Betty Jo slipped her watch back into her pocket, and continued: "You
will have plenty of time before that man with my trunk and things can
get away 'round over Schoolhouse Hill and down again to Auntie Sue's. He
will be obliged to stop at neighbor Tom's, and tell them all about me,
of course. We mustn't let him beat us to the house, though; so, perhaps,
you better begin, don't you think?"

That "don't-you-think?" so characteristic of Betty Jo, did its work, as
usual; and so, almost before Brian Kent realized what he was doing,
it had been decided for him that to follow Judy's advice was the best
possible thing he could do, and he was relating his whole wretched
experience to this young woman, about whom he knew nothing except that
she was a niece of an old pupil of Auntie Sue's, and that she had just
finished a course in a business college in Cincinnati.

At several points in his story Betty Jo asked straightforward
questions, or made short, matter-of-fact comments; but, always with her
businesslike air of competent interest. Indeed, she managed to treat the
situation as being wholly impersonal; while at the same time the man
was never for a moment made to feel that she was lacking in sincere and
genuine sympathy. Only when he told her that his name was Brian Kent,
and mentioned the Empire Consolidated Savings Bank, did she for the
moment betray excited surprise. When she saw that he had noticed, she
said quickly: "I read of the affair in the papers, of course."

Auntie Sue had indeed taken a big chance when she decided for Betty Jo
to come to help Brian with his book. But Auntie Sue had taken no chance
on Betty Jo herself. Perhaps it was, in fact, the dear old teacher's
certainty about Betty Jo herself that had led her to accept the risk
of sending for the niece of her friend and pupil under such a peculiar