And, frightened as she was, that was exactly what Sheila intended to do.  For the sake of Tunis, as well as for her own salvation, she must stand up against the new girl and hold by her own first claim—­that she was the girl the Balls had sent Tunis for.

CHAPTER XXI

AT SWORDS’ POINTS

Sheila Macklin got Queenie to the stable and unharnessed her.  She ran the carryall into the barn and then closed the big door for the night, although the sun was still an hour high.  She stopped to fling grain to the poultry, too.  These chores she did with the thought in her mind that she might never do them again for Cap’n Ira and Prudence.

If that girl could prove her claim, if she could satisfy the old people that they had been cheated by Sheila and Tunis Latham, they might be indignant enough to put her right out—­to-night!

The trio had disappeared into the house.  She heard voices from the sitting room.  But she wanted to return the furniture to the front room and finish the task which the real Ida May’s coming had interrupted.

She had been strong enough when she carried the chairs and the settee into the yard, but she could scarcely get them back again.  The strength seemed to have deserted her arms.  She staggered in with the last article of furniture and set it in place.

The murmur of voices from the room across the hall was steady.  What were they saying?  What had Ida May told them?  How were the Balls taking it?  Could that cheap, little thing convince the old people that she was their niece and that the girl they had come to love and trust was an impostor?  Sheila Macklin’s heart bled for Cap’n Ira and Prudence!

If she must go and they took this other girl in her place, would they be happy?  And they had been happy during these last months!  Would they not miss her if she left them to the mercy of this new claimant?

Yes, Sheila loved Cap’n Ira and Prudence.  She loved them as though they were her very own!  Not since her father had died had the girl been so fond of anybody—­except Tunis, of course.  And what would Tunis say when he came?

What would he expect her to do?  To admit the truth of Ida May’s claim and give up without a battle?  If she did this, she would expose him as well as herself to infamy.  It was a situation that would have appalled a person of much stronger character than Sheila Macklin, and she was no weakling.

No!  She could not give up—­not without a struggle.  As she had first decided, she must confront the new girl boldly and deny, if she could, any claim Ida May Bostwick put forward.  She must do this for Tunis even more than for herself.

She arose determinedly.  With this thought, strength surged back into her limbs as well as into her mind.  For a time she had been weak, undecided.  Once more she gathered her energies to oppose the sea of adversity which threatened to overwhelm her.