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.“You stay here, darling, until I come back,” she said to him.“I want to come with you, Aunt Roberta.”She did not answer and after a moment Danny went on pleadingly,“Please let me come with you.Columbus and I can stay in the carriage and wait, but I don’t want to be left here alone.”She knew perceptively that it was not because he did not like the Weingarts, but because he was afraid that he might lose her.Like all children who have been upset by constant chopping and changing in their lives, he was now clinging to the one person who seemed stable and that was herself.She smiled at him.“Of course you can come,” she said, “but I am afraid that you will have to sit in the carriage and not run about the garden, if there is one.”“I’ll be very good!” Danny promised.At the appointed time they were travelling once again up and down the fascinating roads.Roberta had arranged with Mrs.Weingart that she would stay with her for a few days while she looked around for a furnished apartment she might rent and she was told that there were quite a number of them available.Accordingly, first thing in the morning she had gone to the Bank recommended by Bert’s father and, having demanded to see the Manager, explained to him who she was.She produced a copy of her father’s will, the letters to his Bank in London and one she had already written asking that quite a considerable amount of money should be transferred to San Francisco and deposited in her name.The Bank Manager was very helpful, but at the same time Roberta realised that he was extremely curious about her.Because it seemed a wise thing to do, she explained that she had come out to live with her aunt Lady Margaret Dulaine, only to find that she had died.“I feel I have heard the name Dulaine quite recently,” the Bank Manager said.“Now what was it I read?”He concentrated for a moment and then rang a bell on his desk and said to the clerk who answered it,“Bring me yesterday’s newspaper please.”“Which one, sir?”“The Herald.”The clerk disappeared and the Bank Manager said,“We have a large number of newspapers published in the City in many different languages and it is always hard to remember which one I was reading.But I feel certain in this case it was The Herald.”A minute later the clerk brought it in and he turned over the pages, then gave an exclamation and said,“I am sorry, Lady Roberta, but I am afraid I have bad news for you.”He passed her the newspaper and she read,“DEATH IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINSBill Evans, a prospector working on his own, was found by a preacher, Mr.Clint Dulaine, incapacitated with a broken leg after a fall in a storm.Mr.Dulaine attempted to carry the man to safety, but they were both swept by the wind into a gully and crashed down into a swollen river.It was thought that Mr.Dulaine with great courage attempted to save his companion’s life, but both men were swept away over a cascade and drowned.”Roberta read the paragraph twice before she said,“As you will understand, this is a shock, although I never met Mr.Dulaine.I was hoping to meet him when he returned to his home in Blue River.”“I am deeply sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Lady Roberta,” the Manager said.Roberta thought for a moment.Then she said,“As both my aunt and Mr.Dulaine are now dead, I should be very grateful if you would not mention to anybody from Blue River where I am, should they by any chance get in touch with you.”“I understand your feelings in not wishing to be involved now that there is no necessity for it,” the Bank Manager said, “and I can promise you that I will carry out your wishes.”“Thank you.”Roberta signed the papers he produced, told him that she would be at Mr.and Mrs.Weingart’s house until she could find somewhere else to live and then left.He told her that she could immediately draw any money she needed from the Bank, but she assured him that she had enough for the time being, which was true.She had, before she left Adam’s house, taken some of the larger notes out of the hem of her skirt where she had sewn them in, but she had also left several behind in case she might have her pocket picked or lose the bag in which she habitually carried her money.As she left the Bank, she thought that if she had not been sure before, she knew now that Danny belonged to her and he was her responsibility.Whatever she did, wherever she went, she would look after the little boy and nobody should take him from her.She found herself wishing, however, that she could tell Adam what had happened and she knew because he had been so kind to Danny that he would know how to comfort him.‘I have to manage on my own!’ she told herself bravely.She knew it would not be the same as having Adam to rely on and Adam to advise her what was best for the boy.It was touching the way Danny clung to her and, when they had driven for several miles outside the City, she knew, as they turned in through the drive gates of what appeared to be a large house, he was still nervous that he might lose her.“You won’t forget about me, Aunt Roberta, will you?” he asked rather pitifully.“No, of course not!” she smiled.“The carriage has to take me home and I would certainly not want to walk all that long way back to the City!”Danny laughed.“Your legs would get very tired.”“Very very tired,” Roberta agreed.“So I promise you, after I have seen the gentleman who wishes to speak to me, we will go back together.”She thought he looked wistfully through the carriage window at the garden they were passing, but she knew he would stay where he was as she had told him to do.The house was two-storeyed, extensive and attractive, built of white stone and in a style reminiscent of California’s Spanish-Mexican era.A servant opened the door and, when Roberta said that she was expected, he smiled.“You look too young to be working for the Master!” he commented.The way he spoke made Roberta realise that he was not being familiar, as such a remark would have been coming from an English servant, but merely friendly
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