It was an uncomfortable half hour for Dee, for Miss Elting reported the loss of the rowboat and said very plainly to him that she believed he understood the cause of the persecutions the girls were undergoing.

Still, Dee could not be made to talk freely.

Miss Elting left him, dissatisfied.
"That man knows the cause of our troubles, and he simply won't tell me," said the guardian indignantly to herself, as she walked away.

"And just a hint or two might enable us to save ourselves a good deal of annoyance, and even protect us from real dangers.

I wonder what it all means." She said nothing to the girls about having seen Dickinson, when finally she joined them at the pier.