I'm grateful to you, my lad, for outwitting those slick schemers."
Miss Hope persuaded the two men to stay to dinner, and she and Miss Charity fairly outdid themselves in their cooking. Afterward Mr. Gordon took Mr. Vernet back to the oil fields, depositing in the Flame City bank for Miss Hope the check for twenty-five thousand dollars he had given her the day before, and the larger check she had received that morning.
"We're rich, Sister, rich!" said Miss Charity, drying the dinner dishes and so overcome that she dropped a china cup which crashed into tiny pieces on the floor.
"Well, don't break all the dishes," advised Miss Hope, with dry practicality. "You can't buy a pretty cup in Flame City if you are a millionaire."
Bob's head was full of plans for his education, and in the days that followed he often spoke of his future. Mr. Gordon listened and advised him frequently, and Bob grew fonder of him all the time.
Clover was brought back from the Flame City stable where Betty had left her, and they resumed, their riding, Mr. Gordon hiring a horse and often accompanying them.
"You know, the aunts have never seen the oil fields," said Betty one day, as they were slowly riding home from the fields where they had seen
