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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24578-h.zip b/24578-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..899a685 --- /dev/null +++ b/24578-h.zip diff --git a/24578-h/24578-h.htm b/24578-h/24578-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8bdb98d --- /dev/null +++ b/24578-h/24578-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5076 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mary Louise Solves a Mystery, by L. Frank Baum</title> +<style type="text/css"> + h1 { text-align: center } + h2 { text-align: center } + .letter { margin-left:5%} + .indent1 { margin-left:5% } + .indent2 { margin-left:10% } + .indent3 { margin-left:25% } + .newspaper { margin-left:5%; margin-right:5%; text-indent:5%} + body { margin-left:10%; margin-right:10% } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:hover {color:#ff0000; + text-decoration: underline; } + pre {font-size: 85%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mary Louise Solves a Mystery, by L. Frank +Baum, Illustrated by Anna B. Mueller</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Mary Louise Solves a Mystery</p> +<p>Author: L. Frank Baum</p> +<p>Release Date: February 11, 2008 [eBook #24578]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY LOUISE SOLVES A MYSTERY***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Michael Gray (Lost_Gamer@comcast.net)</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> + +<p><b>Transcriber's note:</b><br> +<br> +The original book contained two chapters numbered XI, each with +a different title. Both appeared in the table of contents, listed +as Chapters X and XI. The real Chapter X, entitled "Mere +Speculation," was not included in the table of contents. In this +e-text the Table of Contents has been corrected to include the real Chapter +X and to reflect the fact that the book has two Chapters numbered XI.</p> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<p align="center"><img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="Mary Louise sees Alora."></p> + +<h1>MARY LOUISE<br> +SOLVES A MYSTERY</h1> +<br><br> + +<p align="center">By<br><big>Edith Van Dyne</big><br><small>Author +of<br> +"Aunt Jane's Nieces Series"</small></p> + +<p align="center"><img src="images/logo.jpg" alt="The Reilly company logo."></p> +<br><br> +<p align="center">Frontispiece by<br><big>Anna B. Mueller</big></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>The Reilly & Lee Co.</h1> +<h2>Chicago</h2> +<br><br><br> + +<p align="Center"><small>Copyright, 1917<br> +by<br> +The Reilly & Britton Co.</small></p> +<br><br><br> +<p align="center"><small><i>Mary Louise Solves a +Mystery</i></small></p> + + + + +<br><br><br> + +<p align="center">CONTENTS</p> +<table border="0"><tr><td>CHAPTER<td width="25"> <td> +<tr><td align="right">I <td> <td><a href="#1">DOCTOR AND +PATIENT</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">II <td> <td><a href="#2">MOTHER AND +DAUGHTER</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">III <td> <td><a href="#3">ALORA'S +FATHER</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">IV <td> <td><a href="#4">ALORA'S NEW +LIFE</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">V <td> <td><a href="#5">IN THE +STUDIO</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">VI <td> <td><a href="#6">FLITTING</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">VII <td> <td><a href="#7">MARY LOUISE +INTRUDES</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">VIII <td> <td><a href="#8">MARY LOUISE +MEETS ALORA</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">IX <td> <td><a href="#9">MARY LOUISE +SCENTS A MYSTERY</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">X <td> <td><a href="#10">MERE +SPECULATION</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XI <td> <td><a href="#11a">ALORA SPEAKS +FRANKLY</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XI <td> <td><a href="#11b">JASON JONES IS +FRIGHTENED</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XII <td> <td><a href="#12">SILVIO'S +GOLD</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XIII <td> <td><a +href="#13">DORFIELD</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XIV <td> <td><a href="#14">HOME +AGAIN</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XV <td> <td><a href="#15">THE PUZZLE +BECOMES INTRICATE</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XVI <td> <td><a href="#16">ALORA WINS HER +WAY</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XVII <td> <td><a href="#17">THE +DISAPPEARANCE</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XVIII <td> <td><a href="#18">ON THE +TRAIL</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XIX <td> <td><a href="#19">DECOYED</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XX <td> <td><a href="#20">JANET'S +TRIUMPH</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XXI <td> <td><a href="#21">THE PRICE OF +LIBERTY</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XXII <td> <td><a href="#22">A +COMPROMISE</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XXIII <td> <td><a href="#23">MARY LOUISE HAS +AN INTUITION</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XXIV <td> <td><a href="#24">AN +INTERRUPTION</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XXV <td> <td><a href="#25">JASON +JONES</a><br> +<tr><td align="right">XXVI <td> <td><a href="#26">WHAT MARY +LOUISE ACCOMPLISHED</a> +</table> + + + + +<br><br><br> + +<h2>Mary Louise Solves a Mystery</h2> +<p align="center"><big><a name="1">CHAPTER I</a></big> +<br>DOCTOR AND PATIENT</p> +<p>A little girl sat shivering in a corner of a reception room in the +fashionable Hotel Voltaire. It was one of a suite of rooms occupied by +Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones, widely known for her wealth and beauty, +and this girl—a little thing of eleven—was the only child +of Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones, and was named Alora.</p> +<p>It was not cold that made her shiver, for across the handsomely +furnished room an open window gratefully admitted the summer sunshine +and the summer breeze. Near the window, where the draught came coolest, +a middle-aged woman in a sober dress sat reading. Alora did not look at +this person but kept her gaze fixed anxiously upon the doorway that led +to the corridor, and the spasmodic shudders that at times shook her +little body seemed due to nervous fear.</p> +<p>The room was so still that every tick of the Dresden clock could be +distinctly heard. When Miss Gorham, Alora's governess, turned a page of +her book, the rustle was appallingly audible. And the clock ticked on, +and Miss Gorham turned page after page, and still the child sat bowed +upon her chair and eagerly eyed the passageway.</p> +<p>It seemed ages before the outer door of the suite finally opened and +a man moved softly down the passage and paused at the entrance of the +reception room. The man was white-haired, dignified and distinguished +in appearance. Hat in hand, he stood as if undecided while Alora +bounded from her seat and came to him, her eyes, big and pleading, +reading his face with dramatic intentness.</p> +<p>"Well, well, my dear; what is it?" he said in a kindly voice.</p> +<p>"May I see my mamma now, Doctor?" she asked.</p> +<p>He shook his head, turning to the table to place his hat and gloves +upon it.</p> +<p>"Not just yet, little one," he gently replied, and noting her quick- +drawn breath of disappointment he added: "Why, I haven't seen her +myself, this morning."</p> +<p>"Why do you keep me from her, Doctor Anstruther? Don't you know +it's—it's wicked, and cruel?"—a sob in her voice.</p> +<p>The old physician looked down upon the child pityingly.</p> +<p>"Mamma is ill—very ill, you know—and to disturb her +might—it might—well, it might make her worse," he explained +lamely.</p> +<p>"I won't disturb her. There's a nurse in there, all the time. Why +should I disturb my mamma more than a nurse?" asked Alora +pleadingly.</p> +<p>He evaded the question. The big eyes disconcerted him.</p> +<p>"When I have seen your mother," said he, "I may let you go to her +for a few minutes. But you must be very quiet, so as not to excite her. +We must avoid anything of an exciting nature. You understand that, +don't you, Lory?"</p> +<p>She studied his face gravely. When he held out a hand to her she +clung to it desperately and a shudder again shook her from head to +foot.</p> +<p>"Tell me, Doctor Anstruther," in low, passionate tones, "is my +mother dying?"</p> +<p>He gave an involuntary start.</p> +<p>"Who put that notion into your head, Lory?"</p> +<p>"Miss Gorham."</p> +<p>He frowned and glanced reprovingly at the governess, who had lowered +her book to her lap and was regarding the scene with stolid +unconcern.</p> +<p>"You mustn't mind such idle gossip, my dear. I am the doctor, you +know, and I am doing all that can be done to save your mother's life. +Don't worry until I tell you to, Lory; and now let me go to see my +patient."</p> +<p>He withdrew his hand from her clasp and turned into the passage +again. The girl listened to his footsteps as he approached her mother's +bedchamber, paused a moment, and then softly opened the door and +entered. Silence again pervaded the reception room. The clock resumed +its loud ticking. Miss Gorham raised her book. Alora went back to her +chair, trembling.</p> +<p>The front bedchamber was bright and cheery, a big room fitted with +every modern luxury. The doctor blinked his eyes as he entered from the +dim passage, for here was sunlight and fresh air in plenty. Beside the +bed stood a huge vase of roses, their delicate fragrance scenting the +atmosphere. Upon the bed, beneath a costly lace coverlid, lay a woman +thirty-five years of age, her beautiful face still fresh and unlined, +the deep blue eyes turned calmly upon the physician.</p> +<p>"Welcome, Doctor Anstruther," she said. "Do you realize you have +kept me waiting?"</p> +<p>"I am sorry, Mrs. Jones," he replied, approaching her. "There are so +many demands upon my time that——"</p> +<p>"I know," a little impatiently; "but now that you are here please +tell me how I am this morning."</p> +<p>"How do you feel?"</p> +<p>"I do not suffer, but it takes more morphine to quiet the pain. +Janet has used the hypodermic four times since midnight," with a glance +at the gray-robed nurse who stood silently by the table.</p> +<p>The doctor nodded, thoughtfully looking down her. There was small +evidence of illness in her appearance, but he knew that her hours were +numbered and that the dread disease that had fastened upon her was +creeping on with ever increasing activity. She knew it, too, and smiled +a grim little smile as she added: "How long can I last, at this +rate?"</p> +<p>"Do not anticipate, my dear," he answered gravely. "Let us do all +that may be done, and——"</p> +<p>"I must know!" she retorted. "I have certain important arrangements +to make that must not be needlessly delayed."</p> +<p>"I can understand that, Mrs. Jones."</p> +<p>"Then tell me frankly, how long have I to live?"</p> +<p>"Perhaps a month; possibly less; but——"</p> +<p>"You are not honest with me, Doctor Anstruther! What I wish to +know—what I <i>must</i> know—is how soon this disease will +be able to kill me. If we manage to defer the end somewhat, all the +better; but the fiend must not take me unaware, before I am ready to +resign my life."</p> +<p>He seated himself beside the bed and reflected. This was his most +interesting patient; he had attended her constantly for more than a +year and in this time had learned to admire not only her beauty of +person but her "gameness" and wholesome mentality. He knew something of +her past life and history, too, as well from her own lips as from +common gossip, for this was no ordinary woman and her achievements were +familiar to many.</p> +<p>She was the daughter of Captain Bob Seaver, whose remarkable career +was known to every man in the West. Captain Bob was one "forty-niners" +and had made fortunes and lost them with marvelous regularity. He had a +faculty for finding gold, but his speculations were invariably unwise, +so his constant transitions from affluence to poverty, and vice versa, +were the subject of many amusing tales, many no doubt grossly +exaggerated. And the last venture of Captain Bob Seaver, before he +died, was to buy the discredited "Ten-Spot" mine and start to develop +it.</p> +<p>At that time he was a widower with one motherless +child—Antoinette—a girl of eighteen who had been reared +partly in mining camps and partly at exclusive girls' schools in the +East, according to her father's varying fortunes. "Tony" Seaver, as she +was generally called in those days, combined culture and refinement +with a thorough knowledge of mining, and when her father passed away +and left her absolute mistress of the tantalizing "Ten-Spot," she set +to work to make the mine a success, directing her men in person and +displaying such shrewd judgment and intelligence, coupled with kindly +consideration for her assistants, that she became the idol of the +miners, all of whom were proud to be known as employees of Tony +Seaver's "Ten-Spot" would have died for their beautiful employer if +need be.</p> +<p>And the "Ten-Spot" made good. In five years Tony had garnered a +million or two of well-earned dollars, and then she sold out and +retired from business. Also, to the chagrin of an army of suitors, she +married an artist named Jason Jones, whose talent, it was said, was not +so great as his luck. So far, his fame rested on his being "Tony +Seaver's husband." But Tony's hobby was art, and she had recognized +real worth, she claimed, in Jason Jones' creations. On her honeymoon +she carried her artist husband to Europe and with him studied the works +of the masters in all the art centers of the Continent. Then, +enthusiastic and eager for Jason's advancement, she returned with him +to New York and set him up in a splendid studio where he had every +convenience and incentive to work.</p> +<p>So much the world at large knew. It also knew that within three +years Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones separated from her husband and, with +her baby girl, returned West to live. The elaborate Jones studio was +abandoned and broken up and the "promising young artist" disappeared +from the public eye. Mrs. Jones, a thorough business woman, had +retained her fortune in her own control and personally attended to her +investments. She became noted as a liberal patron of the arts and a +generous donor to worthy charities. In spite of her youth, wealth, and +beauty, she had no desire to shine in society and lived a somewhat +secluded life in luxurious family hotels, attending with much +solicitude to the training and education of her daughter Alora.</p> +<p>At first she had made Denver her home, but afterward migrated from +one middle-west city to another until she came to Chicago, where she +had now lived for nearly three years, occupying the most expensive +suite of rooms at the very exclusive Hotel Voltaire.</p> +<p>Alora fairly worshipped her beautiful mother and although Mrs. +Antoinette Seaver Jones was considered essentially cold and unemotional +by those who knew her casually, there was no doubt she prized her child +as her dearest possession and lavished all the tenderness and love of +which she was capable upon her.</p> +<p>Retrospectively, Doctor Anstruther considered this historical revue +of his fair patient as he sat facing her. It seemed a most unhappy fate +that she should be cut off in the flower of her womanhood, but her case +was positively hopeless, and she knew it and had accepted the harsh +verdict without a murmur. Bravery had always been Tony Seaver's prime +characteristic. To Doctor Anstruther it seemed that she might as well +know the truth which she had demanded from his lips.</p> +<p>"This disease is one that accelerates toward the end," he said. +"Within the past few days we have noted its more virulent tendency. All +we can do now is to keep you from suffering until—the end."</p> +<p>"And that will be—when?" she demanded.</p> +<p>"I think I can safely give you a week but——"</p> +<p>"Then I must act at once," she said, as he hesitated. "I must, first +of all, make provision for Alora's future, and in this I require your +help."</p> +<p>"You know you may depend upon me," he said simply.</p> +<p>"Please telegraph at once to my husband Jason Jones, in New +York."</p> +<p>The request startled him, for never before had she mentioned her +husband's name in his presence. But he asked, calmly enough:</p> +<p>"What is his address?"</p> +<p>"Hand me that small memorandum-book," pointing to the stand beside +him. He obeyed, and as she turned the leaves slowly she said:</p> +<p>"Doctor Anstruther, you have been my good and faithful friend, and +you ought to know and to understand why I am now sending for my +husband, from whom I have been estranged for many years. When I first +met Jason Jones he was a true artist and I fell in love with his art +rather than with the man. I was ambitious that he should become a great +painter, world-famous. He was very poor until he married me, and he had +worked industriously to succeed, but as soon as I introduced him to a +life of comfort—I might even add, of luxury—his ambition to +work gradually deserted him. With his future provided for, as he +thought, he failed to understand the necessity of devoting himself to +his brush and palette, but preferred a life of ease—of laziness, +if you will. So we quarreled. I tried to force him back to his work, +but it was no use; my money had ruined his career. I therefore lost +patience and decided to abandon him, hoping that when he was again +thrown upon his own resources he would earnestly resume his profession +and become a master, as I believed him competent to be. We were not +divorced: we merely separated. Finding I had withdrawn his allowance he +was glad to see me go, for my unmerciful scoldings had killed any love +he may have had for me. But he loved Lory, and her loss was his hardest +trial. I may have been as much to blame as he for our lack of harmony, +but I have always acted on my impulses.</p> +<p>"I'll give Jason Jones the credit for not whimpering," she resumed +thoughtfully, after a brief pause, "nor has he ever since appealed to +me for money. I don't know how well he has succeeded, for we do not +correspond, but I have never heard his name mentioned in the art +circles I have frequented. He remained in New York, I believe, and so I +chose to keep away from New York. A year or two ago, however, I met a +man who had known Jason Jones and who gave me his address. Here it is: +1744 East Sixty-seventh street. Will you make a copy of it, +Doctor?"</p> +<p>He nodded.</p> +<p>"What shall I say in the telegram?" he asked, writing the address in +his notebook.</p> +<p>"Tell him I am dying and seek a reconciliation before I pass away. +Beg him to come to me at once."</p> +<p>Dr. Anstruther jotted down the instructions underneath the +address.</p> +<p>"You must understand," she continued, "that Jason Jones is an +honorable man and in many ways a high-minded gentleman. I have lived +with him as his wife and I know that he is well fitted to care for our +child and to rear her properly. I have left my entire fortune to Alora, +but I have made Jason my sole executor, and he is to have control, +under certain restrictions, of all the income until Alora is eighteen. +I think he will be glad to accept the responsibility, both on Alora's +account and for the money."</p> +<p>"Doubtless, if he has not been a success as an artist since your +separation," remarked the doctor, drily.</p> +<p>"The man I spoke of said Jason was living in quite modest +circumstances. He said that although he had succeeded in selling a few +paintings they had brought rather insignificant sums—which +surprised me, as I know they must have possessed a degree of merit. +However, I may be mistaken in thinking his talent exceptional. Anyhow, +my experiment in leaving him to his own devices seems not to have +resulted as I had hoped, and I now am willing he should handle Alora's +income and live comfortably while he is educating her. She will +probably provide for her father when she comes of age, but I have not +included such a request in my will and I have endeavored, in case he +proves inclined to neglect her, to require the court to appoint another +guardian. That is, of course, merely a precaution, for I know his +nature is gentle and kind, and he adores—or at least he used to +adore children."</p> +<p>The doctor sat, notebook in hand, musing. The matter-of-fact, +businesslike way in which she referred to her marital relations and her +assumed unconcern over her own dreadful fate impressed the good man as +extraordinary. But he was relieved to know that little Alora, of whom +he had grown quite fond, was to have the guardianship of a parent, and +glad that the character of Jason Jones was above reproach. The man's +failure to succeed as an artist, while it might have been a source of +chagrin to his art-loving wife, did not lower him to any extent in Dr. +Anstruther's opinion.</p> +<p>"I suppose Alora does not remember her father?" he presently +remarked.</p> +<p>"She was about two years old when we separated."</p> +<p>"And you say your will is already drawn?"</p> +<p>"Judge Bernsted, my lawyer, has attended to it. It is now in his +possession, properly signed and witnessed."</p> +<p>"If Bernsted drew the will, it is doubtless legal and in accordance +with your wishes. But who witnessed it?"</p> +<p>"My nurse, Janet."</p> +<p>He glanced at the motionless figure of the attendant, who had +remained so inert at her post by the window that he had quite forgotten +her presence. She was a young woman, perhaps thirty years of age, and +not unprepossessing in appearance, in spite of her modest uniform.</p> +<p>Janet's one peculiarity was her downcast eyes. They were good eyes, +bright and intelligent, but she kept them veiled by their long lashes +and drooping lids. Dr. Anstruther attached no significance to this +trait, doubtless a habit of modest reserve acquired in her profession. +He had himself recommended the woman to Mrs. Jones, having frequently +employed her on other cases and found her deft, skillful and thoroughly +reliable. Janet Orme's signature to the will he regarded as +satisfactory, since Judge Bernsted had accepted it.</p> +<p>A moan from his patient suddenly aroused the doctor. Her face was +beginning to twitch spasmodically with pain. In an instant Janet was at +her side, hypodermic needle in hand, and the opiate was soon +administered.</p> +<p>"Send the telegram," muttered Mrs. Jones, still breathing hard; +"and, as you go out, Doctor, send Alora to me. I shall have relief in a +few moments."</p> +<p>"To be sure," he said, rising. "Lory has been begging to see you, +and I'll attend to the telegram at once."</p> + + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="2">CHAPTER II</a></big> +<br>MOTHER AND CHILD</p> +<p>The child crept softly to her mother's bedside, but once there she +impulsively threw her arms about "Mamma Tone's" neck and embraced her +so tightly that the sick woman was obliged to tear the little arms +away. She did this tenderly, though, and holding the trembling hands in +her own kissed both of Lory's cheeks before she said:</p> +<p>"I've news for you, dear."</p> +<p>"Are you better, mamma?" asked Lory.</p> +<p>"Of course not," was the calm reply. "You mustn't expect mamma ever +to get well, my darling. But that shouldn't worry you—not too +much, you know. One of the queer things about life is that it has an +end, sooner or later, and in mamma's case it comes to an end a little +sooner than you and I might wish it to."</p> +<p>"Oh, Mamma Tone!" An agonized cry, with the small hands clasped +tightly over her throbbing heart. But Tony Seaver did not flinch.</p> +<p>"The news I have will surprise you, Lory dear. Your father, who +loved you devotedly when you were a baby, but whom you have never known +till now, is coming here to see us."</p> +<p>Alora's eyes grew big with wonder, but other thoughts drove even +this strange news from her mind.</p> +<p>"I can't let you go, Mamma Tone," she wailed, sobbing; "I can't let +you die and leave me all alone!"</p> +<p>The woman's breast heaved. She was silent a moment and then said +quietly:</p> +<p>"Even kings and queens, sweetheart, have no command over life and +death. When it is too late to help it, we realize we have been born; +when it is too late to help it, we realize we must die. But why +complain, when it is the fate of all humanity? To be true to our +Creator, who directs all things, we must bow to His will without +protest. You will love your father, Lory, because he will love you; and +he is a good man, and kindly, so I believe he will make your life as +happy as I could have done."</p> +<p>"I don't want him; I want <i>you,</i> Mamma—I want +<i>you!"</i></p> +<p>The mother sighed wearily and the alert nurse advanced and said to +the child in grave, cold tones:</p> +<p>"You must control yourself, Miss Alora, if you wish to remain."</p> +<p>The threat quieted the little girl at once.</p> +<p>"I'll be good, Mamma Tone," she whispered softly. "Talk to me, and +tell me what I must do."</p> +<p>So the dying woman talked to her, not of herself, but of Alora's +father, and of how she would like her child to conduct herself while +she grew in womanhood. She spoke of her will, and told Lory what it +meant to her and how she had safe-guarded her interests as well as she +was able. To this Lory listened intently and, although she still +trembled at times, she had Tony Seaver's blood in her veins and could +be brave in spite of the terrors that faced her. Dimly she realized +that her mother was suffering through the knowledge of their inevitable +parting, even as Alora was suffering, and felt she could comfort that +beloved mother more by controlling her grief bravely than by giving way +to it in her mother's presence.</p> +<p>Meantime, Dr. Anstruther had returned to his office and had written +and dispatched the following telegram:</p> + +<p class="letter">"Jason Jones,<br><span class="indent1">1744 East 67th +St.,</span><br><span class="indent2">New York City.</span><br> +<br> +<span class="indent1">"Your</span> wife is dying at the Hotel Voltaire +and wishes reconciliation before she passes away. Come quickly, as any +delay may prove dangerous. Notify me by wire when to expect +you.<br><span class="indent3">Edward Anstruther, M. D."</span></p> + +<p>He left orders that the answer be delivered to him at his office or +residence, as soon as received, but the day and the night passed +without a word from Jason Jones. Dr. Anstruther telephoned the +telegraph office and was assured his message had been delivered to the +party in New York, as otherwise they would be notified to that +effect.</p> +<p>Knowing Mrs. Jones' dangerous condition, the good doctor was +worried, but the following morning brought the delayed answer:</p> +<p>"If necessary for me to come, you must send money for expenses."</p> +<p>It was signed "Jason Jones" and its tone and its demand annoyed Dr. +Anstruther exceedingly.</p> +<p>"Confound the fellow!" he exclaimed. "Any decent man would have +borrowed the money, or even pawned his watch and jewelry, to get to a +dying wife who calls for him. Either Mrs. Jones is mistaken in her +husband's kindly character or—well, he may have changed since +last she knew him."</p> +<p>He did not hesitate, however, to go to the office and send money by +telegraph to Jason Jones, furnishing the required sum from his own +pocket rather than allow Antoinette to see her husband's telegram. He +even sent more than was necessary, muttering to himself: "The poor +devil may have some bills to settle before he can get away, and in any +event she must not be disappointed because her impecunious husband +lacks a few dollars. I fancy the poor artist will be amazed to find +himself suddenly raised from poverty to affluence, for little Lory's +income will be enormous and he will have seven years, at least, to +enjoy it unrestrained. I hope," he added thoughtfully, as he drove back +to his office, "that Mrs. Jones has made no error in her judgment of +this man, for it is considerable power to place in anyone's hands and +Alora is such a dear that I want her properly taken care of."</p> +<p>When he made his next visit to his patient he said in answer to her +questioning look:</p> +<p>"Mr. Jones will be here to-morrow, I think. He will notify me of his +arrival and I will be here to meet him. I believe it will be advisable +for me to see him first, you know, in order +to—eh—eh—to post him a bit," he added, meaningly.</p> +<p>"Yes," she replied, "I fear it will be something of a shock to +Jason. Even though we have practically been strangers for years, he is +sure to be grieved and sympathetic. But do not bore him with +particulars, Doctor. Send him to me as soon as you have prepared him +for the interview."</p> + + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="3">CHAPTER III</a></big> +<br>ALORA'S FATHER</p> +<p>A man slouched into the lofty foyer of the Hotel Voltaire and paused +uncertainly, as if awed by the splendor of the place. A boy in uniform +hastened to relieve him of his hand baggage, which consisted of a +"roll-me-up" or "carryall" of brown canvas, strapped around the middle, +such as one often sees in traveling on the Continent. It seemed a much +used and abused affair and painted upon the ends were the dimmed +initials: "J. J."</p> +<p>This man was plainly dressed. His clothing was of the cheap, ready- +made variety, worn nearly to shabbiness and matched by a gray flannel +shirt with a flowing black tie, knotted at the throat, and a soft gray +hat that was a bit weatherstained. His shoes were shabby and unshined. +His whole appearance was out of keeping with the palatial hotel he had +entered.</p> +<p>Without relinquishing his baggage to the boy he asked sharply:</p> +<p>"Is Dr. Anstruther here?"</p> +<p>But now Dr. Anstruther, who had been impatiently waiting, espied the +arrival and after a glance at the initials on the traveling-roll said +in hesitating tones:</p> +<p>"Mr. Jason Jones?"</p> +<p>"Yes. You must be the doctor who telegraphed me."</p> +<p>"I am Doctor Anstruther."</p> +<p>"All right. Where's my wife?"</p> +<p>There was no especial anxiety in his tones, which were slow and +distinct and a trifle sharp. He seemed ill at ease and looked around +the foyer again, as if fearing he had entered the wrong place.</p> +<p>"I will lead you to her presently," replied the physician gravely; +"but first, sir, I must acquaint you with her condition, which is +serious. I have engaged a room for you here and if you will please +register we will go there together and talk undisturbed."</p> +<p>"All right," said Jason Jones. He registered at the desk and then +turned and announced: "I'm ready. Go ahead."</p> +<p>Those present in the foyer cast curious glances at the stranger as +he passed them and followed Dr. Anstruther to the elevator. The boy +accompanied them, now carrying the roll of baggage. The grandeur of the +room they entered, which was convenient to the suite of Mrs. Jones, +seemed to astonish the artist, although it was as simply furnished as +any the great hotel contained. However, he made no remark but removed +his hat, seated himself, and looked inquiringly at the physician.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Jones," began Dr. Anstruther, "is really dying. I cannot say +how long she may survive, but it is a matter of days—perhaps +hours. Her greatest anxiety at present is to be reconciled with you, +whom she has not seen or even communicated with for years."</p> +<p>"Did she say that?"</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"And she wants to be reconciled?"</p> +<p>"She does."</p> +<p>"Rather a queer notion, that," remarked Mr. Jones, musingly.</p> +<p>"Very natural, I think, under the circumstances," stiffly replied +the doctor. "She has every confidence in you and admires your character +exceedingly, although it was her desire that you live apart."</p> +<p>The man's stolid countenance relaxed in a grin—a somewhat +scornful and unbelieving expression—but he did not speak. He was +not a very tall man; he was thin of figure and hardened of muscle; his +head was bald in front, giving him the appearance of a high forehead, +and the hair at the back and around the ears was beginning to gray. His +eyes were light blue; his nose was shapely and his jaws prominent and +tightly set in repose. His age was about forty.</p> +<p>"Mrs. Jones," continued the doctor, "knows that you are due to +arrive at this time and is eagerly counting the minutes; not that you +are so dear to her," he asserted in retaliation for the sneer upon his +hearer's lips, "but because she has important business matters to +arrange with you before she passes away."</p> +<p>"Business matters?"</p> +<p>"So she has told me. I believe," he said, after a brief period of +hesitation, during which he considered how best to handle this peculiar +artist, "that I will allow you to see your wife at once, that you may +learn her plans from her own lips."</p> +<p>Indeed, he had already decided that Jason Jones must have changed +materially, and for the worse, since Antoinette Seaver had known him. +Perhaps, when she had talked with the man, she would revise her opinion +of him and make other disposition of her finances and the guardianship +of her child. In that case it would not be well for him to give her +husband any inkling of her present plans. Having reached this +conclusion, Dr. Anstruther rose abruptly and said: "Come with me, +please."</p> +<p>Jason Jones made no demur. Without remark he followed his conductor +into the hallway and to the entrance to the suite occupied by his wife. +The governess had been instructed to take Alora out for a ride; there +was no one in the little reception room. Here, however, the doctor +halted, and pointing to the door at the further end of the passage he +said:</p> +<p>"That is your wife's sick chamber. Please enter quietly and remember +the danger of exciting Mrs. Jones unduly. Be gentle, +and—considerate."</p> +<p>Jason Jones nodded. A moment he regarded the door with curious +intentness, savoring of reluctance. Then he slowly advanced, opened it +and went in, closing the door softly behind him.</p> +<p>Dr. Anstruther seated himself in the reception room. The artist +puzzled him greatly, although he prided himself—through long +professional experience—on being able to read human nature with +some accuracy. This summons to his dying-wife ought to seem the most +natural thing in the world to Jason Jones, yet the man appeared dazed +and even bewildered by the event, and while he had once lived in +luxurious surroundings his later experiences must have been so wholly +different that the splendor of his wife's mode of living quite +embarrassed him. Yes, the contrast was sharp, it must be admitted; the +man had formerly shared Tony Seaver's immense wealth; he had enjoyed +the handsomest studio in New York; and then—back to poverty, to +drudgery, to a struggle for mere food and clothing! Years of hardship +were likely to have had a decided effect upon the character of a man +who was doubtless weak in the beginning; it would make him hard, and +bitter, and——</p> +<p>A shrill scream startled him. It came from the sick chamber and was +echoed by another cry—hoarse and terrified—in a man's +voice.</p> +<p>Dr. Anstruther sprang to his feet and hurried into the patient's +bedchamber.</p> +<p>"The woman's dead, Doctor," cried Jason Jones, standing in the +middle of the room. "She's dead!"</p> +<p>The physician hastened to the bedside, where Janet Orme, the nurse, +was bending over the still form. Pushing her away, Dr. Anstruther made +a hurried examination.</p> +<p>It was true; the woman was dead. At the very moment of reunion with +the husband from whom she had so long been parted, she had passed on to +another life, leaving reconciliation in abeyance.</p> +<p>Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones lay beneath her lace covered with +features contorted, mouth half open and eyes staring wildly. A paroxysm +of pain had carried her off, the good doctor well knew; the pain, and +the excitement of the moment. Very tenderly he bent down and closed the +eyes and pressed the lips together. He smoothed the lines from the +cheeks, so that the face became more natural in appearance. Then, with +a sigh—for he had become fond of this brave, beautiful +patient—he turned away to find Jason Jones and the nurse Janet +confronting one another in tense attitudes. The man stared wonderingly +into the nurse's face; Janet, her eyes now unveiled, returned the stare +with an expression that Dr. Anstruther could not fathom.</p> +<p>They seemed to feel the doctor's observation, for Janet turned her +back abruptly, while the man swung around and tiptoed hastily from the +room.</p> +<p>Dr. Anstruther looked at the nurse reflectively.</p> +<p>"Who was it that screamed? Was it you, or Mrs. Jones?" he asked.</p> +<p>She hesitated a moment.</p> +<p>"It was I," she replied. "I saw her face and knew that—that +the end had come."</p> +<p>It was a lie, and the nurse knew that the shrewd doctor recognized +it as a lie. But he made no comment and with a last regretful look +toward the bed he followed Jason Jones out.</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="4">CHAPTER IV</a></big> +<br>ALORA'S NEW LIFE</p> +<p>Time sears all heart wounds. The scars remain, perhaps, but as the +clock ticks on the ache is stilled and the soreness finally passes +away.</p> +<p>At first Alora was heart-broken over her mother's loss. She lived in +a sort of stupor for weeks after the funeral. Her father's presence she +accepted without comment or emotion, for it had been arranged by "Mamma +Tone." She did not consider, in those first weeks, whether she cared +for her newly found father or not. Her mother's statement that he was a +"good man" and would love Alora dearly was taken by the child as a +matter of fact, while her mother's injunction to love him and confide +in him in her stead was for the present ignored.</p> +<p>Indeed, during those first weeks Lory had no fault to find with her +new protector, for she saw little of him. Jason Jones retained his room +at the hotel and allowed Alora and her governess to inhabit the +handsome suite her mother had occupied, although they were much too +small for the big apartments. However, Lory would have felt +uncomfortable, just then, in any other place. Her mother's chamber was +closed and the curtains drawn, but every night before she retired to +her own little room the child would steal in, in the dark, and feel her +way to the empty bed and kiss the pillow on which her dear mother's +head had rested. Miss Gorham, the governess, was aware of these evening +excursions, but offered no objection. Indeed, the woman objected to +nothing that did not interfere with her own personal comfort and +convenience. Under the eyes of Mrs. Jones she had been prim and +dutiful, but there was no one to chide her now, however neglectful she +chose to be, and it was true that during these days the little girl +required no particular care. Alora resumed her morning studies with +meekness a week after her mother had been laid away, and in the +afternoons she rode or walked with Miss Gorham or received the callers +who came to "console poor Antoinette Seaver Jones' child."</p> +<p>Despite her haughty reserve, Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones had +accumulated a wide circle of acquaintances—if not +friends—who sincerely mourned her untimely death and would have +been glad to befriend her little girl were such services needed. But it +was known that Alora's father had now appeared to guard her welfare and +there was "so much money in the Jones family" that no financial aid was +required; therefore, these acquaintances could only call to see Alora +and profess their friendship.</p> +<p>The child listened gravely to their stilted praises of her mother +and accepted their platitudes in good faith. It was indeed comforting +to hear so many nice things said of her loved one.</p> +<p>Her father was never present on these occasions. He was by no means +a sociable man. Sometimes he came in for a few minutes, in the morning, +and sat down and stared at the girl in a way half curious and half +speculative, and said little, and presently went away as quietly as he +had come.</p> +<p>The nurse, Janet Orme, left on the day that Mrs. Jones died, and +Alora had almost forgotten the young woman when one afternoon she came +to see her. Janet no longer wore her nurse's uniform but was dressed in +ultra-fashionable apparel and to the child's amusement affected the +manners of a lady. She talked more with Miss Gorham than with the +little girl and was keen to know what arrangements had been made for +their future. Miss Gorham admitted that she had no idea of Mr. Jones' +intentions. Of course they could not remain long in this elaborate +suite; a smaller one would be more satisfactory in every way; but Mr. +Jones had not as yet mentioned the subject.</p> +<p>A few days afterward, during one of their walks, Alora was surprised +to see her father and nurse Janet riding past in a hired automobile. +The two seemed engaged in earnest conversation and neither noticed +Alora or her governess. Miss Gorham snorted rather disdainfully but +without remark, and Lory was not especially interested in the +matter.</p> +<p>Meantime, letters of administration had been issued to Jason Jones +and the control of his wife's—now Alora's—property legally +placed in his hands. Judge Bernsted attended to all the necessary +details and, while he did not admire the artist and secretly believed +he was unfitted for the task of handling so much money, he loyally +insisted that the dead woman's wishes be obeyed to the letter.</p> +<p>Dr. Anstruther had called on the attorney and had ventured to state +his misgivings concerning Jason Jones, pleading that Alora was likely +to suffer through the man's indifference and lack of culture, but Judge +Bernsted declared it was not his duty to criticise character but to see +that the wishes of his clients were obeyed. In this case doubtless the +man's wife knew him more intimately than anyone else and if she trusted +him, aware as she must be of his faults and virtues, it would be +presumptuous for anyone to try to break her will or otherwise interfere +with her carefully planned arrangements.</p> +<p>But Jason Jones was improving, in a way. He had bought new clothes +and a supply of linen, and although he did not wear them with the ease +of one accustomed to modish dress they certainly improved his +appearance. He was quiet and unassuming; he made no friends and few +acquaintances; he never mentioned himself or his personal history and +never referred to his wife except when forced to do so by some of "her +meddling friends"—well meaning people who sought his acquaintance +to condole with him or perhaps to attempt to "cultivate" him for +Antoinette Seaver Jones' sake. But these found him so unresponsive that +they soon left him alone.</p> +<p>The legal business, even though it progressed smoothly, required +time for consummation, so it was somewhat more than three months before +all the details were complete. Alora, a sad-faced child with no +especial interest in life, kept no track of time and plodded along in +her morning-studies and took her afternoon drives or walks in a +perfunctory manner that rendered Miss Gorham's duties light indeed. But +all this ended suddenly, and Jason Jones ended it.</p> +<p>He came to the rooms one morning and said to the governess in his +abrupt way: "Pack up."</p> +<p>"What do you mean, sir?" was the startled query.</p> +<p>"Just what I say. Get the child's things and your own ready to move +out of this place by Saturday. Also pack the personal belongings of +Mrs. Jones. Put them in separate trunks and boxes, so I can have them +stored. Do you understand me?"</p> +<p>"I—I shall need assistance," gasped the bewildered Miss +Gorham.</p> +<p>"Then get a maid—or a porter—or both—to help +you."</p> +<p>Alora was present and listened with awakening interest. A change of +any sort would be pleasant, she reflected.</p> +<p>"Where are we going?" she asked, as her father turned away.</p> +<p>It was the one question Miss Gorham wanted to ask, too, but Mr. +Jones left the room without reply.</p> +<p>Three days was little enough time to gather up and pack the +accumulation of years. The governess knew there were many big trunks in +the storeroom of the hotel belonging to Mrs. Jones, and these she +ordered brought up to the rooms. Then she procured two maids, told them +what and how to pack, and composedly resumed her reading.</p> +<p>"I am no menial," she told Alora, with a lofty air of superiority; +"these persons will do their work properly, I'm sure."</p> +<p>On Saturday morning Mr. Jones appeared again.</p> +<p>"Is everything ready?" he demanded.</p> +<p>"Ask Susan and Jane," replied Miss Gorham.</p> +<p>Susan and Jane declared everything was packed, even to the suit +cases and traveling satchels.</p> +<p>"But where are we going?" inquired the governess.</p> +<p>"You are going wherever you please," said Jason Jones. "I do not +require your services longer."</p> +<p>"You're going to discharge me?" she said, startled.</p> +<p>"You are already discharged."</p> +<p>"But who will look after poor Lory? Who will attend to her +education, and to—to—her comforts?"</p> +<p>"I will. Here is your money. I have paid you a week in advance, in +lieu of notice."</p> +<p>"A week? Pooh! I'm hired by the year," asserted the woman +defiantly.</p> +<p>"Have you a written contract?"</p> +<p>"No; a verbal contract is just as good."</p> +<p>"It won't hold in law. Take your traps and go—at once."</p> +<p>The governess looked at him. He was absolutely calm and determined. +Instinctively she knew that any protest would be unavailing.</p> +<p>Alora regarded the dismissal of her governess with as much unconcern +as her father displayed. Miss Gorham had been her companion for years, +but had never won the smallest corner of the girl's heart. Although she +was not aware of the fact, the woman's constant presence and lack of +interest in her had become oppressive. The child's first sensation, on +realizing their future separation, was one of distinct relief.</p> +<p>When Miss Gorham had gone, seeming to begrudge the terse "good-bye" +she gave her pupil, the girl's father quietly said: "Come, Alora," and +walked away.</p> +<p>She followed him to a waiting taxicab, in which had been heaped her +hand luggage and his own, and they drove away from the grand hotel +where she had lived in luxury for so long, and where so many indelible +memories had been impressed upon her childish mind, with as little ado +as if they had been transient guests.</p> +<p>When the cab drew up at a railway station, Alora asked:</p> +<p>"Are we leaving town, then, father?"</p> +<p>"Yes," he replied; "I am returning to New York."</p> +<p>She felt a slight sinking of the heart, just then, but it was +followed by a sense of elation. The old life, in which her adored +mother had played so prominent a part, was being abandoned forever, and +this troubled her, she knew not why.</p> +<p>But since Mamma Tone had gone away the old life had lost its charm +and become dull and stupid. Lory was not sure she could be happier +elsewhere, but her crushed and dispirited nature responded to the +suggestion of change. It was interesting to have something different to +look forward to.</p> +<p>The man beside her was no more congenial than Gorham had been, but +he was her father; he was the guardian selected by her dead mother, and +in obeying his wishes she might find her future life more grateful than +had been the dreadful dreary months since Mamma Tone had left her.</p> +<p>Somehow, Jason Jones seemed uneasy in the presence of his daughter. +During the journey to New York he rode most of the time in the smoking +compartment, only appearing to take Alora to the diner for her meals. +The child was equally uncomfortable in her father's society and was +well pleased to be left so much alone.</p> +<p>So, with very little questioning or conversation on either side, +father and daughter came to their destination and Alora found herself +deposited in a small suite of rooms on the third floor of a grimy and +dingy house in East Sixty-seventh Street—one of a long row of +similar houses that were neither residences nor business +establishments, but hovered between the two. There were several little +tin signs nailed beside the entrance and Lory noticed that one of these +read: "Jason Jones. Studio. 3rd Floor." It was an old sign, scarcely +legible, while others beside it seemed bright and new, and when the +girl had climbed laboriously up the three flights and the artist had +unlocked the door at the head of the stairs, with a key which he took +from his pocket, she found everything about the rooms she entered as +old and faded as the sign on the door.</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="5">CHAPTER V</a></big> +<br>IN THE STUDIO</p> +<p>The fact that it was beginning to grow dark prevented Alora from +observing all the tawdriness of her new home and what she saw inspired +her more with curiosity than dismay. The little girl had been reared +from babyhood in an atmosphere of luxury; through environment she had +become an aristocrat from the top of her head to the tips of her toes; +this introduction to shabbiness was unique, nor could she yet +understand that such surroundings were familiar to many who battle for +existence in a big city. The very fact that her father's humble flat +was "different" made it far more interesting to the child than new +apartments such as she had been accustomed to. Therefore she had no +thought, at this time, of protest. Her own little room contained a +small iron bed, one straight chair with a wooden bottom and a broken- +legged dresser over which hung a cracked mirror. The small rag rug was +worn threadbare.</p> +<p>While she stood in the doorway of this room, solemnly regarding it, +her father said over her shoulder:</p> +<p>"You won't need both those big trunks here, I'm sure. I'll store +them somewhere in the studio. Covered with drapes, they won't be +noticed. I can't imagine what that woman packed them with."</p> +<p>"My dresses," replied Alora. "Even then, I left a lot at the +Voltaire, for the maids to sell or give away. Mamma used to send them +to the Salvation Army."</p> +<p>"Two trunks of dresses ought to last for a good many years," he +remarked in a reflective tone.</p> +<p>"Oh, no indeed," said Lory. "Miss Gorham was about to engage a +dressmaker for me when—when—you said we'd go away. I'm +growing fast, you know, and I was to have a dozen or fifteen summer +frocks made, and a lot of lingerie."</p> +<p>"Then we moved just in time to save that expense," he declared, +setting his stern jaws together. "There's been a terrible waste of +money through that woman Gorham. We're well rid of her."</p> +<p>He turned away to the studio and the child followed him there. He +turned on the electric lights, which were not very bright, and Alora +took a look at the workroom and thought it seemed more comfortable than +the other rooms of the flat.</p> +<p>Her father began dusting and arranging half a dozen paintings of +various sizes, mounted on stretchers. None was finished; some were +scarcely begun. Lory tried to see what they represented. Perhaps she +had inherited from her mother a bit of artistic instinct; if so, it was +that which prompted her to shrug her small shoulders slightly and then +turn away to the window.</p> +<p>In the dimly lighted street outside a man drove up with the baggage. +Mr. Jones had purchased for himself in Chicago a new trunk—a +small and inexpensive one—and there were two big trunks and a +suitcase belonging to Alora. After these had been carried up and placed +in the studio—the only room that would hold them—her father +said:</p> +<p>"We will go out now and get some dinner. You won't need your coat, +for the restaurant is just around the corner."</p> +<p>Alora marveled at the restaurant even more than at the studio +furnishings. It looked a hundred years old and the atmosphere still +retained the fumes of much ancient cookery. The linen was coarse, the +plating worn from the forks and spoons through constant use, the dishes +thick and clumsy and well nicked. Alora was hungry and she ate what her +father ordered for her, although she decided it did not taste very +nice.</p> +<p>When they sat down a man from behind the counter approached them and +bending low said in a quiet tone:</p> +<p>"You know, Jones, it's to be a cash deal from now on."</p> +<p>"Of course," replied Alora's father, with a slight frown. "Also I'll +pay you the old account, if you'll make out the bill."</p> +<p>The man smiled, patted Alora's head—a liberty she indignantly +resented—and went back to his desk.</p> +<p>During the meal and, indeed, ever since their arrival in New York, +Jason Jones cast frequent puzzled glances into the face of his little +daughter, who until now had accepted her changed conditions with +evident indifference. But as they ate together in silence her small +features grew grave and thoughtful and her father shrank from meeting +the inquiring glances of her big eyes. Yet even now she made no +complaint. Neither did she ask questions. Her look was expectant, +however, and that was what embarrassed him.</p> +<p>After the dinner they went back to the dingy studio, where the man +lighted a pipe and sat opposite his small daughter, puffing uneasily. +They were both reserved; there was an indefinable barrier between them +which each was beginning to recognize. Presently Alora asked to go to +bed and he sent her to her room with a nod of relief.</p> +<p>Next morning they had breakfast at the same stuffy little restaurant +and afterward Alora unpacked some things from her trunks and put them +in the drawers of the broken-legged dresser. It seemed odd to have no +maid to wait upon her, but she was glad to have something to do. As she +passed to and from the studio she noticed that her father had resumed +work on a picture that represented two cows eating a broken pumpkin +that lay in a cornfield. He worked slowly and never seemed satisfied +with what he did, as if lacking confidence in his ability. Lory decided +he couldn't be blamed for that.</p> +<p>The child plodded drearily along in her new life for a full week. +Then she began to grow restless, for the place was hateful and +repulsive to her. But now an incident occurred that gave her new cause +for wonder.</p> +<p>One day the door opened and a woman walked into the studio. It was +Janet Orme, her mother's former nurse, but what a new and astonishing +Janet it was! Her silken gown was very "fashionable," somewhat too +modish for good taste, for it was elaborately trimmed and embroidered. +She wore considerable jewelry, including diamonds; her shoes were +elegant and her hose daintily clocked; her hat must have been a French +milliner's choicest creation. If good clothes could make Janet Orme a +lady, there was no question of her social standing, yet even little +Alora felt that Janet was out of her element—that she fell short, +in some vague way, of being what she was ambitious to appear.</p> +<p>"So," said the nurse, glancing around the room with frank disdain, +"this is where you hang out, Jason, is it?"</p> +<p>Alora's father confronted the woman with a menacing frown.</p> +<p>"What do you mean by coming here?" he demanded.</p> +<p>"I had two reasons," she answered carelessly, seating herself in the +only easy chair the room contained. "In the first place, I wanted to +see how a rich man lives."</p> +<p>"Well, you see, don't you?" a muttering growl.</p> +<p>"I certainly do, and I realize you are quite comfortable and ought +to be happy here, Jason—you and the millionaire heiress, your +daughter Alora."</p> +<p>As she spoke she turned to glance sharply at the child, who met her +look with disconcerting gravity. Alora's eyes expressed wonder, tinged +with a haughty tolerance of an inferior that struck home to Janet and +made her flush angrily.</p> +<p>"Your sneers," said Jason Jones, still frowning but now speaking +with composure, "must indicate that you have graduated from servitude. +I cannot admit that my mode of living is any of your business, Janet. +In these retired but respectable rooms I have worked and been contented +for years, until——"</p> +<p>"Until you came into your money and found you didn't have to worry +over your next meal," she interjected. "Well, that ought to make you +still more content. And that reminds me of the second object of my +visit. I want some money."</p> +<p>"So soon?"</p> +<p>"Don't try to crawfish; it was agreed you should give me a check +whenever I asked for it. I want it now, and for the full +amount—every single penny of it!"</p> +<p>He stared at her fixedly, seeming fearful and uncertain how to +answer.</p> +<p>"I cannot spare it all today."</p> +<p>"Humbug!" she snapped. "You can and will spare it. I must have the +money, or——"</p> +<p>Her significant pause caused him to wriggle in his seat.</p> +<p>"You're a miserly coward," she declared. "I'm not robbing you; you +will have an abundance for your needs. Why do you quarrel with Dame +Fortune? Don't you realize you can pay your rent now and eat three +square meals a day, and not have to work and slave for them? You can +smoke a good cigar after your dinner, instead of that eternal pipe, and +go to a picture show whenever the mood strikes you. Why, man, you're +independent for the first time in your life, and the finances are as +sure as shooting for a good seven years to come."</p> +<p>He glanced uneasily at Alora.</p> +<p>"Owing to my dead wife's generosity," he muttered.</p> +<p>Janet laughed.</p> +<p>"Of course," said she; "and, if you play your cards skillfuly, when +Alora comes of age she will provide for you an income for the rest of +your life. You're in luck. And why? Just because you are Jason Jones +and long ago married Antoinette Seaver and her millions and are now +reaping your reward! So, for decency's sake, don't grumble about +writing me that check."</p> +<p>All this was frankly said in the presence of Alora Jones, the +heiress, of whose person and fortune, her father, Jason Jones, was now +sole guardian. It was not strange that the man seemed annoyed and ill +at ease. His scowl grew darker and his eyes glinted in an ugly way as +he replied, after a brief pause:</p> +<p>"You seem to have forgotten Alora's requirements and my duty to +her."</p> +<p>"Pooh, a child! But we've allowed liberally for her keep, I'm sure. +She can't keep servants and three dressmakers, it's true, but a simple +life is best for her. She'll grow up a more sensible and competent +woman by waiting on herself and living; as most girls do. At her age I +didn't have shoes or stockings. Alora has been spoiled, and a bit of +worldly experience will do her good."</p> +<p>"She's going to be very rich, when she comes into her fortune," said +Alora's father, "and then——"</p> +<p>"And then she can do as she likes with her money. Just now her +income is too big for her needs, and the best thing you can do for her +is to teach her economy—a virtue you seem to possess, whether by +nature or training, in a high degree. But I didn't come here to argue. +Give me that check."</p> +<p>He walked over to his little desk, sat down and drew a check book +from his pocket.</p> +<p>Alora, although she had listened intently to the astonishing +conversation, did not quite comprehend what it meant. Janet's harsh +statement bewildered her as much as did her father's subject +subservience to the woman. All she realized was that Janet Orme, her +dead mother's nurse, wanted money—Alora's money—and her +father was reluctant to give it to her but dared not refuse. Money was +an abstract quantity to the eleven year old child; she had never +handled it personally and knew nothing of its value. If her father owed +Janet some of her money, perhaps it was for wages, or services rendered +her mother, and Alora was annoyed that he haggled about it, even though +the woman evidently demanded more than was just. There was plenty of +money, she believed, and it was undignified to argue with a +servant.</p> +<p>Jason Jones wrote the check and, rising, handed it to Janet.</p> +<p>"There," said he, "that squares our account. It is what I agreed to +give you, but I did not think you would demand it so soon. To pay it +just now leaves me in an embarrassing position."</p> +<p>"I don't believe it," she rejoined. "You're cutting coupons every +month or so, and you may thank your stars I don't demand a statement of +your income. But I know you, Jason Jones, and you can't hoodwink me, +try as you may. You hid yourself in this hole and thought I wouldn't +know where to find you, but you'll soon learn that you can't escape my +eagle eye. So take your medicine like a man, and thank your lucky stars +that you're no longer a struggling, starving, unrecognized artist. +Good-bye until I call again."</p> +<p>"You're not to call again!" he objected.</p> +<p>"Well, we'll see. Just for the present I'm in no mood to quarrel +with you, and you'd better not quarrel with <i>me,</i> Jason Jones. +Good-bye."</p> +<p>She tucked the check into her purse and ambled out of the room after +a supercilious nod to Alora, who failed to return the salutation. Jason +Jones stood in his place, still frowning, until Janet's high-heeled +shoes had clattered down the two flights of stairs. Alora went to the +window and looking down saw that a handsome automobile stood before the +house, with a chauffeur and footman in livery. Janet entered this +automobile and was driven away.</p> +<p>Alora turned to look at her father. He was filing his pipe and +scowling more darkly than ever.</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="6">CHAPTER VI</a></big> +<br>FLITTING</p> +<p>Once more they moved suddenly, and the second flitting came about in +this way:</p> +<p>Alora stood beside the easel one morning, watching her father work +on his picture. Not that she was especially interested in him or the +picture, but there was nothing else for her to do. She stood with her +slim legs apart, her hands clasped behind her, staring rather vacantly, +when he looked up and noted her presence.</p> +<p>"Well, what do you think of it?" he asked rather sharply.</p> +<p>"Of the picture?" said Lory.</p> +<p>"Of course."</p> +<p>"I don't like it," she asserted, with childish frankness.</p> +<p>"Eh? You don't like it? Why not, girl?"</p> +<p>"Well," she replied, her eyes narrowing critically, "that cow's horn +isn't on straight—the red cow's left horn. And it's the same +size, all the way up."</p> +<p>He laid down his palette and brush and gazed at his picture for a +long time. The scowl came on his face again. Usually his face was +stolid and expressionless, but Alora had begun to observe that whenever +anything irritated or disturbed him he scowled, and the measure of the +scowl indicated to what extent he was annoyed. When he scowled at his +own unfinished picture Lory decided he was honest enough to agree with +her criticism of it.</p> +<p>Finally the artist took a claspknife from his pocket, opened the +blade and deliberately slashed the picture from top to bottom, this way +and that, until it was a mere mass of shreds. Then he kicked the +stretcher into a corner and brought out another picture, which he +placed on the easel.</p> +<p>"Well, how about that?" he asked, looking hard at it himself.</p> +<p>Alora was somewhat frightened at having caused the destruction of +the cow picture. So she hesitated before replying: "I—I'd rather +not say."</p> +<p>"How funny!" he said musingly, "but until now I never realized how +stiff and unreal the daub is. Shall I finish it, Alora?"</p> +<p>"I think so, sir," she answered.</p> +<p>Again the knife slashed through the canvas and the remains joined +the scrap-heap in the corner.</p> +<p>Jason Jones was not scowling any more. Instead, there was a hint of +a humorous expression on his usually dull features. Only pausing to +light his pipe, he brought out one after another of his canvases and +after a critical look destroyed each and every one.</p> +<p>Lory was perplexed at the mad act, for although her judgment told +her they were not worth keeping, she realized that her father must have +passed many laborious hours on them. But now that it had dawned on him +how utterly inartistic his work was, in humiliation and disgust he had +wiped it out of existence. With this thought in mind, the girl was +honestly sorry him.</p> +<p>But Jason Jones did not seem sorry. When the last ruined canvas had +been contemptuously flung into the corner he turned to the child and +said to her in a voice so cheerful that it positively startled her:</p> +<p>"Get your hat and let's take a walk. An artist's studio is no place +for us, Lory. Doesn't it seem deadly dull in here? And outside the sun +is shining!"</p> +<p>The rest of the day he behaved much like a human being. He took the +girl to the park to see the zoo, and bought her popcorn and +peanuts—a wild extravagance, for him. Later in the day they went +to a picture show and finally entered a down-town restaurant, quite +different from and altogether better than the one where they had always +before eaten, and enjoyed a really good dinner. When they left the +restaurant he was still in the restless and reckless mood that had +dominated him and said:</p> +<p>"Suppose we go to a theatre? Won't you like that better than you +would returning to our poky rooms?"</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed," responded Alora.</p> +<p>They had seats in the gallery, but could see very well. Just before +the curtain rose Alora noticed a party being seated in one of the +boxes. The lady nearest the rail, dressed in an elaborate evening gown, +was Janet Orme. There was another lady with her, conspicuous for blonde +hair and much jewelry, and the two gentlemen who accompanied them kept +in the background, as if not too proud of their company.</p> +<p>Alora glanced at her father's face and saw the scowl there, for he, +too, had noted the box-party. But neither of the two made any remark +and soon the child was fully absorbed in the play.</p> +<p>As they left the theatre Janet's party was entering an automobile, +laughing and chatting gaily. Both father and daughter silently watched +them depart, and then they took a street car and went home.</p> +<p>"Get to bed, girl," said Jason Jones, when they had mounted the +stairs. "I'll smoke another pipe, I guess."</p> +<p>When she came out of her room next morning she heard her father +stirring in the studio. She went to him and was surprised to find him +packing his trunk, which he had drawn into the middle of the room.</p> +<p>"Now that you're up," said he in quite a cheerful tone, "we'll go to +breakfast, and then I'll help you pack your own duds. Only one trunk, +though, girl, for the other must go into storage and you may see it +again, some time, and you may not."</p> +<p>"Are we going away?" she inquired, hoping it might be true.</p> +<p>"We are. We're going a long way, my girl. Do you care?"</p> +<p>"Of course," said she, amazed at the question, for he had never +considered her in the least. "I'm glad. I don't like your studio."</p> +<p>He laughed, and the laugh shocked her. She could not remember ever +to have heard Jason Jones laugh before.</p> +<p>"I don't like the place, either, girl, and that's why I'm leaving +it. For good, this time. I was a fool to return here. In trying to +economise, I proved extravagant."</p> +<p>Alora did not reply to that. She was eager to begin packing and +hurried through her breakfast. All the things she might need on a +journey she put into one trunk. She was not quite sure what she ought +to take, and her father was still more ignorant concerning a little +girl's wardrobe, but finally both trunks were packed and locked and +then Mr. Jones called a wagon and carted away the extra trunk of +Alora's and several boxes of his own to be deposited in a storage +warehouse.</p> +<p>She sat in the bare studio and waited for his return. The monotony +of the past weeks, which had grown oppressive, was about to end and for +this she was very grateful. For from a life of luxury the child had +been dumped into a gloomy studio in the heart of a big, bustling city +that was all unknown to her and where she had not a single friend or +acquaintance. Her only companion had been a strange man who happened to +be her father but displayed no affection for her, no spark of interest +in her happiness or even comforts. For the first time in her life she +lacked a maid to dress her and keep her clothes in order; there was no +one to attend to her education, no one to amuse her, no one with whom +to counsel in any difficulty. She had been somewhat afraid of her +peculiar father and her natural reserve, derived from her mother, had +deepened in his society. Yesterday and this morning he had seemed more +human, more companionable, yet Alora felt that it was due to a selfish +elation and recognized a gulf between them that might never be bridged. +Her father differed utterly from her mother in breeding, in +intelligence, in sympathy. He was not of the same world; even the child +could realize that. And yet, he was her father—all she had left +to depend upon, to cling to. She wondered if he really possessed the +good qualities her mother had attributed to him. If so, when she knew +him better, she might learn to like him.</p> +<p>He was gone a long time, it seemed, but as soon as he returned the +remaining baggage was loaded on the wagon and sent away and then they +left the flat and boarded a street car for down town. On lower Broadway +Mr. Jones entered a bank and seemed to transact considerable business. +Lory saw him receive several papers and a lot of money. Then they went +to a steamship office near by, where her father purchased tickets.</p> +<p>Afterward they had lunch, and Jason Jones was still in high spirits +and seemed more eager and excited than Alora had ever before known +him.</p> +<p>"We're going across the big water—to Europe," he told her at +luncheon, "so if there is anything you positively need for the trip, +tell me what it is and I'll buy it. No frivolities, though," qualifying +his generosity, "but just stern necessities. And you must think quick, +for our boat leaves at four o'clock and we've no time to waste."</p> +<p>But Alora shook her head. Once she had been taken by her mother to +London, Paris and Rome, but all her wants had been attended to and it +was so long ago—four or five years—that that voyage was now +but a dim remembrance.</p> +<p>No one noticed them when they went aboard. There was no one to see +them off or to wish them "bon voyage." It saddened the child to hear +the fervent good-byes of others, for it emphasized her own +loneliness.</p> +<p>Yes, quite friendless was little Alora. She was going to a foreign +land with no companion but a strange and uncongenial man whom fate had +imposed upon her in the guise of a parent. As they steamed out to sea +and Alora sat on deck and watched the receding shores of America, she +turned to her father with the first question she had ventured to +ask:</p> +<p>"Where are we going? To London?"</p> +<p>"Not now," he replied. "This ship is bound for the port of Naples. I +didn't pick Naples, you know, but took the first ship sailing to-day. +Having made up my mind to travel, I couldn't wait," he added, with a +chuckle of glee. "You're not particular as to where we go, are +you?"</p> +<p>"No," said Alora.</p> +<p>"That's lucky," he rejoined, "for it wouldn't have made any +difference, anyhow."</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="7">CHAPTER VII</a></big> +<br>MARY LOUISE INTRUDES</p> +<p>It was four years later when on a sunny afternoon in April a +carriage broke down on the Amalfi Road, between Positano and Sorrento, +in Italy. A wheel crumpled up and the driver stopped his horses and +explained to his passengers in a jumble of mixed Italian and English +that he could go no farther. The passengers, an old gentleman of +distinguished appearance and a young girl as fresh and lovely as a +breath of spring, clambered out of the rickety vehicle and after +examining the wheel admitted that their driver spoke truly. On one side +the road was a steep descent to the sea; opposite, the hillside was +masked by a trellis thick with grapevines. The road curved around the +mountain, so there was no other vista.</p> +<p>"Here's a nice fix, Gran'pa Jim!" exclaimed the girl, with an amused +laugh. "Where are we and what's going to become of us?"</p> +<p>"That is somewhat of a complicated problem, Mary Louise, and I can't +guess it offhand, without due reflection," replied "Gran'pa Jim," whom +others called Colonel Hathaway. "I imagine, however, that we are about +three miles from Positano and five or six from Sorrento, and it's a +stiff walk, for old legs or young, in either direction. Besides, +there's our luggage, which I am loth to abandon and disinclined to +carry."</p> +<p>The driver interposed.</p> +<p>"Give-a me the moment, Signore—perhaps the hour—an' I +return to Positano for more carriage-wheel—some other. My Cousin +L'uigi, he leeve in Positano, an' L'uigi have a-many carriage-wheel in +he's shed. I sure, Signore, I getta the wheel."</p> +<p>"That is a sensible idea," said the old gentleman. "Make haste, my +man, and we will wait here."</p> +<p>The driver unhitched his horses from the vehicle and after strapping +a blanket on one of them for a saddle mounted it and departed.</p> +<p>"I take-a the two horse," he explained, "for one to ride-a me, an' +one for to ride-a the wheel."</p> +<p>They watched him amble away down the road and Mary Louise shook her +head and remarked:</p> +<p>"He will never make it in an hour, at that rate, Gran'pa Jim, and in +two hours the sun will have set and it will be dinner time. Already I +feel the pangs of hunger."</p> +<p>"Those who travel in Italy," said her grandfather, "should be +prepared to accept any happening in a spirit of resignation. A moment +ago we were jogging merrily along toward a good hotel and a savory +dinner, but now——"</p> +<p>"This entire carriage seems ready to fall apart," declared the girl, +standing in the road and viewing the ancient vehicle critically; "so +it's a wonder something didn't break sooner. Now, if we could get to +the other side of that trellis, Gran'pa Jim, we might find a shady spot +to rest while our charioteer is searching for a new wheel."</p> +<p>"There must be a gate, somewhere about," he answered, eyeing the +vine-clad barrier. "Come, Mary Louise, let us investigate."</p> +<p>A hundred yards down the road they came to some rude stone steps and +a wicket. The old gentleman lifted the wooden latch and found the gate +unlocked. Followed by Mary Louise, he entered the vineyard and +discovered a narrow, well-beaten path leading up the hillside.</p> +<p>"Perhaps there is a house near by," said the girl. "Shall we go on, +Gran'pa Jim?"</p> +<p>"Why not, my dear? These Italians are hospitable folk and we may get +a cake and a cup of goat's milk to stay our appetite."</p> +<p>So they climbed the hill, following the little path, and presently +came upon a laborer who was very deliberately but methodically +cultivating the vines with a V-shaped hoe. Seeing the strangers the man +straightened up and, leaning upon his hoe, eyed them with evident +suspicion.</p> +<p>"Good afternoon," said the old gentleman in Italian—one of the +few phrases in the language he had mastered.</p> +<p>"Oh, I speak the English, Signore," replied the man, doffing his +hat. "I am Silvio Allegheri, you must know, and I live in America some +time."</p> +<p>"Why, this is like meeting an old friend!" exclaimed Mary Louise, +winning the fellow instantly with her smile. "But why did you leave +America, Silvio?"</p> +<p>"Because I have make my fortune there," was the solemn reply. "It is +easy to make the fortune in America, Signorina. I am chef in the +restaurant in Sandusky—you know Sandusky?—most excellent! +In a few years I save much money, then I return here an' purchase an +estate. My estate is three miles across the hill, yonder, and there is +a road to it which is not much used. However, it is a fine estate, an' +I am rent it to my cousin for five hundred lira a year. Such good +business habit I learn in America."</p> +<p>"Why don't you live on your estate yourself?" inquired the girl.</p> +<p>"It is not yet the time," answered the man, with a shake of his +head. "I am but fifty-two years alive, and while I am still so young I +shall work for others, and save the money my estate brings me. When I +get old and can no longer work for the others, then I will go to my +estate an' be happy."</p> +<p>"Very sensible," commented the old gentleman. "And whom do you work +for now?"</p> +<p>"The student Americano, Signore; the one who has rented this +valuable estate. I am the Signore Student's valet, his gardener, and at +times his chef. I grease his automobile, which is a very small chug- +chug, but respectable, and I clean his shoes—when I can catch him +with them off. I am valuable to him and for three years he has paid me +fair wages."</p> +<p>"Is this a big estate?" asked Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Enormous, Signorina. It comprises three acres!"</p> +<p>"And where is the house?"</p> +<p>"Just over the hill, yonder, Signore.</p> +<p>"Does the student Americano live here all alone?"</p> +<p>"With his daughter, who is the Signorina Alora."</p> +<p>"Oh; there is a daughter, then? And you say they are Americans?"</p> +<p>"Surely, Signorina. Who else would pay the great price for this +estate for three years? The land pays nothing back—a few oranges; +some grapes, when they are cared for; a handful of almonds and olives. +And there is a servant besides myself, my niece Leona, who is housemaid +and assists the young lady."</p> +<p>"This sounds promising," said Mary Louise, turning to her +grandfather. "Suppose we go up to the house? Are the people at home, +Silvio?—the Signore Student and his daughter?"</p> +<p>The man reflected, leaning on his hoe.</p> +<p>"I think they are both at the mansion, Signorina, although the +student Americano may not yet have returned from Sorrento. The road to +the mansion is beyond the hill, on the other side of the estate, so I +am not sure the Signore Student has returned. But you will find the +Signorina Alora there, if you decide to venture on. But perhaps you are +the friends of my employer and his daughter?"</p> +<p>"What is his name?" asked Colonel Hathaway.</p> +<p>"It is Jones. The American saying is Mister Jason Jones, but here he +is only called the Signore Student Americano."</p> +<p>"Why?" asked Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Because his occupation is reading. He does nothing else. Always +there is a book in his hand and always he is thinking of the things he +reads. He does not often speak, even to his daughter; he does not have +friends who visit him. If you should call at the mansion, then you will +be the first people who have done so for three years."</p> +<p>There was something in this report—in the manner of the man as +well as his words—that caused the strangers to hesitate. The +description of "the Student" led them to suspect he was a recluse who +might not welcome them cordially, but Mary Louise reflected that there +was a daughter and decided that any American girl shut up on this +three-acre "estate" for three years would be glad to meet another +American girl. So she said abruptly:</p> +<p>"Come on, Gran'pa Jim. Let's call. It is possible that Americans +will have something better in the larder than cakes and goat's +milk."</p> +<p>The hilltop was reached sooner than they expected, and in a little +vale was the old mansion—a really attractive vine-clad villa that +might have stood a century or so. It was not very big, but there were +numerous outbuildings which rendered the size of the house proper +unimportant. As Mary Louise and her grandfather drew nearer they +discovered a charming flower garden, carefully tended, and were not +surprised to find a young girl bending over a rosebush.</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="8">CHAPTER VIII</a></big> +<br>MARY LOUISE MEETS ALORA</p> +<p>The two stood motionless a moment, looking at the girl, and Mary +Louise marked the graceful figure and attractive features with real +delight. The Signorina Alora, as the man had called her, was nearly her +own age—fifteen, Mary Louise judged her to be—and her +golden hair and fair complexion proclaimed her an American. But now the +girl's quick ears had detected presence, and she looked up with a +startled expression, half fearful and half shy, and turned as if to +fly. But in the next moment she had collected herself and advanced with +hesitating steps to meet them.</p> +<p>"Pardon our intrusion," said Colonel Hathaway, raising his hat. "Our +carriage broke down on the Amalfi road, a little while ago, and our +driver has gone to Positano for a new wheel. Meantime we were exploring +our surroundings and stumbled upon the path leading to this spot. +Forgive the trespass, if you will, and allow me to present my +granddaughter, Mary Louise Burrows. I am Colonel James Hathaway, of New +York, although we usually reside at a little town called Dorfield."</p> +<p>The girl's bow was stiff and awkward. She blushed in an embarrassed +way as she replied:</p> +<p>"I am Alora Jones, sir, and am living here for a time with my +father, Jason Jones. We, also, are Americans; at least, we used to +be."</p> +<p>"Then doubtless you are yet," responded the Colonel, with a smile. +"May we pay our respects to your father?"</p> +<p>"He—he is not home yet," she answered more embarrassed than +before. "He went to Sorrento for some books, this morning, and has not +yet returned. But perhaps he will be back soon," she added, seeming to +ponder the matter. "Will you not come in and—and have some +refreshment? In my father's absence I—I am glad to—welcome +you."</p> +<p>She glanced shyly at Mary Louise, as if to implore her to forgive +any seeming lack of hospitality and accept her coldly worded +invitation. No one could look at Mary Louise without gaining confidence +and the friendly smile and warm handclasp made Alora feel instantly +that here was a girl who would prove congenial under any circumstances. +Really, it would not take them long to become friends, and poor Alora +had no girl friends whatever.</p> +<p>She led them into a cool and comfortable living room and called to +Leona to fetch tea and biscuits.</p> +<p>"We are entirely shut in, here," she explained. "It seems to me +worse than a convent, for there I would see other girls while here I +see no one but the servants—and my father," as an afterthought, +"year in and year out."</p> +<p>"It's a pretty place," declared Mary Louise cheerfully.</p> +<p>"But it's an awfully dreary place, too, and sometimes I feel that +I'd like to run away—if I knew where to go," said Alora +frankly.</p> +<p>"You have lived here three years?" asked Colonel Hathaway.</p> +<p>"Yes. We left New York more than four years ago and traveled a year +in different places, always stopping at the little towns, where there +is not much to interest one. Then my father found this place and rented +it, and here we've stayed—I can't say 'lived'—ever since. I +get along pretty well in the daytime, with my flowers and the chickens +to tend, but the evenings are horribly lonely. Sometimes I feel that I +shall go mad."</p> +<p>Mary Louise marked her wild look and excited manner and her heart +went out in sympathy to the lonely girl. Colonel Hathaway, too, +intuitively recognized Alora's plaint as a human cry for help, and did +not need to guess the explanation. The man in the vineyard had called +her father "the Student" and said he was a reserved man and never was +seen without a book in his hand. This would mean that he was not +companionable and Alora's protest plainly indicated that her father +devoted small time, if any, to the cultivation of his daughter's +society.</p> +<p>"I suppose," remarked the old gentleman, "that Mr. Jones is so +immersed in his studies that he forgets his daughter lacks society am +amusement."</p> +<p>Mary Louise caught the slight, scornful smile that for a moment +curled Alora's lips. But the girl replied very seriously:</p> +<p>"My father dislikes society. I believe he would be quite content to +live in this little cooped-up place forever and see no one but the +servants, to whom he seldom speaks. Also, he ignores me, and I am glad +he does. But before my mother died," her voice breaking a little, "I +was greatly loved and petted, and I can't get used to the change. I +ought not to say this to strangers, I know, but I am very lonely and +unhappy, because—because my father is so different from what my +mother was."</p> +<p>Mary Louise was holding her trembling hand now and stroking it +sympathetically.</p> +<p>"Tell us about your mother," she said softly. "Is it long since you +lost her?"</p> +<p>"More than four years," returned Alora. "I was her constant +companion and she taught me to love art and music and such things, for +art was her hobby. I did not know my father in those days, you see, +for—for—they did not live together. But in her last illness +mamma sent for him and made him my guardian. My mother said that my +father would love me, but she must have misjudged him."</p> +<p>Colonel Hathaway had listened with interest.</p> +<p>"Tell me your mother's name," said he.</p> +<p>"She was Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones, and—"</p> +<p>"Indeed!" exclaimed the Colonel. "Why, I knew Antoinette Seaver +before she married, and a more beautiful and cultured woman I never +met. Her father, Captain Seaver, was my friend, and I met his daughter +several times, both at his mining camp and in the city. So you see, my +dear, we must be friends."</p> +<p>Alora's eyes fairly glistened with delight and Mary Louise was as +pleased as she was surprised.</p> +<p>"Of course we're friends!" she cried, pressing the girl's hand, "and +isn't it queer we have come together in this singular manner? In a +foreign country! And just because our carriage-wheel happened to +break."</p> +<p>"I thought your mother married an artist," said Mary Louise's +grandfather, reflectively.</p> +<p>"She did. At least, she <i>thought</i> Jason Jones was an artist," +answered Alora with bitter emphasis. "But he was, in fact, a mere +dauber. He became discouraged in his attempts to paint and soon after +he took me to New York he destroyed all his work—really, it was +dreadful!—and since then he has never touched a brush."</p> +<p>"That is strange," mused the Colonel. "I once saw a landscape by +Jason Jones that was considered a fine conception, skillfully executed. +That was the opinion of so good a judge as Captain Seaver himself. +Therefore, for some reason the man's genius must have forsaken +him."</p> +<p>"I think that is true," agreed Alora, "for my mother's estimate of +art was undoubtedly correct. I have read somewhere that discouragement +sometimes destroys one's talent, though in after years, with proper +impulse, it may return with added strength. In my father's case," she +explained, "he was not able to sell his work—and no wonder. So +now he does nothing at all but read, and even that doesn't seem to +amuse him much."</p> +<p>The Colonel had now remembered that Antoinette Seaver Jones was a +woman of great wealth, and therefore her daughter must be an heiress. +What a shame to keep the girl hidden in this out-of-the-way place, when +she should be preparing to assume an important position in the +world.</p> +<p>"May I ask your age, my dear?" he said.</p> +<p>"I am fifteen, sir," replied Alora.</p> +<p>"And your father is the guardian of your fortune?"</p> +<p>"Yes; by my mother's wish."</p> +<p>"I suppose you are receiving proper instruction?"</p> +<p>"None at all, sir. Since I have been in my father's care I have had +no instruction whatever. That isn't right, is it?"</p> +<p>"What isn't right?" demanded a gruff voice, and all three turned to +find Jason Jones standing in the doorway.</p> + + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="9">CHAPTER IX</a></big> +<br>MARY LOUISE SCENTS A MYSTERY</p> +<p>Colonel Hathaway instantly rose.</p> +<p>"I beg your pardon," said he. "I am Colonel James Hathaway, an +American, and this is my granddaughter, Mary Louise Burrows. Our +carriage met with an accident on the main road below and we wandered in +here while waiting for repairs and chanced to meet your daughter. You +are Mr. Jones, I believe?"</p> +<p>He nodded, still standing in his place and regarding his visitors +with unconcealed suspicion. Under his arm he held several books.</p> +<p>"Who informed you that I was living here?" he demanded.</p> +<p>"I was wholly unaware of the fact," said the Colonel, stiffly. "I +did not know you were in Italy. I did not know such an important person +existed, strange to say, although I can remember that an artist named +Jason Jones once married Antoinette Seaver, the daughter of my old +friend Captain Robert Seaver."</p> +<p>"Oh, you remember that, do you?"</p> +<p>"This is the first time I have had the distinguished honor of +meeting you, sir, and I trust it will be the last time."</p> +<p>"That's all right," said Jason Jones, more cordially. "I can't see +that it's any of my affair, either way."</p> +<p>"We have been making the acquaintance of Tony Seaver's daughter, +Miss Alora Jones, in your absence. But we will not intrude farther, Mr. +Jones. Come, Mary Louise."</p> +<p>"Oh, don't go!" pleaded Alora, catching Mary Louise's arm. And just +then Leona entered with the tea and biscuits.</p> +<p>"Sit down, man," said Jason Jones in a less aggressive tone. "I've +no objection to your coming here, under the circumstances, and you are +our first visitors in three years. That's often enough, but now that +you are here, make yourself at home. What's happening over in America? +Have you been there lately?"</p> +<p>He laid his books on a table and sat down. But after that one +speech, which he perhaps considered conciliatory, he remained glum and +allowed the others to do the talking.</p> +<p>Colonel Hathaway had stayed because he noted the leading look in +Mary Louise's eyes. He was himself interested in Alora and indignant +over her evident neglect. For her sake he would bear the insolence of +his host, an insolence he recognized as characteristic of the man.</p> +<p>Alora, in her father's presence, lost her fluent speech and no +longer dared mention personal matters to her guests. Both Mary Louise +and her grandfather tried to lead Alora and Jason Jones to speak of +themselves—of their life and future plans—but the man +evaded direct answers and the girl had suddenly become silent and +reserved. </p>F<p>inally, however, Mary Louise had an idea.</p> +<p>"We are bound for Sorrento," said she, "where we intend to stay a +week at the Hotel Vittoria. Will you let Alora come to us for ever +Sunday, as our guest? We will drive here and get her the day after to- +morrow—that's Saturday, you know—and fetch her home on +Monday."</p> +<p>"No," said Jason Jones.</p> +<p>"Oh, why not, father?" pleaded the girl.</p> +<p>"You've no fit clothes. I don't want you hanging around Sorrento," +he replied.</p> +<p>"It will be a nice change for your daughter and it will give us much +pleasure to entertain her," said Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"It's a capital idea," declared the Colonel positively, and looking +the other man straight in the eye he added: "I am sure you will +withdraw your objections, Mr. Jones."</p> +<p>The man dropped his eyes, frowning. But presently he said to +Alora:</p> +<p>"Go, if you want to. But keep out of the town. Don't leave the hotel +grounds."</p> +<p>"Why not?" asked his daughter in a defiant tone.</p> +<p>"It's not safe. I know Sorrento, and these rascally Italians would +be glad to steal you, if they had the chance, and then blackmail me a +ransom."</p> +<p>Mary Louise laughed.</p> +<p>"What a fine adventure that would be!" she exclaimed. "But we will +promise to guard Alora and keep her from the clutches of bandits. I +didn't know there were any left in Italy."</p> +<p>"To get rid of them you'd have to depopulate the country," said +Jason Jones. "It is no laughing matter, young woman, and—my +daughter is somewhat valuable."</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="10">CHAPTER X</a></big> +<br>MERE SPECULATION</p> +<p>The driver returned with the wheel. It fitted the axle but was some +two or three inches larger in diameter than the other rear wheel and, +moreover, it was flat on one side, so that when they started to +conclude their journey the motion of the carriage was something +startling—a "rock-a-bye baby ride" Mary Louise called it.</p> +<p>But the wheels turned and the carriage progressed and when they were +well on their way the girl said:</p> +<p>"What do you think of that man, Gran'pa Jim?"</p> +<p>"Do you mean Alora's father, Jason Jones?"</p> +<p>"Yes, of course."</p> +<p>"I am surprised at two things," said the old Colonel. "First, it is +curious that Tony Seaver, a rarely cultured woman, should have married +such a man, and again it is amazing that she should have confided her +daughter and her fortune to his care."</p> +<p>"Do you know," observed Mary Louise, sliding closer to him and +dropping her voice, although there was absolutely no chance of being +overheard, "I scent a mystery in that family, Gran'pa Jim!"</p> +<p>"That seems to be one of your regular diversions—to scent +mysteries," he replied. "And usually, my dear, the suspicion is +unwarranted. The most commonplace people frequently impress you with +the idea that they are other than what they seem, are leading double +lives, or are endeavoring to conceal some irregularity of conduct. +You've a faculty of reading the natures and characteristics of +strangers by studying their eyes, their facial expressions and their +oddities of demeanor, which is interesting psychologically but too +often——"</p> +<p>"You are unjust, Gran'pa!" declared Mary Louise indignantly. "Didn't +you yourself say there are two curious and surprising things about this +man Jones?"</p> +<p>"Not exactly. I said it was curious and astonishing that Antoinette +Seaver should have trusted so fully a man who impresses me as a churl. +His own child, little Alora, appears to dislike and even to despise +him, and——"</p> +<p>"There!" cried Mary Louise. "I'm vindicated. Your observations fully +justify my remark that there's a mystery in that family. Did you notice +the books he brought home and laid upon the table?"</p> +<p>"No," said Colonel Hathaway, rather bewildered.</p> +<p>"They were novels by Marie Correlli, H. G. Wells and O. Henry. A +student? Then a student of modern novels, a man who reads and reads to +keep his mind from dwelling on past history. He is a disappointed +artist, to begin with."</p> +<p>"That is certainly odd," rejoined the old gentleman, reflectively. +"The one picture I ever saw by Jason Jones was certainly good. I +remember that once when I was lunching with Bob Seaver—that was +Antoinette's father, you know—he told me his daughter was +interested in a young artist of exceptional talent, and he took me to a +gallery to show me what this man could do. I am not an art critic, as +you are aware, my dear, but this landscape of Jason Jones appealed to +me as delightful. Captain Bob knew art, and so did Antoinette, so it is +evident that Jones <i>could</i> paint, but for some reason became +dissatisfied with his work and abandoned it. Perhaps his ambition was +too lofty for human skill to realize, yet nothing less would content +him."</p> + +<p>Mary Louise sat silent for a while. Then she asked:</p> +<p>"Did Jason Jones impress you as a man capable of a great ambition? +Would you guess him an artist who had once accomplished admirable +things?"</p> +<p>"Artists are always peculiar," stated her grandfather. "They must be +temperamental in order to be artists, and temperaments differ widely. +Had I not known something of Jason Jones' history I might have felt, on +making his acquaintance to-day, that he is not an ordinary man. For, +gruff and churlish though he proved, it is undeniable that he has +selected a charming and retired spot in which to +live——"</p> +<p>"Or to hide," she interrupted.</p> +<p>"Or that, with considerable wealth at his command, he lives simply +and unostentatiously, enjoying nature's choice gifts and content with +the simple life he leads, with only the society of his young +daughter."</p> +<p>"Whom he neglects and refuses to educate properly," declared the +girl. "What makes you think he is wealthy?"</p> +<p>"I know that Antoinette made millions, after her father died, from +the mines. By current report she retired and invested her money wisely, +in sound securities, which accords with her excellent business +reputation. Her daughter not being of age—let me see: she must +have been but eleven when her mother passed away—there would be a +guardian appointed for the heiress, and Alora told us that it was her +mother's wish that her father act as her guardian. So the conclusion is +evident that Mr. Jones has a large income at his command."</p> +<p>"All the more reason he should be generous, but he isn't spending +much of it," said Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"No; he is probably living simply in order that his daughter's +fortune may increase during the years of her minority. That is a point +in his favor, you must admit."</p> +<p>"Nevertheless," asserted the young girl, "I think there is something +wrong in the Jones family. It isn't due to Alora; she's a dear little +thing, wild and untamed but very lovable, I'm sure; so the fault must +lie with her boorish father. Allowing that once he was a big man, +something has mysteriously soured him and rendered his life hateful not +only to himself but to all around him."</p> +<p>"Look, Mary Louise; we're getting into Sorrento," said the Colonel. +"Here the road leaves the sea and crosses the plateau to the town. +You'll like Sorrento, I'm sure, for it is one of the quaintest places +in old Italy—and the hotel is really comfortable."</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="11a">CHAPTER XI</a></big> +<br>ALORA SPEAKS FRANKLY</p> +<p>On Saturday forenoon the Colonel engaged a carriage—a +substantial one, this time—and with Mary Louise drove to Jason +Jones' villa, so that Alora might return with them in time for lunch. +They did not see the artist, who was somewhere about the grounds but +kept out of view; but Alora was ready and waiting, her cheeks flushed +and her eyes alight, and she slipped her foreign little straw satchel +in the carriage and then quickly followed it, as if eager to be +off.</p> +<p>"Father is rather disagreeable this morning," she asserted in a +sharp voice, when they were on the highway to Sorrento. "He repented +his decision to let me go with you and almost forbade me. But I +rebelled, and——" she paused; "I have found that when I +assert myself I can usually win my way, for father is a coward at +heart."</p> +<p>It pained Mary Louise to hear so unfilial a speech from the lips of +a young girl. Colonel Hathaway's face showed that he, too, considered +it unmannerly to criticise a parent in the presence of strangers. But +both reflected that Alora's life and environments were unenviable and +that she had lacked, in these later years at least, the careful +training due one in her station in society. So they deftly changed the +subject and led the girl to speak of Italy and its delightful scenery +and romantic history. Alora knew little of the country outside of the +Sorrento peninsula, but her appreciation of nature was artistic and +innately true and she talked well and interestingly of the surrounding +country and the quaint and amusing customs of its inhabitants.</p> +<p>"How long do you expect to remain here?" asked Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"I've no idea," was the reply. "Father seems entirely satisfied with +our quarters, for he has no ambition in life beyond eating three simple +meals a day, sleeping from nine at night until nine in the morning and +reading all the romances he is able to procure. He corresponds with no +one save his banker in America and sees no one but the servants and me. +But to me the monotony of our existence is fast becoming unbearable and +I often wonder if I can stand it for three years longer—until I'm +eighteen. Then I shall be my own mistress and entitled to handle my own +money, and you may rest assured I shall make up for lost time."</p> +<p>They let that remark pass, also, but later in the afternoon, when +luncheon was over and the two girls were wandering in the lovely +gardens of the Hotel Vittoria, while the Colonel indulged in an +afternoon siesta, Mary Louise led Alora to speak freely of her past +life.</p> +<p>"My grandfather says that your mother must have left you a good deal +of money," she remarked.</p> +<p>"Yes; mamma told me it was a large fortune and that I must guard it +wisely and use it generously to help others less favored," replied +Alora thoughtfully.</p> +<p>"And she left it all in your father's keeping?"</p> +<p>"Not the principal. That is all invested, and thank goodness my +father cannot touch it in any way. But the income is paid to him +regularly, and he may do as he pleases with it. I am sure mamma +expected I would have every reasonable wish gratified, and be taught +every womanly accomplishment; but I'm treated as a mere dependent. I'm +almost destitute of proper clothing—really, Mary Louise, this is +the best dress I possess!—and I've been obliged to educate +myself, making a rather poor job of it, I fear. I read the best of +father's books, when he is done with them, and note carefully the +manner in which the characters express themselves and how they conduct +themselves in society as well as in worldly contact. I do not wish to +be wholly <i>gauché</i> when I come into my kingdom, you see, and +the books are my only salvation. I don't care much for the stories, but +some of the good writers are safe guides to follow in the matter of +dialogue and deportment. Fortunately, father's books are all in +English. He doesn't understand much Italian, although I have learned to +speak the language like a native—like our native servants, you +know."</p> +<p>Mary Louise reflected on this confession. "I'm afraid, Alora dear, +that modern novels are not prone to teach morality, or to develop a +girl's finer intuitions," she said gravely. "I think you express +yourself very well—better than I do, indeed—but you need +association with those who can convey to you the right principles of +thought and thus encourage your mental development. Culture and +refinement seem to come more from association than from books, although +there is an innate tendency in all well-born people to acquire them +spontaneously. But there! you'll accuse me of preaching and, after all, +I think you've done just splendidly under rather trying +circumstances."</p> +<p>"You don't know how trying they are," declared Alora, with a sigh. +"Father and I are wholly uncongenial and we fight on the slightest +provocation. This morning our trouble was over money. I wanted a little +to take with me, for my purse hasn't a <i>lira</i> in it; but, no! not +a <i>centisimo</i> would he give up. He insisted that if I was to be +your guest you would pay all my expenses."</p> +<p>"Of course," said Mary Louise. "But what does he do with all that +big income? Is he saving it for you?"</p> +<p>"No, indeed! he's saving it for himself. Mamma told me, the last +time I saw her before she died, that if father was good to me, and kind +and loving, I could provide for him in some way after I came into my +money. She said she would leave the manner of it to my judgment. But he +isn't kind, or loving, or good, and knows very well that when I'm of +age he'll never see another cent of my money. So now he'd hoarding my +income for future use."</p> +<p>"Isn't it strange that your mother should have trusted him so +fully?" asked Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Yes, it does seem strange. I remember her saying that he loved +luxury and all the comfort that money will buy, and so she wanted him +to have this income to spend, because he was my father and because she +felt she had ruined his career as an artist by surrounding him with +luxuries during their early married life, and afterward had embittered +him by depriving him of them. But the man doesn't know what luxury +means, Mary Louise. His tastes are those of a peasant."</p> +<p>"Yet once your mother loved him, and believed in him."</p> +<p>"I—I think she believed in him; I'm quite sure she did."</p> +<p>"Then his nature must have changed. I can imagine, Alora, that when +your mother first knew him he was hard-working and ambitious. He was +talented, too, and that promised future fame. But when he married a +wealthy woman he lost his ambition, success being no longer necessary. +After a period of ease and comfort in the society of his lovely +wife—for Gran'pa says your mother was very lovely—he lost +both the wife and the luxuries he enjoyed. A big man, Alora, would have +developed a new ambition, but it seems your father was not big. His +return to poverty after your mother's desertion made him bitter and +reckless; perhaps it dulled his brain, and that is why he is no longer +able to do good work. He was utterly crushed, I imagine, and hadn't the +stamina to recover his former poise. He must have been ten years or so +in this condition, despairing and disinterested, when the wheel of +fortune turned and he was again in the possession of wealth. He had now +the means to live as he pleased. But those years had so changed him +that he couldn't respond to the new conditions. Doubtless he was glad, +in a way, but he was now content merely to exist. Doesn't that seem +logical, Alora?"</p> +<p>Indeed, Mary Louise was delighted with her solution of the problem. +It was in keeping with her talent for deducing the truth from meagre +facts by logically putting them together and considering them as a +whole. It was seldom she erred in these deductions. But Alora seemed +unimpressed and noting her glum look Mary Louise said again: "Doesn't +all this seem logical, dear?"</p> +<p>"No," said Alora. "Father isn't the man to be crushed by anything. +He's shrewd enough, in his <i>bourgeois</i> way. Once, long +ago—back in New York—a woman made him give her money; it +was money, you know; and I have often thought he ran away from America +to escape her further demands."</p> +<p>"Who was the woman?"</p> +<p>"My mother's nurse."</p> +<p>"Oh. Was it her wages she demanded?"</p> +<p>"Perhaps so. I may have misjudged father in that case. But it seemed +to me—I was a mere child then—that it must have been a +larger sum than wages would have amounted to. Yet, perhaps not. Anyhow, +he left America right afterward, and when we had wandered a year or so +in various countries we settled down here."</p> +<p>"Won't he have to account for all the money he has spent and given +away, when you come of age?" inquired Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"No. Mother distinctly told me I was to ask for no accounting +whatever. Her will says he is to handle the income as he sees fit, just +as if it were his own, so long as he provides properly for his daughter +and treats her with fatherly consideration. That's the only reason he +keeps me with him, guarding my person but neglecting the other +injunctions. If he set me adrift, as I'm sure he'd like to do, I could +appeal to the court and his income would cease and another guardian be +appointed. I believe there is something of that sort in the will, and +that is why he is so afraid of losing me. But he gives me no chance to +appeal to anyone, although I sometimes think I shall run away and leave +him in the lurch. If I could get to Chicago and tell Judge Bernsted, my +mother's lawyer, how I am treated, I believe he could make the court +set aside my father's guardianship. But I can't get ten miles away from +here, for lack of money."</p> +<p>"How your dear mother would grieve, if she knew her plans for your +happiness have failed!" exclaimed Mary Louise.</p> +<p>Alora frowned, and somehow that frown reminded Mary Louise of the +girl's father.</p> +<p>"My mother ought to have known my father better," she declared +sullenly. "I must not criticize her judgment, for her memory is my most +precious possession and I know she loved me devotedly. But there is one +thing in her history I can never understand."</p> +<p>"And that?" questioned Mary Louise curiously, as Alora paused.</p> +<p>"My mother was an educated woman, well-bred and refined."</p> +<p>"Yes; Gran'pa Jim told me that."</p> +<p>"Then how could she have married my father, who is not a gentleman +and never could have impressed a lady with the notion he was one?"</p> +<p>Mary Louise hesitated, for to admit this would send her deductions, +so carefully constructed, tumbling in ruins. But Alora ought to know +the man.</p> +<p>"If that is true, dear," said she, "it is the strangest part of your +story; and, of course, we can only guess the reason, for the only one +who could have explained it properly was your mother."</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="11b">CHAPTER XI</a></big> +<br>JASON JONES IS FRIGHTENED</p> +<p>When Alora had retired to her bedroom that night Mary Louise told to +her grandfather, who was her trusted confidant, all that the unhappy +girl had related.</p> +<p>"Of course," she added, "Alora's explanations dispel my half formed +suspicion that there is some mystery about Jason Jones. I now see that +you were right, Gran'pa Jim, to laugh at me when I suggested such a +thing, for in truth the man is easily understood once you become +acquainted with his history. However, I now dislike him more than +ever."</p> +<p>"In justice to Jason Jones," remarked the old Colonel, "we must +acquit him of being a hypocrite. He doesn't attempt to mask his nature +and a stranger is bound to see him at his worst. Doubtless Antoinette +Seaver understood the man better than we are able to and sixteen years +ago, or so, when he had youth, talent and ambition, his disagreeable +characteristics were probably not so marked. As for Alora, she is +strongly prejudiced against her father and we must make due allowance +for her bitterness. The feeling probably arose through her sudden +transfer from the care of a generous and loving mother to that of an +ungracious father—a parent she had never before known. A child of +eleven is likely to form strong affections and passionate +dislikes."</p> +<p>"Do you know," said Mary Louise, "it shocks me, this hatred of her +father. It seems so unnatural. I wish we could bring them to understand +one another better, Gran'pa Jim."</p> +<p>"That might prove a difficult task, my dear," he replied with a +smile, gently stroking her hair the while, "and I do not think we are +justified in undertaking it. How many times during our travels, Mary +Louise, has your impulsive and tender heart urged you to assume the +burdens of other people? You seem to pick up a trail of sorrow or +unhappiness with the eagerness of a bloodhound and I have all I can do +to call you off the scent. One small girl can't regulate the world, you +know, and in this case we are likely to see very little of Alora Jones +and her artist father. We will be nice to them during the few days we +are here, but we must soon move on or we'll never get home for your +birthday, as we have planned."</p> +<p>Mary Louise sighed.</p> +<p>"You're almost always right, Gran'pa Jim," she admitted; "but in all +our European travels I've not met so interesting a person as Alora, and +she's an American girl, which draws us still closer together. I'm going +to make her promise that when she's of age and her own mistress she +will let me know, and come to us for a visit. Wouldn't that be all +right, Gran'pa?"</p> +<p>He assured her it would be quite proper and that he also admired +Alora and was sorry for her.</p> +<p>On Sunday forenoon they went to the cathedral and in the afternoon +took a boat to the blue grottoes. In the evening there was a concert in +the hotel. All that day the two girls were arm in arm and chatting +together, developing their mutual liking, while the old Colonel trudged +along in their wake and was generally ignored in the conversation. On +Monday they planned an excursion to Capri, "For you won't mind if we +don't get you home until after dinner, will you?" asked Mary +Louise.</p> +<p>"Not at all," said Alora. "I want to make the most of this +vacation."</p> +<p>"Her father may mind, however," suggested the Colonel.</p> +<p>"I don't care whether he does or not," retorted the girl, tossing +her head. "He has no consideration for me, so why should I consider +him?"</p> +<p>"I don't like that attitude, dear," said Mary Louise frankly. +"I—I don't wish to be snippy, you know, but you should not forget +that he is your father."</p> +<p>"That," replied Alora doggedly, "is merely my misfortune, and I'm +not going to allow it to ruin all my life."</p> +<p>On Monday morning they had scarcely finished breakfast when Jason +Jones appeared at the hotel, having driven over from the villa in his +little automobile—a tiny foreign contrivance that reminded one of +a child's cart but could cover the ground with considerable speed. They +were sitting on the big piazza when Alora's father came striding up to +them with a white, fear-struck face. In his trembling hands he held the +morning Naples newspaper and without a word of greeting he said +abruptly:</p> +<p>"Have you heard the news?"</p> +<p>Colonel Hathaway rose and bowed.</p> +<p>"Good morning, Mr. Jones," said he. "I do not read the local +newspapers, for my knowledge of Italian is indifferent."</p> +<p>"So is mine," responded the artist, "but I know enough of their +lingo to make out that Italy has entered this fool war. She's going to +fight the Austrians," he continued, his voice shaking nervously, "and +do you know what that will mean, sir?"</p> +<p>"I can't imagine," replied the Colonel calmly.</p> +<p>"It means that presently we'll have all that horde of Germans +overrunning Italy. They'll conquer this helpless land as sure as fate, +and we'll all be burned out and tortured and mutilated in the fiendish +German way!"</p> +<p>"My dear sir, you are frightened without warrant," declared Colonel +Hathaway. "It will take some time to conquer Italy, and I cannot +imagine the Austrians acting as you suggest."</p> +<p>"Back of the Austrians are the Germans, and those Prussians are +worse than wild American Indians," insisted Jones. "If they got their +clutches on my daughter it would be more horrible than death and I +don't propose to leave her in danger a single minute. I'm going to quit +this country. I've come for Alora. We must pack up and catch the first +ship from Naples for America."</p> +<p>There was blank silence for a moment.</p> +<p>"I'm not afraid," said Alora, with a laugh, "but if it means our +getting out of this tiresome place and sailing for home, I'm glad that +Italy's gone into the war."</p> +<p>Colonel Hathaway was grave and thoughtful. The agitation of the +artist seemed to increase with every moment.</p> +<p>"When does the next boat for America leave Naples?" asked Mary +Louise.</p> +<p>"Tuesday," said Alora's father. "We've just time to pack our +possessions and leave."</p> +<p>"Time!" cried his daughter, "why, I can pack all my possessions in +an hour. Go home, sir, and fuss around as much as you like. I'll join +you some time this evening."</p> +<p>He gave her a queer look, hesitating.</p> +<p>"We are surely safe enough for the present," remarked the Colonel. +"The first act of war will be to send all the soldiers to the north +border. The fighting will be done in the Trentino for some time to +come."</p> +<p>"You don't know these people," said Jones, shifting uneasily from +one foot to another. "They're all brigands by nature and many of them +by profession. As soon as the soldiers are sent north, all law and +order will cease and brigandage will be the order of the day!"</p> +<p>"This is absurd!" exclaimed the Colonel, testily. "You're not +talking sense."</p> +<p>"That's a matter of opinion, sir; but I know my own business, and +I'm going to get out of here."</p> +<p>"Wait a week longer," suggested Mary Louise. "We are to sail +ourselves on the boat that leaves Naples a week from Tuesday, and it +will be nice for Alora and me to travel home together."</p> +<p>"No; I won't wait. Get your things, Alora, and come with me at +once."</p> +<p>"Have you made reservations on the boat?" inquired Colonel Hathaway, +refusing to be annoyed by the man's brusque words and rough +demeanor.</p> +<p>"I'll do that at once, by telephone. That's one reason I came over. +I'll telephone the steamship office while the girl is getting +ready."</p> +<p>"I will go with you," said the Colonel, as the artist turned +away.</p> +<p>While Jones used the telephone booth of the hotel Colonel Hathaway +conversed with the proprietor, and afterward with the hall porter, who +was better posted and spoke better English.</p> +<p>"This is outrageous!" roared the artist, furiously bursting from the +booth. "To-morrow's boat is abandoned! The government requires it as a +transport. Why? Why? Why?" and he wrung his hands despairingly.</p> +<p>"I do not know, sir," returned the Colonel, smiling at his futile +passion.</p> +<p>The smile seemed to strike Jones like a blow. He stopped abruptly +and stared at the other man for a full minute—intently, +suspiciously. Then he relaxed.</p> +<p>"You're right," said he coldly. "It's folly to quarrel with fate. +I've booked for a week from Tuesday, Hathaway, and we must stick it out +till then. Do you take the same boat?"</p> +<p>"That is my intention."</p> +<p>"Well, there's no objection. Now I'll go get Alora."</p> +<p>But Alora, hearing of the postponed sailing, positively refused to +return home with him, and Mary Louise, supporting her new friend, urged +her to extend her stay with her at the hotel. Strangely enough, the +more he was opposed the more quiet and composed the artist became. He +even ceased to tremble and an odd apathy settled over him.</p> +<p>"The hall porter," said the Colonel, "thinks this is the safest +place in Italy. The troops have been on the border for months and their +positions are strongly fortified. There is no brigandage outside of +Sicily, where the Mafia is not yet wholly suppressed."</p> +<p>Jones grinned rather sheepishly.</p> +<p>"All right, take his word for it," said he. "And if you'll be +responsible for the girl you may keep her till we're ready to sail. +Perhaps that's the best way, after all." Then, without a word of good- +bye, he entered his little motor car and started down the driveway.</p> +<p>"A strange man," said the Colonel, looking after him. "I wonder if +it really was the war that frightened him—or something +else—or if he was actually frightened at all?"</p> +<p>Alora laughed.</p> +<p>"You can't guess father, try as you may," she said. "Usually he is +cold as ice, but once in awhile he gets these wild fits, which I find +rather amusing. You can't understand that, of course, but if you were +obliged to live under the same roof with Jason Jones you would welcome +his outbursts as relief from the monotony of contemptuous silence."</p> + + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="12">CHAPTER XII</a></big> +<br>SILVIO'S GOLD</p> +<p>Jason Jones urged his little car to its best speed until he gained +his villa. Entering the ground, he was confronted by his factotum, the +Italian, Silvio.</p> +<p>He sprang out and approached the man.</p> +<p>"Is the prisoner safe?" he whispered.</p> +<p>"Certainly, Signore."</p> +<p>"Is she still in the grape-house?"</p> +<p>"With the wine presses, Signore."</p> +<p>"And she can't get out?"</p> +<p>"Unless she becomes small, like a rat, Signore."</p> +<p>Jones glanced around suspiciously, then fixed his gaze on a little +outbuilding of stone, with a tiled roof, which stood quite removed from +the others of the group.</p> +<p>"Has she screamed, or cried out?" he asked the man.</p> +<p>"Not since I put her in, las' night, Signore."</p> +<p>"Good. You've fed her?"</p> +<p>"The plenty. She eat very well. It's a nice lady, Signore."</p> +<p>"She's dangerous. Listen, Silvio: we must keep her there a week +longer."</p> +<p>"If I am jailer a week, I mus' double my price," he asserted, +shrugging his shoulders.</p> +<p>"Nonsense!"</p> +<p>"The lady will offer me more to let her out. She say so."</p> +<p>"What! You'd betray me?"</p> +<p>"Not if I have the gold—here, in my hand—<i>now,</i> +Signore."</p> +<p>Jones grew red and then white. He eyed the man wickedly. He scowled, +and Silvio smiled pleasantly. Silvio was big for an Italian; big and +brawny; as his smile faded his face assumed a look of stubborn +determination.</p> +<p>"So you want the gold now, Silvio?"</p> +<p>"At once, if it please the Signore. The gendarmes are ugly if the +law is broken. Their jails are not as pleasant as the grape-house. So +the gold must be twice the amount we had spoken of, Signore."</p> +<p>"And you will promise she shall not escape; that you'll keep her +safe until—until I tell you to let her go?"</p> +<p>"That is our bargain, Signore."</p> +<p>Jones sighed regretfully.</p> +<p>"Very well, then, Silvio," he said. "You're a robber—the son +of a brigand—the spawn of a bandit! But come with me to the +house, and you shall have your gold."</p> +<p>* * * * * * * *</p> +<p>Alora stayed all that week with Mary Louise, hearing nothing of her +father and almost forgetting her unhappiness in the society of her +delightful new friend. It was Sunday evening when the Colonel and Mary +Louise drove their guest over to the villa and the two parties did not +see one another again until they met on the deck of the steamer in +Naples on the following Tuesday morning.</p> +<p>The Joneses came aboard very quietly just at the last moment and at +the gang-plank Alora's father was confronted by a grimy Italian boy who +handed him a letter. Without pausing to read it, Jones hurried below, +and he kept his stateroom until the ship was well out in the blue +Mediterranean, on its way to Gibraltar and New York. But no one missed +him, for Alora and Mary Louise were happy at being reunited and Gran'pa +Jim was happy in seeing them happy.</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="13">CHAPTER XIII</a></big> +<br>DORFIELD</p> +<p>In one of the middle-west states there is a delightful little city +called Dorfield. It hasn't so many thousand inhabitants, but in all its +aspects and its municipal equipment it is indeed a modern city. It has +factories and a big farming community to support its streets of neat +and progressive shops, and at the west side of the business district is +a residence section where broad, wooded streets furnish the setting for +many cozy homes. Some of the houses are old and picturesque, and some +are new and imposing, but each has its flower-lit garden, its fruit and +shade trees and its little garage or barn tucked away in the back +yard.</p> +<p>When you come to Oak Street there is a rambling frame house on the +corner, set well back, where Peter Conant, the lawyer, lives with his +good wife and his niece Irene Macfarlane, who is seventeen. This is one +of the ancient dwellings of Dorfield, for the Conants are "old +inhabitants." Right next them stands a more modern and expensive, if +less attractive, mansion, with grounds twice as large and a velvet lawn +that puts the Conants' carelessly-cropped grass to shame. But the two +families are neighbors and friends nevertheless, for in the new house +lives Colonel James Hathaway and his granddaughter Mary Louise Burrows. +At least, they live there when at home and, although they seem +persistent ramblers, they are glad to have this refuge to return to +when wearied with traveling and sight-seeing.</p> +<p>One morning in June Mr. Conant was just seating himself at the +breakfast table when a messenger-boy delivered a telegram—a +"night letter" from New York. The lawyer, a short, thick-set man of +middle age, with a stern countenance but mild blue eyes, laid aside his +morning paper and read the telegram with his usual deliberation. Mrs. +Conant silently poured the coffee, knowing any interference would annoy +him. Irene, the niece, was a cripple and sat in her wheeled chair at +the table, between her uncle and aunt. She was a pleasant-faced, happy +little maid, consistently ignoring her withered limbs and thankful that +from her knees up she was normal and that her wheeled chair rendered +her fairly independent of assistance in all ordinary activities. +Everyone loved Irene Macfarlane because of her brave and cheery +acceptance of her misfortune, and her merry speech and spontaneous +laughter rendered her, as "Aunt Hannah" often declared, "the light of +the house." Irene was, moreover, an intimate and highly valued friend +of her next door neighbor, Mary Louise Burrows.</p> +<p>Mr. Peter Conant, sipping his coffee reflectively, read the lengthy +telegram a second time. Then he said, somewhat irritably and chopping +his words into distinct syllables, as was his habit at all times:</p> +<p>"I wonder why people imagine a lawyer's duties cover every phase of +life? My clients use me as a real-estate agent, a horse trader, a +purchasing agent, a father confessor, an automobile expert, a medical +adviser, and sometimes—in their simplicity—as a +banker!"</p> +<p>"What's wrong now, Peter?" inquired Mrs. Conant with wifely +sympathy.</p> +<p>"Colonel Hathaway wants to know—"</p> +<p>"Oh, is Mary Louise coming back?" cried Irene eagerly.</p> +<p>He frowned at her.</p> +<p>"What does the Colonel wish to know, Peter?"</p> +<p>"I object to this unwarrantable cross-examination," said he. "It is +customary to first allow one to state his case."</p> +<p>"Forgive me, Uncle Peter!"</p> +<p>"Take your time," said Aunt Hannah, composedly buttering the toast. +"You will, anyhow, and I'm sure Irene and I have both learned to curb +our feminine curiosity."</p> +<p>He glanced at the telegram again.</p> +<p>"Do you know if the Pelton place has been rented, my dear?"</p> +<p>"The Pelton place? Why, it wasn't rented yesterday, for I passed by +there and saw the rent sign still in the window. Mr. Harlan is the +agent."</p> +<p>"I know. And where can we find a female house-servant, Hannah?"</p> +<p>"Now, see here, Peter; it's all very well for you to keep your own +counsel, when there's a professional secret to be guarded, but if you +want any help from me you've got to open your mouth and talk out +plainly, so I can answer you in a sensible way."</p> +<p>"You're always sensible, Hannah," he observed, quite unruffled by +her demand. And then he ate a whole slice of toast and drank his coffee +and handed his cup for more before he spoke another word.</p> +<p>Irene devoted herself to her breakfast. She knew Uncle Peter's ways +and that it was useless to attempt to hurry him or force him to +explain, until he was quite ready to do so. Aunt Hannah bided her time. +Peter was a thoughtful man, and he was doubtless thinking. His wife was +not only a clever helpmate but was noted for her consideration of her +erratic spouse.</p> +<p>"The Colonel," said Mr. Conant at last, "has run across a man who +wants to make his home in Dorfield. A very sensible idea. The Colonel +met the man in Europe. The man——"</p> +<p>"What's the man's name?" inquired Mrs. Conant.</p> +<p>He referred to the telegram.</p> +<p>"Jones. Jason Jones."</p> +<p>"I never heard of him."</p> +<p>He looked at her reproachfully.</p> +<p>"Why should you, my dear? The Colonel found the man in Europe. We +live in Dorfield. The man, it seems, has a daughter——"</p> +<p>"Oh, goody!" cried Irene.</p> +<p>"Who has become a friend of Mary Louise, therefore the Colonel wires +to ask if there is a furnished house to rent at a modest price and if a +competent female servant can be secured for the man and his daughter. +He requests me to wire an answer promptly. That is the gist of the +telegram, although the Colonel, in his usual extravagant way, has paid +for more words than were required to express his meaning."</p> +<p>"And what are you going to do about it?" demanded Mrs. Conant.</p> +<p>"I am endeavoring to gain information from my wife."</p> +<p>"Very well. What does he mean by 'a modest price'? The Pelton place +is expensive. The rent is sixty dollars a month, while a comfortable +house like that of the Widow Harrington rents for fifteen dollars, with +good, solid furniture."</p> +<p>"Is Mrs. Harrington's house for rent?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Yes. She'll go to live with her married daughter as soon as she can +find a tenant. The poor creature needs the money, and her house is just +around the corner from here and her back yard backs up to the Colonel's +back yard. Now, the Pelton place is two blocks from here, and the +Peltons don't need the money, because they're already too rich and +aristocratic to live in Dorfield any longer."</p> +<p>"H-m-m!" murmured Mr. Conant. "It occurs to me that a friend of +Colonel Hathaway might desire a more luxurious home than that of the +Widow Harrington."</p> +<p>"Doesn't the telegram say 'a modest price'?"</p> +<p>"It does. I'll quote both places and let the man Jones take his +choice. And how about the female servant, Hannah?"</p> +<p>"Leave that to me; I can hire plenty. But if Mr. Jason Jones takes +the Pelton place he will want one kind of a servant, and if he takes +Mrs. Harrington's house he'll want a different sort."</p> +<p>He gazed at her admiringly and passed his cup again, saying:</p> +<p>"You've a logical mind, my dear. Had you been a man you might have +become a fairly good lawyer."</p> +<p>"No, Peter; not another drop. You've two cups already."</p> +<p>"Are you sure, Hannah?"</p> +<p>"Absolutely positive!"</p> +<p>"Then," said he, rising with a sigh, "I'll go to the office."</p> +<p>To Mr. Conant's disappointment, to Mrs. Conant's delight, to Irene's +satisfaction and the astonishment of all, Mr. Jason Jones selected Mrs. +Harrington's modest house and ordered it rented and prepared for his +arrival on the following Thursday. This was conveyed in a second +telegram from Colonel Hathaway, who requested the lawyer to inform old +Uncle Eben and Aunt Sally, the Colonel's own faithful colored servants +and caretakers, that he and Mary Louise would return home on the same +day.</p> +<p>"You see," said Aunt Hannah, triumphantly, "I sized the Joneses up +pretty well. It isn't necessary for a man to be rich to be a friend of +the dear Colonel, for he considers a man, rather than a man's +pocketbook."</p> +<p>"Yet a man who can afford to travel abroad, with his daughter," +began Mr. Conant, argumentatively, "should certainly be able and +willing——"</p> +<p>"What do you know about him, Peter? Perhaps he has spent his ready +money in Europe and is now obliged to economize. Unless that is the +case, why does he come to a sleepy little town like Dorfield, which is +almost forgotten by the big world, to settle down?"</p> +<p></p>"<p>Why, he's the Colonel's friend," retorted the lawyer, +stiffly.</p> +<p>"And Mary Louise is his daughter's friend," said Irene. "That +accounts for it, of course, and they couldn't have picked a prettier +place. Dorfield may be sleepy, and quiet, and half forgotten by the +rest of the big world, but it's simply delightful as a residence. +Didn't Colonel Hathaway choose it for a home? And the Colonel could +afford to live at the Waldorf-Astoria, if he wanted to."</p> +<p>"I know why you are pleased, Irene," remarked Aunt Hannah, smiling +upon her niece. "You're going to have another girl friend."</p> +<p>"She won't be as nice as Mary Louise, though," was the reply. +"There's no girl in the world as sweet and lovely as Mary Louise!"</p> +<p>"Or one that innocently gets into more trouble," declared Mr. +Conant.</p> +<p>"That," said Aunt Hannah, "is because she can't let other people's +troubles alone."</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="14">CHAPTER XIV</a></big> +<br>HOME AGAIN</p> +<p>Mr. Conant, who was Colonel Hathaway's lawyer and confidential +agent, was at the train to meet his important client on his return to +Dorfield. The first to alight from the coach was the Colonel, who +greeted his lawyer with a cordial handclasp. Mary Louise kissed Peter +Conant upon his impassive cheek and presented him to a pretty young +girl who clung to her arm smiling, yet half bewildered by her arrival +in a strange town. There seemed no one else with the party and Mr. +Conant glanced over the crowd of passengers and said:</p> +<p>"Mr. Jones did not accompany you, then?"</p> +<p>"Why, yes; I suppose he's here," answered the Colonel carelessly. "I +believe he traveled another car."</p> +<p>"I don't see him anywhere," added Mary Louise. "I wonder if anyone +reminded him that this is the place to get off?"</p> +<p>"Never mind," said Alora; "if father can't keep track of himself, +let him go on to another station. I can't lose him for long, that's +certain."</p> +<p>"There he is, up ahead," announced Mara Louise. "He's quarreling +with his porter about something."</p> +<p>"To save the tip," suggested Alora, scornfully.</p> +<p>Mary Louise rushed to greet an old colorful man with snow-white +hair, who was picking up their hand baggage.</p> +<p>"Oh, Uncle Eben, I'm so glad to see again!" she exclaimed. "And +how's Aunt Sallie? And is my pony well? And are the goldfish still +alive? And——"</p> +<p>"Bress yo' soul, Ma'y Weeze!" said the delighted old servant, +"ev'body's well an' joyful to see you-all back ag'in."</p> +<p>The Colonel shook Uncle Eben's hands—both of them—in a +kindly but dignified manner. "I suppose the automobile is still +running, Uncle?"</p> +<p>"Not jes' dis yere minnit, Kun'l," with a glad chuckle, "but dat +car's gwine ter run jes' as soon as we-all gits aboahd. What yo' think +I's be'n doin' all winter, Kun'l, in dat lonesomeness house, 'cept +keepin' dat car greased up?"</p> +<p>"Did you grease it in the house, then, Uncle?" asked Mary Louise +gravely, but with twinkling eyes.</p> +<p>Old Eben chuckled again, for this was a happy hour for him, but +while he chuckled he led them to where the automobile stood waiting. +Behind the others slowly followed Jason Jones, carrying his own luggage +and eyeing every detail of his surroundings in the manner of a +countryman paying his first visit to town. He was inwardly sizing up +Dorfield as a place of residence. When Jones got into the car the +Colonel briefly introduced him to the lawyer.</p> +<p>"This is Mr. Jones, Mr. Conant."</p> +<p>He looked at the lawyer and gave a slight nod, and Mr. Conant's bow +was very stiff and formal. Already he had, with fair accuracy, grasped +the relationship of the man to the others. Alora Jones seemed a fine +girl—the right sort—and Mary Louise was evidently fond of +her. The Colonel barely tolerated the man Jones, whom he did not like, +for the daughter's sake. The girl herself lacked in respect for her +father, and this unfilial attitude seemed condoned by both Mary Louise +and the Colonel, which was evidence that there was something wrong +about Jason Jones. With such a cue for guidance, Mr. Conant decided he +had no use for Jason Jones, either.</p> +<p>Uncle Eben first drove the car to the Widow Harrington's cottage, +where Mrs. Conant awaited the new tenants to introduce them to their +servant and to assure them that everything was prepared for their +convenience. Then they drove to Colonel Hathaway's home, where Irene +was at the gate in her wheeled chair, a bunch of her choicest roses in +her hand, ready to welcome her friend Mary Louise and to be kissed and +hugged with girlish enthusiasm.</p> +<p>It was a happy homecoming, indeed, for Mary Louise. And Colonel +Hathaway breathed a deep sigh of relief as he entered his own +portals.</p> +<p>"From now on," he said to his granddaughter that evening, "I am +under no obligation to assist that impossible person, Jones, or to even +associate with him. For your sake, my darling, I have suffered the +infliction of his presence with fortitude, even going to the extent of +locating him in our beloved town of Dorfield, that you and Alora might +enjoy one another's society. But from this time forward Jason Jones is +to be a distant acquaintance rather than a companion. Congratulate me, +Mary Louise!"</p> +<p>"I do, Gran'pa Jim," she replied soberly, "and I thank you, too. It +has been a trial for both of us, but we've been really helpful to poor +Alora. I want to try to bring a little happiness into her life and +encourage her to become as sweet and lovable a girl as she has the +nature to be, and this could never have been accomplished had we +allowed her to drift in the sole companionship of her disagreeable +father."</p> + + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="15">CHAPTER XV</a></big> +<br>THE PUZZLE BECOMES INTRICATE</p> +<p>Alora formed an immediate friendship for crippled Irene Macfarlane, +first based on sympathy and afterward on genuine admiration. That one +condemned to pass her entire life in a wicker wheel-chair should be so +bright and cheerful, with no word of protest or even a reference to her +own misfortune, was deemed wonderful by Alora, and she soon found that +Irene had an excuse or explanation for every seeming annoyance her +friends suffered and delighted to console them. At the same time she +allowed no one to console her, because she declared she needed no +consolation.</p> +<p>Such a disposition invited confidence, and soon Irene knew more of +Alora's past history, including her trials and tribulations, than even +Mary Louise had yet learned, and was shocked and grieved at the girl's +vengeful defiance of her father, due to his neglect and coldness as +well as to his contemptible selfishness. But Irene had an excuse ready +even for the artist.</p> +<p>"Poor Mr. Jones!" she said one day, when the three girls were +together and had been discussing Alora's troubles; "think what a trial +must have been to him to be saddled with the care of a child he had not +seen since babyhood and had no especial interest in. As for affection +between them, it could not sprout nor grow because there was no mutual +understanding to germinate it. Your father's life, my dear, had been +wrecked by his separation from your mother and the money meant little +to him at that period of his life when you were left to his care. But +did he refuse the obligation so inconsiderately thrust upon him? No. +Although a man of reserved nature—almost a recluse—self +absorbed and shrinking from association others, he accepted the care of +an eleven year old child and, without being able to change his +disposition to suit her requirements, has guarded her health and safety +ever since."</p> +<p>"So that he can use my money," added Alora, with a shrug.</p> +<p>"But you admit that he doesn't squander money on himself."</p> +<p>"I don't know what he does with it. If he wants books, he buys them; +he bought a rickety automobile in Italy and never took me to ride in +it; but his extravagance seems to end there. I've read some letters +that he left around, showing that he is investing thousands in his own +name—what for, I can't guess, as he is too miserly ever to have a +use for it."</p> +<p>"Well, he may be intending to endow some deserving charity," +suggested Irene. "And, as for his not loving you, Alora, I fancy you +have never tried to win your father's love."</p> +<p>"No one could love that man."</p> +<p>"You have never been able to get beneath his reserve. You came to +him from a luxurious life, a petted and pampered child, and his simple +tastes and unemotional nature repelled you from the first. Is it not +so?"</p> +<p>"I'm not sure, Irene. I needed sympathy and affection. Had my father +been different, had he shown love for me, or even fatherly +consideration, I would have responded eagerly. But he ignored me. There +has never been any companionship between us. He has guarded my personal +safety because I was of financial value to him. Once, when I contracted +a fever, he was really worried, and hired a skillful doctor and a +trained nurse; but he never entered my sickroom. When I was well, he +reproached me for costing him so much money. I told him it was my +money, and he was costing me more than I could ever cost him. I +reminded him he would have been a beggar, but for my income, and that +shut him up at once."</p> +<p>"There's the whole trouble," declared Irene. "Constant friction and +a lack of consideration for one another. Such remarks could not have +made him more gracious toward you, Alora, and you did not appreciate +his care in furnishing you with the means of recovery."</p> +<p>"Had I died," said the girl, "my fortune would have gone to a bunch +of third-cousins whom I have never seen. That would have stopped +father's right to the income, you see."</p> +<p>Irene sighed and Mary Louise smiled. It was almost impossible to +defend Mr. Jones consistently, with Alora present to accuse him.</p> +<p>The artist at first took little interest in his new home. The +cottage was small and not very cheerful, but it was cheap, and all that +Jason Jones seemed to care for was a place to stay that was not +expensive. He continued his reading and had a book in his hand from +morning till night. He seldom left the cottage except for a trip to the +public library or to a book-store, and never spoke to anyone unless it +was necessary.</p> +<p>Their maid was Jane Gladys O'Donnel, stout and good-natured, an +indifferent cook and rather untidy. She was twenty years old and the +eldest of a large and impoverished family. Her mother was a +laundress—"took in washin'"—and her earnings, with the +wages of Jane Gladys, must suffice to feed many hungry mouths. That was +why Mrs. Conant had hired Jane Gladys. Aunt Hannah knew the girl was +not very competent, but she was cheap, so Mr. Jones accepted her +without protest. Alora had lived so long abroad that she did not know +what a competent American housemaid is.</p> +<p>One forenoon—they had now been a month at Dorfield—Mr. +Jones was seated on the little front porch, reading as usual, when a +queer buzzing in the air overhead aroused his attention.</p> +<p>"What's that?" he called sharply, and Jane Gladys, who was dusting +in the little room behind him, replied:</p> +<p>"That, sor, is only Steve Kane's flyin' machine."</p> +<p>"A what?"</p> +<p>"A flyin'-machine, sor. Kane has a facthry fer makin' the crazy +things in the town yonder—over by the South Side."</p> +<p>"Indeed!" He got up and went into the yard to watch the far-away +speck in the sky that was humming so persistently. "Why, there's +another! There are two of them," he exclaimed, as if to himself.</p> +<p>"There might be a dozen, sor, 'cause there's a school for +airy—airy—airy-flyin' over by Kane's facthry, where they +teaches the folks to fly that buy the machines."</p> +<p>He stood a long time, watching the sky. When the last aeroplane had +disappeared he resumed his reading. But the next day he watched for the +machines again, abandoning his book to follow the course of the +flyers.</p> +<p>"Where did you say that factory is located?" he asked Jane +Gladys.</p> +<p>"Over by the gas works, sor, be the South Side. Ye takes the Ellem +street car, at the four corners. On a Sunday there be crowds a-watchin' +the air-divils."</p> +<p>He started to read again, but gave it up and glanced nervously up +and down the little porch. Jane Gladys noted this with surprise, for he +was usually quiet and unobservant, "like th' toad in th' garden, what +squats under a bush all day an' fergits he's alive till a fly lights on +his nose," as she expressed it to the family at home.</p> +<p>After lunch Mr. Jones went to town and after making inquiries took +the car to the aviation works and field. He watched the construction of +flying machines in the factory and saw one or two pupils take short +flights in the air. And Jason Jones was so interested that he was late +to dinner that evening.</p> +<p>Next day he was at the aviation field again, and from that time he +haunted the place, silent and composed but watching every detail of +manufacture and listening to the experts as they instructed the pupils. +These were not many—three altogether—although Stephen +Kane's aeroplane was now admitted to be one of the safest and most +reliable ever invented. And one day one of the instructors, noticing +the silent man who had watched so long, invited him to take a flight, +thinking perhaps to frighten him; but Jason Jones promptly accepted the +invitation and with perfect composure endured the strange experience +and returned to ground with heightened color but no other evidence of +excitement. Could Alora have seen him that day she would have acquitted +him of cowardice.</p> +<p>But Alora knew nothing of her father's odd fancy for some time after +he became interested in aeroplanes. She was not often at home during +the day, frequently taking lunch with Mary Louise or Irene and passing +much of her time in their company. She had no interest whatever in her +father's movements and Jane Gladys didn't think to mention the matter +to her, for "flyin'-machines" had ceased to be a novelty in Dorfield +and the sound of their buzzing through the air was heard many times a +day. But in turning over a pile of her father's books one day in his +absence, Alora found several treatises on aviation and was almost +startled to find that Jason Jones cared for any reading aside from +light novels.</p> +<p>She had been hunting, at the time, for a novel to read herself, so +turning from the aviation literature to a shelf of fiction she began +searching for an interesting title. Presently, as she drew out one of +her father's books, it opened by accident at a place where a letter had +been tucked in—a letter written on soiled and coarse paper of a +foreign make. It was addressed: "Sig. Jaysn Jones, at the Steamer +Hercules to sail for New York, U.S.A." Opening it, she found it signed: +"Silvio Alleghero."</p> +<p>That was their man-servant in Italy, so with a smile of anticipated +amusement she read the letter. It was brief, indeed, but the girl's +expression soon changed to a puzzled look, for the scrawl said:</p> +<p class="newspaper">"Honored Signore: At your command I have this +morning, three hours after your departure for Naples, allowed the +prisoner to escape."</p> +<p>"How funny!" she exclaimed, knitting her brows. "I can't remember +any prisoner at the villa. Perhaps it was the cat. It would be just +like Silvio to consider the release of a cat a important event."</p> +<p>She replaced the letter in the book and after selecting another +novel forgot Silvio's epistle entirely.</p> +<p>Another time, when Alora happened to be at home for their noon-day +luncheon and her father did not appear, Jane Gladys quietly remarked in +answer to her query that "th' ol' man was prob'ly over to the flyin'- +machine works."</p> +<p>"Does he go there often?" she asked in surprise.</p> +<p>"Why, he mostly lives there," asserted the maid.</p> +<p>Alora laughed, and afterward told Mary Louise, as a bit of humorous +gossip, that the man who had heretofore failed to find any interest in +life had at last succumbed to the fascination of the aeroplane.</p> +<p>"Well, I'm glad of it," said Mary Louise. "I've often wondered, +Lory, how your father could be so infatuated with novel-reading, +absorbing stories of human interest, if they have any interest at all, +with such avidity, while the real people all around him failed to +interest him at all. I have thought perhaps he read to keep his mind +from—from other things that it would make him unhappy to dwell +upon."</p> +<p>"I have thought so, too," replied Alora, musingly. "And this queer +fancy of his for a new and unusual invention may serve the same +purpose. But I, too, am glad he has found a diversion that will keep +him away from home. That barn of a cottage will become more homelike +without his eternal presence."</p> +<p>Peter Conant, the lawyer, had paid little heed to Jason Jones since +the latter's arrival in Dorfield. He had heard his wife and Irene +gossip about the girl and her father and state that Alora was an +heiress and Mr. Jones merely the guardian of her fortune until she came +of age, but his legal mind decided that the girl's "fortune" must be a +modest one, since they lived so economically and dressed so plainly. +Colonel Hathaway, who might have undeceived him in this regard, seldom +spoke to the lawyer of anything but his own affairs and had forborne to +mention Mr. Jones and his personal affairs in any way.</p> +<p>Therefore Mr. Conant was somewhat surprised when one morning Jason +Jones called at his office and asked for an interview. The lawyer was +busy that day, and attaching little importance to his caller he +demanded brusquely:</p> +<p>"Well, sir, what can I do for you?"</p> +<p>The man seated himself and glanced around the room before replying. +The big desk, littered with papers, the cabinet files and stiff chairs +seemed to meet his approval. In the outer office a girl was busily +clicking a typewriter.</p> +<p>"You are Colonel Hathaway's lawyer, I believe?" said Jones.</p> +<p>"I have that honor, sir."</p> +<p>"That's why I came to you. The Colonel is a prosperous man and has +judgment. I want your advice about investing some money."</p> +<p>Peter Conant regarded him with a speculative gaze. The thought +flashed through his mind that if Jones had any money to invest he might +better buy himself a new necktie and have his shoes repaired, or even +invest in a new dress for his daughter, who needed it. But he merely +said in his peculiar way of chopping each word off short as he uttered +it:</p> +<p>"How much have you to invest?"</p> +<p>"Not a great deal at this moment, but I am I constantly receiving +dividends and interest on my daughter's securities and so, if I am +going to live in Dorfield, I shall need a lawyer to advise me how to +reinvest the money, as well as how to make out the papers properly. I +don't want to make any mistakes and get robbed—even by my lawyer. +But I'll pay you a fair price. Perhaps I should explain that while the +income is derived from my daughter's property the investments are to be +made in my name."</p> + +<p>"Why so?"</p> +<p>"The income belongs to me, by my dead wife's will, as long as Alora +is alive and in my keeping. When the girl is eighteen she will manage +her own affairs, and I'll be quit of her—and out of any further +income, as well. So I'm investing now to secure my future."</p> +<p>"I see. How old is your daughter at this time?"</p> +<p>"Fifteen."</p> +<p>"So you've three years more to grab the income."</p> +<p>"Exactly."</p> +<p>"How much money do you wish to invest to-day?"</p> +<p>"Twelve thousand dollars."</p> +<p>Peter Conant sat up straight in his chair.</p> +<p>"And you say this is but part of the income?"</p> +<p>"The estate is valued at nearly two million dollars."</p> +<p>The lawyer gave a low whistle of amazement. Beside this enormous +sum, even Colonel Hathaway's holdings shrank into insignificance.</p> +<p>"You surprise me," he said. "I imagine, then, that you can afford to +live somewhat better than you do."</p> +<p>"That is none of your business."</p> +<p>"True. Good day, Mr. Jones."</p> +<p>"Eh?"</p> +<p>"I won't accept you as a client."</p> +<p>"Why not, sir?"</p> +<p>"Thank you for asking. In the first place, I don't like you," said +Peter Conant. "Nor do I approve of your treating your daughter—a +great heiress—as you do, and hoarding all her enormous income for +your personal use. You're not toting fair. It is an unjust arrangement +and I'll have nothing to do with it."</p> +<p>Jason Jones sat still and stared at him.</p> +<p>"Good day, sir!" repeated the lawyer, curtly.</p> +<p>The man did not move. Peter turned to his papers.</p> +<p>"See here," the artist presently remarked; "let's come to an +understanding. I don't like you, either. You're insulting. But you're +honest, and I think I could trust you."</p> +<p>"I'm not especially honest," retorted the lawyer, "but I'm +particular. I don't need clients, and I don't want a client I'm ashamed +of."</p> +<p>Still the man did not offer to go. Instead, he reflected for awhile +in his stolid, unemotional way, while Peter Conant frowned and examined +the papers on his desk.</p> +<p>"I believe you'll see the thing in a different light if you read my +wife's will," said Jones. "I've brought a copy of it with me, thinking +it might help you to understand my affairs."</p> +<p>"Is it an attested copy?" asked the lawyer, turning around +again.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"Let me see it."</p> +<p>Mr. Conant decided to read the will, with the idea that he might +find in it some way to assist Alora. When he had finished the document +he was disappointed. Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones, a woman clever +enough to make a fortune, had been foolish enough to give her former +husband autocratic power over her money during her daughter's minority. +Had the man been a gentleman, the folly would have been mitigated, but +Jason Jones, in Mr. Conant's opinion, was a selfish, miserly, +conscienceless rascal. Enjoying a yearly income that was a small +fortune in itself, he had neglected to educate his daughter properly, +to clothe her as befitted her station in life or to show her ordinary +fatherly consideration. Affection and kindness seemed foreign to the +man's nature. He handed the will back and said:</p> +<p>"You have taken an unfair advantage of the confidence reposed in you +by your dead wife, who doubtless loved her child. Legally your actions +cannot be assailed, but morally they should ostracize you from decent +society. As I said before, I do not want your business. I'll have +nothing to do with you."</p> +<p>Jones remained unruffled.</p> +<p>"I'm a stranger in the city," he remarked. "Perhaps you will +recommend me to some good lawyer."</p> +<p>"No. There are a score of lawyers in town. Make your own +choice."</p> +<p>The man rose and put on his hat.</p> +<p>"I said you were honest, and I was right," he calmly remarked. "I'll +say now that you are a fool, and I'm right in that, also," and with +these words he walked away.</p> +<p>That was his only protest to the humiliating rebuff. He showed no +anger. He did not seem annoyed. He simply rode down in the elevator, +examined the directory, and selected another lawyer in the same +building.</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="16">CHAPTER XVI</a></big> +<br>ALORA WINS HER WAY</p> +<p>Mary Louise decided that Alora Jones improved on acquaintance. There +were many admirable traits in her character that had lain dormant until +developed by association with two girls of her own age who were +themselves gentle and considerate. It is true that Alora at times was +still headstrong and willful and unable to bridle her tongue when +irritated, but neither Mary Louise nor Irene ever reproved her by word +or look, so that she grew ashamed of her outbursts and when at home her +father aroused her to anger she fled to her girl friends and sought in +their companionship the antidote to her vexation. The two friends had +decided it was unwise to comment on Alora's unhappy family relations +and soon she discovered this and refrained from burdening them with her +home quarrels.</p> +<p>No one could witness Irene's patient resignation to misfortune +without admiring her character and being touched by her bravery and +gentleness, and association with this crippled girl was softening +Alora's hard and defiant nature wonderfully. Had the association +continued it might have redeemed the prospective heiress from many of +the faults she had acquired through years of neglect and rebellion +against fate, but the close triumvirate of girl friends was suddenly +dissolved, early in July, by no less a person than Will +Morrison—a wealthy and kindly natured gentleman who was a friend +of both the Conants and Colonel Hathaway.</p> +<p>Will Morrison had purchased a yacht; it was anchored in the +breakwater near the Chicago Yacht Club, and its owner intended making a +summer trip through the Great Lakes and cordially invited the Conants +and Irene, and Mary Louise and Colonel Hathaway to accompany his +party.</p> +<p>Unfortunately, Mrs. Conant at that time was ill. She had contracted +a lingering but mild form of spring fever that would keep her in bed +for weeks, and Irene, who was devoted to her aunt, would not leave her +to the mercies of a nurse. Mary Louise wanted to go, though, for the +Morrisons were delightful people and any yacht they purchased would be +sure to be safe and comfortable.</p> +<p>Since the Conants could not go, Mary Louise suggested to her +grandfather that they ask Will Morrison to invite Alora Jones, and the +Colonel approved the idea because he thought it would do Alora much +good to mingle with refined people such as were sure to form the yacht +party. So, when he answered Mr. Morrison's letter, he told him +something of Alora and asked permission to fetch her along.</p> +<p>"I'm not at all sure," he said to Mary Louise, "that Mr. Jones will +permit Alora to go with us."</p> +<p>"Nor am I," the girl replied; "but perhaps Alora can coax him to +consent. It might be a good idea for you to ask him, too, Gran'pa +Jim."</p> +<p>"My dear!" he remonstrated, "do you think I ought to hazard that +man's sneers and insults, even to favor your friend Alora?"</p> +<p>"No; I do not, Gran'pa Jim," she laughingly rejoined. "That was a +foolish suggestion, and I withdraw it. If Alora fails, I'll speak to +him myself. I'm not afraid of Jason Jones, and he doesn't growl at me +as he does at poor Lory."</p> +<p>They did not mention the proposal to Alora until the Colonel had +received a telegram from Will Morrison saying: "By all means invite +Miss Jones to join us. Knew her mother, once, and will be glad to have +her with us."</p> +<p>Alora was delighted at the prospect of a yachting trip and decided +at once that she would go, especially as Colonel Hathaway said she +would be Mary Louise's guest on the trip to Chicago and no money would +be needed for expenses. So she attacked her father in a somewhat +original manner.</p> +<p>Mr. Jones had conceived a passion for flying and had just purchased +an aeroplane. He was to begin his lessons at once and was so thoroughly +immersed in his strange fancy that he paid little heed to anything +else. His books were neglected. His former quiet life—amounting +almost to physical inertion—had given place to a nervous and all- +consuming desire to master the rather strenuous art of aviation. Alora +was quite unaware of this transformation, for as usual Jason Jones kept +his own counsel and followed his inclinations without conference with +anyone. The girl knew that her father haunted the aviation field, but +anything that kept him amused away from home was gratefully approved by +her.</p> +<p>Usually the two breakfasted together in silence. Lately Mr. Jones +had hurried through with the meal so as to get away, and he did not +return for lunch. So on this important morning Alora said casually:</p> +<p>"I'm going away for three or four weeks."</p> +<p>"Where to?" he asked sharply, suddenly rousing from his +abstraction.</p> +<p>"I'm going on a yachting trip with Mary Louise and Colonel Hathaway. +We're to be the guests of a Mr. Morrison and his wife, who own the +yacht."</p> +<p>"Morrison? Morrison?" he repeated suspiciously. Then, as if +relieved: "I don't know any Morrisons."</p> +<p>"Nor do I. They are old friends of the Hathaways and the Conants, +however."</p> +<p>"Well, you can't go. It's nonsense."</p> +<p>"Why?"</p> +<p>"Yachts are dangerous. I don't want you drowned."</p> +<p>"I'd be as safe on a yacht as I would be in this house," she +declared. "Do you think I intend to take any chances with my life? +Please remember that when I'm eighteen I shall have a fortune and be +able to lead an independent life—a pleasant life—a life in +sharp contrast to this one. Therefore, I'm going to live to enjoy my +money."</p> +<p>He gave her a shrewd look of approval. The argument seemed to appeal +to him. It quieted, to an extent, his fears for her safety.</p> +<p>"Anyhow," said Alora bluntly, "I'm going, and I dare you to stop +me."</p> +<p>He was silent a while, considering the proposition. Just now he +would be busy at the aviation field and in Colonel Hathaway's charge +the girl was likely to be quite safe. He was inclined to relax his +vigilance over his precious daughter, on this occasion.</p> +<p>"How long do the Hathaways expect to be away?" he inquired.</p> +<p>"Mary Louise says we will surely be home three weeks from the day we +leave."</p> +<p>"Surely?"</p> +<p>"Without fail."</p> +<p>"H-m-m. It's a risk. Something might delay you. Do you know what +would happen if you left me for sixty days or more?"</p> +<p>"Of course I do. That will of my mother's states that if at any time +my devoted father develops any neglect of me, or lack of interest in +his darling daughter, such as allowing me to become separated from him +for longer than sixty days at one time, the court has the privilege, at +its option, of deposing him as administrator of my estate and +appointing another guardian. The other guardian, however, is to be paid +a salary and the income, in that case, is to accrue to the benefit of +my estate."</p> +<p>"How did you learn all that?" he demanded.</p> +<p>"You left a copy of the will lying around, and I read it and made a +copy of it for myself. I now know my mother's will by heart. She +suggests that if we must live together, 'in loving companionship,' you +will probably have me educated by tutors, at home, and her objection to +girls' schools—I wonder why?—was the principal reason she +inserted the clause that we must never be separated. It would prevent +you from sending me away to school. But as for the tutors, I haven't +yet made their acquaintance."</p> +<p>"Tutors cost money," he said in a surly tone.</p> +<p>"I realize that; and while there is an abundance of money, the will +states that it is to be entirely in your control. But we've quarreled +on that subject too many times already, without your loosening your +grip on the dollars. To get back to our subject, I assure you I shall +not be gone longer than twenty-one days, and the trip won't cost you a +single penny."</p> +<p>"When did you propose going?"</p> +<p>"We take the noon train on Monday for Chicago."</p> +<p>He got his hat and left the house without another word, leaving +Alora exultant. She hurried over to tell Mary Louise the good news.</p> +<p>"Did he really consent?" asked Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Well, he didn't forbid it," said the girl, "and that's the same +thing."</p> + + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="17">CHAPTER XVII</a></big> +<br>THE DISAPPEARANCE</p> +<p>The train was late getting into Chicago that Monday night. Colonel +Hathaway took Mary Louise and Alora to the Blackington, but the hotel +was so crowded that the girls could not get adjoining rooms. However, +they secured rooms just across the hall from one another and the +Colonel's room was but two doors removed from that of his +granddaughter, so the three were not greatly separated.</p> +<p>"Never mind, dear," said Mary Louise, as she kissed her friend good +night; "to-morrow we go aboard the yacht, and that will be our home for +a long time."</p> +<p>"What time will you breakfast?" asked Alora.</p> +<p>"Well, we're up late, and Gran'pa Jim likes to sleep mornings. Can +you fast until half-past eight, Alora?"</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed," with a laugh. "I'm used to somewhat early hours, so I +shall probably be dressed by seven. But I'll find plenty to amuse me +until you are up, and I'll knock on your door at eight-thirty."</p> +<p>But in the morning Alora failed to knock on Mary Louise's door, as +she had promised. The Colonel was ready for breakfast, having enjoyed a +good night's rest, and Mary Louise said to him:</p> +<p>"Alora probably slept later than she expected to. Shall I risk +wakening her, Gran'pa Jim?"</p> +<p>"I think so," he replied. "She has slept long enough, for a young +girl."</p> +<p>Mary Louise ran across the hall and knocked at the door of 216. She +knocked again, for there was no answer. She did not dare call out, for +fear of disturbing other guests of the hotel. The Colonel now came and +rapped upon the panels, but without any better result.</p> +<p>"I think she must have left her room and is perhaps in the parlor, +or in the hotel lobby," he said.</p> +<p>A chambermaid was passing through the hall and overheard the +remark.</p> +<p>"The party in 216 has been up a long time, sir," she asserted. "I +found the door ajar at six o'clock, and so I went in and made up the +room."</p> +<p>"Poor Alora!" exclaimed Mary Louise laughingly; "she was too excited +to sleep, and, as you say, we shall probably find her somewhere about +the hotel, enjoying the sights."</p> +<p>But they could not find the girl anywhere in the hotel. After a long +and careful search for her, Colonel Hathaway left word at the desk that +if his room or Mary Louise's room was called, to report that they would +be found in the breakfast room.</p> +<p>The old gentleman was distinctly annoyed as they sat down to +breakfast.</p> +<p>"The foolish girl is wandering about the streets, somewhere," he +complained, "and it was unmannerly to leave the hotel without +consulting me, since she is our guest and in my care."</p> +<p>Mary Louise's sweet face wore a troubled expression.</p> +<p>"It is not like Alora, Gran'pa Jim," she asserted in defense of her +friend. "Usually I have found her quite considerate." Then, after a +pause: "I—I hope nothing has happened to her."</p> +<p>"Don't worry," he replied. "She's a wide-awake girl and has a tongue +in her head, so she can't get lost. Why, Mary Louise, Alora knows the +city well, for she used to live in Chicago with her mother."</p> +<p>"Until she was eleven. That was four years ago. But I did not think +of her getting lost. The automobiles, you know, are so +thick——"</p> +<p>"Yes, dear; and there's the lake, and the railroad crossings, and +the street cars; but the chances are against our little friend's being +drowned or run over, especially so early in the day, when there isn't +much traffic. Again I ask you not to worry."</p> +<p>But Mary Louise couldn't help worrying. They lingered over the +breakfast, but Alora did not join them. Then they waited around the +hotel until nearly noon, without receiving a word from her. Finally +Colonel Hathaway, too, became nervous. He telephoned the central police +station to inquire if a young girl of Alora's description had met with +an accident. There was no record of such an accident, but in half an +hour a detective came to the hotel and asked for the Colonel.</p> +<p>"Tell me all the particulars of the young lady's disappearance, +please," he requested.</p> +<p>When he had received this information he said:</p> +<p>"Let us go to her room."</p> +<p>The key to No. 216 had not been turned in at the office, but was +missing. With a pass-key they unlocked the door of Alora's room and +found her suit case open, her toilet articles lying upon the dresser +and her nightrobe neatly folded ready for packing. Her hat was missing, +however, and the little jacket she wore with her tailored suit.</p> +<p>The detective touched nothing but examined the room and its contents +with professional care.</p> +<p>"Let us call the chambermaid who made up the room," he +suggested.</p> +<p>The woman was easily found and when she appeared the detective +asked:</p> +<p>"Did you fold this nightrobe, or did you find it already +folded?"</p> +<p>"Why, it was lyin' careless-like over the foot of the bed," said +she, "so I folded it up."</p> +<p>"Why didn't you hang it in the closet?"</p> +<p>"The clerk had notified me the room would be vacated to-day. So I +knew that when the young lady came back she'd want to pack it in her +grip."</p> +<p>"And at what time did you find the door ajar?"</p> +<p>"At six-ten, sir. I come on duty at six."</p> +<p>"You did not see Miss Jones?"</p> +<p>"No, sir—if that were the lady's name."</p> +<p>"You found no one prowling about the halls?"</p> +<p>"Didn't see a soul, sir."</p> +<p>"Thank you; that's all."</p> +<p>When she had gone the detective said to the Colonel in a reassuring +tone:</p> +<p>"I wouldn't worry, sir, although I'll admit this prolonged absence +of Miss Jones is puzzling. But perhaps she has gone to call on an old +friend and will presently return and apologize. I remember her +mother—a remarkable woman, sir—who used to live at the +Voltaire. She had a lot of friends in Chicago, did Mrs. Antoinette +Seaver Jones, so it's likely her daughter is looking some of them +up."</p> +<p>"I wish you would do all you can to locate her," pleaded Colonel +Hathaway. "The young girl was placed in my care by her father and I +feel personally responsible for her safety."</p> +<p>"She's safe enough, sir. No sign of a struggle in her room; no +report of an accident in the city. Went out of her own volition and +will probably come back the same way, when she's ready. I'm going back +to the office now, but I'll instruct our men to keep a good lookout for +Miss Jones. If we hear anything, I'll let you know at once. In the +meantime, if the girl happens to turn up, you must telephone me of the +fact."</p> +<p>He handed the Colonel his card and went away.</p> +<p>"This is dreadful, Gran'pa Jim!" exclaim Mary Louise. "That man +can't help us a bit. What do you think we ought to do?"</p> +<p>"Why, we've done all in our power, already, it seems to me," he +answered. "The police will keep a good lookout for Alora."</p> +<p>"I've no confidence in that detective."</p> +<p>"Why not, my dear? He seemed quite courteous and gentlemanly."</p> +<p>"But he isn't especially interested. He didn't probe far enough into +the case. He never asked why the key to Alora's door was missing, yet +the maid found the door ajar—half open," said Mary Louise. "Would +she take the key and leave the door open?"</p> +<p>"Why—no; that <i>is</i> strange, Mary Louise."</p> +<p>"The detective didn't inquire at the office whether the night clerk +had seen Alora pass through and go out. But <i>I</i> inquired, Gran'pa, +and the night clerk goes off duty at six o'clock, when the relief clerk +comes on, but neither saw any girl at all leave the office. No one was +in the hotel lobby, at that hour."</p> +<p>"That is strange, too! How could Alora get out, otherwise?"</p> +<p>"I can't guess. Gran'pa, I'm going to telegraph Josie O'Gorman, and +ask her advice," said Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Do. It's a good idea, Josie might put us on the right track," +approved the Colonel.</p> +<p>So Mary Louise went to the telegraph office in the hotel lobby and +sent the following message:</p> + +<p class="letter">"Josie O'Gorman,<br><span class="indent1">1225 F +Street,</span><br><span class="indent2">Washington D.C.</span> +<br> +<span class="indent1">"A girl</span> friend has mysteriously +disappeared from the Blackington, where we are stopping. What shall I +do?<br><span class="indent3">Mary Louise Burrows."</span></p> + +<p>Two hours later she received this answer:</p> + +<p class="letter">"Miss Mary Louise Burrows,<br>Hotel Blackington, +Chicago.<br> +<span class="indent1">"Notify police at once. Keep cool. I'm +coming.</span><br><span class="indent3">Josie O'Gorman."</span></p> + +<p>Mary Louise felt tremendously relieved when she read this. Josie was +a girl of her own age, but she was the daughter of one of the most +celebrated secret service men in the employ of the United States +government, and John O'Gorman had trained Josie from babyhood in all +the occult details of his artful profession. It was his ambition that +some day this daughter would become a famous female detective, but he +refused to allow her to assume professional duties until she had become +thoroughly qualified to excel. He did not wish her to be ordinary, but +extraordinary, and Josie's talents, so far, had seemed to justify his +expectations. Mary Louise knew Josie very well and admired and loved +her, for in her amateur way Josie had once helped to solve a stubborn +mystery that threatened the happiness of both the old Colonel and his +granddaughter, and through this experience the two girls had become +friends. Josie O'Gorman was devoted to Mary Louise, who knew she could +rely on Josie's judgment in this emergency but had scarcely expected +her to come all the way from Washington to Chicago to render her +personal assistance.</p> +<p>In appearance the young girl—who was destined some day to +become a great detective—was not especially prepossessing. She +was short of form and inclined to be stout—"chubby," she called +herself. She had red hair, a freckled face and a turned-up nose. But +her eyes, round and blue and innocent in expression as those of a baby, +dominated her features and to an extent redeemed their plainness.</p> +<p>Mary Louise hurried to the Colonel.</p> +<p>"Gran'pa Jim," she cried excitedly, "Josie is coming!"</p> +<p>"That is very good of her," replied the Colonel, highly pleased. +"Josie is very resourceful and while she may not be able to trace Alora +she will at least do all in her power, and perhaps her clever little +brain will be able to fathom the mystery of the girl's +disappearance."</p> +<p>"She tells us to notify the police, but we did that at once. I don't +know of anything else we can do, Gran'pa, until Josie comes."</p> +<p>Colonel Hathaway communicated with the police office several times +that day and found the officials courteous but calm—prolific of +assurances, but not especially concerned. This was but one of a number +of peculiar cases that daily claimed their attention.</p> +<p>"I should hire a private detective, were not Josie coming," he told +Mary Louise; "but of course it is possible we shall hear of Alora, +directly or indirectly, before morning."</p> +<p>But they did not hear, and both passed a miserable, wakeful, anxious +night.</p> +<p>"There is no use in our consulting Alora'a father, for the present," +remarked the old gentleman, next morning. "The news would only worry +him. You remember how very particular he was in charging me to guard +his daughter's safety."</p> +<p>"Yes, and I know why," replied Mary Louise. "Alora has told me that +if she is lost, strayed or stolen for sixty days, her father might be +relieved of his guardianship and lose the income he enjoys. Now, I +wonder, Gran'pa Jim, if Alora has purposely lost herself, with +mischievous intent, so as to get rid of her father, whom she +abhors?"</p> +<p>The Colonel considered this thoughtfully.</p> +<p>"I think not," he decided. "The girl is impulsive and at times +reckless, and doubtless she would like to be free from her father's +guardianship; but I am sure she is too fond of you, and has too much +respect for me, to run away from us without a word. Besides, she has no +money."</p> +<p>"Really," said Mary Louise despondently, "it is the strangest thing +I ever knew."</p> +<p>Josie O'Gorman arrived at the hotel at six o'clock in the afternoon, +having caught the fast train from Washington the evening before. She +came in as unconcernedly as if she had lived at the hotel and merely +been out to attend a matinee and greeted the Colonel with a bright +smile and Mary Louise with a kiss.</p> +<p>"My, but I'm hungry!" were her first words. "I hope you haven't +dined yet?"</p> +<p>"Oh, Josie," began Mary Louise, on the verge of tears, "this +dreadful——"</p> +<p>"I know, dear; but we must eat. And let's not talk or think of the +trouble till our stomachs are in a comfortable condition. Which way is +the dining room?"</p> +<p>Neither the Colonel nor Mary had eaten much since Alora's +disappearance, but they took Josie in to dinner, realizing it would be +impossible to get her to talk seriously or to listen to them until she +was quite ready to do so. And during the meal Josie chattered away like +a magpie on all sorts of subjects except that which weighed most +heavily on their minds, and the little thing was so bright and +entertaining that they were encouraged to dine more heartily than they +otherwise would have done.</p> +<p>But afterward, when they had adjourned to a suite that had now been +given them, and which included a cosy little sitting room, and after +the Colonel had been ordered to light his cigar, which always composed +his nerves, the O'Gorman girl suddenly turned serious and from the +depths of an easy chair, with her hands clasped behind her red head, +she said:</p> +<p>"Now to business. Begin at the beginning and tell me all there is to +tell."</p> +<p>"Haven't I written you something about Alora, Josie?" asked Mary +Louise.</p> +<p>"Never mind whether you have or haven't. Imagine I've forgotten it. +I want every detail of the girl's history."</p> +<p>So Mary Louise told it, with a few comments from her grandfather. +She began with their first meeting with Alora and her eccentric father +in Italy, and related not only all the details of their acquaintance +but such facts as Alora had confided to her of her mother's death and +her subsequent unhappy relations with her father and guardian. Alora +had often talked freely to Mary Louise, venting in her presence much +bitterness and resentment over her cruel fate—as she deemed it. +So, knowing Josie's desire to obtain the most seemingly trifling detail +of a case, Mary Louise told the story as connectedly and +comprehensively as possible, avoiding all personal comment so as to +leave Josie's mind free from prejudice.</p> +<p>During the recital Josie sat very still, with closed eyes, reclining +lazily in her chair and refraining from any interruption.</p> +<p>"Now, Colonel," she said, "tell me all that Mary Louise has +forgotten to mention."</p> +<p>"She has told you more than I knew myself," he declared. "Of course +we informed the police of our friend's disappearance and they sent a +detective here who went into the affair very carefully. Yet, so +far——"</p> +<p>"I know," said Josie, nodding. "I called at the police station +before I came here, on leaving the train. The detective is Al Howard, +and he's a nice fellow but rather stupid. You mustn't expect any +results from that source. To be sure, the department might stumble on a +clew, but the chances are they wouldn't recognize it, even then."</p> +<p>"I'm certainly surprised to hear that!" said the Colonel.</p> +<p>"Because you are ignorant of police methods. They mean well, but +have so much to handle, in a big city like this, that they exist in a +state of perpetual bewilderment."</p> +<p>"But what are we to do?" pleaded Mary Louise. "Tell us, Josie!"</p> +<p>"How do <i>I</i> know?" asked the girl, with a smile. "I'm just +Josie O'Gorman, a student detective, who makes as many +blunders—alas!—as a full-fledged 'tec.' But I thought I'd +be able to help, or I wouldn't have come. I've a personal interest in +this case, Mary Louise, because it's your case and I love you. So let's +get to work. Have you a photograph of Alora Jones?"</p> +<p>"No," was the reply.</p> +<p>"Then give me a word picture of her."</p> +<p>Both Mary Louise and the Colonel tried to do, this, and Josie seemed +satisfied.</p> +<p>"Now, then," she said, rising, "let's go to her room. I hope it +hasn't been disturbed since she left it."</p> +<p>"The police have taken the key and forbidden anyone to enter the +room."</p> +<p>"Quite proper. But we'll go there, just the same."</p> +<p>The room was but a few steps away, in the same corridor, and when +they arrived there Josie drew a bunch of slender keys from her purse +and unlocked the door with no difficulty. Having entered, she turned on +the electric lights and cast a curious glance around.</p> +<p>"Let's read Alora's room," said she, while her companions stood +listening. "To begin with, we see her night-dress nicely folded and her +toilet articles arranged in neat order on the dresser. Chambermaid did +that, for Alora is not neat. Proving that her stuff was just strewn +around and the orderly maid put things straight. Which leads to the +supposition that Alora was led away rather suddenly."</p> +<p>"Oh, do you think so?"</p> +<p>"She left the door ajar, but took the key. Intended, of course, to +lock her room, but was so agitated by what she saw or heard that she +forgot and just walked away."</p> +<p>"But no one saw her leave the hotel," observed Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Then she didn't pass through the office, but through the less used +Ladies' Entrance at the side."</p> +<p>"That was not unlocked, they told me, until after seven +o'clock."</p> +<p>"Then she left by the servants' entrance."</p> +<p>"The servants'!"</p> +<p>"Quite likely. You'll say she didn't know anything about it, or +where it was; but the fact remains that Alora left the hotel. I'd like +to see that chambermaid. I believe you told me she comes on duty at six +o'clock in the morning. All right. I'll catch her at six a. m. to- +morrow."</p> +<p>"The detective interviewed her," stated Colonel.</p> +<p>"I know, and she answered all his questions. My questions will be +different. If Alora used the servants' entrance, she went out with a +servant or with someone who knew the ways of the hotel intimately."</p> +<p>"I don't see that," objected Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Nor do I, but there lies our trail. Alora didn't pass out through +the office, nor did she make her exit through the less public Ladies' +Entrance. There are only two other ways to get out of here: through the +baggage door and by the servants' entrance at the rear, which lets into +an alley. The head porter will know whether Alora went out the baggage +door, but as it's usually very high—on a level with the platform +of a baggage-wagon—I don't believe she jumped it. That leaves the +servants' entrance as the probable exit for our missing one, and as she +was a perfect stranger to the arrangements of this hotel, she couldn't +have gone that way unless someone guided her. So our course is clear, +Mary Louise. Find out who enticed Alora from the hotel and it won't be +difficult to trace her and discover what has become of her."</p> +<p>"Enticed, Josie?"</p> +<p>"Had force been used, she would have screamed and attracted +attention. Let us say she was decoyed."</p> +<p>"You think, then, that Alora was kidnapped?"</p> +<p>"Let us reason. The girl couldn't have had an enemy in Chicago, +according to her history, for she was only eleven when she left here +and no one hates an eleven year old child. Having no enemy, she has +doubtless escaped personal harm. But Alora is an heiress, and a lot of +people in Chicago know that. You suggest kidnapping. Well, perhaps +that's the solution: held for ransom."</p> +<p>"That would be the first idea of Jason Jones!" exclaimed Mary +Louise. "He has always seemed afraid of such a thing."</p> +<p>"In that case, however, I do not believe her father would pay a +ransom," declared Colonel Hathaway.</p> +<p>"Oh, indeed he would!" asserted Mary Louise, emphatically; "we +mustn't forget that if Alora isn't found and restored to him within a +given time he will lose all her income for the next three years."</p> +<p>Josie looked at her friend admiringly. Then she laughed.</p> +<p>"You're a better detective than any of us," she remarked. "What I've +been groping for is the <i>object</i> of the abduction, and you've hit +the nail squarely on the head. Now we're getting down to brass tacks, +so to speak. The whole thing is explained by the one +word—'blackmail.' Girl disappears; papa is threatened with the +lose of thousands. Very well, Papa! pay up. Relinquish a part of the +income and you may keep the rest. Refuse, and you lose it all. Ergo, +papa pays."</p> +<p>"That certainly seems a logical conclusion," admitted the +Colonel.</p> +<p>"Then," said Josie, thoughtfully, "we must decide whether to put it +up to Mr. Jones, and let him pay, or to go on with the search."</p> +<p>"We'll go on!" exclaimed Mary Louise. "We may be wrong, and poor +Alora may be in danger, or suffering. We must rescue her as soon as +possible."</p> +<p>"The girl was in my care," said the Colonel, "and I feel responsible +for her safety. Moreover blackmail is a crime against society, and the +plot should be foiled even were we not interested in the victim of it. +I am anxious to find Alora before her father is approached."</p> +<p>"Then," Josie decided, "we will leave no stone unturned in our +efforts to locate and recover her. If we have diagnosed the case +correctly, we have to deal with a shrewd and unprincipled, if not +clever person. Cleverness, too, we may encounter, and then our task +will be doubly hard."</p> +<p>"Poor, dear Alora!" sighed Mary Louise. "It's a shame she should +suffer because some cruel person wants her father's money. The fortune +her mother left her has been a <i>mis</i>fortune to her daughter, +instead of a blessing."</p> +<p>"Money," said Josie sententiously, "is a dangerous thing. Its +possession, or the lack of it, leads to four-fifths of the world's +crimes. The other one-fifth is charged to hatred and jealousy. +But—dear me!—here I am philosophizing, when I ought to be +thinking."</p> +<p>"Then think, Josie, and think to some purpose," pleaded Mary +Louise.</p> +<p>"If our hastily constructed theory is correct," remarked John +O'Gorman's daughter, "Papa Jones will soon hear from Alora's abductor, +with a financial proposition."</p> +<p>"I hope we shall find her before then," returned the Colonel +earnestly. "We ought not to delay an instant, with that idea in view. +Indeed, our theory may be quite wrong and Alora be in desperate need of +immediate assistance."</p> +<p>"Correct, sir," agreed Josie. "But we won't abandon our theory until +we evolve a better one and in following this lead we must first +discover who in Chicago is aware of the terms of the will of Antoinette +Seaver Jones. Also who is familiar enough with Papa Jones' love of +money to believe he can be successfully blackmailed. What information +can either of you give me along those lines?"</p> +<p>"Alora has talked to Irene a good deal about that dreadful will," +replied Mary Louise, "Irene has repeated many of her statements to me. +Also Alora has frankly spoken to me, at times, and her queer history +has interested us all. But I cannot remember that any such person as +you describe is in any way mixed up with the story. Judge Bernsted drew +up the will for Alora's mother. He was her lawyer, and she trusted him +fully."</p> +<p>"She was justified," declared Josie. "I know of Judge Bernsted, by +reputation. He died a year ago."</p> +<p>"Then," continued Mary Louise, reflectively, "there was Mrs. Jones' +doctor, who was very kind to Alora and who also enjoyed her mother's +confidence. His name was Anstruther—Dr. Anstruther."</p> +<p>"He is a prominent physician in Chicago," declared Josie, who seemed +to know every important person of every locality, for this had been +part of her education. "It is impossible that Dr. Anstruther could have +any knowledge of this plot. Moreover, it doesn't seem to me like a +man's plot. I don't believe Alora would have accompanied a strange man, +under any circumstances, for she's knocked around the world enough to +have learned prudence. The crime is feminine. What woman knew of this +will, and was an intimate friend of Mrs. Jones, or of Mr. Jones?"</p> +<p>"Really," said Mary Louise, "I don't know."</p> +<p>"Nor you, Colonel?"</p> +<p>"I do not recollect hearing of any woman connected with the Jones +history—except Alora's former governess, a Miss Gorham, who was +discharged by Mr. Jones at the time he took his daughter from Chicago +to New York."</p> +<p>"That isn't such a bad clew!" Josie quickly returned, sitting up +straight and staring reflectively at the old gentleman. "Miss Gorham, +eh? Now, how long had she been Alora's governess?"</p> +<p>"For some years, I believe." It was Mary Louise who answered this +question.</p> +<p>"Then she doubtless knew the family secrets. Was Alora fond of +her?"</p> +<p>"I think not. She has told me that at the time they separated she +was glad to be rid of the woman."</p> +<p>"Then the woman may be the kind that would resort to blackmail. +Discharged from a good place, where she had drawn pay for years, she +would be angry. Brooded during the last four years on her imagined +wrongs and figured out a neat revenge. Had sized up Papa Jones and knew +he clung to money with a desperate grip and would pay some rather than +lose all. Couldn't get another job; was poor; had no money to chase up +Jones, but figured he would some time return to Chicago and give her an +opportunity play her game. Discovered that Alora had arrived at this +hotel, and——See here! What would prevent the former +governess, now in reduced circumstances, from being employed as a +servant in this very hotel? Perhaps as a night chambermaid. May have +seen Alora enter her room and recognized her former pupil. During the +long night she figured and planned how to take advantage of the +fortunate circumstances. Early in the morning, before she left here, +went to Alora and in some way induced the girl to go out with her. +Alora would accompany her old governess without suspicion. +So—there's the whole story, in a nutshell, rather cleverly +figured out."</p> +<p>"Oh, Josie, it must be true!" cried Mary Louise, who had eagerly +followed this plausible reasoning.</p> +<p>"And it may not," laughed Josie. "It's just a theory, and good +detectives distrust theories, which often befog clever brains. Still, +the deduction sounds mighty logical. I'm going to my room, now, to give +the suggestion some serious thought. I'll try to tear it to pieces, or +at least to pick holes in it. When I came away Daddy said to me: +'Josie, beware that imagination of yours. If it asserts itself, sit on +it.' Daddy was glad to have me tackle the case, and try to help you, +for these little affairs give me practice; but he hates to have me make +a flat failure. So, for dear old Daddy's sake, I'm not going to let any +good-looking theory lead me astray. Good night. You'd both better go to +bed, for I can see you had little sleep last night. But your strain +must now relax, for you've pushed the responsibility onto my poor +little shoulders and now it's up to me to worry."</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="18">CHAPTER XVIII</a></big> +<br>ON THE TRAIL</p> +<p>Josie O'Gorman loved mysteries for their own sake. She loved them +because they required solutions, and to solve a mystery is not only +interesting but requires a definite amount of talent. Since she was a +wee thing perched on her father's knee, Officer O'Gorman had flooded +her ears with the problems he daily encountered, had turned the +problems inside out and canvassed them from every possible viewpoint, +questioning the child if this, or that, was most probable. By this odd +method he not only enjoyed the society of his beloved daughter but +argued himself, through shrewd reasoning, into a lucid explanation of +many puzzling cases. To his pleased surprise, as little Josie grew +older she began to answer his questions, taking a part in his +professional arguments with himself, and from that time her training as +a detective began.</p> +<p>John O'Gorman had never been quite sure whether his fatherly +adoration unduly influenced him or whether Josie was indeed an +exceptionally talented girl; so, having firmly determined to train her +to become a girl detective, he had so far held her in leash, permitting +her to investigate various private cases but refusing to place her in +professional work—such as the secret service—until she had +gained experience and acquired confidence in herself. Confidence was +the one thing Josie lacked most. She took her mistakes too much to +heart.</p> +<p>The girl was full of enthusiasm, however, and now meant to untangle +the mystery of Alora Jones if it were possible to do so, both to please +Mary Louise and to enjoy the satisfaction of success. After saying good +night to her friends, and before going to her own room, the girl +wandered about the big hotel making casual inquiries and obtaining more +or less useful information. Afterward, she sat in her room and arranged +in her mind the complete history of Alora, so far as she was informed +of it, and made notes of all facts which seemed to bear on the present +problem.</p> +<p>Next morning she inquired for the housekeeper and found that lady +seated in her little office on the third floor of the hotel.</p> +<p>"I'm trying to trace one of the servants who left you Monday night, +or early Tuesday morning," she said, after informing the woman that she +was engaged in tracing the missing girl, Alora Jones. "I am not sure +what name you knew her by, but her real name was Gorham."</p> +<p>"No one has left us this week," returned the housekeeper, who seemed +disposed to converse freely with her visitor.</p> +<p>"Are you sure of that?"</p> +<p>"Why, I'm positive. We treat our help well and they seldom leave us. +I'm sure no woman employed in this hotel, down to the lowest kitchen +scullion, has resigned or been discharged during the last few +days."</p> +<p>"And there is no one still in your service named Gorham?"</p> +<p>"No one. It's an unusual name and I should have remembered it."</p> +<p>"Do any of the guests ever use the servants' entrance?"</p> +<p>"Certainly not. It is reserved exclusively for the employees. Some +of our guests have private maids, who occasionally use the rear +entrances, and Mrs. Tolliver's trained nurses are allowed to pass out +that way, too; but——"</p> +<p>She stopped abruptly, as if some new thought had occurred to +her.</p> +<p>"What is it?" asked Josie, who was watching her face.</p> +<p>"Why, I have just recollected that Mrs. Tolliver's night nurse did +not show up Tuesday evening, for some reason, and they were obliged to +telephone for another."</p> +<p>"Who is Mrs. Tolliver?"</p> +<p>"One of our permanent guests, who is suffering just now from a +severe attack of rheumatism. She employs two trained nurses, a day +nurse and a night nurse."</p> +<p>"And the night nurse left her post Tuesday morning and did not +return in the evening, as she was expected to do?"</p> +<p>"That's it, miss. Mrs. Tolliver was greatly annoyed, but fortunately +she was able to secure another nurse at once."</p> +<p>"What was the nurse's name—the one who abandoned her job +without notice?"</p> +<p>"Let me see. It wasn't Gorham. I'll call Alice, my assistant; I feel +quite sure that she will know."</p> +<p>Alice promptly answered the bell and on being questioned said:</p> +<p>"The nurse was Mrs. Orme. She'd been with Mrs. Tolliver ever since +she was took sick, and was the best nurse she's had."</p> +<p>"Why did she leave?" asked Josie.</p> +<p>"I don't know, miss, I'm sure. She were a quiet body, never sayin' +much to no one. But quite ladylike, she were, an' most of us liked +her."</p> +<p>"Can you describe her?"</p> +<p>"Well, she isn't tall—not so very tall, you know—an' +she's got a good form an' good manners. I take it she's about thirty- +five, an' handsome for her age. Good eyes, but mostly looks down an' +don't show 'em. Very neat an' tidy. Brown hair. She wore gray clothes, +you know—the reg'lar nurse's uniform."</p> +<p>"Do you know where Mrs. Orme lives?"</p> +<p>"No, miss; haven't the faintest idea."</p> +<p>"Who is Mrs. Tolliver's doctor?"</p> +<p>"The house physician, Dr. Pease. His office is No. 633, in this +hotel."</p> +<p>"Thank you, Alice."</p> +<p>Josie hunted up Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Have you ever heard that a trained nurse named Mrs. Orme is in any +way connected with Alora's history?" she asked.</p> +<p>"No; I'm pretty sure Alora has never mentioned such a person. What +about her, Josie?</p> +<p>"I think Alora went away with her. Have you any description of Miss +Gorham, the governess?"</p> +<p>"Not especially," said Mary Louise, trying to remember. "Alora has +sometimes referred to her as 'Old Skinny,' but that doesn't mean +anything."</p> +<p>"It means she isn't Mrs. Orme, anyhow," answered Josie, in a +disappointed tone.</p> +<p>Mary Louise considered this in her usual careful way. She would like +to help Josie, if she could.</p> +<p>"Who do you suppose this Mrs. Orme could be?" she presently +asked.</p> +<p>"Some one whom Alora knew years ago, when her mother was alive. Of +course her name may not have been Orme, then, and she may not have been +a trained nurse. That's why I was inclined to connect her with +Gorham."</p> +<p>"Wait a minute, Josie! A nurse, do you say? Why, I remember +something about a nurse, no—Alora's mother's nurse. When we were +in Italy, where I first knew Alora, she told me that her father, at one +time when they lived in New York, had been forced to give money to a +woman, and Alora believed he had left America to escape this person's +further demands. When I asked who the woman was, she said it was her +mother's nurse; but I'm pretty sure she didn't mention her name."</p> +<p>Josie's freckled face now wore a broad smile.</p> +<p>"How simple any enigma proves when you have the key," she remarked, +with an air of relief. "The mystery is solved, my dear! It's all as +easy as A. B. C."</p> +<p>"In that case," said Mary Louise, more mystified than ever, "kindly +oblige me with the key."</p> +<p>"With pleasure. You haven't given me much time to forge a chain, so +I'll add each link as it occurs to me. Mrs. Jones, during her last +illness, had a nurse; a good nurse, too, in whom she had confidence. +When Mrs. Jones sent for her husband, from whom she had been estranged, +the nurse was aware of the action. When the husband came—Alora's +father—without doubt the nurse remained in the sick room during +the interview. Husband and wife quarreled, instead of making +up—this guess is justified by the man's disagreeable +disposition—and Mrs. Jones hastily wrote a codicil to her will +and gave it into the nurse's keeping, with instructions to deliver it +to her lawyer. Then the poor lady over-excited, lay back and died, and +the man Jason Jones—realized that his lack of diplomacy had +euchred him out of a big income for seven years. But he put up a job +with the nurse who held his fate in her hands in the shape of scrap of +paper. If she'd give him that codicil—no! that isn't +right—if she'd keep it to herself and not let anyone know of its +existence, Mr. Jones proposed to give her a share of the money. She +considered this easier than working and the bargain was struck. Isn't +that a logical chain of events, so far, Mary Louise?"</p> +<p>"But what a terrible thing to do, Josie!"</p> +<p>"Yes, human nature in its worst aspect selfishness, greed, +unscrupulousness—and still human nature. Well, the woman followed +him to New York and got some of the money, as Alora said; but the nurse +wanted more, and was likely to bleed the man more liberally than he +liked; so, being afraid of her, he ran away to Europe. Nurse spent her +money, couldn't find Jason Jones to get more, and so returned to +Chicago and practiced her profession again. Any dummy could figure that +out."</p> +<p>"I cannot see," responded Mary Louise, "how that accounts for +Alora's disappearance."</p> +<p>"Why, of course the woman knew all about the terms of the will. She +was nursing a Mrs. Tolliver in this hotel when she discovered Alora's +arrival. How she discovered it doesn't matter. In the morning, when the +day nurse arrived to take her place, she left Mrs. Tolliver and went +directly to Alora's room. The girl instantly recognized her and would +probably have a warm place in her heart for her mother's old nurse. +Decided to walk part of the way home with her so they could talk over +old times—you and the Colonel being still asleep—but was +enticed to the nurse's house and promptly locked up and held as a +weapon to force old Jones to pay up. This completes the chain. A woman +who would enter into such an ugly deal with Jason Jones as I have +described would not hesitate to capture Alora, especially as it proved +an easy thing to do."</p> +<p>Mary Louise drew a long breath. "If I could believe that theory, +Josie," she said, "it would relieve me of much worry, for I'd know +Alora is safe. But—what was it your father said about your +imagination?"</p> +<p>Josie laughed. "This isn't wholly imagination, you goose, for it's +based on a knowledge of human nature, as I've hinted. Also it's a +scientific matching of the pieces in the puzzle. Why, Mary Louise, in +this deduction we have all the necessary elements of the usual crime. A +woman—always look for a woman in a mystery, my dear—money, +the cause of four-fifths of all crimes, and a guilty man who is afraid +of being forced to disgorge his ill-gotten gains. Then we will add an +innocent girl who suffers through the machinations of others. Some of +my conclusions may not be exactly correct, but in the main the story is +absolutely logical."</p> +<p>"That's what you said last night, Josie, when you thought the +governess, Gorham, had abducted Alora."</p> +<p>"True, but I have later information which doesn't entirely upset the +theory but changes the actors in the drama. I don't say that further +investigations may not alter this present plot in some of its details, +but the main facts are too lucid and undeniable to get far away from. +I'm now going to interview the house physician and get Mrs. Orme's +address."</p> +<p>When she had gone, Mary Louise went to Gran'pa Jim with the tale of +Josie's latest discoveries and Colonel Hathaway was so impressed by the +theory that he decided to telegraph Peter Conant to catch the noon +train and come straight to Chicago.</p> +<p>"The complications suggested by Josie will require a lawyer's +advice," he said, "and Mr. Conant knows law and can advise us how to +handle the case when we have discovered where Alora is confined."</p> +<p>Meanwhile Josie went to the doctor's office and after waiting some +time, was finally admitted to his private room.</p> +<p>"I came to ask for the address of a trained nurse—a Mrs. +Orme—whom you recommended to Mrs. Tolliver," she began, her +innocent eyes regarding the physician gravely.</p> +<p>Dr. Pease frowned.</p> +<p>"I cannot recommend her again," said he. "Although she's a good +nurse, she is unreliable, and left my patient without notice when she +was badly needed."</p> +<p>"I merely want to find her," declared Josie. "I'm a stranger in town +and I've a letter of introduction to Mrs. Orme."</p> +<p>"I don't know her address. I got the woman through Dr. +Anstruther."</p> +<p>"Oh. May I telephone Dr. Anstruther, then?"</p> +<p>"I've no objection. There's a telephone in the outer office. But +you're not likely to catch him much before noon. Dr. Anstruther is a +very busy man."</p> +<p>Josie went to her own room to telephone. She telephoned Dr. +Anstruther's office at intervals all the morning, but did not succeed +in getting him until nearly two o'clock. Then he answered that he did +not know Mrs. Orme's address, having always secured her services +through the Sisters' Hospital.</p> +<p>Josie tried the Sisters' Hospital and learned that Mrs. Orme lived +in an apartment at 524 Morgan Avenue. She took a taxicab and drove +there, determining to obtain an interview with the woman by posing as a +nurse who desired assistance in securing employment. But disappointment +confronted her. Mrs. Orme had moved from the apartment ten days ago and +her present address was unknown.</p> +<p>"She has taken considerable pains to cover her traces," said Josie +to Mary Louise, when she returned from her futile trip.</p> +<p>"I hope you're not discouraged, dear," returned Mary Louise +anxiously. "The local detectives have done nothing at all, so you are +our only hope, Josie."</p> +<p>The embryo detective smiled sweetly.</p> +<p>"I'm not here on a pleasure trip," she said, "although I enjoy +travel and good hotel fodder as well as anyone. This is business, but +so far I'm just feeling my way and getting a start. You can't open a +mystery as you do a book, Mary Louise; it has to be pried open. The +very fact that this Mrs. Orme has so carefully concealed her hiding- +place is assurance that she's the guilty party who abducted Alora. +Being positive of that, it only remains to find her—not an +impossibility, by any means—and then we shall have no difficulty +in liberating her prisoner."</p> +<p>"But to find her; can you do that, Josie?"</p> +<p>"Certainly, with a little help from the police, which they will +gladly furnish. They know I'm Daddy's daughter, for I have already +introduced myself to them, and while they may be slow to take the +initiative they are always quite willing to aid in an affair of this +sort. Now, it stands to reason, Mary Louise, that the nurse didn't use +the streets to promenade with. Alora. That would have been dangerous to +her plans. There are so few people abroad in Chicago at six o'clock in +the morning that those who met the two would have noted and remembered +them. For the same reason Mrs. Orme did not take a street car, or the +elevated. Therefore, she took a cab, and the cabman who drove them will +know Mrs. Orme's address."</p> +<p>"But who was the cabman?" asked Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"That," said Josie, "is to be my next discovery."</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="19">CHAPTER XIX</a></big> +<br>DECOYED</p> +<p>The excitement of being once more in a big city rendered Alora Jones +wakeful on that eventful Tuesday morning following her arrival in +Chicago. At daybreak she rose and peered trough the window into a gray +and unimpressive side street; then, disinclined to return to bed, she +slowly began dressing.</p> +<p>Presently a sharp knock sounded upon her door. Somewhat surprised, +she opened it far enough to see a middle-aged woman attired in nurse's +uniform standing in the dim hallway.</p> +<p>"Miss Jones? Miss Alora Jones?" questioned the woman in a soft +voice.</p> +<p>"Yes; what is it?"</p> +<p>"I've a message for you. May I come in?"</p> +<p>Alora, fearful that Mary Louise or the Colonel might have been taken +suddenly ill, threw wide the door and allowed the woman to enter. As +the nurse closed the door behind her Alora switched on the electric +light and then, facing her visitor, for the first time recognized her +and gave a little cry of surprise.</p> +<p>"Janet!"</p> +<p>"Yes; I am Janet Orme, your mother's nurse."</p> +<p>"But I thought you abandoned nursing after you made my father give +you all that money," an accent of scorn in her tone.</p> +<p>"I did, for a time," was the quiet answer. "'All that money' was not +a great sum; it was not as much as your father owed me, so I soon took +up my old profession again."</p> +<p>The woman's voice and attitude were meek and deprecating, yet +Alora's face expressed distrust. She remembered Janet's jaunty +insolence at her father's studio and how she had dressed, extravagantly +and attended theatre parties and fashionable restaurants, scattering +recklessly the money she had exacted from Jason Jones. Janet, with an +upward sweep of her half veiled eyes, read the girl's face clearly, but +she continued in the same subdued tones:</p> +<p>"However, it is not of myself I came here to speak, but on behalf of +your mother's old friend, Doctor Anstruther."</p> +<p>"Oh; did he send you here?"</p> +<p>"Yes. I am his nurse, just now. He has always used me on his +important cases, and now I am attending the most important case of +all—his own."</p> +<p>"Is Dr. Anstruther ill, then?" asked Alora.</p> +<p>"He is dying. His health broke weeks ago, as you may have heard, and +gradually he has grown worse. This morning he is sinking rapidly; we +have no hope that he will last through the day."</p> +<p>"Oh, I'm sorry for that!" exclaimed Alora, who remembered the kindly +old doctor with real affection. He had been not only her mother's +physician but her valued friend.</p> +<p>"He learned, quite by accident, of your arrival here last evening," +Janet went on, "and so he begged me to see you and implore you to come +to his bedside. I advised him not to disturb you until morning, but the +poor man is very restless and so I came here at this unusual hour. It +seems he is anxious to tell you some secret which your dead mother +confided to his keeping and, realizing his hours are numbered, he urges +you to lose no time in going to him. That is the message entrusted to +me."</p> +<p>There was no emotion in her utterance; the story was told calmly, as +by one fulfilling a mission but indifferent as to its success. Alora +did not hesitate.</p> +<p>"How far is it?" she quickly asked.</p> +<p>"A fifteen minute ride."</p> +<p>The girl glanced at her watch. It was not quite six o'clock. Mary +Louise and the Colonel would not appear for breakfast for a good two +hours yet and after breakfast they were all to go to the yacht. The +hour was opportune, affording her time to visit poor Doctor Anstruther +and return before her friends were up. Had Alora paused to give Janet's +story more consideration she might have seen the inconsistencies in the +nurse's statements, but her only thoughts were to learn her mother's +secret and to show her sincere consideration for her kindly old +friend.</p> +<p>Hastily completing her attire she added her hat and jacket and then +said:</p> +<p>"I am ready, Janet."</p> +<p>"I hope we shall find him still alive," remarked the nurse, a +cleverly assumed anxiety in her tone, as she took the key from inside +the door and fitted it to the outer side of the lock.</p> +<p>Alora passed out, scarcely aware that Janet had pretended to lock +the door. Halfway down the hall the woman handed her the key.</p> +<p>"Come this way, please," she said; "it is nearer to the carriage +which is waiting for us."</p> +<p>At the rear of the building they descended the stairs and passed +through an anteroom fitted with lockers for the use of the employees of +the hotel. No one happened to be in the anteroom at that moment and +they gained the alley without encountering a single person. Janet +quickly led the girl through the alley and soon they came to a closed +automobile which evidently awaited them. Janet opened the door for +Alora and followed the girl inside the car, which started at once and +sped along the quiet streets.</p> +<p>"You will find Doctor Anstruther very feeble," said the nurse, "for +he has suffered greatly. But I am sure it will give him pleasure to see +you again. I hope he will recognize you. I scarcely recognized you, +myself, you have changed so much since last we saw you at the Voltaire. +Your resemblance to your mother is quite marked, however."</p> +<p>And so, during the ride, she kept up a flow of desultory +conversation, intended to distract Alora's attention from the section +of the city through which they were passing. She spoke of Dr. +Anstruther, mostly, and answered such questions as Alora put to her in +a calm, unemotional manner well calculated to allay suspicion. The +woman kept her eyes veiled by her lashes, as of yore, but her face +seemed to have aged and grown harder in its lines. There was no hint +now of her former gay life in New York; she had resumed the humble +tones and manners peculiar to her profession, such as Alora remembered +were characteristic of her at the time she nursed her mother.</p> +<p>"This is the place," said Janet, as the cab came to a stop. "Let us +move softly, as noise disturbs my patient."</p> +<p>Alora had paid no attention to the direction they had driven but on +leaving the car she found herself facing a three-storied brick flat +building of not very prepossessing appearance. Then were several vacant +lots on either side of this building, giving it a lonely appearance, +and in the lower windows were pasted placards: "To Let."</p> +<p>"Oh; does Doctor Anstruther live <i>here?"</i> asked Alora, somewhat +astonished.</p> +<p>Without seeming to have heard the question Janet mounted the steps +and opened the front door with a latch-key. Alora followed her inside +and up two dingy flights to the third floor. Once she started to +protest, for the deadly silence of the place impressed her with a vague +foreboding that something was amiss, but Janet silenced her with a +warning finger on her lips and on reaching the upper landing herself +avoided making a noise as she cautiously unlocked the door. She stood +listening a moment and then entered and nodded to the girl to +follow.</p> +<p>They were in a short, dark passage which separated the landing from +the rooms of the flat. Janet closed the outer door, startling her +companion with the sharp "click" it made, and quickly opened another +door which led into a shabby living room at the front of the building. +Standing just within this room, Alora glanced around with the first +real sensation of suspicion she had yet experienced. Janet raised her +lids for a sweeping view of the girl's face and then with a light laugh +began to remove her own cloak and cap, which she hung in a closet.</p> +<p>"Come, child, make yourself at home," she said in a mocking, +triumphant voice, as she seated herself in a chair facing the +bewildered girl. "I may as well inform you that this is to be your home +for some time to come—until Jason Jones decides to rescue you. +You won't object, I hope? Don't get nervous and you'll find your +quarters very comfortable, if retired."</p> +<p>Alora, understanding now, first shuddered, then grew tense and cast +a hurried glance at the hall door behind her.</p> +<p>"Have you lied to me, Janet?" she demanded.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"And this is a trap? Doctor Anstruther is not sick? He did not send +for me? He is not here?"</p> +<p>"You have guessed correctly, Alora."</p> +<p>The girl wheeled and in a quick run reached the door to the landing. +It was fast locked.</p> +<p>"Help!" she cried, and stopped to listen; "help! help!"</p> +<p>"Come in and take off your things," called Janet, undisturbed by the +outcry. "This building hasn't a soul in it but ourselves, and you may +yell for help until you are hoarse without being heard. But don't be +frightened. I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'd like to make your +confinement as cheerful as possible. Can't you understand the +truth—that I am simply holding your person in order to force +Jason Jones to pay the money he owes me?"</p> + + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="20">CHAPTER XX</a></big> +<br>JANET'S TRIUMPH</p> +<p>Alora stood by the door, irresolute, wondering what to do. It +occurred to her that she was not much afraid of Janet Orme. She had +been trapped in order to bleed her father of money; it was all her +father's fault—his fault and Janet's.</p> +<p>"Suppose you help me get our breakfast," suggested the nurse, +coolly. "It will take your mind off your trouble and keep you from +brooding. I admit I'm hungry, and I'm sure you'll feel better for a cup +of coffee."</p> +<p>She passed into another room, as she spoke, and Alora, realizing the +hall door could not be forced by her puny strength, advanced into the +living room. There were three other doorways opening from this +apartment. She could hear Janet rattling dishes and pans, so the way +she had gone led into the kitchen. The other two doors she found gave +entrance to small bedrooms, neither having egress other than through +the living room. The furniture in all the rooms was cheap and tawdry +but fairly comfortable.</p> +<p>Alora sat down and tried to collect her thoughts. Janet got the +breakfast unaided and then came to summon her. Alora quietly walked +into the kitchen and sat down at a little table spread for two. There +was a dish of crisp bacon, some toast and coffee. Alora silently ate +and drank, determined to maintain her strength. Having finished her +meal she sat back and asked:</p> +<p>"Do you mind explaining what all this means?"</p> +<p>"No, indeed; I'm glad to explain," replied the woman, raising her +eyelids an instant to flash a glance of approval at her prisoner. "I +have already said that I was obliged to annoy you in order to reach +your father. The dear father is an elusive person, you know, and is +determined to avoid paying the money he owes me. I haven't been able to +locate him, lately, but I have located you, and you are mighty precious +to him because if he loses you he loses the income from your fortune. +Therefore it is my intention to hold you here until Jason Jones either +pays my demands or allows the probate court to deprive him of his +guardianship. The proposition is really very simple, as you see."</p> +<p>"Still," said Alora, "I do not quite understand. How did you know of +my value to my father?"</p> +<p>"I witnessed your mother's will," was the reply.</p> +<p>Alora remembered that this was true.</p> +<p>"But why does my father still owe you money? You were paid for +nursing my mother. And, if your demands are merely blackmail, why does +not my father defy you?"</p> +<p>"I'll tell you," answered. Janet. "It is a bit of ancient history, +but it may interest you. Your mother renounced your father when you +were scarcely a year old. I met Jason Jones soon afterward, and +believing,—as your own deluded mother did—that he would +become a great artist, I gambled with him on his career. In other +words, I supported Jason Jones with all my earnings as a nurse for a +period of six years and in return he signed an agreement which states +that one-half of all the money he received in the future, from whatever +source, must be paid to me in return for my investment. Doubtless we +both thought, at the time, that any money he got would come from the +sale of his pictures; neither could have dreamed that your mother would +call him to her on her death-bed and present sent him with your income +until you came of age—seven years' control of a fortune, with no +other obligation than to look after a child and keep her with him. But +the agreement between us covered even that astonishing event. Imagine, +if you can, Jason Jones' amazement when he entered your mother's sick +chamber to find me—his partner—acting as her nurse. He was +also annoyed, for he realized I knew the terms of the will and would +demand my share of his income. Can you blame me? He hadn't made good as +an artist and this was my only chance to get back some of the hard +earned savings I had advanced him. But Jason Jones isn't square, Alora; +he's mean and shifty, as perhaps you have discovered. He gave me some +money at first, when I followed him to New York, as you know; but after +that the coward ran away. That provoked me and made me determined to +run him down. I traced him to Europe and followed him there, but he +evaded me for a full year, until my money was gone and I was forced to +return to America. For nearly three years longer I worked as a nurse +and hoarded my earnings. Then, through your father's banker in New York +I managed to learn his address. The banker didn't tell me, but I did a +little spy work and in the bank's mail I found a letter in Jason Jones' +handwriting postmarked 'Positano, Italy.' That was all the clew I +needed and I went to Italy and soon located my man. I faced him in his +own villa—I believe you were away at the time—and when he +found he was caught he cringed and begged for mercy and promised to +give me all that belonged to me. He said he had a lot of gold in his +possession and he would pay me partly in gold and partly in drafts on +his New York banker. Then he left the room to get the gold and returned +with a husky Italian servant who seized and bound me and threw me into +a stone house used to store grapes, where I was kept a prisoner for +nearly ten days and treated like a dog.</p> +<p>"Finally the Italian released me, asserting that Jason Jones was on +his way to America. I followed as soon as I could get passage in a +ship, but your clever father had left New York before I arrived there +and I could not discover where he had hidden himself. Once more he had +beaten me."</p> +<p>Her voice was hard and angry. Alora was tempted to believe the +story, for many of its details she knew were true. She remembered, for +one thing, that queer letter from Silvio which she had discovered +tucked inside one of her father's books. It stated that, according to +orders, the Italian had "released the prisoner." So the prisoner had +been Janet, and Alora could well understand her determination to secure +revenge.</p> +<p>"It seems to me," she said, "that you should have taken your +contract with my father to a lawyer, and brought suit to recover the +money due you. Surely that would have been the easiest way to collect +it."</p> +<p>Janet's face grew red; her lashes dropped still further over the +eyes; but she answered after an instant's pause:</p> +<p>"I do not wish the world to know what a fool I was to support an +imitation artist for six long years. A lawsuit means publicity, and I +have a little pride left, I assure you. Besides," collecting her +thoughts as she spoke, "I cannot see the wisdom of dividing my share +with a lawyer when I can bring your father to terms myself. I know I +have executed a bold stroke in seizing you and making you my prisoner, +but it's a stroke that's bound to win. It was conceived last night, on +the spur of the moment. Lately I have been nursing in Chicago, where I +am better known than in New York and can get better wages. Since my +return from Italy I've been saving to renew the search for Jason Jones. +While nursing a Mrs. Tolliver at the Hotel Blackington, fortune +suddenly smiled on me. I chanced to examine the hotel register last +night and found you were registered with Colonel Hathaway's party. Your +room number was marked opposite your name, so I had you properly +located. During the night, while on duty in Mrs. Tolliver's room, I had +ample time to figure out a plan of action. I knew you were fond of old +Doctor Anstruther and so used his name for a lure. I had already rented +this flat; not with the idea of using it for a prison, but because it +was cheap and so isolated that I could sleep during the daytime without +being disturbed. I believe that's all that I need explain to you. Our +little adventure of this morning you will now be able to understand +perfectly. Also you will understand the fact that you must remain a +prisoner until my purpose is accomplished. I'm sorry for you, but it +can't be helped. Won't you have another cup of coffee, Alora?"</p> +<p>Alora had no answer ready. Janet's story did not satisfy her; she +felt that somewhere there was a flaw in it; but she decided to bide her +time.</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="21">CHAPTER XXI</a></big> +<br>THE PRICE OF LIBERTY</p> +<p>Alora, being in the main a sensible girl, strove to make the best of +her unpleasant predicament. She longed to notify Mary Louise that she +was safe and well and in answer to her pleadings Janet agreed she might +write a letter to that effect, with no hint that she was imprisoned or +where she could be found, and the nurse would mail it for her. So Alora +wrote the letter and showed it to Janet, who could find no fault with +its wording and promised to mail it when she went out to market, which +she did every morning, carefully locking her prisoner in. It is perhaps +needless to state that the letter never reached Mary Louise because the +nurse destroyed it instead of keeping her agreement to mail it. Letters +can be traced, and Janet did not wish to be traced just then.</p> +<p>The days dragged by with little excitement. Alora sought many means +of escape but found none practical. Once, while Janet was unlocking the +hall door to go to market, the girl made a sudden dash to get by her +and so secure her freedom; but the woman caught her arm and swung her +back so powerfully that Alora fell against the opposite wall, bruised +and half stunned. She was no match for Janet in strength.</p> +<p>"I'm sorry," said Janet complacently, "but you brought it on +yourself. I'm not brutal, but I won't be balked. Please remember, my +girl, that to me this is a very important enterprise and I've no +intention of allowing you to defeat my plans."</p> +<p>Usually the woman was not unpleasant in her treatment of Alora, but +conversed with her frankly and cheerfully, as if striving to relieve +her loneliness.</p> +<p>"Have you written to my father about me?" the girl asked one +day.</p> +<p>"Not yet," was the reply. "I don't even know where Jason Jones may +be found, for you haven't given me his address. But there's no hurry. +You have been missing only a week, so far. Jason Jones has doubtless +been notified of your disappearance and is beginning to worry. Of +course he will imagine I am responsible for this misfortune and his +alarm will grow with the days that pass. Finally, when his state of +mind becomes desperate, you will give me his address and he will hear +from me. I shall have no trouble, at that crisis, in bringing my +dishonest partner to terms."</p> +<p>"I can't see the object of waiting so long," protested Alora. "How +long do you intend to keep me here?"</p> +<p>"I think you should remain missing about fifty days, during which +time they will search for you in vain. Your father's search for you +will include a search for me, and I've figured on that and defy him to +find me. The Sisters' Hospital, the only address known to the +physicians who employ me, believe I've gone to some small Indiana town +on a case, but I neglected to give them the name of the town. So +there's a blind lead that will keep my pursuers busy without their +getting anywhere. It's easy to hide in a big city. Here you are very +safe, Alora, mid discovery is impossible."</p> +<p>Janet had abandoned her nurse's costume from the first day of the +girl's imprisonment. When she went out, which was only to a near-by +market and grocery, she wore an unobtrusive dress.</p> +<p>Every day seemed more dreary to Alora than the last. She soon became +very restless under her enforced confinement and her nerves, as well as +her general health, began to give way. She had been accustomed to out- +of-door exercise, and these rooms were close and "stuffy" because Janet +would not allow the windows open.</p> +<p>For twelve days and nights poor Alora constantly planned an escape, +only to abandon every idea she conceived as foolish and impractical. +She looked forward to fifty days of this life with horror and believed +she would go mad if forced to endure her confinement so long.</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="22">CHAPTER XXII</a></big> +<br>A COMPROMISE</p> +<p>"If I had any money of my own," Alora said to Janet Orme on the +morning of the twelfth day of imprisonment, "I would gladly pay it to +free."</p> +<p>Janet flashed a quick glance at her. "Do you mean that?" she asked +with ill-suppressed eagerness.</p> +<p>"I do, indeed," declared the girl, moaning dismally; "but I never +have a cent to call my own."</p> +<p>Janet sat still, for some time, thinking.</p> +<p>"I, too, wish you were free," she admitted, resuming the +conversation, "for my position as jailer obliges me to share your +confinement, and it's wearing on me, as it is on you. But you have +unconsciously given me a thought—an idea that seems likely to +lead to a compromise between us. I'm going to consider it seriously, +and if it still looks good to me I'll make you a proposition."</p> +<p>Saying this, she retired to her bedroom and closed the door after +her, leaving Alora in a fit of nervous trembling through half-formed +hopes that she might gain her release.</p> +<p>It was nearly an hour before Janet returned. When she came from her +room she stood before the girl for a time and seemed to study her face. +Alora was anxious and did not endeavor to conceal the fact. In her hand +the woman held a paper, which she presently laid upon the center- +table.</p> +<p>"I have decided to make you a proposition," she said, turning to +seat herself near the table. "If it interests you, all right; if it +doesn't, you may of course reject it. My offer is this: If you will +tell me where to find your father and will promise not to mention me to +him or to warn him of my intentions, and if you will sign this paper +which I have prepared, I will allow you to return to your friends to- +day. You are not especially fond of Jason Jones, I believe?"</p> +<p>"Not especially, although he is my father," returned Alora, eyeing +the woman expectantly.</p> +<p>"Then you can have no objection to my forcing him to disgorge my +share of his income, which you would not get in any event. I don't know +how much of an allowance he makes you, but——"</p> +<p>"I don't get any allowance," said Alora, "In fact, he gives me +nothing."</p> +<p>"Then my demands on your father will not affect your interests. Are +you willing to give me his address, and promise not to warn him?"</p> +<p>"Under the circumstances, yes."</p> +<p>"Very well. I accept your plighted word—your word of honor. +Now sign this paper and you may go."</p> +<p>She took the paper from the table and handed it to Alora, who read +as follows:</p> +<p class="newspaper">"For value received, in services faithfully +rendered and which I hereby freely and without coercion acknowledge, I +hereby promise and agree to pay to Janet Orme Jones on the day that I +attain my majority the sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars, which sum is to +be paid from my estate without recourse, equivocation or attempt to +repudiate the said obligation, inasmuch as I willingly admit the said +sum to be justly due the said Janet Orme Jones.<br><span +class="indent3">"(Signed:)................."</span></p> +<p>Alora read the paper twice, with, growing indignation. Then she +glanced up at her jailer and muttered questioningly: "Jones? Janet Orme +<i>Jones?"</i></p> +<p>"A family name, my dear. The Joneses are so thick and so unimportant +that generally I do not use the name, but this is a legal document. I +hope you won't try to claim relationship," she added with a light +laugh.</p> +<p>"I'm not going to promise you so enormous a sum as fifty thousand +dollars, even to secure my liberty," said Alora. "It's out of all +reason—it's—it's—outrageous!"</p> +<p>"Very well," returned Janet, coolly; "that's your own affair. This +is merely a compromise proposition, suggested by yourself, as I told +you. Let us say no more about it."</p> +<p>Alora was greatly disheartened. After allowing her hopes to run so +high the disappointment was now doubly keen. Her defiance melted away +with the thought of all the weary days of imprisonment she must endure +until Janet was ready to act.</p> +<p>"I—I might agree to give you <i>five</i> thousand dollars," +she ventured.</p> +<p>"Nonsense. I'm not gunning for small game, Alora. Did you but +realize it, I am quite considerate in exacting only fifty thousand. +Your estate is worth two millions. Your income is something like eighty +thousand a year, and this payment would leave you thirty thousand to +use the first year after you come into your fortune. I don't believe +you could spend thirty thousand in a year, when you are eighteen years +of age."</p> +<p>Alora turned away and going to the front window, looked through its +stained and unwashed panes into the gloomy street below. The sight +emphasized her isolation from the world. Her imprisonment was becoming +unbearable. After all, she reflected, in reckless mood, what did so +small a share of her prospective fortune weigh against her present +comfort—and health—and happiness?</p> +<p>Janet was stealthily watching her.</p> +<p>"Should you decide to sign the paper," said the nurse, "you must +make up your mind not to raise a row when pay-day comes. The money will +come out of your income, and instead of investing it in more bonds, you +will have invested it in your liberty. You won't be inconvenienced in +the slightest degree. On the other hand, this money will mean +everything to <i>me</i>—a modest competence for my old age and +relief from the drudgery of working. I've had a hard life, my girl, for +nursing is mere slavery to the whims of sick people. Consider, also, +that for six years Jason Jones squandered all my savings in trying to +paint pictures that were not worth the canvas he ruined. If I had that +money now I wouldn't need to descend to this disgraceful mode of +recouping my bank account; but, under the circumstances, don't you +think I am justly entitled to some of the Jones money?"</p> +<p>"You're going to get a lot from my father."</p> +<p>"True; but that is for his indebtedness, while this amount is for +your freedom. A scrape of the pen and you secure liberty, fresh air and +the privilege of rejoining your friends, who are probably getting +anxious about you. If you are the sensible girl I take you to be, you +won't hesitate."</p> +<p>Alora knew the woman was pleading her own case, but the arguments +appealed to her. She was weak and nervous and her longing for liberty +outweighed her natural judgment.</p> +<p>"I suppose I'm a fool, but——"</p> +<p>Slowly she approached the table where the written promissory note +still lay. Janet had placed a pen and inkstand beside it.</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="23">CHAPTER XXIII</a></big> +<br>MARY LOUISE HAS AN INTUITION</p> +<p>"I wish, Josie," said Mary Louise dolefully, "you'd let me help in +this search for Alora."</p> +<p>"I'd be glad to, dear, if I could think of a single thing you can +do," replied her friend. "Just now I'm on the most tedious task +imaginable—visiting the army of cab-drivers—horse and +taxi—here in Chicago and trying to find the one who carried a +woman and a girl away from the Blackington at six o'clock that eventful +Tuesday morning."</p> +<p>"Have you met with any success, at all?" asked Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"That question proves you're not fitted for detective work," Josie +laughingly asserted. "A moment's reflection would assure you that when +I found my man my search would be ended. Ergo, no success has yet +attended my efforts. I've interviewed a couple of hundreds, however, +and that leaves only a few hundreds left to question."</p> +<p>"But the whole thing drags terribly!" complained Mary Louise. "Days +are passing, and who knows what may be happening to poor Alora while +you are hanging around the cab-stands?"</p> +<p>Josie's face grew grave. In sober tones she said:</p> +<p>"I'm just as anxious as you are, Mary Louise. But this case is +really puzzling, because Chicago is such a big city that criminals may +securely hide themselves here for months—even for +years—without being discovered. Mrs. Orme was clever enough to +leave few traces behind her; as far as clews are concerned she might +have evaporated into thin air, taking Alora with her—except for +this matter of the cabman. That's why I am pinning my faith to this +search, knowing all the time, nevertheless, that Mrs. Orme may have +provided for even that contingency and rendered the discovery of the +cabman impossible. To do that, however, she would have to use a private +equipage, involving a confederate, and I believe she preferred to take +chances with a hired cab."</p> +<p>"What are the police doing?" inquired Mary Louise nervously.</p> +<p>"Nothing. They were soon discouraged and lost interest in the matter +when I took hold of the case. But <i>I</i> don't intend to get +discouraged. I hate to be 'stumped,' as you know, and it seems to me, +after careful consideration, that success may follow the discovery of +the cab-driver. I've not been neglecting other trails, I assure you. +I've obtained a pretty fair record of the history of nurse Orme. She +has the habit of drudging in sick rooms until she accumulates enough +capital to lead a gay life for a month or so, after which she resumes +nursing in order to replenish her purse. She's a good nurse and a wild +spendthrift, but aside from the peculiarity mentioned there's nothing +in her career of especial interest. The woman is pretty well known both +in New York and Chicago, for she squanders in the first city and saves +in the other, but of her early history there is no information +available. In her wildest moods she has never done anything to warrant +her arrest, yet the police have kept a suspicious eye on her for +years."</p> +<p>"Poor Alora!" wailed Mary Louise, miserably; "I wish I could do +something for her."</p> +<p>"You did a lot for her when you put me on her trail," declared +Josie, with conviction. "I've a hunch I shall win. I've wired Daddy +O'Gorman all about the case, but he says he can't advise me. In other +words, he's watching to see whether I make good or cave in, and I just +<i>dare</i> not fail. So keep your courage, Mary Louise, and muster all +the confidence you are able to repose in me. I may not know all the +tricks of the sleuths, but I know some of them. And now I'm off to +interview more cabmen."</p> +<p>Mary Louise sighed as her friend left her. She was indeed very +unhappy and restless during those days of tedious waiting. Peter Conant +had come to Chicago on the Colonel's demand, but Mary Louise couldn't +see how he was able to help them one bit.</p> +<p>"Of course," the lawyer had said in his terse, choppy manner, +"whoever abducted the girl is, criminally liable. We can put the party +in jail."</p> +<p>"When we get her," suggested Mary Louise impatiently. "The party is +Mrs. Orme; we have established that fact without a doubt; and, if we +could get her, we'd also get Alora."</p> +<p>"Just so," Peter replied; "and, between the O'Gorman girl and the +police, we ought to capture the woman soon. I have a degree of +confidence in Josie O'Gorman and somewhat more confidence in the +police."</p> +<p>"Do you think we should notify Jason Jones?" inquired Colonel +Hathaway.</p> +<p>"I have considered that, sir, in all its phases, and knowing the +man's peculiar characteristics I believe such a course is not as yet +desirable. Jones is so enthralled by his latest craze over aviation +that he would be no fit adviser and could render no practical +assistance in the search for his daughter. On the other hand, his +association would be annoying, for he would merely accuse you of +neglect in permitting Alora to be stolen while in your care. I have +seen a copy of his wife's will and know that the girl's loss may cost +him his guardianship and the perquisites that pertain to it. In that +case he will probably sue you for the loss of the money, claiming +Alora's abduction was due to your carelessness."</p> +<p>"He could not win such an absurd suit, however," declared the +Colonel.</p> +<p>"Still, he might be awarded damages," asserted the lawyer. "Juries +are uncertain; the law is somewhat elastic; judges are peculiar."</p> +<p>"Don't worry, Gran'pa Jim," said Mary Louise soothingly, as she sat +on the arm of his chair and rubbed the wrinkles from his forehead; +"there must be such a thing as justice, even in law."</p> +<p>"Law <i>is</i> justice," stated Mr. Conant, resenting the +insinuation, "but justice is sometimes recognized by humans in one +form, and sometimes in another. I do not say that Jason Jones could +collect damages on such complaint, but he assuredly would have a +case."</p> +<p>Mr. Conant had desired to return home after the first conference +with his client, but he admitted that his wife was recovering from her +indisposition and a kindly neighbor was assisting Irene in the care of +her, so he yielded to his client's urgent request to remain. Colonel +Hathaway was more alarmed by Alora's disappearance than he allowed Mary +Louise to guess, and he wanted Mr. Conant to spur the police to renewed +effort. In addition to this the Colonel and his lawyer usually spent +the best part of each day pursuing investigations on their own account, +with the result that Mary Louise was left to mope alone in the hotel +rooms.</p> +<p>The young girl was fond of Alora and secretly terrified over her +mysterious disappearance. She tried to embroider, as she sat alone and +waited for something to happen, but her nerveless fingers would not +hold the needle. She bought some novels but could not keep her mind on +the stories. Hour by hour she gazed from the window into the crowded +street below, searching each form and face for some resemblance to +Alora. She had all the newspapers sent to her room, that she might scan +the advertisements and "personals" for a clew, and this led her to +following the news of the Great War, in which she found a partial +distraction from her worries. And one morning, after her grandfather +and the lawyer had left her, she was glancing over the columns of the +Tribune when an item caught her eye that drew from her a cry of +astonishment. The item read as follows:</p> +<p class="newspaper">"The Grand Prize at the exhibition of American +paintings being held in the Art Institute was yesterday awarded by the +jury to the remarkable landscape entitled 'Poppies and Pepper Trees' by +the California artist, Jason Jones. This picture has not only won +praise from eminent critics but has delighted the thousands of visitors +who have flocked to the exhibition, so the award is a popular one. The +Associated Artists are tendering a banquet to-night to Jason Jones at +the Congress Hotel, where he is staying. The future of this clever +artist promises well and will be followed with interest by all admirers +of his skillful technique and marvelous coloring."</p> +<p>Mary Louise read this twice, trying to understand what it meant. +Then she read it a third time.</p> +<p>"How strangely we have all been deceived in Alora's father!" she +murmured. "I remember that Gran'pa Jim once claimed that any man so +eccentric might well possess talent, but even Mr. Jones' own daughter +did not believe he was a true artist. And Alora never guessed he was +still continuing to paint—alone and in secret—or that he +had regained his former powers and was creating a masterpiece. We have +all been sadly wrong in our judgment of Jason Jones. Only his dead wife +knew he was capable of great things."</p> +<p>She dropped the paper, still somewhat bewildered by the remarkable +discovery.</p> +<p>"And he is here in Chicago, too!" she mused, continuing her train of +thought, "and we all thought he was stupidly learning to fly in +Dorfield. Oh, now I understand why he allowed Alora to go with us. He +wanted to exhibit his picture—the picture whose very existence he +had so carefully guarded—and knew that with all of us out of the +way, afloat upon the Great Lakes, he could come here without our +knowledge and enter the picture in the exhibition. It may be he doubted +its success—he is diffident in some ways—and thought if it +failed none of us at home would be the wiser; but I'm sure that now he +has won he will brag and bluster and be very conceited and disagreeable +over his triumph. That is the man's nature—to be cowed by failure +and bombastic over success. It's singular, come to think it over, how +one who has the soul to create a wonderful painting can be so crude and +uncultured, so morose and—and—cruel."</p> +<p>Suddenly she decided to go and look at the picture. The trip would +help to relieve her loneliness and she was eager to see what Jason +Jones had really accomplished. The Institute was not far from her +hotel; she could walk the distance in a few minutes; so she put on her +hat and set out for the exhibition.</p> +<p>On her way, disbelief assailed her. "I don't see how the man did +it!" she mentally declared. "I wonder if that item is just a huge joke, +because the picture was so bad that the reporter tried to be +ironical."</p> +<p>But when she entered the exhibition and found a small crowd gathered +around one picture—it was still early in the day—she +dismissed at once that doubtful supposition.</p> +<p>"That is the Jason Jones picture," said an attendant, answering her +question and nodding toward the admiring group; "that's the +prizewinner—over there."</p> +<p>Mary Louise edged her way through the crowd until the great picture +was in full view; and then she drew a long breath, awestruck, +delighted, filled with a sense of all-pervading wonder.</p> +<p>"It's a tremendous thing!" whispered a man beside her to his +companion. "There's nothing in the exhibit to compare with it. And how +it breathes the very spirit of California!"</p> +<p>"California?" thought Mary Louise. Of course; those yellow poppies +and lacy pepper trees with their deep red berries were typical of no +other place. And the newspaper had called Jason Jones a California +artist. When had he been in California, she wondered. Alora had never +mentioned visiting the Pacific Coast.</p> +<p>Yet, sometime, surely, her father must have lived there. Was it +while Alora was a small child, and after her mother had cast him off? +He could have made sketches then, and preserved them for future +use.</p> +<p>As she stood there marveling at the superb genius required to +produce such a masterpiece of art, a strange notion crept stealthily +into her mind. Promptly she drove it out; but it presently returned; it +would not be denied; finally, it mastered her.</p> +<p>"Anyhow," she reflected, setting her teeth together, "I'll beard the +wolf in his den. If my intuition has played me false, at worst the man +can only sneer at me and I've always weathered his scornful moods. But +if I am right——"</p> +<p>The suggestion was too immense to consider calmly. With quick, +nervous steps she hastened to the Congress Hotel and sent up her card +to Jason Jones. On it she had written in pencil: "I shall wait for you +in the parlor. Please come to me."</p> + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="24">CHAPTER XXIV</a></big> +<br>AN INTERRUPTION</p> +<p>"Before you sign this promissory note," remarked Janet Orme, as +Alora reluctantly seated herself at the table, "you must perform the +other part of your agreement and give me the present address of your +father, Jason Jones."</p> +<p>"He lives in Dorfield," said Alora.</p> +<p>"Write his street number—here, on this separate sheet."</p> +<p>The girl complied.</p> +<p>"Is it a private house, or is it a studio?"</p> +<p>"A cottage. Father doesn't paint any more."</p> +<p>"That is very sensible of him," declared the nurse; "yet I wonder +how he can resist painting. He has always had a passion for the thing +and in the old days was never happy without a brush in his hand. He had +an idea he could do something worth while, but that was mere delusion, +for he never turned out anything decent or that would sell in the +market. Therefore the money he spent for paints, brushes and +canvas—money I worked hard to earn—was absolutely wasted. +Does your father keep any servants?"</p> +<p>"One maid, an Irish girl born in the town."</p> +<p>"Still economical, I see. Well, that's all the information I +require. You have given your word of honor not to notify him that I +have discovered his whereabouts. Is it not so?"</p> +<p>"Yes," said Alora.</p> +<p>"Now sign the note."</p> +<p>Alora, pen in hand, hesitated while she slowly read the paper again. +She hated to give fifty thousand dollars to this scheming woman, even +though the loss of such a sum would not seriously impair her fortune. +But what could she do?</p> +<p>"Sign it, girl!" exclaimed Janet, impatiently.</p> +<p>Alora searched the note for a loophole that would enable her +afterward to repudiate it. She knew nothing of legal phrases, yet the +wording seemed cleverly constructed to defeat any attempt to resist +payment.</p> +<p>"Sign!" cried the woman. With pen hovering over the place where she +had been told to write her name, Alora still hesitated and seeing this +the nurse's face grew dark with anger. A sudden "click" sounded from +the hall door, but neither heard it.</p> +<p>"Sign!" she repeated, half rising with a threatening gesture.</p> +<p>"No, don't sign, please," said a clear voice, and a short, stumpy +girl with red hair and freckled face calmly entered the room and stood +smilingly before them.</p> +<p>Janet uttered an exclamation of surprise and annoyance and sank back +in her chair, glaring at the intruder. Alora stared in speechless +amazement at the smiling girl, whom she had never seen before.</p> +<p>"How did you get in here?" demanded Janet angrily.</p> +<p>"Why, I just unlocked the door and walked in," was the reply, +delivered in a cheery and somewhat triumphant voice.</p> +<p>"This is a private apartment."</p> +<p>"Indeed! I thought it was a prison," said the girl. "I imagined you, +Mrs. Orme, to be a jailer, and this young person—who is Miss +Alora Jones, I believe—I supposed to be your prisoner. Perhaps +I'm wrong, but I guess I'm right."</p> +<p>The nurse paled. The look she flashed from her half-veiled eyes was +a dangerous look. She knew, in the instant, that the stranger had come +to liberate Alora, but the next instant she reflected that all was not +lost, for she had already decided to release her prisoner without +compulsion. It was important to her plans, however, that she obtain the +promissory note; so, instantly controlling herself, she lightly touched +Alora's arm and said in her usual soft voice:</p> +<p>"Sign your name, my dear, and then we will talk with this +person."</p> +<p>Alora did not move to obey, for she had caught a signal from the +red-headed girl.</p> +<p>"I object to your signing that paper," protested the stranger, +seating herself in a vacant chair. "I haven't the faintest idea what it +is you're about to sign, but if I were you I wouldn't do it."</p> +<p>"It is the price of my liberty," explained Alora.</p> +<p>"Well, this is a free country and liberty doesn't cost anything. +I've a carriage waiting outside, and I will drive you back to the +Colonel and Mary Louise free of charge. You won't even have to whack up +on the cab hire."</p> +<p>The nurse slowly rose and faced the girl.</p> +<p>"Who are you?" she demanded.</p> +<p>"No one of importance," was the answer. "I'm just Josie O'Gorman, +the daughter of John O'Gorman, of Washington, who is a lieutenant in +the government's secret service."</p> +<p>"Then you're a detective!"</p> +<p>"The aforesaid John O'Gorman declares I'm not. He says I must learn +a lot before I become a real detective, so at present I'm just +practicing. Mary Louise is my friend, you know," she continued, now +addressing Alora, "and you are a friend of Mary Louise; so, when you +mysteriously disappeared, she telegraphed me and I came on to hunt you +up. That wasn't an easy job for an amateur detective, I assure you, and +it cost me a lot of time and some worry, but glory be! I've now got you +located and Mrs. Orme's jig is up."</p> +<p>The nurse moved softly to the door that led into the passage and +locked it, putting the key into her pocket.</p> +<p>"Now," said she, with another flash of those curious eyes, "I have +two prisoners."</p> +<p>Josie laughed.</p> +<p>"I could almost have sworn you'd try that trick," she remarked. "It +was on the cards and you couldn't resist it. Permit me to say, Mrs. +Orme, that you're a rather clever woman, and I admire cleverness even +when it's misdirected. But my Daddy has taught me, in his painstaking +way, not to be caught napping. A good soldier provides for a retreat as +well as an advance. I've been on your trail for a long time and only +this morning succeeded in winning the confidence of the cabman who +drove you here. Wasn't sure, of course, that you were still here, until +I saw Alora's face at the window a while ago. Then I knew I'd caught +you. The cab is a closed one and holds four inside, so I invited three +policeman to accompany me. One is at the back of this house, one at the +front door and the third is just outside here on the landing. Probably +he can hear us talking. He's a big man, that third policeman, and if I +raise my voice to cry out he could easily batter down the door you have +locked and come to my rescue. <i>Now</i> will you be good, Mrs. +Orme?"</p> +<p>The nurse realized her defeat. She deliberately took the note from +the table and tore it up.</p> +<p>"You have really foiled me, my girl," she said philosophically, +"although if you knew all you would not blame me for what I have +done."</p> +<p>"You've decided not to dig any money out of Alora, then?"</p> +<p>"It wouldn't matter to her, but I have abandoned the idea. However, +I shall insist on making Jason Jones pay me liberally for my +disappointment. Now take the girl and go. Get your things on, +Alora."</p> +<p>Josie regarded her thoughtfully.</p> +<p>"I had intended to arrest you, Mrs. Orme," she remarked; "but, +honestly, I can't see what good it would do, while it would cause Mary +Louise and the dear Colonel a heap of trouble in prosecuting you. So, +unless Miss Jones objects——"</p> +<p>"All I want it to get away from here, to be out of her clutches," +asserted Alora.</p> +<p>"Then let us go. The woman deserves punishment, but doubtless she'll +get her just deserts in other ways. Get your things on, my dear; the +cab and the policemen are waiting."</p> +<p>Janet Orme unlocked the door to the passage. Then she stood +motionless, with drooping eyelids, while the two girls passed out. +Alora, greatly unnerved and still fearful, clung to the arm of her +rescuer.</p> +<p>When they had gained the street and were about to enter the closed +automobile she asked: "Where are the three policemen?"</p> +<p>"Invisible," returned Josie, very cheerfully. "I had to invent that +story, my dear, and the Recording Angel is said to forgive detectives +for lying."</p> +<p>She followed Alora into the car and closed the door.</p> +<p>"Drive to the Blackington, please," she called to the driver.</p> +<p>And, as they whirled away, she leaned from the window and waved a +parting signal to Mrs. Orme, who stood in the upper window, her face +contorted and scowling with chagrin at the discovery that she had been +outwitted by a mere girl.</p> + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="25">CHAPTER XXV</a></big> +<br>JASON JONES</p> +<p>The Colonel and Peter Conant had just entered the drawing room of +the suite at the hotel and found Mary Louise absent. This was unusual +and unaccountable and they were wondering what could have become of the +girl when the door suddenly burst open and Josie's clear voice cried +triumphantly:</p> +<p>"I've got her! I've captured the missing heiress at last!"</p> +<p>Both men, astonished, rose to their feet as Alora entered and with a +burst of tears threw her arms around the old Colonel's neck. For a few +moments the tableau was dramatic, all being speechless with joy at the +reunion. Colonel Hathaway patted Alora's head and comforted the sobbing +girl as tenderly as if she had been his own grandchild—or Mary +Louise.</p> +<p>Josie perched herself lightly on the center-table and swinging her +legs complacently back and forth explained her discovery in a stream of +chatter, for she was justly elated by her success.</p> +<p>"And to think," she concluded, "that I never missed a clew! That it +was really the nurse, Mrs. Orme—Mrs. Jones' old nurse—who +stole Alora, according to our suspicions, and that her object was just +what I thought, to get money from that miser Jason Jones! Daddy will be +pleased with this triumph; <i>I'm</i> pleased; Mary Louise will be +pleased, and—By the way, where is Mary Louise?"</p> +<p>"I don't know," confessed the Colonel, who had just placed Alora, +now more self-possessed, in a chair. "I was beginning to worry about +her when you came in. She seldom leaves these rooms, except for a few +moments, and even then she tells me, or leaves word, where she is +going. I spoke to the clerk, when I returned, and he said she had left +the hotel early this morning, and it's now four o'clock."</p> +<p>Josie's smile faded and her face became grave.</p> +<p>"Now, who," she said, "could have an object in stealing Mary Louise? +Complications threaten us in this matter and the first thing we must do +is——"</p> +<p>"Oh, Alora!" exclaimed Mary Louise, who had softly opened the door +and caught sight of her friend. Next moment the two girls were locked +in an embrace and Josie, a shade of disappointment struggling with her +sunny smile, remarked coolly:</p> +<p>"Very well; that beats the champion female detective out of another +job. But I might have known Mary Louise wouldn't get herself stolen; no +such adventure ever happens to <i>her."</i></p> +<p>Mary Louise turned to the speaker with an earnest look on her sweet +face.</p> +<p>"An adventure <i>has</i> happened to me, Josie, +and—and—I hardly know how to break the news."</p> +<p>She held Alora at arms' length and looked gravely into her friend's +face. Alora noted the serious expression and said quickly:</p> +<p>"What is it? Bad news for <i>me?"</i></p> +<p>"I—I think not," replied Mary Louise, hesitatingly; "but +it's—it's wonderful news, and I hardly know how to break it to +you."</p> +<p>"The best way," remarked Josie, much interested, "is to let it out +in a gush. 'Wonderful' stuff never causes anyone to faint."</p> +<p>"Alora," said Mary Louise solemnly, "your father is here."</p> +<p>"Where?"</p> +<p>"He is just outside, in the corridor."</p> +<p>"Why doesn't he come in?" asked the Colonel.</p> +<p>"He needn't have worried about me," said Alora, in sullen tone, "but +I suppose it was the danger of losing his money that——"</p> +<p>"No," interrupted Mary Louise; "you mistake me. Jason Jones, the +great artist—a splendid, cultured man and——"</p> +<p>A sharp rap at the door made her pause. Answering the Colonel's +summons a bellboy entered.</p> +<p>"For Mr. Conant, sir," he said, offering a telegram.</p> +<p>The lawyer tore open the envelope as the boy went out and after a +glance at it exclaimed in shocked surprise: "Great heavens!"</p> +<p>Then he passed the message to Colonel Hathaway, who in turn read it +and passed it to Josie O'Gorman. Blank silence followed, while Mary +Louise and Alora eyed the others expectantly.</p> +<p><i>"Who</i> did you say is outside in the corridor?" demanded Josie +in a puzzled tone.</p> +<p>"Alora's father," replied Mary Louise.</p> +<p>"Jason Jones?"</p> +<p>"Jason Jones," repeated Mary Louise gravely.</p> +<p>"Well, then, listen to this telegram. It was sent to Mr. Peter +Conant from Dorfield and says: 'Jason Jones killed by falling from an +aeroplane at ten o'clock this morning. Notify his daughter.'"</p> +<p>Alora drew a quick breath and clasped her hands over her heart. +Uncongenial as the two had been, Jason Jones was her father—her +only remaining parent—and the suddenness of his death shocked and +horrified the girl. Indeed, all present were horrified, yet Mary Louise +seemed to bear the news more composedly than the others—as if it +were a minor incident in a great drama. She slipped an arm around her +girl friend's waist and said soothingly:</p> +<p>"Never mind, dear. It is dreadful, I know. What an awful way to die! +And yet—and yet, Alora—it may be all for the best."</p> +<p>Josie slid down from the table. Her active brain was the first to +catch a glimmering of what Mary Louise meant.</p> +<p>"Shall I call that man in?" she asked excitedly, "the man whom you +say is Alora's father?"</p> +<p>"No," answered Mary Louise. "Let me go for him, please. I—I +must tell him this strange news myself. Try to quiet yourself, Alora, +and—and be prepared. I'm going to introduce to you—Jason +Jones."</p> +<p>She uttered the last sentence slowly and with an earnestness that +bewildered all her hearers—except, perhaps, Josie O'Gorman. And +then she left the room.</p> +<p>The little group scarcely moved or spoke.</p> +<p>It seemed an age to them, yet it was only a few moments, when Mary +Louise came back, leading by the hand a tall, handsome gentleman who +bore in every feature, in every movement, the mark of good birth, +culture, and refinement, and in a voice that trembled with, nervous +excitement the girl announced:</p> +<p>"This is Jason Jones—a California artist—the man who +married Antoinette Seaver. He is Alora's father. And the +other—the other——"</p> +<p>"Why, the other was a fraud, of course," exclaimed Josie.</p> + + + + + +<br><br><br><p align="center"><big><a name="26">CHAPTER XXVI</a></big> +<br>WHAT MARY LOUISE ACCOMPLISHED</p> +<p>I am quite sure it is unnecessary to relate in detail the scene that +followed Mary Louise's introduction or the excited inquiries and +explanations which naturally ensued. To those present the scene was +intensely dramatic and never to be forgotten, but such a meeting +between father and daughter is considered too sacred to be described +here.</p> +<p>Mary Louise's intuition had not played her false. She had found at +the Congress Hotel another Jason Jones, far different from the one she +had known, and a few questions elicited the fact that he was indeed the +father of Alora. So, as briefly as she could, she told him how another +man had usurped his place and seized all of Alora's income, at the same +time willfully depriving the girl of such comforts and accomplishments +as one in her position should enjoy.</p> +<p>"And to think," she added indignantly, "that he is not Jason Jones +at all!"</p> +<p>"I believe you are mistaken there," replied the artist thoughtfully. +"Jason is a family name, derived from one of our most eminent +ancestors, and in my generation it is also borne, I have learned, by +one of my second cousins, a Jason Jones who is also a painter and +aspires to fame as an artist. I have never met the man, but his +indifferently executed canvases, offered for sale under our common +name, formerly caused me considerable annoyance and perhaps interfered +with my career. But of late I have not heard of this Jason Jones, for +soon after my separation from my wife I went to Southern California and +located in a little bungalow hidden in a wild canyon of the Santa +Monica mountains. There I have secluded myself for years, determined to +do some really good work before I returned East to prove my ability. +Some time after Antoinette died I saw a notice to that effect in a +newspaper, but there were no comments and I did not know that she had +made me guardian of our child. That was like Antoinette," he continued, +in gentler tones; "she was invariably generous and considerate of my +shortcomings, even after we realized we were not fitted to live +together. Her renunciation of me seemed harsh, at first, for I could +not understand her ambitions, but in fact she drove me to success. I +have won the Grand Prize, after all these years of patient labor, and +from now on my future is assured."</p> +<p>"Have you never longed for your child?" asked Mary Louise +reproachfully.</p> +<p>"I have, indeed. In imagination I have followed Alora's growth and +development year by year, and one of my most cherished anticipations +when coming here was to seek out my daughter and make myself known to +her. I knew she had been well provided for in worldly goods and I hoped +to find her happy and content. If my picture received favorable comment +at the exhibition I intended to seek Alora. I did not expect to win the +Grand Prize."</p> +<p align="center">* * * * * * * *</p> +<p>It was this newly discovered Jason Jones and his daughter—who +already loved him and shyly clung to this responsive and congenial +parent—who went to Dorfield with the Colonel and Mary Louise and +Peter Conant and Josie O'Gorman to attend the obsequies of the other +less fortunate Jason Jones. Mrs. Orme was there, too; Mrs. Janet Orme +Jones; for she admitted she was the dead man's wife and told them, in a +chastened but still defiant mood, how the substitution of her husband +for the other artist had come about.</p> +<p>"Many years ago, when I was nursing in a New York hospital," she +said, "a man was brought in with both arms broken, having been +accidentally knocked down by a street-car. I was appointed to nurse him +and learned from him that he was Jason Jones, a poor artist who was, +however, just about to win recognition. He showed me a newspaper +clipping that highly praised a painting then being exhibited at the +Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was signed Jason Jones. I know now +that it wasn't his picture at all, but the work of his cousin, but at +the time the clipping deceived me.</p> +<p>"I was ambitious to become something more than a nurse. I thought +that to be the wife of a famous artist would bring me wealth and a +position in society, so I married Jason Jones—without +love—and he married me—also without love—in order to +get my wages. He won where I lost, for during several years I foolishly +supported him with my savings, always expecting him to become famous. +At first he attributed his failures to his broken arms, although they +had healed perfectly, and I ignorantly accepted the excuse. It was only +after years of waiting for the man to prove his ability that I finally +woke to the truth—that he had no talent—and I then left him +to his own devices. In Chicago I sought to forget my unfortunate past +and found regular employment there in my profession.</p> +<p>"It was while nursing Mrs. Jones that I overheard her give to Doctor +Anstruther the supposed address of her husband, which had been +furnished her by a casual acquaintance, and tell him to wire Jason +Jones to come to her at once. I well knew a mistake had been made and +that she had given the doctor my own husband's address—the +address of an entirely different Jason Jones. My first impulse was to +undeceive her, but that would involve humiliating explanations, so I +hesitated and finally decided to remain silent. When the doctor had +gone to telegraph and the die was cast, I reflected that my husband, +whom I knew to be sunk in poverty, would ignore the request to come to +Chicago to be reconciled to his dying wife. <i>My</i> Jason wouldn't +care whether I lived or died and wouldn't have spent a cent to be +reconciled with me. For of course he would think it was I who asked for +him, since he would know nothing of Antoinette Seaver Jones or that she +was the wife of his distant relative, the other Jason Jones.</p> +<p>"He did, indeed, answer Doctor Anstruther by saying he would not +come unless his expenses were advanced, so the good doctor launched the +future deception by sending him ample funds. I knew of this action and +wondered what I ought to do. There would be a terrible mix-up when my +husband appeared, and I realized how disappointed the sick woman would +be. Knowing her condition to be dangerous, I feared the shock would +kill her, which it really did, for still I kept silent. I told myself +that I had not aided in the deception in any way, that it was a trick +of fate, and I could not be blamed. I thought that when Doctor +Anstruther met my husband there would be explanations and the truth +would come out, but somehow that did not happen. Jason Jones walked +into Antoinette Seaver Jones' room expecting to find <i>me</i> dying, +and saw a strange woman in the bed and his wife—in good +health—standing before him. He let out an oath in his surprise +and my patient, who had raised up in bed to stare at him, uttered a low +moan and fell back on her pillow, dead. I saw the tragedy and +involuntarily screamed, and Jason Jones saw she was dead and cried out +in fear. I had just time to recover my wits and whisper to him to keep +his mouth shut and I would make him rich when Doctor Anstruther hurried +into the room.</p> +<p>"The whole thing was unpremeditated up to that time, but now I +assisted fate, for I had witnessed Mrs. Jones' will and knew well its +contents. No one seemed to know there were two artists named Jason +Jones and everyone accepted my husband as Alora's father and the one +entitled to her guardianship and to profit by the terms of the +will.</p> +<p>"An hour after Mrs. Jones died I secured a secret interview with my +husband, who until then had been thoroughly bewildered, and explained +to him that the mistake in identity would, if he took prompt advantage +of it, give him the control of an enormous income for seven +years—until the child reached the age of eighteen. He was +fearful, at first, that the other Jason Jones would appear and +prosecute him for swindling, but as the husband of Antoinette Seaver +had not been heard from in years, even by his own wife, I induced him +to accept the risk. It was I who virtually put that income into my +husband's hands, and in return he agreed to supply me with whatever +money I demanded, up to a half of his receipts. But he proved that +there is not always honor among thieves, for after he had been made +legal executor of the estate and his fears had somewhat subsided he +endeavored to keep all the money for himself and begrudged me the one +or two instalments I forced him to give me. Strangely enough, this +formerly poverty-stricken artist now developed a love of +accumulation—a miserly love for the money itself, and hated to +spend any of it even on himself or on the girl to whom he owed his good +fortune. The coward actually ran away and hid himself in Europe, and I, +having spent all the money he had given me, with the idea I had an +inexhaustible fund to draw upon, was forced to turn nurse again.</p> +<p>"After three years I had saved enough to follow him to Europe, where +I located him at a lonely villa in Italy. Its very loneliness was my +undoing, for he made a husky servant lock me up in an outhouse and +there I was held a prisoner until Jason had again escaped to America. +He thought he could hide better in the United States and that I +wouldn't have the money to follow him there, but I had fortunately +saved enough for my return passage. By the time I got home, however, he +had completely disappeared and all my efforts failed to locate him. So +I returned to Chicago and again resumed my profession.</p> +<p>"You will say I might have denounced him as an impostor and made the +police hunt him up, but that would have ruined my chances of ever +getting another penny of the money and might have involved me +personally. Jason knew that, and it made him bold to defy me. I +silently bided my time, believing that fate would one day put the man +in my power.</p> +<p>"You know how I happened to find Alora in Chicago and how I lured +her to my home and kept her there a prisoner."</p> +<p>It was found that the dead man had made large investments in his own +name, and as he had left no will Janet declared that this property now +belonged to her, as his widow. Lawyer Conant, however, assured her that +as the money had never been legally her husband's, but was secured by +him under false pretenses, all the investments and securities purchased +with it must be transferred to the real Jason Jones, to whom they now +belonged. The court would attend to that matter.</p> +<p>"And it serves you right, madam," added Peter Conant, "for +concocting the plot to swindle Alora's father out of the money his dead +wife intended him to have. You are not properly punished, for you +should be sent to jail, but your disappointment will prove a slight +punishment, at least."</p> +<p>"So far as I knew," answered Janet, defending her crime, "Alora's +father was either dead or hidden in some corner of the world where he +could never be found. To my knowledge there was no such person +existent, so the substitution of my husband for him did him no injury +and merely kept the income out of the clutches of paid executors. Had +the right man appeared, at any time during these four years, to claim +his child and the money, he might easily have secured them by proving +his identity. So the fault was his as much as mine."</p> +<p>Jason Jones had personally listened to the woman's confession, which +filled him with wonder. While severely condemning her unscrupulous +methods he refused to prosecute her, although Mr. Conant urged him to +do so, and even carried his generosity to the extent of presenting her +with one of her dead husband's small investments, obtaining from her in +return the promise to lead an honest and respectable life.</p> +<p>It had been the artist's intention to return to his California +bungalow, but after the probate court had acknowledged him and +transferred to him the guardianship of his daughter, he decided to +devote the coming years to Alora and endeavor to recompense her with +fatherly devotion for the privations and unhappiness she had formerly +endured.</p> +<p>Alora did not wish to be separated from Mary Louise, so her father +purchased the handsome residence of Senator Huling, which was situated +directly opposite to that of Colonel Hathaway in Dorfield, and +succeeded in making it a real home for his daughter.</p> +<p>Josie O'Gorman went back to Washington well pleased with her +success, although she said with a little grimace of feigned regret:</p> +<p>"I did pretty well, for an amateur, for I tackled a tough case and +won out; but, after all, it was Mary Louise who solved the mystery and +restored Alora to her honest-for-true father."</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY LOUISE SOLVES A MYSTERY***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 24578-h.txt or 24578-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/5/7/24578">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/5/7/24578</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/24578-h/images/frontispiece.jpg b/24578-h/images/frontispiece.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eff25fc --- /dev/null +++ b/24578-h/images/frontispiece.jpg diff --git a/24578-h/images/logo.jpg b/24578-h/images/logo.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c16e333 --- /dev/null +++ b/24578-h/images/logo.jpg diff --git a/24578.txt b/24578.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ce962d --- /dev/null +++ b/24578.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6051 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mary Louise Solves a Mystery, by L. Frank +Baum, Illustrated by Anna B. Mueller + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Mary Louise Solves a Mystery + + +Author: L. Frank Baum + + + +Release Date: February 11, 2008 [eBook #24578] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY LOUISE SOLVES A MYSTERY*** + + +E-text prepared by Michael Gray (Lost_Gamer@comcast.net) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + The original book contained two chapters numbered XI, each with + a different title. Both appeared in the table of contents, + listed as Chapters X and XI. The real Chapter X, entitled "Mere + Speculation," was not included in the table of contents. In this + e-text the Table of Contents has been corrected to include the + real Chapter X and to reflect the fact that the book has two + Chapters numbered XI. + + + + + +MARY LOUISE SOLVES A MYSTERY + +by +Edith Van Dyne +Author of +"Aunt Jane's Nieces Series" + +Frontispiece by Anna B. Mueller + + + + + + + +[Illustration: frontispiece] + + +The Reilly & Lee Co. +Chicago + +Copyright, 1917 +by +The Reilly & Britton Co. + + + +_Mary Louise Solves a Mystery_ + + + +CONTENTS + + I DOCTOR AND PATIENT + II MOTHER AND DAUGHTER + III ALORA'S FATHER + IV ALORA'S NEW LIFE + V IN THE STUDIO + VI FLITTING + VII MARY LOUISE INTRUDES + VIII MARY LOUISE MEETS ALORA + IX MARY LOUISE SCENTS A MYSTERY + X MERE SPECULATION + XI ALORA SPEAKS FRANKLY + XI JASON JONES IS FRIGHTENED + XII SILVIO'S GOLD + XIII DORFIELD + XIV HOME AGAIN + XV THE PUZZLE BECOMES INTRICATE + XVI ALORA WINS HER WAY + XVII THE DISAPPEARANCE + XVIII ON THE TRAIL + XIX DECOYED + XX JANET'S TRIUMPH + XXI THE PRICE OF LIBERTY + XXII A COMPROMISE + XXIII MARY LOUISE HAS AN INTUITION + XXIV AN INTERRUPTION + XXV JASON JONES + XXVI WHAT MARY LOUISE ACCOMPLISHED + + + +Mary Louise Solves a Mystery + + +CHAPTER I +DOCTOR AND PATIENT + +A little girl sat shivering in a corner of a reception room in the +fashionable Hotel Voltaire. It was one of a suite of rooms occupied by +Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones, widely known for her wealth and beauty, +and this girl--a little thing of eleven--was the only child of Mrs. +Antoinette Seaver Jones, and was named Alora. + +It was not cold that made her shiver, for across the handsomely +furnished room an open window gratefully admitted the summer sunshine +and the summer breeze. Near the window, where the draught came coolest, +a middle-aged woman in a sober dress sat reading. Alora did not look at +this person but kept her gaze fixed anxiously upon the doorway that led +to the corridor, and the spasmodic shudders that at times shook her +little body seemed due to nervous fear. + +The room was so still that every tick of the Dresden clock could be +distinctly heard. When Miss Gorham, Alora's governess, turned a page of +her book, the rustle was appallingly audible. And the clock ticked on, +and Miss Gorham turned page after page, and still the child sat bowed +upon her chair and eagerly eyed the passageway. + +It seemed ages before the outer door of the suite finally opened and a +man moved softly down the passage and paused at the entrance of the +reception room. The man was white-haired, dignified and distinguished +in appearance. Hat in hand, he stood as if undecided while Alora +bounded from her seat and came to him, her eyes, big and pleading, +reading his face with dramatic intentness. + +"Well, well, my dear; what is it?" he said in a kindly voice. + +"May I see my mamma now, Doctor?" she asked. + +He shook his head, turning to the table to place his hat and gloves +upon it. + +"Not just yet, little one," he gently replied, and noting her +quick-drawn breath of disappointment he added: "Why, I haven't seen +her myself, this morning." + +"Why do you keep me from her, Doctor Anstruther? Don't you know it's-- +it's wicked, and cruel?"--a sob in her voice. + +The old physician looked down upon the child pityingly. + +"Mamma is ill--very ill, you know--and to disturb her might--it might-- +well, it might make her worse," he explained lamely. + +"I won't disturb her. There's a nurse in there, all the time. Why +should I disturb my mamma more than a nurse?" asked Alora pleadingly. + +He evaded the question. The big eyes disconcerted him. + +"When I have seen your mother," said he, "I may let you go to her for a +few minutes. But you must be very quiet, so as not to excite her. We +must avoid anything of an exciting nature. You understand that, don't +you, Lory?" + +She studied his face gravely. When he held out a hand to her she clung +to it desperately and a shudder again shook her from head to foot. + +"Tell me, Doctor Anstruther," in low, passionate tones, "is my mother +dying?" + +He gave an involuntary start. + +"Who put that notion into your head, Lory?" + +"Miss Gorham." + +He frowned and glanced reprovingly at the governess, who had lowered +her book to her lap and was regarding the scene with stolid unconcern. + +"You mustn't mind such idle gossip, my dear. I am the doctor, you know, +and I am doing all that can be done to save your mother's life. Don't +worry until I tell you to, Lory; and now let me go to see my patient." + +He withdrew his hand from her clasp and turned into the passage again. +The girl listened to his footsteps as he approached her mother's +bedchamber, paused a moment, and then softly opened the door and +entered. Silence again pervaded the reception room. The clock resumed +its loud ticking. Miss Gorham raised her book. Alora went back to her +chair, trembling. + +The front bedchamber was bright and cheery, a big room fitted with +every modern luxury. The doctor blinked his eyes as he entered from the +dim passage, for here was sunlight and fresh air in plenty. Beside the +bed stood a huge vase of roses, their delicate fragrance scenting the +atmosphere. Upon the bed, beneath a costly lace coverlid, lay a woman +thirty-five years of age, her beautiful face still fresh and unlined, +the deep blue eyes turned calmly upon the physician. + +"Welcome, Doctor Anstruther," she said. "Do you realize you have kept +me waiting?" + +"I am sorry, Mrs. Jones," he replied, approaching her. "There are so +many demands upon my time that----" + +"I know," a little impatiently; "but now that you are here please tell +me how I am this morning." + +"How do you feel?" + +"I do not suffer, but it takes more morphine to quiet the pain. Janet +has used the hypodermic four times since midnight," with a glance at +the gray-robed nurse who stood silently by the table. + +The doctor nodded, thoughtfully looking down her. There was small +evidence of illness in her appearance, but he knew that her hours were +numbered and that the dread disease that had fastened upon her was +creeping on with ever increasing activity. She knew it, too, and smiled +a grim little smile as she added: "How long can I last, at this rate?" + +"Do not anticipate, my dear," he answered gravely. "Let us do all that +may be done, and----" + +"I must know!" she retorted. "I have certain important arrangements to +make that must not be needlessly delayed." + +"I can understand that, Mrs. Jones." + +"Then tell me frankly, how long have I to live?" + +"Perhaps a month; possibly less; but----" + +"You are not honest with me, Doctor Anstruther! What I wish to know-- +what I _must_ know--is how soon this disease will be able to kill me. +If we manage to defer the end somewhat, all the better; but the fiend +must not take me unaware, before I am ready to resign my life." + +He seated himself beside the bed and reflected. This was his most +interesting patient; he had attended her constantly for more than a +year and in this time had learned to admire not only her beauty of +person but her "gameness" and wholesome mentality. He knew something of +her past life and history, too, as well from her own lips as from +common gossip, for this was no ordinary woman and her achievements were +familiar to many. + +She was the daughter of Captain Bob Seaver, whose remarkable career was +known to every man in the West. Captain Bob was one "forty-niners" and +had made fortunes and lost them with marvelous regularity. He had a +faculty for finding gold, but his speculations were invariably unwise, +so his constant transitions from affluence to poverty, and vice versa, +were the subject of many amusing tales, many no doubt grossly +exaggerated. And the last venture of Captain Bob Seaver, before he +died, was to buy the discredited "Ten-Spot" mine and start to develop +it. + +At that time he was a widower with one motherless child--Antoinette--a +girl of eighteen who had been reared partly in mining camps and partly +at exclusive girls' schools in the East, according to her father's +varying fortunes. "Tony" Seaver, as she was generally called in those +days, combined culture and refinement with a thorough knowledge of +mining, and when her father passed away and left her absolute mistress +of the tantalizing "Ten-Spot," she set to work to make the mine a +success, directing her men in person and displaying such shrewd +judgment and intelligence, coupled with kindly consideration for her +assistants, that she became the idol of the miners, all of whom were +proud to be known as employees of Tony Seaver's "Ten-Spot" would have +died for their beautiful employer if need be. + +And the "Ten-Spot" made good. In five years Tony had garnered a million +or two of well-earned dollars, and then she sold out and retired from +business. Also, to the chagrin of an army of suitors, she married an +artist named Jason Jones, whose talent, it was said, was not so great +as his luck. So far, his fame rested on his being "Tony Seaver's +husband." But Tony's hobby was art, and she had recognized real worth, +she claimed, in Jason Jones' creations. On her honeymoon she carried +her artist husband to Europe and with him studied the works of the +masters in all the art centers of the Continent. Then, enthusiastic and +eager for Jason's advancement, she returned with him to New York and +set him up in a splendid studio where he had every convenience and +incentive to work. + +So much the world at large knew. It also knew that within three years +Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones separated from her husband and, with her +baby girl, returned West to live. The elaborate Jones studio was +abandoned and broken up and the "promising young artist" disappeared +from the public eye. Mrs. Jones, a thorough business woman, had +retained her fortune in her own control and personally attended to her +investments. She became noted as a liberal patron of the arts and a +generous donor to worthy charities. In spite of her youth, wealth, and +beauty, she had no desire to shine in society and lived a somewhat +secluded life in luxurious family hotels, attending with much +solicitude to the training and education of her daughter Alora. + +At first she had made Denver her home, but afterward migrated from one +middle-west city to another until she came to Chicago, where she had +now lived for nearly three years, occupying the most expensive suite of +rooms at the very exclusive Hotel Voltaire. + +Alora fairly worshipped her beautiful mother and although Mrs. +Antoinette Seaver Jones was considered essentially cold and unemotional +by those who knew her casually, there was no doubt she prized her child +as her dearest possession and lavished all the tenderness and love of +which she was capable upon her. + +Retrospectively, Doctor Anstruther considered this historical revue of +his fair patient as he sat facing her. It seemed a most unhappy fate +that she should be cut off in the flower of her womanhood, but her case +was positively hopeless, and she knew it and had accepted the harsh +verdict without a murmur. Bravery had always been Tony Seaver's prime +characteristic. To Doctor Anstruther it seemed that she might as well +know the truth which she had demanded from his lips. + +"This disease is one that accelerates toward the end," he said. "Within +the past few days we have noted its more virulent tendency. All we can +do now is to keep you from suffering until--the end." + +"And that will be--when?" she demanded. + +"I think I can safely give you a week but----" + +"Then I must act at once," she said, as he hesitated. "I must, first of +all, make provision for Alora's future, and in this I require your +help." + +"You know you may depend upon me," he said simply. + +"Please telegraph at once to my husband Jason Jones, in New York." + +The request startled him, for never before had she mentioned her +husband's name in his presence. But he asked, calmly enough: + +"What is his address?" + +"Hand me that small memorandum-book," pointing to the stand beside him. +He obeyed, and as she turned the leaves slowly she said: + +"Doctor Anstruther, you have been my good and faithful friend, and you +ought to know and to understand why I am now sending for my husband, +from whom I have been estranged for many years. When I first met Jason +Jones he was a true artist and I fell in love with his art rather than +with the man. I was ambitious that he should become a great painter, +world-famous. He was very poor until he married me, and he had worked +industriously to succeed, but as soon as I introduced him to a life of +comfort--I might even add, of luxury--his ambition to work gradually +deserted him. With his future provided for, as he thought, he failed to +understand the necessity of devoting himself to his brush and palette, +but preferred a life of ease--of laziness, if you will. So we +quarreled. I tried to force him back to his work, but it was no use; my +money had ruined his career. I therefore lost patience and decided to +abandon him, hoping that when he was again thrown upon his own +resources he would earnestly resume his profession and become a master, +as I believed him competent to be. We were not divorced: we merely +separated. Finding I had withdrawn his allowance he was glad to see me +go, for my unmerciful scoldings had killed any love he may have had for +me. But he loved Lory, and her loss was his hardest trial. I may have +been as much to blame as he for our lack of harmony, but I have always +acted on my impulses. + +"I'll give Jason Jones the credit for not whimpering," she resumed +thoughtfully, after a brief pause, "nor has he ever since appealed to +me for money. I don't know how well he has succeeded, for we do not +correspond, but I have never heard his name mentioned in the art +circles I have frequented. He remained in New York, I believe, and so I +chose to keep away from New York. A year or two ago, however, I met a +man who had known Jason Jones and who gave me his address. Here it is: +1744 East Sixty-seventh street. Will you make a copy of it, Doctor?" + +He nodded. + +"What shall I say in the telegram?" he asked, writing the address in +his notebook. + +"Tell him I am dying and seek a reconciliation before I pass away. Beg +him to come to me at once." + +Dr. Anstruther jotted down the instructions underneath the address. + +"You must understand," she continued, "that Jason Jones is an honorable +man and in many ways a high-minded gentleman. I have lived with him as +his wife and I know that he is well fitted to care for our child and to +rear her properly. I have left my entire fortune to Alora, but I have +made Jason my sole executor, and he is to have control, under certain +restrictions, of all the income until Alora is eighteen. I think he +will be glad to accept the responsibility, both on Alora's account and +for the money." + +"Doubtless, if he has not been a success as an artist since your +separation," remarked the doctor, drily. + +"The man I spoke of said Jason was living in quite modest +circumstances. He said that although he had succeeded in selling a few +paintings they had brought rather insignificant sums--which surprised +me, as I know they must have possessed a degree of merit. However, I +may be mistaken in thinking his talent exceptional. Anyhow, my +experiment in leaving him to his own devices seems not to have resulted +as I had hoped, and I now am willing he should handle Alora's income +and live comfortably while he is educating her. She will probably +provide for her father when she comes of age, but I have not included +such a request in my will and I have endeavored, in case he proves +inclined to neglect her, to require the court to appoint another +guardian. That is, of course, merely a precaution, for I know his +nature is gentle and kind, and he adores--or at least he used to adore +children." + +The doctor sat, notebook in hand, musing. The matter-of-fact, +businesslike way in which she referred to her marital relations and her +assumed unconcern over her own dreadful fate impressed the good man as +extraordinary. But he was relieved to know that little Alora, of whom +he had grown quite fond, was to have the guardianship of a parent, and +glad that the character of Jason Jones was above reproach. The man's +failure to succeed as an artist, while it might have been a source of +chagrin to his art-loving wife, did not lower him to any extent in Dr. +Anstruther's opinion. + +"I suppose Alora does not remember her father?" he presently remarked. + +"She was about two years old when we separated." + +"And you say your will is already drawn?" + +"Judge Bernsted, my lawyer, has attended to it. It is now in his +possession, properly signed and witnessed." + +"If Bernsted drew the will, it is doubtless legal and in accordance +with your wishes. But who witnessed it?" + +"My nurse, Janet." + +He glanced at the motionless figure of the attendant, who had remained +so inert at her post by the window that he had quite forgotten her +presence. She was a young woman, perhaps thirty years of age, and not +unprepossessing in appearance, in spite of her modest uniform. + +Janet's one peculiarity was her downcast eyes. They were good eyes, +bright and intelligent, but she kept them veiled by their long lashes +and drooping lids. Dr. Anstruther attached no significance to this +trait, doubtless a habit of modest reserve acquired in her profession. +He had himself recommended the woman to Mrs. Jones, having frequently +employed her on other cases and found her deft, skillful and thoroughly +reliable. Janet Orme's signature to the will he regarded as +satisfactory, since Judge Bernsted had accepted it. + +A moan from his patient suddenly aroused the doctor. Her face was +beginning to twitch spasmodically with pain. In an instant Janet was at +her side, hypodermic needle in hand, and the opiate was soon +administered. + +"Send the telegram," muttered Mrs. Jones, still breathing hard; "and, +as you go out, Doctor, send Alora to me. I shall have relief in a few +moments." + +"To be sure," he said, rising. "Lory has been begging to see you, and +I'll attend to the telegram at once." + + + +CHAPTER II +MOTHER AND DAUGHTER + +The child crept softly to her mother's bedside, but once there she +impulsively threw her arms about "Mamma Tone's" neck and embraced her +so tightly that the sick woman was obliged to tear the little arms +away. She did this tenderly, though, and holding the trembling hands in +her own kissed both of Lory's cheeks before she said: + +"I've news for you, dear." + +"Are you better, mamma?" asked Lory. + +"Of course not," was the calm reply. "You mustn't expect mamma ever to +get well, my darling. But that shouldn't worry you--not too much, you +know. One of the queer things about life is that it has an end, sooner +or later, and in mamma's case it comes to an end a little sooner than +you and I might wish it to." + +"Oh, Mamma Tone!" An agonized cry, with the small hands clasped tightly +over her throbbing heart. But Tony Seaver did not flinch. + +"The news I have will surprise you, Lory dear. Your father, who loved +you devotedly when you were a baby, but whom you have never known till +now, is coming here to see us." + +Alora's eyes grew big with wonder, but other thoughts drove even this +strange news from her mind. + +"I can't let you go, Mamma Tone," she wailed, sobbing; "I can't let you +die and leave me all alone!" + +The woman's breast heaved. She was silent a moment and then said +quietly: + +"Even kings and queens, sweetheart, have no command over life and +death. When it is too late to help it, we realize we have been born; +when it is too late to help it, we realize we must die. But why +complain, when it is the fate of all humanity? To be true to our +Creator, who directs all things, we must bow to His will without +protest. You will love your father, Lory, because he will love you; and +he is a good man, and kindly, so I believe he will make your life as +happy as I could have done." + +"I don't want him; I want _you,_ Mamma--I want _you!"_ + +The mother sighed wearily and the alert nurse advanced and said to the +child in grave, cold tones: + +"You must control yourself, Miss Alora, if you wish to remain." + +The threat quieted the little girl at once. + +"I'll be good, Mamma Tone," she whispered softly. "Talk to me, and tell +me what I must do." + +So the dying woman talked to her, not of herself, but of Alora's +father, and of how she would like her child to conduct herself while +she grew in womanhood. She spoke of her will, and told Lory what it +meant to her and how she had safe-guarded her interests as well as she +was able. To this Lory listened intently and, although she still +trembled at times, she had Tony Seaver's blood in her veins and could +be brave in spite of the terrors that faced her. Dimly she realized +that her mother was suffering through the knowledge of their inevitable +parting, even as Alora was suffering, and felt she could comfort that +beloved mother more by controlling her grief bravely than by giving way +to it in her mother's presence. + +Meantime, Dr. Anstruther had returned to his office and had written and +dispatched the following telegram: + +"Jason Jones, +1744 East 67th St., +New York City. + +"Your wife is dying at the Hotel Voltaire and wishes reconciliation +before she passes away. Come quickly, as any delay may prove dangerous. +Notify me by wire when to expect you. +Edward Anstruther, M. D." + +He left orders that the answer be delivered to him at his office or +residence, as soon as received, but the day and the night passed +without a word from Jason Jones. Dr. Anstruther telephoned the +telegraph office and was assured his message had been delivered to the +party in New York, as otherwise they would be notified to that effect. + +Knowing Mrs. Jones' dangerous condition, the good doctor was worried, +but the following morning brought the delayed answer: + +"If necessary for me to come, you must send money for expenses." + +It was signed "Jason Jones" and its tone and its demand annoyed Dr. +Anstruther exceedingly. + +"Confound the fellow!" he exclaimed. "Any decent man would have +borrowed the money, or even pawned his watch and jewelry, to get to a +dying wife who calls for him. Either Mrs. Jones is mistaken in her +husband's kindly character or--well, he may have changed since last she +knew him." + +He did not hesitate, however, to go to the office and send money by +telegraph to Jason Jones, furnishing the required sum from his own +pocket rather than allow Antoinette to see her husband's telegram. He +even sent more than was necessary, muttering to himself: "The poor +devil may have some bills to settle before he can get away, and in any +event she must not be disappointed because her impecunious husband +lacks a few dollars. I fancy the poor artist will be amazed to find +himself suddenly raised from poverty to affluence, for little Lory's +income will be enormous and he will have seven years, at least, to +enjoy it unrestrained. I hope," he added thoughtfully, as he drove back +to his office, "that Mrs. Jones has made no error in her judgment of +this man, for it is considerable power to place in anyone's hands and +Alora is such a dear that I want her properly taken care of." + +When he made his next visit to his patient he said in answer to her +questioning look: + +"Mr. Jones will be here to-morrow, I think. He will notify me of his +arrival and I will be here to meet him. I believe it will be advisable +for me to see him first, you know, in order to--eh--eh--to post him a +bit," he added, meaningly. + +"Yes," she replied, "I fear it will be something of a shock to Jason. +Even though we have practically been strangers for years, he is sure to +be grieved and sympathetic. But do not bore him with particulars, +Doctor. Send him to me as soon as you have prepared him for the +interview." + + + +CHAPTER III +ALORA'S FATHER + +A man slouched into the lofty foyer of the Hotel Voltaire and paused +uncertainly, as if awed by the splendor of the place. A boy in uniform +hastened to relieve him of his hand baggage, which consisted of a +"roll-me-up" or "carryall" of brown canvas, strapped around the middle, +such as one often sees in traveling on the Continent. It seemed a much +used and abused affair and painted upon the ends were the dimmed +initials: "J. J." + +This man was plainly dressed. His clothing was of the cheap, ready-made +variety, worn nearly to shabbiness and matched by a gray flannel shirt +with a flowing black tie, knotted at the throat, and a soft gray hat +that was a bit weatherstained. His shoes were shabby and unshined. His +whole appearance was out of keeping with the palatial hotel he had +entered. + +Without relinquishing his baggage to the boy he asked sharply: + +"Is Dr. Anstruther here?" + +But now Dr. Anstruther, who had been impatiently waiting, espied the +arrival and after a glance at the initials on the traveling-roll said +in hesitating tones: + +"Mr. Jason Jones?" + +"Yes. You must be the doctor who telegraphed me." + +"I am Doctor Anstruther." + +"All right. Where's my wife?" + +There was no especial anxiety in his tones, which were slow and +distinct and a trifle sharp. He seemed ill at ease and looked around +the foyer again, as if fearing he had entered the wrong place. + +"I will lead you to her presently," replied the physician gravely; "but +first, sir, I must acquaint you with her condition, which is serious. I +have engaged a room for you here and if you will please register we +will go there together and talk undisturbed." + +"All right," said Jason Jones. He registered at the desk and then +turned and announced: "I'm ready. Go ahead." + +Those present in the foyer cast curious glances at the stranger as he +passed them and followed Dr. Anstruther to the elevator. The boy +accompanied them, now carrying the roll of baggage. The grandeur of the +room they entered, which was convenient to the suite of Mrs. Jones, +seemed to astonish the artist, although it was as simply furnished as +any the great hotel contained. However, he made no remark but removed +his hat, seated himself, and looked inquiringly at the physician. + +"Mrs. Jones," began Dr. Anstruther, "is really dying. I cannot say how +long she may survive, but it is a matter of days--perhaps hours. Her +greatest anxiety at present is to be reconciled with you, whom she has +not seen or even communicated with for years." + +"Did she say that?" + +"Yes." + +"And she wants to be reconciled?" + +"She does." + +"Rather a queer notion, that," remarked Mr. Jones, musingly. + +"Very natural, I think, under the circumstances," stiffly replied the +doctor. "She has every confidence in you and admires your character +exceedingly, although it was her desire that you live apart." + +The man's stolid countenance relaxed in a grin--a somewhat scornful and +unbelieving expression--but he did not speak. He was not a very tall +man; he was thin of figure and hardened of muscle; his head was bald in +front, giving him the appearance of a high forehead, and the hair at +the back and around the ears was beginning to gray. His eyes were light +blue; his nose was shapely and his jaws prominent and tightly set in +repose. His age was about forty. + +"Mrs. Jones," continued the doctor, "knows that you are due to arrive +at this time and is eagerly counting the minutes; not that you are so +dear to her," he asserted in retaliation for the sneer upon his +hearer's lips, "but because she has important business matters to +arrange with you before she passes away." + +"Business matters?" + +"So she has told me. I believe," he said, after a brief period of +hesitation, during which he considered how best to handle this peculiar +artist, "that I will allow you to see your wife at once, that you may +learn her plans from her own lips." + +Indeed, he had already decided that Jason Jones must have changed +materially, and for the worse, since Antoinette Seaver had known him. +Perhaps, when she had talked with the man, she would revise her opinion +of him and make other disposition of her finances and the guardianship +of her child. In that case it would not be well for him to give her +husband any inkling of her present plans. Having reached this +conclusion, Dr. Anstruther rose abruptly and said: "Come with me, +please." + +Jason Jones made no demur. Without remark he followed his conductor +into the hallway and to the entrance to the suite occupied by his wife. +The governess had been instructed to take Alora out for a ride; there +was no one in the little reception room. Here, however, the doctor +halted, and pointing to the door at the further end of the passage he +said: + +"That is your wife's sick chamber. Please enter quietly and remember +the danger of exciting Mrs. Jones unduly. Be gentle, and--considerate." + +Jason Jones nodded. A moment he regarded the door with curious +intentness, savoring of reluctance. Then he slowly advanced, opened it +and went in, closing the door softly behind him. + +Dr. Anstruther seated himself in the reception room. The artist puzzled +him greatly, although he prided himself--through long professional +experience--on being able to read human nature with some accuracy. This +summons to his dying-wife ought to seem the most natural thing in the +world to Jason Jones, yet the man appeared dazed and even bewildered by +the event, and while he had once lived in luxurious surroundings his +later experiences must have been so wholly different that the splendor +of his wife's mode of living quite embarrassed him. Yes, the contrast +was sharp, it must be admitted; the man had formerly shared Tony +Seaver's immense wealth; he had enjoyed the handsomest studio in New +York; and then--back to poverty, to drudgery, to a struggle for mere +food and clothing! Years of hardship were likely to have had a decided +effect upon the character of a man who was doubtless weak in the +beginning; it would make him hard, and bitter, and---- + +A shrill scream startled him. It came from the sick chamber and was +echoed by another cry--hoarse and terrified--in a man's voice. + +Dr. Anstruther sprang to his feet and hurried into the patient's +bedchamber. + +"The woman's dead, Doctor," cried Jason Jones, standing in the middle +of the room. "She's dead!" + +The physician hastened to the bedside, where Janet Orme, the nurse, was +bending over the still form. Pushing her away, Dr. Anstruther made a +hurried examination. + +It was true; the woman was dead. At the very moment of reunion with the +husband from whom she had so long been parted, she had passed on to +another life, leaving reconciliation in abeyance. + +Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones lay beneath her lace covered with features +contorted, mouth half open and eyes staring wildly. A paroxysm of pain +had carried her off, the good doctor well knew; the pain, and the +excitement of the moment. Very tenderly he bent down and closed the +eyes and pressed the lips together. He smoothed the lines from the +cheeks, so that the face became more natural in appearance. Then, with +a sigh--for he had become fond of this brave, beautiful patient--he +turned away to find Jason Jones and the nurse Janet confronting one +another in tense attitudes. The man stared wonderingly into the nurse's +face; Janet, her eyes now unveiled, returned the stare with an +expression that Dr. Anstruther could not fathom. + +They seemed to feel the doctor's observation, for Janet turned her back +abruptly, while the man swung around and tiptoed hastily from the room. + +Dr. Anstruther looked at the nurse reflectively. + +"Who was it that screamed? Was it you, or Mrs. Jones?" he asked. + +She hesitated a moment. + +"It was I," she replied. "I saw her face and knew that--that the end +had come." + +It was a lie, and the nurse knew that the shrewd doctor recognized it +as a lie. But he made no comment and with a last regretful look toward +the bed he followed Jason Jones out. + + + +CHAPTER IV +ALORA'S NEW LIFE + +Time sears all heart wounds. The scars remain, perhaps, but as the +clock ticks on the ache is stilled and the soreness finally passes +away. + +At first Alora was heart-broken over her mother's loss. She lived in a +sort of stupor for weeks after the funeral. Her father's presence she +accepted without comment or emotion, for it had been arranged by "Mamma +Tone." She did not consider, in those first weeks, whether she cared +for her newly found father or not. Her mother's statement that he was a +"good man" and would love Alora dearly was taken by the child as a +matter of fact, while her mother's injunction to love him and confide +in him in her stead was for the present ignored. + +Indeed, during those first weeks Lory had no fault to find with her new +protector, for she saw little of him. Jason Jones retained his room at +the hotel and allowed Alora and her governess to inhabit the handsome +suite her mother had occupied, although they were much too small for +the big apartments. However, Lory would have felt uncomfortable, just +then, in any other place. Her mother's chamber was closed and the +curtains drawn, but every night before she retired to her own little +room the child would steal in, in the dark, and feel her way to the +empty bed and kiss the pillow on which her dear mother's head had +rested. Miss Gorham, the governess, was aware of these evening +excursions, but offered no objection. Indeed, the woman objected to +nothing that did not interfere with her own personal comfort and +convenience. Under the eyes of Mrs. Jones she had been prim and +dutiful, but there was no one to chide her now, however neglectful she +chose to be, and it was true that during these days the little girl +required no particular care. Alora resumed her morning studies with +meekness a week after her mother had been laid away, and in the +afternoons she rode or walked with Miss Gorham or received the callers +who came to "console poor Antoinette Seaver Jones' child." + +Despite her haughty reserve, Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones had +accumulated a wide circle of acquaintances--if not friends--who +sincerely mourned her untimely death and would have been glad to +befriend her little girl were such services needed. But it was known +that Alora's father had now appeared to guard her welfare and there was +"so much money in the Jones family" that no financial aid was required; +therefore, these acquaintances could only call to see Alora and profess +their friendship. + +The child listened gravely to their stilted praises of her mother and +accepted their platitudes in good faith. It was indeed comforting to +hear so many nice things said of her loved one. + +Her father was never present on these occasions. He was by no means a +sociable man. Sometimes he came in for a few minutes, in the morning, +and sat down and stared at the girl in a way half curious and half +speculative, and said little, and presently went away as quietly as he +had come. + +The nurse, Janet Orme, left on the day that Mrs. Jones died, and Alora +had almost forgotten the young woman when one afternoon she came to see +her. Janet no longer wore her nurse's uniform but was dressed in +ultra-fashionable apparel and to the child's amusement affected the +manners of a lady. She talked more with Miss Gorham than with the little +girl and was keen to know what arrangements had been made for their +future. Miss Gorham admitted that she had no idea of Mr. Jones' +intentions. Of course they could not remain long in this elaborate +suite; a smaller one would be more satisfactory in every way; but Mr. +Jones had not as yet mentioned the subject. + +A few days afterward, during one of their walks, Alora was surprised to +see her father and nurse Janet riding past in a hired automobile. The +two seemed engaged in earnest conversation and neither noticed Alora or +her governess. Miss Gorham snorted rather disdainfully but without +remark, and Lory was not especially interested in the matter. + +Meantime, letters of administration had been issued to Jason Jones and +the control of his wife's--now Alora's--property legally placed in his +hands. Judge Bernsted attended to all the necessary details and, while +he did not admire the artist and secretly believed he was unfitted for +the task of handling so much money, he loyally insisted that the dead +woman's wishes be obeyed to the letter. + +Dr. Anstruther had called on the attorney and had ventured to state his +misgivings concerning Jason Jones, pleading that Alora was likely to +suffer through the man's indifference and lack of culture, but Judge +Bernsted declared it was not his duty to criticise character but to see +that the wishes of his clients were obeyed. In this case doubtless the +man's wife knew him more intimately than anyone else and if she trusted +him, aware as she must be of his faults and virtues, it would be +presumptuous for anyone to try to break her will or otherwise interfere +with her carefully planned arrangements. + +But Jason Jones was improving, in a way. He had bought new clothes and +a supply of linen, and although he did not wear them with the ease of +one accustomed to modish dress they certainly improved his appearance. +He was quiet and unassuming; he made no friends and few acquaintances; +he never mentioned himself or his personal history and never referred +to his wife except when forced to do so by some of "her meddling +friends"--well meaning people who sought his acquaintance to condole +with him or perhaps to attempt to "cultivate" him for Antoinette Seaver +Jones' sake. But these found him so unresponsive that they soon left +him alone. + +The legal business, even though it progressed smoothly, required time +for consummation, so it was somewhat more than three months before all +the details were complete. Alora, a sad-faced child with no especial +interest in life, kept no track of time and plodded along in her +morning-studies and took her afternoon drives or walks in a perfunctory +manner that rendered Miss Gorham's duties light indeed. But all this +ended suddenly, and Jason Jones ended it. + +He came to the rooms one morning and said to the governess in his +abrupt way: "Pack up." + +"What do you mean, sir?" was the startled query. + +"Just what I say. Get the child's things and your own ready to move out +of this place by Saturday. Also pack the personal belongings of Mrs. +Jones. Put them in separate trunks and boxes, so I can have them +stored. Do you understand me?" + +"I--I shall need assistance," gasped the bewildered Miss Gorham. + +"Then get a maid--or a porter--or both--to help you." + +Alora was present and listened with awakening interest. A change of any +sort would be pleasant, she reflected. + +"Where are we going?" she asked, as her father turned away. + +It was the one question Miss Gorham wanted to ask, too, but Mr. Jones +left the room without reply. + +Three days was little enough time to gather up and pack the +accumulation of years. The governess knew there were many big trunks in +the storeroom of the hotel belonging to Mrs. Jones, and these she +ordered brought up to the rooms. Then she procured two maids, told them +what and how to pack, and composedly resumed her reading. + +"I am no menial," she told Alora, with a lofty air of superiority; +"these persons will do their work properly, I'm sure." + +On Saturday morning Mr. Jones appeared again. + +"Is everything ready?" he demanded. + +"Ask Susan and Jane," replied Miss Gorham. + +Susan and Jane declared everything was packed, even to the suit cases +and traveling satchels. + +"But where are we going?" inquired the governess. + +"You are going wherever you please," said Jason Jones. "I do not +require your services longer." + +"You're going to discharge me?" she said, startled. + +"You are already discharged." + +"But who will look after poor Lory? Who will attend to her education, +and to--to--her comforts?" + +"I will. Here is your money. I have paid you a week in advance, in lieu +of notice." + +"A week? Pooh! I'm hired by the year," asserted the woman defiantly. + +"Have you a written contract?" + +"No; a verbal contract is just as good." + +"It won't hold in law. Take your traps and go--at once." + +The governess looked at him. He was absolutely calm and determined. +Instinctively she knew that any protest would be unavailing. + +Alora regarded the dismissal of her governess with as much unconcern as +her father displayed. Miss Gorham had been her companion for years, but +had never won the smallest corner of the girl's heart. Although she was +not aware of the fact, the woman's constant presence and lack of +interest in her had become oppressive. The child's first sensation, on +realizing their future separation, was one of distinct relief. + +When Miss Gorham had gone, seeming to begrudge the terse "good-bye" she +gave her pupil, the girl's father quietly said: "Come, Alora," and +walked away. + +She followed him to a waiting taxicab, in which had been heaped her +hand luggage and his own, and they drove away from the grand hotel +where she had lived in luxury for so long, and where so many indelible +memories had been impressed upon her childish mind, with as little ado +as if they had been transient guests. + +When the cab drew up at a railway station, Alora asked: + +"Are we leaving town, then, father?" + +"Yes," he replied; "I am returning to New York." + +She felt a slight sinking of the heart, just then, but it was followed +by a sense of elation. The old life, in which her adored mother had +played so prominent a part, was being abandoned forever, and this +troubled her, she knew not why. + +But since Mamma Tone had gone away the old life had lost its charm and +become dull and stupid. Lory was not sure she could be happier +elsewhere, but her crushed and dispirited nature responded to the +suggestion of change. It was interesting to have something different to +look forward to. + +The man beside her was no more congenial than Gorham had been, but he +was her father; he was the guardian selected by her dead mother, and in +obeying his wishes she might find her future life more grateful than +had been the dreadful dreary months since Mamma Tone had left her. + +Somehow, Jason Jones seemed uneasy in the presence of his daughter. +During the journey to New York he rode most of the time in the smoking +compartment, only appearing to take Alora to the diner for her meals. +The child was equally uncomfortable in her father's society and was +well pleased to be left so much alone. + +So, with very little questioning or conversation on either side, father +and daughter came to their destination and Alora found herself +deposited in a small suite of rooms on the third floor of a grimy and +dingy house in East Sixty-seventh Street--one of a long row of similar +houses that were neither residences nor business establishments, but +hovered between the two. There were several little tin signs nailed +beside the entrance and Lory noticed that one of these read: "Jason +Jones. Studio. 3rd Floor." It was an old sign, scarcely legible, while +others beside it seemed bright and new, and when the girl had climbed +laboriously up the three flights and the artist had unlocked the door +at the head of the stairs, with a key which he took from his pocket, +she found everything about the rooms she entered as old and faded as +the sign on the door. + + + +CHAPTER V +IN THE STUDIO + +The fact that it was beginning to grow dark prevented Alora from +observing all the tawdriness of her new home and what she saw inspired +her more with curiosity than dismay. The little girl had been reared +from babyhood in an atmosphere of luxury; through environment she had +become an aristocrat from the top of her head to the tips of her toes; +this introduction to shabbiness was unique, nor could she yet +understand that such surroundings were familiar to many who battle for +existence in a big city. The very fact that her father's humble flat +was "different" made it far more interesting to the child than new +apartments such as she had been accustomed to. Therefore she had no +thought, at this time, of protest. Her own little room contained a +small iron bed, one straight chair with a wooden bottom and a +broken-legged dresser over which hung a cracked mirror. The small rag +rug was worn threadbare. + +While she stood in the doorway of this room, solemnly regarding it, her +father said over her shoulder: + +"You won't need both those big trunks here, I'm sure. I'll store them +somewhere in the studio. Covered with drapes, they won't be noticed. I +can't imagine what that woman packed them with." + +"My dresses," replied Alora. "Even then, I left a lot at the Voltaire, +for the maids to sell or give away. Mamma used to send them to the +Salvation Army." + +"Two trunks of dresses ought to last for a good many years," he +remarked in a reflective tone. + +"Oh, no indeed," said Lory. "Miss Gorham was about to engage a +dressmaker for me when--when--you said we'd go away. I'm growing fast, +you know, and I was to have a dozen or fifteen summer frocks made, and +a lot of lingerie." + +"Then we moved just in time to save that expense," he declared, setting +his stern jaws together. "There's been a terrible waste of money +through that woman Gorham. We're well rid of her." + +He turned away to the studio and the child followed him there. He +turned on the electric lights, which were not very bright, and Alora +took a look at the workroom and thought it seemed more comfortable than +the other rooms of the flat. + +Her father began dusting and arranging half a dozen paintings of +various sizes, mounted on stretchers. None was finished; some were +scarcely begun. Lory tried to see what they represented. Perhaps she +had inherited from her mother a bit of artistic instinct; if so, it was +that which prompted her to shrug her small shoulders slightly and then +turn away to the window. + +In the dimly lighted street outside a man drove up with the baggage. +Mr. Jones had purchased for himself in Chicago a new trunk--a small and +inexpensive one--and there were two big trunks and a suitcase belonging +to Alora. After these had been carried up and placed in the studio--the +only room that would hold them--her father said: + +"We will go out now and get some dinner. You won't need your coat, for +the restaurant is just around the corner." + +Alora marveled at the restaurant even more than at the studio +furnishings. It looked a hundred years old and the atmosphere still +retained the fumes of much ancient cookery. The linen was coarse, the +plating worn from the forks and spoons through constant use, the dishes +thick and clumsy and well nicked. Alora was hungry and she ate what her +father ordered for her, although she decided it did not taste very +nice. + +When they sat down a man from behind the counter approached them and +bending low said in a quiet tone: + +"You know, Jones, it's to be a cash deal from now on." + +"Of course," replied Alora's father, with a slight frown. "Also I'll +pay you the old account, if you'll make out the bill." + +The man smiled, patted Alora's head--a liberty she indignantly +resented--and went back to his desk. + +During the meal and, indeed, ever since their arrival in New York, +Jason Jones cast frequent puzzled glances into the face of his little +daughter, who until now had accepted her changed conditions with +evident indifference. But as they ate together in silence her small +features grew grave and thoughtful and her father shrank from meeting +the inquiring glances of her big eyes. Yet even now she made no +complaint. Neither did she ask questions. Her look was expectant, +however, and that was what embarrassed him. + +After the dinner they went back to the dingy studio, where the man +lighted a pipe and sat opposite his small daughter, puffing uneasily. +They were both reserved; there was an indefinable barrier between them +which each was beginning to recognize. Presently Alora asked to go to +bed and he sent her to her room with a nod of relief. + +Next morning they had breakfast at the same stuffy little restaurant +and afterward Alora unpacked some things from her trunks and put them +in the drawers of the broken-legged dresser. It seemed odd to have no +maid to wait upon her, but she was glad to have something to do. As she +passed to and from the studio she noticed that her father had resumed +work on a picture that represented two cows eating a broken pumpkin +that lay in a cornfield. He worked slowly and never seemed satisfied +with what he did, as if lacking confidence in his ability. Lory decided +he couldn't be blamed for that. + +The child plodded drearily along in her new life for a full week. Then +she began to grow restless, for the place was hateful and repulsive to +her. But now an incident occurred that gave her new cause for wonder. + +One day the door opened and a woman walked into the studio. It was +Janet Orme, her mother's former nurse, but what a new and astonishing +Janet it was! Her silken gown was very "fashionable," somewhat too +modish for good taste, for it was elaborately trimmed and embroidered. +She wore considerable jewelry, including diamonds; her shoes were +elegant and her hose daintily clocked; her hat must have been a French +milliner's choicest creation. If good clothes could make Janet Orme a +lady, there was no question of her social standing, yet even little +Alora felt that Janet was out of her element--that she fell short, in +some vague way, of being what she was ambitious to appear. + +"So," said the nurse, glancing around the room with frank disdain, +"this is where you hang out, Jason, is it?" + +Alora's father confronted the woman with a menacing frown. + +"What do you mean by coming here?" he demanded. + +"I had two reasons," she answered carelessly, seating herself in the +only easy chair the room contained. "In the first place, I wanted to +see how a rich man lives." + +"Well, you see, don't you?" a muttering growl. + +"I certainly do, and I realize you are quite comfortable and ought to +be happy here, Jason--you and the millionaire heiress, your daughter +Alora." + +As she spoke she turned to glance sharply at the child, who met her +look with disconcerting gravity. Alora's eyes expressed wonder, tinged +with a haughty tolerance of an inferior that struck home to Janet and +made her flush angrily. + +"Your sneers," said Jason Jones, still frowning but now speaking with +composure, "must indicate that you have graduated from servitude. I +cannot admit that my mode of living is any of your business, Janet. In +these retired but respectable rooms I have worked and been contented +for years, until----" + +"Until you came into your money and found you didn't have to worry over +your next meal," she interjected. "Well, that ought to make you still +more content. And that reminds me of the second object of my visit. I +want some money." + +"So soon?" + +"Don't try to crawfish; it was agreed you should give me a check +whenever I asked for it. I want it now, and for the full amount--every +single penny of it!" + +He stared at her fixedly, seeming fearful and uncertain how to answer. + +"I cannot spare it all today." + +"Humbug!" she snapped. "You can and will spare it. I must have the +money, or----" + +Her significant pause caused him to wriggle in his seat. + +"You're a miserly coward," she declared. "I'm not robbing you; you will +have an abundance for your needs. Why do you quarrel with Dame Fortune? +Don't you realize you can pay your rent now and eat three square meals +a day, and not have to work and slave for them? You can smoke a good +cigar after your dinner, instead of that eternal pipe, and go to a +picture show whenever the mood strikes you. Why, man, you're +independent for the first time in your life, and the finances are as +sure as shooting for a good seven years to come." + +He glanced uneasily at Alora. + +"Owing to my dead wife's generosity," he muttered. + +Janet laughed. + +"Of course," said she; "and, if you play your cards skillfuly, when +Alora comes of age she will provide for you an income for the rest of +your life. You're in luck. And why? Just because you are Jason Jones +and long ago married Antoinette Seaver and her millions and are now +reaping your reward! So, for decency's sake, don't grumble about +writing me that check." + +All this was frankly said in the presence of Alora Jones, the heiress, +of whose person and fortune, her father, Jason Jones, was now sole +guardian. It was not strange that the man seemed annoyed and ill at +ease. His scowl grew darker and his eyes glinted in an ugly way as he +replied, after a brief pause: + +"You seem to have forgotten Alora's requirements and my duty to her." + +"Pooh, a child! But we've allowed liberally for her keep, I'm sure. She +can't keep servants and three dressmakers, it's true, but a simple life +is best for her. She'll grow up a more sensible and competent woman by +waiting on herself and living; as most girls do. At her age I didn't +have shoes or stockings. Alora has been spoiled, and a bit of worldly +experience will do her good." + +"She's going to be very rich, when she comes into her fortune," said +Alora's father, "and then----" + +"And then she can do as she likes with her money. Just now her income +is too big for her needs, and the best thing you can do for her is to +teach her economy--a virtue you seem to possess, whether by nature or +training, in a high degree. But I didn't come here to argue. Give me +that check." + +He walked over to his little desk, sat down and drew a check book from +his pocket. + +Alora, although she had listened intently to the astonishing +conversation, did not quite comprehend what it meant. Janet's harsh +statement bewildered her as much as did her father's subject +subservience to the woman. All she realized was that Janet Orme, her +dead mother's nurse, wanted money--Alora's money--and her father was +reluctant to give it to her but dared not refuse. Money was an abstract +quantity to the eleven year old child; she had never handled it +personally and knew nothing of its value. If her father owed Janet some +of her money, perhaps it was for wages, or services rendered her +mother, and Alora was annoyed that he haggled about it, even though the +woman evidently demanded more than was just. There was plenty of money, +she believed, and it was undignified to argue with a servant. + +Jason Jones wrote the check and, rising, handed it to Janet. + +"There," said he, "that squares our account. It is what I agreed to +give you, but I did not think you would demand it so soon. To pay it +just now leaves me in an embarrassing position." + +"I don't believe it," she rejoined. "You're cutting coupons every month +or so, and you may thank your stars I don't demand a statement of your +income. But I know you, Jason Jones, and you can't hoodwink me, try as +you may. You hid yourself in this hole and thought I wouldn't know +where to find you, but you'll soon learn that you can't escape my eagle +eye. So take your medicine like a man, and thank your lucky stars that +you're no longer a struggling, starving, unrecognized artist. Good-bye +until I call again." + +"You're not to call again!" he objected. + +"Well, we'll see. Just for the present I'm in no mood to quarrel with +you, and you'd better not quarrel with _me,_ Jason Jones. Good-bye." + +She tucked the check into her purse and ambled out of the room after a +supercilious nod to Alora, who failed to return the salutation. Jason +Jones stood in his place, still frowning, until Janet's high-heeled +shoes had clattered down the two flights of stairs. Alora went to the +window and looking down saw that a handsome automobile stood before the +house, with a chauffeur and footman in livery. Janet entered this +automobile and was driven away. + +Alora turned to look at her father. He was filing his pipe and scowling +more darkly than ever. + + + +CHAPTER VI +FLITTING + +Once more they moved suddenly, and the second flitting came about in +this way: + +Alora stood beside the easel one morning, watching her father work on +his picture. Not that she was especially interested in him or the +picture, but there was nothing else for her to do. She stood with her +slim legs apart, her hands clasped behind her, staring rather vacantly, +when he looked up and noted her presence. + +"Well, what do you think of it?" he asked rather sharply. + +"Of the picture?" said Lory. + +"Of course." + +"I don't like it," she asserted, with childish frankness. + +"Eh? You don't like it? Why not, girl?" + +"Well," she replied, her eyes narrowing critically, "that cow's horn +isn't on straight--the red cow's left horn. And it's the same size, all +the way up." + +He laid down his palette and brush and gazed at his picture for a long +time. The scowl came on his face again. Usually his face was stolid and +expressionless, but Alora had begun to observe that whenever anything +irritated or disturbed him he scowled, and the measure of the scowl +indicated to what extent he was annoyed. When he scowled at his own +unfinished picture Lory decided he was honest enough to agree with her +criticism of it. + +Finally the artist took a claspknife from his pocket, opened the blade +and deliberately slashed the picture from top to bottom, this way and +that, until it was a mere mass of shreds. Then he kicked the stretcher +into a corner and brought out another picture, which he placed on the +easel. + +"Well, how about that?" he asked, looking hard at it himself. + +Alora was somewhat frightened at having caused the destruction of the +cow picture. So she hesitated before replying: "I--I'd rather not say." + +"How funny!" he said musingly, "but until now I never realized how +stiff and unreal the daub is. Shall I finish it, Alora?" + +"I think so, sir," she answered. + +Again the knife slashed through the canvas and the remains joined the +scrap-heap in the corner. + +Jason Jones was not scowling any more. Instead, there was a hint of a +humorous expression on his usually dull features. Only pausing to light +his pipe, he brought out one after another of his canvases and after a +critical look destroyed each and every one. + +Lory was perplexed at the mad act, for although her judgment told her +they were not worth keeping, she realized that her father must have +passed many laborious hours on them. But now that it had dawned on him +how utterly inartistic his work was, in humiliation and disgust he had +wiped it out of existence. With this thought in mind, the girl was +honestly sorry him. + +But Jason Jones did not seem sorry. When the last ruined canvas had +been contemptuously flung into the corner he turned to the child and +said to her in a voice so cheerful that it positively startled her: + +"Get your hat and let's take a walk. An artist's studio is no place for +us, Lory. Doesn't it seem deadly dull in here? And outside the sun is +shining!" + +The rest of the day he behaved much like a human being. He took the +girl to the park to see the zoo, and bought her popcorn and peanuts--a +wild extravagance, for him. Later in the day they went to a picture +show and finally entered a down-town restaurant, quite different from +and altogether better than the one where they had always before eaten, +and enjoyed a really good dinner. When they left the restaurant he was +still in the restless and reckless mood that had dominated him and +said: + +"Suppose we go to a theatre? Won't you like that better than you would +returning to our poky rooms?" + +"Yes, indeed," responded Alora. + +They had seats in the gallery, but could see very well. Just before the +curtain rose Alora noticed a party being seated in one of the boxes. +The lady nearest the rail, dressed in an elaborate evening gown, was +Janet Orme. There was another lady with her, conspicuous for blonde +hair and much jewelry, and the two gentlemen who accompanied them kept +in the background, as if not too proud of their company. + +Alora glanced at her father's face and saw the scowl there, for he, +too, had noted the box-party. But neither of the two made any remark +and soon the child was fully absorbed in the play. + +As they left the theatre Janet's party was entering an automobile, +laughing and chatting gaily. Both father and daughter silently watched +them depart, and then they took a street car and went home. + +"Get to bed, girl," said Jason Jones, when they had mounted the stairs. +"I'll smoke another pipe, I guess." + +When she came out of her room next morning she heard her father +stirring in the studio. She went to him and was surprised to find him +packing his trunk, which he had drawn into the middle of the room. + +"Now that you're up," said he in quite a cheerful tone, "we'll go to +breakfast, and then I'll help you pack your own duds. Only one trunk, +though, girl, for the other must go into storage and you may see it +again, some time, and you may not." + +"Are we going away?" she inquired, hoping it might be true. + +"We are. We're going a long way, my girl. Do you care?" + +"Of course," said she, amazed at the question, for he had never +considered her in the least. "I'm glad. I don't like your studio." + +He laughed, and the laugh shocked her. She could not remember ever to +have heard Jason Jones laugh before. + +"I don't like the place, either, girl, and that's why I'm leaving it. +For good, this time. I was a fool to return here. In trying to +economise, I proved extravagant." + +Alora did not reply to that. She was eager to begin packing and hurried +through her breakfast. All the things she might need on a journey she +put into one trunk. She was not quite sure what she ought to take, and +her father was still more ignorant concerning a little girl's wardrobe, +but finally both trunks were packed and locked and then Mr. Jones +called a wagon and carted away the extra trunk of Alora's and several +boxes of his own to be deposited in a storage warehouse. + +She sat in the bare studio and waited for his return. The monotony of +the past weeks, which had grown oppressive, was about to end and for +this she was very grateful. For from a life of luxury the child had +been dumped into a gloomy studio in the heart of a big, bustling city +that was all unknown to her and where she had not a single friend or +acquaintance. Her only companion had been a strange man who happened to +be her father but displayed no affection for her, no spark of interest +in her happiness or even comforts. For the first time in her life she +lacked a maid to dress her and keep her clothes in order; there was no +one to attend to her education, no one to amuse her, no one with whom +to counsel in any difficulty. She had been somewhat afraid of her +peculiar father and her natural reserve, derived from her mother, had +deepened in his society. Yesterday and this morning he had seemed more +human, more companionable, yet Alora felt that it was due to a selfish +elation and recognized a gulf between them that might never be bridged. +Her father differed utterly from her mother in breeding, in +intelligence, in sympathy. He was not of the same world; even the child +could realize that. And yet, he was her father--all she had left to +depend upon, to cling to. She wondered if he really possessed the good +qualities her mother had attributed to him. If so, when she knew him +better, she might learn to like him. + +He was gone a long time, it seemed, but as soon as he returned the +remaining baggage was loaded on the wagon and sent away and then they +left the flat and boarded a street car for down town. On lower Broadway +Mr. Jones entered a bank and seemed to transact considerable business. +Lory saw him receive several papers and a lot of money. Then they went +to a steamship office near by, where her father purchased tickets. + +Afterward they had lunch, and Jason Jones was still in high spirits and +seemed more eager and excited than Alora had ever before known him. + +"We're going across the big water--to Europe," he told her at luncheon, +"so if there is anything you positively need for the trip, tell me what +it is and I'll buy it. No frivolities, though," qualifying his +generosity, "but just stern necessities. And you must think quick, for +our boat leaves at four o'clock and we've no time to waste." + +But Alora shook her head. Once she had been taken by her mother to +London, Paris and Rome, but all her wants had been attended to and it +was so long ago--four or five years--that that voyage was now but a dim +remembrance. + +No one noticed them when they went aboard. There was no one to see them +off or to wish them "bon voyage." It saddened the child to hear the +fervent good-byes of others, for it emphasized her own loneliness. + +Yes, quite friendless was little Alora. She was going to a foreign land +with no companion but a strange and uncongenial man whom fate had +imposed upon her in the guise of a parent. As they steamed out to sea +and Alora sat on deck and watched the receding shores of America, she +turned to her father with the first question she had ventured to ask: + +"Where are we going? To London?" + +"Not now," he replied. "This ship is bound for the port of Naples. I +didn't pick Naples, you know, but took the first ship sailing to-day. +Having made up my mind to travel, I couldn't wait," he added, with a +chuckle of glee. "You're not particular as to where we go, are you?" + +"No," said Alora. + +"That's lucky," he rejoined, "for it wouldn't have made any difference, +anyhow." + + + +CHAPTER VII +MARY LOUISE INTRUDES + +It was four years later when on a sunny afternoon in April a carriage +broke down on the Amalfi Road, between Positano and Sorrento, in Italy. +A wheel crumpled up and the driver stopped his horses and explained to +his passengers in a jumble of mixed Italian and English that he could +go no farther. The passengers, an old gentleman of distinguished +appearance and a young girl as fresh and lovely as a breath of spring, +clambered out of the rickety vehicle and after examining the wheel +admitted that their driver spoke truly. On one side the road was a +steep descent to the sea; opposite, the hillside was masked by a +trellis thick with grapevines. The road curved around the mountain, so +there was no other vista. + +"Here's a nice fix, Gran'pa Jim!" exclaimed the girl, with an amused +laugh. "Where are we and what's going to become of us?" + +"That is somewhat of a complicated problem, Mary Louise, and I can't +guess it offhand, without due reflection," replied "Gran'pa Jim," whom +others called Colonel Hathaway. "I imagine, however, that we are about +three miles from Positano and five or six from Sorrento, and it's a +stiff walk, for old legs or young, in either direction. Besides, +there's our luggage, which I am loth to abandon and disinclined to +carry." + +The driver interposed. + +"Give-a me the moment, Signore--perhaps the hour--an' I return to +Positano for more carriage-wheel--some other. My Cousin L'uigi, he +leeve in Positano, an' L'uigi have a-many carriage-wheel in he's shed. +I sure, Signore, I getta the wheel." + +"That is a sensible idea," said the old gentleman. "Make haste, my man, +and we will wait here." + +The driver unhitched his horses from the vehicle and after strapping a +blanket on one of them for a saddle mounted it and departed. + +"I take-a the two horse," he explained, "for one to ride-a me, an' one +for to ride-a the wheel." + +They watched him amble away down the road and Mary Louise shook her +head and remarked: + +"He will never make it in an hour, at that rate, Gran'pa Jim, and in +two hours the sun will have set and it will be dinner time. Already I +feel the pangs of hunger." + +"Those who travel in Italy," said her grandfather, "should be prepared +to accept any happening in a spirit of resignation. A moment ago we +were jogging merrily along toward a good hotel and a savory dinner, but +now----" + +"This entire carriage seems ready to fall apart," declared the girl, +standing in the road and viewing the ancient vehicle critically; "so +it's a wonder something didn't break sooner. Now, if we could get to +the other side of that trellis, Gran'pa Jim, we might find a shady spot +to rest while our charioteer is searching for a new wheel." + +"There must be a gate, somewhere about," he answered, eyeing the +vine-clad barrier. "Come, Mary Louise, let us investigate." + +A hundred yards down the road they came to some rude stone steps and a +wicket. The old gentleman lifted the wooden latch and found the gate +unlocked. Followed by Mary Louise, he entered the vineyard and +discovered a narrow, well-beaten path leading up the hillside. + +"Perhaps there is a house near by," said the girl. "Shall we go on, +Gran'pa Jim?" + +"Why not, my dear? These Italians are hospitable folk and we may get a +cake and a cup of goat's milk to stay our appetite." + +So they climbed the hill, following the little path, and presently came +upon a laborer who was very deliberately but methodically cultivating +the vines with a V-shaped hoe. Seeing the strangers the man +straightened up and, leaning upon his hoe, eyed them with evident +suspicion. + +"Good afternoon," said the old gentleman in Italian--one of the few +phrases in the language he had mastered. + +"Oh, I speak the English, Signore," replied the man, doffing his hat. +"I am Silvio Allegheri, you must know, and I live in America some +time." + +"Why, this is like meeting an old friend!" exclaimed Mary Louise, +winning the fellow instantly with her smile. "But why did you leave +America, Silvio?" + +"Because I have make my fortune there," was the solemn reply. "It is +easy to make the fortune in America, Signorina. I am chef in the +restaurant in Sandusky--you know Sandusky?--most excellent! In a few +years I save much money, then I return here an' purchase an estate. My +estate is three miles across the hill, yonder, and there is a road to +it which is not much used. However, it is a fine estate, an' I am rent +it to my cousin for five hundred lira a year. Such good business habit +I learn in America." + +"Why don't you live on your estate yourself?" inquired the girl. + +"It is not yet the time," answered the man, with a shake of his head. +"I am but fifty-two years alive, and while I am still so young I shall +work for others, and save the money my estate brings me. When I get old +and can no longer work for the others, then I will go to my estate an' +be happy." + +"Very sensible," commented the old gentleman. "And whom do you work for +now?" + +"The student Americano, Signore; the one who has rented this valuable +estate. I am the Signore Student's valet, his gardener, and at times +his chef. I grease his automobile, which is a very small chug-chug, but +respectable, and I clean his shoes--when I can catch him with them off. +I am valuable to him and for three years he has paid me fair wages." + +"Is this a big estate?" asked Mary Louise. + +"Enormous, Signorina. It comprises three acres!" + +"And where is the house?" + +"Just over the hill, yonder, Signore. + +"Does the student Americano live here all alone?" + +"With his daughter, who is the Signorina Alora." + +"Oh; there is a daughter, then? And you say they are Americans?" + +"Surely, Signorina. Who else would pay the great price for this estate +for three years? The land pays nothing back--a few oranges; some +grapes, when they are cared for; a handful of almonds and olives. And +there is a servant besides myself, my niece Leona, who is housemaid and +assists the young lady." + +"This sounds promising," said Mary Louise, turning to her grandfather. +"Suppose we go up to the house? Are the people at home, Silvio?--the +Signore Student and his daughter?" + +The man reflected, leaning on his hoe. + +"I think they are both at the mansion, Signorina, although the student +Americano may not yet have returned from Sorrento. The road to the +mansion is beyond the hill, on the other side of the estate, so I am +not sure the Signore Student has returned. But you will find the +Signorina Alora there, if you decide to venture on. But perhaps you are +the friends of my employer and his daughter?" + +"What is his name?" asked Colonel Hathaway. + +"It is Jones. The American saying is Mister Jason Jones, but here he is +only called the Signore Student Americano." + +"Why?" asked Mary Louise. + +"Because his occupation is reading. He does nothing else. Always there +is a book in his hand and always he is thinking of the things he reads. +He does not often speak, even to his daughter; he does not have friends +who visit him. If you should call at the mansion, then you will be the +first people who have done so for three years." + +There was something in this report--in the manner of the man as well as +his words--that caused the strangers to hesitate. The description of +"the Student" led them to suspect he was a recluse who might not +welcome them cordially, but Mary Louise reflected that there was a +daughter and decided that any American girl shut up on this three-acre +"estate" for three years would be glad to meet another American girl. +So she said abruptly: + +"Come on, Gran'pa Jim. Let's call. It is possible that Americans will +have something better in the larder than cakes and goat's milk." + +The hilltop was reached sooner than they expected, and in a little vale +was the old mansion--a really attractive vine-clad villa that might +have stood a century or so. It was not very big, but there were +numerous outbuildings which rendered the size of the house proper +unimportant. As Mary Louise and her grandfather drew nearer they +discovered a charming flower garden, carefully tended, and were not +surprised to find a young girl bending over a rosebush. + + + +CHAPTER VIII +MARY LOUISE MEETS ALORA + +The two stood motionless a moment, looking at the girl, and Mary Louise +marked the graceful figure and attractive features with real delight. +The Signorina Alora, as the man had called her, was nearly her own +age--fifteen, Mary Louise judged her to be--and her golden hair and fair +complexion proclaimed her an American. But now the girl's quick ears +had detected presence, and she looked up with a startled expression, +half fearful and half shy, and turned as if to fly. But in the next +moment she had collected herself and advanced with hesitating steps to +meet them. + +"Pardon our intrusion," said Colonel Hathaway, raising his hat. "Our +carriage broke down on the Amalfi road, a little while ago, and our +driver has gone to Positano for a new wheel. Meantime we were exploring +our surroundings and stumbled upon the path leading to this spot. +Forgive the trespass, if you will, and allow me to present my +granddaughter, Mary Louise Burrows. I am Colonel James Hathaway, of New +York, although we usually reside at a little town called Dorfield." + +The girl's bow was stiff and awkward. She blushed in an embarrassed way +as she replied: + +"I am Alora Jones, sir, and am living here for a time with my father, +Jason Jones. We, also, are Americans; at least, we used to be." + +"Then doubtless you are yet," responded the Colonel, with a smile. "May +we pay our respects to your father?" + +"He--he is not home yet," she answered more embarrassed than before. +"He went to Sorrento for some books, this morning, and has not yet +returned. But perhaps he will be back soon," she added, seeming to +ponder the matter. "Will you not come in and--and have some +refreshment? In my father's absence I--I am glad to--welcome you." + +She glanced shyly at Mary Louise, as if to implore her to forgive any +seeming lack of hospitality and accept her coldly worded invitation. No +one could look at Mary Louise without gaining confidence and the +friendly smile and warm handclasp made Alora feel instantly that here +was a girl who would prove congenial under any circumstances. Really, +it would not take them long to become friends, and poor Alora had no +girl friends whatever. + +She led them into a cool and comfortable living room and called to +Leona to fetch tea and biscuits. + +"We are entirely shut in, here," she explained. "It seems to me worse +than a convent, for there I would see other girls while here I see no +one but the servants--and my father," as an afterthought, "year in and +year out." + +"It's a pretty place," declared Mary Louise cheerfully. + +"But it's an awfully dreary place, too, and sometimes I feel that I'd +like to run away--if I knew where to go," said Alora frankly. + +"You have lived here three years?" asked Colonel Hathaway. + +"Yes. We left New York more than four years ago and traveled a year in +different places, always stopping at the little towns, where there is +not much to interest one. Then my father found this place and rented +it, and here we've stayed--I can't say 'lived'--ever since. I get along +pretty well in the daytime, with my flowers and the chickens to tend, +but the evenings are horribly lonely. Sometimes I feel that I shall go +mad." + +Mary Louise marked her wild look and excited manner and her heart went +out in sympathy to the lonely girl. Colonel Hathaway, too, intuitively +recognized Alora's plaint as a human cry for help, and did not need to +guess the explanation. The man in the vineyard had called her father +"the Student" and said he was a reserved man and never was seen without +a book in his hand. This would mean that he was not companionable and +Alora's protest plainly indicated that her father devoted small time, +if any, to the cultivation of his daughter's society. + +"I suppose," remarked the old gentleman, "that Mr. Jones is so immersed +in his studies that he forgets his daughter lacks society am +amusement." + +Mary Louise caught the slight, scornful smile that for a moment curled +Alora's lips. But the girl replied very seriously: + +"My father dislikes society. I believe he would be quite content to +live in this little cooped-up place forever and see no one but the +servants, to whom he seldom speaks. Also, he ignores me, and I am glad +he does. But before my mother died," her voice breaking a little, "I +was greatly loved and petted, and I can't get used to the change. I +ought not to say this to strangers, I know, but I am very lonely and +unhappy, because--because my father is so different from what my mother +was." + +Mary Louise was holding her trembling hand now and stroking it +sympathetically. + +"Tell us about your mother," she said softly. "Is it long since you +lost her?" + +"More than four years," returned Alora. "I was her constant companion +and she taught me to love art and music and such things, for art was +her hobby. I did not know my father in those days, you see, for--for-- +they did not live together. But in her last illness mamma sent for him +and made him my guardian. My mother said that my father would love me, +but she must have misjudged him." + +Colonel Hathaway had listened with interest. + +"Tell me your mother's name," said he. + +"She was Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones, and--" + +"Indeed!" exclaimed the Colonel. "Why, I knew Antoinette Seaver before +she married, and a more beautiful and cultured woman I never met. Her +father, Captain Seaver, was my friend, and I met his daughter several +times, both at his mining camp and in the city. So you see, my dear, we +must be friends." + +Alora's eyes fairly glistened with delight and Mary Louise was as +pleased as she was surprised. + +"Of course we're friends!" she cried, pressing the girl's hand, "and +isn't it queer we have come together in this singular manner? In a +foreign country! And just because our carriage-wheel happened to +break." + +"I thought your mother married an artist," said Mary Louise's +grandfather, reflectively. + +"She did. At least, she _thought_ Jason Jones was an artist," answered +Alora with bitter emphasis. "But he was, in fact, a mere dauber. He +became discouraged in his attempts to paint and soon after he took me +to New York he destroyed all his work--really, it was dreadful!--and +since then he has never touched a brush." + +"That is strange," mused the Colonel. "I once saw a landscape by Jason +Jones that was considered a fine conception, skillfully executed. That +was the opinion of so good a judge as Captain Seaver himself. +Therefore, for some reason the man's genius must have forsaken him." + +"I think that is true," agreed Alora, "for my mother's estimate of art +was undoubtedly correct. I have read somewhere that discouragement +sometimes destroys one's talent, though in after years, with proper +impulse, it may return with added strength. In my father's case," she +explained, "he was not able to sell his work--and no wonder. So now he +does nothing at all but read, and even that doesn't seem to amuse him +much." + +The Colonel had now remembered that Antoinette Seaver Jones was a woman +of great wealth, and therefore her daughter must be an heiress. What a +shame to keep the girl hidden in this out-of-the-way place, when she +should be preparing to assume an important position in the world. + +"May I ask your age, my dear?" he said. + +"I am fifteen, sir," replied Alora. + +"And your father is the guardian of your fortune?" + +"Yes; by my mother's wish." + +"I suppose you are receiving proper instruction?" + +"None at all, sir. Since I have been in my father's care I have had no +instruction whatever. That isn't right, is it?" + +"What isn't right?" demanded a gruff voice, and all three turned to +find Jason Jones standing in the doorway. + + + +CHAPTER IX +MARY LOUISE SCENTS A MYSTERY + +Colonel Hathaway instantly rose. + +"I beg your pardon," said he. "I am Colonel James Hathaway, an +American, and this is my granddaughter, Mary Louise Burrows. Our +carriage met with an accident on the main road below and we wandered in +here while waiting for repairs and chanced to meet your daughter. You +are Mr. Jones, I believe?" + +He nodded, still standing in his place and regarding his visitors with +unconcealed suspicion. Under his arm he held several books. + +"Who informed you that I was living here?" he demanded. + +"I was wholly unaware of the fact," said the Colonel, stiffly. "I did +not know you were in Italy. I did not know such an important person +existed, strange to say, although I can remember that an artist named +Jason Jones once married Antoinette Seaver, the daughter of my old +friend Captain Robert Seaver." + +"Oh, you remember that, do you?" + +"This is the first time I have had the distinguished honor of meeting +you, sir, and I trust it will be the last time." + +"That's all right," said Jason Jones, more cordially. "I can't see that +it's any of my affair, either way." + +"We have been making the acquaintance of Tony Seaver's daughter, Miss +Alora Jones, in your absence. But we will not intrude farther, Mr. +Jones. Come, Mary Louise." + +"Oh, don't go!" pleaded Alora, catching Mary Louise's arm. And just +then Leona entered with the tea and biscuits. + +"Sit down, man," said Jason Jones in a less aggressive tone. "I've no +objection to your coming here, under the circumstances, and you are our +first visitors in three years. That's often enough, but now that you +are here, make yourself at home. What's happening over in America? Have +you been there lately?" + +He laid his books on a table and sat down. But after that one speech, +which he perhaps considered conciliatory, he remained glum and allowed +the others to do the talking. + +Colonel Hathaway had stayed because he noted the leading look in Mary +Louise's eyes. He was himself interested in Alora and indignant over +her evident neglect. For her sake he would bear the insolence of his +host, an insolence he recognized as characteristic of the man. + +Alora, in her father's presence, lost her fluent speech and no longer +dared mention personal matters to her guests. Both Mary Louise and her +grandfather tried to lead Alora and Jason Jones to speak of +themselves--of their life and future plans--but the man evaded direct +answers and the girl had suddenly become silent and reserved. + +Finally, however, Mary Louise had an idea. + +"We are bound for Sorrento," said she, "where we intend to stay a week +at the Hotel Vittoria. Will you let Alora come to us for ever Sunday, +as our guest? We will drive here and get her the day after to-morrow-- +that's Saturday, you know--and fetch her home on Monday." + +"No," said Jason Jones. + +"Oh, why not, father?" pleaded the girl. + +"You've no fit clothes. I don't want you hanging around Sorrento," he +replied. + +"It will be a nice change for your daughter and it will give us much +pleasure to entertain her," said Mary Louise. + +"It's a capital idea," declared the Colonel positively, and looking the +other man straight in the eye he added: "I am sure you will withdraw +your objections, Mr. Jones." + +The man dropped his eyes, frowning. But presently he said to Alora: + +"Go, if you want to. But keep out of the town. Don't leave the hotel +grounds." + +"Why not?" asked his daughter in a defiant tone. + +"It's not safe. I know Sorrento, and these rascally Italians would be +glad to steal you, if they had the chance, and then blackmail me a +ransom." + +Mary Louise laughed. + +"What a fine adventure that would be!" she exclaimed. "But we will +promise to guard Alora and keep her from the clutches of bandits. I +didn't know there were any left in Italy." + +"To get rid of them you'd have to depopulate the country," said Jason +Jones. "It is no laughing matter, young woman, and--my daughter is +somewhat valuable." + + + +CHAPTER X +MERE SPECULATION + +The driver returned with the wheel. It fitted the axle but was some two +or three inches larger in diameter than the other rear wheel and, +moreover, it was flat on one side, so that when they started to +conclude their journey the motion of the carriage was something +startling--a "rock-a-bye baby ride" Mary Louise called it. + +But the wheels turned and the carriage progressed and when they were +well on their way the girl said: + +"What do you think of that man, Gran'pa Jim?" + +"Do you mean Alora's father, Jason Jones?" + +"Yes, of course." + +"I am surprised at two things," said the old Colonel. "First, it is +curious that Tony Seaver, a rarely cultured woman, should have married +such a man, and again it is amazing that she should have confided her +daughter and her fortune to his care." + +"Do you know," observed Mary Louise, sliding closer to him and dropping +her voice, although there was absolutely no chance of being overheard, +"I scent a mystery in that family, Gran'pa Jim!" + +"That seems to be one of your regular diversions--to scent mysteries," +he replied. "And usually, my dear, the suspicion is unwarranted. The +most commonplace people frequently impress you with the idea that they +are other than what they seem, are leading double lives, or are +endeavoring to conceal some irregularity of conduct. You've a faculty +of reading the natures and characteristics of strangers by studying +their eyes, their facial expressions and their oddities of demeanor, +which is interesting psychologically but too often----" + +"You are unjust, Gran'pa!" declared Mary Louise indignantly. "Didn't +you yourself say there are two curious and surprising things about this +man Jones?" + +"Not exactly. I said it was curious and astonishing that Antoinette +Seaver should have trusted so fully a man who impresses me as a churl. +His own child, little Alora, appears to dislike and even to despise +him, and----" + +"There!" cried Mary Louise. "I'm vindicated. Your observations fully +justify my remark that there's a mystery in that family. Did you notice +the books he brought home and laid upon the table?" + +"No," said Colonel Hathaway, rather bewildered. + +"They were novels by Marie Correlli, H. G. Wells and O. Henry. A +student? Then a student of modern novels, a man who reads and reads to +keep his mind from dwelling on past history. He is a disappointed +artist, to begin with." + +"That is certainly odd," rejoined the old gentleman, reflectively. "The +one picture I ever saw by Jason Jones was certainly good. I remember +that once when I was lunching with Bob Seaver--that was Antoinette's +father, you know--he told me his daughter was interested in a young +artist of exceptional talent, and he took me to a gallery to show me +what this man could do. I am not an art critic, as you are aware, my +dear, but this landscape of Jason Jones appealed to me as delightful. +Captain Bob knew art, and so did Antoinette, so it is evident that +Jones _could_ paint, but for some reason became dissatisfied with his +work and abandoned it. Perhaps his ambition was too lofty for human +skill to realize, yet nothing less would content him." + +Mary Louise sat silent for a while. Then she asked: + +"Did Jason Jones impress you as a man capable of a great ambition? +Would you guess him an artist who had once accomplished admirable +things?" + +"Artists are always peculiar," stated her grandfather. "They must be +temperamental in order to be artists, and temperaments differ widely. +Had I not known something of Jason Jones' history I might have felt, on +making his acquaintance to-day, that he is not an ordinary man. For, +gruff and churlish though he proved, it is undeniable that he has +selected a charming and retired spot in which to live----" + +"Or to hide," she interrupted. + +"Or that, with considerable wealth at his command, he lives simply and +unostentatiously, enjoying nature's choice gifts and content with the +simple life he leads, with only the society of his young daughter." + +"Whom he neglects and refuses to educate properly," declared the girl. +"What makes you think he is wealthy?" + +"I know that Antoinette made millions, after her father died, from the +mines. By current report she retired and invested her money wisely, in +sound securities, which accords with her excellent business reputation. +Her daughter not being of age--let me see: she must have been but +eleven when her mother passed away--there would be a guardian appointed +for the heiress, and Alora told us that it was her mother's wish that +her father act as her guardian. So the conclusion is evident that Mr. +Jones has a large income at his command." + +"All the more reason he should be generous, but he isn't spending much +of it," said Mary Louise. + +"No; he is probably living simply in order that his daughter's fortune +may increase during the years of her minority. That is a point in his +favor, you must admit." + +"Nevertheless," asserted the young girl, "I think there is something +wrong in the Jones family. It isn't due to Alora; she's a dear little +thing, wild and untamed but very lovable, I'm sure; so the fault must +lie with her boorish father. Allowing that once he was a big man, +something has mysteriously soured him and rendered his life hateful not +only to himself but to all around him." + +"Look, Mary Louise; we're getting into Sorrento," said the Colonel. +"Here the road leaves the sea and crosses the plateau to the town. +You'll like Sorrento, I'm sure, for it is one of the quaintest places +in old Italy--and the hotel is really comfortable." + + + +CHAPTER XI +ALORA SPEAKS FRANKLY + +On Saturday forenoon the Colonel engaged a carriage--a substantial one, +this time--and with Mary Louise drove to Jason Jones' villa, so that +Alora might return with them in time for lunch. They did not see the +artist, who was somewhere about the grounds but kept out of view; but +Alora was ready and waiting, her cheeks flushed and her eyes alight, +and she slipped her foreign little straw satchel in the carriage and +then quickly followed it, as if eager to be off. + +"Father is rather disagreeable this morning," she asserted in a sharp +voice, when they were on the highway to Sorrento. "He repented his +decision to let me go with you and almost forbade me. But I rebelled, +and----" she paused; "I have found that when I assert myself I can +usually win my way, for father is a coward at heart." + +It pained Mary Louise to hear so unfilial a speech from the lips of a +young girl. Colonel Hathaway's face showed that he, too, considered it +unmannerly to criticise a parent in the presence of strangers. But both +reflected that Alora's life and environments were unenviable and that +she had lacked, in these later years at least, the careful training due +one in her station in society. So they deftly changed the subject and +led the girl to speak of Italy and its delightful scenery and romantic +history. Alora knew little of the country outside of the Sorrento +peninsula, but her appreciation of nature was artistic and innately +true and she talked well and interestingly of the surrounding country +and the quaint and amusing customs of its inhabitants. + +"How long do you expect to remain here?" asked Mary Louise. + +"I've no idea," was the reply. "Father seems entirely satisfied with +our quarters, for he has no ambition in life beyond eating three simple +meals a day, sleeping from nine at night until nine in the morning and +reading all the romances he is able to procure. He corresponds with no +one save his banker in America and sees no one but the servants and me. +But to me the monotony of our existence is fast becoming unbearable and +I often wonder if I can stand it for three years longer--until I'm +eighteen. Then I shall be my own mistress and entitled to handle my own +money, and you may rest assured I shall make up for lost time." + +They let that remark pass, also, but later in the afternoon, when +luncheon was over and the two girls were wandering in the lovely +gardens of the Hotel Vittoria, while the Colonel indulged in an +afternoon siesta, Mary Louise led Alora to speak freely of her past +life. + +"My grandfather says that your mother must have left you a good deal of +money," she remarked. + +"Yes; mamma told me it was a large fortune and that I must guard it +wisely and use it generously to help others less favored," replied +Alora thoughtfully. + +"And she left it all in your father's keeping?" + +"Not the principal. That is all invested, and thank goodness my father +cannot touch it in any way. But the income is paid to him regularly, +and he may do as he pleases with it. I am sure mamma expected I would +have every reasonable wish gratified, and be taught every womanly +accomplishment; but I'm treated as a mere dependent. I'm almost +destitute of proper clothing--really, Mary Louise, this is the best +dress I possess!--and I've been obliged to educate myself, making a +rather poor job of it, I fear. I read the best of father's books, when +he is done with them, and note carefully the manner in which the +characters express themselves and how they conduct themselves in +society as well as in worldly contact. I do not wish to be wholly +_gauche_ when I come into my kingdom, you see, and the books are my +only salvation. I don't care much for the stories, but some of the good +writers are safe guides to follow in the matter of dialogue and +deportment. Fortunately, father's books are all in English. He doesn't +understand much Italian, although I have learned to speak the language +like a native--like our native servants, you know." + +Mary Louise reflected on this confession. "I'm afraid, Alora dear, that +modern novels are not prone to teach morality, or to develop a girl's +finer intuitions," she said gravely. "I think you express yourself very +well--better than I do, indeed--but you need association with those who +can convey to you the right principles of thought and thus encourage +your mental development. Culture and refinement seem to come more from +association than from books, although there is an innate tendency in +all well-born people to acquire them spontaneously. But there! you'll +accuse me of preaching and, after all, I think you've done just +splendidly under rather trying circumstances." + +"You don't know how trying they are," declared Alora, with a sigh. +"Father and I are wholly uncongenial and we fight on the slightest +provocation. This morning our trouble was over money. I wanted a little +to take with me, for my purse hasn't a _lira_ in it; but, no! not a +_centisimo_ would he give up. He insisted that if I was to be your +guest you would pay all my expenses." + +"Of course," said Mary Louise. "But what does he do with all that big +income? Is he saving it for you?" + +"No, indeed! he's saving it for himself. Mamma told me, the last time I +saw her before she died, that if father was good to me, and kind and +loving, I could provide for him in some way after I came into my money. +She said she would leave the manner of it to my judgment. But he isn't +kind, or loving, or good, and knows very well that when I'm of age +he'll never see another cent of my money. So now he'd hoarding my +income for future use." + +"Isn't it strange that your mother should have trusted him so fully?" +asked Mary Louise. + +"Yes, it does seem strange. I remember her saying that he loved luxury +and all the comfort that money will buy, and so she wanted him to have +this income to spend, because he was my father and because she felt she +had ruined his career as an artist by surrounding him with luxuries +during their early married life, and afterward had embittered him by +depriving him of them. But the man doesn't know what luxury means, Mary +Louise. His tastes are those of a peasant." + +"Yet once your mother loved him, and believed in him." + +"I--I think she believed in him; I'm quite sure she did." + +"Then his nature must have changed. I can imagine, Alora, that when +your mother first knew him he was hard-working and ambitious. He was +talented, too, and that promised future fame. But when he married a +wealthy woman he lost his ambition, success being no longer necessary. +After a period of ease and comfort in the society of his lovely wife-- +for Gran'pa says your mother was very lovely--he lost both the wife and +the luxuries he enjoyed. A big man, Alora, would have developed a new +ambition, but it seems your father was not big. His return to poverty +after your mother's desertion made him bitter and reckless; perhaps it +dulled his brain, and that is why he is no longer able to do good work. +He was utterly crushed, I imagine, and hadn't the stamina to recover +his former poise. He must have been ten years or so in this condition, +despairing and disinterested, when the wheel of fortune turned and he +was again in the possession of wealth. He had now the means to live as +he pleased. But those years had so changed him that he couldn't respond +to the new conditions. Doubtless he was glad, in a way, but he was now +content merely to exist. Doesn't that seem logical, Alora?" + +Indeed, Mary Louise was delighted with her solution of the problem. It +was in keeping with her talent for deducing the truth from meagre facts +by logically putting them together and considering them as a whole. It +was seldom she erred in these deductions. But Alora seemed unimpressed +and noting her glum look Mary Louise said again: "Doesn't all this seem +logical, dear?" + +"No," said Alora. "Father isn't the man to be crushed by anything. He's +shrewd enough, in his _bourgeois_ way. Once, long ago--back in New +York--a woman made him give her money; it was money, you know; and I +have often thought he ran away from America to escape her further +demands." + +"Who was the woman?" + +"My mother's nurse." + +"Oh. Was it her wages she demanded?" + +"Perhaps so. I may have misjudged father in that case. But it seemed to +me--I was a mere child then--that it must have been a larger sum than +wages would have amounted to. Yet, perhaps not. Anyhow, he left America +right afterward, and when we had wandered a year or so in various +countries we settled down here." + +"Won't he have to account for all the money he has spent and given +away, when you come of age?" inquired Mary Louise. + +"No. Mother distinctly told me I was to ask for no accounting whatever. +Her will says he is to handle the income as he sees fit, just as if it +were his own, so long as he provides properly for his daughter and +treats her with fatherly consideration. That's the only reason he keeps +me with him, guarding my person but neglecting the other injunctions. +If he set me adrift, as I'm sure he'd like to do, I could appeal to the +court and his income would cease and another guardian be appointed. I +believe there is something of that sort in the will, and that is why he +is so afraid of losing me. But he gives me no chance to appeal to +anyone, although I sometimes think I shall run away and leave him in +the lurch. If I could get to Chicago and tell Judge Bernsted, my +mother's lawyer, how I am treated, I believe he could make the court +set aside my father's guardianship. But I can't get ten miles away from +here, for lack of money." + +"How your dear mother would grieve, if she knew her plans for your +happiness have failed!" exclaimed Mary Louise. + +Alora frowned, and somehow that frown reminded Mary Louise of the +girl's father. + +"My mother ought to have known my father better," she declared +sullenly. "I must not criticize her judgment, for her memory is my most +precious possession and I know she loved me devotedly. But there is one +thing in her history I can never understand." + +"And that?" questioned Mary Louise curiously, as Alora paused. + +"My mother was an educated woman, well-bred and refined." + +"Yes; Gran'pa Jim told me that." + +"Then how could she have married my father, who is not a gentleman and +never could have impressed a lady with the notion he was one?" + +Mary Louise hesitated, for to admit this would send her deductions, so +carefully constructed, tumbling in ruins. But Alora ought to know the +man. + +"If that is true, dear," said she, "it is the strangest part of your +story; and, of course, we can only guess the reason, for the only one +who could have explained it properly was your mother." + + + +CHAPTER XI +JASON JONES IS FRIGHTENED + +When Alora had retired to her bedroom that night Mary Louise told to +her grandfather, who was her trusted confidant, all that the unhappy +girl had related. + +"Of course," she added, "Alora's explanations dispel my half formed +suspicion that there is some mystery about Jason Jones. I now see that +you were right, Gran'pa Jim, to laugh at me when I suggested such a +thing, for in truth the man is easily understood once you become +acquainted with his history. However, I now dislike him more than +ever." + +"In justice to Jason Jones," remarked the old Colonel, "we must acquit +him of being a hypocrite. He doesn't attempt to mask his nature and a +stranger is bound to see him at his worst. Doubtless Antoinette Seaver +understood the man better than we are able to and sixteen years ago, or +so, when he had youth, talent and ambition, his disagreeable +characteristics were probably not so marked. As for Alora, she is +strongly prejudiced against her father and we must make due allowance +for her bitterness. The feeling probably arose through her sudden +transfer from the care of a generous and loving mother to that of an +ungracious father--a parent she had never before known. A child of +eleven is likely to form strong affections and passionate dislikes." + +"Do you know," said Mary Louise, "it shocks me, this hatred of her +father. It seems so unnatural. I wish we could bring them to understand +one another better, Gran'pa Jim." + +"That might prove a difficult task, my dear," he replied with a smile, +gently stroking her hair the while, "and I do not think we are +justified in undertaking it. How many times during our travels, Mary +Louise, has your impulsive and tender heart urged you to assume the +burdens of other people? You seem to pick up a trail of sorrow or +unhappiness with the eagerness of a bloodhound and I have all I can do +to call you off the scent. One small girl can't regulate the world, you +know, and in this case we are likely to see very little of Alora Jones +and her artist father. We will be nice to them during the few days we +are here, but we must soon move on or we'll never get home for your +birthday, as we have planned." + +Mary Louise sighed. + +"You're almost always right, Gran'pa Jim," she admitted; "but in all +our European travels I've not met so interesting a person as Alora, and +she's an American girl, which draws us still closer together. I'm going +to make her promise that when she's of age and her own mistress she +will let me know, and come to us for a visit. Wouldn't that be all +right, Gran'pa?" + +He assured her it would be quite proper and that he also admired Alora +and was sorry for her. + +On Sunday forenoon they went to the cathedral and in the afternoon took +a boat to the blue grottoes. In the evening there was a concert in the +hotel. All that day the two girls were arm in arm and chatting +together, developing their mutual liking, while the old Colonel trudged +along in their wake and was generally ignored in the conversation. On +Monday they planned an excursion to Capri, "For you won't mind if we +don't get you home until after dinner, will you?" asked Mary Louise. + +"Not at all," said Alora. "I want to make the most of this vacation." + +"Her father may mind, however," suggested the Colonel. + +"I don't care whether he does or not," retorted the girl, tossing her +head. "He has no consideration for me, so why should I consider him?" + +"I don't like that attitude, dear," said Mary Louise frankly. "I--I +don't wish to be snippy, you know, but you should not forget that he is +your father." + +"That," replied Alora doggedly, "is merely my misfortune, and I'm not +going to allow it to ruin all my life." + +On Monday morning they had scarcely finished breakfast when Jason Jones +appeared at the hotel, having driven over from the villa in his little +automobile--a tiny foreign contrivance that reminded one of a child's +cart but could cover the ground with considerable speed. They were +sitting on the big piazza when Alora's father came striding up to them +with a white, fear-struck face. In his trembling hands he held the +morning Naples newspaper and without a word of greeting he said +abruptly: + +"Have you heard the news?" + +Colonel Hathaway rose and bowed. + +"Good morning, Mr. Jones," said he. "I do not read the local +newspapers, for my knowledge of Italian is indifferent." + +"So is mine," responded the artist, "but I know enough of their lingo +to make out that Italy has entered this fool war. She's going to fight +the Austrians," he continued, his voice shaking nervously, "and do you +know what that will mean, sir?" + +"I can't imagine," replied the Colonel calmly. + +"It means that presently we'll have all that horde of Germans +overrunning Italy. They'll conquer this helpless land as sure as fate, +and we'll all be burned out and tortured and mutilated in the fiendish +German way!" + +"My dear sir, you are frightened without warrant," declared Colonel +Hathaway. "It will take some time to conquer Italy, and I cannot +imagine the Austrians acting as you suggest." + +"Back of the Austrians are the Germans, and those Prussians are worse +than wild American Indians," insisted Jones. "If they got their +clutches on my daughter it would be more horrible than death and I +don't propose to leave her in danger a single minute. I'm going to quit +this country. I've come for Alora. We must pack up and catch the first +ship from Naples for America." + +There was blank silence for a moment. + +"I'm not afraid," said Alora, with a laugh, "but if it means our +getting out of this tiresome place and sailing for home, I'm glad that +Italy's gone into the war." + +Colonel Hathaway was grave and thoughtful. The agitation of the artist +seemed to increase with every moment. + +"When does the next boat for America leave Naples?" asked Mary Louise. + +"Tuesday," said Alora's father. "We've just time to pack our +possessions and leave." + +"Time!" cried his daughter, "why, I can pack all my possessions in an +hour. Go home, sir, and fuss around as much as you like. I'll join you +some time this evening." + +He gave her a queer look, hesitating. + +"We are surely safe enough for the present," remarked the Colonel. "The +first act of war will be to send all the soldiers to the north border. +The fighting will be done in the Trentino for some time to come." + +"You don't know these people," said Jones, shifting uneasily from one +foot to another. "They're all brigands by nature and many of them by +profession. As soon as the soldiers are sent north, all law and order +will cease and brigandage will be the order of the day!" + +"This is absurd!" exclaimed the Colonel, testily. "You're not talking +sense." + +"That's a matter of opinion, sir; but I know my own business, and I'm +going to get out of here." + +"Wait a week longer," suggested Mary Louise. "We are to sail ourselves +on the boat that leaves Naples a week from Tuesday, and it will be nice +for Alora and me to travel home together." + +"No; I won't wait. Get your things, Alora, and come with me at once." + +"Have you made reservations on the boat?" inquired Colonel Hathaway, +refusing to be annoyed by the man's brusque words and rough demeanor. + +"I'll do that at once, by telephone. That's one reason I came over. +I'll telephone the steamship office while the girl is getting ready." + +"I will go with you," said the Colonel, as the artist turned away. + +While Jones used the telephone booth of the hotel Colonel Hathaway +conversed with the proprietor, and afterward with the hall porter, who +was better posted and spoke better English. + +"This is outrageous!" roared the artist, furiously bursting from the +booth. "To-morrow's boat is abandoned! The government requires it as a +transport. Why? Why? Why?" and he wrung his hands despairingly. + +"I do not know, sir," returned the Colonel, smiling at his futile +passion. + +The smile seemed to strike Jones like a blow. He stopped abruptly and +stared at the other man for a full minute--intently, suspiciously. Then +he relaxed. + +"You're right," said he coldly. "It's folly to quarrel with fate. I've +booked for a week from Tuesday, Hathaway, and we must stick it out till +then. Do you take the same boat?" + +"That is my intention." + +"Well, there's no objection. Now I'll go get Alora." + +But Alora, hearing of the postponed sailing, positively refused to +return home with him, and Mary Louise, supporting her new friend, urged +her to extend her stay with her at the hotel. Strangely enough, the +more he was opposed the more quiet and composed the artist became. He +even ceased to tremble and an odd apathy settled over him. + +"The hall porter," said the Colonel, "thinks this is the safest place +in Italy. The troops have been on the border for months and their +positions are strongly fortified. There is no brigandage outside of +Sicily, where the Mafia is not yet wholly suppressed." + +Jones grinned rather sheepishly. + +"All right, take his word for it," said he. "And if you'll be +responsible for the girl you may keep her till we're ready to sail. +Perhaps that's the best way, after all." Then, without a word of +good-bye, he entered his little motor car and started down the +driveway. + +"A strange man," said the Colonel, looking after him. "I wonder if it +really was the war that frightened him--or something else--or if he was +actually frightened at all?" + +Alora laughed. + +"You can't guess father, try as you may," she said. "Usually he is cold +as ice, but once in awhile he gets these wild fits, which I find rather +amusing. You can't understand that, of course, but if you were obliged +to live under the same roof with Jason Jones you would welcome his +outbursts as relief from the monotony of contemptuous silence." + + + +CHAPTER XII +SILVIO'S GOLD + +Jason Jones urged his little car to its best speed until he gained his +villa. Entering the ground, he was confronted by his factotum, the +Italian, Silvio. + +He sprang out and approached the man. + +"Is the prisoner safe?" he whispered. + +"Certainly, Signore." + +"Is she still in the grape-house?" + +"With the wine presses, Signore." + +"And she can't get out?" + +"Unless she becomes small, like a rat, Signore." + +Jones glanced around suspiciously, then fixed his gaze on a little +outbuilding of stone, with a tiled roof, which stood quite removed from +the others of the group. + +"Has she screamed, or cried out?" he asked the man. + +"Not since I put her in, las' night, Signore." + +"Good. You've fed her?" + +"The plenty. She eat very well. It's a nice lady, Signore." + +"She's dangerous. Listen, Silvio: we must keep her there a week +longer." + +"If I am jailer a week, I mus' double my price," he asserted, shrugging +his shoulders. + +"Nonsense!" + +"The lady will offer me more to let her out. She say so." + +"What! You'd betray me?" + +"Not if I have the gold--here, in my hand--_now,_ Signore." + +Jones grew red and then white. He eyed the man wickedly. He scowled, +and Silvio smiled pleasantly. Silvio was big for an Italian; big and +brawny; as his smile faded his face assumed a look of stubborn +determination. + +"So you want the gold now, Silvio?" + +"At once, if it please the Signore. The gendarmes are ugly if the law +is broken. Their jails are not as pleasant as the grape-house. So the +gold must be twice the amount we had spoken of, Signore." + +"And you will promise she shall not escape; that you'll keep her safe +until--until I tell you to let her go?" + +"That is our bargain, Signore." + +Jones sighed regretfully. + +"Very well, then, Silvio," he said. "You're a robber--the son of a +brigand--the spawn of a bandit! But come with me to the house, and you +shall have your gold." + +* * * * * * * * + +Alora stayed all that week with Mary Louise, hearing nothing of her +father and almost forgetting her unhappiness in the society of her +delightful new friend. It was Sunday evening when the Colonel and Mary +Louise drove their guest over to the villa and the two parties did not +see one another again until they met on the deck of the steamer in +Naples on the following Tuesday morning. + +The Joneses came aboard very quietly just at the last moment and at the +gang-plank Alora's father was confronted by a grimy Italian boy who +handed him a letter. Without pausing to read it, Jones hurried below, +and he kept his stateroom until the ship was well out in the blue +Mediterranean, on its way to Gibraltar and New York. But no one missed +him, for Alora and Mary Louise were happy at being reunited and Gran'pa +Jim was happy in seeing them happy. + + +CHAPTER XIII +DORFIELD + +In one of the middle-west states there is a delightful little city +called Dorfield. It hasn't so many thousand inhabitants, but in all its +aspects and its municipal equipment it is indeed a modern city. It has +factories and a big farming community to support its streets of neat +and progressive shops, and at the west side of the business district is +a residence section where broad, wooded streets furnish the setting for +many cozy homes. Some of the houses are old and picturesque, and some +are new and imposing, but each has its flower-lit garden, its fruit and +shade trees and its little garage or barn tucked away in the back yard. + +When you come to Oak Street there is a rambling frame house on the +corner, set well back, where Peter Conant, the lawyer, lives with his +good wife and his niece Irene Macfarlane, who is seventeen. This is one +of the ancient dwellings of Dorfield, for the Conants are "old +inhabitants." Right next them stands a more modern and expensive, if +less attractive, mansion, with grounds twice as large and a velvet lawn +that puts the Conants' carelessly-cropped grass to shame. But the two +families are neighbors and friends nevertheless, for in the new house +lives Colonel James Hathaway and his granddaughter Mary Louise Burrows. +At least, they live there when at home and, although they seem +persistent ramblers, they are glad to have this refuge to return to +when wearied with traveling and sight-seeing. + +One morning in June Mr. Conant was just seating himself at the +breakfast table when a messenger-boy delivered a telegram--a "night +letter" from New York. The lawyer, a short, thick-set man of middle +age, with a stern countenance but mild blue eyes, laid aside his +morning paper and read the telegram with his usual deliberation. Mrs. +Conant silently poured the coffee, knowing any interference would annoy +him. Irene, the niece, was a cripple and sat in her wheeled chair at +the table, between her uncle and aunt. She was a pleasant-faced, happy +little maid, consistently ignoring her withered limbs and thankful that +from her knees up she was normal and that her wheeled chair rendered +her fairly independent of assistance in all ordinary activities. +Everyone loved Irene Macfarlane because of her brave and cheery +acceptance of her misfortune, and her merry speech and spontaneous +laughter rendered her, as "Aunt Hannah" often declared, "the light of +the house." Irene was, moreover, an intimate and highly valued friend +of her next door neighbor, Mary Louise Burrows. + +Mr. Peter Conant, sipping his coffee reflectively, read the lengthy +telegram a second time. Then he said, somewhat irritably and chopping +his words into distinct syllables, as was his habit at all times: + +"I wonder why people imagine a lawyer's duties cover every phase of +life? My clients use me as a real-estate agent, a horse trader, a +purchasing agent, a father confessor, an automobile expert, a medical +adviser, and sometimes--in their simplicity--as a banker!" + +"What's wrong now, Peter?" inquired Mrs. Conant with wifely sympathy. + +"Colonel Hathaway wants to know--" + +"Oh, is Mary Louise coming back?" cried Irene eagerly. + +He frowned at her. + +"What does the Colonel wish to know, Peter?" + +"I object to this unwarrantable cross-examination," said he. "It is +customary to first allow one to state his case." + +"Forgive me, Uncle Peter!" + +"Take your time," said Aunt Hannah, composedly buttering the toast. +"You will, anyhow, and I'm sure Irene and I have both learned to curb +our feminine curiosity." + +He glanced at the telegram again. + +"Do you know if the Pelton place has been rented, my dear?" + +"The Pelton place? Why, it wasn't rented yesterday, for I passed by +there and saw the rent sign still in the window. Mr. Harlan is the +agent." + +"I know. And where can we find a female house-servant, Hannah?" + +"Now, see here, Peter; it's all very well for you to keep your own +counsel, when there's a professional secret to be guarded, but if you +want any help from me you've got to open your mouth and talk out +plainly, so I can answer you in a sensible way." + +"You're always sensible, Hannah," he observed, quite unruffled by her +demand. And then he ate a whole slice of toast and drank his coffee and +handed his cup for more before he spoke another word. + +Irene devoted herself to her breakfast. She knew Uncle Peter's ways and +that it was useless to attempt to hurry him or force him to explain, +until he was quite ready to do so. Aunt Hannah bided her time. Peter +was a thoughtful man, and he was doubtless thinking. His wife was not +only a clever helpmate but was noted for her consideration of her +erratic spouse. + +"The Colonel," said Mr. Conant at last, "has run across a man who wants +to make his home in Dorfield. A very sensible idea. The Colonel met the +man in Europe. The man----" + +"What's the man's name?" inquired Mrs. Conant. + +He referred to the telegram. + +"Jones. Jason Jones." + +"I never heard of him." + +He looked at her reproachfully. + +"Why should you, my dear? The Colonel found the man in Europe. We live +in Dorfield. The man, it seems, has a daughter----" + +"Oh, goody!" cried Irene. + +"Who has become a friend of Mary Louise, therefore the Colonel wires to +ask if there is a furnished house to rent at a modest price and if a +competent female servant can be secured for the man and his daughter. +He requests me to wire an answer promptly. That is the gist of the +telegram, although the Colonel, in his usual extravagant way, has paid +for more words than were required to express his meaning." + +"And what are you going to do about it?" demanded Mrs. Conant. + +"I am endeavoring to gain information from my wife." + +"Very well. What does he mean by 'a modest price'? The Pelton place is +expensive. The rent is sixty dollars a month, while a comfortable house +like that of the Widow Harrington rents for fifteen dollars, with good, +solid furniture." + +"Is Mrs. Harrington's house for rent?" he asked. + +"Yes. She'll go to live with her married daughter as soon as she can +find a tenant. The poor creature needs the money, and her house is just +around the corner from here and her back yard backs up to the Colonel's +back yard. Now, the Pelton place is two blocks from here, and the +Peltons don't need the money, because they're already too rich and +aristocratic to live in Dorfield any longer." + +"H-m-m!" murmured Mr. Conant. "It occurs to me that a friend of Colonel +Hathaway might desire a more luxurious home than that of the Widow +Harrington." + +"Doesn't the telegram say 'a modest price'?" + +"It does. I'll quote both places and let the man Jones take his choice. +And how about the female servant, Hannah?" + +"Leave that to me; I can hire plenty. But if Mr. Jason Jones takes the +Pelton place he will want one kind of a servant, and if he takes Mrs. +Harrington's house he'll want a different sort." + +He gazed at her admiringly and passed his cup again, saying: + +"You've a logical mind, my dear. Had you been a man you might have +become a fairly good lawyer." + +"No, Peter; not another drop. You've two cups already." + +"Are you sure, Hannah?" + +"Absolutely positive!" + +"Then," said he, rising with a sigh, "I'll go to the office." + +To Mr. Conant's disappointment, to Mrs. Conant's delight, to Irene's +satisfaction and the astonishment of all, Mr. Jason Jones selected Mrs. +Harrington's modest house and ordered it rented and prepared for his +arrival on the following Thursday. This was conveyed in a second +telegram from Colonel Hathaway, who requested the lawyer to inform old +Uncle Eben and Aunt Sally, the Colonel's own faithful colored servants +and caretakers, that he and Mary Louise would return home on the same +day. + +"You see," said Aunt Hannah, triumphantly, "I sized the Joneses up +pretty well. It isn't necessary for a man to be rich to be a friend of +the dear Colonel, for he considers a man, rather than a man's +pocketbook." + +"Yet a man who can afford to travel abroad, with his daughter," began +Mr. Conant, argumentatively, "should certainly be able and willing----" + +"What do you know about him, Peter? Perhaps he has spent his ready +money in Europe and is now obliged to economize. Unless that is the +case, why does he come to a sleepy little town like Dorfield, which is +almost forgotten by the big world, to settle down?" + + +"Why, he's the Colonel's friend," retorted the lawyer, stiffly. + +"And Mary Louise is his daughter's friend," said Irene. "That accounts +for it, of course, and they couldn't have picked a prettier place. +Dorfield may be sleepy, and quiet, and half forgotten by the rest of +the big world, but it's simply delightful as a residence. Didn't +Colonel Hathaway choose it for a home? And the Colonel could afford to +live at the Waldorf-Astoria, if he wanted to." + +"I know why you are pleased, Irene," remarked Aunt Hannah, smiling upon +her niece. "You're going to have another girl friend." + +"She won't be as nice as Mary Louise, though," was the reply. "There's +no girl in the world as sweet and lovely as Mary Louise!" + +"Or one that innocently gets into more trouble," declared Mr. Conant. + +"That," said Aunt Hannah, "is because she can't let other people's +troubles alone." + + + +CHAPTER XIV +HOME AGAIN + +Mr. Conant, who was Colonel Hathaway's lawyer and confidential agent, +was at the train to meet his important client on his return to +Dorfield. The first to alight from the coach was the Colonel, who +greeted his lawyer with a cordial handclasp. Mary Louise kissed Peter +Conant upon his impassive cheek and presented him to a pretty young +girl who clung to her arm smiling, yet half bewildered by her arrival +in a strange town. There seemed no one else with the party and Mr. +Conant glanced over the crowd of passengers and said: + +"Mr. Jones did not accompany you, then?" + +"Why, yes; I suppose he's here," answered the Colonel carelessly. "I +believe he traveled another car." + +"I don't see him anywhere," added Mary Louise. "I wonder if anyone +reminded him that this is the place to get off?" + +"Never mind," said Alora; "if father can't keep track of himself, let +him go on to another station. I can't lose him for long, that's +certain." + +"There he is, up ahead," announced Mara Louise. "He's quarreling with +his porter about something." + +"To save the tip," suggested Alora, scornfully. + +Mary Louise rushed to greet an old colorful man with snow-white hair, +who was picking up their hand baggage. + +"Oh, Uncle Eben, I'm so glad to see again!" she exclaimed. "And how's +Aunt Sallie? And is my pony well? And are the goldfish still alive? +And----" + +"Bress yo' soul, Ma'y Weeze!" said the delighted old servant, +"ev'body's well an' joyful to see you-all back ag'in." + +The Colonel shook Uncle Eben's hands--both of them--in a kindly but +dignified manner. "I suppose the automobile is still running, Uncle?" + +"Not jes' dis yere minnit, Kun'l," with a glad chuckle, "but dat car's +gwine ter run jes' as soon as we-all gits aboahd. What yo' think I's +be'n doin' all winter, Kun'l, in dat lonesomeness house, 'cept keepin' +dat car greased up?" + +"Did you grease it in the house, then, Uncle?" asked Mary Louise +gravely, but with twinkling eyes. + +Old Eben chuckled again, for this was a happy hour for him, but while +he chuckled he led them to where the automobile stood waiting. Behind +the others slowly followed Jason Jones, carrying his own luggage and +eyeing every detail of his surroundings in the manner of a countryman +paying his first visit to town. He was inwardly sizing up Dorfield as a +place of residence. When Jones got into the car the Colonel briefly +introduced him to the lawyer. + +"This is Mr. Jones, Mr. Conant." + +He looked at the lawyer and gave a slight nod, and Mr. Conant's bow was +very stiff and formal. Already he had, with fair accuracy, grasped the +relationship of the man to the others. Alora Jones seemed a fine girl-- +the right sort--and Mary Louise was evidently fond of her. The Colonel +barely tolerated the man Jones, whom he did not like, for the +daughter's sake. The girl herself lacked in respect for her father, and +this unfilial attitude seemed condoned by both Mary Louise and the +Colonel, which was evidence that there was something wrong about Jason +Jones. With such a cue for guidance, Mr. Conant decided he had no use +for Jason Jones, either. + +Uncle Eben first drove the car to the Widow Harrington's cottage, where +Mrs. Conant awaited the new tenants to introduce them to their servant +and to assure them that everything was prepared for their convenience. +Then they drove to Colonel Hathaway's home, where Irene was at the gate +in her wheeled chair, a bunch of her choicest roses in her hand, ready +to welcome her friend Mary Louise and to be kissed and hugged with +girlish enthusiasm. + +It was a happy homecoming, indeed, for Mary Louise. And Colonel +Hathaway breathed a deep sigh of relief as he entered his own portals. + +"From now on," he said to his granddaughter that evening, "I am under +no obligation to assist that impossible person, Jones, or to even +associate with him. For your sake, my darling, I have suffered the +infliction of his presence with fortitude, even going to the extent of +locating him in our beloved town of Dorfield, that you and Alora might +enjoy one another's society. But from this time forward Jason Jones is +to be a distant acquaintance rather than a companion. Congratulate me, +Mary Louise!" + +"I do, Gran'pa Jim," she replied soberly, "and I thank you, too. It has +been a trial for both of us, but we've been really helpful to poor +Alora. I want to try to bring a little happiness into her life and +encourage her to become as sweet and lovable a girl as she has the +nature to be, and this could never have been accomplished had we +allowed her to drift in the sole companionship of her disagreeable +father." + + + +CHAPTER XV +THE PUZZLE BECOMES INTRICATE + +Alora formed an immediate friendship for crippled Irene Macfarlane, +first based on sympathy and afterward on genuine admiration. That one +condemned to pass her entire life in a wicker wheel-chair should be so +bright and cheerful, with no word of protest or even a reference to her +own misfortune, was deemed wonderful by Alora, and she soon found that +Irene had an excuse or explanation for every seeming annoyance her +friends suffered and delighted to console them. At the same time she +allowed no one to console her, because she declared she needed no +consolation. + +Such a disposition invited confidence, and soon Irene knew more of +Alora's past history, including her trials and tribulations, than even +Mary Louise had yet learned, and was shocked and grieved at the girl's +vengeful defiance of her father, due to his neglect and coldness as +well as to his contemptible selfishness. But Irene had an excuse ready +even for the artist. + +"Poor Mr. Jones!" she said one day, when the three girls were together +and had been discussing Alora's troubles; "think what a trial must have +been to him to be saddled with the care of a child he had not seen +since babyhood and had no especial interest in. As for affection +between them, it could not sprout nor grow because there was no mutual +understanding to germinate it. Your father's life, my dear, had been +wrecked by his separation from your mother and the money meant little +to him at that period of his life when you were left to his care. But +did he refuse the obligation so inconsiderately thrust upon him? No. +Although a man of reserved nature--almost a recluse--self absorbed and +shrinking from association others, he accepted the care of an eleven +year old child and, without being able to change his disposition to +suit her requirements, has guarded her health and safety ever since." + +"So that he can use my money," added Alora, with a shrug. + +"But you admit that he doesn't squander money on himself." + +"I don't know what he does with it. If he wants books, he buys them; he +bought a rickety automobile in Italy and never took me to ride in it; +but his extravagance seems to end there. I've read some letters that he +left around, showing that he is investing thousands in his own name-- +what for, I can't guess, as he is too miserly ever to have a use for +it." + +"Well, he may be intending to endow some deserving charity," suggested +Irene. "And, as for his not loving you, Alora, I fancy you have never +tried to win your father's love." + +"No one could love that man." + +"You have never been able to get beneath his reserve. You came to him +from a luxurious life, a petted and pampered child, and his simple +tastes and unemotional nature repelled you from the first. Is it not +so?" + +"I'm not sure, Irene. I needed sympathy and affection. Had my father +been different, had he shown love for me, or even fatherly +consideration, I would have responded eagerly. But he ignored me. There +has never been any companionship between us. He has guarded my personal +safety because I was of financial value to him. Once, when I contracted +a fever, he was really worried, and hired a skillful doctor and a +trained nurse; but he never entered my sickroom. When I was well, he +reproached me for costing him so much money. I told him it was my +money, and he was costing me more than I could ever cost him. I +reminded him he would have been a beggar, but for my income, and that +shut him up at once." + +"There's the whole trouble," declared Irene. "Constant friction and a +lack of consideration for one another. Such remarks could not have made +him more gracious toward you, Alora, and you did not appreciate his +care in furnishing you with the means of recovery." + +"Had I died," said the girl, "my fortune would have gone to a bunch of +third-cousins whom I have never seen. That would have stopped father's +right to the income, you see." + +Irene sighed and Mary Louise smiled. It was almost impossible to defend +Mr. Jones consistently, with Alora present to accuse him. + +The artist at first took little interest in his new home. The cottage +was small and not very cheerful, but it was cheap, and all that Jason +Jones seemed to care for was a place to stay that was not expensive. He +continued his reading and had a book in his hand from morning till +night. He seldom left the cottage except for a trip to the public +library or to a book-store, and never spoke to anyone unless it was +necessary. + +Their maid was Jane Gladys O'Donnel, stout and good-natured, an +indifferent cook and rather untidy. She was twenty years old and the +eldest of a large and impoverished family. Her mother was a laundress-- +"took in washin'"--and her earnings, with the wages of Jane Gladys, +must suffice to feed many hungry mouths. That was why Mrs. Conant had +hired Jane Gladys. Aunt Hannah knew the girl was not very competent, +but she was cheap, so Mr. Jones accepted her without protest. Alora had +lived so long abroad that she did not know what a competent American +housemaid is. + +One forenoon--they had now been a month at Dorfield--Mr. Jones was +seated on the little front porch, reading as usual, when a queer +buzzing in the air overhead aroused his attention. + +"What's that?" he called sharply, and Jane Gladys, who was dusting in +the little room behind him, replied: + +"That, sor, is only Steve Kane's flyin' machine." + +"A what?" + +"A flyin'-machine, sor. Kane has a facthry fer makin' the crazy things +in the town yonder--over by the South Side." + +"Indeed!" He got up and went into the yard to watch the far-away speck +in the sky that was humming so persistently. "Why, there's another! +There are two of them," he exclaimed, as if to himself. + +"There might be a dozen, sor, 'cause there's a school for airy--airy-- +airy-flyin' over by Kane's facthry, where they teaches the folks to fly +that buy the machines." + +He stood a long time, watching the sky. When the last aeroplane had +disappeared he resumed his reading. But the next day he watched for the +machines again, abandoning his book to follow the course of the flyers. + +"Where did you say that factory is located?" he asked Jane Gladys. + +"Over by the gas works, sor, be the South Side. Ye takes the Ellem +street car, at the four corners. On a Sunday there be crowds a-watchin' +the air-divils." + +He started to read again, but gave it up and glanced nervously up and +down the little porch. Jane Gladys noted this with surprise, for he was +usually quiet and unobservant, "like th' toad in th' garden, what +squats under a bush all day an' fergits he's alive till a fly lights on +his nose," as she expressed it to the family at home. + +After lunch Mr. Jones went to town and after making inquiries took the +car to the aviation works and field. He watched the construction of +flying machines in the factory and saw one or two pupils take short +flights in the air. And Jason Jones was so interested that he was late +to dinner that evening. + +Next day he was at the aviation field again, and from that time he +haunted the place, silent and composed but watching every detail of +manufacture and listening to the experts as they instructed the pupils. +These were not many--three altogether--although Stephen Kane's +aeroplane was now admitted to be one of the safest and most reliable +ever invented. And one day one of the instructors, noticing the silent +man who had watched so long, invited him to take a flight, thinking +perhaps to frighten him; but Jason Jones promptly accepted the +invitation and with perfect composure endured the strange experience +and returned to ground with heightened color but no other evidence of +excitement. Could Alora have seen him that day she would have acquitted +him of cowardice. + +But Alora knew nothing of her father's odd fancy for some time after he +became interested in aeroplanes. She was not often at home during the +day, frequently taking lunch with Mary Louise or Irene and passing much +of her time in their company. She had no interest whatever in her +father's movements and Jane Gladys didn't think to mention the matter +to her, for "flyin'-machines" had ceased to be a novelty in Dorfield +and the sound of their buzzing through the air was heard many times a +day. But in turning over a pile of her father's books one day in his +absence, Alora found several treatises on aviation and was almost +startled to find that Jason Jones cared for any reading aside from +light novels. + +She had been hunting, at the time, for a novel to read herself, so +turning from the aviation literature to a shelf of fiction she began +searching for an interesting title. Presently, as she drew out one of +her father's books, it opened by accident at a place where a letter had +been tucked in--a letter written on soiled and coarse paper of a +foreign make. It was addressed: "Sig. Jaysn Jones, at the Steamer +Hercules to sail for New York, U.S.A." Opening it, she found it signed: +"Silvio Alleghero." + +That was their man-servant in Italy, so with a smile of anticipated +amusement she read the letter. It was brief, indeed, but the girl's +expression soon changed to a puzzled look, for the scrawl said: + +"Honored Signore: At your command I have this morning, three hours +after your departure for Naples, allowed the prisoner to escape." + +"How funny!" she exclaimed, knitting her brows. "I can't remember any +prisoner at the villa. Perhaps it was the cat. It would be just like +Silvio to consider the release of a cat a important event." + +She replaced the letter in the book and after selecting another novel +forgot Silvio's epistle entirely. + +Another time, when Alora happened to be at home for their noon-day +luncheon and her father did not appear, Jane Gladys quietly remarked in +answer to her query that "th' ol' man was prob'ly over to the +flyin'-machine works." + +"Does he go there often?" she asked in surprise. + +"Why, he mostly lives there," asserted the maid. + +Alora laughed, and afterward told Mary Louise, as a bit of humorous +gossip, that the man who had heretofore failed to find any interest in +life had at last succumbed to the fascination of the aeroplane. + +"Well, I'm glad of it," said Mary Louise. "I've often wondered, Lory, +how your father could be so infatuated with novel-reading, absorbing +stories of human interest, if they have any interest at all, with such +avidity, while the real people all around him failed to interest him at +all. I have thought perhaps he read to keep his mind from--from other +things that it would make him unhappy to dwell upon." + +"I have thought so, too," replied Alora, musingly. "And this queer +fancy of his for a new and unusual invention may serve the same +purpose. But I, too, am glad he has found a diversion that will keep +him away from home. That barn of a cottage will become more homelike +without his eternal presence." + +Peter Conant, the lawyer, had paid little heed to Jason Jones since the +latter's arrival in Dorfield. He had heard his wife and Irene gossip +about the girl and her father and state that Alora was an heiress and +Mr. Jones merely the guardian of her fortune until she came of age, but +his legal mind decided that the girl's "fortune" must be a modest one, +since they lived so economically and dressed so plainly. Colonel +Hathaway, who might have undeceived him in this regard, seldom spoke to +the lawyer of anything but his own affairs and had forborne to mention +Mr. Jones and his personal affairs in any way. + +Therefore Mr. Conant was somewhat surprised when one morning Jason +Jones called at his office and asked for an interview. The lawyer was +busy that day, and attaching little importance to his caller he +demanded brusquely: + +"Well, sir, what can I do for you?" + +The man seated himself and glanced around the room before replying. The +big desk, littered with papers, the cabinet files and stiff chairs +seemed to meet his approval. In the outer office a girl was busily +clicking a typewriter. + +"You are Colonel Hathaway's lawyer, I believe?" said Jones. + +"I have that honor, sir." + +"That's why I came to you. The Colonel is a prosperous man and has +judgment. I want your advice about investing some money." + +Peter Conant regarded him with a speculative gaze. The thought flashed +through his mind that if Jones had any money to invest he might better +buy himself a new necktie and have his shoes repaired, or even invest +in a new dress for his daughter, who needed it. But he merely said in +his peculiar way of chopping each word off short as he uttered it: + +"How much have you to invest?" + +"Not a great deal at this moment, but I am I constantly receiving +dividends and interest on my daughter's securities and so, if I am +going to live in Dorfield, I shall need a lawyer to advise me how to +reinvest the money, as well as how to make out the papers properly. I +don't want to make any mistakes and get robbed--even by my lawyer. But +I'll pay you a fair price. Perhaps I should explain that while the +income is derived from my daughter's property the investments are to be +made in my name." + +"Why so?" + +"The income belongs to me, by my dead wife's will, as long as Alora is +alive and in my keeping. When the girl is eighteen she will manage her +own affairs, and I'll be quit of her--and out of any further income, as +well. So I'm investing now to secure my future." + +"I see. How old is your daughter at this time?" + +"Fifteen." + +"So you've three years more to grab the income." + +"Exactly." + +"How much money do you wish to invest to-day?" + +"Twelve thousand dollars." + +Peter Conant sat up straight in his chair. + +"And you say this is but part of the income?" + +"The estate is valued at nearly two million dollars." + +The lawyer gave a low whistle of amazement. Beside this enormous sum, +even Colonel Hathaway's holdings shrank into insignificance. + +"You surprise me," he said. "I imagine, then, that you can afford to +live somewhat better than you do." + +"That is none of your business." + +"True. Good day, Mr. Jones." + +"Eh?" + +"I won't accept you as a client." + +"Why not, sir?" + +"Thank you for asking. In the first place, I don't like you," said +Peter Conant. "Nor do I approve of your treating your daughter--a great +heiress--as you do, and hoarding all her enormous income for your +personal use. You're not toting fair. It is an unjust arrangement and +I'll have nothing to do with it." + +Jason Jones sat still and stared at him. + +"Good day, sir!" repeated the lawyer, curtly. + +The man did not move. Peter turned to his papers. + +"See here," the artist presently remarked; "let's come to an +understanding. I don't like you, either. You're insulting. But you're +honest, and I think I could trust you." + +"I'm not especially honest," retorted the lawyer, "but I'm particular. +I don't need clients, and I don't want a client I'm ashamed of." + +Still the man did not offer to go. Instead, he reflected for awhile in +his stolid, unemotional way, while Peter Conant frowned and examined +the papers on his desk. + +"I believe you'll see the thing in a different light if you read my +wife's will," said Jones. "I've brought a copy of it with me, thinking +it might help you to understand my affairs." + +"Is it an attested copy?" asked the lawyer, turning around again. + +"Yes." + +"Let me see it." + +Mr. Conant decided to read the will, with the idea that he might find +in it some way to assist Alora. When he had finished the document he +was disappointed. Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones, a woman clever enough +to make a fortune, had been foolish enough to give her former husband +autocratic power over her money during her daughter's minority. Had the +man been a gentleman, the folly would have been mitigated, but Jason +Jones, in Mr. Conant's opinion, was a selfish, miserly, conscienceless +rascal. Enjoying a yearly income that was a small fortune in itself, he +had neglected to educate his daughter properly, to clothe her as +befitted her station in life or to show her ordinary fatherly +consideration. Affection and kindness seemed foreign to the man's +nature. He handed the will back and said: + +"You have taken an unfair advantage of the confidence reposed in you by +your dead wife, who doubtless loved her child. Legally your actions +cannot be assailed, but morally they should ostracize you from decent +society. As I said before, I do not want your business. I'll have +nothing to do with you." + +Jones remained unruffled. + +"I'm a stranger in the city," he remarked. "Perhaps you will recommend +me to some good lawyer." + +"No. There are a score of lawyers in town. Make your own choice." + +The man rose and put on his hat. + +"I said you were honest, and I was right," he calmly remarked. "I'll +say now that you are a fool, and I'm right in that, also," and with +these words he walked away. + +That was his only protest to the humiliating rebuff. He showed no +anger. He did not seem annoyed. He simply rode down in the elevator, +examined the directory, and selected another lawyer in the same +building. + + + +CHAPTER XVI +ALORA WINS HER WAY + +Mary Louise decided that Alora Jones improved on acquaintance. There +were many admirable traits in her character that had lain dormant until +developed by association with two girls of her own age who were +themselves gentle and considerate. It is true that Alora at times was +still headstrong and willful and unable to bridle her tongue when +irritated, but neither Mary Louise nor Irene ever reproved her by word +or look, so that she grew ashamed of her outbursts and when at home her +father aroused her to anger she fled to her girl friends and sought in +their companionship the antidote to her vexation. The two friends had +decided it was unwise to comment on Alora's unhappy family relations +and soon she discovered this and refrained from burdening them with her +home quarrels. + +No one could witness Irene's patient resignation to misfortune without +admiring her character and being touched by her bravery and gentleness, +and association with this crippled girl was softening Alora's hard and +defiant nature wonderfully. Had the association continued it might have +redeemed the prospective heiress from many of the faults she had +acquired through years of neglect and rebellion against fate, but the +close triumvirate of girl friends was suddenly dissolved, early in +July, by no less a person than Will Morrison--a wealthy and kindly +natured gentleman who was a friend of both the Conants and Colonel +Hathaway. + +Will Morrison had purchased a yacht; it was anchored in the breakwater +near the Chicago Yacht Club, and its owner intended making a summer +trip through the Great Lakes and cordially invited the Conants and +Irene, and Mary Louise and Colonel Hathaway to accompany his party. + +Unfortunately, Mrs. Conant at that time was ill. She had contracted a +lingering but mild form of spring fever that would keep her in bed for +weeks, and Irene, who was devoted to her aunt, would not leave her to +the mercies of a nurse. Mary Louise wanted to go, though, for the +Morrisons were delightful people and any yacht they purchased would be +sure to be safe and comfortable. + +Since the Conants could not go, Mary Louise suggested to her +grandfather that they ask Will Morrison to invite Alora Jones, and the +Colonel approved the idea because he thought it would do Alora much +good to mingle with refined people such as were sure to form the yacht +party. So, when he answered Mr. Morrison's letter, he told him +something of Alora and asked permission to fetch her along. + +"I'm not at all sure," he said to Mary Louise, "that Mr. Jones will +permit Alora to go with us." + +"Nor am I," the girl replied; "but perhaps Alora can coax him to +consent. It might be a good idea for you to ask him, too, Gran'pa Jim." + +"My dear!" he remonstrated, "do you think I ought to hazard that man's +sneers and insults, even to favor your friend Alora?" + +"No; I do not, Gran'pa Jim," she laughingly rejoined. "That was a +foolish suggestion, and I withdraw it. If Alora fails, I'll speak to +him myself. I'm not afraid of Jason Jones, and he doesn't growl at me +as he does at poor Lory." + +They did not mention the proposal to Alora until the Colonel had +received a telegram from Will Morrison saying: "By all means invite +Miss Jones to join us. Knew her mother, once, and will be glad to have +her with us." + +Alora was delighted at the prospect of a yachting trip and decided at +once that she would go, especially as Colonel Hathaway said she would +be Mary Louise's guest on the trip to Chicago and no money would be +needed for expenses. So she attacked her father in a somewhat original +manner. + +Mr. Jones had conceived a passion for flying and had just purchased an +aeroplane. He was to begin his lessons at once and was so thoroughly +immersed in his strange fancy that he paid little heed to anything +else. His books were neglected. His former quiet life--amounting almost +to physical inertion--had given place to a nervous and all-consuming +desire to master the rather strenuous art of aviation. Alora was quite +unaware of this transformation, for as usual Jason Jones kept his own +counsel and followed his inclinations without conference with anyone. +The girl knew that her father haunted the aviation field, but anything +that kept him amused away from home was gratefully approved by her. + +Usually the two breakfasted together in silence. Lately Mr. Jones had +hurried through with the meal so as to get away, and he did not return +for lunch. So on this important morning Alora said casually: + +"I'm going away for three or four weeks." + +"Where to?" he asked sharply, suddenly rousing from his abstraction. + +"I'm going on a yachting trip with Mary Louise and Colonel Hathaway. +We're to be the guests of a Mr. Morrison and his wife, who own the +yacht." + +"Morrison? Morrison?" he repeated suspiciously. Then, as if relieved: +"I don't know any Morrisons." + +"Nor do I. They are old friends of the Hathaways and the Conants, +however." + +"Well, you can't go. It's nonsense." + +"Why?" + +"Yachts are dangerous. I don't want you drowned." + +"I'd be as safe on a yacht as I would be in this house," she declared. +"Do you think I intend to take any chances with my life? Please +remember that when I'm eighteen I shall have a fortune and be able to +lead an independent life--a pleasant life--a life in sharp contrast to +this one. Therefore, I'm going to live to enjoy my money." + +He gave her a shrewd look of approval. The argument seemed to appeal to +him. It quieted, to an extent, his fears for her safety. + +"Anyhow," said Alora bluntly, "I'm going, and I dare you to stop me." + +He was silent a while, considering the proposition. Just now he would +be busy at the aviation field and in Colonel Hathaway's charge the girl +was likely to be quite safe. He was inclined to relax his vigilance +over his precious daughter, on this occasion. + +"How long do the Hathaways expect to be away?" he inquired. + +"Mary Louise says we will surely be home three weeks from the day we +leave." + +"Surely?" + +"Without fail." + +"H-m-m. It's a risk. Something might delay you. Do you know what would +happen if you left me for sixty days or more?" + +"Of course I do. That will of my mother's states that if at any time my +devoted father develops any neglect of me, or lack of interest in his +darling daughter, such as allowing me to become separated from him for +longer than sixty days at one time, the court has the privilege, at its +option, of deposing him as administrator of my estate and appointing +another guardian. The other guardian, however, is to be paid a salary +and the income, in that case, is to accrue to the benefit of my +estate." + +"How did you learn all that?" he demanded. + +"You left a copy of the will lying around, and I read it and made a +copy of it for myself. I now know my mother's will by heart. She +suggests that if we must live together, 'in loving companionship,' you +will probably have me educated by tutors, at home, and her objection to +girls' schools--I wonder why?--was the principal reason she inserted +the clause that we must never be separated. It would prevent you from +sending me away to school. But as for the tutors, I haven't yet made +their acquaintance." + +"Tutors cost money," he said in a surly tone. + +"I realize that; and while there is an abundance of money, the will +states that it is to be entirely in your control. But we've quarreled +on that subject too many times already, without your loosening your +grip on the dollars. To get back to our subject, I assure you I shall +not be gone longer than twenty-one days, and the trip won't cost you a +single penny." + +"When did you propose going?" + +"We take the noon train on Monday for Chicago." + +He got his hat and left the house without another word, leaving Alora +exultant. She hurried over to tell Mary Louise the good news. + +"Did he really consent?" asked Mary Louise. + +"Well, he didn't forbid it," said the girl, "and that's the same +thing." + + + +CHAPTER XVII +THE DISAPPEARANCE + +The train was late getting into Chicago that Monday night. Colonel +Hathaway took Mary Louise and Alora to the Blackington, but the hotel +was so crowded that the girls could not get adjoining rooms. However, +they secured rooms just across the hall from one another and the +Colonel's room was but two doors removed from that of his +granddaughter, so the three were not greatly separated. + +"Never mind, dear," said Mary Louise, as she kissed her friend good +night; "to-morrow we go aboard the yacht, and that will be our home for +a long time." + +"What time will you breakfast?" asked Alora. + +"Well, we're up late, and Gran'pa Jim likes to sleep mornings. Can you +fast until half-past eight, Alora?" + +"Yes, indeed," with a laugh. "I'm used to somewhat early hours, so I +shall probably be dressed by seven. But I'll find plenty to amuse me +until you are up, and I'll knock on your door at eight-thirty." + +But in the morning Alora failed to knock on Mary Louise's door, as she +had promised. The Colonel was ready for breakfast, having enjoyed a +good night's rest, and Mary Louise said to him: + +"Alora probably slept later than she expected to. Shall I risk wakening +her, Gran'pa Jim?" + +"I think so," he replied. "She has slept long enough, for a young +girl." + +Mary Louise ran across the hall and knocked at the door of 216. She +knocked again, for there was no answer. She did not dare call out, for +fear of disturbing other guests of the hotel. The Colonel now came and +rapped upon the panels, but without any better result. + +"I think she must have left her room and is perhaps in the parlor, or +in the hotel lobby," he said. + +A chambermaid was passing through the hall and overheard the remark. + +"The party in 216 has been up a long time, sir," she asserted. "I found +the door ajar at six o'clock, and so I went in and made up the room." + +"Poor Alora!" exclaimed Mary Louise laughingly; "she was too excited to +sleep, and, as you say, we shall probably find her somewhere about the +hotel, enjoying the sights." + +But they could not find the girl anywhere in the hotel. After a long +and careful search for her, Colonel Hathaway left word at the desk that +if his room or Mary Louise's room was called, to report that they would +be found in the breakfast room. + +The old gentleman was distinctly annoyed as they sat down to breakfast. + +"The foolish girl is wandering about the streets, somewhere," he +complained, "and it was unmannerly to leave the hotel without +consulting me, since she is our guest and in my care." + +Mary Louise's sweet face wore a troubled expression. + +"It is not like Alora, Gran'pa Jim," she asserted in defense of her +friend. "Usually I have found her quite considerate." Then, after a +pause: "I--I hope nothing has happened to her." + +"Don't worry," he replied. "She's a wide-awake girl and has a tongue in +her head, so she can't get lost. Why, Mary Louise, Alora knows the city +well, for she used to live in Chicago with her mother." + +"Until she was eleven. That was four years ago. But I did not think of +her getting lost. The automobiles, you know, are so thick----" + +"Yes, dear; and there's the lake, and the railroad crossings, and the +street cars; but the chances are against our little friend's being +drowned or run over, especially so early in the day, when there isn't +much traffic. Again I ask you not to worry." + +But Mary Louise couldn't help worrying. They lingered over the +breakfast, but Alora did not join them. Then they waited around the +hotel until nearly noon, without receiving a word from her. Finally +Colonel Hathaway, too, became nervous. He telephoned the central police +station to inquire if a young girl of Alora's description had met with +an accident. There was no record of such an accident, but in half an +hour a detective came to the hotel and asked for the Colonel. + +"Tell me all the particulars of the young lady's disappearance, +please," he requested. + +When he had received this information he said: + +"Let us go to her room." + +The key to No. 216 had not been turned in at the office, but was +missing. With a pass-key they unlocked the door of Alora's room and +found her suit case open, her toilet articles lying upon the dresser +and her nightrobe neatly folded ready for packing. Her hat was missing, +however, and the little jacket she wore with her tailored suit. + +The detective touched nothing but examined the room and its contents +with professional care. + +"Let us call the chambermaid who made up the room," he suggested. + +The woman was easily found and when she appeared the detective asked: + +"Did you fold this nightrobe, or did you find it already folded?" + +"Why, it was lyin' careless-like over the foot of the bed," said she, +"so I folded it up." + +"Why didn't you hang it in the closet?" + +"The clerk had notified me the room would be vacated to-day. So I knew +that when the young lady came back she'd want to pack it in her grip." + +"And at what time did you find the door ajar?" + +"At six-ten, sir. I come on duty at six." + +"You did not see Miss Jones?" + +"No, sir--if that were the lady's name." + +"You found no one prowling about the halls?" + +"Didn't see a soul, sir." + +"Thank you; that's all." + +When she had gone the detective said to the Colonel in a reassuring +tone: + +"I wouldn't worry, sir, although I'll admit this prolonged absence of +Miss Jones is puzzling. But perhaps she has gone to call on an old +friend and will presently return and apologize. I remember her mother-- +a remarkable woman, sir--who used to live at the Voltaire. She had a +lot of friends in Chicago, did Mrs. Antoinette Seaver Jones, so it's +likely her daughter is looking some of them up." + +"I wish you would do all you can to locate her," pleaded Colonel +Hathaway. "The young girl was placed in my care by her father and I +feel personally responsible for her safety." + +"She's safe enough, sir. No sign of a struggle in her room; no report +of an accident in the city. Went out of her own volition and will +probably come back the same way, when she's ready. I'm going back to +the office now, but I'll instruct our men to keep a good lookout for +Miss Jones. If we hear anything, I'll let you know at once. In the +meantime, if the girl happens to turn up, you must telephone me of the +fact." + +He handed the Colonel his card and went away. + +"This is dreadful, Gran'pa Jim!" exclaim Mary Louise. "That man can't +help us a bit. What do you think we ought to do?" + +"Why, we've done all in our power, already, it seems to me," he +answered. "The police will keep a good lookout for Alora." + +"I've no confidence in that detective." + +"Why not, my dear? He seemed quite courteous and gentlemanly." + +"But he isn't especially interested. He didn't probe far enough into +the case. He never asked why the key to Alora's door was missing, yet +the maid found the door ajar--half open," said Mary Louise. "Would she +take the key and leave the door open?" + +"Why--no; that _is_ strange, Mary Louise." + +"The detective didn't inquire at the office whether the night clerk had +seen Alora pass through and go out. But _I_ inquired, Gran'pa, and the +night clerk goes off duty at six o'clock, when the relief clerk comes +on, but neither saw any girl at all leave the office. No one was in the +hotel lobby, at that hour." + +"That is strange, too! How could Alora get out, otherwise?" + +"I can't guess. Gran'pa, I'm going to telegraph Josie O'Gorman, and ask +her advice," said Mary Louise. + +"Do. It's a good idea, Josie might put us on the right track," approved +the Colonel. + +So Mary Louise went to the telegraph office in the hotel lobby and sent +the following message: + +"Josie O'Gorman, +1225 F Street, +Washington, D. C. + +"A girl friend has mysteriously disappeared from the Blackington, where +we are stopping. What shall I do? +Mary Louise Burrows." + +Two hours later she received this answer: + +"Miss Mary Louise Burrows, +Hotel Blackington, Chicago. + +"Notify police at once. Keep cool. I'm coming. +Josie O'Gorman." + +Mary Louise felt tremendously relieved when she read this. Josie was a +girl of her own age, but she was the daughter of one of the most +celebrated secret service men in the employ of the United States +government, and John O'Gorman had trained Josie from babyhood in all +the occult details of his artful profession. It was his ambition that +some day this daughter would become a famous female detective, but he +refused to allow her to assume professional duties until she had become +thoroughly qualified to excel. He did not wish her to be ordinary, but +extraordinary, and Josie's talents, so far, had seemed to justify his +expectations. Mary Louise knew Josie very well and admired and loved +her, for in her amateur way Josie had once helped to solve a stubborn +mystery that threatened the happiness of both the old Colonel and his +granddaughter, and through this experience the two girls had become +friends. Josie O'Gorman was devoted to Mary Louise, who knew she could +rely on Josie's judgment in this emergency but had scarcely expected +her to come all the way from Washington to Chicago to render her +personal assistance. + +In appearance the young girl--who was destined some day to become a +great detective--was not especially prepossessing. She was short of +form and inclined to be stout--"chubby," she called herself. She had +red hair, a freckled face and a turned-up nose. But her eyes, round and +blue and innocent in expression as those of a baby, dominated her +features and to an extent redeemed their plainness. + +Mary Louise hurried to the Colonel. + +"Gran'pa Jim," she cried excitedly, "Josie is coming!" + +"That is very good of her," replied the Colonel, highly pleased. "Josie +is very resourceful and while she may not be able to trace Alora she +will at least do all in her power, and perhaps her clever little brain +will be able to fathom the mystery of the girl's disappearance." + +"She tells us to notify the police, but we did that at once. I don't +know of anything else we can do, Gran'pa, until Josie comes." + +Colonel Hathaway communicated with the police office several times that +day and found the officials courteous but calm--prolific of assurances, +but not especially concerned. This was but one of a number of peculiar +cases that daily claimed their attention. + +"I should hire a private detective, were not Josie coming," he told +Mary Louise; "but of course it is possible we shall hear of Alora, +directly or indirectly, before morning." + +But they did not hear, and both passed a miserable, wakeful, anxious +night. + +"There is no use in our consulting Alora'a father, for the present," +remarked the old gentleman, next morning. "The news would only worry +him. You remember how very particular he was in charging me to guard +his daughter's safety." + +"Yes, and I know why," replied Mary Louise. "Alora has told me that if +she is lost, strayed or stolen for sixty days, her father might be +relieved of his guardianship and lose the income he enjoys. Now, I +wonder, Gran'pa Jim, if Alora has purposely lost herself, with +mischievous intent, so as to get rid of her father, whom she abhors?" + +The Colonel considered this thoughtfully. + +"I think not," he decided. "The girl is impulsive and at times +reckless, and doubtless she would like to be free from her father's +guardianship; but I am sure she is too fond of you, and has too much +respect for me, to run away from us without a word. Besides, she has no +money." + +"Really," said Mary Louise despondently, "it is the strangest thing I +ever knew." + +Josie O'Gorman arrived at the hotel at six o'clock in the afternoon, +having caught the fast train from Washington the evening before. She +came in as unconcernedly as if she had lived at the hotel and merely +been out to attend a matinee and greeted the Colonel with a bright +smile and Mary Louise with a kiss. + +"My, but I'm hungry!" were her first words. "I hope you haven't dined +yet?" + +"Oh, Josie," began Mary Louise, on the verge of tears, "this +dreadful----" + +"I know, dear; but we must eat. And let's not talk or think of the +trouble till our stomachs are in a comfortable condition. Which way is +the dining room?" + +Neither the Colonel nor Mary had eaten much since Alora's +disappearance, but they took Josie in to dinner, realizing it would be +impossible to get her to talk seriously or to listen to them until she +was quite ready to do so. And during the meal Josie chattered away like +a magpie on all sorts of subjects except that which weighed most +heavily on their minds, and the little thing was so bright and +entertaining that they were encouraged to dine more heartily than they +otherwise would have done. + +But afterward, when they had adjourned to a suite that had now been +given them, and which included a cosy little sitting room, and after +the Colonel had been ordered to light his cigar, which always composed +his nerves, the O'Gorman girl suddenly turned serious and from the +depths of an easy chair, with her hands clasped behind her red head, +she said: + +"Now to business. Begin at the beginning and tell me all there is to +tell." + +"Haven't I written you something about Alora, Josie?" asked Mary +Louise. + +"Never mind whether you have or haven't. Imagine I've forgotten it. I +want every detail of the girl's history." + +So Mary Louise told it, with a few comments from her grandfather. She +began with their first meeting with Alora and her eccentric father in +Italy, and related not only all the details of their acquaintance but +such facts as Alora had confided to her of her mother's death and her +subsequent unhappy relations with her father and guardian. Alora had +often talked freely to Mary Louise, venting in her presence much +bitterness and resentment over her cruel fate--as she deemed it. So, +knowing Josie's desire to obtain the most seemingly trifling detail of +a case, Mary Louise told the story as connectedly and comprehensively +as possible, avoiding all personal comment so as to leave Josie's mind +free from prejudice. + +During the recital Josie sat very still, with closed eyes, reclining +lazily in her chair and refraining from any interruption. + +"Now, Colonel," she said, "tell me all that Mary Louise has forgotten +to mention." + +"She has told you more than I knew myself," he declared. "Of course we +informed the police of our friend's disappearance and they sent a +detective here who went into the affair very carefully. Yet, so +far----" + +"I know," said Josie, nodding. "I called at the police station before I +came here, on leaving the train. The detective is Al Howard, and he's a +nice fellow but rather stupid. You mustn't expect any results from that +source. To be sure, the department might stumble on a clew, but the +chances are they wouldn't recognize it, even then." + +"I'm certainly surprised to hear that!" said the Colonel. + +"Because you are ignorant of police methods. They mean well, but have +so much to handle, in a big city like this, that they exist in a state +of perpetual bewilderment." + +"But what are we to do?" pleaded Mary Louise. "Tell us, Josie!" + +"How do _I_ know?" asked the girl, with a smile. "I'm just Josie +O'Gorman, a student detective, who makes as many blunders--alas!--as a +full-fledged 'tec.' But I thought I'd be able to help, or I wouldn't +have come. I've a personal interest in this case, Mary Louise, because +it's your case and I love you. So let's get to work. Have you a +photograph of Alora Jones?" + +"No," was the reply. + +"Then give me a word picture of her." + +Both Mary Louise and the Colonel tried to do, this, and Josie seemed +satisfied. + +"Now, then," she said, rising, "let's go to her room. I hope it hasn't +been disturbed since she left it." + +"The police have taken the key and forbidden anyone to enter the room." + +"Quite proper. But we'll go there, just the same." + +The room was but a few steps away, in the same corridor, and when they +arrived there Josie drew a bunch of slender keys from her purse and +unlocked the door with no difficulty. Having entered, she turned on the +electric lights and cast a curious glance around. + +"Let's read Alora's room," said she, while her companions stood +listening. "To begin with, we see her night-dress nicely folded and her +toilet articles arranged in neat order on the dresser. Chambermaid did +that, for Alora is not neat. Proving that her stuff was just strewn +around and the orderly maid put things straight. Which leads to the +supposition that Alora was led away rather suddenly." + +"Oh, do you think so?" + +"She left the door ajar, but took the key. Intended, of course, to lock +her room, but was so agitated by what she saw or heard that she forgot +and just walked away." + +"But no one saw her leave the hotel," observed Mary Louise. + +"Then she didn't pass through the office, but through the less used +Ladies' Entrance at the side." + +"That was not unlocked, they told me, until after seven o'clock." + +"Then she left by the servants' entrance." + +"The servants'!" + +"Quite likely. You'll say she didn't know anything about it, or where +it was; but the fact remains that Alora left the hotel. I'd like to see +that chambermaid. I believe you told me she comes on duty at six +o'clock in the morning. All right. I'll catch her at six a. m. +to-morrow." + +"The detective interviewed her," stated Colonel. + +"I know, and she answered all his questions. My questions will be +different. If Alora used the servants' entrance, she went out with a +servant or with someone who knew the ways of the hotel intimately." + +"I don't see that," objected Mary Louise. + +"Nor do I, but there lies our trail. Alora didn't pass out through the +office, nor did she make her exit through the less public Ladies' +Entrance. There are only two other ways to get out of here: through the +baggage door and by the servants' entrance at the rear, which lets into +an alley. The head porter will know whether Alora went out the baggage +door, but as it's usually very high--on a level with the platform of a +baggage-wagon--I don't believe she jumped it. That leaves the servants' +entrance as the probable exit for our missing one, and as she was a +perfect stranger to the arrangements of this hotel, she couldn't have +gone that way unless someone guided her. So our course is clear, Mary +Louise. Find out who enticed Alora from the hotel and it won't be +difficult to trace her and discover what has become of her." + +"Enticed, Josie?" + +"Had force been used, she would have screamed and attracted attention. +Let us say she was decoyed." + +"You think, then, that Alora was kidnapped?" + +"Let us reason. The girl couldn't have had an enemy in Chicago, +according to her history, for she was only eleven when she left here +and no one hates an eleven year old child. Having no enemy, she has +doubtless escaped personal harm. But Alora is an heiress, and a lot of +people in Chicago know that. You suggest kidnapping. Well, perhaps +that's the solution: held for ransom." + +"That would be the first idea of Jason Jones!" exclaimed Mary Louise. +"He has always seemed afraid of such a thing." + +"In that case, however, I do not believe her father would pay a +ransom," declared Colonel Hathaway. + +"Oh, indeed he would!" asserted Mary Louise, emphatically; "we mustn't +forget that if Alora isn't found and restored to him within a given +time he will lose all her income for the next three years." + +Josie looked at her friend admiringly. Then she laughed. + +"You're a better detective than any of us," she remarked. "What I've +been groping for is the _object_ of the abduction, and you've hit the +nail squarely on the head. Now we're getting down to brass tacks, so to +speak. The whole thing is explained by the one word--'blackmail.' Girl +disappears; papa is threatened with the lose of thousands. Very well, +Papa! pay up. Relinquish a part of the income and you may keep the +rest. Refuse, and you lose it all. Ergo, papa pays." + +"That certainly seems a logical conclusion," admitted the Colonel. + +"Then," said Josie, thoughtfully, "we must decide whether to put it up +to Mr. Jones, and let him pay, or to go on with the search." + +"We'll go on!" exclaimed Mary Louise. "We may be wrong, and poor Alora +may be in danger, or suffering. We must rescue her as soon as +possible." + +"The girl was in my care," said the Colonel, "and I feel responsible +for her safety. Moreover blackmail is a crime against society, and the +plot should be foiled even were we not interested in the victim of it. +I am anxious to find Alora before her father is approached." + +"Then," Josie decided, "we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts +to locate and recover her. If we have diagnosed the case correctly, we +have to deal with a shrewd and unprincipled, if not clever person. +Cleverness, too, we may encounter, and then our task will be doubly +hard." + +"Poor, dear Alora!" sighed Mary Louise. "It's a shame she should suffer +because some cruel person wants her father's money. The fortune her +mother left her has been a _mis_fortune to her daughter, instead of a +blessing." + +"Money," said Josie sententiously, "is a dangerous thing. Its +possession, or the lack of it, leads to four-fifths of the world's +crimes. The other one-fifth is charged to hatred and jealousy. But-- +dear me!--here I am philosophizing, when I ought to be thinking." + +"Then think, Josie, and think to some purpose," pleaded Mary Louise. + +"If our hastily constructed theory is correct," remarked John +O'Gorman's daughter, "Papa Jones will soon hear from Alora's abductor, +with a financial proposition." + +"I hope we shall find her before then," returned the Colonel earnestly. +"We ought not to delay an instant, with that idea in view. Indeed, our +theory may be quite wrong and Alora be in desperate need of immediate +assistance." + +"Correct, sir," agreed Josie. "But we won't abandon our theory until we +evolve a better one and in following this lead we must first discover +who in Chicago is aware of the terms of the will of Antoinette Seaver +Jones. Also who is familiar enough with Papa Jones' love of money to +believe he can be successfully blackmailed. What information can either +of you give me along those lines?" + +"Alora has talked to Irene a good deal about that dreadful will," +replied Mary Louise, "Irene has repeated many of her statements to me. +Also Alora has frankly spoken to me, at times, and her queer history +has interested us all. But I cannot remember that any such person as +you describe is in any way mixed up with the story. Judge Bernsted drew +up the will for Alora's mother. He was her lawyer, and she trusted him +fully." + +"She was justified," declared Josie. "I know of Judge Bernsted, by +reputation. He died a year ago." + +"Then," continued Mary Louise, reflectively, "there was Mrs. Jones' +doctor, who was very kind to Alora and who also enjoyed her mother's +confidence. His name was Anstruther--Dr. Anstruther." + +"He is a prominent physician in Chicago," declared Josie, who seemed to +know every important person of every locality, for this had been part +of her education. "It is impossible that Dr. Anstruther could have any +knowledge of this plot. Moreover, it doesn't seem to me like a man's +plot. I don't believe Alora would have accompanied a strange man, under +any circumstances, for she's knocked around the world enough to have +learned prudence. The crime is feminine. What woman knew of this will, +and was an intimate friend of Mrs. Jones, or of Mr. Jones?" + +"Really," said Mary Louise, "I don't know." + +"Nor you, Colonel?" + +"I do not recollect hearing of any woman connected with the Jones +history--except Alora's former governess, a Miss Gorham, who was +discharged by Mr. Jones at the time he took his daughter from Chicago +to New York." + +"That isn't such a bad clew!" Josie quickly returned, sitting up +straight and staring reflectively at the old gentleman. "Miss Gorham, +eh? Now, how long had she been Alora's governess?" + +"For some years, I believe." It was Mary Louise who answered this +question. + +"Then she doubtless knew the family secrets. Was Alora fond of her?" + +"I think not. She has told me that at the time they separated she was +glad to be rid of the woman." + +"Then the woman may be the kind that would resort to blackmail. +Discharged from a good place, where she had drawn pay for years, she +would be angry. Brooded during the last four years on her imagined +wrongs and figured out a neat revenge. Had sized up Papa Jones and knew +he clung to money with a desperate grip and would pay some rather than +lose all. Couldn't get another job; was poor; had no money to chase up +Jones, but figured he would some time return to Chicago and give her an +opportunity play her game. Discovered that Alora had arrived at this +hotel, and----See here! What would prevent the former governess, now in +reduced circumstances, from being employed as a servant in this very +hotel? Perhaps as a night chambermaid. May have seen Alora enter her +room and recognized her former pupil. During the long night she figured +and planned how to take advantage of the fortunate circumstances. Early +in the morning, before she left here, went to Alora and in some way +induced the girl to go out with her. Alora would accompany her old +governess without suspicion. So--there's the whole story, in a +nutshell, rather cleverly figured out." + +"Oh, Josie, it must be true!" cried Mary Louise, who had eagerly +followed this plausible reasoning. + +"And it may not," laughed Josie. "It's just a theory, and good +detectives distrust theories, which often befog clever brains. Still, +the deduction sounds mighty logical. I'm going to my room, now, to give +the suggestion some serious thought. I'll try to tear it to pieces, or +at least to pick holes in it. When I came away Daddy said to me: +'Josie, beware that imagination of yours. If it asserts itself, sit on +it.' Daddy was glad to have me tackle the case, and try to help you, +for these little affairs give me practice; but he hates to have me make +a flat failure. So, for dear old Daddy's sake, I'm not going to let any +good-looking theory lead me astray. Good night. You'd both better go to +bed, for I can see you had little sleep last night. But your strain +must now relax, for you've pushed the responsibility onto my poor +little shoulders and now it's up to me to worry." + + + +CHAPTER XVIII +ON THE TRAIL + +Josie O'Gorman loved mysteries for their own sake. She loved them +because they required solutions, and to solve a mystery is not only +interesting but requires a definite amount of talent. Since she was a +wee thing perched on her father's knee, Officer O'Gorman had flooded +her ears with the problems he daily encountered, had turned the +problems inside out and canvassed them from every possible viewpoint, +questioning the child if this, or that, was most probable. By this odd +method he not only enjoyed the society of his beloved daughter but +argued himself, through shrewd reasoning, into a lucid explanation of +many puzzling cases. To his pleased surprise, as little Josie grew +older she began to answer his questions, taking a part in his +professional arguments with himself, and from that time her training as +a detective began. + +John O'Gorman had never been quite sure whether his fatherly adoration +unduly influenced him or whether Josie was indeed an exceptionally +talented girl; so, having firmly determined to train her to become a +girl detective, he had so far held her in leash, permitting her to +investigate various private cases but refusing to place her in +professional work--such as the secret service--until she had gained +experience and acquired confidence in herself. Confidence was the one +thing Josie lacked most. She took her mistakes too much to heart. + +The girl was full of enthusiasm, however, and now meant to untangle the +mystery of Alora Jones if it were possible to do so, both to please +Mary Louise and to enjoy the satisfaction of success. After saying good +night to her friends, and before going to her own room, the girl +wandered about the big hotel making casual inquiries and obtaining more +or less useful information. Afterward, she sat in her room and arranged +in her mind the complete history of Alora, so far as she was informed +of it, and made notes of all facts which seemed to bear on the present +problem. + +Next morning she inquired for the housekeeper and found that lady +seated in her little office on the third floor of the hotel. + +"I'm trying to trace one of the servants who left you Monday night, or +early Tuesday morning," she said, after informing the woman that she +was engaged in tracing the missing girl, Alora Jones. "I am not sure +what name you knew her by, but her real name was Gorham." + +"No one has left us this week," returned the housekeeper, who seemed +disposed to converse freely with her visitor. + +"Are you sure of that?" + +"Why, I'm positive. We treat our help well and they seldom leave us. +I'm sure no woman employed in this hotel, down to the lowest kitchen +scullion, has resigned or been discharged during the last few days." + +"And there is no one still in your service named Gorham?" + +"No one. It's an unusual name and I should have remembered it." + +"Do any of the guests ever use the servants' entrance?" + +"Certainly not. It is reserved exclusively for the employees. Some of +our guests have private maids, who occasionally use the rear entrances, +and Mrs. Tolliver's trained nurses are allowed to pass out that way, +too; but----" + +She stopped abruptly, as if some new thought had occurred to her. + +"What is it?" asked Josie, who was watching her face. + +"Why, I have just recollected that Mrs. Tolliver's night nurse did not +show up Tuesday evening, for some reason, and they were obliged to +telephone for another." + +"Who is Mrs. Tolliver?" + +"One of our permanent guests, who is suffering just now from a severe +attack of rheumatism. She employs two trained nurses, a day nurse and a +night nurse." + +"And the night nurse left her post Tuesday morning and did not return +in the evening, as she was expected to do?" + +"That's it, miss. Mrs. Tolliver was greatly annoyed, but fortunately +she was able to secure another nurse at once." + +"What was the nurse's name--the one who abandoned her job without +notice?" + +"Let me see. It wasn't Gorham. I'll call Alice, my assistant; I feel +quite sure that she will know." + +Alice promptly answered the bell and on being questioned said: + +"The nurse was Mrs. Orme. She'd been with Mrs. Tolliver ever since she +was took sick, and was the best nurse she's had." + +"Why did she leave?" asked Josie. + +"I don't know, miss, I'm sure. She were a quiet body, never sayin' much +to no one. But quite ladylike, she were, an' most of us liked her." + +"Can you describe her?" + +"Well, she isn't tall--not so very tall, you know--an' she's got a good +form an' good manners. I take it she's about thirty-five, an' handsome +for her age. Good eyes, but mostly looks down an' don't show 'em. Very +neat an' tidy. Brown hair. She wore gray clothes, you know--the reg'lar +nurse's uniform." + +"Do you know where Mrs. Orme lives?" + +"No, miss; haven't the faintest idea." + +"Who is Mrs. Tolliver's doctor?" + +"The house physician, Dr. Pease. His office is No. 633, in this hotel." + +"Thank you, Alice." + +Josie hunted up Mary Louise. + +"Have you ever heard that a trained nurse named Mrs. Orme is in any way +connected with Alora's history?" she asked. + +"No; I'm pretty sure Alora has never mentioned such a person. What +about her, Josie? + +"I think Alora went away with her. Have you any description of Miss +Gorham, the governess?" + +"Not especially," said Mary Louise, trying to remember. "Alora has +sometimes referred to her as 'Old Skinny,' but that doesn't mean +anything." + +"It means she isn't Mrs. Orme, anyhow," answered Josie, in a +disappointed tone. + +Mary Louise considered this in her usual careful way. She would like to +help Josie, if she could. + +"Who do you suppose this Mrs. Orme could be?" she presently asked. + +"Some one whom Alora knew years ago, when her mother was alive. Of +course her name may not have been Orme, then, and she may not have been +a trained nurse. That's why I was inclined to connect her with Gorham." + +"Wait a minute, Josie! A nurse, do you say? Why, I remember something +about a nurse, no--Alora's mother's nurse. When we were in Italy, where +I first knew Alora, she told me that her father, at one time when they +lived in New York, had been forced to give money to a woman, and Alora +believed he had left America to escape this person's further demands. +When I asked who the woman was, she said it was her mother's nurse; but +I'm pretty sure she didn't mention her name." + +Josie's freckled face now wore a broad smile. + +"How simple any enigma proves when you have the key," she remarked, +with an air of relief. "The mystery is solved, my dear! It's all as +easy as A. B. C." + +"In that case," said Mary Louise, more mystified than ever, "kindly +oblige me with the key." + +"With pleasure. You haven't given me much time to forge a chain, so +I'll add each link as it occurs to me. Mrs. Jones, during her last +illness, had a nurse; a good nurse, too, in whom she had confidence. +When Mrs. Jones sent for her husband, from whom she had been estranged, +the nurse was aware of the action. When the husband came--Alora's +father--without doubt the nurse remained in the sick room during the +interview. Husband and wife quarreled, instead of making up--this guess +is justified by the man's disagreeable disposition--and Mrs. Jones +hastily wrote a codicil to her will and gave it into the nurse's +keeping, with instructions to deliver it to her lawyer. Then the poor +lady over-excited, lay back and died, and the man Jason Jones--realized +that his lack of diplomacy had euchred him out of a big income for +seven years. But he put up a job with the nurse who held his fate in +her hands in the shape of scrap of paper. If she'd give him that +codicil--no! that isn't right--if she'd keep it to herself and not let +anyone know of its existence, Mr. Jones proposed to give her a share of +the money. She considered this easier than working and the bargain was +struck. Isn't that a logical chain of events, so far, Mary Louise?" + +"But what a terrible thing to do, Josie!" + +"Yes, human nature in its worst aspect selfishness, greed, +unscrupulousness--and still human nature. Well, the woman followed him +to New York and got some of the money, as Alora said; but the nurse +wanted more, and was likely to bleed the man more liberally than he +liked; so, being afraid of her, he ran away to Europe. Nurse spent her +money, couldn't find Jason Jones to get more, and so returned to +Chicago and practiced her profession again. Any dummy could figure that +out." + +"I cannot see," responded Mary Louise, "how that accounts for Alora's +disappearance." + +"Why, of course the woman knew all about the terms of the will. She was +nursing a Mrs. Tolliver in this hotel when she discovered Alora's +arrival. How she discovered it doesn't matter. In the morning, when the +day nurse arrived to take her place, she left Mrs. Tolliver and went +directly to Alora's room. The girl instantly recognized her and would +probably have a warm place in her heart for her mother's old nurse. +Decided to walk part of the way home with her so they could talk over +old times--you and the Colonel being still asleep--but was enticed to +the nurse's house and promptly locked up and held as a weapon to force +old Jones to pay up. This completes the chain. A woman who would enter +into such an ugly deal with Jason Jones as I have described would not +hesitate to capture Alora, especially as it proved an easy thing to +do." + +Mary Louise drew a long breath. "If I could believe that theory, +Josie," she said, "it would relieve me of much worry, for I'd know +Alora is safe. But--what was it your father said about your +imagination?" + +Josie laughed. "This isn't wholly imagination, you goose, for it's +based on a knowledge of human nature, as I've hinted. Also it's a +scientific matching of the pieces in the puzzle. Why, Mary Louise, in +this deduction we have all the necessary elements of the usual crime. A +woman--always look for a woman in a mystery, my dear--money, the cause +of four-fifths of all crimes, and a guilty man who is afraid of being +forced to disgorge his ill-gotten gains. Then we will add an innocent +girl who suffers through the machinations of others. Some of my +conclusions may not be exactly correct, but in the main the story is +absolutely logical." + +"That's what you said last night, Josie, when you thought the +governess, Gorham, had abducted Alora." + +"True, but I have later information which doesn't entirely upset the +theory but changes the actors in the drama. I don't say that further +investigations may not alter this present plot in some of its details, +but the main facts are too lucid and undeniable to get far away from. +I'm now going to interview the house physician and get Mrs. Orme's +address." + +When she had gone, Mary Louise went to Gran'pa Jim with the tale of +Josie's latest discoveries and Colonel Hathaway was so impressed by the +theory that he decided to telegraph Peter Conant to catch the noon +train and come straight to Chicago. + +"The complications suggested by Josie will require a lawyer's advice," +he said, "and Mr. Conant knows law and can advise us how to handle the +case when we have discovered where Alora is confined." + +Meanwhile Josie went to the doctor's office and after waiting some +time, was finally admitted to his private room. + +"I came to ask for the address of a trained nurse--a Mrs. Orme--whom +you recommended to Mrs. Tolliver," she began, her innocent eyes +regarding the physician gravely. + +Dr. Pease frowned. + +"I cannot recommend her again," said he. "Although she's a good nurse, +she is unreliable, and left my patient without notice when she was +badly needed." + +"I merely want to find her," declared Josie. "I'm a stranger in town +and I've a letter of introduction to Mrs. Orme." + +"I don't know her address. I got the woman through Dr. Anstruther." + +"Oh. May I telephone Dr. Anstruther, then?" + +"I've no objection. There's a telephone in the outer office. But you're +not likely to catch him much before noon. Dr. Anstruther is a very busy +man." + +Josie went to her own room to telephone. She telephoned Dr. +Anstruther's office at intervals all the morning, but did not succeed +in getting him until nearly two o'clock. Then he answered that he did +not know Mrs. Orme's address, having always secured her services +through the Sisters' Hospital. + +Josie tried the Sisters' Hospital and learned that Mrs. Orme lived in +an apartment at 524 Morgan Avenue. She took a taxicab and drove there, +determining to obtain an interview with the woman by posing as a nurse +who desired assistance in securing employment. But disappointment +confronted her. Mrs. Orme had moved from the apartment ten days ago and +her present address was unknown. + +"She has taken considerable pains to cover her traces," said Josie to +Mary Louise, when she returned from her futile trip. + +"I hope you're not discouraged, dear," returned Mary Louise anxiously. +"The local detectives have done nothing at all, so you are our only +hope, Josie." + +The embryo detective smiled sweetly. + +"I'm not here on a pleasure trip," she said, "although I enjoy travel +and good hotel fodder as well as anyone. This is business, but so far +I'm just feeling my way and getting a start. You can't open a mystery +as you do a book, Mary Louise; it has to be pried open. The very fact +that this Mrs. Orme has so carefully concealed her hiding-place is +assurance that she's the guilty party who abducted Alora. Being +positive of that, it only remains to find her--not an impossibility, by +any means--and then we shall have no difficulty in liberating her +prisoner." + +"But to find her; can you do that, Josie?" + +"Certainly, with a little help from the police, which they will gladly +furnish. They know I'm Daddy's daughter, for I have already introduced +myself to them, and while they may be slow to take the initiative they +are always quite willing to aid in an affair of this sort. Now, it +stands to reason, Mary Louise, that the nurse didn't use the streets to +promenade with. Alora. That would have been dangerous to her plans. +There are so few people abroad in Chicago at six o'clock in the morning +that those who met the two would have noted and remembered them. For +the same reason Mrs. Orme did not take a street car, or the elevated. +Therefore, she took a cab, and the cabman who drove them will know Mrs. +Orme's address." + +"But who was the cabman?" asked Mary Louise. + +"That," said Josie, "is to be my next discovery." + + + +CHAPTER XIX +DECOYED + +The excitement of being once more in a big city rendered Alora Jones +wakeful on that eventful Tuesday morning following her arrival in +Chicago. At daybreak she rose and peered trough the window into a gray +and unimpressive side street; then, disinclined to return to bed, she +slowly began dressing. + +Presently a sharp knock sounded upon her door. Somewhat surprised, she +opened it far enough to see a middle-aged woman attired in nurse's +uniform standing in the dim hallway. + +"Miss Jones? Miss Alora Jones?" questioned the woman in a soft voice. + +"Yes; what is it?" + +"I've a message for you. May I come in?" + +Alora, fearful that Mary Louise or the Colonel might have been taken +suddenly ill, threw wide the door and allowed the woman to enter. As +the nurse closed the door behind her Alora switched on the electric +light and then, facing her visitor, for the first time recognized her +and gave a little cry of surprise. + +"Janet!" + +"Yes; I am Janet Orme, your mother's nurse." + +"But I thought you abandoned nursing after you made my father give you +all that money," an accent of scorn in her tone. + +"I did, for a time," was the quiet answer. "'All that money' was not a +great sum; it was not as much as your father owed me, so I soon took up +my old profession again." + +The woman's voice and attitude were meek and deprecating, yet Alora's +face expressed distrust. She remembered Janet's jaunty insolence at her +father's studio and how she had dressed, extravagantly and attended +theatre parties and fashionable restaurants, scattering recklessly the +money she had exacted from Jason Jones. Janet, with an upward sweep of +her half veiled eyes, read the girl's face clearly, but she continued +in the same subdued tones: + +"However, it is not of myself I came here to speak, but on behalf of +your mother's old friend, Doctor Anstruther." + +"Oh; did he send you here?" + +"Yes. I am his nurse, just now. He has always used me on his important +cases, and now I am attending the most important case of all--his own." + +"Is Dr. Anstruther ill, then?" asked Alora. + +"He is dying. His health broke weeks ago, as you may have heard, and +gradually he has grown worse. This morning he is sinking rapidly; we +have no hope that he will last through the day." + +"Oh, I'm sorry for that!" exclaimed Alora, who remembered the kindly +old doctor with real affection. He had been not only her mother's +physician but her valued friend. + +"He learned, quite by accident, of your arrival here last evening," +Janet went on, "and so he begged me to see you and implore you to come +to his bedside. I advised him not to disturb you until morning, but the +poor man is very restless and so I came here at this unusual hour. It +seems he is anxious to tell you some secret which your dead mother +confided to his keeping and, realizing his hours are numbered, he urges +you to lose no time in going to him. That is the message entrusted to +me." + +There was no emotion in her utterance; the story was told calmly, as by +one fulfilling a mission but indifferent as to its success. Alora did +not hesitate. + +"How far is it?" she quickly asked. + +"A fifteen minute ride." + +The girl glanced at her watch. It was not quite six o'clock. Mary +Louise and the Colonel would not appear for breakfast for a good two +hours yet and after breakfast they were all to go to the yacht. The +hour was opportune, affording her time to visit poor Doctor Anstruther +and return before her friends were up. Had Alora paused to give Janet's +story more consideration she might have seen the inconsistencies in the +nurse's statements, but her only thoughts were to learn her mother's +secret and to show her sincere consideration for her kindly old friend. + +Hastily completing her attire she added her hat and jacket and then +said: + +"I am ready, Janet." + +"I hope we shall find him still alive," remarked the nurse, a cleverly +assumed anxiety in her tone, as she took the key from inside the door +and fitted it to the outer side of the lock. + +Alora passed out, scarcely aware that Janet had pretended to lock the +door. Halfway down the hall the woman handed her the key. + +"Come this way, please," she said; "it is nearer to the carriage which +is waiting for us." + +At the rear of the building they descended the stairs and passed +through an anteroom fitted with lockers for the use of the employees of +the hotel. No one happened to be in the anteroom at that moment and +they gained the alley without encountering a single person. Janet +quickly led the girl through the alley and soon they came to a closed +automobile which evidently awaited them. Janet opened the door for +Alora and followed the girl inside the car, which started at once and +sped along the quiet streets. + +"You will find Doctor Anstruther very feeble," said the nurse, "for he +has suffered greatly. But I am sure it will give him pleasure to see +you again. I hope he will recognize you. I scarcely recognized you, +myself, you have changed so much since last we saw you at the Voltaire. +Your resemblance to your mother is quite marked, however." + +And so, during the ride, she kept up a flow of desultory conversation, +intended to distract Alora's attention from the section of the city +through which they were passing. She spoke of Dr. Anstruther, mostly, +and answered such questions as Alora put to her in a calm, unemotional +manner well calculated to allay suspicion. The woman kept her eyes +veiled by her lashes, as of yore, but her face seemed to have aged and +grown harder in its lines. There was no hint now of her former gay life +in New York; she had resumed the humble tones and manners peculiar to +her profession, such as Alora remembered were characteristic of her at +the time she nursed her mother. + +"This is the place," said Janet, as the cab came to a stop. "Let us +move softly, as noise disturbs my patient." + +Alora had paid no attention to the direction they had driven but on +leaving the car she found herself facing a three-storied brick flat +building of not very prepossessing appearance. Then were several vacant +lots on either side of this building, giving it a lonely appearance, +and in the lower windows were pasted placards: "To Let." + +"Oh; does Doctor Anstruther live _here?"_ asked Alora, somewhat +astonished. + +Without seeming to have heard the question Janet mounted the steps and +opened the front door with a latch-key. Alora followed her inside and +up two dingy flights to the third floor. Once she started to protest, +for the deadly silence of the place impressed her with a vague +foreboding that something was amiss, but Janet silenced her with a +warning finger on her lips and on reaching the upper landing herself +avoided making a noise as she cautiously unlocked the door. She stood +listening a moment and then entered and nodded to the girl to follow. + +They were in a short, dark passage which separated the landing from the +rooms of the flat. Janet closed the outer door, startling her companion +with the sharp "click" it made, and quickly opened another door which +led into a shabby living room at the front of the building. Standing +just within this room, Alora glanced around with the first real +sensation of suspicion she had yet experienced. Janet raised her lids +for a sweeping view of the girl's face and then with a light laugh +began to remove her own cloak and cap, which she hung in a closet. + +"Come, child, make yourself at home," she said in a mocking, triumphant +voice, as she seated herself in a chair facing the bewildered girl. "I +may as well inform you that this is to be your home for some time to +come--until Jason Jones decides to rescue you. You won't object, I +hope? Don't get nervous and you'll find your quarters very comfortable, +if retired." + +Alora, understanding now, first shuddered, then grew tense and cast a +hurried glance at the hall door behind her. + +"Have you lied to me, Janet?" she demanded. + +"Yes." + +"And this is a trap? Doctor Anstruther is not sick? He did not send for +me? He is not here?" + +"You have guessed correctly, Alora." + +The girl wheeled and in a quick run reached the door to the landing. It +was fast locked. + +"Help!" she cried, and stopped to listen; "help! help!" + +"Come in and take off your things," called Janet, undisturbed by the +outcry. "This building hasn't a soul in it but ourselves, and you may +yell for help until you are hoarse without being heard. But don't be +frightened. I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'd like to make your +confinement as cheerful as possible. Can't you understand the truth-- +that I am simply holding your person in order to force Jason Jones to +pay the money he owes me?" + + + +CHAPTER XX +JANET'S TRIUMPH + +Alora stood by the door, irresolute, wondering what to do. It occurred +to her that she was not much afraid of Janet Orme. She had been trapped +in order to bleed her father of money; it was all her father's fault-- +his fault and Janet's. + +"Suppose you help me get our breakfast," suggested the nurse, coolly. +"It will take your mind off your trouble and keep you from brooding. I +admit I'm hungry, and I'm sure you'll feel better for a cup of coffee." + +She passed into another room, as she spoke, and Alora, realizing the +hall door could not be forced by her puny strength, advanced into the +living room. There were three other doorways opening from this +apartment. She could hear Janet rattling dishes and pans, so the way +she had gone led into the kitchen. The other two doors she found gave +entrance to small bedrooms, neither having egress other than through +the living room. The furniture in all the rooms was cheap and tawdry +but fairly comfortable. + +Alora sat down and tried to collect her thoughts. Janet got the +breakfast unaided and then came to summon her. Alora quietly walked +into the kitchen and sat down at a little table spread for two. There +was a dish of crisp bacon, some toast and coffee. Alora silently ate +and drank, determined to maintain her strength. Having finished her +meal she sat back and asked: + +"Do you mind explaining what all this means?" + +"No, indeed; I'm glad to explain," replied the woman, raising her +eyelids an instant to flash a glance of approval at her prisoner. "I +have already said that I was obliged to annoy you in order to reach +your father. The dear father is an elusive person, you know, and is +determined to avoid paying the money he owes me. I haven't been able to +locate him, lately, but I have located you, and you are mighty precious +to him because if he loses you he loses the income from your fortune. +Therefore it is my intention to hold you here until Jason Jones either +pays my demands or allows the probate court to deprive him of his +guardianship. The proposition is really very simple, as you see." + +"Still," said Alora, "I do not quite understand. How did you know of my +value to my father?" + +"I witnessed your mother's will," was the reply. + +Alora remembered that this was true. + +"But why does my father still owe you money? You were paid for nursing +my mother. And, if your demands are merely blackmail, why does not my +father defy you?" + +"I'll tell you," answered. Janet. "It is a bit of ancient history, but +it may interest you. Your mother renounced your father when you were +scarcely a year old. I met Jason Jones soon afterward, and +believing,--as your own deluded mother did--that he would become a great +artist, I gambled with him on his career. In other words, I supported +Jason Jones with all my earnings as a nurse for a period of six years and +in return he signed an agreement which states that one-half of all the +money he received in the future, from whatever source, must be paid to me +in return for my investment. Doubtless we both thought, at the time, that +any money he got would come from the sale of his pictures; neither +could have dreamed that your mother would call him to her on her +death-bed and present sent him with your income until you came of +age--seven years' control of a fortune, with no other obligation than to +look after a child and keep her with him. But the agreement between us +covered even that astonishing event. Imagine, if you can, Jason Jones' +amazement when he entered your mother's sick chamber to find me--his +partner--acting as her nurse. He was also annoyed, for he realized I +knew the terms of the will and would demand my share of his income. Can +you blame me? He hadn't made good as an artist and this was my only +chance to get back some of the hard earned savings I had advanced him. +But Jason Jones isn't square, Alora; he's mean and shifty, as perhaps +you have discovered. He gave me some money at first, when I followed +him to New York, as you know; but after that the coward ran away. That +provoked me and made me determined to run him down. I traced him to +Europe and followed him there, but he evaded me for a full year, until +my money was gone and I was forced to return to America. For nearly +three years longer I worked as a nurse and hoarded my earnings. Then, +through your father's banker in New York I managed to learn his +address. The banker didn't tell me, but I did a little spy work and in +the bank's mail I found a letter in Jason Jones' handwriting postmarked +'Positano, Italy.' That was all the clew I needed and I went to Italy +and soon located my man. I faced him in his own villa--I believe you +were away at the time--and when he found he was caught he cringed and +begged for mercy and promised to give me all that belonged to me. He +said he had a lot of gold in his possession and he would pay me partly +in gold and partly in drafts on his New York banker. Then he left the +room to get the gold and returned with a husky Italian servant who +seized and bound me and threw me into a stone house used to store +grapes, where I was kept a prisoner for nearly ten days and treated +like a dog. + +"Finally the Italian released me, asserting that Jason Jones was on his +way to America. I followed as soon as I could get passage in a ship, +but your clever father had left New York before I arrived there and I +could not discover where he had hidden himself. Once more he had beaten +me." + +Her voice was hard and angry. Alora was tempted to believe the story, +for many of its details she knew were true. She remembered, for one +thing, that queer letter from Silvio which she had discovered tucked +inside one of her father's books. It stated that, according to orders, +the Italian had "released the prisoner." So the prisoner had been +Janet, and Alora could well understand her determination to secure +revenge. + +"It seems to me," she said, "that you should have taken your contract +with my father to a lawyer, and brought suit to recover the money due +you. Surely that would have been the easiest way to collect it." + +Janet's face grew red; her lashes dropped still further over the eyes; +but she answered after an instant's pause: + +"I do not wish the world to know what a fool I was to support an +imitation artist for six long years. A lawsuit means publicity, and I +have a little pride left, I assure you. Besides," collecting her +thoughts as she spoke, "I cannot see the wisdom of dividing my share +with a lawyer when I can bring your father to terms myself. I know I +have executed a bold stroke in seizing you and making you my prisoner, +but it's a stroke that's bound to win. It was conceived last night, on +the spur of the moment. Lately I have been nursing in Chicago, where I +am better known than in New York and can get better wages. Since my +return from Italy I've been saving to renew the search for Jason Jones. +While nursing a Mrs. Tolliver at the Hotel Blackington, fortune +suddenly smiled on me. I chanced to examine the hotel register last +night and found you were registered with Colonel Hathaway's party. Your +room number was marked opposite your name, so I had you properly +located. During the night, while on duty in Mrs. Tolliver's room, I had +ample time to figure out a plan of action. I knew you were fond of old +Doctor Anstruther and so used his name for a lure. I had already rented +this flat; not with the idea of using it for a prison, but because it +was cheap and so isolated that I could sleep during the daytime without +being disturbed. I believe that's all that I need explain to you. Our +little adventure of this morning you will now be able to understand +perfectly. Also you will understand the fact that you must remain a +prisoner until my purpose is accomplished. I'm sorry for you, but it +can't be helped. Won't you have another cup of coffee, Alora?" + +Alora had no answer ready. Janet's story did not satisfy her; she felt +that somewhere there was a flaw in it; but she decided to bide her +time. + + + +CHAPTER XXI +THE PRICE OF LIBERTY + +Alora, being in the main a sensible girl, strove to make the best of +her unpleasant predicament. She longed to notify Mary Louise that she +was safe and well and in answer to her pleadings Janet agreed she might +write a letter to that effect, with no hint that she was imprisoned or +where she could be found, and the nurse would mail it for her. So Alora +wrote the letter and showed it to Janet, who could find no fault with +its wording and promised to mail it when she went out to market, which +she did every morning, carefully locking her prisoner in. It is perhaps +needless to state that the letter never reached Mary Louise because the +nurse destroyed it instead of keeping her agreement to mail it. Letters +can be traced, and Janet did not wish to be traced just then. + +The days dragged by with little excitement. Alora sought many means of +escape but found none practical. Once, while Janet was unlocking the +hall door to go to market, the girl made a sudden dash to get by her +and so secure her freedom; but the woman caught her arm and swung her +back so powerfully that Alora fell against the opposite wall, bruised +and half stunned. She was no match for Janet in strength. + +"I'm sorry," said Janet complacently, "but you brought it on yourself. +I'm not brutal, but I won't be balked. Please remember, my girl, that +to me this is a very important enterprise and I've no intention of +allowing you to defeat my plans." + +Usually the woman was not unpleasant in her treatment of Alora, but +conversed with her frankly and cheerfully, as if striving to relieve +her loneliness. + +"Have you written to my father about me?" the girl asked one day. + +"Not yet," was the reply. "I don't even know where Jason Jones may be +found, for you haven't given me his address. But there's no hurry. You +have been missing only a week, so far. Jason Jones has doubtless been +notified of your disappearance and is beginning to worry. Of course he +will imagine I am responsible for this misfortune and his alarm will +grow with the days that pass. Finally, when his state of mind becomes +desperate, you will give me his address and he will hear from me. I +shall have no trouble, at that crisis, in bringing my dishonest partner +to terms." + +"I can't see the object of waiting so long," protested Alora. "How long +do you intend to keep me here?" + +"I think you should remain missing about fifty days, during which time +they will search for you in vain. Your father's search for you will +include a search for me, and I've figured on that and defy him to find +me. The Sisters' Hospital, the only address known to the physicians who +employ me, believe I've gone to some small Indiana town on a case, but +I neglected to give them the name of the town. So there's a blind lead +that will keep my pursuers busy without their getting anywhere. It's +easy to hide in a big city. Here you are very safe, Alora, mid +discovery is impossible." + +Janet had abandoned her nurse's costume from the first day of the +girl's imprisonment. When she went out, which was only to a near-by +market and grocery, she wore an unobtrusive dress. + +Every day seemed more dreary to Alora than the last. She soon became +very restless under her enforced confinement and her nerves, as well as +her general health, began to give way. She had been accustomed to +out-of-door exercise, and these rooms were close and "stuffy" because +Janet would not allow the windows open. + +For twelve days and nights poor Alora constantly planned an escape, +only to abandon every idea she conceived as foolish and impractical. +She looked forward to fifty days of this life with horror and believed +she would go mad if forced to endure her confinement so long. + + + +CHAPTER XXII +A COMPROMISE + +"If I had any money of my own," Alora said to Janet Orme on the morning +of the twelfth day of imprisonment, "I would gladly pay it to free." + +Janet flashed a quick glance at her. "Do you mean that?" she asked with +ill-suppressed eagerness. + +"I do, indeed," declared the girl, moaning dismally; "but I never have +a cent to call my own." + +Janet sat still, for some time, thinking. + +"I, too, wish you were free," she admitted, resuming the conversation, +"for my position as jailer obliges me to share your confinement, and +it's wearing on me, as it is on you. But you have unconsciously given +me a thought--an idea that seems likely to lead to a compromise between +us. I'm going to consider it seriously, and if it still looks good to +me I'll make you a proposition." + +Saying this, she retired to her bedroom and closed the door after her, +leaving Alora in a fit of nervous trembling through half-formed hopes +that she might gain her release. + +It was nearly an hour before Janet returned. When she came from her +room she stood before the girl for a time and seemed to study her face. +Alora was anxious and did not endeavor to conceal the fact. In her hand +the woman held a paper, which she presently laid upon the center-table. + +"I have decided to make you a proposition," she said, turning to seat +herself near the table. "If it interests you, all right; if it doesn't, +you may of course reject it. My offer is this: If you will tell me +where to find your father and will promise not to mention me to him or +to warn him of my intentions, and if you will sign this paper which I +have prepared, I will allow you to return to your friends to-day. You +are not especially fond of Jason Jones, I believe?" + +"Not especially, although he is my father," returned Alora, eyeing the +woman expectantly. + +"Then you can have no objection to my forcing him to disgorge my share +of his income, which you would not get in any event. I don't know how +much of an allowance he makes you, but----" + +"I don't get any allowance," said Alora, "In fact, he gives me +nothing." + +"Then my demands on your father will not affect your interests. Are you +willing to give me his address, and promise not to warn him?" + +"Under the circumstances, yes." + +"Very well. I accept your plighted word--your word of honor. Now sign +this paper and you may go." + +She took the paper from the table and handed it to Alora, who read as +follows: + +"For value received, in services faithfully rendered and which I hereby +freely and without coercion acknowledge, I hereby promise and agree to +pay to Janet Orme Jones on the day that I attain my majority the sum of +Fifty Thousand Dollars, which sum is to be paid from my estate without +recourse, equivocation or attempt to repudiate the said obligation, +inasmuch as I willingly admit the said sum to be justly due the said +Janet Orme Jones. +"(Signed:)................." + +Alora read the paper twice, with, growing indignation. Then she glanced +up at her jailer and muttered questioningly: "Jones? Janet Orme +_Jones?"_ + +"A family name, my dear. The Joneses are so thick and so unimportant +that generally I do not use the name, but this is a legal document. I +hope you won't try to claim relationship," she added with a light +laugh. + +"I'm not going to promise you so enormous a sum as fifty thousand +dollars, even to secure my liberty," said Alora. "It's out of all +reason--it's--it's--outrageous!" + +"Very well," returned Janet, coolly; "that's your own affair. This is +merely a compromise proposition, suggested by yourself, as I told you. +Let us say no more about it." + +Alora was greatly disheartened. After allowing her hopes to run so high +the disappointment was now doubly keen. Her defiance melted away with +the thought of all the weary days of imprisonment she must endure until +Janet was ready to act. + +"I--I might agree to give you _five_ thousand dollars," she ventured. + +"Nonsense. I'm not gunning for small game, Alora. Did you but realize +it, I am quite considerate in exacting only fifty thousand. Your estate +is worth two millions. Your income is something like eighty thousand a +year, and this payment would leave you thirty thousand to use the first +year after you come into your fortune. I don't believe you could spend +thirty thousand in a year, when you are eighteen years of age." + +Alora turned away and going to the front window, looked through its +stained and unwashed panes into the gloomy street below. The sight +emphasized her isolation from the world. Her imprisonment was becoming +unbearable. After all, she reflected, in reckless mood, what did so +small a share of her prospective fortune weigh against her present +comfort--and health--and happiness? + +Janet was stealthily watching her. + +"Should you decide to sign the paper," said the nurse, "you must make +up your mind not to raise a row when pay-day comes. The money will come +out of your income, and instead of investing it in more bonds, you will +have invested it in your liberty. You won't be inconvenienced in the +slightest degree. On the other hand, this money will mean everything to +_me_--a modest competence for my old age and relief from the drudgery +of working. I've had a hard life, my girl, for nursing is mere slavery +to the whims of sick people. Consider, also, that for six years Jason +Jones squandered all my savings in trying to paint pictures that were +not worth the canvas he ruined. If I had that money now I wouldn't need +to descend to this disgraceful mode of recouping my bank account; but, +under the circumstances, don't you think I am justly entitled to some +of the Jones money?" + +"You're going to get a lot from my father." + +"True; but that is for his indebtedness, while this amount is for your +freedom. A scrape of the pen and you secure liberty, fresh air and the +privilege of rejoining your friends, who are probably getting anxious +about you. If you are the sensible girl I take you to be, you won't +hesitate." + +Alora knew the woman was pleading her own case, but the arguments +appealed to her. She was weak and nervous and her longing for liberty +outweighed her natural judgment. + +"I suppose I'm a fool, but----" + +Slowly she approached the table where the written promissory note still +lay. Janet had placed a pen and inkstand beside it. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII +MARY LOUISE HAS AN INTUITION + +"I wish, Josie," said Mary Louise dolefully, "you'd let me help in this +search for Alora." + +"I'd be glad to, dear, if I could think of a single thing you can do," +replied her friend. "Just now I'm on the most tedious task imaginable-- +visiting the army of cab-drivers--horse and taxi--here in Chicago and +trying to find the one who carried a woman and a girl away from the +Blackington at six o'clock that eventful Tuesday morning." + +"Have you met with any success, at all?" asked Mary Louise. + +"That question proves you're not fitted for detective work," Josie +laughingly asserted. "A moment's reflection would assure you that when +I found my man my search would be ended. Ergo, no success has yet +attended my efforts. I've interviewed a couple of hundreds, however, +and that leaves only a few hundreds left to question." + +"But the whole thing drags terribly!" complained Mary Louise. "Days are +passing, and who knows what may be happening to poor Alora while you +are hanging around the cab-stands?" + +Josie's face grew grave. In sober tones she said: + +"I'm just as anxious as you are, Mary Louise. But this case is really +puzzling, because Chicago is such a big city that criminals may +securely hide themselves here for months--even for years--without being +discovered. Mrs. Orme was clever enough to leave few traces behind her; +as far as clews are concerned she might have evaporated into thin air, +taking Alora with her--except for this matter of the cabman. That's why +I am pinning my faith to this search, knowing all the time, +nevertheless, that Mrs. Orme may have provided for even that +contingency and rendered the discovery of the cabman impossible. To do +that, however, she would have to use a private equipage, involving a +confederate, and I believe she preferred to take chances with a hired +cab." + +"What are the police doing?" inquired Mary Louise nervously. + +"Nothing. They were soon discouraged and lost interest in the matter +when I took hold of the case. But _I_ don't intend to get discouraged. +I hate to be 'stumped,' as you know, and it seems to me, after careful +consideration, that success may follow the discovery of the cab-driver. +I've not been neglecting other trails, I assure you. I've obtained a +pretty fair record of the history of nurse Orme. She has the habit of +drudging in sick rooms until she accumulates enough capital to lead a +gay life for a month or so, after which she resumes nursing in order to +replenish her purse. She's a good nurse and a wild spendthrift, but +aside from the peculiarity mentioned there's nothing in her career of +especial interest. The woman is pretty well known both in New York and +Chicago, for she squanders in the first city and saves in the other, +but of her early history there is no information available. In her +wildest moods she has never done anything to warrant her arrest, yet +the police have kept a suspicious eye on her for years." + +"Poor Alora!" wailed Mary Louise, miserably; "I wish I could do +something for her." + +"You did a lot for her when you put me on her trail," declared Josie, +with conviction. "I've a hunch I shall win. I've wired Daddy O'Gorman +all about the case, but he says he can't advise me. In other words, +he's watching to see whether I make good or cave in, and I just _dare_ +not fail. So keep your courage, Mary Louise, and muster all the +confidence you are able to repose in me. I may not know all the tricks +of the sleuths, but I know some of them. And now I'm off to interview +more cabmen." + +Mary Louise sighed as her friend left her. She was indeed very unhappy +and restless during those days of tedious waiting. Peter Conant had +come to Chicago on the Colonel's demand, but Mary Louise couldn't see +how he was able to help them one bit. + +"Of course," the lawyer had said in his terse, choppy manner, "whoever +abducted the girl is, criminally liable. We can put the party in jail." + +"When we get her," suggested Mary Louise impatiently. "The party is +Mrs. Orme; we have established that fact without a doubt; and, if we +could get her, we'd also get Alora." + +"Just so," Peter replied; "and, between the O'Gorman girl and the +police, we ought to capture the woman soon. I have a degree of +confidence in Josie O'Gorman and somewhat more confidence in the +police." + +"Do you think we should notify Jason Jones?" inquired Colonel Hathaway. + +"I have considered that, sir, in all its phases, and knowing the man's +peculiar characteristics I believe such a course is not as yet +desirable. Jones is so enthralled by his latest craze over aviation +that he would be no fit adviser and could render no practical +assistance in the search for his daughter. On the other hand, his +association would be annoying, for he would merely accuse you of +neglect in permitting Alora to be stolen while in your care. I have +seen a copy of his wife's will and know that the girl's loss may cost +him his guardianship and the perquisites that pertain to it. In that +case he will probably sue you for the loss of the money, claiming +Alora's abduction was due to your carelessness." + +"He could not win such an absurd suit, however," declared the Colonel. + +"Still, he might be awarded damages," asserted the lawyer. "Juries are +uncertain; the law is somewhat elastic; judges are peculiar." + +"Don't worry, Gran'pa Jim," said Mary Louise soothingly, as she sat on +the arm of his chair and rubbed the wrinkles from his forehead; "there +must be such a thing as justice, even in law." + +"Law _is_ justice," stated Mr. Conant, resenting the insinuation, "but +justice is sometimes recognized by humans in one form, and sometimes in +another. I do not say that Jason Jones could collect damages on such +complaint, but he assuredly would have a case." + +Mr. Conant had desired to return home after the first conference with +his client, but he admitted that his wife was recovering from her +indisposition and a kindly neighbor was assisting Irene in the care of +her, so he yielded to his client's urgent request to remain. Colonel +Hathaway was more alarmed by Alora's disappearance than he allowed Mary +Louise to guess, and he wanted Mr. Conant to spur the police to renewed +effort. In addition to this the Colonel and his lawyer usually spent +the best part of each day pursuing investigations on their own account, +with the result that Mary Louise was left to mope alone in the hotel +rooms. + +The young girl was fond of Alora and secretly terrified over her +mysterious disappearance. She tried to embroider, as she sat alone and +waited for something to happen, but her nerveless fingers would not +hold the needle. She bought some novels but could not keep her mind on +the stories. Hour by hour she gazed from the window into the crowded +street below, searching each form and face for some resemblance to +Alora. She had all the newspapers sent to her room, that she might scan +the advertisements and "personals" for a clew, and this led her to +following the news of the Great War, in which she found a partial +distraction from her worries. And one morning, after her grandfather +and the lawyer had left her, she was glancing over the columns of the +Tribune when an item caught her eye that drew from her a cry of +astonishment. The item read as follows: + +"The Grand Prize at the exhibition of American paintings being held in +the Art Institute was yesterday awarded by the jury to the remarkable +landscape entitled 'Poppies and Pepper Trees' by the California artist, +Jason Jones. This picture has not only won praise from eminent critics +but has delighted the thousands of visitors who have flocked to the +exhibition, so the award is a popular one. The Associated Artists are +tendering a banquet to-night to Jason Jones at the Congress Hotel, +where he is staying. The future of this clever artist promises well and +will be followed with interest by all admirers of his skillful +technique and marvelous coloring." + +Mary Louise read this twice, trying to understand what it meant. Then +she read it a third time. + +"How strangely we have all been deceived in Alora's father!" she +murmured. "I remember that Gran'pa Jim once claimed that any man so +eccentric might well possess talent, but even Mr. Jones' own daughter +did not believe he was a true artist. And Alora never guessed he was +still continuing to paint--alone and in secret--or that he had regained +his former powers and was creating a masterpiece. We have all been +sadly wrong in our judgment of Jason Jones. Only his dead wife knew he +was capable of great things." + +She dropped the paper, still somewhat bewildered by the remarkable +discovery. + +"And he is here in Chicago, too!" she mused, continuing her train of +thought, "and we all thought he was stupidly learning to fly in +Dorfield. Oh, now I understand why he allowed Alora to go with us. He +wanted to exhibit his picture--the picture whose very existence he had +so carefully guarded--and knew that with all of us out of the way, +afloat upon the Great Lakes, he could come here without our knowledge +and enter the picture in the exhibition. It may be he doubted its +success--he is diffident in some ways--and thought if it failed none of +us at home would be the wiser; but I'm sure that now he has won he will +brag and bluster and be very conceited and disagreeable over his +triumph. That is the man's nature--to be cowed by failure and bombastic +over success. It's singular, come to think it over, how one who has the +soul to create a wonderful painting can be so crude and uncultured, so +morose and--and--cruel." + +Suddenly she decided to go and look at the picture. The trip would help +to relieve her loneliness and she was eager to see what Jason Jones had +really accomplished. The Institute was not far from her hotel; she +could walk the distance in a few minutes; so she put on her hat and set +out for the exhibition. + +On her way, disbelief assailed her. "I don't see how the man did it!" +she mentally declared. "I wonder if that item is just a huge joke, +because the picture was so bad that the reporter tried to be ironical." + +But when she entered the exhibition and found a small crowd gathered +around one picture--it was still early in the day--she dismissed at +once that doubtful supposition. + +"That is the Jason Jones picture," said an attendant, answering her +question and nodding toward the admiring group; "that's the +prizewinner--over there." + +Mary Louise edged her way through the crowd until the great picture was +in full view; and then she drew a long breath, awestruck, delighted, +filled with a sense of all-pervading wonder. + +"It's a tremendous thing!" whispered a man beside her to his companion. +"There's nothing in the exhibit to compare with it. And how it breathes +the very spirit of California!" + +"California?" thought Mary Louise. Of course; those yellow poppies and +lacy pepper trees with their deep red berries were typical of no other +place. And the newspaper had called Jason Jones a California artist. +When had he been in California, she wondered. Alora had never mentioned +visiting the Pacific Coast. + +Yet, sometime, surely, her father must have lived there. Was it while +Alora was a small child, and after her mother had cast him off? He +could have made sketches then, and preserved them for future use. + +As she stood there marveling at the superb genius required to produce +such a masterpiece of art, a strange notion crept stealthily into her +mind. Promptly she drove it out; but it presently returned; it would +not be denied; finally, it mastered her. + +"Anyhow," she reflected, setting her teeth together, "I'll beard the +wolf in his den. If my intuition has played me false, at worst the man +can only sneer at me and I've always weathered his scornful moods. But +if I am right----" + +The suggestion was too immense to consider calmly. With quick, nervous +steps she hastened to the Congress Hotel and sent up her card to Jason +Jones. On it she had written in pencil: "I shall wait for you in the +parlor. Please come to me." + + + +CHAPTER XXIV +AN INTERRUPTION + +"Before you sign this promissory note," remarked Janet Orme, as Alora +reluctantly seated herself at the table, "you must perform the other +part of your agreement and give me the present address of your father, +Jason Jones." + +"He lives in Dorfield," said Alora. + +"Write his street number--here, on this separate sheet." + +The girl complied. + +"Is it a private house, or is it a studio?" + +"A cottage. Father doesn't paint any more." + +"That is very sensible of him," declared the nurse; "yet I wonder how +he can resist painting. He has always had a passion for the thing and +in the old days was never happy without a brush in his hand. He had an +idea he could do something worth while, but that was mere delusion, for +he never turned out anything decent or that would sell in the market. +Therefore the money he spent for paints, brushes and canvas--money I +worked hard to earn--was absolutely wasted. Does your father keep any +servants?" + +"One maid, an Irish girl born in the town." + +"Still economical, I see. Well, that's all the information I require. +You have given your word of honor not to notify him that I have +discovered his whereabouts. Is it not so?" + +"Yes," said Alora. + +"Now sign the note." + +Alora, pen in hand, hesitated while she slowly read the paper again. +She hated to give fifty thousand dollars to this scheming woman, even +though the loss of such a sum would not seriously impair her fortune. +But what could she do? + +"Sign it, girl!" exclaimed Janet, impatiently. + +Alora searched the note for a loophole that would enable her afterward +to repudiate it. She knew nothing of legal phrases, yet the wording +seemed cleverly constructed to defeat any attempt to resist payment. + +"Sign!" cried the woman. With pen hovering over the place where she had +been told to write her name, Alora still hesitated and seeing this the +nurse's face grew dark with anger. A sudden "click" sounded from the +hall door, but neither heard it. + +"Sign!" she repeated, half rising with a threatening gesture. + +"No, don't sign, please," said a clear voice, and a short, stumpy girl +with red hair and freckled face calmly entered the room and stood +smilingly before them. + +Janet uttered an exclamation of surprise and annoyance and sank back in +her chair, glaring at the intruder. Alora stared in speechless +amazement at the smiling girl, whom she had never seen before. + +"How did you get in here?" demanded Janet angrily. + +"Why, I just unlocked the door and walked in," was the reply, delivered +in a cheery and somewhat triumphant voice. + +"This is a private apartment." + +"Indeed! I thought it was a prison," said the girl. "I imagined you, +Mrs. Orme, to be a jailer, and this young person--who is Miss Alora +Jones, I believe--I supposed to be your prisoner. Perhaps I'm wrong, +but I guess I'm right." + +The nurse paled. The look she flashed from her half-veiled eyes was a +dangerous look. She knew, in the instant, that the stranger had come to +liberate Alora, but the next instant she reflected that all was not +lost, for she had already decided to release her prisoner without +compulsion. It was important to her plans, however, that she obtain the +promissory note; so, instantly controlling herself, she lightly touched +Alora's arm and said in her usual soft voice: + +"Sign your name, my dear, and then we will talk with this person." + +Alora did not move to obey, for she had caught a signal from the +red-headed girl. + +"I object to your signing that paper," protested the stranger, seating +herself in a vacant chair. "I haven't the faintest idea what it is +you're about to sign, but if I were you I wouldn't do it." + +"It is the price of my liberty," explained Alora. + +"Well, this is a free country and liberty doesn't cost anything. I've a +carriage waiting outside, and I will drive you back to the Colonel and +Mary Louise free of charge. You won't even have to whack up on the cab +hire." + +The nurse slowly rose and faced the girl. + +"Who are you?" she demanded. + +"No one of importance," was the answer. "I'm just Josie O'Gorman, the +daughter of John O'Gorman, of Washington, who is a lieutenant in the +government's secret service." + +"Then you're a detective!" + +"The aforesaid John O'Gorman declares I'm not. He says I must learn a +lot before I become a real detective, so at present I'm just +practicing. Mary Louise is my friend, you know," she continued, now +addressing Alora, "and you are a friend of Mary Louise; so, when you +mysteriously disappeared, she telegraphed me and I came on to hunt you +up. That wasn't an easy job for an amateur detective, I assure you, and +it cost me a lot of time and some worry, but glory be! I've now got you +located and Mrs. Orme's jig is up." + +The nurse moved softly to the door that led into the passage and locked +it, putting the key into her pocket. + +"Now," said she, with another flash of those curious eyes, "I have two +prisoners." + +Josie laughed. + +"I could almost have sworn you'd try that trick," she remarked. "It was +on the cards and you couldn't resist it. Permit me to say, Mrs. Orme, +that you're a rather clever woman, and I admire cleverness even when +it's misdirected. But my Daddy has taught me, in his painstaking way, +not to be caught napping. A good soldier provides for a retreat as well +as an advance. I've been on your trail for a long time and only this +morning succeeded in winning the confidence of the cabman who drove you +here. Wasn't sure, of course, that you were still here, until I saw +Alora's face at the window a while ago. Then I knew I'd caught you. The +cab is a closed one and holds four inside, so I invited three policeman +to accompany me. One is at the back of this house, one at the front +door and the third is just outside here on the landing. Probably he can +hear us talking. He's a big man, that third policeman, and if I raise +my voice to cry out he could easily batter down the door you have +locked and come to my rescue. _Now_ will you be good, Mrs. Orme?" + +The nurse realized her defeat. She deliberately took the note from the +table and tore it up. + +"You have really foiled me, my girl," she said philosophically, +"although if you knew all you would not blame me for what I have done." + +"You've decided not to dig any money out of Alora, then?" + +"It wouldn't matter to her, but I have abandoned the idea. However, I +shall insist on making Jason Jones pay me liberally for my +disappointment. Now take the girl and go. Get your things on, Alora." + +Josie regarded her thoughtfully. + +"I had intended to arrest you, Mrs. Orme," she remarked; "but, +honestly, I can't see what good it would do, while it would cause Mary +Louise and the dear Colonel a heap of trouble in prosecuting you. So, +unless Miss Jones objects----" + +"All I want it to get away from here, to be out of her clutches," +asserted Alora. + +"Then let us go. The woman deserves punishment, but doubtless she'll +get her just deserts in other ways. Get your things on, my dear; the +cab and the policemen are waiting." + +Janet Orme unlocked the door to the passage. Then she stood motionless, +with drooping eyelids, while the two girls passed out. Alora, greatly +unnerved and still fearful, clung to the arm of her rescuer. + +When they had gained the street and were about to enter the closed +automobile she asked: "Where are the three policemen?" + +"Invisible," returned Josie, very cheerfully. "I had to invent that +story, my dear, and the Recording Angel is said to forgive detectives +for lying." + +She followed Alora into the car and closed the door. + +"Drive to the Blackington, please," she called to the driver. + +And, as they whirled away, she leaned from the window and waved a +parting signal to Mrs. Orme, who stood in the upper window, her face +contorted and scowling with chagrin at the discovery that she had been +outwitted by a mere girl. + + + +CHAPTER XXV +JASON JONES + +The Colonel and Peter Conant had just entered the drawing room of the +suite at the hotel and found Mary Louise absent. This was unusual and +unaccountable and they were wondering what could have become of the +girl when the door suddenly burst open and Josie's clear voice cried +triumphantly: + +"I've got her! I've captured the missing heiress at last!" + +Both men, astonished, rose to their feet as Alora entered and with a +burst of tears threw her arms around the old Colonel's neck. For a few +moments the tableau was dramatic, all being speechless with joy at the +reunion. Colonel Hathaway patted Alora's head and comforted the sobbing +girl as tenderly as if she had been his own grandchild--or Mary Louise. + +Josie perched herself lightly on the center-table and swinging her legs +complacently back and forth explained her discovery in a stream of +chatter, for she was justly elated by her success. + +"And to think," she concluded, "that I never missed a clew! That it was +really the nurse, Mrs. Orme--Mrs. Jones' old nurse--who stole Alora, +according to our suspicions, and that her object was just what I +thought, to get money from that miser Jason Jones! Daddy will be +pleased with this triumph; _I'm_ pleased; Mary Louise will be pleased, +and--By the way, where is Mary Louise?" + +"I don't know," confessed the Colonel, who had just placed Alora, now +more self-possessed, in a chair. "I was beginning to worry about her +when you came in. She seldom leaves these rooms, except for a few +moments, and even then she tells me, or leaves word, where she is +going. I spoke to the clerk, when I returned, and he said she had left +the hotel early this morning, and it's now four o'clock." + +Josie's smile faded and her face became grave. + +"Now, who," she said, "could have an object in stealing Mary Louise? +Complications threaten us in this matter and the first thing we must do +is----" + +"Oh, Alora!" exclaimed Mary Louise, who had softly opened the door and +caught sight of her friend. Next moment the two girls were locked in an +embrace and Josie, a shade of disappointment struggling with her sunny +smile, remarked coolly: + +"Very well; that beats the champion female detective out of another +job. But I might have known Mary Louise wouldn't get herself stolen; no +such adventure ever happens to _her."_ + +Mary Louise turned to the speaker with an earnest look on her sweet +face. + +"An adventure _has_ happened to me, Josie, and--and--I hardly know how +to break the news." + +She held Alora at arms' length and looked gravely into her friend's +face. Alora noted the serious expression and said quickly: + +"What is it? Bad news for _me?"_ + +"I--I think not," replied Mary Louise, hesitatingly; "but it's--it's +wonderful news, and I hardly know how to break it to you." + +"The best way," remarked Josie, much interested, "is to let it out in a +gush. 'Wonderful' stuff never causes anyone to faint." + +"Alora," said Mary Louise solemnly, "your father is here." + +"Where?" + +"He is just outside, in the corridor." + +"Why doesn't he come in?" asked the Colonel. + +"He needn't have worried about me," said Alora, in sullen tone, "but I +suppose it was the danger of losing his money that----" + +"No," interrupted Mary Louise; "you mistake me. Jason Jones, the great +artist--a splendid, cultured man and----" + +A sharp rap at the door made her pause. Answering the Colonel's summons +a bellboy entered. + +"For Mr. Conant, sir," he said, offering a telegram. + +The lawyer tore open the envelope as the boy went out and after a +glance at it exclaimed in shocked surprise: "Great heavens!" + +Then he passed the message to Colonel Hathaway, who in turn read it and +passed it to Josie O'Gorman. Blank silence followed, while Mary Louise +and Alora eyed the others expectantly. + +_"Who_ did you say is outside in the corridor?" demanded Josie in a +puzzled tone. + +"Alora's father," replied Mary Louise. + +"Jason Jones?" + +"Jason Jones," repeated Mary Louise gravely. + +"Well, then, listen to this telegram. It was sent to Mr. Peter Conant +from Dorfield and says: 'Jason Jones killed by falling from an +aeroplane at ten o'clock this morning. Notify his daughter.'" + +Alora drew a quick breath and clasped her hands over her heart. +Uncongenial as the two had been, Jason Jones was her father--her only +remaining parent--and the suddenness of his death shocked and horrified +the girl. Indeed, all present were horrified, yet Mary Louise seemed to +bear the news more composedly than the others--as if it were a minor +incident in a great drama. She slipped an arm around her girl friend's +waist and said soothingly: + +"Never mind, dear. It is dreadful, I know. What an awful way to die! +And yet--and yet, Alora--it may be all for the best." + +Josie slid down from the table. Her active brain was the first to catch +a glimmering of what Mary Louise meant. + +"Shall I call that man in?" she asked excitedly, "the man whom you say +is Alora's father?" + +"No," answered Mary Louise. "Let me go for him, please. I--I must tell +him this strange news myself. Try to quiet yourself, Alora, and--and be +prepared. I'm going to introduce to you--Jason Jones." + +She uttered the last sentence slowly and with an earnestness that +bewildered all her hearers--except, perhaps, Josie O'Gorman. And then +she left the room. + +The little group scarcely moved or spoke. + +It seemed an age to them, yet it was only a few moments, when Mary +Louise came back, leading by the hand a tall, handsome gentleman who +bore in every feature, in every movement, the mark of good birth, +culture, and refinement, and in a voice that trembled with, nervous +excitement the girl announced: + +"This is Jason Jones--a California artist--the man who married +Antoinette Seaver. He is Alora's father. And the other--the other----" + +"Why, the other was a fraud, of course," exclaimed Josie. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI +WHAT MARY LOUISE ACCOMPLISHED + +I am quite sure it is unnecessary to relate in detail the scene that +followed Mary Louise's introduction or the excited inquiries and +explanations which naturally ensued. To those present the scene was +intensely dramatic and never to be forgotten, but such a meeting +between father and daughter is considered too sacred to be described +here. + +Mary Louise's intuition had not played her false. She had found at the +Congress Hotel another Jason Jones, far different from the one she had +known, and a few questions elicited the fact that he was indeed the +father of Alora. So, as briefly as she could, she told him how another +man had usurped his place and seized all of Alora's income, at the same +time willfully depriving the girl of such comforts and accomplishments +as one in her position should enjoy. + +"And to think," she added indignantly, "that he is not Jason Jones at +all!" + +"I believe you are mistaken there," replied the artist thoughtfully. +"Jason is a family name, derived from one of our most eminent +ancestors, and in my generation it is also borne, I have learned, by +one of my second cousins, a Jason Jones who is also a painter and +aspires to fame as an artist. I have never met the man, but his +indifferently executed canvases, offered for sale under our common +name, formerly caused me considerable annoyance and perhaps interfered +with my career. But of late I have not heard of this Jason Jones, for +soon after my separation from my wife I went to Southern California and +located in a little bungalow hidden in a wild canyon of the Santa +Monica mountains. There I have secluded myself for years, determined to +do some really good work before I returned East to prove my ability. +Some time after Antoinette died I saw a notice to that effect in a +newspaper, but there were no comments and I did not know that she had +made me guardian of our child. That was like Antoinette," he continued, +in gentler tones; "she was invariably generous and considerate of my +shortcomings, even after we realized we were not fitted to live +together. Her renunciation of me seemed harsh, at first, for I could +not understand her ambitions, but in fact she drove me to success. I +have won the Grand Prize, after all these years of patient labor, and +from now on my future is assured." + +"Have you never longed for your child?" asked Mary Louise +reproachfully. + +"I have, indeed. In imagination I have followed Alora's growth and +development year by year, and one of my most cherished anticipations +when coming here was to seek out my daughter and make myself known to +her. I knew she had been well provided for in worldly goods and I hoped +to find her happy and content. If my picture received favorable comment +at the exhibition I intended to seek Alora. I did not expect to win the +Grand Prize." + +* * * * * * * * + +It was this newly discovered Jason Jones and his daughter--who already +loved him and shyly clung to this responsive and congenial parent--who +went to Dorfield with the Colonel and Mary Louise and Peter Conant and +Josie O'Gorman to attend the obsequies of the other less fortunate +Jason Jones. Mrs. Orme was there, too; Mrs. Janet Orme Jones; for she +admitted she was the dead man's wife and told them, in a chastened but +still defiant mood, how the substitution of her husband for the other +artist had come about. + +"Many years ago, when I was nursing in a New York hospital," she said, +"a man was brought in with both arms broken, having been accidentally +knocked down by a street-car. I was appointed to nurse him and learned +from him that he was Jason Jones, a poor artist who was, however, just +about to win recognition. He showed me a newspaper clipping that highly +praised a painting then being exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of +Art, which was signed Jason Jones. I know now that it wasn't his +picture at all, but the work of his cousin, but at the time the +clipping deceived me. + +"I was ambitious to become something more than a nurse. I thought that +to be the wife of a famous artist would bring me wealth and a position +in society, so I married Jason Jones--without love--and he married me-- +also without love--in order to get my wages. He won where I lost, for +during several years I foolishly supported him with my savings, always +expecting him to become famous. At first he attributed his failures to +his broken arms, although they had healed perfectly, and I ignorantly +accepted the excuse. It was only after years of waiting for the man to +prove his ability that I finally woke to the truth--that he had no +talent--and I then left him to his own devices. In Chicago I sought to +forget my unfortunate past and found regular employment there in my +profession. + +"It was while nursing Mrs. Jones that I overheard her give to Doctor +Anstruther the supposed address of her husband, which had been +furnished her by a casual acquaintance, and tell him to wire Jason +Jones to come to her at once. I well knew a mistake had been made and +that she had given the doctor my own husband's address--the address of +an entirely different Jason Jones. My first impulse was to undeceive +her, but that would involve humiliating explanations, so I hesitated +and finally decided to remain silent. When the doctor had gone to +telegraph and the die was cast, I reflected that my husband, whom I +knew to be sunk in poverty, would ignore the request to come to Chicago +to be reconciled to his dying wife. _My_ Jason wouldn't care whether I +lived or died and wouldn't have spent a cent to be reconciled with me. +For of course he would think it was I who asked for him, since he would +know nothing of Antoinette Seaver Jones or that she was the wife of his +distant relative, the other Jason Jones. + +"He did, indeed, answer Doctor Anstruther by saying he would not come +unless his expenses were advanced, so the good doctor launched the +future deception by sending him ample funds. I knew of this action and +wondered what I ought to do. There would be a terrible mix-up when my +husband appeared, and I realized how disappointed the sick woman would +be. Knowing her condition to be dangerous, I feared the shock would +kill her, which it really did, for still I kept silent. I told myself +that I had not aided in the deception in any way, that it was a trick +of fate, and I could not be blamed. I thought that when Doctor +Anstruther met my husband there would be explanations and the truth +would come out, but somehow that did not happen. Jason Jones walked +into Antoinette Seaver Jones' room expecting to find _me_ dying, and +saw a strange woman in the bed and his wife--in good health--standing +before him. He let out an oath in his surprise and my patient, who had +raised up in bed to stare at him, uttered a low moan and fell back on +her pillow, dead. I saw the tragedy and involuntarily screamed, and +Jason Jones saw she was dead and cried out in fear. I had just time to +recover my wits and whisper to him to keep his mouth shut and I would +make him rich when Doctor Anstruther hurried into the room. + +"The whole thing was unpremeditated up to that time, but now I assisted +fate, for I had witnessed Mrs. Jones' will and knew well its contents. +No one seemed to know there were two artists named Jason Jones and +everyone accepted my husband as Alora's father and the one entitled to +her guardianship and to profit by the terms of the will. + +"An hour after Mrs. Jones died I secured a secret interview with my +husband, who until then had been thoroughly bewildered, and explained +to him that the mistake in identity would, if he took prompt advantage +of it, give him the control of an enormous income for seven years-- +until the child reached the age of eighteen. He was fearful, at first, +that the other Jason Jones would appear and prosecute him for +swindling, but as the husband of Antoinette Seaver had not been heard +from in years, even by his own wife, I induced him to accept the risk. +It was I who virtually put that income into my husband's hands, and in +return he agreed to supply me with whatever money I demanded, up to a +half of his receipts. But he proved that there is not always honor +among thieves, for after he had been made legal executor of the estate +and his fears had somewhat subsided he endeavored to keep all the money +for himself and begrudged me the one or two instalments I forced him to +give me. Strangely enough, this formerly poverty-stricken artist now +developed a love of accumulation--a miserly love for the money itself, +and hated to spend any of it even on himself or on the girl to whom he +owed his good fortune. The coward actually ran away and hid himself in +Europe, and I, having spent all the money he had given me, with the +idea I had an inexhaustible fund to draw upon, was forced to turn nurse +again. + +"After three years I had saved enough to follow him to Europe, where I +located him at a lonely villa in Italy. Its very loneliness was my +undoing, for he made a husky servant lock me up in an outhouse and +there I was held a prisoner until Jason had again escaped to America. +He thought he could hide better in the United States and that I +wouldn't have the money to follow him there, but I had fortunately +saved enough for my return passage. By the time I got home, however, he +had completely disappeared and all my efforts failed to locate him. So +I returned to Chicago and again resumed my profession. + +"You will say I might have denounced him as an impostor and made the +police hunt him up, but that would have ruined my chances of ever +getting another penny of the money and might have involved me +personally. Jason knew that, and it made him bold to defy me. I +silently bided my time, believing that fate would one day put the man +in my power. + +"You know how I happened to find Alora in Chicago and how I lured her +to my home and kept her there a prisoner." + +It was found that the dead man had made large investments in his own +name, and as he had left no will Janet declared that this property now +belonged to her, as his widow. Lawyer Conant, however, assured her that +as the money had never been legally her husband's, but was secured by +him under false pretenses, all the investments and securities purchased +with it must be transferred to the real Jason Jones, to whom they now +belonged. The court would attend to that matter. + +"And it serves you right, madam," added Peter Conant, "for concocting +the plot to swindle Alora's father out of the money his dead wife +intended him to have. You are not properly punished, for you should be +sent to jail, but your disappointment will prove a slight punishment, +at least." + +"So far as I knew," answered Janet, defending her crime, "Alora's +father was either dead or hidden in some corner of the world where he +could never be found. To my knowledge there was no such person +existent, so the substitution of my husband for him did him no injury +and merely kept the income out of the clutches of paid executors. Had +the right man appeared, at any time during these four years, to claim +his child and the money, he might easily have secured them by proving +his identity. So the fault was his as much as mine." + +Jason Jones had personally listened to the woman's confession, which +filled him with wonder. While severely condemning her unscrupulous +methods he refused to prosecute her, although Mr. Conant urged him to +do so, and even carried his generosity to the extent of presenting her +with one of her dead husband's small investments, obtaining from her in +return the promise to lead an honest and respectable life. + +It had been the artist's intention to return to his California +bungalow, but after the probate court had acknowledged him and +transferred to him the guardianship of his daughter, he decided to +devote the coming years to Alora and endeavor to recompense her with +fatherly devotion for the privations and unhappiness she had formerly +endured. + +Alora did not wish to be separated from Mary Louise, so her father +purchased the handsome residence of Senator Huling, which was situated +directly opposite to that of Colonel Hathaway in Dorfield, and +succeeded in making it a real home for his daughter. + +Josie O'Gorman went back to Washington well pleased with her success, +although she said with a little grimace of feigned regret: + +"I did pretty well, for an amateur, for I tackled a tough case and won +out; but, after all, it was Mary Louise who solved the mystery and +restored Alora to her honest-for-true father." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY LOUISE SOLVES A MYSTERY*** + + +******* This file should be named 24578.txt or 24578.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/5/7/24578 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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