“It was not until May of this year that I found out all these things. A connoisseur of antiques was looking at my father’s desk and accidentally discovered a secret drawer, containing his will and a painstaking record of the whole affair. I told no one but Court—my husband—and he agreed with me that I must try to find you at once. He was—wonderful—about it all. Of course I had told him, or rather, my father had told him the truth about me before I married him, but Court thought, as I did, that the baby had died. It was a great shock to him, but he’s been wonderful.” Her voice had the same quality in it as she spoke of Courtney Barr that enriched Sally’s voice whenever she spoke David’s name, and the girl could not help wondering why her mother, who had suffered and loved, could not understand the depth of her love for David. Maybe she would—in time— “I found Mrs. Nora Ford’s address among the papers, of course, and I went to Stanton immediately, but as I had feared, I found that she had left there years before, and that no one in the neighborhood had the least idea where she had gone. One old lady—Mrs. Bangs—said that Nora had had a daughter, Sally, and I knew that she meant my daughter. I spent weeks and a great deal of money searching for some trace of Nora Ford and Sally Ford, but it was useless. I had almost lost hope of finding either of you when I read that terrible story in the papers about Sally Ford and David Nash—” “Carson lied,” David interrupted quietly. “His story was false from beginning to end. There was absolutely nothing between Sally and me but friendship. I knocked him through the window because he called her vile names and was threatening to send her back to the orphanage in disgrace, when she had done nothing wrong except work herself almost to death on his farm.” “Thank you, David. I’m glad to hear the truth. I was sure of it the first time I looked into my daughter’s eyes. But if it had not been for that story in the paper I would not be here today, so I’m almost grateful to Carson for his vileness. I went to the orphanage, interviewed Mrs. Stone and after I had satisfied myself that Sally was really my daughter, I told her all that I’m telling you now and asked her to help me find her. That afternoon I took the children to the carnival, because it was the only way I could do anything for you, my darling.” “And Betsy recognized me!” Sally cried. “If Gus hadn’t been trying so hard to protect David and me from the police—” “Exactly!” Enid smiled at her through tears. “You’ve been running away from your mother ever since, not from the police! And what a chase you’ve led us, darling! That enormous old man, Winfield Bybee, had convinced us that we were on the wrong track, that Betsy had been mistaken, and the carnival had left town when Mrs. Stone got a letter from a woman who said she’d been with the carnival—”