Before the mountain girl had finished speaking, Betty Jo's arm was around the poor twisted shoulders, and Betty Jo's eyes were answering Judy's pleading. And so, when Auntie Sue came home, it was Judy who met her at the station, with “Old Prince” and the buggy; and as they drove down the winding road to the little log house by the river, the mountain girl told the old gentlewoman all that had happened in her absence. CHAPTER XXV. THE RIVER. Brian Kent recovered quickly from the effects of his experience in the Elbow Rock rapids, and was soon able again to take up his work on the little farm. Every day he labored in the garden, or in the clearing, or at some task which did not rightly fall to those who rented the major part of Auntie Sue's tillable acreage. Auntie Sue had told him about her visit to the President of the Empire Consolidated Savings Bank, and of the arrangement made by the banker--as she understood it--for Brian's protection. But while the dear old lady explained that Homer T. Ward was one of her pupils, she did not reveal the relation between Brian's former chief and Betty Jo. Neither Auntie Sue nor Betty Jo, for several very good reasons, was ready for Brian to know the whole truth about his stenographer. It was quite enough, they reasoned, for him to love his stenographer, and for his stenographer to love him, without raising any more obstacles in the pathway of their happiness. As the busy weeks passed, several letters came from the publishers of Brian's book,--letters which made the three in the little log house by the river very happy. Already, in the first reception of this new writer's work, those who had undertaken to present it to the public saw many promises of the fulfillment of their prophecies as to its success. When the third letter came, a statement of the sales to date was enclosed, and, that afternoon, Betty Jo went to Brian where he was at work in the clearing. When they were comfortably, not to say cozily, seated on a log in the shade at the edge of the forest, she announced that she had come for a very serious talk. “Yes?” he returned; but he really looked altogether too happy to be exceedingly serious. “Yes,” she continued, “I have. As your accredited business agent and--” she favored him with a Betty Jo smile--“shall I say manager?” “Why not managing owner?” he retorted. “I am glad you confirm my promotion so readily,” she returned, with a charming touch of color in her cheeks, “because that, you see, helps me to present what I have to say for the good of the firm.” “I am listening, Betty Jo.” “Very well; tell me, first, Brian, just exactly how much do you owe that bank, reward-money and all, and Auntie Sue, interest and everything?” Brian went to his coat, which lay on a near-by stump, and returned with a small pocket account-book.