But Jukes and his companion, with a wild yell, made a dash for the door.
"Good gracious, I can't shoot them," thought Peggy.
"Help! help!" she began to cry at the top of her voice.
But the next instant the whirr and roar of a motor from the road apprised her that the two rascals had made their escape in an auto and that pursuit was useless. Thus it was that when the aroused household came pouring excitedly out of the house they found a brave, if a rather tremulous, girl awaiting them with a pistol in her hand on the stock of which were engraved the initials "F. H."
"So that's who Jukes's companion was," exclaimed Roy, angrily. "Oh, if you had only awakened me, sis."
"My dear Roy," rejoined Peggy, with dignity, "don't you think that I am capable of taking care of myself?"
A few days later Peggy borrowed Jess's car and went out for a long, lonely spin along the country roads. She wanted to think. Roy and Jimsy were at home repairing the damage wrought to the Golden Butterfly, which, it turned out, was very slight.
She was driving along a pretty stretch of road when she came across a veritable fairyland of delicate pink wild roses intertwined with honeysuckle and woodbine.
"Oh," cried Peggy, who simply worshipped flowers, "how beautiful; I must take some of these home. They'll make all our garden things look mean and shabby."
Stopping the car she alighted and was soon deep in her occupation of gathering the fragrant posies. Suddenly she was startled by the sound of a sobbing voice close at hand, and the next minute an angry male voice could be heard also.
"I tell you I'll do nothing of the sort," the man was saying; "why should I go and own up that I'm a thief or the next thing to it? At any rate they'd have me put in jail for all the attempts I've made to interfere with their aeroplane."
"It's Fanning Harding!" gasped Peggy, amazedly, "and Hester Gibbons," she added the next instant as the girl's voice sobbed out:
"Well, if you won't, I will. I've been weak and foolish but I'm not wicked. I'm going to tell Peggy Prescott all about it to-day and ask her to forgive me."
"You'd better not," Fanning Harding's tone was threatening now.
"You won't, I tell you. I'll have you locked up and charged with the theft yourself."
