一场大火把造纸厂化为灰烬，斯科特离开米尔维尔到别处谋出路了。此时约翰从纽约聘请的侦探来到了米尔维尔，三个女孩都迫切想知道史密斯以前的身份……
The homeless mill hands ？ocked to Chazy Junction next day，from whence a freight train distributed them over other parts of the country.The clearing at Royal Falls was now a heap of charred embers，for every one of the cheap，rough—board buildings had been consumed by the ？re.
Skeelty had watched the destruction of his plant with feelings of mingled glee and disgust.He was insured against loss，and his rash workmen，who had turned upon him sounexpectedly，had accidentally settled the strike and their ownfuture by starting the fire during their drunken orgies.There being no longer a mill to employ them they went elsewhere for work，rather glad of the change and regretting nothing.As for the manager，he stood to lose temporary profits but was not wholly displeased by the catastrophe.Transportation of his manufactured products had been so irregular and undefendable that even while he watched the blaze he determined to rebuild his plant nearer the main line of a railway，for many such locations could be found where the pine was as plentiful as here.
At dawn he entered the hotel at Millville with his arms full of books and papers which he had succeeded in saving from the ？re，and securing a room went directly to bed.It was afternoon when he awoke and after obtaining a meal he strolled out into the village and entered the newspaper of？ce.
"Here's an item for your paper，"he said to Patsy，who was busy at her desk."The mills at Royal will never berebuilt，and Millville has lost the only chance it ever had of becoming a manufacturing center.The whole settlement，which belonged to Boglin and myself，went up in smoke，and I'm willing to let it go at that.I shall collect the insurance，make myself good，and if anything's left over，that fool Boglin is welcome to it.I admit I made a mistake in everallowing him to induce me to build at Royal.Boglin owned the land and I used his money，so I gave up to him；but I'm through with the honer'ble ass now.Put it all in the paper；it'll make him feel good.You might add that I'm taking the evening train for New York，shaking the dust of your miserable village from my feet for good and all.""Thank you，sir，"said Patsy，brightly；"the Millvillepeople will appreciate their good luck，I'm sure."Skeelty hung around the town for awhile，sneering at the new electric light plant and insolently railing at any of the natives who would converse with him.Then he hired Nick Thorne to drive him over to Chazy Junction，and that was the last Millville ever saw of him.
During this day Joe Wegg's men succeeded in repairing all the wires which had been tampered with and in making a proper and permanent connection of the cable to the printing office.That evening the village was again brilliantly lighted and thereafter the big dynamos whirled peacefully and without interruption.
The girls had a busy day，as Uncle John had predicted，for all the exciting incidents of the evening and night before had to be written up and the next day's paper teemed with "news"of a character to interest all its readers.Beth's editorial declared the neighborhood well rid ofa the paper mill，which had been of little advantage but had caused no end of annoyance because of the rough and mischievous character of the workmen employed.In this statement nearly everyone agreed with her.
Several had been wounded in the riot of the eventful evening，but none seriously injured.The workmen took away their damaged comrades and Lon Taft drove over to Huntingdon and had his head sewed up by the doctor.Other villagers suffered mere bruises，but all who engaged in the fight posed as heroes and even Peggy McNutt，who figuredas "not present，"told marvelous tales of how he had worstedseven mill hands in a stand—up ？ght，using only his invincible？sts.
The following forenoon the liveryman at the Junction brought to Millville a passenger who had arrived by the morning train—a quiet，boyish—looking man with a shock of brick—red hair and a thin，freckled face.He was driven directly to the Merrick farm，where Uncle John received him cordially，but with surprise，and at once favored the new arrival with a long interview in his private room.
The girls，who had not yet gone to the office，awaited somewhat impatiently the result of this conference，for theyalready knew the red—headed youth to be the great Fogerty—admitted by even his would—be rivals，the king of New York detectives.Also they knew that Uncle John had employed him some time ago to ferret out the mystery of the identity of Thursday Smith，and the fact of Fogerty's presence indicated he had something to report.
However，when Mr.Merrick came out of the privateroom his usually cheery countenance wore a troubled expression.Fogerty was invariably placid and inscrutablea，so no explanation could be gleaned fromb his demeanor.
"Ready for town，my dears？"asked Uncle John.
"Yes；the surrey is waiting，"answered Louise.
"Then go along，and Fogerty and I will join you at the office presently.I want to confer with the major and Arthur before—before taking any steps to—""What's the news，Uncle？"demanded Patsy，impatiently.
"You shall know in good time.""Who is Thursday Smith？""By and by，dear.Don't bother me now.But that reminds me；you are to say nothing to—to—Thursday about Mr.Fogerty's arrival.Treat him—Thursday，you know—just as you have always done，for the present，at least.Whatever we determine on in regard to this man，during our conference，we must not forget that he has acted most gallantly since he came toMillville.We really owe him a debt of gratitude."With this somewhat incomprehensible statement the girls were forced to content themselves.Feeling quite helpless，they drove to the office and left the men to settle the fate of Thursday Smith.