“You’re crazy!” Henry shouted. “We wouldn’t think of leaving her!” “Then why are your suitcases packed?” Doris demanded. Henry could not answer, and Ronald, seeing that the man was throwing suspicion upon himself, stepped again into the breach. “All this talk is getting us nowhere,” he said. “Obviously, the girls took the papers from the desks and are only trying to save themselves.” He turned to the Misses Gates and a false note came into his voice. “Of course, I realize that you ladies regret this exceedingly and no doubt feel sorry for them. Under the circumstances I suggest that the matter be dropped without placing charges against them.” “The matter will not be dropped!” Doris cried. “We’ll sift it to the bottom right now.” “And the easiest way is to look in Henry’s suitcase,” Kitty added. “You’ll find the papers there!” A less clever man than Ronald Trent would have lost his temper, for well he knew that he was treading upon dangerous ground. Realizing that the Misses Gates would judge him as much by his manner as by his words, he faced the girls with the calm and dignity of a judge. “You are only trying to shield yourselves,” he told them sternly. “Your entire story has been a series of lies!” “Stop!” cried Doris, throwing back her lovely head and looking her accuser straight in the eye. Kitty thought never had she seen her chum quite so beautiful, so courageously poised for one so inexperienced. “I speak the truth!” CHAPTER XXIV FACE TO FACE “I speak the truth,” Doris insisted indignantly, “and furthermore, Ronald Trent, I am convinced that you are nothing but an impostor. You are plotting with Henry and Cora Sully to swindle these people—out of everything!” “Doris!” Iris remonstrated. “She’s lost her mind!” Cora exclaimed. Thoroughly aroused at the false accusations made against herself and her chum, Doris could not have remained quiet had she wished. However, she forced herself to speak calmly. “You shall not have a cent of my money when Jake arrives with it,” she told Ronald. “We shall see,” he returned, glaring back at her. “You have already lent the money to the Misses Gates and they have promised it to me. Haven’t you?” Azalea and Iris, pale with excitement, nodded their heads miserably. “We’ve given you nearly every cent we have of our own,” Iris admitted, “and we did promise you Doris’s money. We trusted you—and now these dreadful accusations.” “What can you expect when you bring strangers into the house?” “But we needed Doris’s help so much, Ronald,” Azalea protested, “and she isn’t the same as a stranger.” “You are willing to accept her word against mine?” “Oh, Ronald, please don’t take that attitude,” Iris pleaded. “We want to believe you both, but surely something is wrong.” Ronald laughed shortly. “I told you once I’d straighten out everything. Just send these intruders on their way.”