From the rocky steps where they had been watching the return of Bill Ritter, Leslie, Sarita and Peggy plunged into the woods as soon as possible and by that more devious route reached the Secrest camp. They were rather surprised to find it not yet ten o’clock, but they had spent much less time with Peggy, at what she called her fashion show, than they had expected. Then the time spent in the Retreat and in waiting for Bill’s appearance must have been much less than it seemed.

When they reached the new clearing on the slight rise of ground not far from the spring, they found Dalton and his men hard at work and Dalton jubilant over the prospect of speedy building. Beth was sitting on a pile of logs making a sketch of the place and the workers, “for us to remember how it looked,” she said.

Dalton dropped his work to join the girls and look at the sketch. “Pretty good, sister,” said he. “Do you know I’ve a great notion to plaster this house and stay here through the winter.”

“What do you mean, Dal,—stay alone, or no school for any of us?” The tone of the surprised Beth was not as reproving as Dalton might have expected.

“No school for anybody,” asserted Dalton, though he had really not thought this out before. “It would be the best thing in the world for you, Beth, and think what snow scenes you could immortalize with your pen, pencil and brush!”

“Ridiculous boy!”

“Oh, let me board with you instead of going to Florida. I never have had any winter sports!” Peggy’s voice was coaxing. “We’ll have skiing down the hills, that hill where you saved my life, Dal,—and skating, and ice-boating and everything on the bay!”

Even Leslie and Sarita, who were more interested in lessons than Peggy, brightened at the thought. “Poor me!” exclaimed Sarita. “I’d have to go home and miss it all!”

“Vacation, Sarita,” suggested Peggy, “the Christmas vacation.”

“We’ll skate on our little lake, Peggy,” said Dalton, “as if it were already decided, and we can have a dog-sled to take us to town,—”

“Crazy!” laughed Leslie. “But, Beth, I believe that Dal is in earnest.”

“Wait till he has fires to make some morning when it is below zero, ice to break, water to carry and everything frozen up.”

“Not much worse than a furnace to take care of, Beth,” said the man of the house. “We’ll have a big fireplace in one room and a big heater somewhere, a shed full of coal, and wood on the place,—think it over. I’ve got to work.” Whistling a little, Dalton went back to help and direct.

“Dalton just loves this,” said Leslie, “but look, Beth, here comes Mr. Tudor.”

With a salute to everybody, Evan Tudor stopped first to speak to Dalton, then joined the other group with greetings. Peggy, remembering her impulsive entrance of the previous day, bowed sweetly, but with dignity, while Leslie asked if he had been annoyed by the sounds of building so early.

“I slept as if I should never waken this morning and I have only just eaten my breakfast. There must be something in this air, as advertised! I prowled around a while last night, enjoying the woods and the shore. At this rate, it looks as if you would have a house up in no time.”

“They will,” said Peggy, “and Dal is planning to make it so they can stay all winter.” Peggy looked wickedly at Beth.

Evan Tudor looked surprised, but said, “It would be very beautiful here in winter.”

“I’d like to try it once,” said Leslie, “but not unless the whole family wanted to do it, for Beth might get pneumonia and then we’d be in a pretty pickle!”

“It would be lovely here, with the ice and snow,” Beth acknowledged, relenting a little, “and I seldom ever take cold. I’d have to watch the rest of you to see that you were not careless.”

“Oh, Beth,” cried Peggy, assuming her own presence, “we’d fish through the ice, and Leslie and I would do the cooking!”

Then Leslie and Sarita did laugh, for Peggy could not cook anything and had confessed the fact before. “Well,” Peggy continued, answering their thought, “couldn’t I learn?”

At this point Beth glanced at her wrist watch and asked if a short trip in the Sea Crest would not be possible before lunch, in order to show Mr. Tudor the bay and the rocks. “If we should be late, Dal will make the hot coffee for the men. They bring their lunches, but we give them something hot, and I have everything ready, beans all cooked and some meat.”

Everybody thought this a good plan, especially as they could take Peggy home by launch and Jack, if he thought best. Otherwise, Jack could have beans and coffee with Dalton. But Jack decided to go with them, for Peggy privately informed him that she must consult him about something.

On the way to the boat, Beth exhibited the Eyrie to Mr. Tudor, while Jack, Leslie, and the other girls went on down the rocks to get the launch ready and start the engine. None of them were disappointed by any lack of enthusiasm on the part of their guest, for though Evan Tudor was not particularly voluble in his speech he gave the impression of not missing any practical or inspirational detail in the comments which he made.

After the start Mr. Tudor sat or stood with Beth, who pointed out the sights, while Jack at the wheel listened to what the girls had to tell him with Peggy as chief spokesman. He made little comment at first and the impatient Peggy urged him, saying, “Well, Jack, why don’t you go ‘up in the air’ about it?”

“It is too serious, Peggy. I don’t think that you know just how serious it is. That fake English lord in the cave only proves what I have been suspecting.”

“What have you been suspecting, Jack?”

“I’d rather not say, Peggy. Suppose we wait a little. I am thinking that about the twenty-eighth we may find some others of the same sort, only pretending to carry out the house party idea with your mother, and then some that are very likely real titled exiles.”

“But why would they do that? Why should this man hide away? Is he afraid of somebody? And why should Dad let him hide there? Just what is it that Dad is doing?”

“I am very much afraid, Peggy, that your step-father is helping these people into the country against the law, and probably for a good price. I hope that it is the Count who is doing it,—that is, I have been hoping that, with Uncle’s just letting him use the place and entertaining as his guests only some people brought here in his yacht that really have a right to be here. But I think now that the yacht is a blind and that everybody will come in on the ‘schooner.’”

“Oh!” Peggy began to understand more clearly. “Shall I tell Mother, Jack?”

“No. I’ve got to find out what to do.”

But as it happened, neither Jack nor Peggy nor any of the Secrests decided what was to be done; and it was better so.

The little cruise was delightful. Troubles seemed far away after they gave themselves to the lure of the water and sky and the motion of the boat. Even Peggy, who had at first been startled and distressed at Jack’s clear statements, seemed to forget and joked as usual with the girls. Leslie was thoughtful, wondering what their duty was. It was not pleasant to have such a problem presented to them.

Evan Tudor, who could run a launch quite well himself, was entirely content to be a passenger, visiting with the pretty artist and forgetting his quest in these parts, except to fix in mind the location of Steeple Rocks and Pirates’ Cove. He intended to go out in a row boat to investigate that region.

Jack and Peggy were left at the dock in Ives Bay, while Leslie took the wheel for the homeward trip. This they made quickly, landing in time for Beth to superintend the hot lunch. Mr. Tudor was invited to partake, but he thanked Beth and declined, saying that he had work to do and that his late breakfast made a late lunch desirable.

For Leslie and Sarita it had been a full and surprising morning. After lunch was over, with its work, they found a quiet place apart where they could discuss the present dilemma.