"Why, Zara, whatever is the matter? We're all right now," cried Bessie. "I--I know that, Bessie! But I'm so worried about my father!" "Oh, Zara, what a selfish little beast I am! I was so glad to think that I wasn't going to be taken back that I forgot all about him. But cheer up! I'm sure he's done nothing wrong, and I'll talk to Wanaka, and see if there isn't something I can do or that she can do. I believe she can do anything if she makes up her mind she will." "Did she hear anything about him in Hedgeville?" "Only what we knew before, Zara, that they'd come for him and taken him to the city. But Wanaka said she was sure that it is only gossip, and that he needn't be afraid. And we're going to the city, too, you know, so you'll be able to see him." "Will I, Bessie? Then that won't be so bad. If I could only talk to him I'm sure it would seem better. And you must be right--they can't punish a man when he hasn't done anything wrong, can they?" "Of course not," said Bessie, laughing. "In the country where we came from they do, sometimes," said Zara, thoughtfully. "My father has told me about things like that." "In Italy, Zara?" "Yes. We're not Italians, really, but that's where we lived." "But you don't remember anything about that, do you?" "No, but I've been told all about it. We used to live in a white house, on a hillside. And there were lemon trees and olive trees growing there, and all sorts of beautiful things. And you could look out over the blue sea, and see the boats sailing, and away off there was a great mountain." "I should think you'd want to go back there, Zara. It must have been beautiful." "Oh, I've always wanted to see that place, Bessie. Sometimes, my father says, the mountain, would smoke, and fire would come out of it, and the ground would shake. But it never hurt the place where we lived." "That must have been a volcano, Zara." "Yes, that's what he used to call it." "Why did you come over here?" "Because my father was always afraid over there. There were some bad men who hated him, and he said that if he stayed there they would hurt him. And he heard that over here everyone was welcome, and one man was as good as another. But he wasn't, or they never seemed to think so, if he was." Bessie looked very thoughtful. "This is the finest country in the world, Zara," she said. "I've heard that, and I've read it in books, too. But I guess that things go wrong here sometimes. You see, it's this way. Just think of Jake Hoover." "But I don't want to think about him! I want to forget him!" "Well, Jake Hoover explains what I'm thinking about. He's an American, but that isn't the reason he was so mean to us. He'd be mean anywhere, no matter whether he was an American or what. He just can't help it. And I think he'll get over it, anyhow." "There you go, Bessie! He's made all this trouble for you, and you're standing up for him already."