I presume we should all be thankful," she said. "But I did not expect to see you all return with whole bones."

"And one time, when me and Tess were lost, and before we found the Gypsies," confessed Dot, "I thought that funny bone in my back _was_ broke, Aunt Sarah. But it got mended again."

There was a regular "party" of all the Corner House girls' young friends soon after their return, and the adventures of the tour by automobile were related to everybody.

Ruth could remember all about the beautiful scenery they saw and the queer old inns they stopped at. She really had gained much entertainment from the trip.

Agnes' mind was full of the incidents of the stolen automobile, and how it had been found, and how she and Neale had chased the thieves to the Hickton station where the car was captured. To hear her tell it, it had been a most exciting time.

Dot's mind seemed full of the Gypsies and her adventures with Tess when they were lost and had slept all night under a tree. "And that old owl that shouted at us and wanted to know our names," she said. "Just as plain as could be, he hollered: 'Who? Who? Who?'"

But Tess was thoughtful. Somebody asked her what she was thinking of.

"Why, I'll tell you," said the next to the smallest Corner House girl. "I can't get over Neale being so--so _stingy_. I've asked him, and I've asked him, and he just _won't_."

"He won't what?"

"Why, he won't tell me what he whispered into the ear of Mrs. Heard's brown pony to make him go. And I think he might!"

THE END

Charming Stories for Girls

THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SERIES

By Grace Brooks Hill

Four girls from eight to fourteen years of age receive word that a rich bachelor uncle has died, leaving them the old Corner House he occupied. They move into it and then the fun begins. What they find and do will provoke many a hearty laugh. Later, they enter school and make many friends. One of these invites the girls to spend a few weeks at a bungalow owned by her parents, and the adventures they meet with make very interesting reading. Clean, wholesome stories of humor and adventure, sure to appeal to all young girls.

1 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS.
2 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AT SCHOOL.
3 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS UNDER CANVAS.
4 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS IN A PLAY.
5 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS' ODD FIND.
6 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A TOUR.
7 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS GROWING UP.
8 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SNOWBOUND.
9 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT.
10 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AMONG THE GYPSIES.
11 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON PALM ISLAND.
12 THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY.
13 THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS FACING THE WORLD.

Publishers BARSE & CO. New York, N. Y.--Newark, N. J.

ELIZABETH ANN SERIES By Josephine Lawrence

For Girls from 7 to 12

Elizabeth Ann is a little girl whom we first meet on a big train, travelling all alone. Her father and mother have sailed for Japan, and she is sent back East to visit at first one relative's home, and then another. Of course, she meets many new friends, some of whom she is quite happy with, while others--but you must read the stories for yourself. Every other girl who reads the first of these charming books will want all the rest; for Elizabeth Ann is certainly worth the cultivating.

THE ADVENTURES OF ELIZABETH ANN.
ELIZABETH ANN AT MAPLE SPRING.
ELIZABETH ANN'S SIX COUSINS.
ELIZABETH ANN and DORIS.
ELIZABETH ANN'S BORROWED GRANDMA.
ELIZABETH ANN'S SPRING VACATION.
ELIZABETH ANN and UNCLE DOCTOR.

Publishers BARSE & CO. New York, N. Y.--Newark, N. J.

HAT MAY An Enchanted Princess

By Lucy Thurston Abbott

For girls from 8 to 14 NET $1.00

This charming story is concerned with the fortunes of a little girl whom a whim of Fate has placed in charge of a woman and her lame husband living on the New England coast--the Winkiepaw pair--and the woman, whom Hat May always looks upon as a cruel ogress of her imaginary fairy world, treats her very badly indeed.

The story covering Hat May's doings is everything that a book for girls between the ages of eight and fourteen should be. The characters are skillfully drawn and true to nature; also while there is considerable pathos connected with the ill-treatment of Hat May; so too there is discovered in the telling an abundance of childish and delightful humor.

Publishers BARSE & CO. New York, N. Y.--Newark, N. J.

THE RUSTY-CATS A story of Hat May and her friends.

BY Lucy Thurston Abbott

Author of "Hat May." (For Girls from 8 to 14)

Summer has come again to Carey Hill bringing with it the "rusticators," or, as the Carey children are called, the "rusty-cats." With them comes happiness to Hat May the little enchanted princess, and hope of recovery to her little crippled friend, Hank. The mystic rites of The Seven Bloody Bones baffle prying Mrs. Winkiepaw who is forced to grant more freedom to her slave, Hat May. The success of Ariel's wonderful play, written especially for the Seven, buys a wheel-chair for Hank, and then when the summer is over, and life with the ogress becomes too hard to bear, Phin cleverly rescues Hat May and defeats the ill-tempered ogress. Can anyone guess the beautiful word which disenchants Hat May and takes her from her dreary and sordid existence to one of beauty and happiness?

Price Net $1.00

Publishers BARSE & CO. New York, N. Y.--Newark, N. J.

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