With a triumphant look Pat tried to tell Aunt Pen that she had guessed it all a long time ago but Aunt Pen, as radiant as a school girl, was beaming upon Capt. Allan and Capt. Allan was shaking Pat's hands as though he had to do something violent.
Then Aunt Pen went to Renée and kissed Emile--for, in spite of the deep lines that his suffering had carved on his face--he looked like a boy!
"It is just as though God was working miracles," she whispered to Renée.
There was so much to tell that no one knew just where to begin! They all knew, now, that Capt. Allan's French soldier, whom he had found in the old peasant's cottage, was Emile. Then Emile, still holding Renée in the circle of his arm as though he could not bear to let her go for one little moment, told how he and the private who had been left by the scouting party, had had to separate in order to get back to their line.
"I had a presentiment that I was going to be killed--I gave him my wallet with all my papers and the sketches I had made. That was why they thought it was I who had been killed!"
No one wanted to spoil the joy of the evening by asking Emile to tell of his experiences in the German prison. It was enough that he was there with Renée once more--in America! Everyone's eyes were very bright and every now and then everyone was very still, as though the happiness was too great to be spoken in mere words!
Then Mr. Everett came in and the surprise was a surprise all over again, and Pat, because it had been her surprise, was allowed to tell him all about it. He shook hands very warmly with Capt. Allan and Emile, and laid his arm tenderly over the boy's shoulder as though to express things he could not say!
They laughed at Capt. Allan because they caught him so often staring at Renée!
"What have you done to her? It's hard to believe she's the same little girl I picked up at St. Cloud!"
"It's Penelope's work," answered Mr. Everett; "she's been doing some experimenting!"