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diff --git a/37434-h/37434-h.htm b/37434-h/37434-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..77ca800 --- /dev/null +++ b/37434-h/37434-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10984 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" > +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <meta content="The Motor Maids’ School Days" name="DC.Title"/> + <meta content="Katherine Stokes" name="DC.Creator"/> + <meta content="en" name="DC.Language"/> + <meta content="1911" name="DC.Created"/> + <meta name="generator" content="ppgen (1.21) generated Sep 13, 2011 07:56 AM" /> + <title>The Motor Maids’ School Days</title> + <style type="text/css"> + body {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%;} + p {margin-top:1ex; margin-bottom:0; text-align:justify;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size:x-small; text-align:right; text-indent:0; + position:absolute; right:2%; padding:1px 3px; font-style:normal; + font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:none; + background-color:inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + .pncolor {color:silver;} + h1 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal; + font-size:1.4em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + h2 {text-align:left; font-weight:normal; + font-size:1.2em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + h3 {text-align:center; font-weight:bold; + font-size:0.9em; margin-top:1.5em; margin-bottom:1em;} + hr.pb {margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver; clear:both;} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + .center {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center;} + .larger {font-size:larger;} + .smaller {font-size:smaller;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + table.c {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + div.center>:first-child {margin: .5em auto 0 auto;text-align:center;} + div.center p {margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;} + hr.tb {border:none; border-bottom: 1px solid black; margin: 20px auto; width:35%} + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Motor Maids' School Days, by Katherine Stokes + +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: The Motor Maids' School Days + +Author: Katherine Stokes + +Release Date: September 15, 2011 [EBook #37434] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by Cornell +University Digital Collections) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i001' id='i001'></a> +<img src='images/illus-cvr.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i002' id='i002'></a> +<img src="images/illus-fpc.jpg" alt="“You will simply be an outcast in West Haven, and I advise you to think the matter over.”" title=""/><br /> +<span class='caption'>“You will simply be an outcast in West Haven,<br/>and I advise you to think the matter over.”</span> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:1.6em;font-weight:bold;'>THE MOTOR MAIDS’</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:1.6em;font-weight:bold;'>SCHOOL DAYS</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>BY</p> +<p><span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>KATHERINE STOKES</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>NEW YORK</p> +<p>HURST & COMPANY</p> +<p>PUBLISHERS</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p>Copyright, 1911,</p> +<p>BY</p> +<p>HURST & COMPANY</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>CONTENTS</span></p> +</div> +<table class='c' summary='table of contents'> +<tr><td style='font-size:smaller'>CHAPTER</td><td></td><td style='font-size:smaller'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>I.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“The Comet”</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chI'>5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>II.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Friends in Need</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chII'>24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>III.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Musicians of Bremen</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIII'>41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>IV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Plots and Plans</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIV'>52</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>V.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The First Motor Picnic</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chV'>63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Box of Troubles</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVI'>81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Fire</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVII'>95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Nancy’s Home</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVIII'>110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>IX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>At the Sign of the Blue Tea Pot</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIX'>128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>X.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Rumors at School</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chX'>136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Seven League Island</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXI'>147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Storm</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXII'>166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Wheels Within Wheels</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIII'>179</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Hallowe’en House Party</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIV'>193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Ghost Party</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXV'>206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A Stray Ghost</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVI'>217</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Mrs. Ruggles</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVII'>228</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Fannie Alta</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVIII'>241</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Mary Before Her Judges</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIX'>253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Miss Campbell Wears Black</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXX'>262</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Missing Link</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXI'>271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Refugees</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXII'>280</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Belle’s Confession</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXIII'>291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXIV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Out of the Mists</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXIV'>303</a></td></tr> +</table> +<h1>THE MOTOR MAIDS’ SCHOOL DAYS</h1> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5'></a>5</span><a name='chI' id='chI'></a>CHAPTER I.—“THE COMET.”</h2> +<p> +“Girls, in about ten minutes you’re going to +have the surprise of your lives,” cried Nancy +Brown, joining a group of her friends at the +High School gate. +</p> +<p> +“What is it, Nancy? Do tell us, please,” cried +half a dozen voices at once. +</p> +<p> +“No, you must wait,” answered Nancy. “If I +told you what it was, I wouldn’t enjoy seeing your +faces when the thing happened.” +</p> +<p> +“Nancy, you have always got some mystery on +foot,” put in her most intimate friend, Elinor +Butler. “Is this one animal, vegetable, or mineral?” +</p> +<p> +“Fine or superfine?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6'></a>6</span> +</p> +<p> +“Can it speak?” +</p> +<p> +“Is it as large as a house?” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t all talk at once,” exclaimed Nancy. +“I’ll tell you this much. It’s animal and it’s superfine. +And”—she wrinkled her brows—“and +it’s mineral, too, I suppose.” +</p> +<p> +“Superfine? At least it’s a woman, then?” +cried all the girls in a chorus. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” laughed Nancy, who loved nothing better +than to excite the curiosity of her friends to +the utmost and then launch a genuine sensation +into their midst. +</p> +<p> +“Does the superfine animal wear the mineral?” +demanded Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“No, she doesn’t wear it. She’s in it.” +</p> +<p> +“In it? How strange,” exclaimed another girl. +“Perhaps it’s a lady oyster in her shell.” +</p> +<p> +“There’s no surprise in an oyster unless there’s +a pearl in it, goosey,” teased Nancy. “But here +it comes! Here it comes!” she cried, clapping her +hands joyfully, while six pairs of eyes peered curiously +down the street, which, by gentle degrees, +became a country road. The trim sidewalks of +the little seaport town of West Haven became +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7'></a>7</span> +grassy paths and the pretty lawns broadened into +flat green meadows. +</p> +<p> +Far down the road a brilliant red object could +be seen approaching. It was enveloped in a cloud +of dust and it moved with great rapidity. +</p> +<p> +“Why, it’s nothing but a red automobile,” cried +Elinor, in disappointment. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” admitted Nancy, “it’s an automobile, +but there’s something unusual about it besides its +color.” +</p> +<p> +“A girl is running it,” announced Mary Price, +whose clear, dark eyes always seemed to be looking +into the distance. “A girl is running it, and +no one is with her, and——” +</p> +<p> +But the motor car was now in full view. It +was a graceful little machine large enough to +hold five or six people comfortably, its body +painted a warm and pleasing shade of red, its +cushions upholstered in a slightly darker shade +which harmonized perfectly with the red of the +body. A young girl, sitting on the front seat, +was running the car as easily and steadily as an +experienced chauffeur. Making a graceful curve, +she turned into the driveway which led to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8'></a>8</span> +school grounds and presently drew up under a +large shed, where people were in the habit of +hitching their horses and vehicles on Field Day, +or when football was in season. +</p> +<p> +“Who is she?” demanded Nancy’s schoolmates +in a whisper. +</p> +<p> +“Why, she’s Miss Helen Campbell’s cousin, +Wilhelmina Campbell.” +</p> +<p> +“Do you mean our old friend, Billie?” asked +Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“The same,” said Nancy, in a low voice, for +Billie Campbell was now approaching within +hearing distance. “Her mother’s dead and her +father’s brought her here to live with Miss Campbell +while he builds a railroad in Russia, and she’s +going to High School and she’s in our class and +she’s coming to and fro every day in her own +motor car.” +</p> +<p> +Nancy was speaking as rapidly as a talking +machine going at full speed. +</p> +<p> +Billie, as her father had always called her, +might have guessed that she was the subject of all +this buzzing undertone of conversation among +the school girls; but she was too well accustomed to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9'></a>9</span> +strange faces and new places to feel +stiff and shy now at the looks of curiosity which +were turned on her. On the contrary, the West +Haven girls themselves felt a little ill at ease and +countrified in the presence of this new sophomore, +who, with her father, an engineer, had +lived in many countries and seen a great deal of +that mysterious outside world which sleepy, quiet +West Haven had never troubled itself much +about. +</p> +<p> +But Billie Campbell was not destined to renew +her acquaintance just then with these childhood +friends of hers. A slender, very pretty girl, beautifully +dressed, hurried out of the school building +and called: +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Miss Campbell, may I speak with you a +moment?” +</p> +<p> +“We might have known it,” cried Nancy +Brown savagely. “If Billie Campbell hadn’t +owned a motor car, Belle Rogers would never +have given herself the trouble even to speak to +her.” +</p> +<p> +You perhaps know what a dangerous quality +snobbishness is in a girl’s school. A very little of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10'></a>10</span> +it is like a drop of strong poison in a pail of water. +It pollutes the whole pail. So it was at West +Haven High School. Belle Rogers, the prettiest +and richest girl in town, had picked out six more +or less wealthy and intimate friends in the sophomore +class and constituted herself leader of what +they called “The Mystic Seven.” These seven +girls held themselves aloof from the poorer girls +in the class and committed the unpardonable sin +of snubbing every girl outside their charmed circle. +</p> +<p> +Very bitter were the feelings of the other ten +sophomores against the “Mystic Seven,” who refused +to mingle in the sports of the class and +kept themselves apart at recess, talking in low, +mysterious voices and laughing behind their +pocket handkerchiefs when the other girls strolled +by. +</p> +<p> +“They always make me feel shabbier than I +really am,” Mary Price had once said. +</p> +<p> +And now the “Mystic Seven” had snatched up +this nice, athletic-looking, new sophomore, whom +many of them remembered as a bright, romping +little girl years before. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11'></a>11</span> +</p> +<p> +“I suppose they’ll have to call themselves ‘The +Mystic Eight’ now,” said one of the girls, a little +bitterly. +</p> +<p> +“Can’t we ask her to join the ‘Blue Birds’?” +put in Elinor Butler, who was eligible in point of +wealth to enter the richer society, but had coldly +declined the honor and had formed a society herself, +called the “Blue Birds.” +</p> +<p> +“She couldn’t belong to both clubs,” said +Nancy, “and you may be sure she has accepted +the invitation of that little golden-haired, blue-eyed +Belle Rogers, who put on an extra soft +pedal even to call out her name.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, Billie Campbell will probably never have +cause to know that Belle’s tongue is sharper than +a serpent’s tooth, so what’s the odds,” observed +Mary Price philosophically. “We got on perfectly +well before she came and I suppose we can +manage to support life pretty comfortably even +if she is a member of the ‘Mystic Seven.’” +</p> +<p> +Her friends laughed, as they strolled by twos +and threes into the broad, arched entrance leading +into the corridor of the building. Mary +Price often relieved their wounded feelings by +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12'></a>12</span> +ending discussions concerning the “Mystic Seven” +with a joke, although not one of them had +been cut more deeply than she herself by the +cruel speeches of Belle Rogers and her friends; +for, since the death of Captain Price, Mary Price +and her mother, as you will see later, had had a +hard struggle to make both ends meet. +</p> +<p> +In the meantime, Belle Rogers was using all +her arts on the unsuspecting Wilhelmina Campbell. +</p> +<p> +“We have never met,” she was saying, “but I +heard you were going to enter our class and I +wanted to be the first to welcome you.” +</p> +<p> +“Thank you,” said Billie, who had a boyish, +direct way of answering people. +</p> +<p> +“We wanted to know,” went on Belle quickly, +“if you wouldn’t become a member of our society, +the Mystic Seven. It is the most exclusive +and nicest society in the school; the seven nicest +girls in West Haven. We are all intimate friends, +you know.” +</p> +<p> +Billie gazed with admiration into Belle’s lovely, +childlike face. Her own hair was straight and +secretly she had always admired curls. Belle’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13'></a>13</span> +pale golden hair curled about her low forehead +in soft ringlets. Her great china-blue eyes looked +appealingly into Billie’s gray ones, and her rosy +lips, which were much too thin when her face +was in repose, parted with a winning smile. She +was dressed in blue a little darker than her eyes +and a small blue velvet toque was perched coquettishly +on top of her curls. +</p> +<p> +“She looks like a picture pasted inside of an +old trunk mamma used to have,” said Billie to +herself. “I could almost believe she was a bisque +doll. I never saw anything like her.” +</p> +<p> +“You will join us, won’t you?” went on Belle +wistfully. +</p> +<p> +“I’m afraid I should be one too many and +make an unlucky number. Seven is supposed to +be lucky, isn’t it?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, we’re not superstitious,” laughed Belle. +“We can change the name to the ‘Happy Eight,’ +or something of that sort. We are looking for +nice girls, and as soon as I saw you I knew you +would be the one for us. We want to enlarge the +club.” +</p> +<p> +“Dear me,” said Billie thoughtfully, “in a class +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14'></a>14</span> +of seventeen girls are only seven nice enough to +be asked to join your club?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, they are nice enough,” replied Belle. +“Elinor Butler is really quite nice, but they are +not just our sort, don’t you know, and mamma +has always cautioned me to be very careful about +my companions.” +</p> +<p> +“Elinor Butler?” questioned Billie. “She is my +old friend, and Nancy Brown and Mary Price? +Aren’t any of them members?” +</p> +<p> +Just then the gong for chapel boomed out in +the September stillness and Belle could only shake +her head for denial, as the two girls hurried into +the building. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t think I could ever get on with that +blonde doll baby,” thought Billie, as she followed +Belle into the chapel for morning prayer, which +always opened the day at West Haven High +School. +</p> +<p> +At recess the new sophomore was quite overwhelmed +by the attentions of the Mystic Seven. +They showed her the building and the grounds, +the class locker rooms and the gymnasium, which +interested her most of all. And in return she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15'></a>15</span> +showed them her motor car. But, somehow, she +did not quite like these stylish and rather over-dressed +young girls. Their conversation really +bored her and she was disappointed. +</p> +<p> +It had been her own suggestion to go to West +Haven High School when her father was summoned +abroad to build a railroad. +</p> +<p> +“I think it’s high time I met some nice outdoor +girls, papa,” she had said. “I am afraid of +boarding school girls. They are so different +from you.” +</p> +<p> +Her father had laughed joyfully over this +speech. +</p> +<p> +“I hope there’s not much resemblance between +me and a boarding school girl, my little Billie,” +he said, pinching her cheek. +</p> +<p> +And now the nice open-air girls whom she had +recalled with pleasure after a summer spent in +West Haven had not come near enough even to +greet her and she had been obliged to pair off +with seven fashion plates. +</p> +<p> +“It’s perfectly maddening,” she exclaimed to +herself, giving the turf on the campus a savage +little kick. “Nancy and Elinor actually avoid +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16'></a>16</span> +meeting my eyes as if I were some one unfit to +know. I wish I had consented to go to boarding +school, after all, instead of coming to Cousin +Helen. I don’t want to belong to a silly society +that does nothing but have afternoon teas. I +want to play basket ball and go on long tramps +with other girls and have picnics. I’m so disappointed, +I could weep aloud.” +</p> +<p> +This was the picture Billie had drawn in her +mind of life at West Haven High School and +here she was an outcast from all the good times +and open air games of the class, simply because +not one of her old friends would come near her. +She long remembered that first day at school as +the loneliest and most wretched of her whole life. +</p> +<p> +Then the last gong sounded and everybody +went home except Billie, who had an appointment +with Miss Gray, the principal. After the interview, +in a rebellious and disconsolate humor, +homesick for her father and disappointed with +the whole world, she cranked up her red car and +whirled away toward the open country. +</p> +<p> +As she sped along the road she passed the +three friends of that summer of years ago, walking +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17'></a>17</span> +briskly away from town. They did not even +look up as she whirled by and the lump in her +throat grew so big that it resolved itself into a +sob and two hot tears trickled down her cheeks. +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps they’re going over to the woods; +just what I would have loved to have done,” wept +the disappointed young girl, whose life had been +a lonely one in spite of her father’s devotion and +constant companionship. +</p> +<p> +She was still drying her eyes when she noticed +some distance ahead a man leap into the road and +wave his arms violently. Billie slowed down and +came to a stop; for at the side of the road another +very ill-looking man was lying prone on his back +with closed eyes and slightly parted lips. +</p> +<p> +“What is it?” she asked. “Has your friend +been hurt?” +</p> +<p> +“No, miss,” answered the man who had +stopped her, “but he has walked fifteen miles to-day +and I am afraid he’s about all in. I am trying +to get him to his house, but I can’t carry +him and he can’t take another step.” +</p> +<p> +“Where is his house?” asked Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Are you familiar with these parts, miss?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18'></a>18</span> +</p> +<p> +“No,” she answered. +</p> +<p> +“It’s just up that lane about a mile. Only a +matter of five minutes to you.” +</p> +<p> +“Can you get him into the car?” asked Billie, +noticing that this rather sinister looking stranger +had only one arm; also that his right eye was +out and there was a long scar across his upper +lip. +</p> +<p> +“Easily,” he replied, and without another word +he expeditiously supported his friend to the motor +car and lifted him into the back seat. +</p> +<p> +“Poor fellow,” exclaimed Billie sympathetically. +“It’s well I happened along.” +</p> +<p> +The sick man was indeed a wretched looking +object, with a thin, lantern-jawed face, hollow +feverish eyes and a sunken chest. Occasionally +he coughed behind his hands apologetically. +</p> +<p> +“Down the lane, did you say?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, miss, you can just see the house. It’s +the gray one up near the woods.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll have him there in a few minutes,” she answered, +putting on all speed. +</p> +<p> +The little machine flew along the hard sandy +road like a redbird on the wing. Billie occasionally +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19'></a>19</span> +glanced over her shoulder at the sick man +and each time her eyes met his, which seemed to +burn like coals of fire. She had not liked the +looks of the other man. His one remaining eye +was much too close to his hooked nose; but the +sick man appealed to her sympathies. Billie’s +nature was not a suspicious one. She had encountered +many people in her life, and it is only +people who have lived out of the world who are +apt to suspect strangers. +</p> +<p> +As she drew up the car in front of what appeared +to be a very old, long-deserted fisherman’s +house and turned to see her passengers alight, +she found the one-eyed man bending over his +companion. +</p> +<p> +“He’s fainted, miss,” he said. “If you’ll go +around back of the house to the old well and +draw up a pail of cold water, I guess we can revive +him. Just let down the pail by the wheel +at the side—you’ll see the handle,—and then +get a glass or pitcher or something ’round there +in the shed.” +</p> +<p> +As the man was apparently very busy loosening +the neck-band of his friend’s shirt, there +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20'></a>20</span> +seemed nothing else for Billie to do but to obey +his directions. In fact, her sympathies were so +deeply aroused that she was more than eager +to help. +</p> +<p> +She dashed around the corner in an instant, +rushed to the old well, and exerting her strength +turned the handle of the rusty wheel around and +around while the rattling chain lowered the moss-covered +bucket deeper and deeper until it struck +the water. Waiting only until the bucket was +filled, she began to raise it as rapidly as she could, +but her muscles were sorely tried by the stubbornness +of the rusty wheel and the additional +weight of the water. +</p> +<p> +The thought of the exhausted man spurred her +on, however, and at length, flushed and perspiring, +she succeeded in drawing the bucket to a +little shelf where she left it while she searched +for a receptacle in which to carry the water. +She found no difficulty in pushing open a loosely-hung +door at the end of the shed, and, after groping +around a moment or two in the semi-darkness, +she discovered a battered tin pail. Hastening back +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21'></a>21</span> +with it, she rinsed and filled it, and hurried +around to the front of the house. +</p> +<p> +As she turned the corner, she stopped short! +Where were the two men? Where was her machine? +<em>Where—was—her—machine?</em> +</p> +<p> +Too dazed to move, Billie stood rooted to the +spot while the water trickled out of a hole in +the pail and made a little pool at her feet. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly she gasped, “They must be around +the other corner. They <em>must</em> be!” +</p> +<p> +But they were not!—and then Billie noticed +the tracks in the crushed grass that told the tale. +The motor car had been turned and driven away +up the lane! +</p> +<p> +Billie sank down on the step in front of the +old house almost too spent with her exertions +and her shock to think. +</p> +<p> +Then she flung down the pail and rushed up +the lane as though she would try to catch the +vanished car,—but she stopped as abruptly with +a half laugh. +</p> +<p> +“They may be miles and miles away by this +time,—they had time enough while I was fussing +over that old well. And the chain made +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22'></a>22</span> +such a noise and the wheel creaked so, I never +heard another sound!” +</p> +<p> +Billie’s eyes filled with indignant tears as she +began slowly to saunter back to the old house. +She felt somehow impelled to return to the scene +of her loss, perhaps to persuade herself that it +was really so. +</p> +<p> +As she neared the spot where she had last seen +her red car, she noticed a slip of paper blowing +lightly about. Idly she picked it up and glanced +over the words written upon it. Then she stood +still and caught her breath as she realized what +they meant. +</p> +<p> +“Stay here. Tell no one. Back soon.” +</p> +<p> +That was the message that Billie read, and she +did not doubt for a moment that it was intended +for her. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, perhaps you will come back, and perhaps +you won’t,” she said half aloud. “Maybe you +think that I think that you have gone for a doctor. +But I don’t. You are two mean, wicked +men to outwit a girl like that. I’ll never see my +car again!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23'></a>23</span> +</p> +<p> +Just as Billie uttered this despairing cry, she +heard a distant hail, and then another. +</p> +<p> +“Who is coming now?” she thought. “It’s too +soon to expect my sick (?) passenger and his +one-eyed friend, and anyway I hear no car,——nor +anything else, now,” she added. “Maybe I +imagined it. Oh, I’d like to be a man for about +five minutes! Then they wouldn’t <em>dare</em>!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24'></a>24</span><a name='chII' id='chII'></a>CHAPTER II.—FRIENDS IN NEED.</h2> +<p> +“There she goes,” Nancy Brown had exclaimed +as “The Comet,” Billie’s motor, whirled by; “too +proud even to ask her old friends to take a spin.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, Nancy,” protested Elinor, “don’t be too +hard on her. Remember, she has not seen any +of us since we were children. Perhaps she’s forgotten +all about us. Besides, I’ve been thinking +that we ought to have done the first speaking. +She was starting right for us when Belle Rogers +stopped her.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, I tried twice to speak to her,” said +Nancy, “and she wouldn’t look at me. I am afraid +we shall never get a ride in that pretty motor +car, and the only one I was ever in was the +stationary automobile at the tintype place at the +County Fair.” +</p> +<p> +The girls walked on silently for a few moments. +The red motor car had turned a curve +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25'></a>25</span> +in the road and was out of sight and the place +seemed very lonely and still. The afternoon +shadows were beginning to lengthen as the sun +moved slowly behind the pine woods, which +formed a dark background against the flat, green +meadows about West Haven. +</p> +<p> +“I can’t imagine why we should be wasting +time about a friend who has forgotten us,” exclaimed +Mary Price, “when Elinor has brought +us out here to tell us some mysterious secret. +Don’t you think it’s about time to begin, Elinor? +It’s getting late and we’ve still a good ways to +go.” +</p> +<p> +“I was just going to,” answered her friend, +“but suppose we take the short cut across the +fields, and I’ll tell you on the way. Two other +people are in the secret, Charlie Clay and Ben +Austen. They have promised to meet us at the +old house. Of course, the whole thing may be of +no importance.” +</p> +<p> +“But what is it?” interrupted Nancy. “You +keep dodging around the bush.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, Nancy,” answered Elinor, who had a +calm, placid disposition and never hurried about +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26'></a>26</span> +anything, “don’t put your most peculiar characteristic +off on me. You know very well that you +are the one who loves to keep a mystery until +we are all of us nearly bursting with curiosity.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t quarrel, children,” interrupted Mary. +“Remember that members of the Blue Bird Society +are bound over not to quarrel.” +</p> +<p> +“We aren’t quarreling; we’re just discussing. +But do go on, Elinor. I can’t stand the suspense +much longer.” +</p> +<p> +“What I am going to tell you,” said Elinor, +“may be of the vastest importance or it may be +just nothing whatever. At any rate, I didn’t +want to take any chances and it was simple +enough for us to meet the boys out here and see +for ourselves.” +</p> +<p> +“See what, Elinor Butler?” ejaculated Nancy +impatiently. “You always begin at the last of +a story and tell backwards.” +</p> +<p> +Elinor smiled provokingly. +</p> +<p> +“That’s to see how much curiosity you can accumulate +without exploding, Nancy, dear.” +</p> +<p> +Nancy shut her lips tightly. She was determined +now, at any cost, not to speak again until +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27'></a>27</span> +Elinor had really started on the story, but how +irritating Elinor could be at times! +</p> +<p> +Mary was never disturbed over these little tiffs +of the two friends which were merely the ups and +downs of the endless conversation that flowed +between them. +</p> +<p> +“This is what happened then, Nancy darling,” +continued Elinor, slipping an arm around her +friend’s waist, while she locked her other arm +through Mary’s. And the three girls hurried on, +too absorbed in their intimate talk to notice the +flash of a scarlet motor car through the high +bushes, which bordered both sides of Boulder +Lane, the name of the road which intercepted the +two meadows. +</p> +<p> +“I was coming across Court House Square late +yesterday afternoon after my music lesson. You +know I have begun to study with the new teacher, +Mme. Alta. Just as I came to the statue of +Thomas Jefferson, I heard some one call very +softly, or rather it was more like a hiss than a +call. I suppose I should have rushed off frightened, +but I am never afraid of people. It’s only +spiders and snakes and bulls that make me shiver. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28'></a>28</span> +So, I didn’t run away, but waited, and I discovered +that the hiss came from around the other +side of the statue and was not meant for me at +all. Even then I should have gone on if I hadn’t +heard some one cry out. I couldn’t understand +the language, but another voice said in English: +‘There are only two boxes left. Take them to +the old house in Boulder Lane to-night and never +keep me waiting this long again.’ Then the other +man said something and the English voice said: +‘You can haul them to-morrow morning. It’ll +be time enough when I get the signal to do the +rest.’ I couldn’t understand what the man answered, +but the English voice said: ‘I’ll kill the +whole crew of Butlers and anybody else who interferes +with me. I’m in a desperate humor and +I won’t be bothered.’ Fortunately they took the +walk that goes to the docks, because they would +certainly have seen me if they had come around +on the other side. But I saw them plainly when +they passed under the electric light. They looked +like seamen.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Kill the whole crew of Butlers,’” repeated +Mary Price. “Does he mean that he is going to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29'></a>29</span> +wipe your family off the face of the earth? And +for what?” +</p> +<p> +“That is what I want to find out. It wouldn’t +do any special harm to take a late afternoon stroll +in this direction, if the boys are with us. I didn’t +want to say anything to father about it. He is so +busy, and you know how excitable he is. William +is exactly like father. Edward and mother and +I are the only calm, peaceful members of the family, +and mother’s sick and Edward is at college. +Besides, you know, the man may not have meant +us. The county is full of Butlers, dozens of +them. Some of them claim kin and some do not. +They are the most quarrelsome, high-tempered +people in existence—that is, all except Edward +and me.” +</p> +<p> +The other girls laughed. +</p> +<p> +“Not high-tempered, Elinor,” said Nancy, “but +you have a sort of royal manner when you are +displeased that I imagine a queen might have +when one of her subjects is disobedient.” +</p> +<p> +“What’s that?” interrupted Mary. “I thought +I heard some one call.” +</p> +<p> +The girls paused and listened. They were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30'></a>30</span> +standing in a broad, flat meadow which seemed to +stretch out indefinitely in one direction like an +enormous pale-green billiard table; but in the +other direction, bordered by alder bushes, lay +Boulder Lane; so called because of an immense +gray boulder, which in some prehistoric upheaval +had been tossed here, and which resembled now +an old gray sentinel standing on perpetual guard. +</p> +<p> +“Why, there’s the automobile,” exclaimed +Nancy, after some minutes, following an occasional +flash of red through the bushes, as the +flying motor car sped on up the lane. +</p> +<p> +“I wonder what she is doing up Boulder Lane? +Exploring by herself, I suppose. It must be +lonely,” observed Mary. +</p> +<p> +A fresh salt breeze had sprung up from the +ocean, bringing with it the chill of the oncoming +night. The three girls hastened their footsteps. +If they were late, the boys might not wait for +them. +</p> +<p> +“Boys are so unreliable,” Mary had remarked. +</p> +<p> +“Not Ben Austen,” said Elinor. “Father says +he is as trustworthy as the Bank of England. +But he’s slow. He never likes to stop one thing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31'></a>31</span> +until he finishes it, no matter what’s waiting. He +and Charlie are building a boat somewhere down +the beach and they spend all their afternoons +at it, but they are sure to be there if they promised.” +</p> +<p> +By this time the girls had reached the hedge. +It was certainly a lonesome place. The old house +which had been unoccupied for many years because +its last occupant had committed suicide by +hanging himself from a beam, appeared in the +gathering dusk like a solitary gray ghost; +the front windows resembled two large sad eyes +gazing into space and the walls, streaked with +the tempests of many seasons, had the appearance +of a worn, tear-stained face. +</p> +<p> +“Dear me,” whispered Nancy, “I had forgotten +what a weird old place this was. It might be +the entrance to a tomb.” +</p> +<p> +“Halo-o-o!” called a boyish voice, and a tall, +overgrown lad appeared coming up the lane from +the direction of the beach, followed by a much +smaller youth, who was so absorbed with whittling +a little boat that he did not even look up +when the girls answered the call. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32'></a>32</span> +</p> +<p> +“Don’t make so much noise, Ben,” said Elinor, +when they had climbed through the hedge and +congregated together in the lane. “This is just +an investigating party. We are not to take any +risks.” +</p> +<p> +“There seems to be nobody around,” replied +Ben. “We saw an automobile go past a little +while ago with two men in it and some big boxes +in the back. It was almost stuck in the sand. I +wonder it could get along at all. It looked like a +big, red lobster.” +</p> +<p> +“Red?” cried the girls in one voice. +</p> +<p> +“I never saw anything redder in my life,” put +in Charlie. +</p> +<p> +“You must be mistaken about the men, then,” +said Elinor decisively. “Because Billie Campbell +owns it and was running it herself a little while +ago.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, we were not close enough to get a good +look, but Billie Campbell appeared to be two men +at that distance. But come along, girls. It is +getting late and we had better not lose any more +time. Now, what is it we are looking for? Butler +bundles and boxes?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33'></a>33</span> +</p> +<p> +“I don’t think they can be called Butler bundles,” +replied Elinor, “since my family is to be +wiped out of existence if it interferes with the +bundles, whatever they are.” +</p> +<p> +The boys and girls who were thoroughly enjoying +the fun and mystery of the expedition now +advanced on tiptoe to the ghostly looking house, +like a party of conspirators in a play. +</p> +<p> +“I feel like a pirate,” whispered Nancy, giggling. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly Ben, who was ahead of the others, +stopped and put his fingers to his lips. He beckoned +to them to follow him around to the side of +the house. +</p> +<p> +“I heard something inside the house,” he said, +in a low voice. “Wait here, girls, with Charlie +while I take a look.” +</p> +<p> +He crept cautiously around to the front and +presently they heard him open the door and walk +boldly in. +</p> +<p> +“I’m going, too,” said Charlie, unable to contain +his curiosity any longer, and the girls followed +him single-file into a low-studded, dusty +room, unfurnished except for one rickety chair, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34'></a>34</span> +but behind that stood—Billie Campbell! And +facing Billie in the dim light just inside the door +stood Ben, surprise written as plainly upon his +face as bravery, defiance, and apprehension were +mingled upon hers. +</p> +<p> +The girls were too amazed to speak at first. +</p> +<p> +“Billie Campbell!” cried Nancy, at last. “Did +two men frighten you and run away with your +automobile?” +</p> +<p> +Billie nodded. Somehow it was very difficult to +keep back her tears now that help had come; but +she never had been a cry-baby even as a child and +now she choked down her sobs with all her +strength, for in the gathering dusk she had recognized +the faces of her three childhood friends +who had refused to remember her that day at +school. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, but I’m glad to see you!” she exclaimed. +“After the men went off I noticed that the front +door was open and I came in a minute to see if +it really looked as though it were lived in now-a-days +as the man said. But it just looks deserted, +and it’s dreadfully dusty except here in the corner +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35'></a>35</span> +and from here to the door,—just as though +something had been dragged across the floor.” +</p> +<p> +The young girl had been talking excitedly, but +now she stopped abruptly and with a friendly look +and a gesture of intense relief she stretched her +arms over her head, as though with the relaxation +of her muscles she could also free herself +from the sudden shock and dread that had bound +her. +</p> +<p> +She was tall for her age, fifteen, with a frank, +almost boyish face, fine gray eyes, and a rather +large mouth which curled up at the corners when +she smiled and showed two graduated rows of +strong white teeth. Her light brown hair was +parted in the middle and rolled on each side into +a thick, knobby plait in the back. +</p> +<p> +“She’s not very strong on looks,” thought +Nancy, who set great store on beauty herself, +“but she’s got the nicest face I ever saw.” +</p> +<p> +“How did it happen?” asked Ben. +</p> +<p> +Then Billie told how the two men had duped +her and left her behind the deserted house, and +how she had found the message on the slip of +paper. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36'></a>36</span> +</p> +<p> +“Then the men are coming back?” cried Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps,” replied Billie, “and we’d better +hurry away from here as fast as we can in case +they come. They may not intend to do me any +harm, but they are a very determined-looking +pair of characters, as papa says, and one of them +has a long pistol and a knife in his belt, for I +saw them.” +</p> +<p> +“But what about the red motor?” demanded +Nancy, whose yearning to ride in the car had +somewhat biased her good judgment. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll just have to lose it, I suppose,” answered +Billie. +</p> +<p> +“I have a scheme,” put in Charlie, who rarely +spoke without due deliberation. “Miss Campbell +is just about as tall as I am—she may be a little +shorter,” he added, stretching himself to his full +height. +</p> +<p> +The others smiled secretly at this, for Billie +was at least an inch taller than Charlie, but they +knew that the most sensitive spot in his nature +was his height, since he was the oldest member of +the party and Ben overtopped him by nearly three +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37'></a>37</span> +inches. And Charlie had a sneaking suspicion +that he never would be tall enough. His bones +were small and his frame as slender and delicate +as a girl’s. +</p> +<p> +“Suppose I put on your hat and veil and your +long coat,” he continued, “and sit here on the +step waiting. It’s getting darker all the time, +and so if the men come back they’ll think it is +you; but if they thought somebody was onto them, +they would probably break their word and chase +off with the motor.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t think that would be quite fair,” said +Billie. “Suppose they found out you were a boy. +They might shoot you or something.” +</p> +<p> +“But they won’t find it out,” answered Charlie. +“Hurry up. We have no time to lose.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, do,” urged Ben. “It’s much the best +way. We couldn’t leave you for the thieves and +it’s a pity to lose the car. Besides, the rest of us +will hide in the house and if anything happens, +we’ll come to the rescue.” +</p> +<p> +Billie removed her ulster without another +word. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38'></a>38</span> +</p> +<p> +“She’s a dandy, sensible girl,” thought Ben to +himself. +</p> +<p> +“You’d better take the skirt, too. If they saw +your trouser legs, it would be all off,” said Billie, +as she unbuckled her belt and removed her gray +walking skirt, standing before them without any +embarrassment in a short, red silk petticoat. +</p> +<p> +“What about shoes?” observed Mary Price. +“Those Charlie is wearing are not much like +a girl’s shoes.” +</p> +<p> +“How about these pumps? I wear No. fives,” +said Billie, calmly kicking off her slippers. +</p> +<p> +Charlie, good-naturedly, unlaced his stout boy’s +boots. +</p> +<p> +“I might be able to get my big toe into them,” +he said. “Like Cinderella’s step-sisters and the +little glass slipper.” +</p> +<p> +“These aren’t any Cinderella’s,” laughed Billie. +</p> +<p> +How nice these boys and girls did seem to her +and how fine it was to be with them, even in this +strange and dangerous situation! +</p> +<p> +Charlie could wear the slippers, however, although +they were somewhat narrow in the toe, +and presently he was fully dressed in a girl’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39'></a>39</span> +suit, with his face almost concealed by a long +gray chiffon veil, twisted around Billie’s gray felt +hat, trimmed with one red wing. +</p> +<p> +“Hurry, they’re really coming,” called Billie, +catching the familiar sound of a motor engine +in the distance. +</p> +<p> +“All right,” said Ben, who had been hovering +around Charlie in pretended admiration of his +changed appearance. “Good luck, old boy!” he +added as he hastened after the girls up the narrow +flight of stairs into the attic, which was perfectly +dark and seemed a better place for hiding +than outside, where enough twilight still lingered +to make objects plainly visible. +</p> +<p> +“We are a good deal like ‘The Musicians of +Bremen,’” observed Mary, in a low voice, as +they lay stretched face downward on the attic +floor. “Don’t you remember that old fairy tale of +Grimm’s; when the robber came back to the house +in the wood he was bitten and kicked and +scratched and pecked by the dog and the donkey +and the cat and the rooster, and then they set +up such a braying and barking and crowing and +meowing that he ran away scared to death?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40'></a>40</span> +</p> +<p> +“If anything did happen, we might try the +howling part,” said Billie. “I should think a +piercing shriek from a place like this would scare +a brave man——” +</p> +<p> +“Sh-h, they’re almost here,” cautioned Ben. +“Don’t move, any one. The floor will creak.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m going to sneeze,” hissed Nancy, in the +dark. +</p> +<p> +“Press your upper lip and don’t dare do it,” +whispered Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“Shut up, all of you,” said Ben, as the motor +car drew up beside the hedge at one side of +the house. +</p> +<p> +“If there is any shrieking to be done,” added +Mary, “I’ll do it. I’m the best shrieker in the +sophomore class. I know how to do it in the top +of my head——” +</p> +<p> +“Sh-h-h!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41'></a>41</span><a name='chIII' id='chIII'></a>CHAPTER III.—THE MUSICIANS OF BREMEN.</h2> +<p> +Nancy could not keep from trembling slightly +as she heard the car panting at a little distance +and realized that perhaps a moment of real danger +was near, in spite of their joking. Elinor, +too, felt very much like giving away to a few +tremors, but she reproached herself for such weak +behavior and held her body as rigid as a stone +image while she said sternly in her mind: +</p> +<p> +“My knees are not at all weak. It’s only the +position I am lying in that makes them feel +queer.” +</p> +<p> +A sound as though a heavy foot had been +placed on the step outside was heard and then a +voice which Billie recognized as that of the one-eyed +man said: +</p> +<p> +“Well, young lady, I suppose you have had +about enough of this? We have kept our word, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42'></a>42</span> +you see, which I judge you found on the paper, +as you are still here.” +</p> +<p> +There was a short silence. Evidently Charlie +nodded assent to the supposition and the motion +gave full satisfaction, for the voice went on, +“Has any one been around, miss? You didn’t +hear the sound of any voices, did you, while we +were gone? We saw some people in the field as +we left. Did they come this way? Speak up, +miss.” +</p> +<p> +Not a heart on the attic floor but thumped as +the one-eyed man asked these questions. They +had never thought of Charlie’s voice, which was +about as deep as a full grown man’s! +</p> +<p> +A perfectly death-like stillness reigned for a +moment. It was plain that Charlie was not going +to trust his voice. +</p> +<p> +“Do not be frightened, Señorita,” put in the +thin man. “You may speak without fear. Do +not weep. Perhaps she did see something. It +was not the ghost of the dead man who hanged +himself in here, was it?” he added in a low +voice. +</p> +<p> +“Hold your tongue,” said the other man. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43'></a>43</span> +“Speak up, young woman. Have you no voice +left? You’ll not have strength enough to run the +car if you go on like this.” +</p> +<p> +A deep sob reached the ears of the listeners +overhead. +</p> +<p> +Then the alarming thought came to Ben: How +was Charlie to run the motor car in case the men +insisted on his leaving first? Plainly, it was necessary +to get rid of these men somehow. Then +they would all make a dash, and he would crank +up while Billie jumped in and started the car. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll have to hear the sound of your voice before +I go,” insisted the one-eyed man. “I want +to hear you give me your sacred word of honor to +keep this little loan of your car a secret. If we +find that you have told, and we’ll know it if you +have, you and your family will regret it, that’s +all. We know how to take our revenge, don’t we, +Pedro? So speak up, young woman, and say the +words. I promise——” +</p> +<p> +Another deep sob. +</p> +<p> +“Come, come. Hold up your head and let me +see your face. Say, Pedro, look here; it doesn’t +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44'></a>44</span> +seem quite the same as it did half an hour ago, +somehow. Strike a light!” +</p> +<p> +There was great but noiseless commotion in the +attic! What if the men should lift Charlie’s +veil! +</p> +<p> +Since Mary had mentioned “The Musicians of +Bremen” an idea had been forming in Ben’s mind +and he now hastily communicated it in a low +whisper to his neighbor who passed it quickly +down the line. +</p> +<p> +Just as the thin man outside exclaimed in a +high sharp tone, “Why, it’s a boy!” Ben whispered, +“Ready!” +</p> +<p> +Immediately the attic was filled with a pandemonium +of noise,—the barking of a dog, cries, +and screams! It was a truly terrifying combination, +Mary’s shrill shriek rising weirdly above +the other sounds as though from one in mortal +agony. +</p> +<p> +The two men outside were startled in spite of +themselves and dashed away on an uncontrollable +impulse, the thin man shouting, “The ghost +of the dead man! His evil spirit haunts us!” +</p> +<p> +“Good work, Ben,” called Charlie softly, after +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45'></a>45</span> +a moment. “Come out, quick! They’ve gone +around back of the house. You can come this +way, but hurry!” +</p> +<p> +The adventure had been so exciting and was +so quickly over that the girls hardly realized +where they were when they found themselves +in front of the house, standing in a half-bewildered +group in the deepening twilight. +</p> +<p> +“Nobody shall take any more chances for my +motor car,” whispered Billie. “You have all +risked your lives enough as it is, and I’m deeply +grateful. The men may be around there by the +machine, so let’s make a break for the fields and +go straight home.” +</p> +<p> +“No,” replied Ben stoutly; “it would be best +for you girls to get away, but Charlie and I will +finish the job. Those fellows are cowards, any +way, and——” +</p> +<p> +“But you can’t run the car,” said Billie, rapidly +putting on her things, which Charlie had +discarded with a sigh of relief. “I’ll have to stay. +The other girls must go, though.” +</p> +<p> +The discussion, however, was ended by +Charlie, who had skipped off to reconnoiter and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46'></a>46</span> +now appeared running at full speed around the +side of the house. +</p> +<p> +“Come on, let’s all go,” he said. “They’ve +gone, but they might come back.” +</p> +<p> +Without a word, the others followed him and +jumped into the car, while Ben, who knew a little +about motors, began to crank up the machine. +Suddenly a voice spoke out of the darkness: +</p> +<p> +“This looks like a nice little party. Get out of +that car, every one of you, or I’ll shoot,” and +the sinister looking one-armed man, who appeared +to have sprung up from the earth, stood at +the side of the automobile with his pistol pointed +straight at Billie. “Did you imagine,” he continued, +“that a parcel of children could fool a +man like me?” +</p> +<p> +There was no reply to the question. Mary and +Nancy were so limp with fear they could not +have lifted a little finger if there had been a dozen +pistols pointing at them. Elinor might have +slipped a ramrod down her back, so stiffly and +proudly did she hold herself in that fearful moment. +Billie had turned white as a sheet, but she +still had strength enough left to make a move to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47'></a>47</span> +get out when Ben, whose stubborn nature would +not even now give up the fight, raised his overgrown, +boyish figure from the ground where he +had been kneeling, and with a quick motion +pressed a piece of glittering steel to the man’s +forehead. +</p> +<p> +“Drop that pistol, or you’re a dead man,” he +said in the deepest chest tones he could produce. +His voice was still in the tenor stage. +</p> +<p> +Not even a gentleman of fortune who had lost +an eye and an arm in past dangerous adventures +could quite keep from shrinking at this extremely +unpleasant sensation produced by cold steel +against his face, and without a word of protest +he dropped the pistol in the road. +</p> +<p> +“Now, back off,” said Ben, “and don’t stop +until you get as far as that tree over there.” +</p> +<p> +The man retreated, cursing under his breath, +and in another instant they were off in the dark. +</p> +<p> +“We forgot to pick up his pistol,” exclaimed +Charlie, as three shots rang out in quick succession. +</p> +<p> +“But Ben has one,” said Billie, feeling +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48'></a>48</span> +somehow that she had known these nice brave boys for +a long time, instead of three-quarters of an hour. +</p> +<p> +“That was only a monkey wrench,” answered +Charlie, laughing. +</p> +<p> +And Billie was moved with admiration and respect +for the slow-speaking, quiet boy, who had +twice in so short a time outwitted two very dangerous +and experienced adventurers. +</p> +<p> +It was a splendid ride in the darkness. The +fresh salt air swept their faces and set their +blood to tingling with a new enjoyment. They +had just been through a most dangerous and exciting +experience, these young people, and Nancy +and Mary were not ashamed to admit that +they at least had been very much frightened. +But people who have lived always by the sea are +used to looking danger calmly in the face. +</p> +<p> +Half a mile beyond the quiet little harbor of +West Haven a lighthouse stood on a small, rocky +promontory, and from the shore on a calm day +could be seen rows of sharp-pointed rocks thrust +out of the water like great black teeth waiting to +devour any chance ship which might be blown +against them. In bad weather the water about +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49'></a>49</span> +the Black Reefs, as they were called, was lashed +and churned into fury and sometimes after a +great storm groups of people might be seen hurrying +up the cliff path to the life-saving station, +while out in the ocean, stuck fast to the teeth of +the Black Reefs was a pretty three-masted +schooner, perhaps, or a stained and scarred old +freight ship, looking very small and helpless in +its terrible plight. +</p> +<p> +Billie, herself, was the only person in the motor +car who had not seen a shipwreck on the +Black Reefs. She had never even seen one of the +September storms when the sea rolled itself into +mountainous waves and dashed against the cliffs +of West Haven. +</p> +<p> +As they neared the town, Billie slowed down +the motor and turned to speak to her new friends. +</p> +<p> +“I can’t even try to thank all of you for what +you have done for me, but I want to tell you that +I think you are the bravest, nicest boys and girls +in the whole world, and it was just to be with you +that I came back to West Haven to go to school. +I was very unhappy to-day because I was afraid +that Nancy and Mary and Elinor had forgotten +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50'></a>50</span> +me and the splendid times we had together one +summer when I was a little girl——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Billie, we hadn’t forgotten you,” broke +in Nancy. “We thought when you joined Belle +Rogers’ crowd that you——” +</p> +<p> +“But I didn’t join them,” Billie interrupted, +laughing. “They kidnapped me and never let me +out of their sight the whole time. I had almost +made up my mind to write to papa to let me go +to boarding school, after all. I wanted to know +some real girls. I have never had a chance before, +you know, and when I talked it over with +papa, we decided that all of you were the nicest +real girls we had ever known, and I just thought +I would spend the winter with Cousin Helen and +meet you again, while papa was in Russia.” +</p> +<p> +The three girls blushed with pleasure at this +gratifying compliment. +</p> +<p> +“We were just as glad to see you, too, Billie,” +said Elinor. “It was all a foolish mistake. But +we shall be friends now, and you must join the +Blue Birds. It’s the Sophomore Club, and we +have lots of fun.” +</p> +<p> +“Thank you, I’d love to,” answered Billie, as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51'></a>51</span> +gratefully and modestly as if she had been paid +the highest honor in the land. “I’ve been thinking,” +she added, “that we’d better keep all this +business about these men secret. You know +Cousin Helen; if she hears about it, we’ll probably +have to store the motor car. She’ll never let +me out of her sight again.” +</p> +<p> +“We’ll keep it secret,” cried the others in a +chorus. +</p> +<p> +So this very sensational adventure, which +would certainly have spread like wildfire through +the town of West Haven once it got out, remained +a profound secret. +</p> +<p> +Some good came of it, however, since it served +to unite four old friends. But we have not seen +the last of the mysterious individuals who borrowed +Billie’s motor car. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52'></a>52</span><a name='chIV' id='chIV'></a>CHAPTER IV.—PLOTS AND PLANS.</h2> +<p> +Belle Rogers was not always the bewitchingly +pretty, dimpling, smiling young girl who had endeavored +to annex Billie. +</p> +<p> +And when she was not pretty, Belle’s friends +liked to keep well out of her vicinity. At such +times two little white dents appeared on each +side of her nose. Her large, china blue eyes +were transformed into wells of steely gray and +the smiling, baby mouth became two narrow +white lips. All the color left her cheeks, and people +who did not know her would exclaim: +</p> +<p> +“How faded and ill she looks!” +</p> +<p> +When Belle looked like this she was unusually +quiet at first, but it was the quiet which comes before +a tornado, and it was only when the storm +burst that those unfamiliar with her ways realized +that Belle had been very, very angry. +</p> +<p> +This is what happened on the day after the exciting +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53'></a>53</span> +experience in Boulder Lane, and all because +Wilhelmina Campbell, true to her old +friends, the “Blue Birds,” after being formally +invited, had positively declined to join the “Mystic +Seven.” +</p> +<p> +“I am sorry,” she said, trying her best to be +cordial, “but, you see, the others had first claim +on me because I have known them a long time and +I have already promised to become a Blue Bird.” +</p> +<p> +“We asked you first,” exclaimed Belle, in a +preternaturally quiet tone of voice. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t see why that should make any difference,” +answered Billie, feeling very uncomfortable. +</p> +<p> +“It makes a great deal of difference,” answered +Belle, who was always gifted with a flow +of words in the moments of her greatest anger. +“You are probably not familiar with the ways of +schools and school societies. I understand you +have never been to school before.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, yes, I have. I went to school in Paris +for three months and to another in Dresden for +a whole winter.” +</p> +<p> +“This is America,” went on Belle, in a slow, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54'></a>54</span> +even tone, taking no other notice of the interruption, +“and if you decline the honor we have +paid you in the sophomore year, you will not only +be blackballed in our societies the other two years, +but you will not receive any invitations from me +and my friends to our parties now or ever, and +you will be obliged to associate with the commonest +and most ordinary girls in West Haven. +The children of cooks——” +</p> +<p> +“Mary Price,” thought Billie. Mrs. Price had +a tea room. +</p> +<p> +“The daughters of seamen——” +</p> +<p> +“Nancy!” said Billie out loud. Nancy’s father +was a sea captain. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, Nancy Brown,” continued Belle, growing +angrier every moment. “You will simply be +an outcast in West Haven, and I advise you to +think the matter over well before you decide to +join that low, common crowd, for I assure you +it will be the last of you with us——” +</p> +<p> +Billie was so aghast at the insolence of the +spoiled girl that she did not attempt to interrupt +the rush of words which seemed to flow from her +lips without any effort whatever. She was very +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55'></a>55</span> +angry herself, as a matter of fact, but with the +self-control she had learned from her father, she +determined to hold her peace until Belle had run +down, as she expressed it later to the other girls. +</p> +<p> +At last there came a pause, and Billie, who +had been sitting on the window ledge in the gymnasium +swinging her feet and thinking of what +she was going to say when she was entirely prepared +to speak, slipped down to the floor and +stood before the enraged girl like a brave soldier +in the face of battle. +</p> +<p> +But this was all she said, for Billie was really +very much like a boy. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t think it is any honor to join your club, +or go with you and your friends. I wouldn’t give +up Mary and Nancy and Elinor for twenty Mystic +Sevens. I’d rather go to boarding school any +day, and that’s about the worst fate that could +happen to me.” +</p> +<p> +Then she turned on her heel and walked away, +leaving Belle in the grip of a tempest of sobs and +tears. Such rages are quite like the West Indian +storms which sweep up the coast with a great +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56'></a>56</span> +blowing of wind and then, after a tremendous +roar of thunder, the downpour follows. +</p> +<p> +That night in her pretty chintz-hung bedroom +in the beautiful Rogers house, which was one of +the show places of West Haven, Belle Rogers +planned her revenge. Her temples were throbbing +and her whole body ached with exhaustion. +Tempers are really quite as devastating to the +system as the West Indian tornadoes are to the +country over which they sweep. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll get even with that rough tom-boy,” she +said out loud. “I’ll pay her back if it takes +all winter to do it. I’ll make her sorry she ever +came to West Haven, and I’ll make the others +pay, too. They’ll see what it means to interfere +with me and my plans. Perhaps papa will give +me a motor car, only I’m afraid of the things, +and I never could run one. My hands are much +too small and delicate to handle machinery.” +</p> +<p> +“Belle, darling, do you feel any better?” asked +Mrs. Rogers, anxiously, outside the door. +</p> +<p> +Belle made no reply. It was her custom to +pretend to be asleep when she wished to be alone, +and she wished now to spend a long uninterrupted +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57'></a>57</span> +evening to herself, for her thoughts were very +busy. A plan had come into her head. It had +sprung up suddenly, full-grown, as if it had been +secretly hatching in the bottom of her mind for a +long time and now appeared a matured scheme. +</p> +<p> +Her blood tingled at the notion. It was such +an audacious, daring thing that the very thought +made her dizzy. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll do it,” she said at last, her mind made +up. “I’ll do it, and I’ll get only one person to +help me, because it will take two to work it. Now, +who shall that person be? It would be best to +ask a Blue Bird, but which one?” +</p> +<p> +Her thoughts ran over the girls in the despised +society, but there was only one of the ten whom +she would quite dare to approach. The others +were fiercely loyal to each other. +</p> +<p> +This possible traitor was a new girl in West +Haven. Her name was Francesca Alta, but her +friends called her Fannie. She was the daughter +of Mme. Alta, a music teacher lately established +in the town. Many of the girls were taking +music lessons of Mme. Alta, and Belle, who +was one of her pupils, often had opportunities +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58'></a>58</span> +of speaking to the little dark-haired daughter, +although she had only nodded to her coldly so far. +</p> +<p> +“I will speak to her to-morrow,” she exclaimed, +as she swallowed the sleeping powder her indulgent +mother always gave her after one of these +violent headaches. +</p> +<p> +In the morning Belle had regained her baby +smile. The red had left her nose and was now in +its proper spots on her round, plump cheeks. +Once more her large blue eyes looked appealingly +into the eyes of those she honored with her +glances. Belle never saw what she preferred to +ignore, and one of the most delightful sights of +that bright September morning was a red motor +car filled with pretty young girls, which whirled +into the High School grounds, making a bright +splash of scarlet against the old gray walls of the +building. +</p> +<p> +Belle did not see the “Comet” and its load, or +would not see it, but later, Billie, who never bore +malice, bowed a cheerful good morning to her +enemy, and, to the surprise of the others, received +a cordial bow in return. +</p> +<p> +“I am sorry I was cross to you yesterday, Miss +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59'></a>59</span> +Campbell. Will you forgive me?” Belle asked +her. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, indeed,” answered the warm-hearted +young girl. “It’s awfully nice of you to admit +it,” and she secretly decided that the others were +rather hard on Belle Rogers, after all. +</p> +<p> +However, when the girls heard of the apology, +they were skeptical. +</p> +<p> +“It’s the ‘Comet’ that won her over,” observed +Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t believe it,” answered their new, inseparable +friend, who after two days’ association +was as intimate with the three girls as if she +had known them always, so rapidly do young +girl intimacies grow. +</p> +<p> +“Something does seem to have happened to +her,” said Mary Price. “Perhaps you gave her +such a dressing-down, Billie, that she’s turned +over a new leaf. She would never have stooped +to talk to Fannie Alta before, but she is doing it +now, and look—will wonders never cease?” +</p> +<p> +The two girls were indeed in intimate conversation. +They were walking arm in arm up +and down the campus, nibbling sandwiches. At +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60'></a>60</span> +West Haven High School the girls either +brought their luncheons with them to eat at recess +or bought sandwiches of that plucky, hard-working +little woman, Mrs. Price, Mary’s mother, +who made the sandwiches and brought them to +the school herself in a big basket. +</p> +<p> +That is why Mary Price had exclaimed, “Will +wonders never cease?” She had recognized +the package of sandwiches in oil paper, which +Belle Rogers must have bought from her mother, +and which she was now sharing with dark, +shabby little Fannie Alta. +</p> +<p> +“She used to say she would rather starve than +eat one of mother’s lettuce sandwiches,” Mary +exclaimed, “but she appears even to have come to +that.” +</p> +<p> +“If this is one of your mother’s own, it’s very +delicious,” exclaimed Billie, gallantly turning the +conversation into other channels. After all, it +was just as well not to form the habit of discussing +Belle too much. Her father had never approved +of criticising people. +</p> +<p> +“It doesn’t lead to anything but bilious headaches,” +he used to say. “Sick, bilious headaches +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61'></a>61</span> +and a very yellow complexion. Critical people always +look like that, Billie, my girl.” +</p> +<p> +Billie’s complexion was clear and healthy. She +had never had a bilious headache in her life. But, +then, she was not given to picking flaws in other +people’s characters. +</p> +<p> +However, the novelty of the richest and proudest +girl in West Haven making friends with a +poor music teacher’s daughter was soon to be +eclipsed by a much more sensational and mysterious +incident. +</p> +<p> +That afternoon, after school, when the four +friends assembled in the carriage shed for their +usual spin home in Billie’s motor car, they found +a note stuck conspicuously between the cushion +and the back of the seat. It was addressed in a +large angular hand to “Miss Wilhelmina Campbell +and her friends, both boys and girls, especially +Miss Butler,” and inside it read: +</p> +<p> +“Keep quiet about Boulder Lane. You are +watched and if you let a word slip out, the punishment +will come quickly.” +</p> +<p> +“How ridiculous,” exclaimed Billie angrily, +when she had shown the note to the others. “I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62'></a>62</span> +have a great mind to write papa all about it, only +it would worry him to death. It is only cowards +who write anonymous letters, anyhow.” +</p> +<p> +But she did not write to her father, and the +other girls, too, were silent on the matter. +</p> +<p> +They wondered many times who had put the +note on the seat. Strangers were not unusual in +West Haven, where sailors and seamen often +came ashore, but the Girls’ High School was at +the other end of town and visitors ashore seldom +strayed so far away from the shops and the little +theatre. +</p> +<p> +“I’d like to know what their grudge is against +the Butler family,” Elinor had demanded, but no +one could answer the question, and she was still +determined not to disturb her highly excitable +father. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63'></a>63</span><a name='chV' id='chV'></a>CHAPTER V.—THE FIRST MOTOR PICNIC.</h2> +<p> +One Saturday morning early in September +Miss Helen Campbell gave a breakfast party to +her four favorite Blue Birds. It was to be the +beginning of an eventful day for the young girls, +three of whom were to take their first long motor +trip, and, furthermore, the motor party was +to end with a visit to Shell Island, where this +excited and happy company of young people +were to spend the night, motoring back to West +Haven next day. +</p> +<p> +Miss Campbell herself was excited. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a novelty for me, my dears,” she exclaimed, +beaming on her guests from behind the +silver urn at the head of the breakfast table. +“I’m a very dull, lonesome old woman, and having +this nice child here with me is going to wake +me into life again. I shall never be able to give +you up, Wilhelmina. You had better write your +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64'></a>64</span> +father that you have been adopted by a very obstinate +old party, who believes that possession is +nine points of the law.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m quite willing to be possessed, Cousin +Helen,” answered Billie. “If I could only see +papa sometimes, I think I could say that I never +was so gloriously happy in all my life.” +</p> +<p> +Miss Campbell smiled with pleasure and the +girls thought they had never seen her look more +beautiful. Her white hair glistened like a bank +of snow in the sunshine and her soft eyes were as +blue as patches of West Haven Bay on a clear, +still morning in summer. +</p> +<p> +There were times when the lonely spinster +looked faded and worn, and at such times she +used to shut herself up in her big gray stone +house on Cliff Street and refuse to see even her +most intimate friends. +</p> +<p> +“It’s just one of my lonesome moods,” she used +to say, “and I would not for worlds inflict myself +on innocent people when one is on me.” +</p> +<p> +But Miss Campbell had not had a single attack +of loneliness since Billie had come to live with +her. The vigorous, active young girl had awakened the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65'></a>65</span> +entire household which had run on its +steady even course for so many years, and now +the place hardly recognized itself, filled with the +happy voices and gay laughter of Billie and her +friends. +</p> +<p> +It was an unusual sight for the big mahogany +table in the dining room to be loaded with the +best cut glass and silver and adorned with delicate +lace doilies, which had belonged to Miss +Campbell’s grandmother. These thing had been +laid away for many years. In the centre of the +table was a crystal vase filled with forget-me-nots. +</p> +<p> +“They are the only flowers I could think of +which were the color of your blue birds,” Miss +Campbell had explained. “Besides, they are my +favorite color. You know, I always wear blue +when I don’t wear gray. Sometimes I wear +black——” +</p> +<p> +“Black, Cousin Helen?” repeated Billie. “I +didn’t know you ever wore anything so mournful.” +</p> +<p> +“You shall never see me in it, child, if I can +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66'></a>66</span> +help it. But I have a black dress, only one, and +I do wear it at times in my bedroom.” +</p> +<p> +Some thirty years before Miss Campbell, then +a young and beautiful girl, had come to West +Haven to live with her grandfather and there she +had lived ever since, except for an occasional +trip abroad. It was supposed that she had suffered +a great sorrow at some time in her life, but +the real story had never been known. Captain +Campbell, her grandfather, had been a jovial, +pleasure loving old man, fond of company and +entertaining. He liked to have his beautiful +granddaughter stand at his side and receive his +guests in a brocaded ball gown, with the famous +Campbell diamonds blazing in her hair and the +diamond and sapphire necklace around her throat. +</p> +<p> +But after General Campbell’s death there were +no more balls and dinners in the big, old house. +The long parlors were seldom opened except to +be cleaned and aired, and Miss Campbell, now a +somewhat shrivelled pink and white little lady of +fifty-five, interested herself only in the charities +of West Haven. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, my dear children, this household and its +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67'></a>67</span> +mistress have got into such a lethargy that it +is time they were waked up. We have been sunk +in so deep a rut, my old servants and I, that it +might have closed over our heads and the world +gone on just the same.” +</p> +<p> +“Lots of poor families would have gone begging +at Christmas, then, Miss Campbell,” put in +Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“And what would all those poor old seamen +have done?” went on Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“And the Blue Birds,” added Mary Price. +“We should have had to use a corner of the +gymnasium at school for our most secret society +meetings.” +</p> +<p> +Miss Campbell paid the rent of the Blue Bird +club rooms. +</p> +<p> +“And, pray, what should I have done?” finished +Billie. “I should have been knocking around still +with papa, trying to get on with the queer people +who live in hotels, and never have had nice girls +to go with or a delightful home to stay in.” +</p> +<p> +Miss Campbell blushed with pleasure. +</p> +<p> +“I have a great many surprises up my sleeve +for my little Motor Maids. I shall only tell you +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68'></a>68</span> +one, though. What would you say to a Blue Bird +Thanksgiving ball?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, oh, oh! How splendid!” cried the young +girls. +</p> +<p> +“Honk, honk!” went the motor horn at the +front entrance, which was a signal for breakfast +to come to an end and the party to be off. +</p> +<p> +A hamper of luncheon had been strapped behind +the car with the suit cases. Miss Campbell +sat between Elinor and Mary in the back, while +Nancy took the seat now understood to be hers +always, beside her friend Billie, in front. The +four Campbell servants, who had grown old in +their mistress’s service, stood in a row on the +gravel walk to witness the strange sight of their +beloved “Miss Helen” sailing away in a red infernal +machine, her blue automobile veil streaming +out behind like a piece of flying cloud. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t go too fast, Billie,” she exclaimed, as +they turned the corner of Cliff Street, and whirled +down the steep, rather slippery Main street of +West Haven. “Remember that you have got a +decrepit old woman in the back who has never +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69'></a>69</span> +ridden behind anything faster than a pair of +ambling carriage horses in all her life.” +</p> +<p> +“How about the five-thirty express, Cousin +Helen?” Billie called over her shoulder. +</p> +<p> +“A locomotive with an engineer is a very different +thing from a young girl guiding a scarlet +comet,” the little lady answered; but as they +left the street for the country road and Billie +gradually increased the speed, Miss Campbell +leaned back with a look of blissful enjoyment on +her face. +</p> +<p> +“It is one of the most exhilarating things I +have ever experienced,” she confided to Elinor. +</p> +<p> +At noon they stopped for lunch. The road now +lay along a high cliff overlooking the ocean, +which on this calm September morning was as +serenely blue and still as a mill pond. White sails +dotted it here and there, and an occasional wave +rippled on the pebbly beach with a murmuring, +drowsy sound. +</p> +<p> +They had pulled up at the side of a little pine +grove just off the road and spread the lunch cloth +on a carpet of pine needles. +</p> +<p> +Then the delicious cakes and sandwiches which +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70'></a>70</span> +Miss Campbell had ordered from Mrs. Price were +arranged in neat piles, while Elinor opened her +tea basket, a present from an aunt in Ireland, and +made tea for the company. +</p> +<p> +It was all very delightful and they were enjoying +themselves thoroughly, when Billie and +Nancy, who were seated facing the others, received +a slight shock. A tall, slender woman, +dressed in black, with a long black chiffon veil +completely concealing her face, suddenly emerged +from behind a clump of dwarf oak and bay trees +at the far end of the grove and beckoned to them. +</p> +<p> +The two girls exchanged glances of amazement +and Nancy was about to say: “Why, look at that +woman!” when the woman, herself, put her finger +to her lips and shook her head violently. +</p> +<p> +“I think she’s crazy, Nancy,” said Billie, in a +low voice, under cover of the conversation of the +others. “We had better not take any notice. It +would just alarm Cousin Helen and spoil the +day.” +</p> +<p> +Nancy agreed with her, and the two girls were +about to suggest that they start on again, when +the woman began making the most extraordinary +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71'></a>71</span> +motions of entreaty, imploring them with outstretched +arms, beseeching them with every gesture +to come to her. And still the two girls hung +back. Then the woman raised the sleeve of her +loose black silk wrap and showed her arm bound +with a bloody handkerchief. +</p> +<p> +Nancy gasped at this. The sight of blood was +always sickening to her. But, seeing Billie’s +meaning glance in Miss Campbell’s direction, she +pretended that she had choked on her tea. +</p> +<p> +The other three were deep in a conversation. +Miss Campbell was describing a beautiful ball +she had once been to where she had danced with a +real prince, and they hardly noticed when Nancy +and Billie strolled over to the clump of bushes. +</p> +<p> +The woman, who had been waiting for them, +seized Billie’s arm and in a low, rapid voice said: +</p> +<p> +“I see that you are both unusually nice girls +whom I can trust. I am in great trouble. You +will help me, will you not? It is very simple, +what I am going to ask you. You see, I have +been in a wreck.” +</p> +<p> +“A motor wreck?” asked Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, yes,” replied the woman, not impatiently +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72'></a>72</span> +but as if she were very much pressed for time. +“The car rolled over the embankment. You will +see it below there. It happened just in the curve +of the road. There was no excuse except that we +were going too fast and the wheels did—what is +it you call it? Skidded? We saved ourselves, +all three, by jumping. Fortunately the back +wheels were caught in the sand and there was just +time to climb out as the car was overturned. The +others have left me. They will return at any moment +now with another car. Hidden under the +seat of the wrecked car is a small box. I must +have it. I must indeed. I cannot get it myself. +I have sprained my knee, and can stand only +by supporting myself against this tree. Will you +get that box for me and place me in your debt +always, always? You cannot understand how important +it is for me to have it.” +</p> +<p> +“Of course, we will,” Billie assured her, “and +won’t you let us help you over to our party, or +make you comfortable here with the cushions +until your friends come back?” +</p> +<p> +“No, no, no,” replied the stranger. “I do not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73'></a>73</span> +wish to be seen if possible. I only beg you to +make haste. I will wait here.” +</p> +<p> +As the woman grew more in earnest, her voice +seemed to deepen and vibrate like a musical instrument, +and the girls almost forgot to listen to +her words under the spell of its wonderful tones; +and when she threw back her veil, they still stood +rooted to the spot, for she was really quite the +most beautiful person they had either of them +ever seen. Her eyes and hair were dark, her +skin rather creamy in texture; there was a generous +curve to her lips, a straight nose and full, +rounded chin. She smiled a little as she noticed +the admiration of the two girls, showing two +rows of white, even teeth. +</p> +<p> +“You will not refuse?” she asked again. +</p> +<p> +And they helped her to sit down on the ground +and hurried out of the grove to the roadside. +There, sure enough, lying on its side in the sand, +some forty feet below the road, was the wrecked +motor car. +</p> +<p> +“Nancy, I would do anything for her,” observed Billie, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74'></a>74</span> +as they clambered down the embankment. +</p> +<p> +“Isn’t she perfect?” exclaimed Nancy. “And +still, Billie, I can’t help believing that she’s +slightly off in her upper story. She was so +queer. But a shock like that would be enough to +turn anybody delirious, jumping out of an automobile +as it turned over an embankment.” +</p> +<p> +“It’ll all depend on whether we find the box. +If it is just a delirious dream, there won’t be any +box and we will have had our climb for nothing.” +</p> +<p> +They searched the upturned car and there was +nothing in it. The ground was strewn with +wreckage. Cushions and rugs were scattered +about in wild confusion. The girls searched the +place hurriedly all the way down to the foot of +the cliff. +</p> +<p> +“There is no need of wasting any more time, +Nancy, dear,” said Billie at last. “It’s very evident +to me that the beautiful lady was out of her +mind and we’ve been ‘stung,’ as the boys say. +Let’s go back. Perhaps she will let us help her +get somewhere.” +</p> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i003' id='i003'></a> +<img src="images/illus-074.jpg" alt="Half buried in the sand was a small box of highly polished wood." title=""/><br /> +<span class='caption'>Half buried in the sand was a small box of highly polished wood.</span> +</div> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75'></a>75</span></div> +<p> +“Yes, I am afraid it’s just a case of King +George’s men marched up the hill and then +marched down again,” said Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“And I got two grass stains when I fell down +just now,” added Billie, looking ruefully at her +white serge skirt. +</p> +<p> +“My shoes are full of sand, and I’ve soiled my +white stockings,” went on Nancy. “Look,” she +cried suddenly; “look, Billie, here it is right under +our noses. I suppose that little bay tree hid it +from us on our way down. I ask the beautiful +lady’s pardon; but I still can’t imagine why her +own friends couldn’t have got it for her just as +well as we could.” +</p> +<p> +Half buried in the sand was a small box of +highly polished wood, six or eight inches square. +Two broad bands of silver reinforced it at the +back and sides, and a little silver combination +lock took the place of the keyhole. In the middle +of the box was a small, round silver plate, on +which a coat of arms was engraved. +</p> +<p> +“This is the box, all right enough,” said Billie, +examining it with much curiosity. “Now let’s return +it to that mysterious lovely person and go +on our ways, rejoicing.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76'></a>76</span> +</p> +<p> +But they were not destined to get rid of the +box that day nor for many another day. Just as +they reached the top of the cliff they heard the +whirring of a motor engine. A car was just +starting from the grove. Two men were on the +front seat, while the owner of the box was lying +almost helplessly in the back seat, her veil thrown +back and her face white and drawn. There was +no top to the car and the girls could see her +plainly. They thought she must have fainted, +but when Nancy called: “Wait, please wait,” +she raised herself quickly, put her finger to her +lips in token of silence and dropped a card into +the road. +</p> +<p> +The next instant the strange motor car was +lost to sight around the curve. Billie picked up +the card with some irritation. +</p> +<p> +“How silly,” she exclaimed, “What are we to +do with this thing? Why couldn’t she have +waited a minute?” +</p> +<p> +“Because she didn’t want the men to know she +had the box, goosey,” answered Nancy. “It’s as +plain as the nose on your face. What does the +card say?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77'></a>77</span> +</p> +<p> +It was a man’s business card and read: +</p> +<p> + “Pierre Lafitte, Avocat,<br /> + Rue——21. Paris.”<br /> +</p> +<p> +On the back of the card had been painfully +written with a pencil: +</p> +<p style='margin-left: 2em;margin-right: 2em;'> +“I knew when you were gone so long that you +would be too late. If you are merciful and kind, +keep the box a secret from all the world. You +will not regret it. Send your name to this address +and you shall be relieved at once.” +</p> +<p> +“Burdened with another secret,” cried Billie, in +a resigned voice. “Where can we hide the +thing?” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll sit on it for the time being,” answered +Nancy, laughing. “There come the girls.” +</p> +<p> +“What are you two infants up to?” called +Elinor, appearing just then at the edge of the +grove. “We thought you had gone in the other +direction and we’ve been looking everywhere for +you.” +</p> +<p> +“We have—er——” hesitated Billie, who never +could tell fibs. “What have we been doing, +Nancy?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78'></a>78</span> +</p> +<p> +“We’ve been looking at a wreck. Don’t you +want to see it?” +</p> +<p> +“Nancy Brown,” cried her friend Mary, putting +her hands on Nancy’s shoulders and gazing +into her face, “you’ve got a secret. I can tell by +your expression. You are hiding something.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m trying to hide it, but I find it rather difficult. +I feel like a bantam hen sitting on a goose +egg.” +</p> +<p> +“Let’s push her off her goose egg,” cried Elinor, +“and see what it really is.” +</p> +<p> +“Help, Billie, help!” screamed Nancy, while +the four friends engaged in a school girl romp, +and Miss Campbell, who was dozing in the grove, +half opened her eyes and smiled. +</p> +<p> +“Is there anything more charming and sweeter +than the sound of children’s voices out of doors?” +she said to herself. She could never get used +to the idea that Billie was not still the little eight-year-old +girl who had spent a summer in West +Haven seven years before. +</p> +<p> +In the meantime, the guardian of the box was +well defended by Billie until she began to laugh, +and when Nancy was taken with the giggles her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79'></a>79</span> +father used to say she was nothing but an abandoned +lunatic. The place rang with the joyous +peals and the other girls were obliged to pause in +the struggle and join in. Then this foolishly +happy child rolled helplessly onto the ground, +upsetting the box. +</p> +<p> +But there came a sudden end to the laughter, +for the top of the box had sprung open and its +contents were scattered on the roadside. +</p> +<p> +The girls clasped their hands excitedly and +gazed at each other with wide-eyed amazement, +for at their feet glittered dozens of the most beautiful +jewels. There were a diamond and sapphire +necklace, strings of pearls, earrings, rings, +and broaches. +</p> +<p> +“Great heavens, what have you girls been doing?” +exclaimed Mary. +</p> +<p> +“Nancy, you explain,” answered Billie, grown +very grave, all of a sudden. “I’ll gather these +things up and get them out of sight as quickly +as possible. I think my suit case is the safest +place for the time being, and we can take it into +the front of the car with us. Then we can discuss +later what we had better do.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80'></a>80</span> +</p> +<p> +While the girls listened to Nancy’s strange +story of the beautiful injured woman, Billie collected +and replaced the jewels in the box with the +card, and packed it in the bottom of her suit case. +</p> +<p> +In another ten minutes the motor party was on +the road again, the younger members somewhat +sobered by the secret responsibility which had +been thrust upon them. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81'></a>81</span><a name='chVI' id='chVI'></a>CHAPTER VI.—THE BOX OF TROUBLES.</h2> +<p> +Shell Island is really only an island in name. +A narrow creek which fills and empties with the +incoming and outgoing tides divides it from the +mainland. A bridge spans this chasm over which +flows a constant stream of motor and driving parties +from all the villages and summer resorts up +and down the coast. +</p> +<p> +Just at sundown, as the “Comet” took the steep +road down the cliff to the bridge, a big touring +car shot past. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear,” exclaimed Nancy, “I did hope we +would leave all care behind when we came away, +and now I am perfectly certain that Belle Rogers +was sitting on the front seat of that automobile. +I suppose she’ll be floating around the ballroom in +blue chiffons this evening.” +</p> +<p> +“Is she a care?” asked Billie, who had a placid +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82'></a>82</span> +and rather masculine way of forgetting all about +the people she didn’t like. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I don’t mind her, only she always makes +me feel like a rag picker’s daughter.” +</p> +<p> +“I think she’s over-dressed,” put in Billie. “I +should feel utterly foolish with all that finery and +jewelry on me. When papa and I used to buy +my clothes, he would say: ‘Suppose we stick to +plain white, daughter, and skip the furbelows. +We can’t go very far wrong if we do that, and +if my little daughter begins to put on ruffles and +puffles and falals without anybody’s advice but +mine, I’m afraid she might be taken for a walking +fashion plate and some one will try to stand +her up in a shop window.” +</p> +<p> +Nancy laughed. +</p> +<p> +“I think you have the prettiest dresses I ever +saw, Billie, but I am glad Miss Campbell has persuaded +you to stop dressing so much like a boy. +Lace collars are lots more becoming than those +stiff linen ones.” +</p> +<p> +“They were chokers,” answered Billie, good-naturedly, +as the car drew up at the steps of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83'></a>83</span> +hotel immediately behind the automobile which +had passed it on the road. +</p> +<p> +Belle and her party were waiting on the piazza, +the women in long pongee coats with the very latest +motor bonnets and veils. +</p> +<p> +“Those are her rich friends, the Jordannes,” +whispered Nancy, in awed tones. “They used to +be just plain Jordan before they made so much +money.” +</p> +<p> +“I think Jordan is a much nicer name. It has +such a fine Oriental sound, ‘Where rolls the River +Jordan.’” +</p> +<p> +By this time several porters from the hotel had +stepped to the motor car door and assisted Miss +Campbell, somewhat stiff from the long ride, to +alight. The girls jumped nimbly out after her +and their luggage was unstrapped and piled on +the ground near the Jordanne luggage. But Billie +was careful to keep a firm hold on her own suit +case with its precious load. +</p> +<p> +“Let the man take your bag, dear,” called Miss +Campbell. “You will strain your back carrying +that heavy thing.” +</p> +<p> +There was nothing for Billie to do but resign +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84'></a>84</span> +the suit case, although she tried to keep an eye +on it as they followed the porter through the +lobby to the elevator. Miss Campbell had telegraphed +ahead for rooms. +</p> +<p> +As luck would have it, there was another elevator +for luggage, and the bag was temporarily +out of Billie’s sight, but her mind was soon at +ease when she saw it stacked with the others in +the bedroom which she and Nancy were to share. +</p> +<p> +“While we dress for dinner,” she observed, +“we’ll have a talk about that jewelry. What on +earth are we going to do with it?” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you think we’d better tell Miss Campbell?” +suggested Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose it would be best, but Cousin Helen +does go off so about things, and I have a feeling +that if she knew it she wouldn’t allow us to keep +our promise to our poor beautiful lady. She +would be sure to turn the box over to the police +or call in a lawyer or something. And if we +could only keep the box until we heard from the +man in Paris, at least, we should be keeping our +word about it.” +</p> +<p> +Elinor and Mary were all for telling, but the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85'></a>85</span> +other girls were still under the spell of the very +beautiful and distressed woman, and since it was +mostly their affair they concluded not to tell. +</p> +<p> +You must not blame Billie for this want of +frankness. Girls who have never had mothers +to talk to in the intimate way that only a mother +and daughter know, are apt to be reserved and +self-reliant. Billie would certainly have told her +father, but, then, he was in Russia. +</p> +<p> +Mary and Elinor, whose room adjoined the +other, had put on their kimonos and were lolling +on the beds, while Nancy with solicitous care was +removing her pretty muslin frock from the valise +and smoothing out the pink taffeta ribbons tenderly. +</p> +<p> +Billie knelt on the floor and opened her suit +case. +</p> +<p> +“Before I undress,” she said decisively, “I’m +going to take this box straight down stairs and +give it to the clerk to put in the safe. Then we +can spend the evening with easy minds.” +</p> +<p> +She flung back the top and sat down on the +floor with a gasp. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86'></a>86</span> +</p> +<p> +“In the name of all the powers, this is not my +suit case.” +</p> +<p> +The girls gathered around her in great excitement. +</p> +<p> +“It’s exactly like mine,” she went on, “but +there are no initials on it and mine has ‘W.H.C.’ +on the end.” +</p> +<p> +“Girls,” cried Nancy, flinging her bathrobe +around her with a tragic gesture, “the very last +person in the world we could wish to have Billie’s +suit case is the very one who has it. She’ll look +at everything in it; examine the underclothes to +see if they are hand-made and the stockings to see +if they are silk, and—she’ll open the box of jewels +and read the card of the avocat from Paris and——” +</p> +<p> +“Who? Who?” interrupted the other three. +</p> +<p> +“Who but Belle Rogers,” cried Nancy, flourishing +a towel in one hand and a hair brush in the +other. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, that’s her costume,” admitted Mary, +laughing. “Blue chiffon with a wreath of pink +roses for her hair.” +</p> +<p> +She pulled up a corner of the pale blue gauzy +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87'></a>87</span> +material and pointed to a little pink wreath which +lay in the folds of the dress. +</p> +<p> +“There are her blue satin slippers, No. Two’s, +absolutely not a size larger,” said Elinor, pointing +to the toe of a little slipper which showed at +one end of the suit case. +</p> +<p> +“This is what I get for losing the keys to +everything,” groaned Billie. “Telephone for a +boy, quick, some one, while I fasten this thing +up. Perhaps she hasn’t opened mine yet.” +</p> +<p> +“Opened it!” echoed the others. “You don’t +know her.” +</p> +<p> +Presently a bell boy tapped at the door. +</p> +<p> +Billie gave him the suit case with full instructions. +</p> +<p> +“And hurry,” she added. “If you are back +here in five minutes, you shall have an extra tip.” +</p> +<p> +Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed. The other +girls were almost dressed, and Billie was beginning +to tap the floor nervously with an impatient +foot, when at last there was a tap at the door. +</p> +<p> +“Why didn’t you come sooner?” demanded +Nancy and Billie in one voice. +</p> +<p> +“The young lady wouldn’t let me, Miss.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88'></a>88</span> +</p> +<p> +“But what was she doing all that time?” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know, Miss. She simply told me to +wait outside. She was very angry, Miss, about +her bag.” +</p> +<p> +“Angry, indeed,” answered Billie, seizing her +own suit case. “At least no time was lost in +sending it to her.” +</p> +<p> +The two girls opened the suit case with great +anxiety. The things in it were assuredly in +rather a rumpled condition. They had the appearance +of having been unfolded and hastily +rolled up again in new folds. +</p> +<p> +Nothing could be told about the box of jewels. +They were all there apparently in a glittering +bunch with the card laid on top. +</p> +<p> +“Dear me, I’m sorry that combination lock +broke,” exclaimed Billie. “I don’t mind Belle +Rogers looking through my clothes if it gives +her any satisfaction, but I would just as soon she +hadn’t looked into this box of jewels. And we +can’t explain to her, because we mustn’t seem to +know that she was capable of doing anything so +low and common as to go through my suit case.” +</p> +<p> +She dressed herself hastily in a pretty white +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89'></a>89</span> +frock. Her smooth rolls of hair and trim braid +did not need re-arranging, and she hurried downstairs +to the desk with the troublesome box, which +she gave into the charge of the clerk. +</p> +<p> +“These are some really valuable things,” she +said. “Will you put them in your safe?” +</p> +<p> +The clerk wrapped the box up neatly in heavy +brown paper, sealed it with red sealing wax, labelled +it with her name and address and deposited +it in the safe. +</p> +<p> +“That’s off my mind,” she said, giving a sigh +of relief, just as the elevator door opened and +Miss Campbell appeared with the other girls. +</p> +<p> +“Cousin Helen, you’re a dream,” cried Billie, +taking her cousin’s arm. “You are like a young +girl whose hair had gone and turned white in a +single night.” +</p> +<p> +“Thank you, my dear, but you may be sure that +if anything happened which could make my hair +turn white in a night, it wouldn’t leave me any +girlish looks. But why didn’t you come to my +room and let me have a look at you? Are you +all exactly right and in place? That’s a sweet little +frock. I suppose you got it in Paris last summer. You +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90'></a>90</span> +and your father are a pair of children +shopping together, I imagine. All my girls +look sweet,” she added, not wishing to wound any +feelings by admiring one more than another. +“See this lovely dress my little Mary is wearing. +Could anything be more exquisitely made than +that? Your mother is a wonderful woman, child. +There’s nobody like her in West Haven.” +</p> +<p> +At dinner there was another surprise for the +girls. This time it was an agreeable one: four +extra places at the table, and presently they were +joined by four West Haven boys, looking rather +embarrassed but quite happy as they shook hands +with the fairy godmother of the party, Billie’s +Cousin Helen. +</p> +<p> +Two of the boys we have met before, Ben Austen +and Charlie Clay. The other two were their +intimate friends and boon companions, Americus +Brown, Nancy’s brother, known as “Merry +Brown,” and Percival Algernon St. Clair, whose +mother’s fancy had run riot in naming her only +child. He was called “Percy” by his friends for +short. +</p> +<p> +“Why, look who’s here,” exclaimed Nancy. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91'></a>91</span> +“Percival Algernon St. Clair, why didn’t you tell +us yesterday when you gave us soda water at the +drug store that you were coming on this trip, +too?” +</p> +<p> +“Because it was secret,” answered Percy, who +was very blond and blushed easily. “Miss Campbell +wanted to surprise you.” +</p> +<p> +“I thought it would be nice for my girls to have +some partners for the dance to-night,” said Miss +Campbell. “I wanted to see some real dancing.” +</p> +<p> +“If you want to see the real thing, then, Miss +Campbell,” said Merry Brown, “if you want to +see the poetry of motion, you must see Ben +dance.” +</p> +<p> +“Shut up, bow-legs,” called Ben across the table. +“I’ve been learning for months. I took lessons +last summer.” +</p> +<p> +“Where?” demanded his friends, because at +the school dances, Ben’s expression of misery +was well known when he towed an unfortunate +friend around the room. +</p> +<p> +“I know,” said Percy, “it’s all explained now. +That’s what you were doing at the Dutch picnics +every week.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92'></a>92</span> +</p> +<p> +“Well, they were pretty good teachers,” replied +the imperturbable Ben. “They taught me that +guiding a girl in a dance was very much like +sailing a boat with a windmill for a sail. You +have to guide and twirl at the same time, and the +more speed you make in twirling the better your +dancing is.” +</p> +<p> +Everybody laughed uproariously at this description. +</p> +<p> +“Ben Austen, I didn’t expect to be treated like +a windmill sail boat when I promised to give you +my first dance,” announced Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“It would be better than to be treated like a +stationary windmill and go turning around in +one place like the Germans dance,” observed +Billie. +</p> +<p> +“You may all have your choice,” said Ben. +“Stationary or progressive, it’s all one to me, only +remember that you have each promised to do a +Dutch twirl with me.” +</p> +<p> +The ballroom was already quite filled with dancers +and it seemed very bewildering and delightful +to the young girls, if it was only a summer +hotel with a piano and two violins and a flute for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93'></a>93</span> +an orchestra. Ben’s Dutch whirl was so skillfully +performed, because like everything else he +attempted he had mastered it perfectly, that the +girls found it rather exciting fun. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a regular romp,” cried Billie, who, with +glowing cheeks, dropped breathlessly into a chair +beside her Cousin Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Look,” whispered Mary Price, who had been +dancing a quiet glide with Charlie Clay and had +had a chance to notice some of the other dancers. +</p> +<p> +For some reason both their young faces turned +suddenly very grave. Was it a strange, unexplained +premonition that told them the most dangerous +enemy either was ever to have was dancing +past that moment, in floating pale blue chiffon +draperies? +</p> +<p> +After the dance there was a merry supper +party with sandwiches and lemonade in the grill +room, and then the Motor Maids were glad +enough to get to their beds. +</p> +<p> +“What a relief it is, Nancy, dear, to have that +box of jewels in the safe,” said Billie sleepily, as +her eyelids drooped and she settled herself under +the covers. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94'></a>94</span> +</p> +<p> +But Nancy did not reply. She was sleeping +deeply. Billie, too, was soon oblivious of everything +in the world. +</p> +<p> +As the night wore on, Nancy dreamed that +she was dancing the Dutch twirl in a wonderful +blue gauze dress, but that the diamond necklace +she wore so weighed her down that she could not +breathe. +</p> +<p> +Billie also dreamed of the diamonds. They +were not around her neck, but in their box, which +had grown to the size of a trunk and pressed on +her chest so heavily that she was suffocating. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly a great bell clanged out in the night. +</p> +<p> +Billie opened her eyes with difficulty. The +room was filled with smoke and down the corridor +there came the cry of “Fire! Fire!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95'></a>95</span><a name='chVII' id='chVII'></a>CHAPTER VII.—THE FIRE.</h2> +<p> +A bell with a deep baying note rang out in the +darkness. +</p> +<p> +If you have ever heard a fire bell boom out in +the stillness, you will remember the terror which +clutched your heart at the first ominous peal. It +seemed to Billie, in going over it afterward, that +the boom of that big fire bell was like the last +trump on the day of judgment arousing the +spirits of the dead. +</p> +<p> +Then came the sound of voices. The corridors +were filled with hurrying footsteps. Somebody +ran down the hallway calling again: +</p> +<p> +“Fire! Fire!” +</p> +<p> +Billie jumped to the floor with a bound. Her +senses had returned at last. +</p> +<p> +“Nancy, Nancy!” she cried, shaking her friend +violently back to consciousness. “The hotel is on +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96'></a>96</span> +fire. Get into your dressing gown as quickly as +you can while I wake up the others.” +</p> +<p> +As she switched on the light she saw that the +room was filled with smoke, and she knew the +fire must be in their wing of the hotel and that +there was no time to lose. +</p> +<p> +There is no better fire trap in the world than +a wooden hotel at the seaside. The salt from +the flying spray in winter storms has seasoned the +wood into splendid burning material, and the +breeze from the ocean fans the flames like a great +natural bellows. +</p> +<p> +As Billie waked the other girls Miss Campbell +came into the room, with a white, scared face. +But she was not excited. +</p> +<p> +“Get into your dressing gowns, girls,” she said +quietly. “Don’t lose a moment’s time. The boys +are waiting for us outside.” +</p> +<p> +Just then Ben Austen rattled on the door. +</p> +<p> +“Hurry,” he called. “The elevators won’t run +much longer and the stairs are burning.” +</p> +<p> +Hardly two minutes had passed since the first +clang of the bell when Miss Campbell and the +girls joined the boys in the corridor. There had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97'></a>97</span> +not been time even to snatch up a hair-pin from +the bureau to catch tumbled locks together. But +nobody looked at any one else. The place was +crowded with hotel guests in exactly the same +condition and all the passages opening into the +main corridor of the hotel were emptying themselves +of streams of people in every state of disarray. +If it had been less serious, the girls +might have laughed at the numbers of terrified +and hysterical fat women, wrapping insufficient +dressing gowns and blankets about their large +forms as they pushed their way without ceremony +toward the elevators. +</p> +<p> +But a big tongue of flame suddenly leapt up +the stairwell at the end of the hall. There was +a crackling sound and clouds of black smoke +poured into the corridor. +</p> +<p> +“We must get out of this,” exclaimed Ben. +“The fire has reached this floor and unless we +knock a few people down, we’ll never get to either +of those elevators.” +</p> +<p> +“But where are the fire escapes?” demanded +Miss Campbell. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98'></a>98</span> +</p> +<p> +“At the end of the hall,” answered Charlie, +“and we could never get past that burning pit.” +</p> +<p> +The two elevators had been up and down several +times, packed with people. The smoke was +growing thicker each moment, and the next thing +Billie remembered was that Elinor had fainted +dead away, and that some one had screamed: +</p> +<p> +“The elevators have stopped running!” +</p> +<p> +In the stifling atmosphere she saw Ben and +Charlie lift Elinor and call to the others to follow +them into a bedroom. As she staggered +after them, a grotesque figure, screaming hysterically, +fought through the crowd, almost +knocking Billie down. Even in that moment of +danger she recognized Belle Rogers, every lock +of whose golden hair was done up on red rubber +curlers, the ends of which stuck straight up +like scores of little devils’ horns. +</p> +<p> +“Take me down! Take me down!” Billie heard +her scream. “I will not die in this horrible way! +Somebody save me!” +</p> +<p> +Billie touched her on the shoulder. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t scream,” she said. “It only makes +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99'></a>99</span> +things worse. The people who are left are going +to get down by the windows. Come with us.” +</p> +<p> +Belle, who had been separated from her +friends, followed quietly enough. +</p> +<p> +In another moment the corridor was empty, +and the flames which had been fast eating their +way along the hall had reached the elevator +shafts. It had all happened in much less time +than it takes to tell, but in the brief instant when +Billie had paused to rescue Belle, she lost the +others. Once in a bedroom, where the air was +not so stifling, it was impossible to leave and rush +again into the atmosphere outside. +</p> +<p> +The two girls dashed into the nearest room and +closed the door, too stifled to notice that the others, +led by level-headed Ben and followed by the +crowd of people left standing by the elevator +shafts, had rushed into a front room at the end +of the hall. In the closets of this room and the +one adjoining, they found two fire ropes which this +old-fashioned hotel provided for its guests whose +rooms were not located near the fire escapes. +Those who were not able to slide down the ropes +were lowered in a chair, and the others, with a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100'></a>100</span> +foot twisted around the rope and grasping a wet +towel to keep the palm of the hand from blistering, +slid down. In the darkness it was impossible +to recognize faces, and it was not until they +were all safe on the ground that they missed Billie +Campbell. +</p> +<p> +Then poor Miss Campbell, who had been admirably +calm during the whole fearful experience, +fainted away, and Elinor, now entirely restored +by the fresh air, was left to take care of +her. +</p> +<p> +Nancy and Mary followed the four boys to the +rescue. Tears were rolling down Nancy’s cheeks +and Mary was as pale as death. Each girl had +her own peculiar way of showing how much she +had come to love their new friend, Billie. +</p> +<p> +In the meantime, Billie, herself, was looking +ruefully down into the darkness from the window +of a room on the third floor and Belle was +indulging in a fit of real hysterics. +</p> +<p> +“How dare you bring me here?” she screamed +hoarsely, stamping her foot. “I might have been +saved if you had let me alone, and here we are +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101'></a>101</span> +trapped! I always hated you and now I detest +you with my whole soul.” +</p> +<p> +“I thought the others were in here,” said Billie +apologetically. +</p> +<p> +“Thought! Thought!” screamed the wretched +girl. “You wanted me to die. You wanted me +to lose my beauty.” +</p> +<p> +“You haven’t any to lose just now,” answered +Billie. “You look more like the Medusa of the +snaky locks——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, oh!” wept Belle, too angry to articulate. +</p> +<p> +“You may console yourself this much,” went on +Billie. “If you die, I shall die with you, but I am +going to do my best to save you and myself, too.” +</p> +<p> +“Help! Help!” screamed Belle from the window, +not taking any notice. But her voice was +lost in the wild clamor which came up from below. +</p> +<p> +Then she flung herself flat on the floor in an +agony of sobs. +</p> +<p> +“It’s better to pray than to cry, Belle. Crying +won’t help and we are in a pretty warm place. +If you were only a sport, it might do a lot of +good.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102'></a>102</span> +</p> +<p> +Belle crawled to the window and leaned out. +The air in the room was becoming unbearable. +</p> +<p> +In the meantime, Billie’s thoughts were working +rapidly. There were the sheets, but there +wasn’t time to tear them into strips and knot the +strips together. Besides, she didn’t believe they +would reach halfway to the ground. +</p> +<p> +“I am afraid we’ll have to climb it,” she said. +</p> +<p> +“Climb what?” +</p> +<p> +“Climb up the side of the shutter to the roof. +This is the top floor. The flames haven’t reached +the roof yet.” +</p> +<p> +“But what good will the roof do us?” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know yet, but it’s better than this. +Come on.” +</p> +<p> +“I tell you I can’t climb. I never did such a +thing in my life.” +</p> +<p> +“You’ll just have to begin then,” said Billie +sternly. “Shall I go first, or would you rather +do it?” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll go—no, you go.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll help you,” said Billie, hoisting herself to +the window ledge. “Now, don’t look down. Just +imagine you are only a few feet from the ground +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103'></a>103</span> +and that it’s a very easy stunt. If you decide beforehand +that you can’t do it, why, of course, +you can’t. But it will be much easier than staying +here to be burned alive in the next few minutes.” +</p> +<p> +Delivering herself of this boyish but unimpeachable +logic, Billie kicked off her slippers and +swung herself onto the shutter. Just for one +brief instant a sickening nausea came over her as +she looked down into the darkness. +</p> +<p> +Then her fingers grasped the cornice of the +roof and, pulling herself up with her two arms, +as she had learned to do on the parallel bars in +the gymnasium—only in this instance the shutter +made a very uncertain elbow rest—she scrambled +onto the roof. +</p> +<p> +“All right, Belle,” she called. “It’s much +easier than I thought. Take off your slippers and +come ahead, and don’t forget to look up and not +down.” +</p> +<p> +Belle obeyed in sullen silence. She was as determined +as Billie not to be burned alive, but her +luxurious and self-indulgent nature revolted +against this uncomfortable and dangerous method +of getting out of the difficulty. However, there +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104'></a>104</span> +was nothing else to do, so she swung out on the +shutter as Billie had done, only this time Billie, +with all the strength in her body was holding the +shutter rigid. +</p> +<p> +As Belle clung on with her hands and her little +pink toes, which she had stuck into the interstices +of the shutter, she suddenly looked down. +Her grasp weakened and she gave a shriek so +piercing that Billie almost slipped headlong over +the side of the roof, but she grasped Belle’s slackening +wrist. +</p> +<p> +“Take a breath,” she said, in a trembling voice. +“You can do it, if you only make up your mind +to.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll never, never forgive you,” cried Belle, +“and if I live through to-night, I’ll pay you back.” +</p> +<p> +“All right,” answered Billie calmly, seeing all +at once that anger appeared to give Belle new +strength, “only I advise you to get onto this roof +first.” +</p> +<p> +Another moment and Belle had clambered over +the cornice and was stretched out breathless on +the roof. +</p> +<p> +“I would much rather have had a baby to look +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105'></a>105</span> +after,” thought Billie, as she looked contemptuously +down at the other girl. +</p> +<p> +“We had better not lose any more time now, +Belle,” she said aloud. “If you have got your +breath and your nerve back, come ahead.” +</p> +<p> +Belle pulled herself wearily up and followed. +</p> +<p> +“My feet are all splinters,” she complained, +“and my hands are torn and bleeding.” +</p> +<p> + “’Tis the voice of the lobster: I heard him declare<br /> + ‘You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair,’”<br /> +</p> +<p> +repeated Billie, half laughing and half sobbing +that this foolish verse should have flashed +through her brain at this strange time. +</p> +<p> +The two girls hurried along the roof toward +the front. It was plain that in the scramble to +save the lives of the hotel guests there had been +no time to save the building, and when the young +girls turned the corner of the roof and looked for +a moment across the broad expanse of ocean not +a hundred yards away it seemed to them that they +were alone in the whole world. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106'></a>106</span> +</p> +<p> +“What are we going to do now?” demanded +Belle. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know yet,” answered Billie patiently. +</p> +<p> +The roof was hot under her feet and they could +hear the crackling of flames as they hastened +along the edge to the other side. +</p> +<p> +The rest of that fearful adventure seemed like +a dream to Billie afterwards. +</p> +<p> +As they turned the corner of the house a voice +called hoarsely: +</p> +<p> +“Who can tie a rope?” +</p> +<p> +Billie remembered to have replied vaguely and +politely that she could tie a rope. A man emerged +from behind the chimney with a long rope, but +she hardly noticed at the time that he had only +one arm. +</p> +<p> +“It may not be long enough,” he said, “but tie +it and we’ll take the risk. It’s our only chance.” +</p> +<p> +Billie knotted the rope around the chimney. +The man examined the knot carefully, pulled it +with his one hand, and then threw it over the side +of the house. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll go first,” said Belle quietly, and Billie +looked at her with amazement. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107'></a>107</span> +</p> +<p> +“Humph!” said the man. “You are brave. +Can you do it?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” answered Belle, “I can do anything. +Help me over the side.” +</p> +<p> +“It’s going to hurt,” he observed, as he twisted +the rope around her foot and showed her how to +slide down. “It’s going to take all the skin off +your hands and feet and maybe cut to the bone.” +</p> +<p> +Belle made no reply to this cheerful prediction. +She had already started down the rope. +</p> +<p> +As Billie watched her disappear in the dark, +the man said abruptly: +</p> +<p> +“Did a number of girls and a white-haired +woman in a red automobile come here this evening?” +</p> +<p> +Billie hesitated. +</p> +<p> +“I believe so,” she said. +</p> +<p> +“Do you know so?” asked the man insistently. +</p> +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> +<p> +“Did you see one of them leave a rosewood box +at the clerk’s desk?” +</p> +<p> +Billie made a great effort to remember. Then, +suddenly, the case of jewels loomed up in her +mind. She had forgotten all about them. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108'></a>108</span> +</p> +<p> +“Billie, Billie,” called a voice from below. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” she answered, looking over the roof. +</p> +<p> +“She’s here,” shouted Ben, from the top of the +ladder, which reached only to the second story. +</p> +<p> +“All right,” called the one-armed man on the +roof. “We have a rope here. We’ll swing down +to the ladder.” +</p> +<p> +The next thing Billie remembered she was surrounded +by a crowd of her friends at the foot of +the ladder. The girls were weeping and her +Cousin Helen was giving vent to hysterical expressions +of relief and thankfulness. The wet +sand felt cool and soft to the parched soles of +her bare feet, and she tried to smile; but she +really had quite forgotten what it was all about. +Some one close by her groaned and sobbed alternately, +and a sickening feeling came over her +when she saw a girl stretched on a blanket almost +at her feet. The girl’s hands were torn and +bleeding and her pale blue silk kimono was covered +with blood. Down one cheek was a long, +bloody mark and to complete her grotesque and +terrible aspect, at least a dozen little red rubber +devils’ horns stood upright all over her head. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109'></a>109</span> +</p> +<p> +The next thing Billie remembered was huddling +into her own beloved red motor car with +the others, while some one took them somewhere, +and all the time in her ears she heard a man’s +voice saying: +</p> +<p> +“Where is that box of jewels?” +</p> +<p> +And her own voice replied: +</p> +<p> +“Under the ruins of the Shell Island Hotel.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110'></a>110</span><a name='chVIII' id='chVIII'></a>CHAPTER VIII.—NANCY’S HOME.</h2> +<p> +Nancy’s home was a favorite meeting place of +the four friends. There was something very inviting +about the old red brick house, with its low-ceiled, +cheerful rooms and deep-silled windows. +</p> +<p> +Nancy’s family had been seafaring people for +many generations, and the place was filled with +curios from foreign countries: carved chests, +swords with curved blades, ivory elephants, funny +little cross-legged grinning gods, beautiful Japanese +vases and Oriental rugs. +</p> +<p> +In cool weather there seemed to be a perpetual +piece of old driftwood crackling on the hearth, +and there was nothing the girls enjoyed more +than sitting in a row on the floor in front of that +cheerful blaze while they drank tea from curious +Japanese cups and nibbled some of Mrs. Brown’s +delicate cookies. +</p> +<p> +Nancy’s father was the very picture of a sea +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111'></a>111</span> +captain, sunburned, ruddy, eyes very blue and +little side whiskers like an English Squire’s. He +had a hundred stories to tell of the sea, and Billie +could have listened to him all day without tiring. +Nancy’s mother was a gay, cheerful little body +who kept her house polished like a ship’s cabin, +and Nancy’s brother, Merry, was the image of +his father. He felt the call of the sea, too, as +his father and grandfather had before him, but +he was not to be the captain of a merchant ship. +He intended to go to Annapolis. +</p> +<p> +Three weeks had passed since the great fire at +Shell Island, when, one Saturday afternoon, a +red motor car wound its way in and out of the +country vehicles on Main Street, stopped at the +express office, where the young mistress of the +car alighted for a moment, returning with a package, +and then, with a reckless flourish, turned +into lower Cliff Street and presently stopped in +front of Nancy’s house. +</p> +<p> +Billie entered without ceremony, so intimate +had she now become with the Brown household. +Concealing the package in her gray ulster, she +left it in the hall. Then, with the boyish freedom +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112'></a>112</span> +which seemed to characterize all her ways, pulling +off her gray hat and gloves, she marched into the +parlor. +</p> +<p> +Nancy was huddled up on the settle doing the +family darning, a Saturday task she loathed. +Elinor was playing softly on the square piano +between the front windows and Mary Price was +reading a book. +</p> +<p> +“I hope I don’t disturb any one,” said Billie, +laughing as she burst into the room. “Everybody +seems to be so busy here. I’m the only idle creature +living to-day. Even Cousin Helen is at +work.” +</p> +<p> +“I hope she is doing something more to her +taste than this,” said Nancy mournfully. “I’d +rather dig for clams any day. Merry would wear +out a sock made of steel chains.” +</p> +<p> +“Hark, a doleful voice from the tombs,” cried +Merry, who always made it an excuse to hunt +for something in the parlor when Billie appeared. +</p> +<p> +“It’s the truth,” complained Nancy. “If you +would just keep still two minutes at a time, I +wouldn’t have to give up my Saturdays slaving +for you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113'></a>113</span> +</p> +<p> +“‘When I hear the music play, I can’t keep +right still,’” sang Merry, executing a double +shuffle on the floor to a jig tune Elinor had struck +up. +</p> +<p> +“You’ll have to dance to a different tune when +you go to Annapolis,” cried Nancy. “And who’ll +do your darning there?” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t borrow trouble, Nancy,” answered her +brother. “Perform your daily task and cease to +murmur. You’ll be a professional grumbler like +Belle Rogers if you keep on.” +</p> +<p> +“Do you know that she and her whole family +are denouncing me as a sort of would-be murderer?” +put in Billie. “All because I lost Ben and +the rest of you at the Shell Island fire and took +her into the wrong room.” +</p> +<p> +“I heard that she was an early Christian martyr +who had come near to being burned at the +stake,” said Merry. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” continued Billie, “she tells how I enticed +her into the room, and then climbed up onto +the roof and left her, so that she had to follow +and she even blames me because she would slide +down the rope first and cut her hands so that she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114'></a>114</span> +will never be able to play the piano. I am very +sorry for that, because she liked music, but it was +her own fault.” +</p> +<p> +“It’s really making a sort of split-up in the +town,” observed Elinor. “Mrs. Rogers and +mamma almost had words on the subject the other +day. As much as mamma will ever have words +with any one. Mrs. Rogers tried to tell her that +Belle was going one way and you made her go +another, and all mamma said was, ‘My dear Julia, +I have heard the correct version of the story,’ +and swept away.” +</p> +<p> +“Exactly as you will do, Elinor, when you begin +to wear long dresses,” said Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, she can sweep without a train,” cried +Merry, giving a very good imitation of Elinor as +he made for the door with his baseball bat and +glove. +</p> +<p> +“Now, don’t be silly, Americus Brown,” called +Elinor after him. “Remember that you are to +be a soldier of the nation some day, and you’ll +have to stop walking pigeon-toed, then, and keep +your bow-legs straight and stop grinning. It +will be very difficult, I fear.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115'></a>115</span> +</p> +<p> +Merry shot a coffee bean at her with his thumb +and forefinger as he left the room. +</p> +<p> +“That boy will be the death of me,” exclaimed +Nancy. “He reminds me of our sailor weather-cock +in the garden that waves his arms and legs +and turns every time there is the slightest +breeze.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s a nice boy,” said Billie, who always took +Merry’s side in the arguments. “But I am here +this morning, as the preacher says, to ask your +advice in a grave matter. Several grave matters, +in fact.” +</p> +<p> +“Have you heard from Mr. Lafitte?” demanded +the three girls in unison. +</p> +<p> +“No,” said Billie, “and it’s been nearly three +weeks since we sent my name and address. Perhaps +there hasn’t been time, but I should think +they might have cabled, or something.” +</p> +<p> +“It only postpones the evil day of telling them +the jewels were lost in the fire,” observed Mary. +</p> +<p> +Billie disappeared in the hall for a moment and +returned with the package she had hidden in her +ulster. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116'></a>116</span> +</p> +<p> +“The jewels came back by express this morning,” +she said. +</p> +<p> +“For heaven’s sake!” cried the others. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know whether to be glad or sorry,” +said Billie. “I am sure Pandora’s box didn’t have +any more troubles locked inside of it than this one +has. What shall I do with it now?” +</p> +<p> +“Why don’t you tell Miss Campbell all about +it?” suggested Elinor, for the second time. +</p> +<p> +“But, Elinor, it wouldn’t be right,” answered +Billie. “Didn’t we give the woman our word of +honor, Nancy, that we would keep the box for +her until she sent for it, and tell no one? Even +you and Mary would not have known about it +if you hadn’t attacked Nancy like two wild Comanche +Indians and knocked the box open.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you think the woman was crazy, honestly +now?” Elinor asked for the hundredth time. +This was an old argument between the girls. +</p> +<p> +“No, I don’t,” answered Billie emphatically. +</p> +<p> +“She was much too beautiful and fascinating to +be crazy,” put in Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“They are the craziest of all sometimes,” said +Elinor. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117'></a>117</span> +</p> +<p> +“But to return to the jewels,” interrupted +Mary, the peacemaker. “Did the hotel people +send them back?” +</p> +<p> +“No, that’s the queerest thing of all, and that’s +what I’m here for to tell you now. The hotel +people wrote me a letter which came this morning, +saying that it was believed that the fire had +been started by thieves who robbed the safe and +that they, therefore, were not responsible for +things lost. +</p> +<p> +“In the same mail came another very nice letter +from a strange man named Johnston. He +said the night of the fire he saw a man who was +carrying this package faint dead away on the +bridge. He believes now the man was one of +the thieves. Anyway, he took him into his automobile +and the thief must have come to and not +known where he was, because he escaped somehow, +probably to go back and look for the package, +which Mr. Johnston has expressed to me.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, of all the strange stories!” +</p> +<p> +“But the question is now, what to do with the +thing?” continued Billie. +</p> +<p> +If Billie had been a few years older, she would +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118'></a>118</span> +probably have gone straight to Miss Campbell, +or to Miss Campbell’s lawyer, Mr. Richard Butler, +Elinor’s uncle, for advice. The jewels would +then have been stored in the bank for safe-keeping +and proper means taken to find the owner. +But it seemed to her that having given her word +she must keep it, and hide the jewels herself in +some safe place until she heard from Mr. Lafitte. +After all, he might be on a journey somewhere, +and they could only wait patiently. +</p> +<p> +“Let’s go and consult our guide, counsellor, +and friend,” suggested Mary. +</p> +<p> +“Who?” asked the other girls, in some doubt. +</p> +<p> +“Why, the motor car, of course. Isn’t he the +cheerfullest, finest friend in the world; always +ready to give pleasure; always smiling and ruddy, +and ready to come and go, stay still or move on—bless +him?” +</p> +<p> +“He is a dear,” said Billie, pleased with this +extravagant praise of her beloved car. +</p> +<p> +The girls had come to consider “The Comet” +almost as a living thing, like a pet horse or a +favorite dog. They loved it as ardently as children +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119'></a>119</span> +love a pony which has borne them all on his +back at one time around the garden. +</p> +<p> +It was decided then to take a spin in the car +and the four friends were soon in their accustomed +places on the red leather seats. +</p> +<p> +The scarlet car, full of young girls, was no +longer an unusual sight in the town of West +Haven, and people had ceased now to turn and +stare at the “Motor Maids,” as Captain Brown +had christened them one morning when they had +taken him for a drive in the automobile. +</p> +<p> +Through the town they sped and out to the +open road. The crisp autumn air nipped their +cheeks and brought the color to their faces. As +they passed Boulder Lane they looked curiously +at the fisherman’s house in the distance. +</p> +<p> +“I am certain those men who took your car +were smugglers,” announced Nancy. “Father +says there are lots of them.” +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps,” said Billie, “and I am certain of +another thing: that it was the same one-armed +man who was on the roof of the hotel the night +of the fire.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120'></a>120</span> +</p> +<p> +“But there are lots of one-armed men in the +world, child,” replied Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps, but there was something familiar +about him. And, besides, why did he ask me +those questions about the girls at the hotel in the +red automobile?” +</p> +<p> +“And, ‘curiser and curiser,’ what did he want +with the box of jewels? And how did he know +we had them?” said Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“I really couldn’t say,” answered Nancy. “Ask +me something easier.” +</p> +<p> +Seeing nothing ahead of them in the road, +Billie had let the car go full speed. It was what +they all loved, even Mary Price, who had gradually +got over a certain timidity she used to feel +when the car shot through the air like a sky-rocket, +and it was Mary Price now, grown unusually +bold from familiarity with speeding, who +suddenly jumped up and cried in her high, sweet +voice: +</p> +<p> +“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” +</p> +<p> +“Got what?” demanded the others. +</p> +<p> +“Why, a place to put the jewels in, of course. +Mother’s safe.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121'></a>121</span> +</p> +<p> +“But would she like us to use her safe?” asked +Billie. +</p> +<p> +“She won’t mind. I’ll tell her it’s something of +yours. She never uses it. We haven’t anything +to keep in it now,” Mary added simply. “Father +used it in his life time and Mother has just kept +it since because we are always expecting to make +lots of money, you know, and then we might need +it. I know the combination, and we can +go straight home and put them in. No one would +ever think of looking for jewels in our little +house, and they ought to be as safe there as any +place in the world.” +</p> +<p> +“Mary, dear, you are a trump,” exclaimed +Billie. “It’s a perfect idea.” +</p> +<p> +In another moment, they had faced about and +were on their way back to town. +</p> +<p> +“Dear old car,” ejaculated Elinor, patting the +red leather tenderly. “Mary’s right, we couldn’t +get on without you. We consult you exactly as +the ancients consulted oracles. I think all your +cushions must be stuffed with good advice, instead +of horse hair, and your big all-seeing eye +is always on the lookout for danger——” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122'></a>122</span> +</p> +<p> +“And his heart is true to his jolly crew,” sang +Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“He is better than a horse,” put in Mary, “because +he never gets tired.” +</p> +<p> +“And when he’s empty we fill him with gasoline, +and he’ll go ahead as fresh as ever,” went +on Billie. +</p> +<p> +“And he always avoids broken glass and tacks +in the road,” Elinor was saying, when “bang!” +went one of the rear tires with a report as loud +as a pistol shot. +</p> +<p> +The “jolly crew” could not restrain their ever-ready +laughter at this disconcerting behavior on +the part of “The Comet” just at the very moment +when their boasts were loudest. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, well,” said Billie apologetically, “it’s time +we had a puncture. We’ve never had one yet. +We’ll take him to the garage and have him mended +properly.” +</p> +<p> +“Chocolates, marshmallows, peanut brittle, and +other candies, fresh and dee-lishus!” called a +voice from behind the motor as they pulled into +the garage. +</p> +<p> +It was Percival Algernon St. Clair, wearing a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123'></a>123</span> +most engaging smile on his rosy, good-natured +face, as he tipped his boyish cap at Nancy in particular +in the most approved grown-up fashion. +</p> +<p> +“Have you any ice cream sodas, Percy-Algy?” +demanded Nancy impudently. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t think the fountain’s dry yet, Nancy, +and we’ll have a party, if you say so. The gang +is close by. Shall I give the signal?” +</p> +<p> +“I have no objections,” said Nancy, “if the +girls haven’t.” +</p> +<p> +“Why should we?” answered Billie. “Isn’t +pineapple soda water my favorite beverage?” +</p> +<p> +Percy put two fingers to his lips and gave three +whistles, and, as if by magic, Ben Austen, Charlie +Clay, and Merry Brown emerged from the +shadow of a neighboring doorway. +</p> +<p> +In spite of his theatrical name, his girlish complexion, +and blond hair, Percy was a great favorite +with his friends. He had received a spoiling +from his doting and indulgent mother that would +have turned many another boy into a selfish, vain +egoist. But Percy had been saved from this +wretched fate partly by his own frank and engaging +disposition and partly by association with +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124'></a>124</span> +his three chums, Charlie, Ben, and Merry, wholesome, +manly boys, who had never been mollycoddled +in their lives. +</p> +<p> +“Will some one carry this parcel then?” asked +Billie, pulling the box of jewels from under the +seat, and tearing the wrapping paper off of a +corner as she did so. +</p> +<p> +“I will,” said Merry promptly, taking charge +of the box. “Why, it’s rather heavy,” he observed, +weighing it in his hand. “It must be +full of gold nuggets.” +</p> +<p> +Billie was silent. She was beginning to be a +little superstitious about that box, and she could +have wished that the punctured tire and the soda +water party, pleasant as was this last diversion, +had not interrupted their plan to store the box +in Mrs. Price’s safe. +</p> +<p> +But Billie enjoyed being with girls and boys of +her own age so much that she soon forgot her +doubts and joined in the gay conversation of the +little company. +</p> +<p> +On Saturday afternoons a crowd of High +School boys and girls was always congregated +around the soda water fountain in the West +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125'></a>125</span> +Haven Pharmacy, as it was called, and the place +was filled with gay talk and laughter, when the +Motor Maids and their friends pushed their way +up to the marble counter, while Percy, who had +more pocket money in a week than some of the +others had in a year, paid for the checks. +</p> +<p> +As luck would have it, Billie and Americus +Brown had found places next to Belle Rogers, +who, very daintily and delicately, though with +some thoroughness, was consuming a maple-nut +sundae. +</p> +<p> +Merry pushed the box onto the counter while +he plunged into a glass of chocolate soda water +without even noticing that Belle had turned a +scornful glance, first at him and then at the much +soiled and travel-stained wrapper on the package. +Then, suddenly, something very particular +claimed her attention. Mary Price, who was +standing around the curve of the counter, saw +the whole thing and reported it later to the girls. +Where Billie had torn the paper, the polished +rosewood surface of the box, with its silver +mounting, was plainly visible. Belle gave one +long, astonished stare of recognition. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126'></a>126</span> +</p> +<p> +“After we leave this package at Mary’s, I invite +all of you to take a ride in the motor,” Billie +was saying to Merry Brown. “Do you think +eight can sit where five are in the habit of sitting?” +</p> +<p> +“One seat will be big enough for the midgets,”—a +nickname given to Mary and Charlie,—Merry +answered. “One of us can sit on the floor +and the other four can squeeze onto the back seat. +The chauffeur is the only person who must have +plenty of room.” +</p> +<p> +“Can’t you move up and give us a little room?” +interrupted Nancy, pushing her way between her +brother and his neighbor, while Percy stood patiently +by with two glasses of soda water. +</p> +<p> +Without meaning it, she had jostled Belle +Rogers. The two girls turned and faced each +other. +</p> +<p> +“How do you do, Belle? Are you quite well +again?” asked Nancy politely, but with a look in +her eyes which meant mischief. +</p> +<p> +Belle had not been back to school since the +fire. +</p> +<p> +“Miss Brown,” said Belle, bowing stiffly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127'></a>127</span> +</p> +<p> +“How well your hair stays in curl this foggy +weather, Belle,” continued Nancy, in a high, +pleasant voice, which could be heard by all the +boys and girls at the counter. “You must put it +up almost every night now, don’t you?” +</p> +<p> +“Nancy!” expostulated Billie, as Belle sailed +from the drug store, followed by several of her +loyal friends. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128'></a>128</span><a name='chIX' id='chIX'></a>CHAPTER IX.—AT THE SIGN OF THE BLUE TEA POT.</h2> +<p> +Billie was thankful when they had got the box +of jewels safely back into the motor car and +were on their way at last to Mary’s home. +</p> +<p> +Mary and her mother lived in a pretty old +house facing the public square, and it was fortunate +that Mrs. Price’s old home was so located. +In order to support herself and her little daughter, +the young widow had transformed the lower +floor into a tea room and shop. A little blue +board hung from the portico, which bore the inscription +in old English script, “At Ye Signe of +Ye Blue Tea Pot.” A large bulletin on the front +door announced that tea and sandwiches of all +varieties could be had within; also that luncheons +were prepared for pleasure parties and journeys +and that numerous dainty and pretty articles, +made by hand, were there for sale. +</p> +<p> +The inscription might have stated further that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129'></a>129</span> +the plucky mistress of the little shop was as dainty +and pretty as any of the articles for sale on the +counter. +</p> +<p> +As the soda water fountain was the Saturday +afternoon meeting place of the boys and girls of +West Haven, so the Sign of the Blue Tea Pot attracted +the older crowd. It had seemed a bold +undertaking for the widow to mortgage her home +and put all the money in the chintz hangings and +wicker furniture of those two charming tea +rooms. Her old friends, Mr. Butler and Captain +Brown, had strongly advised against it, but her +venture had been a success from the first, although +a mortgage still hung over the place like +a black cloud and small debts would accumulate +every time she got a little ahead. +</p> +<p> +When the red motor with its load of young +people drew up at the door of Mary’s home, the +buzz of conversation from inside reached them +out in the street. +</p> +<p> +Mary’s mother appeared for a moment in the +doorway, and smiled at them. +</p> +<p> +“She’s as beautiful as an angel,” thought Billie, +who never told how often she had yearned for a +real mother of her very own as other girls had. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130'></a>130</span> +</p> +<p> +Could any one else have looked so charming in +a perfectly plain homemade gray chambray +dress, with a white muslin fichu, and little white +apron to set it off? +</p> +<p> +“Won’t you come in and have some tea and +cake, children?” Mrs. Price called to the young +people, while she put an arm around Mary and +shook hands with Billie, who had followed her +friend to the front door with the troublesome +box. +</p> +<p> +“No, thank you, Mrs. Price,” replied Billie, as +spokesman of the party. “I only came to ask a +favor,” she added, in a lower voice. “Would you +let me keep this box in your safe for a while? I +have no place, I mean——” Billie hesitated and +blushed. Of all things, she detested subterfuge, +and yet here she was making all sorts of lame excuses +instead of saying frankly that she was +keeping the box for a friend. +</p> +<p> +“You mean the old safe upstairs?” asked Mrs. +Price, somewhat astonished. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, mother,” put in Mary. “I told Billie I +knew you wouldn’t mind locking this box up for +her for a while.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131'></a>131</span> +</p> +<p> +“Certainly, dear, you are welcome to hide anything +in it you like. Mary knows the combination +better than I do. I always have to look it +up in one of Captain Price’s old note books. I +am sorry you won’t have some tea and cake, but +I suppose you are all off for a spin this afternoon. +It has done Mary more good than I can tell you, +your motor car. The child is always studying +so hard to hurry up and be a teacher and take +care of her old mother, so she says.” +</p> +<p> +“Only a few years more, Mother, and you +shall never have to work again,” said Mary. +“Some day I shall be the Principal of West +Haven High School, when Miss Gray gets too old +to work——” +</p> +<p> +“What’s this?” exclaimed Miss Gray herself, +at the door. She had been drinking tea inside +with some friends. “Who’s going to lay me on +the shelf before my time?” +</p> +<p> +“Mary intends to step into your shoes, Miss +Gray,” laughed Mrs. Price. “Look out for her. +She is a dangerous rival. She means to pay off +all our mortgages and things, and provide for +her mother’s old age.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132'></a>132</span> +</p> +<p> +Miss Gray pinched Mary’s cheek. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” insisted Mary stoutly, “all I want is +money, money, money.” +</p> +<p> +The Principal patted the young girl’s cheek +kindly. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t be too mad about it, child. It won’t buy +everything, you know.” +</p> +<p> +It was only an idle speech of Mary’s but you +all know how much meaning can sometimes be +given to words spoken thoughtlessly and the day +was to come when Mary was to regret very +deeply having used those words. +</p> +<p> +All this time Billie had been standing quietly +waiting for the moment when they could leave +the older people and consign the box to the iron +safe upstairs. +</p> +<p> +But before they could get away the tea room +began to empty itself. Billie’s Cousin Helen appeared +in the doorway, with Mrs. Butler, looking +like Elinor grown middle-aged, the beautiful +aquiline nose slightly more pronounced, the blue +eyes a little faded, but the same erect carriage +which made her look an inch or more taller than +the other women. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133'></a>133</span> +</p> +<p> +Mme. Alta, the music teacher, was there with +Miss Gray. She was a fierce looking, dark-haired +woman, her two upper teeth protruding over her +lower lip like the tusks of a walrus, giving her a +cruel animal expression. Mrs. Rogers, Belle’s +mother, a small faded, intensely nervous little +woman, joined the group, followed by Percival +Algernon St. Clair’s doting parent, “the Widow +St. Clair,” as she was known, a charming, plump, +pretty woman, as good-natured as she was comfortably +self-indulgent. +</p> +<p> +“Why, Wilhelmina, my darling, what is that +large package you are carrying?” demanded Miss +Campbell anxiously. “Has your papa sent you +a present?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, no, just—just a package of things I was +going to leave here. We are going motoring for +a while. You don’t mind, do you Cousin Helen?” +</p> +<p> +“No, my child, as long as you don’t go too fast. +But do put down that box. You will injure yourself +carrying it so long. Why don’t you put it in +the motor? Why do you leave it here?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, it isn’t mine,” said Billie. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Price looked up at this. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134'></a>134</span> +</p> +<p> +“But I thought——” she commenced, when +Mary pressed her hand. +</p> +<p> +“I mean I am keeping it for some one,” went +on Billie lamely. +</p> +<p> +“My dear Miss Campbell,” put in Miss Gray—and +Billie thanked her for the intervention—“it +is a Blue Bird secret, you may depend upon it. +You do not know school girls as well as I do.” +</p> +<p> +“It ees a ver-ry eenter-resting looking package,” +here remarked Mme. Alta. “It appears to +be a ver-ry handsome box, as I can plainly see by +one corner-r which protrudes. You perhaps use +if for your club’s segrets, eh?” +</p> +<p> +Billie turned the box guiltily around. She had +not noticed that the torn end was in view. +</p> +<p> +Mme. Alta looked at her unnecessarily hard, +Billie thought. She had never liked the strange +woman and had preferred not to take piano lessons +of her, after one glance at those hard, cruel +eyes and the fierce walrus teeth. +</p> +<p> +“I’m sure it contains much more beautiful and +interesting things than stupid secrets,” exclaimed +good-natured, pretty Mrs. St. Clair, who disliked +to see anybody around her uncomfortable +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135'></a>135</span> +and Billie looked very uncomfortable. “Now, +dear,” she continued, giving Billie a little squeeze, +“do go and hide your box, if you like. It’s not +fair to quiz young girls about their secrets, any +more than it is to quiz older people,” and she +pushed Billie gently into the hall. Mary quickly +followed and the two girls ran upstairs, glad to +get away from the group of inquisitive ladies, +and infinitely relieved to consign the unlucky box +into the small safe in the hall closet. +</p> +<p> +“What a joy to be rid of the thing,” exclaimed +Billie, as they shoved the box inside, turned the +combination lock, and fled downstairs. +</p> +<p> +“I feel as if we need a good dose of fresh air, +Mary, to revive us after that inquisition,” she +added, as they hurried past the company of tea +drinkers, who still lingered chatting in the doorway, +and joined the others in the motor car. +</p> +<p> +“Percival, my son,” called Mrs. St. Clair, +“don’t lean out so far. You might fall and break +your nose. Oh, oh, my precious boy, they’ll kill +him!” she shrieked, as Charlie and Merry seized +him by the arms and pretended to pitch him overboard. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136'></a>136</span><a name='chX' id='chX'></a>CHAPTER X.—RUMORS AT SCHOOL.</h2> +<p> +West Haven High School, Miss Gray, the +Principal, had often said, had all the merits of +a public and private school combined. It was +more thorough than a private school and the +teachers were more in touch with the pupils than +is usual at a public school. Miss Gray herself +was deeply interested in the welfare of her girls +and studied carefully the ability and temperament +of each one. +</p> +<p> +When, therefore, a strange and very terrible +complaint was made to her one morning about one +of her school girls, she was too shocked to reason +intelligently about it, and ended by dismissing +the complainants quietly from her private office +until she sent for them again. +</p> +<p> +Exactly what the complaint was no one knew +except those who had made it. It was kept a +careful secret. But in school rumors arise in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137'></a>137</span> +the most subtle way. They are whispered about +behind doors at recess; written on the margins of +text books in class and hastily rubbed out; +vaguely hinted at here and there until they spread +from room to room and class to class and gradually +the whole school is bursting with the news. +And the poor victim may all this time be entirely +unconscious that she is the very centre of a seething, +boiling pot of gossip. +</p> +<p> +This is how the present rumor started in West +Haven High School: +</p> +<p> +One afternoon when the last gong had sounded +the sophomore class gathered in the locker +room to put on their coats and hats. The lockers +were only so in name. There had never been +any keys to them, because there had never been +any need to keep belongings under lock and key +in West Haven High School, where most of the +pupils had known each other all their lives. +</p> +<p> +On this particular afternoon, every incident of +which our four friends will remember as long +as they live, Nancy was prinking at the glass, +as usual; Elinor and Billie, with their heads bent +over an automobile map, were making plans for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138'></a>138</span> +a motor trip, and Mary Price was studying her +Latin for the next day. It was that lingering, +lazy time after school is over, which all school +girls know. +</p> +<p> +Fannie Alta hurried into the room and flung +open the door of her locker, next to that of Belle +Rogers, who was at that moment engaged in +looking at herself in her own private mirror, +hung on the inside of her locker door. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” exclaimed Fannie Alta, +with a very excited and strange manner. “I +have lost something. Something which my +mamma gave me to keep for her. What shall I +do? What shall I do?” +</p> +<p> +“Why, what was it, Fannie?” asked the other +girls, gathering around her sympathetically. +“Let us help you find it.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, oh, it is terrible!” cried the young Spanish +girl, wringing her hands and weeping in her +handkerchief alternately. “What shall I do? +What shall I do?” +</p> +<p> +“Was it money you lost?” asked Billie, in her +usual rather abrupt manner. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, yes; how did you know?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139'></a>139</span> +</p> +<p> +“I didn’t know, I guessed,” answered Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Did you leave it in your locker?” some one +else asked. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, yes. I left it there at noon to-day. +Twenty dollars my mamma gave to me to keep +for her. Oh, is it not terrible? She will eat me +with her anger.” +</p> +<p> +Billie could hardly keep the corners of her +mouth from curving with an irrepressible smile +when she remembered those two front tusks of +Mme. Alta’s, which seemed to be uncovered, +ready for work at any moment. +</p> +<p> +“Are you sure it is not there still?” asked Elinor +quietly. “I happened to look up when you +came into the room. You simply flung open your +locker door and then began to cry. Why don’t +you look in your pockets before you decide that +you have lost the money?” +</p> +<p> +Fannie flashed an angry glance at Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“How did you know that I had not looked before; +that I have not looked twice, many times?” +</p> +<p> +“I didn’t,” answered Elinor. “Have you?” +</p> +<p> +Fannie did not reply and from that moment she +and Elinor disliked each other intensely. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140'></a>140</span> +</p> +<p> +Then the girls began looking carefully about +the room. +</p> +<p> +“I feel as if I had it hidden about me,” said +Nancy, giggling, as she helped in the search. +</p> +<p> +The others laughed, too, which somewhat relieved +the situation. Nothing is more uncomfortable +than for money to be lost mysteriously +in a company of people. +</p> +<p> +“We do look as guilty as the forty thieves,” +ejaculated Rosomond McLane, a fat, funny girl, +who was popular with the whole class. +</p> +<p> +No one was more active in the search than +Belle Rogers. She shook Fannie’s text books +violently and scattered the papers about, to Fannie’s +intense annoyance. She felt in Fannie’s +pockets, examined the lining of her hat, and +made herself so officious and numerous that Fannie +herself exclaimed with much irritation: +</p> +<p> +“Please do not, Belle. You know it is not +there.” +</p> +<p> +Only Elinor sat quietly on the window sill +watching the search, with just the faintest +shadow of scornful incredulity on her handsome +face. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141'></a>141</span> +</p> +<p> +“Elinor Butler, do you believe I have been telling +a falsehood?” Fannie finally exclaimed in exasperation. +</p> +<p> +“What a little spitfire you are, Fannie,” answered +Elinor. “Just because I don’t choose to +grovel on the floor looking for your money. I +can help you quite as much by thinking, and I am +thinking very hard, I can assure you.” +</p> +<p> +At last the search was abandoned. The pocketbook +containing the money could not be found, +and the young girls, swinging their book straps,—bags +were too childish for High School girls,—strolled +up the street in groups discussing the +strange disappearance of Fannie’s twenty dollars. +</p> +<p> +In the meantime, the Motor Maids, laughing +and talking together, tossed their books into the +red car and then climbed in themselves. Somehow, +Fannie’s loss did not seem very real. Billie +had cranked up the machine and was about to +back out when Fannie’s voice called from the +locker room: +</p> +<p> +“Wait! Stop!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142'></a>142</span> +</p> +<p> +“Well, you see we haven’t gone yet,” answered +Elinor severely. +</p> +<p> +“Elinor, you are so hard on Fannie Alta. I’m +sorry for her,” said Mary. “Mother wouldn’t +bite me if I lost twenty dollars, but I’d hate to +lose it just the same.” +</p> +<p> +“I didn’t mean to be hard on her,” answered +Elinor, “but my instincts tell me not to trust +her.” +</p> +<p> +“When did they tell you, Elinor?” laughed +Billie. +</p> +<p> +Elinor’s instincts were a great joke to her +three devoted friends. But the appearance of +Fannie running breathlessly, with Belle following +at a dignified pace, interrupted Elinor’s invariable +reply to jests about her instincts: “You know +they are never wrong.” +</p> +<p> +“What is the matter now, Fannie?” asked +Billie, who was standing in the front of her car, +her arms folded, like a captain on the hurricane +deck of his ship. +</p> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i004' id='i004'></a> +<img src="images/illus-142.jpg" alt="“Get out of the road,” cried Billie, backing recklessly out of the shed and whizzing out of the gate at full speed." title=""/><br /> +<span class='caption'>“Get out of the road,” cried Billie, backing recklessly out<br/>of the shed and whizzing out of the gate at full speed.</span> +</div> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143'></a>143</span></div> +<p> +“Would you mind——” Fannie stammered. “I +mean—I think I have a right to ask—I want you +to look in your pockets. I believe——” she +continued, getting bolder every moment. “I am sure +that one of you will find my pocketbook——” +</p> +<p> +Billie’s frank, candid face flushed as scarlet as +her motor car, while the color left Elinor’s cheeks +as white as death. Nancy gave a little frightened +giggle, and Mary Price neither flushed nor +turned white, but looked quietly on. +</p> +<p> +“Really, Fannie,” spoke Elinor, “you are not +in the lawless South American country you came +from, whatever it is. You are among decent people, +not thieves, and perhaps you had better remember +that hereafter. Start on, Billie,” she +commanded, sitting as erect as a queen at her own +coronation. +</p> +<p> +“But I insist!” screamed Fannie. +</p> +<p> +“She has a right,” put in Belle. +</p> +<p> +“Get out of the road,” cried Billie, backing +recklessly out of the shed, turning with a wide, +flourishing curve and whizzing out of the gate +at full speed. +</p> +<p> +“Well, of all the insolence,” cried Elinor. +“What does she mean and how does she dare——” her +voice choked with indignation. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144'></a>144</span> +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you think it was Belle Rogers who put +her up to it out of revenge?” suggested Mary. +</p> +<p> +“If it was, I can’t see what she had to gain by +it,” said Billie. “Elinor sailed into them and we +nearly sailed over them. It seems to me we had a +good deal the best of it.” +</p> +<p> +Billie dropped the girls at their homes, as she +was in the habit of doing every afternoon after +school, and whirled up Cliff Street to the old +Campbell homestead. On the way she passed +Belle Rogers, who also lived in that fashionable +section, but she did not ask her to get in and +ride up the hill. Billie had a frank, open nature, +but with her whole soul she distrusted that pink +and white doll-baby face and those innocent +china blue eyes. +</p> +<p> +In the meantime Mary had taken off her rather +threadbare little jacket and hung it in the closet. +Her mother was resting on the couch. She looked +pale and tired that day, and Mary walked softly +so as not to disturb her. Slipping off her mittens, +she thrust them into her coat pocket. Her +fingers encountered something and she pulled out +a flat, foreign-looking pocketbook. Mary’s face +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145'></a>145</span> +turned white and she leaned against the wall of +the closet and closed her eyes. +</p> +<p> +“They must have put it in my pocket,” she +whispered. “What shall I do?” +</p> +<p> +“Mary, dearest,” called her mother. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, mother,” she answered, quietly slipping +the purse into the pocket again. “I won’t tell +her now,” she thought. “She is worried enough +already.” And when presently she kissed her +mother, no one could have told that the young +girl was more frightened than she had ever been +in all her lifetime. +</p> +<p> +The next morning Mary hurried to school +without waiting for Billie and her car. She had +something to study, she said. But Fannie was +there before her, waiting in the locker room. +Mary tried to calm her beating heart as she +looked steadily at the other girl. Then, with a +sudden resolution, she marched straight up to +Fannie, and thrust the pocketbook into her hand. +</p> +<p> +“You put this in my pocket,” she said. “I +don’t know what you have against me, or what +I ever did to you, but if you ever do it again, I +shall go straight to Miss Gray.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146'></a>146</span> +</p> +<p> +Fannie took the pocketbook without a word, +and after that a very different version of the +story got out. Finally it reached Miss Gray’s +ears. +</p> +<p> +But the most serious thing of all was that +things began disappearing every day out of the +girls’ lockers. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147'></a>147</span><a name='chXI' id='chXI'></a>CHAPTER XI.—SEVEN LEAGUE ISLAND.</h2> +<p> +“Pile in any old way and make yourselves as +comfy as you can,” said Billie, from the chauffeur’s +seat, while seven boys and girls packed +themselves into “The Comet” as tightly as sardines +in a box. +</p> +<p> +“Ben, I look to you to take good care of my +girls,” called Miss Helen Campbell, from the +front door steps of her home. “And all of you +promise me three things: Don’t go too fast; +don’t stay too late, and don’t go too far.” +</p> +<p> +“We promise,” came eight voices in a chorus. +</p> +<p> +“Good-by, Cousin Helen, dearest,” called Billie, +kissing her hand affectionately to the little lady +who was fast coming to fill an aching void in +Billie’s heart. +</p> +<p> +“Good-by, Miss Campbell,” called the others, +while she smiled and bowed and waved her handkerchief +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148'></a>148</span> +like a favorite actress before an enthusiastic +audience. +</p> +<p> +What a difference the young people had made +in her life, she thought, as the carload of boys +and girls flashed down the street and the sound +of their talk and laughter, growing fainter and +fainter, floated back to her like a pleasant memory. +</p> +<p> +It was a real seaside October day. Nothing +could have been bluer than the bay, unless it was +the sky. A warm, dry land breeze swept over +the moors about West Haven. Wild asters and +golden rod colored the roadside, and the stillness +of Indian summer pervaded the whole country. +</p> +<p> +“There was no need of the top to-day,” observed +Billie, looking up at the cloudless sky. “I +am glad we decided not to put it on. We might +as well have left the rugs and wraps behind, too. +They take up room and won’t be used, I am certain.” +</p> +<p> +“I hope not,” answered Ben. “I see only one +cloud on the horizon and that’s no larger than a +man’s hand; but clouds do grow.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t borrow trouble, Rain-in-the-Face,” exclaimed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149'></a>149</span> +Percy. “The last time you looked into +the future we had a fire.” +</p> +<p> +“All right, dummy,” answered his friend. “I +am not predicting anything. I only mentioned the +possibilities of a very small cloud. And the night +of the Shell Island fire I said what certainly +proved to be perfectly true—that the hotel was a +regular fire trap.” +</p> +<p> +“Are you really a good weather prophet, Ben?” +asked Billie anxiously. She did not like to have +her parties turn out disastrously. +</p> +<p> +“He—he’s the poorest ever,” cried Merry. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t go on what he says, Billie,” put in +Percy. “The last camping trip we went on, he +predicted fair weather and it rained for a week.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, just to prove that I know what I’m +talking about,” cried Ben, “I predict that it rains +before night.” +</p> +<p> +This unpopular prophecy was greeted by hoots +of derision from the others. +</p> +<p> +“What makes you think so, Ben?” asked Elinor. +“It’s as clear as a bell now.” +</p> +<p> +“Certain signs,” he answered. +</p> +<p> +“Now, Ben Austen,” ejaculated Nancy. “Don’t +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150'></a>150</span> +go spoil our day before it’s begun. You know +just as well as I do that it’s Indian summer, and +it never rains in Indian summer.” +</p> +<p> +“Never, Miss Nancy-Bell?” repeated Ben, +smiling. He minded as little being teased by his +friends as a big, good-natured dog minds the +antics of a lot of puppies. +</p> +<p> +“All right, Big Injun Ben,” said Merry, “let +it rain before night. We’ve got a good many +hours to enjoy ourselves in and get home, too, before +dark. We’ll be at the ferry-boat landing in +an hour, and if we’re lucky enough to catch the +boat, we’ll reach Seven League Island by eleven +o’clock. That will give us plenty of time to eat +everything in sight, see Smugglers’ Cave, and all +the other sights, and get home by seven o’clock.” +</p> +<p> +“Of course, we can,” replied Ben. “I was only +teasing Percival Algernon St. Clair, because he +hates the rain worse than poison. I never saw a +finer day in my life.” +</p> +<p> +“Thank goodness!” exclaimed Billie, in tones +of relief. She really had great faith in Ben’s +judgment about most things. +</p> +<p> +Seven League Island, a rocky strip of land some +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151'></a>151</span> +twenty-one miles long, was one of the most romantic +places in the vicinity of West Haven. It +was three miles from the mainland and, during +the season when the summer resorts and camps +which clustered on its shores were open, several +ferry-boats carried passengers back and forth +from the mainland to the island. In winter the +place was almost deserted. The land was too +poor for farming and few people cared to remain +on that lonely, mournful island, where, in stormy +weather, the waves thundered through the caves +in the cliffs, and the wind in the pine trees made +a mournful sound like the wail of a lost soul. +</p> +<p> +To-day, however, it was as serene and smiling +as the Islands of the Blest. The southwest wind +stirred the pine needles gently, making a pleasant +quiet song. The tiny waves, as they lapped +the sides of the ferry, gave out a “cloop, cloop” +sound that still water makes against the bow of +a canoe. +</p> +<p> +“What time does the last ferry go back, Captain?” +asked Ben, of the old ferryman, whose +face was as weather beaten and seamed as the +hide of a hippopotamus. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152'></a>152</span> +</p> +<p> +“Six, in good weather.” +</p> +<p> +“What time in bad?” +</p> +<p> +“Depends on the weather,” answered the old +man briefly. +</p> +<p> +“How many other ferry stations are there?” +asked Charlie. +</p> +<p> +“Three.” +</p> +<p> +“Good,” exclaimed happy-go-lucky Americus +Brown. “We’ll take the one that’s nearest when +the time comes to go back and ride before the +wind, and beat the rain and put old Ben out of +business as a weather prophet.” +</p> +<p> +The ferryman said nothing, but his small eyes +twinkled with amusement. +</p> +<p> +They were the only passengers on the boat that +trip, and as the motor whirled up the hard-beaten +road from the ferry landing, they noticed that +the bungalows and summer cottages along the +shore were closed for the season. +</p> +<p> +“It’s because it’s so hard to get food,” Percy +explained. He had once visited some friends +at Flag Point, the first settlement, and was to be +their guide this morning to the great cave, which +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153'></a>153</span> +had been used, it was said, in the days when +smugglers were common in the land. +</p> +<p> +The others were familiar only with the shore, +where they had come on bathing and fishing excursions, +and the boys and girls were eager to +explore the rocky caverns, the fort, the little inlets, +where pirates were supposed to have anchored +their ships, and above all the smugglers’ +cave, which Percy told them was a great vaulted +chamber in the rocks, with an entrance no broader +than a narrow door. +</p> +<p> +“Take the road going to the right,” called +Percy, as Billie paused at the top of the cliff for +directions. “It’s the best one for motoring and +it goes past the old rifle-pit where we can eat +lunch. We can leave the car there and climb +down to the caves afterwards.” +</p> +<p> +“The Comet” turned obediently to the right +and shot down the interminable expanse of empty +white road, like a shooting star on the milky way. +</p> +<p> +Even Mary, who had been pale and silent all +morning, regained her spirits on that glorious +ride, when Merry, with head thrown back, began +to sing: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154'></a>154</span> +</p> +<p> + “The sailor’s wife the sailor’s star shall be,<br /> + Yo-ho, yo-ho-ho, yo-ho, yo-ho-ho!”<br /> +</p> +<p> +and she joined in the chorus with the others, her +clear, sweet voice piping out like the notes of a +field lark in a chorus of birds. +</p> +<p> +At last Billie pulled up at the side of the road +under a cliff, on top of which was an old grass-grown +fort used during the Indian wars. +</p> +<p> +“This must be it,” she said. “It’s peaceful +enough looking now to make a good picnicing +ground, but I don’t suppose it was much of a picnic +for the people who built it to shoot Indians +from.” +</p> +<p> +“Nor much of a picnic for the Indians, either,” +said Ben, helping Billie out while Charlie Clay +assisted the other girls to the ground and Percy +and Merry unstrapped the luncheon hamper. +</p> +<p> +“Let’s eat up high,” suggested Billie. “That is, +if you can carry the basket up that steep incline.” +</p> +<p> +“The pack mules are here for that work,” said +Ben, pointing to Merry and Percy. “Charlie, you +bring the rugs for the ladies to sit on and I’ll +help the ladies.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155'></a>155</span> +</p> +<p> +“Will you listen to Nervy Nat,” cried Percy, +as he obediently shouldered his end of the luncheon +hamper and followed Merry up the hill. +</p> +<p> +How they laughed and scrambled and shoved +as they clambered up the pebbly path. Once +Mary, with a shrill cry, slipped and stumbled +back on Nancy who fell against Charlie, who, in +his turn, tumbled against Ben, and that pillar of +strength, grasping a branch of a pine tree with +each hand, supported the whole human weight +without a tremor. +</p> +<p> +It was like picnicing in the tops of the trees, +when they finally spread the cloth in the grass-grown +enclosure of the fort, and beyond them +stretched the entire expanse of the ocean glimmering +blue in the sunshine, with an occasional +ship outlined on the horizon. +</p> +<p> +“I hope the ginger ale is still cold,” cried +Merry. +</p> +<p> +“And the mayonnaise hasn’t melted,” said +Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“What, nothing to eat but victuals and drink?” +exclaimed Percy. +</p> +<p> +When they had waded through the piles of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156'></a>156</span> +sandwiches and pyramids of cake, and drained +the last drop of ginger ale, silent Charlie, who had +an enormous appetite, remarked: +</p> +<p> +“How hungry this piney-salty combination does +make a fellow!” +</p> +<p> +“Why, Charlie,” said Billie, “don’t say you are +still hungry. You remind me of the elephant in +Merry’s song: +</p> +<p> + “‘The elephant ate all night,<br /> + The elephant ate all day,<br /> + And feed as they would, as much as they could,<br /> + The cry was still more hay.’”<br /> +</p> +<p> +Charlie pulled out his mouth organ and began +to play such a rollicking dance tune that the boys +and girls, almost before they knew it, were two-stepping +over the grass as madly as a lot of wild +young colts. Then Charlie, seizing Mary about +the waist and still playing vigorously on his +“harp,” as it was called in that section, joined the +dancers himself. +</p> +<p> +If they had not all of them been so absorbed in +executing the Dutch twirl, or racing over the +ground like Cossack dancers on the Russian +Steppes, they would have been somewhat disturbed to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157'></a>157</span> +have seen a man peering down at them +from the top of a mound. He had crawled up the +steep incline and was lying flat on his stomach in +the tall grass. His face is familiar enough to us +by now, for he had only one eye, but that one, like +the eye of the three mythological witches, gleamed +brilliantly and wickedly and nothing escaped its +range. He smiled as if he rather enjoyed watching +the dancers, and especially his one wicked eye +followed the movements of Ben and Charlie and +Billie Campbell. Presently when the whirling +couples had tumbled breathlessly on the grass, +fanning themselves with their hats and Ben had +called out: “We’d better be getting along now,” +the man slipped away as silently as a snake and +disappeared somewhere below. +</p> +<p> +“To the caves,” cried Percy, as they gathered +up the rugs and cushions and hastened down the +cliff to the motor. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose it’s safe to leave ‘The Comet’ here +without any one to look after him,” Billie had observed, +and the others had agreed that it was. +</p> +<p> +“As safe as on any other desert island,” Ben +had answered. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158'></a>158</span> +</p> +<p> +It seemed impossible that anything could happen +in that lonely, quiet place, which was like a +deserted paradise to the girls and boys that beautiful +afternoon. There was nothing about the locality +or the weather to arouse uncomfortable +suspicions. The patch of sky, which was revealed +to them just overhead between the tall, +straight pine trees, was like a beautiful deep +blue canopy. Even the watchful Ben could not +have told that the cloud, so short a time ago no +larger than a man’s hand, now stretched itself +across the horizon in a long, thick line of black. +</p> +<p> +“The caves are the most fun of all,” said Percy, +leading the way to the cliffs overlooking the +ocean. “There are dozens of them, some little +and some very large. The lower ones fill up at +high tide, but the upper ones are safe enough.” +</p> +<p> +The cliff was honeycombed with small rocky +chambers, and as they clambered, Indian file, +along the narrow path which nature had so +thoughtfully cut in the rocks they heard the +boom of the incoming tide thundering through +the caves on the beach. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose people could live in these little caverns,” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159'></a>159</span> +Percy continued, “if it wasn’t so all-fired +lonely and inconvenient; but wait until you see +Smugglers’ Cave. It has as many natural conveniences +as a real house built by human beings.” +</p> +<p> +“Here it is,” he cried at last, to the others who +had run all the way down a steep embankment to +see this romantic place. +</p> +<p> +Certainly it might well have been a favorite +spot for smugglers and robbers on the high seas. +Too high for the tide to reach and still well hidden +from above by a thick growth of scrubby +pine and oak trees, the cave was as secret and +safe a place as could be imagined. Rock-hewn +steps led up from the smooth pebbly beach +below and the curve of the coast made a charming +little haven for ships and a natural landing +place for small boats. The eight friends stood in +a row on the beach. +</p> +<p> +“This is called ‘Pirates’ Cove,’ you know,” went +on Percy. “They say the pirates used to anchor +their ships in this little haven and come ashore +and have pirate tea parties on the beach.” +</p> +<p> +“Here comes a sea rover now,” called Merry, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160'></a>160</span> +scanning the entrance to the harbor where a +ship could be seen outlined against the blue. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, she isn’t coming this way, Old Tar,” answered +Percy. “It’s too late in the season, for +yachts and ships rarely come in here unless there +is a storm. There’s nothing to come for and it +takes them out of their course.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s headed this way,” continued Merry, not +taking any notice of Percy’s interruption, while +he scanned the ship with his far-seeing sailor’s +eyes. “She’s a brigantine, and she’s making for +this cove.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, well, what of it?” put in Billie. “Perhaps +she is coming here for the rest cure. But +she doesn’t interest me half as much as Smugglers’ +Cave. Let’s not waste any more time +here,” and she ran up the steps, followed by the +others. +</p> +<p> +The entrance to the cave had been as cleverly +concealed as if nature had conspired with the +outlaws to provide them with a safe hiding place +for their contraband goods. The steps appeared +to lead to nothing more than a blank wall, but, +following Percy around the edge of an enormous +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161'></a>161</span> +rock which, in ages past must have slipped its +fastenings above, they presently came to a narrow +opening between the rock and the side of the +cave, just large enough for a man to go through. +</p> +<p> +“The smugglers must have had to do up their +bales of silk pretty flat to get them through +here,” said Ben, measuring the opening with his +handkerchief, as he stooped to keep from bumping +his head on the top. +</p> +<p> +“How beautiful! How wonderful!” cried the +four girls, when their eyes had become used to the +change from the brilliant sunlight outside to the +semi-twilight of the great vaulted chamber where +they now found themselves. +</p> +<p> +“Now, I’ll show you what a jim-dandy architect +nature is,” said Percy. “Here’s the bathroom. +No hot water, of course, but a perfectly +good tub and cold water always on tap.” +</p> +<p> +He pointed out a natural basin, probably worn +in the rocks by the constant dripping of water +from a spring that trickled down the wall of the +cave. +</p> +<p> +“Here’s the bedroom, that nice, comfortable +shelf over there. Here’s your easy chair,” he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162'></a>162</span> +continued, showing them a curious formation of +rocks really resembling a big armchair with a +high back. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a rocky chair and not a rocking chair,” +observed Charlie, taking a seat and rising quite +suddenly. “Nature is as mischievous as a little +boy if she is a good architect. Look at this,” +and he pointed to a very sharp, almost needle-like, +piece of stone in one corner of the seat. +</p> +<p> +The others laughed gayly as they hurried after +Percy and a hundred reverberating echoes +startled them into silence. +</p> +<p> +“And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have saved +the most interesting sight for the last. You are +about to see the store-room of the smugglers.” +He led the way down two steps into another +chamber. +</p> +<p> +“By Jove!” he cried suddenly and stopped +short. +</p> +<p> +“What is it?” exclaimed the others, peering +over his shoulder into the darkness. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you see?” he said, in a low voice. +“They are still using it for a store-room.” +</p> +<p> +They blinked their eyes with amazement, when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163'></a>163</span> +presently there loomed up in the shadows a pile +of long, flat packing boxes. +</p> +<p> +Ben lit a candle, which he had thoughtfully +brought along in his coat pocket, and they examined +the boxes, which crowded one entire end of +the smugglers’ store-room. +</p> +<p> +“Will you look at this?” he called. “Elinor, +you are in this.” +</p> +<p> +Ben held the candle high and pointed to a +sign on the nearest box, which read: “Automobile +Supplies—Butler Brothers—West Haven——” +</p> +<p> +“Why,” cried Elinor, “you surely don’t suppose +Uncle Tom and Uncle Richard could be +storing their goods here, do you?” +</p> +<p> +No one answered her for a moment. Their +thoughts were busy searching for an explanation +to this strange discovery. +</p> +<p> +“Elinor,” said Mary presently, “don’t you remember +what those men who borrowed Billie’s +automobile said about killing every Butler in the +county who interfered?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said Elinor, in a frightened voice, “but +what could these boxes have to do with it?” +</p> +<p> +“They may have a great deal,” said Ben. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164'></a>164</span> +“Those men are probably smuggling your +uncles’ auto supplies out of the country. The +boxes are smuggled up to this cave by degrees, I +suppose, and then loaded on some ship when they +have got enough to make it worth while. And, if +it’s the same man we had dealings with that +night, he is a pretty desperate kind of an individual.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t want any more fights,” exclaimed +Billie. “Both of those men carried pistols and +knives; I suppose all first-class smugglers do, but +I don’t propose that my party is going to be +ruined by any bloodshed. It is getting late, and +we had better be going.” +</p> +<p> +They quite agreed with Billie, although the +boys would have liked to linger in the Smugglers’ +Cave for a while. +</p> +<p> +The outer air seemed very warm and oppressive +after the cold damp atmosphere of the cave. +They blinked their eyes and shivered as they hurried +along the path which led to the road and in +the change from dark to light they did not at +first notice that the sun was hidden by a great +cloud, as black as ink, which stretched from horizon +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165'></a>165</span> +to horizon. A hot, heavy wind stirred the +pine needles and that sense of impending trouble +which always comes before a great storm sobered +the spirits of the boys and girls. +</p> +<p> +Nobody spoke of the cloud. It seemed to be +a question of honor with them not to mention it, +but they hurried on silently, and in a few minutes +reached the automobile. +</p> +<p> +With a sigh of relief, the four girls were about +to jump in, while Ben cranked up, when suddenly +Nancy gave a little, pent-up scream. +</p> +<p> +“Look!” she cried, pointing to a piece of paper +stuck on the cushion of the back seat. +</p> +<p> +This message was printed with a lead pencil +on the paper: +</p> +<p> +“He laughs best who laughs last.” +</p> +<p> +“It was that man,” said Billie, examining the +tires ruefully, each one of which had been slashed +with a sharp knife. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166'></a>166</span><a name='chXII' id='chXII'></a>CHAPTER XII.—THE STORM.</h2> +<p> +“Billie, can you put on new tires?” demanded +Ben, somewhat anxiously, making a mental determination +to learn all about the mechanism of +motor cars before he went on another motor trip. +</p> +<p> +The others stood back rather helplessly. Merry, +especially, felt stupid and uncomfortable in having +to stand aside and let a girl do all the work. +</p> +<p> +“Of course, I can,” replied Billie, trying to +speak cheerfully, as a low cannonading of thunder +rumbled in the distance. “I have done it +dozens of times, only it will take time, of course. +The tools are under the seat. Hustle up, everybody. +Charlie, you get the new tires. Ben, you +help me.” +</p> +<p> +In a few moments Ben and Billie were kneeling +on the ground adjusting the tire of the first +wheel, while Charlie and Merry were engaged +in examining the extra tires, which the motor +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167'></a>167</span> +carried in case of accident, and Percy made himself +as useful as possible, unpacking all the wraps, +Billie’s oilskin coat and cap and the rubber +blankets. +</p> +<p> +“Billie,” announced Charlie, “there are only +three good tires here. The fourth has a puncture. +It’s only a small one, but——” +</p> +<p> +“I know,” interrupted Billie, looking extremely +worried. “It was an imperfect one. I may be +able to patch it.” +</p> +<p> +Then Charlie and Merry held a whispered conference +and disappeared around the bluff. +</p> +<p> +“What’s up?” asked Ben, looking over his +shoulder at their retreating figures. +</p> +<p> +But nobody could answer the question. The +girls were getting into their ulsters and Percy +was arranging the rubber blankets and rugs in +the car. +</p> +<p> +“What a confoundedly low, mean trick of that +fellow to do this,” he kept saying to himself, keeping +one eye on the black clouds piling up and the +other on Billie and Ben. He figured that it +would take an hour and a half at least to get all +four tires on and, he thought, Billie would be a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168'></a>168</span> +pretty smart girl to do it that quickly. It was +half-past three o’clock. +</p> +<p> +“What about that ferry,” he said to himself. +</p> +<p> +At last they were pumping up the third tire. It +seemed an age to those who were idly looking on. +The girls sat in a row on the side of the road, +their hands folded patiently in their laps, while +Percy paced up and down, watching the top of +the bluff uneasily. +</p> +<p> +“Where are Charlie and Merry?” he said at +last, unable to conceal his anxiety any longer. +</p> +<p> +“Idiots,” exclaimed Nancy. “Haven’t we +enough to worry us?” +</p> +<p> +While she spoke there came a blinding flash of +lightning and a clap of thunder seemed to split +the heavens in two. +</p> +<p> +Nancy hid her face on Elinor’s shoulder. +Billie and Ben kept on working steadily. They +had reached the fourth tire now and Billie had +managed to patch the punctured place just as +the first great drops of rain began to fall. +</p> +<p> +“Where are those boys?” Ben called over his +shoulder, not stopping to look up. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169'></a>169</span> +</p> +<p> +“I’ll call them,” said Percy, and running to the +top of the cliff he began to halloo and whistle. +</p> +<p> +It had grown suddenly so dark that they +thought the sun must have set an hour earlier +than usual. A cold wind sprang up and whizzed +through the pines with a sound that made them +shiver. +</p> +<p> +“Hurrah, it’s done!” cried Billie triumphantly, +just as a driving wall of rain struck her in the +face. “Get in, girls, quick,” she shouted, as she +slipped on her oil skins. “Boys, where are you? +Crank up, Ben.” +</p> +<p> +Suddenly, in the midst of the din and racket of +the storm, came a wild halloo. Charlie and Merry +appeared, running down the road toward the motor +car, and six men were following them, shouting +and gesticulating. +</p> +<p> +“Get in as fast as you can,” commanded Ben, +and the girls will never forget the terror of that +moment as they tumbled into the car. +</p> +<p> +The booming of the sea in the caves, the cannonading +of the thunder, the sharp whistle of the +wind in the tops of the trees, and the shouts of +the men! But in the midst of it all came the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170'></a>170</span> +kindly, cheering whir of the motor engine. Billie +could have kissed the faithful “Comet” on his +broad, good-natured forehead for his loyalty at +this moment, when they most needed him. As +Charlie and Merry leaped onto the step, she threw +in the clutch, and they were off just as the first +man reached the car, brandishing a long knife +and yelling hoarsely. +</p> +<p> +The boys climbed over into the back, too tired +to speak. Merry had a black eye and Charlie had +a bloody nose. +</p> +<p> +“Billie, the next ferry is Payne’s,” called Percy. +“It’s about a mile from here. Go straight ahead.” +</p> +<p> +And Billie, sticking to her wheel like a good +pilot, ducked her head and guided the flying motor +along the slippery road. +</p> +<p> +They seemed hardly to have taken breath before +they reached Payne’s landing and found it +empty and deserted of every human being who +had ever ventured into that lonely place. +</p> +<p> +“We’ll have to try for the next ferry landing +then,” said Percy, dejectedly. “It’s back toward +Flag Point.” +</p> +<p> +Without a word, Billie turned the car, and putting +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171'></a>171</span> +on all speed they whizzed through the rain. +At that moment she had only one prayer in her +heart: to pilot her friends safely through the +storm and get them to the ferry landing. There +was no sign of any of their pursuers as they +passed the fort. When at last they reached the +second summer encampment they breathed a sigh +of relief. The ferry boat was docked at the landing +and a man stood under the shed, his hands in +his pockets. +</p> +<p> +Billie drew up at the entrance. +</p> +<p> +“Captain, will you take us on?” called Ben. He +always called boatmen and conductors captain. He +found it pleased them, but this man did not reply +and still stood with his back turned looking out +on the now angry strip of water between Seven +League Island and the mainland. +</p> +<p> +Ben shouted and they all shouted together, but +the man was as unmoved as a wooden statue. +</p> +<p> +“He’s deaf,” said Billie. “Get out and shake +him.” +</p> +<p> +Ben jumped out and shook the man’s shoulder, +who, with a strange guttural sound, turned slowly +around. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172'></a>172</span> +</p> +<p> +“And dumb,” exclaimed Ben, indicating with +violent motions first the automobile and then the +ferry-boat. +</p> +<p> +The deaf mute shook his head and pointed in +the direction of Flag Point. They offered him +money, tried persuasion, threats, prayers, which +he could not hear, and finally ended by dashing +off toward the last ferry. +</p> +<p> +“It’s our only chance,” said Ben, “but we’ll +get over in that if we have to use force.” +</p> +<p> +Meantime, the island, lashed by the storm, +looked bleak and cold, and they wondered they +could ever have admired it at all. Crouched under +the rubber covers, they shivered with chill, +while Billie, on the front seat, Ben and Percy +beside her always on the lookout, with clinched +teeth and hands gripped to the wheel, guided +them through the hurricane. It seemed to her +they must be riding on the very wings of the +wind, and the speedometer announced fifty miles +an hour. +</p> +<p> +As they dashed through the straggling little +street of that forlorn village of Flag Point, the +few indifferent natives who braved the winters +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173'></a>173</span> +on the island looked out of their windows in wonder. +It seemed to them that a streak of red lightning +had flashed through the storm. +</p> +<p> +“Cheer up, all of you, our troubles are over,” +called Ben. “The ferry-boat’s at the landing.” +</p> +<p> +The old boat seemed like a haven of rest when +they pulled into the shelter of its alley for wagons +and motor cars. +</p> +<p> +“Captain, why didn’t you tell us that this was +the only ferry running?” demanded Ben of the +wrinkled old man. +</p> +<p> +“Because I don’t never answer questions that +ain’t first been put to me,” replied the laconic +boatman. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t scold him,” said Billie, wiping streams +of water from her face. “Any one who is obliged +to live in a God-forsaken, wretched place like +Seven League Island couldn’t be supposed to have +any human interest. I imagine they all get to be +like their own flinty rocks, hard, sharp, and +ugly.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, bloody nose and blacky eye,” put in +Percy, “it’s about time for you to give an account +of yourselves.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174'></a>174</span> +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said the others, who had been so +stunned by the fast ride through the storm and +the race for the ferry that they had almost forgotten +what had happened. +</p> +<p> +“When we found,” began Merry, “that one of +the tires had a puncture, Charlie and I thought +we might as well make that low, scoundrelly thief +who slashed the tires pay back with one of those +he had stolen from Mr. Butler. So we chased +over to Smugglers’ Cave, but it took longer than +we had expected, because we had taken the wrong +path and had to crawl around a precipice and +jump over crags like two mountain goats.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t forget to tell that your pirate brigantine +was anchored out in the harbor,” put in +Charlie. “We supposed it was lying up to get +out of the storm, but we had another think coming——” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, I guess you will all listen to me, next +time,” went on Merry. “That was the most piratical-looking +band of fellows with their knives +and their red handkerchiefs as I ever saw in a +story book. Well, we did get to the cave at last +and found it as empty as it was before. Charlie +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175'></a>175</span> +had a chisel in his pocket. You know, he is the +human tool box, and with that and a piece of +stone we managed to loosen some of the boards. +But there wasn’t a tire or anything else connected +with an automobile inside the box. You’ll never +guess what the boxes were filled with. Something +about as foreign to a motor car, except in +sound, when a tire bursts, as a caterpillar.” +</p> +<p> +“You don’t mean guns?” demanded Ben. +</p> +<p> +“We certainly do. Rifles by the dozens packed +in all the boxes we had time to open.” +</p> +<p> +“We were chumps,” interrupted Charlie. “If +we had stopped sooner, I never would have had +this bloody nose.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, haven’t I got a black eye?” demanded +his friend. +</p> +<p> +“What happened? What happened?” cried +Percy impatiently. +</p> +<p> +“While we were tinkering with the boxes, we +heard the sharpest, loudest whistle I ever heard in +my life, and we both lit out and ran. I was in +front and just as I got to the mouth of the cave, +a one-eyed, one-armed ruffian leapt out at me. +His one arm was as strong as most men’s two, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176'></a>176</span> +but he couldn’t beat Charlie and me together, although +he gave me this little souvenir and he +planted his fist on Charlie’s nose. While we were +fighting, a boat from the ship with six sailors in +it landed below. They came tearing up the steps +like a lot of bloodhounds, and Charlie and I had +a run for our lives. Didn’t we, midget?” +</p> +<p> +Charlie acknowledged the fact gravely. There +was no denying that the two boys had been in a +very dangerous situation. +</p> +<p> +“We were ready just in the nick of time, too,” +said Billie. “If Ben hadn’t cranked up, we’d +have had those men on us in another minute.” +</p> +<p> +It was good to be on land again, even though it +wasn’t dry land, and the ride home, safe and +swift, was blissful after the dangers and excitement +of that thrilling picnic. +</p> +<p> +It seemed that Seven League Island must have +been the very centre of the hurricane and that +West Haven had only been visited with a heavy +shower. Miss Campbell, therefore, was spared +any great anxiety. +</p> +<p> +But, oh, the joy of drawing up to the cheerful +blaze of the wood fire, while eight youthful +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177'></a>177</span> +adventurers related a somewhat softened version +of the events of the day! Then the supper that +followed, in Miss Campbell’s big, old-fashioned +dining room, with fried chicken and hot biscuits +and omelette as light as a feather, and strawberry +jam that took the prize at the county fair! +</p> +<p> +But best of all was what Merry did at the +last, when, notwithstanding his stiff joints and +bandaged eye, he rose from his seat and cried: +</p> +<p> +“Hip, hip, hurrah! Three cheers for Billie, +the pluckiest chauffeur that ever ran a motor +car.” +</p> +<p> +And all the rest joined in, even Miss Campbell, +who clapped her hands and cried: +</p> +<p> +“Three cheers for my dear, dear Billie.” +</p> +<p> +Then Billie cried: +</p> +<p> +“Three cheers for Ben because he never said +‘I told you so,’ about the rain.” +</p> +<p> +That very night, before he went to his own +home, Ben called at Mr. Richard Butler’s house +and told him the story of the bogus automobile +supplies marked with the name of Butler Brothers. +</p> +<p> +There was a great telegraphing and telephoning by long +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178'></a>178</span> +distance. The Butler Brothers were +very excited and angry, just as their niece had +predicted they would be. Detectives were engaged +and other ships warned to keep a sharp +lookout, but nothing was heard of the pirate brigantine. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179'></a>179</span><a name='chXIII' id='chXIII'></a>CHAPTER XIII.—WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS.</h2> +<p> +Never since she had been Principal of West +Haven High School had Miss Gray been so upset +as she was now. For the first time a scandal +was connected with her beloved institution. +Every day there was a new complaint. +</p> +<p> +“Miss Gray, I only left my ring on the washstand +a minute, while I was washing my hands, +and when I looked for it, it was gone,” said one +girl. +</p> +<p> +“But who was in the washroom, Julia?” asked +the Principal wearily. She was disgusted and +angry with this troublesome situation. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, all the girls, Miss Gray, but nobody saw +any one take it.” +</p> +<p> +Small purses containing lunch money were +emptied of their contents and put back into jacket +pockets. Some of the teachers lost money and +Miss Gray herself was robbed of ten dollars, the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180'></a>180</span> +wages of the old janitor, which she had placed +under a paper weight on the desk, in her own +private office. +</p> +<p> +The whole school had gone distracted, but the +pilferer was too clever to be caught. +</p> +<p> +Twice Miss Gray had summoned Mary Price to +her office, but, after looking gravely into the +young girl’s serious eyes, she kissed her and +sent her off on some improvised errand. +</p> +<p> +“I shall wait a few days,” the Principal said. +“After all, there may be some mistake.” +</p> +<p> +And it was then that she determined to try an +experiment. +</p> +<p> +One bleak autumn afternoon a thick, wet mist +rolled in from the ocean and enveloped the town +of West Haven so densely that it seemed like +a city floating on a bank of cloud. Only the dim +outline of objects twenty yards away could be +seen and the muffled call of the fog horn at the +lighthouse on the Black Reefs sounded its dismal +warning through the mist. +</p> +<p> +Billie and Mary were hurrying arm in arm +down the street in earnest conversation. Notwithstanding +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181'></a>181</span> +it was after school hours, they were +going toward the High School. +</p> +<p> +“Do you think we can get it, Mary?” Billie was +saying. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, yes, the janitor always leaves the door to +the basement corridor open until evening for Miss +Gray and the teachers who sometimes stay late.” +</p> +<p> +“It was stupid of me to have left that horrid +old algebra, but you know I always forget +the things I don’t like. If Miss Finch hadn’t +called me down so thoroughly this morning about +my average in mathematics, I would just let the +lesson for to-morrow go, or if Miss Finch were +only Miss Allbright, or Miss anybody else but +just a stern, animated mathematical cube.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s all right if you know your lessons,” said +Mary, smiling. “It’s only the ones who don’t +study hard enough to suit her who call her a +human arithmetic.” +</p> +<p> +The door to the corridor was open, as Mary +had predicted, and the girls entered, their footsteps +resounding with a hollow echo through the +empty place. +</p> +<p> +“‘I feel like one who treads alone some banquet hall +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182'></a>182</span> +deserted,’” quoted Billie. “Could anything +be more ghostly than a deserted school?” +</p> +<p> +“It’s not deserted,” said Nancy. “I heard +voices somewhere, I am certain of it, just as you +opened the door.” +</p> +<p> +They paused and listened for a moment, but +the place was as still as a tomb. A dim gas-light +burned in the long corridor, on each side of +which were the arched entrances to the locker +rooms of the various classes, wash rooms and +Miss Gray’s own private office. +</p> +<p> +“It reminds me of the catacombs in this light,” +whispered Billie. “I’m almost afraid of the +sound of my own voice.” +</p> +<p> +The girls slipped silently down the passage to +the stairway leading to the class rooms. At her +desk in the sophomore study room on the third +floor Billie found her algebra. As she gathered +together some of her scattered papers in the not +over tidy interior of the little one-seated desk +form, and searched for a certain favorite stubby +pencil which she claimed brought her good luck +with her problems, Mary at her own desk gave a +cry of dismay and sat down limply. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183'></a>183</span> +</p> +<p> +“What was it, a mouse?” asked Billie, her voice +sounding quite loud in the empty room. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Billie, Billie, no, it was not a mouse. It +was fifty dollars,” cried Mary. “I found it just +now in my desk.” +</p> +<p> +“Fifty dollars?” echoed Billie, slipping her algebra +into her pocket and hurrying over to her +friend’s desk. “Are you playing a trick on me, +Mary?” +</p> +<p> +“Listen, Billie,” said Mary. “I’m going to tell +you something. I believe I am the victim of +some kind of conspiracy. You know of course +about all of the things that have been stolen from +school lately?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, but I haven’t had any losses myself; so +I haven’t talked about it much to the others.” +</p> +<p> +“Of course you had no idea that I was supposed +to be the thief,” Mary went on, with a sort +of dry sob in her voice that was more heart-breaking +to Billie than real weeping would have been. +</p> +<p> +Mary told her the story of Fannie Alta and the +twenty dollars. +</p> +<p> +“I didn’t tell it before,” she continued, “because +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184'></a>184</span> +I was so ashamed somehow, I couldn’t bear for +any one to know it.” +</p> +<p> +Billie’s heart swelled with indignation. +</p> +<p> +“The little wretch,” she exclaimed, “you should +have gone straight to Miss Gray about it, Mary.” +</p> +<p> +“I know it, and I am sorry now I didn’t, but I +thought she wouldn’t dare do it again, and she +hasn’t, but things are disappearing all the time, +and I believe she has told it around school that +I took the twenty dollars and all the other things. +Nobody has said anything, of course, but I can’t +help feeling that they are all whispering about +me whenever my back is turned.” +</p> +<p> +“You poor, blessed child,” exclaimed her +friend. “And all this time you have been keeping +it secret and suffering in silence.” +</p> +<p> +Mary nodded her head. +</p> +<p> +“And the worst of it is, Miss Gray suspects +me too. But she is not going to say anything +until she is sure. I thought of talking to her +about it, but it would look as if I had a guilty +conscience to complain before I am accused.” +</p> +<p> +“How dare any one suspect you of stealing,” +cried Billie, putting her arms around her friend +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185'></a>185</span> +and kissing her warmly. “Would Miss Gray or +any one else be so stupid as to take the word of +Fannie Alta before yours?” +</p> +<p> +“But nobody has said anything that I know +of,” groaned poor Mary. “It’s all in the air. +That is why I don’t know what to do. Suppose +after all I was mistaken and they didn’t suspect +me. Suppose I took this money to Miss Gray +and suppose she would think that I had taken all +the other things and was just returning this because +I had lost my nerve and suppose—suppose——” +</p> +<p> +“But, Mary,” remonstrated Billie, “why suppose +anything at all so awful? Why not suppose +that Miss Gray will listen to you and believe every +word you say. You are perfectly innocent and +nothing on earth can make you guilty. Of +course Fannie Alta must have left the money in +your desk, though where she got so much is a +mystery to me.” +</p> +<p> +“But I tell you I am frightened, Billie. Such +wretched things do happen and innocent people +often suffer for guilty ones.” +</p> +<p> +“Nonsense, Mary, you must not lose your +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186'></a>186</span> +nerve in this way. Take the money and go +straight to Miss Gray with it now. I will go +with you.” +</p> +<p> +The two girls gathered their things together +silently. Mary put the roll of money in her +jacket pocket and they made for the door. It was +almost dark now and the rows of empty desks +down the big room were like kneeling phantoms +in the half light. +</p> +<p> +“Did you hear anything?” whispered Mary as +they reached the door. +</p> +<p> +“I heard a step,” answered Billie in a low +voice. “It was probably the janitor.” +</p> +<p> +With a mutual impulse they clasped hands and +a wave of fear swept over them when they found +that the door would not open. +</p> +<p> +“It must have stuck,” whispered Mary. “Try +it again.” +</p> +<p> +But the door was locked fast. +</p> +<p> +“There is only one way for you to get back +the key to the door, young ladies,” said a voice +so near to them that they both jumped back as +if they had been struck in the face. +</p> +<p> +The person who had spoken had been standing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187'></a>187</span> +flat against the wall at the side of the door. He +emerged from the shadows, as quietly as a +shadow itself, and in the twilight his long, lank +figure seemed almost to be floating in space. The +small black mask which covered his face and his +whole appearance reminded Billie of a gruesome +picture she had once seen called “The Black +Masque.” +</p> +<p> +“You have a small sum of money there,” he +went on, “which you evidently do not wish to +keep and which I would be pleased to have and +can use at once. By a strange coincidence, I happened +to overhear your conversation, you see, and +as the money appears to belong to nobody and +is exactly the sum I require I must have it.” +</p> +<p> +Mary tried to speak, but her lips refused to +form the words, and she had no voice left. There +was a sound in Billie’s ears like the pounding of +surf on the beach and she felt quite dizzy. +</p> +<p> +“This is fright,” she found herself saying, as +a wave of homesickness for her father swept over +her. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, papa, papa,” she whispered. +</p> +<p> +The man had seized Mary’s two hands in one +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188'></a>188</span> +of his with a grip of steel, while with the other +he felt in her jacket pocket, took the roll of +money, pushed Billie roughly from the door, and +with a laugh pulled back the bolt; there had been +no key after all. The next instant he had slipped +downstairs as softly as a cat and was gone. +</p> +<p> +The girls followed after him like two sleep +walkers. +</p> +<p> +“We’ve been robbed, Billie,” moaned Mary, +giving her dry sob. “The fifty dollars is gone. +What shall we do now?” +</p> +<p> +Billie did not reply. She wanted to get out of +that dark stuffy school building, and breathe in +some fresh air before she dared trust her voice. +It was good to feel the wet fog again in their +faces as they hurried up the street. +</p> +<p> +“Why not still tell Miss Gray, Mary?” asked +Billie at last, but already there was a feeling of +doubt in her heart. It was certainly a very unlikely +sounding story, a robber in the school room. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly a figure loomed up in the mist. It +was Miss Gray herself. +</p> +<p> +“You are out late, girls,” she said as she hurried +past, and for some reason they both had an +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189'></a>189</span> +uncomfortable feeling of having done something +wrong. +</p> +<p> +Miss Gray hastened into the school building +just as the janitor appeared to lock up. +</p> +<p> +“Jennings,” she said, “switch on the light in +the sophomore study room. I shall only be there +a moment.” +</p> +<p> +The janitor shuffled after her and turned on +the light while Miss Gray opened Mary’s desk. +She sighed deeply and shook her head. +</p> +<p> +“She must have got here before me,” she +thought. “It was cruel to tempt the child at +such a time as this when her mother is in great +need of money. I felt so sure she would bring +it straight to me and that was the only test I required. +Oh, dear, what a crooked world this is. +I am out fifty dollars. But how will the poor +child ever explain all this money to her mother? +She must have saved a good deal out of her pilfering——” +</p> +<p> +Miss Gray’s disconnected train of thought did +not bring her any comfort, as she slowly descended +the three flights of steps into the basement +and plunged into the mist again. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190'></a>190</span> +</p> +<p> +“At least I shall wait a day or two,” she continued. +“The child may think better of it. She +might have stopped me this evening, though. +At all events I deserve to lose the money. It +was a silly, stupid impulse, but I was so sure—so +very sure——” +</p> +<p> +The mist had grown so thick now that the +Principal walked very slowly, keeping close to the +fence in order to guide herself to the corner +where she must turn to go to her own home. A +voice reached her through the fog. Someone +was coming up from behind. +</p> +<p> +“I have procured fifty, Señor, a curious lucky +stroke, and from a schoolroom, too—would you +have believed——” the voice broke off in a laugh. +</p> +<p> +“Be careful——” said another voice, and two +figures passed Miss Gray in the fog and were +swallowed up again immediately. +</p> +<p> +“Is it possible,” she exclaimed, “robbers in +West Haven High School? What does it mean? +And I have been blaming that innocent child. +What an imbecile I have been!” +</p> +<p> +Her last resolution before sleep came to her +that night was to notify the town police in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191'></a>191</span> +morning and hire a detective to stay about the +High School day and night. +</p> +<p> +Imagine the surprise of the bewildered Principal, +when, next morning bright and early, Mary +Price, after a timid knock on the office door, came +hesitatingly into the room. +</p> +<p> +“Miss Gray,” she said, “I found this money +yesterday afternoon in my desk. I don’t know +how it came there nor whose it is. But it would +be better for you to take charge of it until the +owner asks for it.” +</p> +<p> +Mary spoke quickly, as if she had learned the +little speech carefully by heart. There was a +strange expression on Miss Gray’s face as she +took ten crisp new five-dollar bills from the young +girl’s outstretched hand. +</p> +<p> +“This is not even the same money,” she +thought, forgetting to answer Mary in her +amazement. “Am I losing my senses or is the +child a deep dyed villain?” +</p> +<p> +Mary flushed scarlet under the Principal’s +steady gaze, but she did not lower her eyes, and +there was not a sign of guilt in the expression of +the sad little face. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192'></a>192</span> +</p> +<p> +“Very well, dear,” Miss Gray said at last. +</p> +<p> +Mary, as she closed the door behind her, was +more mystified than Miss Gray. +</p> +<p> +“I should think she would have shown a little +surprise,” she said. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193'></a>193</span><a name='chXIV' id='chXIV'></a>CHAPTER XIV.—THE HALLOWE’EN HOUSE PARTY.</h2> +<p> +“<span class='sc'>My Dear Miss Campbell:</span> +</p> +<p> +Do you think your nice young charge would +be bored by a visit to our lonely old home in the +country? Percival has set his heart on giving +a Hallowe’en house party for some of his particular +friends, and I find Wilhelmina’s name the +very first on the list. I shall promise to look +after her in every way exactly as if she were my +own child, guard her from draughts, see that she +has plenty of covering on her bed and that she +wears her overshoes if the ground is damp. +</p> +<p> +My boy would be quite inconsolable, and I +should too, my dear friend, if she is not to be +among our guests. I cannot offer many inducements +except the pleasure which young people +always bring to a house, but I candidly believe +that Percival would give up the idea if she should +not be able to come. +</p> +<p style='text-align:right; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> </p> +<p style='text-align:right; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'>Most cordially yours,</p> +<p style='text-align:right; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'><span class='sc'>Antoinette Juliana St. Clair</span>.”</p> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194'></a>194</span></div> +<p> +Miss Campbell smiled as she handed the note +to Billie one morning at the breakfast table. The +two fanciful names of the good-natured, cordial +widow always amused her. +</p> +<p> +“The lonely old home in the country,” so modestly +referred to, was one of the finest places in +the county, and nothing was more coveted by +the young people in West Haven than an invitation +to one of Percival’s house parties, where +everything that the widow and her son could devise +was done for the amusement of the guests. +</p> +<p> +“Of course you must go, dear. I wouldn’t +have you miss it for worlds. The change will +do you good. I have been troubled about you +lately, my child, and if this invitation had not +come, I was going to insist on your seeing the +doctor. I don’t think your liver has been behaving +itself. You have been so out of sorts. But +perhaps a little amusement will be better for +you than a calomel pill.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I am quite well, Cousin Helen,” exclaimed +Billie. “It’s mathematics, I suppose, that +affects my liver.” +</p> +<p> +But Billie was more eager than she would admit to accept +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195'></a>195</span> +Mrs. St. Clair’s invitation. The +truth is, the young girl’s conscience had not been +easy lately. She felt that she had done something +which would have grieved and displeased +her father and she could not be perfectly happy +until she had confessed her sins and been forgiven. +</p> +<p> +You perhaps have guessed already that the ten +new five-dollar bills which Mary Price had consigned +to Miss Gray’s care the morning after the +robbery in the school room, was Billie’s money. +</p> +<p> +“You shall take it, Mary,” she insisted. +“Aren’t we exactly the same as sisters? I don’t +want the money, and I know papa would be glad +if he knew.” +</p> +<p> +Billie had finally agreed with Mary that it +would only make matters more complicated to +tell Miss Gray that fifty dollars some one had +placed in Mary’s desk, no doubt to tempt or catch +her, as in the case of the twenty dollars, had +been stolen by a robber almost immediately. +</p> +<p> +Older and wiser people would have told Billie +that this was a very poor piece of advice, and +the deed was no sooner accomplished than the two +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196'></a>196</span> +girls themselves realized that they had made a +mistake. Miss Gray’s manner to Mary was cold +and formal and the situation was not in the least +relieved. The unhappy girl had hoped that the +principal would speak to her again about the +money, but the subject was never mentioned. +</p> +<p> +“It was all my fault, Mary. I advised you and +forced you to do it. It was not exactly dishonest, +but it wasn’t sincere, and I am beginning to +think Miss Gray is suspicious of me, too.” +</p> +<p> +Another thing had happened which made Billie +uncomfortably and extremely ill at ease in her +mind. Burglars had broken into Mrs. Price’s +home, but they had only succeeded in giving Mary +and her mother a great fright, and had taken +nothing. +</p> +<p> +In her heart Billie knew what the robbers really +wanted. It was the box of jewels locked up in +Mrs. Price’s safe. +</p> +<p> +“I have done wrong,” she kept saying to herself. +“Papa always said that my heart ruled my +head and that I had no judgment. I should +never have burdened Mary and Mrs. Price with +that wretched box. I am almost superstitious +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197'></a>197</span> +about it, because it brings so much bad luck on +people. After the house party, I shall take it +away.” +</p> +<p> +As a matter of fact, everything was postponed +until after the house party, and the world for +eight young people seemed to stand still. The +English nation could not look forward with +greater eagerness to the Coronation than our +four Motor Maids and their friends to Percy’s +Hallowe’en house party. It was only a part of +the good fortune which always followed Percy +that Hallowe’en that year fell on Friday, and that +the weather was perfect. +</p> +<p> +They were to have three evenings of fun and +frolic with the Hallowe’en ball on Friday night. +</p> +<p> +In the joy of anticipation and preparation, +Billie and Mary lost sight of their troubles. +Nancy was bubbling over with delight and Elinor +forgot her usual sense of dignity and gave an +indecorous exhibition of happiness by doing a +Dutch twirl all by herself. +</p> +<p> +“Of course, we shall all go in ‘The Comet,’” +announced Billie. “It will be lots more fun than +driving behind those poky old carriage horses +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198'></a>198</span> +that bring Percy and Mrs. St. Clair in to church +every Sunday.” +</p> +<p> +“Of course,” echoed the others. +</p> +<p> +There was, indeed, only one flaw in their happiness. +Mrs. St. Clair, who was intimate with +the Rogers family, had insisted on inviting Belle +Rogers. +</p> +<p> +“Who cares?” exclaimed Billie. “She can’t interfere +with our good time and we certainly won’t +interfere with hers.” +</p> +<p> +The St. Clair place was eight miles outside of +West Haven on the main road. A long avenue +bordered with immense pine trees led up to the +commodious, comfortable old house which seemed +to reflect from its shining windows the cheerful +and hospitable character of its mistress. +</p> +<p> +And when the red motor pulled up in front of +“Pine Lodge,” as the place was called, there was +the mistress herself smiling in the doorway, making +the most delightful picture of welcome Billie +had ever seen. +</p> +<p> +“Think of going to a real house party at last,” +exclaimed Billie, with a sigh of pleasure. +</p> +<p> +Percival rushed down to help them out; two +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199'></a>199</span> +colored men servants carried in their luggage, +and presently they found themselves standing before +a glowing fire in the hall, which was quite +big enough and broad enough to be a room itself. +</p> +<p> +“It is sweet of you to come out and cheer up +two lonely country people, my dears,” Mrs. St. +Clair was saying, as she kissed them all around +twice. “You are really the nicest children. You +must promise to tell me whatever you want, or +if you are not warm enough. You know how +draughty country houses are. Or if you are the +least hungry or your beds are not comfortable or +the water isn’t hot enough for your baths, or +you wish any particular thing to eat——” +</p> +<p> +“Dear me,” laughed Billie, looking around her, +“you make us feel like four visiting princesses, +Mrs. St. Clair. I am sure we could never want +for anything in this cheerful, lovely house.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, Mrs. St. Clair,” put in Elinor, “we all +know perfectly well that all the chairs at Pine +Lodge are easy and the beds are famous for +being the most comfortable in the county.” +</p> +<p> +Mrs. St. Clair blushed with pleasure. Next to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200'></a>200</span> +saying nice things to people herself, she loved to +have them say nice things to her. +</p> +<p> +“Percival, my darling, where are the others?” +she demanded presently. “Isn’t Belle coming and +what is the name of that little foreign girl she +asked to bring with her?” +</p> +<p> +Percy grinned at his friends good-naturedly, +when Merry seized a cushion from one of the +long settees and began to rock it on his knees, +and Charlie gave a silent imitation of a baby’s +face in the act of crying. But he was used to +these endearing names his mother heaped upon +him, and he only replied: +</p> +<p> +“Give them time, mother; give them time. Remember +they didn’t ride on a comet the same as +this dashing company did. The foreign girl is +Fannie Alta.” +</p> +<p> +“So it was, and it was sweet and thoughtful of +Belle to want to bring her along. She described +the poor little thing as being lonely and strange +in West Haven.” +</p> +<p> +The girls exchanged astonished glances at this +piece of news. Was it possible that Belle Rogers +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201'></a>201</span> +and the crafty little Spanish girl whom they instinctively +distrusted were so intimate as this? +</p> +<p> +“Here comes Roly Poly McLane,” cried Percy, +laughing, as he peered through a side light of +the front door. “She’s as jolly and fat as a +clown elephant in the circus.” +</p> +<p> +“Percy, my love,” remonstrated his mother, +which slight show of disapproval was about as +near as she ever got in her life to scolding him. +</p> +<p> +The boys raced down the hall to help Rosomond +McLane out of the high trap in which she +had driven over to Pine Lodge from her home a +few miles away. +</p> +<p> +“Wait, Roly Poly, until Percy gets a derrick. +It’s the only safe way to unload heavy bales,” +cried Merry. +</p> +<p> +“Roly Poly,” said Percy, bowing politely, +“these three noble friends have volunteered with +me to help you get out. I offered to do it alone, +but mother was afraid my young life would be +crushed out of me, if anything should happen, +you know, and——” +</p> +<p> +“Percival, my darling!” cried Mrs. St. Clair. +</p> +<p> +“Help me, indeed,” exclaimed Rosomond, with +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202'></a>202</span> +a jolly laugh that always started an echo of +other jolly laughs. “Get out of my way all of +you,” and she gave a flying leap from the trap +and bounced as she hit the ground like a rubber +ball. +</p> +<p> +“My dear Rosomond,” cried the widow, running +down the steps to meet her, “don’t take any +notice of these foolish boys. You wouldn’t seem +the same dear, delightful Rosomond if you +weighed a pound less.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I don’t mind them, Mrs. St. Clair. I’m +used to it, you know. Father always calls me +‘Baby Elephant’ and ‘Jumbo,’ and the girls at +school call me ‘Roly Poly,’ and Uncle Jim calls me +‘Fatty.’” +</p> +<p> +Several more boys appeared just then and the +company followed Mrs. St. Clair into what she +called the sitting room, a gay apartment with +chintz curtains at the windows and chintz covered +cushions in the deep wicker chairs. Here +they had tea and chocolate and hot-buttered +toast. +</p> +<p> +“You must eat plenty of food, you know,” +Percy’s mother had admonished them, “because I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203'></a>203</span> +warn you that you will need all your strength to +put up with the fearful ordeals Percy has planned +for to-night——” +</p> +<p> +“Mother,” broke in Percy, “you mustn’t tell. +You will spoil all the fun.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m not telling, dear. I’m only warning. But +you know those things that jump at you from behind——” +</p> +<p> +“Stop her quick, somebody,” cried her son, pretending +to gag her mouth with a napkin. +</p> +<p> +It was all very gay and the room buzzed with +talk and laughter when the door opened and a +servant admitted Belle Rogers and Fannie Alta. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. St. Clair greeted the new visitors as hospitably +as she had the others. She even kissed +Fannie’s dark, foreign little face and called her +“dear” and drew the girl down beside her on the +sofa. +</p> +<p> +“I want you to feel perfectly at home,” she +said. “It was so good of you to have come with +Belle.” +</p> +<p> +She was really the most delightful, beaming, +good-natured creature imaginable, but all her efforts +could not disguise the change which seemed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204'></a>204</span> +suddenly to have taken place in the behavior of +the others. +</p> +<p> +Somehow the laughter was less free, the talk +less gay and jolly than it had been, and presently +our four particular Motor Maids were glad for +an excuse to go away with Percy and see the +conservatories, while Belle and Fannie drank +their tea with Mrs. St. Clair. +</p> +<p> +After that it was time to dress for dinner. A +neat little maid had unpacked their bags and laid +their best party dresses on the beds. They were +very simple dresses indeed, and Nancy, at least, +thought of floating blue chiffon draperies with a +slight sigh of regret. +</p> +<p> +“Do you know, girls,” said Billie, as she tied +a pink bow around Nancy’s bunch of curls, “I +think we should all take lessons in cheerfulness +from Mrs. St. Clair. She’s so happy because she +always sees the best side of everything. Just +see how nice she is to Belle and Fannie Alta, for +instance.” +</p> +<p> +“With this beautiful house and all her money +and such a nice, good-natured pink-cheeked boy +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205'></a>205</span> +for a son, I think I could even admire Belle +Rogers and Fannie Alta,” observed Mary. +</p> +<p> +Then Billie remembered that Mary and her +mother were always troubled about money, and +that Mrs. Price was the gentlest, sweetest woman +she had ever known. She wondered if Mrs. St. +Clair could ever be ruffled by disappointment and +bad luck, or if everything were not exactly as it +should be, if she would be the same placid, good-natured +soul. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206'></a>206</span><a name='chXV' id='chXV'></a>CHAPTER XV.—THE GHOST PARTY.</h2> +<p> +“I don’t see how you can play any gruesome +Hallowe’en tricks in this house, Mrs. St. Clair,” +said Billie later at the dinner table. “It’s the +abode of cheerfulness. Look at this dining room, +for instance. A skull and crossbones wouldn’t +even look dismal against this white wainscoting +and these pale yellow walls.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s trying to pump you, mother,” put in +Percy. “Now don’t tell her anything.” +</p> +<p> +Mrs. St. Clair smiled archly. How pretty she +looked, Billie thought, in her pink crepe dress, +with a beautiful collar of pearls around her +throat. Nothing would induce the widow to +wear black, and, after a year or two of mourning, +she had gone back to colors and cheerfulness. +</p> +<p> +“He has got some big surprises for you, my +dear. I’ll only tell you this much. It will be +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207'></a>207</span> +quite as ghastly as you could possibly desire, and +I hope nobody is wearing any clothes that will +matter. Your dress, Miss Alta, I am afraid will +spot if you do all the things Percy is planning +for this evening. What a lovely frock, by the +way. I think I have never seen a more beautiful +dress for a young girl.” +</p> +<p> +All eyes were fastened on Fannie’s dress, and +there was general surprise among the girls to +see that Fannie was wearing an exquisite gown +of pale blue satin with an over-dress of blue +gauze, edged with narrow silver fringe. In her +hair was a wreath of pink roses. +</p> +<p> +She was quite unembarrassed under the scrutiny +of all these people, and smiled complacently +at Mrs. St. Clair. +</p> +<p> +Nobody had taken much notice of Belle until +now. They had supposed she had kept so unusually +quiet because she was not in her own +“set,” as she loved to call her coterie of seven. +But to those who were familiar with her, it was +plain that something had happened. She did not +seem herself. Her eyes had a strange gray look +to them. Two little white dents appeared on +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208'></a>208</span> +either side of her nose and her lips were shrunk +into pale, narrow lines. But that was not all. +Were they dreaming or was this the first of +Percy’s Hallowe’en jokes? The beautiful, proud +Belle was wearing a faded yellow muslin. +</p> +<p> +She had tried to cover her shoulders with a little +blue scarf, but it was impossible to deceive +the sharp eyes of her schoolmates. +</p> +<p> +“Nobody’s clothes will be hurt, Mother,” put +in Percy, feeling somehow that a cloud had fallen +on the company, although he did not know enough +about girls’ clothes to take in this remarkable +change in Belle’s appearance. “Remember that +this is a ghost party.” +</p> +<p> +“What is a ghost party?” demanded Fannie, +suddenly becoming animated from the admiration +she felt she had attracted. +</p> +<p> +“Everybody wears a sheet and pillow-case,” +answered Percy, “and, for one thing, not a vestige +of dress shows.” +</p> +<p> +A look of triumph came into Belle’s eyes at this +and the two dents began to disappear. +</p> +<p> +“I hear the other people coming, so we had better get +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209'></a>209</span> +into our costumes if you are entirely +through.” +</p> +<p> +“Come up to my room, girls. Percy will take +care of the boys. Marie and I are commissioned +to dress you up. I am obeying orders, you see,” +said Mrs. St. Clair. +</p> +<p> +“And remember that you are supposed to be +disguised,” called Percy. “Don’t give yourself +away by giggling, Miss Nancy-Bell.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m sure I shan’t want to giggle if I’m dressed +as a ghost,” answered Nancy, following the +others up the steps. +</p> +<p> +Half an hour later a company of spectres invaded +the halls and drawing room of Pine Lodge. +There were silent ghosts and giggling ghosts, +and a roly-poly ghost, who bumped against a thin +ghost and knocked him flat and the thin ghost +cried out: +</p> +<p> +“Oh, shades of departed Jumbo, don’t sit on +me!” +</p> +<p> +Then all the ghosts laughed and one ghost +danced a jig that had the shadow of a resemblance +to the Fishers’ Horn Pipe. +</p> +<p> +Presently there was a long and mournful +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210'></a>210</span> +trumpet call from up in the very top of the +house and a portly ghost who seemed to be holding +up a train under her white cotton shroud +said: +</p> +<p> +“Now, my dear spirits, we are all to go up, if +you will be good enough to follow me,” and the +whole troop of ghosts began moving in a spectral +body up the front staircase. +</p> +<p> +There was a second long-drawn-out and despairing +trump, and the phantom beckoned them +to hurry up, with her plump, pretty hand, and remarked: +</p> +<p> +“My darling Percival is so impatient.” +</p> +<p> +Up the next staircase they trooped and finally +up a narrow flight, at the top of which hung a +black curtain with cabalistic signs painted on it +in bright red. +</p> +<p> +Once past the curtain and there was a gasp of +surprise and wonder. The great attic of Pine +Lodge, which stretched over the entire house, +had been transformed into a spirit dance hall. +From the ceiling hung pumpkin jack-o-lanterns +of every size. Plates of salt and alcohol were +burning about the room, giving a ghastly greenish look +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211'></a>211</span> +to the picture. An old witch dressed in +black, with a long broomstick, was stationed by a +cauldron of melted lead, placed on a charcoal +stove. +</p> +<p> +Repeating a cabalistic verse with incredible rapidity, +which sounded something like: +</p> +<p> + “Burra, burra pie, cat’s eye, devil fry,<br /> + Singer, dinger, singer dinger, blood!”<br /> +</p> +<p> +the black witch dropped a spoonful of the lead +into a bowl of water. +</p> +<p> +“Here is your fortune,” she said, in a sing-song +voice to the nearest ghost. +</p> +<p> +“The lead has taken the shape of a letter. It +brings news to you. It comes from over the +water on a ship. The letter is about something +round——” +</p> +<p> +“Money is round,” put in a tall ghost, standing +near. “So are rings and necklaces——” +</p> +<p> +“There is trouble ahead,” went on the witch. +“There is trouble before the letter ever reaches +land.” +</p> +<p> +The ghost who was listening moved away +quickly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212'></a>212</span> +</p> +<p> +“Of course, it was just a coincidence,” she said +to herself, “but I wonder who the person was who +said that about rings and necklaces. Oh, dear! +Oh, dear! I wish I had never taken that box in +charge.” +</p> +<p> +In another part of the room a red witch was +engaged in launching little fortune sail boats, +made of English walnuts, on a troubled sea in a +tub. +</p> +<p> +There were four other witches about the attic +telling fortunes with cards and in other ways, +two gray ones, a white one, and a green one, and +there was an enormous gray cat with electric +eyes and a tail four feet long that curled up over +its back. At last from behind a curtain came the +strains of weird music, and the witches and the +gray cat danced a quadrille, the witches riding on +their broomsticks in a circle, leaping over the cat +as they advanced down the middle and finally ending +with a romp when all the ghosts joined in and +danced together. +</p> +<p> +After a while the ghosts removed their sheets +and pillow-cases and became human beings once +more, and the side shows, as Percy called them, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213'></a>213</span> +began. Every girl at the party bobbed for an +apple, except Belle Rogers, who declined emphatically. +But those who remembered the red +rubber curlers understood her reasons for not +wishing to wet her aureole of golden hair. +</p> +<p> +Fannie Alta plunged her face and neck into the +tub with a reckless laugh, and spotted her pretty +dress without a quiver of regret. +</p> +<p> +Nancy, in a little room hung in black in a remote +corner of the attic, held a lighted candle +over her head, while she looked fearfully in the +glass and combed her hair. For just a breathing +space a boy’s fair, ruddy face passed across the +mirror and disappeared. +</p> +<p> +With a little shriek, Nancy looked quickly over +her shoulder, but she was entirely alone. +</p> +<p> +Billie went rather later than the others to try +her fortune in the mirror room. She had lingered +along with a laughing, teasing circle +around the apple plungers, and, seeing Nancy +come out of the mirror room alone, she strolled +over there. Nancy explained what she was to +do, and left her alone to her fate. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214'></a>214</span> +</p> +<p> +“Did you see any one, Nancy?” laughed Billie +incredulously. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” she whispered mysteriously, “I did; +but I wasn’t frightened because——” +</p> +<p> +“Because what?” demanded Billie, pinching her +friend’s round cheek. +</p> +<p> +“Because—it wasn’t a person who would +frighten any one,” answered Nancy, with a laugh, +as she tripped away to the next side show, from +whence issued suppressed screams and howls +which were explained when she pulled the curtain +and a skeleton jumped at her. +</p> +<p> +In the meantime, Billie had gone into the mirror +room alone. She stood looking gravely at +herself in the glass, while she ran a comb through +her smooth locks with one hand and held a candle +with the other. She seemed to have waited a +good while for the apparition which was supposed +to appear to show its face. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose this booth isn’t in working order +any longer,” she thought, as she laid down the +comb, when suddenly from the deep shadows reflected +in the glass she made out the outline of a +face. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215'></a>215</span> +</p> +<p> +Billie smiled. She had been prepared to recognize +one of her friends, but the smile faded from +her lips; she put down the candle quickly and +faced about. The black curtain forming the wall +of the little room was still quivering, but no one +was there. +</p> +<p> +She ran out hurriedly and looked about her. +All the boys and girls were dancing the barn +dance, and the attic had become very cheerful and +gay it seemed to her in the brief moment in which +she had tried her fortune in the mirror room. +</p> +<p> +“It was just a foolish, nervous notion,” she +said to herself, turning to meet Merry Brown, +who was looking for her to be his partner in the +dance. “But that beaked nose and that wicked +eye so close to it,” her thoughts continued. +“Could I have been mistaken?” +</p> +<p> +“Are there any strangers here to-night?” she +asked Merry, as they danced down the room together. +</p> +<p> +“Not a single stranger,” he replied. “Only +the High School crowd.” +</p> +<p> +When the dance was over, they filed in a long, +laughing procession down the three flights of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216'></a>216</span> +steps to supper, and there was nothing spectral or +gruesome about the gay party which gathered +around Mrs. St. Clair’s long table. Billie tried to +talk and sing with the others and laugh at Roly +Poly McLane and Percy, who recited an absurd +dialogue they had prepared beforehand in which +Roly Poly took the part of a fat, old man and +Percy a thin old woman. But all the time she +kept asking herself: +</p> +<p> +“Did I see him, or was it just my imagination?” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217'></a>217</span><a name='chXVI' id='chXVI'></a>CHAPTER XVI.—A STRAY GHOST.</h2> +<p> +When the front door closed after the departing +merry-makers and the sound of the last +wheels died away down the avenue, the guests of +the house party filed slowly up to bed. Mrs. St. +Clair, at the head of the stairs, kissed each of +the girls good-night and shook hands with the +boys. And, as a final token of their regard, before +turning in, the boys trooped from door to +door, singing, “Good-night, ladies,” with Charlie +accompanying on his mouth organ. +</p> +<p> +And now the house was still, and our four +friends in their bathrobes were seated on the +hearth rug around the wood fire in one of the bedrooms, +talking in whispers, as girls will do after +a party. +</p> +<p> +“Do you suppose Belle Rogers has been converted, +or reformed, or something?” observed +Nancy. “What else could have induced her to be +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218'></a>218</span> +so unselfish as to wear Fannie’s old dress and let +Fannie wear her best one?” +</p> +<p> +“It’s the mystery of the age,” said Elinor. +“And how different she seemed, too. How quiet +and meek. Perhaps, after all, it was her clothes +that made her haughty. Who could be anything +but lowly in a faded yellow muslin?” +</p> +<p> +“She was angry at first,” put in Mary. “I +saw the danger signals at dinner. But I really +believe she had as good a time as any of us afterwards. +Perhaps she realized that without the +blue satin, she was just on a par with the rest of +us, and she forgot to be conscious.” +</p> +<p> +“And how different Fannie was under the influence +of the blue satin,” continued Elinor. +“She talked and laughed quite loudly, and she +was really rude to Belle several times. Girls, if +we ever have blue satins, will they change our +dispositions——” +</p> +<p> +A tap at the door interrupted the conversation, +and Mrs. St. Clair, in a long lavender dressing +gown, tripped into the room. +</p> +<p> +“I hope our talking hasn’t disturbed you, Mrs. +St. Clair,” said Billie. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219'></a>219</span> +</p> +<p> +“No, no, dear, I am glad you were talking, because +I had hoped to find some one of you still +awake. I have come to ask a great favor. Will +one of you, or all of you, go with me up in the +attic for a few minutes? I should have asked +one of the servants, but their lights are all out. +I suppose they are sound asleep. Percy is asleep, +too. I have just come from his room. He is +tired out. You can’t think how hard he has +worked in the last few days.” +</p> +<p> +“Let me go with you, Mrs. St. Clair,” put in +Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“Let us all go,” suggested Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Very well, dear. The more of you the better. +To tell the truth, I am a little worried. It’s +nothing, of course; I am sure to find it, but I +should like to take a look before I go to bed.” +</p> +<p> +“Have you lost something, Mrs. St. Clair?” +asked Mary. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, I have lost my pearl necklace. I really +never missed it until a few moments ago. I have +looked downstairs everywhere, but I feel sure +that I dropped it in the attic when I was dancing +that ridiculous twirling waltz with Ben. It +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220'></a>220</span> +serves me right for trying to be a young girl +when I am really such an old lady.” +</p> +<p> +“You are really the youngest of us all,” protested +the four young girls, following her on +tiptoe up the stairs into the attic. +</p> +<p> +All the members of the searching party were +sure that the necklace would be found at once +somewhere on the attic floor, or in the folds of +the sheet or the pillow-case Mrs. St. Clair had +been wearing. Yet Billie and Mary had good +reason to know that robbers were at large in the +village of West Haven, and the memory of the +face Billie had seen in the mirror suddenly became +painfully distinct. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. St. Clair lit a few gas jets in the attic +and the great place seemed ghastly enough in +the half light with the grotesque jack-o-lanterns +grinning at them from above; the black-curtained +side shows and an occasional sheet and pillow-case +made a weird picture. +</p> +<p> +They searched the floor carefully, looked into +the booths with candles, shook out sheets and +pillow-cases, but there was no sign of the missing +necklace. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221'></a>221</span> +</p> +<p> +“If it had only been something else,” said Mrs. +St. Clair. “I should rather have lost almost anything +in the world than my pearl necklace. It +was a wedding present from Percival’s father +and I valued it more than all my other jewelry +together. I don’t see how I could have dropped +it so carelessly. When we went down to supper +I threw a scarf around my shoulders and that +is probably why I never noticed that my pearls +were gone. You were standing near me, Mary, +and Belle and her friend were there, too. You +don’t remember to have noticed the necklace at +that time, do you? One of you helped me on with +my scarf.” +</p> +<p> +Mary shook her head. +</p> +<p> +“I must ask Belle and Miss Alta to-morrow. It +is so important to know whether I lost the necklace +up here or below.” +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps you dropped it on the steps,” suggested +one of the girls. +</p> +<p> +“If I did, it must have been trod on by many +pairs of feet, then. Oh, dear, I am so sorry. +Only this evening I said to myself, I must have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222'></a>222</span> +the clasp to the necklace repaired. I had intended +to take it to town next week to the jeweller’s. +</p> +<p> +“But I must not keep you up any longer. You +were dear children to come up with me. Now +go to bed and don’t think of it any more. I +should not have been so selfish. You are all dead +tired, I know, for I am myself.” +</p> +<p> +They turned and trooped downstairs again, +and with softly spoken good-nights separated at +their bedroom doors. +</p> +<p> +Billie and Mary were the last to enter the room +they shared. They had stopped for a drink of +ice water from a big glass pitcher, which had +been placed with a tray of tumblers on a table +at the far end of the hall. They were drinking +their water silently, each absorbed in her own +thoughts, when suddenly Mary grasped Billie’s +hand and whispered: +</p> +<p> +“Look! On the steps!” +</p> +<p> +But Billie was looking with all her eyes before +Mary had spoken. +</p> +<p> +A figure was gliding down the steps wrapped +in a sheet. The stray ghost had evidently seen +the girls at the same moment they had caught +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223'></a>223</span> +sight of it, for it finished the flight almost with +a bound, and with a swift run disappeared +through a door leading to a passage back of the +steps, with Billie and Mary running behind. But +the sheeted figure was too swift for them, and +they heard one of the doors in the passage open +and close softly just as they reached the entrance. +</p> +<p> +“It was this door,” said Mary. +</p> +<p> +“Or this one,” said Billie, pointing to the door +of the room next the one Mary had chosen as the +door the phantom had disappeared through. +</p> +<p> +“We’ll settle it,” said Billie. “I’ll knock on this +one and you knock on that one.” +</p> +<p> +“They are the small single rooms that Belle and +Fannie and Roly Poly have,” whispered Mary, +as she tapped on a door. +</p> +<p> +There was no answer and she went in. It was +Belle’s room and she was sleeping deeply. Mary +smiled as she noticed that Belle now wore a night +cap over the rubber curlers. Her cheek was pillowed +on her hand and her breath came softly and +regularly. +</p> +<p> +No answer came to Billie’s tap, either, and +when she turned the knob she found that the door +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224'></a>224</span> +was locked. She tapped again and rattled the +knob. +</p> +<p> +“Who is there?” came a sleepy voice. +</p> +<p> +“Open the door,” called Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Tell me who you are first.” +</p> +<p> +“Billie Campbell.” +</p> +<p> +Presently the door was thrown open and Fannie, +with her dark hair standing out all over her +head in a dishevelled mass, peered into the hall. +</p> +<p> +“What is the matter?” she asked. “The house +is not on fire?” +</p> +<p> +“No, but Mary and I were in the hall and we +saw some one come down from the attic and go +into one of these rooms, and we thought we had +better wake you up.” +</p> +<p> +“They could not have come in here,” said Fannie. +“My door was locked.” +</p> +<p> +Billie looked at her curiously. +</p> +<p> +“What a little actress you are,” she thought. +</p> +<p> +“It doesn’t matter, only Mrs. St. Clair had +lost something, and we were afraid a thief might +be in the house. You know there have been several +robberies lately in West Haven.” +</p> +<p> +Fannie gave her a long and scornful stare. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225'></a>225</span> +</p> +<p> +“At the High School, you mean?” +</p> +<p> +“Particularly at the High School,” replied +Billie gently. Somehow, she felt a sort of contemptuous +pity for this unfortunate little creature +who had been taught, perhaps by poverty, +to stoop to so much villainy. +</p> +<p> +“What’s all this racket about?” demanded +Rosomond McLane, opening her door which was +the third one along the passage and thrusting out +her merry, round face. +</p> +<p> +“You didn’t hear anything did you?” asked +Billie. “Mary and I thought we saw some one in +a ghost dress come down this passage and go into +one of these doors.” +</p> +<p> +“Good heavens! I am terrified out of my wits, +I would rather it would be a burglar than a ghost. +Did you really see something?” +</p> +<p> +“Forget it,” said Billie. “Go back to bed and +lock your door. It was just a shadow, I suppose.” +</p> +<p> +Fannie had already locked her own door and +the girls retreated to their room, somewhat crestfallen, +feeling very much like two fighters who +had been worsted in battle. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226'></a>226</span> +</p> +<p> +When they had crawled into bed and settled +themselves under the covers, Billie gave a deep +sigh and whispered: +</p> +<p> +“Mary, dear, which one do you think it was?” +</p> +<p> +“There is only one thing that would make me +think it was Belle,” replied Mary. “If she had +really been asleep, she would have waked and +come out to find what was the matter. She is +the most deadly curious soul alive.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s very slight evidence, Mary. She +might have been specially tired to-night. Now, +I believe it was Fannie. She had such a wild, +dishevelled look and her door was locked. She +is such a creeping, crawling little thing. Besides, +I don’t believe Belle would have had the courage +to go up in the attic alone.” +</p> +<p> +“Billie,” observed Mary, after a short silence, +“I don’t know what it is all about, but something +is going on around us. I believe that you +and I, in some way, are mixed up in some kind of +conspiracy. The box of jewels is in it and Fannie +and Belle are in it. It’s like seeing a lot of +figures moving about through a thick curtain. +You know they are there, but you don’t know +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227'></a>227</span> +what they are all doing. I’m frightened, Billie, +very frightened.” +</p> +<p> +Mary gave that dry sob which was just as +painful as crying and much worse to hear. +</p> +<p> +Billie put her arms around her friend and tried +to comfort her. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t be scared, Mary, dear. It will all come +right. I have made up my mind to one thing. +That is, I will not leave that unlucky box at your +mother’s house any longer. We shall have to +find some new place to keep it.” +</p> +<p> +Presently the two girls dropped off to slumber, +and of all the sleepers in the big house, only one +person heard the clock in the hall strike the passing +hours. She tossed and tumbled on her bed +like a boat on a restless sea, and moaned to herself. +Her lace-frilled night cap had slipped, and +one red rubber horn pointed upward, like an accusing +finger. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228'></a>228</span><a name='chXVII' id='chXVII'></a>CHAPTER XVII.—MRS. RUGGLES.</h2> +<p> +Breakfast was late next morning, and there +were some heavy eyes at the pretty table. Belle +was pale and nervous, and Mary, too, wore an +anxious look on her face. Even the plump and +jovial Mrs. St. Clair was not quite herself. Her +eyes had a puzzled, absent-minded expression, as +if she were trying to remember something that +had almost faded out of her memory. But she +forced herself to smile and talk with her young +guests, and only the Motor Maids really noticed +her abstraction. +</p> +<p> +“What do you intend to do to-day, Percival, +dearest?” she asked her son. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you remember, mother, that Billie is to +take some of us and the side-seated wagon the +others over to Mrs. Ruggles? I wrote her to expect +us by two this afternoon, and we’ll be hungry +enough by then to eat everything in sight.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229'></a>229</span> +</p> +<p> +“Who is Mrs. Ruggles?” asked Billie, who was +not yet familiar with various picturesque and interesting +characters living around West Haven. +</p> +<p> +“Wait until you see her,” replied Mrs. St. Clair. +“She is a queer old woman, but she has a great +many friends and you can’t help liking her, +and her food—dear me, you never imagined such +meals as she can get up.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, don’t go and give things away, mother,” +remonstrated Percy. “The others have all met +Mrs. Ruggles, but Billie hasn’t and neither has +Miss Alta, and we might as well give them a little +surprise.” +</p> +<p> +“It seems to me that West Haven is full of +surprises,” observed Billie. “Papa and I used to +wander about the world together like two vagabonds, +but in all that time we never had so many +adventures and excitements as I have had here.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, there won’t be any excitement about +this trip,” said Percy. “It’s just a ride across the +country to the shore, one grand, large meal, and +then home again in time for another feed, and +you’ll all be ready for bed.” +</p> +<p> +It was arranged for those who were to drive +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230'></a>230</span> +to start well ahead of the others in the “handicap +race,” as Percy called it, in order to get to +Mrs. Ruggles’ at the same time. The Motor +Maids went in “The Comet” with their particular +friends, which was tacitly agreed upon, and +Roly Poly McLane drove with Belle and Fannie +and three boys in the St. Clair trim-looking depot +wagon. They were not even to take the same +road as the motor car, but were to go by a short +cut over a road too sandy for automobiles. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. St. Clair, who was not to be in the party, +inspected each girl with motherly interest before +the start. She appeared to have an endless store +of wraps, ulsters, sweaters and fur coats, veils +and scarfs, which she bundled on her guests +without the slightest regard for sex or size. +</p> +<p> +“Young people never know how to keep warm,” +she said. “Especially girls. They always think +warm clothing is unbecoming, when really nothing +is more unbecoming than purple noses and +blue lips. Percival, my darling, don’t you think +you’ll need your ear muffs?” +</p> +<p> +“No, mother,” answered her son firmly, “not +on the first of November.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231'></a>231</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I implore you, my son; I entreat you,” +cried the importunate woman, and Percy, with +admirable patience permitted her to slip them on +his ears, though he promptly removed them when +the motor car had turned into the road and he +could no longer see his mother waving her +handkerchief. +</p> +<p> +“I must look remarkably like Dr. Cook,” he +said, laughing, as he removed some of the layers +of wraps and scarfs his mother had loaded +him with. +</p> +<p> +“The Comet” was in splendid trim that morning. +</p> +<p> +“He gets cranky and unmanageable exactly +like a human being,” Billie had often said about +him, but to-day he appeared almost to take human +enjoyment in the long stretch of hard-beaten +road and the crisp autumn air. +</p> +<p> +“Does this mysterious Mrs. Ruggles live in a +palace or a hut?” asked Billie, after a while, her +curiosity increasing as the salty breeze straight +from the ocean reminded her that they were approaching +the coast. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a little of both,” replied Percy. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232'></a>232</span> +</p> +<p> +“She’s a queen, herself, Mrs. Ruggles is,” put +in Ben. +</p> +<p> +“I believe she thinks she is one, really,” said +Elinor. “If she doesn’t like a person, she almost +says, ‘Off with his head.’” +</p> +<p> +“But I thought you said she was a cook?” +</p> +<p> +“She is,” answered Merry. “She’s a queenly +cook and a cookly queen.” +</p> +<p> +“You are all a lot of crack-brained, foolish +people,” exclaimed Billie, exasperated. “I feel +as if ‘The Comet’ couldn’t take me fast enough +to satisfy my curiosity about Mrs. Ruggles.” +</p> +<p> +She put on the third speed and the red motor +took to the course like a young race horse as he +rounds the curve toward home. It was a long +and rather chilly ride before they reached the +abode of Mrs. Ruggles. The young people found +themselves buttoning their wraps around them +quite gratefully and snuggling down in the car. +</p> +<p> +“Here we are,” said Percy, at last. +</p> +<p> +Billie stopped the car and examined with much +curiosity a quaint old house, rather tumbled down +at second glance, but with an air of comfort about +it that no amount of disrepair could overcome. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233'></a>233</span> +</p> +<p> +Smoke was pouring out of the middle chimney +and the reflection on the small window panes indicated +that there was a roaring fire in the front +room. +</p> +<p> +What the place looked like on the inside was +nothing more nor less than an old Spanish inn. +Billie did not know this because she had never +seen one, but the room reminded her vaguely of +something very romantic and picturesque, and +what was most curious about the place was that +the outside seemed to have no connection whatever +with the inside. They were not even related +to each other by distant kinship. Outside +were the dignified gray walls and gabled windows +of an old seashore house. The inside appeared +to be one very large room. The uneven +floor was paved with red tile and in a big stone +fireplace at one end burned an enormous fire of +driftwood. From the blackened rafters hung +garlands of red peppers, bunches of herbs and +strings of onions and garlic. Shining copper vessels +were ranged on shelves and around two sides +of the room ran a gallery with steps leading up +from one end. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234'></a>234</span> +</p> +<p> +“Am I in a dream,” cried Billie. “I feel as if +I had been transported somewhere suddenly.” +</p> +<p> +“Isn’t it fascinating?” said Elinor. “The old +house has been in Mrs. Ruggles’ family for two +hundred years. It used to be a sort of sailors’ +inn, and there are many stories connected with +it. But here she comes herself. She’s just as +wonderful as her house.” +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Ruggles was certainly a remarkable figure. +She was very tall, one of the tallest women +Billie had ever seen, with coal black hair, shiny +dark eyes, rather too close together, a beaked +eagle nose, and a very determined mouth, with a +slightly humorous curve to the lips, which softened +her somewhat stern face. +</p> +<p> +She wore a most outlandish dress for that part +of the world, of striped red and black cotton, but +she was scrupulously clean, and the coarse cotton +kerchief tied around her neck was as white as +snow. Her stockings also were white, and she +wore men’s low shoes of enormous size, even for +a woman of her height. +</p> +<p> +The boys and girls all shook hands with her +as if she were an old friend. She called them +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235'></a>235</span> +by their first names and when she was introduced +to Billie she gave her a long, keen look that +seemed to read the young girl’s most hidden and +secret thoughts. She walked with an erect carriage +and majestic tread, and Billie had a feeling +that she had been introduced to a personage. +</p> +<p> +“She’s a great old girl,” said Merry Brown, +when Mrs. Ruggles had disappeared into the +back regions of the house to finish cooking the +dinner. “She can sail a boat as well as anybody +along this coast. She fishes, digs for clams, +catches lobsters in traps, and does all the things +the fishermen around here do and more, too, because +she is the jim dandiest cook in the county.” +</p> +<p> +“Hasn’t she any husband or family?” asked +Billie. +</p> +<p> +“She was married twice. Ruggles, the second +husband, was an Irishman. He was a fine fellow, +a sea captain, but he died long ago. Her children +are floating about the country somewhere.” +</p> +<p> +“What was her name before she married? +Nothing like Ruggles, I am sure.” +</p> +<p> +“No, it was Sabater. Mrs. Ruggles’ father +was captain of a schooner which carried freight +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236'></a>236</span> +up and down the coast. They say her grandfather +was a great old fighter and came near +being hanged as a spy by both sides in the Revolution.” +</p> +<p> +It was all very interesting, and Billie was still +asking questions of the others when the carriage +arrived with the rest of the party. +</p> +<p> +“Why, where is Fannie?” they demanded, +noticing her absence from the depot wagon. +</p> +<p> +“She complained of a headache and went +home,” answered Belle. “We met one of your +vehicles on the road, Percy, coming from town, +and she got in and drove back.” +</p> +<p> +“Too bad,” answered Percy. “But she’s very +sensible if she doesn’t feel well. It’s a long drive +and fairly chilly when it gets late.” +</p> +<p> +Fannie was not much missed, however, from +the jolly party which now gathered around the +crackling wood fire. Presently the inn-keeper, +fish-woman, queen, whatever she was, led the +girls up the narrow flight of stairs at one end of +the room to the balcony, on which opened a row +of little bedrooms, like ship cabins. She was a +very silent, busy woman, and she did not linger +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237'></a>237</span> +while they smoothed their rumpled locks and +washed the dust from their faces. +</p> +<p> +Billie, who also was not one to linger at the +dressing table, went out on the gallery and stood +looking down into the picturesque room. The +place fascinated her and she strolled along, peeping +into the other small rooms, where, no doubt, +Mrs. Ruggles’ father and grandfather had put +up many a seafaring guest in years gone by. +</p> +<p> +At the other end of the gallery were more +rooms, and she could not resist the temptation to +glance into them while she waited for the other +girls. Two of the doors were open, one into a +large empty room and one into a scantily furnished +bedroom. The next door was half closed. +Should she look in? Billie hesitated. It was very +impolite of her, but she knew that old Mrs. Ruggles +lived alone, and there could be no one to +intrude on. She pushed the door gently and +looked in, then retreated quickly. The room was +not empty, after all. In the immense, old-fashioned +bed so high that it was necessary to stand +on a foot stool at one side in order to plunge into +it, lay a woman. Billie thought she was asleep at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238'></a>238</span> +first. Her eyes were closed and her long black +hair was spread back of her on the pillow like a +dusky mantel. The young girl stood transfixed +on the threshold. Then the woman opened her +eyes and looked straight into Billie’s. +</p> +<p> +“I beg your pardon,” said Billie politely, and +backed away, her heart beating so fast that she +almost choked for breath. +</p> +<p> +The others were just going downstairs, chatting +and laughing together, even Belle Rogers, +who seemed, somehow, softened and quite different. +There was no chance to tell about the +strange woman just then, and Billie kept her +knowledge to herself. But the large dark eyes +haunted her memory and she could not forget +the face, of which she had caught only a fleeting +glance. +</p> +<p> +Then came the dinner. Mrs. Ruggles did not +wait on the guests. The dishes were placed on +the table and they helped themselves, while Merry +and Percy, with napkins over their arms, like +well-trained butlers, removed one set of plates +and brought on another. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps these young people, who were not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239'></a>239</span> +epicures by any means, did not realize how delicious +Mrs. Ruggles’ dinner really was. But an +older and more experienced person would have +appreciated some of those delightful concoctions +of rice and pimentos, soup thick and rich, fowls +done to a turn, and a dish of corn meal and +chopped meat and tomatoes, like a Mexican tamale. +But they enjoyed it and the pudding that +followed and the cups of strong black coffee. +</p> +<p> +It was a merry meal, too, with jokes and songs +and much laughter. Mrs. Ruggles moved ponderously +about the room or sat silently by the +fire. Occasionally her face lit up with a delightful +smile, and she would turn and beam approvingly +at Percy or Merry or Roly Poly McLane, +who were the chief fun-makers. +</p> +<p> +After dinner Billie seized an opportunity to +speak to the strange woman. +</p> +<p> +“We had a splendid dinner, Mrs. Ruggles,” she +said. “I should think you would have lots of +people stopping here in this delightful place.” +</p> +<p> +“The Inn is closed now,” she answered. “I +don’t rent my rooms any more.” +</p> +<p> +“And you have no guests at all?” asked Billie. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240'></a>240</span> +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Ruggles looked at her for so long that +Billie felt desperately uncomfortable. +</p> +<p> +“No,” she answered shortly, and began clearing +off the table with a scowl that reminded Billie +of some one somewhere. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241'></a>241</span><a name='chXVIII' id='chXVIII'></a>CHAPTER XVIII.—FANNIE ALTA.</h2> +<p> +In the meantime, Mrs. St. Clair, left to the +quiet seclusion of her own home, became forthwith +a very determined and resolute character. +</p> +<p> +First she summoned to her aid the old colored +butler, who had been with her many years, and +together they searched every part of the house +where she had been the night before. They went +over the attic thoroughly and satisfied themselves +that the lost pearl necklace could not have been +dropped there. They hunted through the downstairs +rooms, shook out the sofa cushions, looked +under the rugs and behind curtains. There was +not a crack nor cranny of the rooms she had +lately frequented that Mrs. St. Clair and old +Randolph did not scour. +</p> +<p> +Like many another easy-going, amiable soul, +Mrs. St. Clair, when roused to action, was capable +of the most surprising, almost fierce determination, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242'></a>242</span> +and when Fannie Alta returned, +pleading the excuse of a headache, she hardly +recognized in the white intense face, the rosy, +dimpled countenance of the widow. +</p> +<p> +Fannie retired to her room, but when Mrs. St. +Clair went to the telephone in the upper hall, +she crept to the door, opened it a crack, and overheard +snatches of this conversation: +</p> +<p> +“Do you happen to have a good detective? +That’s fortunate. The famous Mr. Bangs home +on his vacation? Has a motor cycle? Very well, +he ought to get here in an hour. Tell him to +hurry. Thank you. Good-by.” +</p> +<p> +A tray of luncheon was brought to Fannie, but +she ate very little. She sat in her room thinking +hard. Then, with a sudden resolution, she +jumped up and began to move about. First she +packed her valise. Then, tying her handkerchief +about her head, she put on a very woe-begone expression +and left the room. Mrs. St. Clair was +in the living room, a maid told her, and Fannie +found her pacing nervously up and down the +bright, chintz-hung place. +</p> +<p> +“I am afraid you are not feeling so well, Miss +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243'></a>243</span> +Alta,” the widow said politely, but with just a +shade of coldness in her tone. +</p> +<p> +“I am much worse,” answered Fannie. “I feel +quite ill. I wish to return to my mamma. May +I be driven home?” +</p> +<p> +Mrs. St. Clair hesitated and a very strange +expression came into her face. +</p> +<p> +“You may go in a few hours, Miss Alta. +There is no one to take you just now. Randolph +is needed here and the other men are off working +on the place. Perhaps you had better lie down +in your room until I can arrange to send you +back. Did you try the aromatic spirits of ammonia?” +</p> +<p> +“If no one can take me,” said the Spanish girl +irritably, not taking any notice of the question, +“I shall walk.” +</p> +<p> +“But I thought you were ill?” +</p> +<p> +“I am, but the walk will help my head.” +</p> +<p> +“No, I cannot permit it,” said Mrs. St. Clair +firmly. “Go to your room and in another hour +you will be sent home.” +</p> +<p> +Fannie started to reply, but she checked herself +and left the room. Mrs. St. Clair, stripped of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244'></a>244</span> +her smiles and good-natured pleasantries, was +not a person to be disobeyed, and Fannie was +quick to recognize that fact. +</p> +<p> +She had hardly reached the second floor, when +she heard the whirring sound of a motor cycle, +followed almost immediately by a quick ring of +the bell. Fannie leaned far over the banisters, +and when she turned to go to her room, after a +small, dapper-looking man had been admitted, she +was somewhat embarrassed to find Mrs. St. +Clair’s maid looking at her with an expression of +extreme amazement. +</p> +<p> +Fannie hurried to her room and for the next +fifteen minutes stood irresolutely first on one foot, +then on the other. Finally, with an air of determination, +she opened her satchel. +</p> +<p> +In the sitting room downstairs Mrs. St. Clair +and Mr. Bangs were in close conference. +</p> +<p> +“I do not really know the girl, Mr. Bangs. She +is a Cuban or a South American, or something. +Her name is Alta and she was brought here by +my son’s guest. It is impossible for me to accuse +a visitor in my own house of stealing the +most valued and handsomest possession I have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245'></a>245</span> +in the world. She is a queer little creature and +looks sly and unreliable to me. But, of course, +that is not really evidence. What I have been +racking my brain all night and morning to recall +is whether it was not she who, when she +helped me off with my ghost dress last night, +fumbled at my neck a moment. +</p> +<p> +“It amounts to this, Mr. Bangs,” the widow +continued after a pause, “I can’t get over the +impression that she has stolen my necklace. The +other children here I have known all their lives. +My servants have been with me for years, and +she is the one suspicious person in the house. +Now, what I want you to do is to help me to +find out the whole thing without arousing her +suspicions. If she is the thief, she may return +the necklace, and be sent back to town before the +others arrive, and it will be easy enough to make +excuses. You are a very able man, Mr. Bangs, +and I know that you are only home for a rest, +but I do so need your help. Now, what do you +advise?” +</p> +<p> +“Have you looked among her things yet?” +asked the detective. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246'></a>246</span> +</p> +<p> +“No, because the conviction only came to me +after she returned. I did have suspicions, I will +admit, but I put them aside. When she came +back I saw that she was uneasy and anxious, and +only a few moments ago she asked to be sent +home.” +</p> +<p> +“H-m,” mused the detective. “Suppose,” he +continued, “that you call her down and let me +talk to her as if I needed her assistance, she being +the only member of the party available.” +</p> +<p> +The advice was acted upon, and presently Fannie, +still with the handkerchief swathing her forehead, +looking very nervous and pale, entered the +room. +</p> +<p> +“Miss Alta,” began the widow kindly, “I am +sorry to have disturbed you when you were ill, +but we are in great trouble and we thought perhaps +you might help us. Did you know that last +night I lost my beautiful pearl necklace, the most +precious thing I have in the world?” +</p> +<p> +Fannie showed great surprise. +</p> +<p> +“Did it not come unclasped and slip?” she suggested. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247'></a>247</span> +</p> +<p> +“I have reason to believe that it did not slip +from my neck, because we have searched the +place thoroughly. It must have been taken. I +talked it all over with the other girls last night +and they helped me look for it, but now I need +some one else, and in their absence I have sent +for you. Mr. Bangs, who is a detective, has come +down to lend me his aid, and we thought we +might take you into the conspiracy with us.” +</p> +<p> +The widow paused for breath. +</p> +<p> +Fannie sat down and folded her hands nervously. +</p> +<p> +“I do not see how I can help,” she said, after +a pause. +</p> +<p> +“Possibly you cannot,” put in Mr. Bangs, “but +Mrs. St. Clair thought you might have noticed +something unusual, and being a guest were too +polite to speak of it. For instance, were you +standing near Mrs. St. Clair when she removed +the sheet and pillow case?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said Fannie, “there were several of us +in the party.” +</p> +<p> +“Did you notice who unpinned the sheet for +Mrs. St. Clair?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248'></a>248</span> +</p> +<p> +Fannie paused a long time without replying. +</p> +<p> +“It was not you who did it?” +</p> +<p> +The young girl compressed her lips and looked +the detective squarely in the eye. +</p> +<p> +“The girl who unpinned the sheet was Mary +Price,” she replied, “and since you are determined +to question me, I will tell you.” +</p> +<p> +She drew a deep breath, looked first at the +detective, then at Mrs. St. Clair, and proceeded: +</p> +<p> +“I did notice that she removed the sheet from +your shoulders and her actions were very strange. +But, knowing what I did, I was not surprised, and +I am not surprised to hear now that you have lost +something valuable, Mrs. St. Clair,” she went on, +more and more glibly, as she saw she was gaining +the interest of the other two. +</p> +<p> +“What were Miss Price’s actions?” asked the +detective, taking Fannie’s statements in the order +she had made them. +</p> +<p> +Fannie frowned. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I do not know. She was strange. She +behaved strangely and she went away at once.” +</p> +<p> +“You mean she left the room?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249'></a>249</span> +</p> +<p> +“I cannot say. I saw her no more until supper.” +</p> +<p> +“Where were you?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I was about, dancing, playing, laughing +with the others,” replied Fannie carelessly. +</p> +<p> +“You said a moment ago you knew something +about Miss Price. Will you tell us what it is?” +</p> +<p> +“Ah, but I hesitate. It is unkind to spread so +terrible a story.” +</p> +<p> +“We will treat it confidentially,” said the detective +drily. +</p> +<p> +“A great many people know it already,” went +on Fannie. “The whole school knows it, in fact. +Miss Gray, the principal, and some of the teachers, +who have lost money and articles. I, myself, +have good reason to know it.” +</p> +<p> +“What is it that you know?” asked the detective. +</p> +<p> +“That Mary Price is a thief. She has been +stealing all the autumn from the other girls and +the teachers at the High School.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, impossible! I will not believe it,” cried +Mrs. St. Clair. “Dear, sweet, quiet Mary. +There must be some mistake, Miss Alta. You +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250'></a>250</span> +should be more careful how you spread such dangerous +gossip. Mary Price and her mother +have many devoted friends in West Haven.” +</p> +<p> +“You may ask Miss Gray, then. She will tell +you,” said Fannie stiffly. +</p> +<p> +“Just to verify your statement, Miss Alta, I +will telephone Miss Gray this instant,” exclaimed +the widow angrily, leaving the room and hastening +upstairs to the telephone. +</p> +<p> +While she was gone, and she was away some +time, the detective began to question Fannie. He +was a very experienced man in his profession and +he pressed her so skillfully that several times she +tripped in her answers and finally grew excited. +</p> +<p> +“I tell you it is true,” she cried. “She not only +is a thief, but she has a confederate. Billie Campbell +is her assistant. Perhaps you think I took the +necklace,” she burst out at last. “You have the +right to search among my things. I had no way +to know that suspicion rested on me. If I took +the necklace, it will still be among my things.” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t get excited, Miss Alta, nobody has accused +you of anything. We simply needed your +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251'></a>251</span> +valuable evidence. Why do you say Miss Campbell +is a confederate to the thieving?” +</p> +<p> +Fannie had gone farther than she intended, +however, and she refused to give any more information. +But the detective saw that when she +was angry and frightened, she would talk, and +after a pause, he said: +</p> +<p> +“You perhaps know that you are the only person +in the household on whom suspicion might +rest.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t see why I should be suspected,” she +exclaimed hotly, “when Mary Price is already +known to be a thief——” +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps you have a grudge against Miss +Price?” +</p> +<p> +“I have not,” she cried, stamping her foot. +</p> +<p> +“Did no one ever suspect you of taking the +things at the High School? You know that often +happens—one girl is blamed for another’s——” +</p> +<p> +Fannie flew into a passion. +</p> +<p> +“I tell you Billie Campbell and Mary Price are +thieves. They have a whole box of valuable +things they have stolen, stored away in Mrs. +Price’s safe.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252'></a>252</span> +</p> +<p> +“What sort of things?” +</p> +<p> +“Jewelry,” burst out Fannie, then stopped and +bit her lip. “But I may be mistaken about that,” +she added, trying to speak calmly. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. St. Clair hurried into the room with the +necklace in her hand. +</p> +<p> +“Where did you find it?” asked Mr. Bangs. +</p> +<p> +“I found it,” she began, then paused. “It was +found,” she added. “You may go, Miss Alta. +Thank you very much. And if you care to go +back to town, Randolph will drive you in at +once.” +</p> +<p> +When Fannie had left the room, the widow +beat her hands together, and the tears rolled down +her cheeks. +</p> +<p> +“I found it in Mary Price’s bag,” she said. +“And Miss Gray tells me that it is true. Mary +has been suspected of stealing all autumn.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253'></a>253</span><a name='chXIX' id='chXIX'></a>CHAPTER XIX.—MARY BEFORE HER JUDGES.</h2> +<p> +It was late when the young people returned +from Mrs. Ruggles’. They were in gay spirits +and Mrs. St. Clair could hear them talking and +laughing in the hall, first the motorists and then +the ones who had driven. She did not go down to +meet them and they scattered to their rooms to +wash their faces and smooth their wind-blown +locks. There was no time to dress for supper. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t see how I can face them,” she said to +herself. “I’m so unhappy, and I’m afraid they +will notice that I have been crying.” +</p> +<p> +But she bathed her temples in cold water, put +on a cheery-colored silk dress, and went downstairs +when the gong sounded for supper. Down +trooped the boys and girls with sparkling eyes +and glowing cheeks. The sound of their happy +laughter reached her below and she pressed her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254'></a>254</span> +hand to her heart and sighed deeply. Then her +expression hardened: +</p> +<p> +“Little wretch,” she exclaimed. “She should +be well punished, and she shall be, too.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Soup of the evening, beautiful soup,’” sang +Merry, dancing a jig in the hall: +</p> +<p> + “‘Beautiful soup so rich and green,<br /> + Waiting in a hot tureen!’”<br /> + “‘Who for such dainties would not stoop?<br /> + Soup of the evening, beautiful soup,’”<br /> +</p> +<p> +continued Rosomond, seizing Merry’s hands and +whirling with him up and down the hall until they +both fell in a laughing heap on the floor. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, we have had such a good time,” cried +Billie and Mary together, taking each a hand of +Mrs. St. Clair. +</p> +<p> +“It has been such glorious fun,” went on Billie, +“and we are just as hungry for supper as if we +hadn’t eaten enough food to feed a regiment this +afternoon.” +</p> +<p> +“And such fine food, too, Mrs. St. Clair,” said +Mary. “I think it was the most delightful party +I have ever been to.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255'></a>255</span> +</p> +<p> +“I am glad you were so happy,” replied Mrs. +St. Clair, making an effort to smile and succeeding +very poorly. +</p> +<p> +Mary, who was as sensitive to changes in manner +as an aeolian harp is to the slightest breeze, +looked at her hostess quickly and noticed the red +rims on her eyelids. +</p> +<p> +“Aren’t you feeling well, dear Mrs. St. Clair?” +she asked gently. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. St. Clair put her hands on the girl’s +shoulders and looked into the clear dark eyes. +</p> +<p> +“I am quite well, Mary. A little upset over +something that happened to-day. That is all.” +</p> +<p> +“You mean the pearl necklace?” +</p> +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> +<p> +“I am so sorry. I wish we could have found +it for you.” +</p> +<p> +“It has been found, Mary,” said the widow, +turning her head away so as not to see Mary’s +face. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, you did find it? I am so glad. Where +was it?” +</p> +<p> +“Supper is served, Mrs. St. Clair,” said Randolph, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256'></a>256</span> +opening the door to the dining room, +where the others were already waiting. +</p> +<p> +“We will talk about where it was found later,” +she said to Mary, who gave her a puzzled look, +as she followed into the room. +</p> +<p> +When supper was over, the boys and girls +scattered about the various rooms. Roly Poly +and Nancy got up charades. Billie curled up in +a big easy chair by the fire. She had got most +of the wind in her face and she was very sleepy. +No one noticed, therefore, when Mrs. St. Clair, +drawing Mary’s hand through her arm, led her +out of the room. +</p> +<p> +“I want to see you upstairs, Mary,” she said. +“Will you come to my little private sitting room? +There is something I wish to talk with you +about.” +</p> +<p> +Mary was still wondering what in the world +could be wanted of her, when Mrs. St. Clair drew +her into a pretty little pink boudoir at the end of +the hall. The door to the next room had been +left open, but Mary did not notice a small, dapper +man sitting there in a high-backed cretonne +chair. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257'></a>257</span> +</p> +<p> +The pearl necklace was lying on a table in the +boudoir. Mrs. St. Clair picked it up and held it +out to Mary. +</p> +<p> +“Did you ever see it closely before, Mary?” +she asked. +</p> +<p> +“No, I never did,” answered the girl, with enthusiasm. +“How beautiful it is. No wonder you +were so unhappy. But where did you find it?” +</p> +<p> +“That is just why I brought you in here, +Mary. I wanted to ask you if you could guess +where the necklace had been found at last.” +</p> +<p> +Mary suddenly became very grave. She was +beginning to notice now that Mrs. St. Clair was +in an unusually serious frame of mind and that +something must have happened concerning the +necklace which the others had not heard. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t understand,” she said, after a pause. +“Why should I guess?” +</p> +<p> +“Is it possible, Mary,” exclaimed the widow, +“that even after you were told I had found the +necklace you were not just a little frightened, a +little uneasy? Didn’t you suspect when I asked +you to come up here with me that I was going to +speak to you about the necklace?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258'></a>258</span> +</p> +<p> +Mary looked at her in wonder for a few minutes. +Then a light dawned on her. +</p> +<p> +“It’s Fannie Alta again,” she said, in a low +voice. “She must have put the necklace among +some of my things.” +</p> +<p> +“Then you do know where I found the necklace?” +cried the widow triumphantly. +</p> +<p> +“I can guess,” said Mary. “You found it in +my suit case. It’s the second time she’s done +something like that.” +</p> +<p> +“Mary, Mary—don’t blame it on any one else. +I did find the necklace in your valise——” +</p> +<p> +Mary stood up. Her eyes were blazing and +her small slender frame was shaken with emotion. +</p> +<p> +“Do you mean to insinuate that I stole your +pearl necklace?” she cried. +</p> +<p> +Her words rang out in a high, clear tone that +made the small man in the next room stir uneasily. +</p> +<p> +“How else did the necklace get into your bag, +Mary?” +</p> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i005' id='i005'></a> +<img src="images/illus-258.jpg" alt="“Do you mean to insinuate that I stole your pearl necklace?”" title=""/><br /> +<span class='caption'>“Do you mean to insinuate that I stole your pearl necklace?”</span> +</div> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259'></a>259</span></div> +<p> +“Fannie Alta put it there. She put twenty dollars +into my pocket not long ago and tried to +accuse me of taking that, and when I gave it back +to her she hadn’t a word to say.” +</p> +<p> +“But, Mary, Fannie is not your only accuser. +Miss Gray tells me that you have been suspected +of many thefts since school opened.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, oh!” cried Mary. “How dare she? How +dare any one? What have I done that these people +should try to make me out a thief? Oh, +mother, mother!” +</p> +<p> +“That is just why I brought you up here to-night, +Mary. On account of your sweet, lovely +mother. I want you to make me a promise in +return for what I am going to do for you. I +promise not to push this matter any farther. It +shall never reach your mother’s ears. She will +be spared all distress and misery, if you promise +me never again, as long as you live, to steal. It +was not nice of you, Mary, staying here as my +guest, to steal from me. Will you make me that +promise?” +</p> +<p> +Mary did not reply. She sat down and clasped +her hands in her lap. Once or twice her throat +quivered with the little sob, which so went to +Billie’s heart. She pressed her hands together +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260'></a>260</span> +and closed her eyes for a moment. Her face was +so pale that Mrs. St. Clair thought she was going +to faint, but her lips were moving. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, God, help me,” she prayed softly. “Tell +me what to say.” +</p> +<p> +Presently her agitation ceased altogether. She +opened her eyes and looked calmly at the widow. +</p> +<p> +“No, I will not promise you that, Mrs. St. +Clair, because I have never stolen anything in +my life. I would prefer that my mother should +know about this. I don’t wish to keep it from +her. She would never believe me guilty, no matter +what the evidence was against me, even if I +had to go to jail. You say you found the necklace +in my bag? How did you happen to look +for it there?” +</p> +<p> +“You see, I believed that Fannie Alta had taken +it, and when we brought her into the living room +and urged her to tell what she knew, she accused +you. I would not believe it, however, until I had +called up Miss Gray. It was only after that that +I looked in your bag.” +</p> +<p> +Mary stood up. +</p> +<p> +“I know that things look very black for me, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261'></a>261</span> +Mrs. St. Clair. I don’t understand why, but +there is a conspiracy in the High School. It +seems to have formed around Billie and me in +particular. But there is something else, too. +Something is going on in West Haven—something +too big for us to understand. Billie and +I are in it, and Fannie Alta is in it, and sometimes +I think even Belle Rogers is, too. I don’t +know what it all means, or why it should have +anything to do with making me a thief, but I am +not a thief, and I did not put the necklace in my +bag. Good-night. I will not see you again. As +soon as morning comes, Billie and I will go back +in the motor. I know she will take me if I ask +her.” +</p> +<p> +Mary walked quietly out of the room. +</p> +<p> +“That’s a girl of fine spirit,” thought Mr. +Bangs. “The case is certainly interesting enough +to keep me here another week.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262'></a>262</span><a name='chXX' id='chXX'></a>CHAPTER XX.—MISS CAMPBELL WEARS BLACK.</h2> +<p> +Mary went straight to her room that night +and packed her bag. When Billie came up a little +later she found her kneeling beside her bed, +her face hidden in her hands. It seemed to the +unhappy young girl in her misery and danger +that no human power could aid her. +</p> +<p> +When Billie heard the story, she was so angry +with Mrs. St. Clair and Miss Gray and Fannie +Alta that she took an imaginary aim and pitched +both shoes across the room with all her force. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, my dear, my dear,” she cried, throwing +her arms about her friend’s neck with affectionate +fervor, “you have at least one devoted friend +who will stand by you through everything.” +</p> +<p> +Mary was touched by Billie’s devotion and by +and by the two girls dropped off to sleep in spite +of their troubled hearts. +</p> +<p> +But they were up and dressed before any one +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263'></a>263</span> +except the servants was stirring in the house. +Randolph, greatly amazed, and imploring the +young ladies to wait and take at least a cup of +coffee, led the way to the carriage house where +the motor had been left. +</p> +<p> +“Tell Mrs. St. Clair,” said Billie, “that I was +called home early and will write to her.” +</p> +<p> +No one knew but the colored servant, and he +did not understand, that Mary and Billie had refused +to eat anything in a house where one of +them had been called a thief. +</p> +<p> +“Mary, tell your mother the whole story,” said +Billie, as she dropped her friend at “The Sign of +the Blue Tea Pot.” “Tell her not to be uneasy. +Your friends know you are innocent and it is +all obliged to come out right.” +</p> +<p> +Then she dashed around the Square, turned up +Cliff Street, and stopped at the home of Miss +Helen Campbell. +</p> +<p> +“No, I haven’t had breakfast,” she said to the +old man servant, who opened the door. “I’ll eat +with Cousin Helen if she hasn’t breakfasted.” +</p> +<p> +“Miss Campbell will not eat any breakfast this +morning, Miss Billie,” replied the butler. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264'></a>264</span> +</p> +<p> +“Is she ill?” +</p> +<p> +“No, Miss,” the old man lowered his voice, +“but she’s wearing her black dress.” +</p> +<p> +Billie frowned. +</p> +<p> +“Is it an anniversary?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“No, Miss. That’s just the queer part. It +ain’t the anniversary. We know when that comes +now. But something’s happened.” +</p> +<p> +“Nothing to do with papa?” she asked anxiously. +</p> +<p> +“No, no, Miss.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll have some breakfast, then,” she said. “I’m +very hungry from the ride in town.” +</p> +<p> +Billie ate a hurried but hearty meal alone. +</p> +<p> +“I never can do anything when I’m empty,” +she often said, and instinctively she felt that +trouble of some sort was brewing. +</p> +<p> +After breakfast she tapped on her cousin’s +door. +</p> +<p> +“Come in,” came the tremulous answer, and +Billie entered a darkened room. +</p> +<p> +Miss Campbell, looking faded and pale and +wearing a black crepe dress, was sitting alone at +the far end of her apartment. Her hands were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265'></a>265</span> +crossed on her breast like a mediæval saint’s, and +she looked the very picture of hopeless misery. +</p> +<p> +“Dear Cousin Helen, what has happened?” +cried Billie, running to the little lady and kneeling +beside her chair. “Is it something very terrible?” +</p> +<p> +Miss Campbell put her arm around the girl’s +neck and two tears slipped down her faded +cheeks. +</p> +<p> +“Billie, Billie, why have you deceived me so?” +she exclaimed. “How could you have done this +terrible thing? Oh, my dear, my dear, I have +been so unhappy, and Mrs. Price, too. We have +wept together.” +</p> +<p> +“What in the world?” cried Billie. +</p> +<p> +“The jewels, my dear. The box of wonderful +jewels that you have kept. How could you have +done such a thing? I know many young girls +who would have been tempted by them. But not +you, my dear, dear Billie. And Mary, too. Oh, +heavens, I am so unhappy!” +</p> +<p> +Miss Campbell was so shaken by her sobs and +weeping that Billie was obliged to wipe her eyes +with her own handkerchief. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266'></a>266</span> +</p> +<p> +“But, dearest Cousin,” she said at last. “We +haven’t done anything dishonest, or that we +might be ashamed of. How did you find out +about the box and who told you such a slander +about us?” +</p> +<p> +After being bolstered up with aromatic nerve +drops and eau de cologne, Miss Campbell was able +to speak coherently. +</p> +<p> +“Yesterday a man came here to see me. He +sent up his name and the message that he wished +to speak to me about something in regard to you, +so I had him shown in. And then, my child, he +told me such a story. How his motor car had +been wrecked on the very day we went to Shell +Island and a box of jewels belonging to his wife +had fallen in the sand. He had good reason to +know, he said, that you had found the jewels and, +instead of trying to find the owner or answering +advertisements and notes, had kept them all this +time in Mrs. Price’s safe. He gave me a list of +the jewels and an exact description. I went at +once to Mrs. Price. We found the combination, +opened the safe, and got out the box. There +they were, just as he had described them. Oh, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267'></a>267</span> +my dear, what mortification! What will your +father say?” +</p> +<p> +“Did you give him the jewels?” exclaimed +Billie, without waiting to make explanations until +this important point was settled. +</p> +<p> +“The man was very insistent. He has threatened +to arrest you and Mary and even Mrs. +Price. Think of that! For harboring stolen +goods.” +</p> +<p> +“Did you give them to him?” cried Billie, impatiently. +</p> +<p> +“No, Mrs. Price refused to let him have them +until she had seen you and Mary. For my part, I +should have given them to the man and let him go. +We had a terrible scene with him, but Mrs. Price +was firm. She said it would do no harm for him +to wait until she had seen you and she would not +allow him to take them.” +</p> +<p> +“Thank heavens for that,” burst out Billie. +“Then the box is in Mrs. Price’s safe?” +</p> +<p> +“No, I had it brought here for safe-keeping. +The man was so angry he made threats and I +thought it would be better to get it away from +Mrs. Price’s at least.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268'></a>268</span> +</p> +<p> +“What was the man’s name?” +</p> +<p> +“Lafitte. He wrote it on a piece of paper.” +</p> +<p> +“Lafitte?” echoed Billie. “What did he look +like?” +</p> +<p> +“I cannot really recall, my dear. I was so +agitated. But I think there was something +wrong about one eye.” +</p> +<p> +“He had only one eye,” Billie almost shrieked +in her excitement. +</p> +<p> +“I believe so, and only one arm. But you will +see him. He will be back this morning.” +</p> +<p> +“Cousin Helen, he will never come back. He +is a thief and a robber and a smuggler. He is +everything that is wicked and bad. I don’t know +how he found out that we had the jewels, but he +has been hot on our track ever since. I will tell +you the real story of the jewels and then you +will see what an injustice you have done us.” +</p> +<p> +When Billie had finished the strange tale, Miss +Campbell looked at her with a peculiar expression. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a very remarkable story, my dear. And +if I did not know you as well as I do, I could +almost think you had imagined it. And I was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269'></a>269</span> +there all the time. You should have confided in +me. The woman was insane, I suppose.” +</p> +<p> +“She was not,” insisted Billie. “She was perfectly +sane and very beautiful. The man who +calls himself ‘Lafitte’ is not the right person, and +he shall not have the jewels until I hear from +her or from the right Lafitte. You may be sure +he will not dare have me or any one else arrested. +We know too much about him already.” +</p> +<p> +“But what are we to do with the things, child? +They have brought nothing but trouble on you +since you have had them.” +</p> +<p> +“Suppose you put them in your safety box at +the bank for a few days. There is something +much more important than this at stake now. +Mary has been accused of being a thief by Mrs. +St. Clair and Miss Gray. It is a terrible thing. +Mrs. St. Clair wouldn’t listen to reason.” +</p> +<p> +Billie related to her cousin what had happened +the day before and the chain of events which +led up to it. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, poor dear Mrs. Price! My unfortunate +friend. What shall we do, Billie?” exclaimed +the sympathetic little woman. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270'></a>270</span> +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know yet, Cousin Helen. The whole +thing is too much for me, but I have a scheme. +Are there any detectives in West Haven?” +</p> +<p> +“Call up the police station,” her cousin suggested, +and presently Billie’s voice could be heard +in the hall: +</p> +<p> +“Have you a good detective? Bangs, you say. +Send him to Miss Campbell’s please; upper Cliff +Street, and the sooner the better. Good-by.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271'></a>271</span><a name='chXXI' id='chXXI'></a>CHAPTER XXI.—THE MISSING LINK.</h2> +<p> +Mr. Bangs made three calls on that memorable +Monday. The first was to Billie, as you already +surmise. If he recognized the strong undercurrent +which connected the strange adventures of +the Motor Maids during the past two months, he +said nothing, but listened gravely to the young +girl’s account of the happenings in Boulder Lane, +the box of jewels, the cases of rifles at Seven +League Island, and so on through the events +which have been told in this history. +</p> +<p> +When Billie had finished, she paused and +waited for the detective to speak, but he sat silently +twirling his thumbs and looking down at +the floor with half-closed eyes. +</p> +<p> +Billie was slightly irritated. +</p> +<p> +“I have sent for you, Mr. Bangs,” she continued +with some dignity, “because, while I am certain +of two things, I’m not at all sure of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272'></a>272</span> +third. The first is that Fannie Alta has some +very good reason for trying to prove that Mary +is a thief. The second is that this smuggler who +has been trying to steal the jewels has something +to do with it.” +</p> +<p> +“And what is the third, Miss Campbell?” asked +the detective, smiling, without looking up. +</p> +<p> +“That is what I want you to tell me,” exclaimed +Billie restlessly. “There is a third. It is the +missing link. And it is what I wanted you to +find out for me. I have thought and thought and +puzzled and puzzled, but I can’t make it out. I +believe with all my soul that there is some wicked +force back of the whole thing.” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Bangs raised his eyes at last and looked +at the young girl with evident admiration. +</p> +<p> +“You are taking the first step toward making +a good detective, Miss Campbell,” he said. “You +have expressed it in three words. It is the missing +link we need to get at in this business and it +is what I must find.” +</p> +<p> +Billie flushed with pleasure at this professional +praise. She had never had occasion to play the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273'></a>273</span> +part of detective before. But devotion and loyalty +to her friend had sharpened her wits. +</p> +<p> +“Now, why?” asked the detective. “Isn’t Miss +Alta the missing link?” +</p> +<p> +“That is the strangest part of the whole business. +She is a piece of the link, I think, but then +she has nothing against Mary and me. There +would be no object to what she has done unless +she had.” +</p> +<p> +“You did not know that she accused you of +being the confederate of your friend or that she +knew that you had the box of jewels hidden in +the safe?” +</p> +<p> +“What?” cried Billie, with amazement. “But +how did she know——” she began. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, how?” +</p> +<p> +Billie sat looking down at her hands. She was +not thinking of those slender, strong fingers, +which appeared to clasp each other with a +friendly grip. Her thoughts were busy going +back over the past few weeks. +</p> +<p> +“I think I’ve found the missing link,” she said +at last, with a serious look in her eyes, as she +turned toward the detective. “Belle Rogers is +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274'></a>274</span> +the missing link. I can’t understand why I +haven’t thought of it before, but it seemed so incredible.” +</p> +<p> +“Miss Campbell,” put in Mr. Bangs severely, +“I am afraid you are not such a good detective, +after all. You have left out one of the most important +things. You did not tell me that some +one besides your three friends knew about the +jewels.” +</p> +<p> +Billie had omitted the story of the confusion of +the two suit cases at Shell Island. She had really +quite forgotten it and Mr. Bangs chuckled with +amusement when he heard how Belle had opened +and examined all the contents of another girl’s +suit case out of pure curiosity. +</p> +<p> +“Then she must have read the name on the +card, too,” he said presently. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose so.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, tell me, Miss Campbell, what is the +grudge which this young lady perhaps has +against you and your friends?” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, it’s only a silly schoolgirl affair,” replied +Billie. “I am ashamed to tell you, because it +seems so utterly trivial in comparison to other +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275'></a>275</span> +things. She was angry because I wouldn’t join +her club and because we saw her the night of the +fire with her hair up in rubber curlers.” +</p> +<p> +The detective laughed outright. +</p> +<p> +“That’s a woman’s reason for taking revenge,” +he said. +</p> +<p> +“And she was angry again because I took her +into the wrong room, when the hotel was burning +and we had to escape over the roof.” +</p> +<p> +“Humph!” exclaimed the detective. “Insult +piled onto injury, eh? So this Miss Rogers is a +very vindictive character?” +</p> +<p> +Billie hesitated. It went against her straight-forward, +honest nature to malign even Belle +Rogers. +</p> +<p> +“She has been spoiled all her life,” she said, +“and you know how spoiled children must have +their own way. That is all. She was angry because +she planned to make me a member of her +club and queen it over me as she does over the +others, and I disappointed her. Her mother and +friends have taken good care always that she +should never be disappointed and she just didn’t +know what the feeling was, I suppose.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276'></a>276</span> +</p> +<p> +“She must be quite a remarkably spoiled young +woman to go to such lengths for such a trivial +offence. But we sometimes get in deeper than +we intend, you know.” +</p> +<p> +The detective rose to go. +</p> +<p> +“Good day, Miss Campbell,” he said, giving her +hand quite a warm grip, considering what a quiet, +cold individual he had seemed at first. “You will +hear from me again, soon. I had not intended to +work when I came down here. You know I am +a West Haven boy. My father was old Bill +Bangs, the jailer. You probably have heard of +him. He was a famous character in his day. I +came home to rest and see my people, but when a +detective scents a good case he is not apt to let +it slip by, even on a holiday.” +</p> +<p> +“And you think this is a good case?” +</p> +<p> +“It’s a corking one,” he replied, as he closed the +door after him. +</p> +<p> +Billie and Mary did not go to school that famous +Monday. Billie had no mind to face the +curious looks she felt certain would be turned +upon her by the other girls, because news travels +quickly in any school. Mary was lying on her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277'></a>277</span> +mother’s bed with a throbbing sick headache. All +day Mrs. Price sat beside her daughter and held +her hand. At intervals she bathed her temples +with eau de cologne and whispered: +</p> +<p> +“My dearest, it will come out all right. Mother +loves you and believes in you and so does Billie. +Don’t sob like that for my sake, my little girl.” +</p> +<p> +Belle Rogers also stayed at home that Monday. +Mr. Bangs discovered this fact on his second +visit of the day when he was closeted for an hour +or more with Miss Gray and Mrs. St. Clair in the +principal’s private office. +</p> +<p> +After a tiresome interview with these two well +meaning but mistaken ladies, in which he said little +and they said much, he left the High School +with a sigh of relief. +</p> +<p> +Presently he found himself in the fashionable +district of West Haven. It was the second time +he had climbed the street that day, but he was a +calm little person, not easily heated by emotion +or exercise, and when he rang the bell at the +Rogers home, there was just the suspicion of a +smile on his face. He sent up his card for Miss +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278'></a>278</span> +Rogers and word was brought back that Miss +Rogers was ill and not to be seen. Then, with +a pencil, he wrote across the face of the card, +“Lafitte—Paris.” +</p> +<p> +In three minutes the swish of skirts down the +steps announced that some one was coming. +</p> +<p> +“I hope it’s not the mother,” he said to himself. +</p> +<p> +But it was Belle, very pale, with violet circles +around her eyes and a nervous quivering about +the lips. +</p> +<p> +When Mr. Bangs left the Rogers house after +spending three-quarters of an hour with Belle, +he remarked as he strolled down the gravel driveway +to the street: +</p> +<p> +“It will have to be an out and out confession +from one or the other. If this one doesn’t give +it, the Alta girl must. I shall pay my respects +to Mme. Alta this evening.” +</p> +<p> +He had hardly passed through the great iron +gateway leading into the street, when Belle, +wearing a heavy veil and a long ulster, hurried +after him. She carried a music roll under her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279'></a>279</span> +arm, although she was not taking lessons, since +she had been injured in the fire, but it was understood +by the servant who opened the door for her +that she was going to see Mme. Alta. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280'></a>280</span><a name='chXXII' id='chXXII'></a>CHAPTER XXII.—THE REFUGEES.</h2> +<p> +A ship had sailed into the little harbor of West +Haven on Monday morning. She carried a load +of lumber from down the coast and after showing +her clearance papers and discharging her +cargo with all due formality, she hoisted sails +again and moved around the curve of the harbor +into a deep inlet, where she rested at anchor in +a position just opposite Boulder Lane. +</p> +<p> +Darkness fell very early that Monday afternoon +as those who were not in their homes will +remember. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Bangs will recall the inky blackness of the +lowering sky, as he came out of the telegraph +office, where he had wired to his chief to send +down another man, and turned his steps toward +the rooms occupied by Mme. Alta. +</p> +<p> +Our Motor Maids have not forgotten how they +sped back to town after a swift ride in their beloved +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281'></a>281</span> +“Comet,” in the late afternoon, when they +discussed the situation long and earnestly. +</p> +<p> +Three figures turned into Boulder Lane as the +motor car flashed past, but the girls were too intent +on their conversation to notice them. The +first, who was a tall, stout woman, walked +stoically along with the tread of a grenadier. She +carried a large suit case with one hand and an +enormous bundle with the other. Her two upper +teeth protruding over her lower lip gave her that +strange animal look which Billie had disliked so +much. For it was Mme. Alta, as you have no +doubt guessed, trudging up Boulder Lane. Her +daughter, Francesca, walked behind. She also +carried a suit case and a bundle. Occasionally +she flashed a look of hatred back to the lights of +West Haven, which place she had never loved. +</p> +<p> +Can this be Belle Rogers who brings up the +procession, staggering under a heavy satchel and +moaning and weeping as she stumbles along? +</p> +<p> +“I am glad I left word that I had gone out +to spend the night,” she said to herself. “At +least, they won’t know it for a while, and it will +be too late then.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282'></a>282</span> +</p> +<p> +It was a long walk before they reached the +end of Boulder Lane and found themselves on the +beach of the little cove. The lights of the ship +made a rippling, cheerful track on the water, but +Belle shivered when she saw the black hull outlined +in the darkness. +</p> +<p> +Several men were waiting for them near a +boat, which had been moored on the beach, and +presently the three women climbed in; their luggage +was piled at one end and they were rowed +away in the darkness. Two wagons came lumbering +up the beach, and half the night, Belle, +who was tossing feverishly in her stuffy berth, +trying to stifle her sobs, heard the sailors loading +a cargo, while the boats plied back and forth from +the shore to the ship. +</p> +<p> +There was no wind that night and an ominous +silence seemed to brood over the sea. At last in +the stillness, Belle slept. Toward morning she +was awakened by the sound of a voice. A man +in a small boat just below her porthole was calling +up to some one on deck. +</p> +<p> +“Hello, Captain, it’s Ruiz. I’m coming aboard. +We must sail by dawn. They’ve got word about +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283'></a>283</span> +us. If that girl has turned traitor, she shall pay +for it.” +</p> +<p> +Belle could not hear the captain’s reply, but he +must have made some objection to sailing that +morning, for the man named Ruiz answered: +</p> +<p> +“Storm or no storm, I’m master here, and I +say we sail at once.” +</p> +<p> +And sail they did without more argument. She +could hear the sailors running about the ship. +The masts creaked and groaned. Chains rattled. +Presently the boat was in motion, and from her +porthole she saw the familiar shores glide past +her. +</p> +<p> +We cannot help pitying poor Belle in her misery +and distress. She dragged herself from her +berth—Fannie was still sleeping soundly—and +put on her clothes. For the first time, she became +aware of a sustained and ever-increasing sound. +What she had mistaken in the beginning for the +eternal noise of the waters, she recognized now +as the wind. As she cast one long regretful look +back to the shores of West Haven, which she +had never really loved until now, the hurricane +burst upon them with a roar like a thousand angry beasts. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284'></a>284</span> +The ship went scurrying through the +harbor entrance in the teeth of the gale. +</p> +<p> +Belle hurried upstairs to the deck, pulling on +her ulster as she ran. Not a vestige of curl had +the wet air left in her light gold hair; but for +the first time in her life, since she had been old +enough to remember, she had forgotten that she +had any hair and she did not even stop to push +back the damp, uneven locks from her eyes. +</p> +<p> +The boat had cleared the Black Reefs and was +making for the open sea, when suddenly the +demon wind played a trick on the captain of the +little schooner and changed its tack. Down went +the mainmast with a great crash. Through the +shrieking of the wind, Belle could hear the curses +and cries of the sailors and the yells of the captain. +Mme. Alta appeared, looking more than +ever like a walrus, in her greasy old black dressing +gown. Fannie ran up behind her, making a +great outcry. +</p> +<p> +The hurricane seemed to lift the ship in its +arms and carry it along. Then, with a hideous +grinding noise, the vessel stood perfectly still. +</p> +<p> +Some one screamed: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285'></a>285</span> +</p> +<p> +“We’re on the rocks!” +</p> +<p> +And Belle knew without being told that they +had tossed onto the Black Reefs. +</p> +<hr class='tb' /> +<p> +“Wake up, Billie,” cried Nancy, shaking her +friend’s shoulder violently. “Get up and dress. +We are all waiting below.” +</p> +<p> +“What’s happened?” asked Billie, sitting up in +bed and rubbing her eyes. +</p> +<p> +“A ship is wrecked on the Black Reefs.” +</p> +<p> +Billie leaped from her bed and began to dress +hurriedly. +</p> +<p> +“It must be a fearful sight,” she exclaimed, as +she pulled on her clothes. “The poor sailors, will +they be saved?” +</p> +<p> +“I haven’t heard,” answered Nancy, “but the +whole town is rushing up the Cliff Road.” +</p> +<p> +“Tell Ben to get ‘The Comet.’ He can run it as +well as I can now.” +</p> +<p> +“He has,” answered Nancy, with the privilege +of friendship. “I made him get it while I routed +you out.” +</p> +<p> +In another five minutes “The Comet,” with its +load of boys and girls,—only Mary and Percy +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286'></a>286</span> +were missing,—was climbing Cliff Road in a +driving hurricane of wind. +</p> +<p> +A straggling line of people hurried along the +path toward the Life-Saving Station. +</p> +<p> +“Is that it?” demanded Billie breathlessly, +when the car had come to a standstill opposite +the light house. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” replied Merry, looking through the +glasses. “She doesn’t look much larger than a +fishing smack from this distance, but she’s really +a pretty big schooner and she’s in a bad fix, too. +She has stuck right on the Serpent’s Fang, Ben. +You remember that old fisherman showed it to us +last summer when we were sailing? It’s a +pointed rock that sticks up higher than the others +and it looked to be a pretty fierce proposition to +me.” +</p> +<p> +“The life-boat is being launched!” exclaimed +Elinor. +</p> +<p> +They clutched each other in their excitement, +while a boat, with six brave life-savers in it, +leapt onto the crest of a big wave, only to be +hurled back again. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287'></a>287</span> +</p> +<p> +“They’ll have to use the gun,” put in Charlie. +“They’ll never make it in this sea.” +</p> +<p> +“What do you mean?” shouted Billie. It was +almost impossible to be heard now above the noise +of the wind. +</p> +<p> +But before any one could shout back an explanation, +her attention was claimed by a man in +a long, thick ulster, buttoned to his chin, and a +vizored cap pulled well over his eyes. He had +come to the front of the motor car and, bowing +to Billie politely, he stood on tiptoe and beckoned +to her to lean down. +</p> +<p> +“You’ll be surprised to hear that you have +friends on that ship,” he said in her ear, and she +recognized Mr. Bangs. +</p> +<p> +“Friends?” she repeated, in amazement. +</p> +<p> +“Wait and see,” he replied, as he moved away +to join another man, who was leaning against a +tree smoking a cigar. +</p> +<p> +“Look!” cried some one, and just as Billie +shifted her gaze from the ship to the beach she +saw a long black line shoot out over the water +and light on the deck of the ship. It was very +confusing then, what happened. There was a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288'></a>288</span> +great deal of shouting on shore and scurrying of +sailors on the ship. Presently there seemed to +be a double line of rope stretching out to the +wreck. +</p> +<p> +After a long pause, Billie saw, creeping along +one of the lines of rope, swaying and swinging +almost to sea level, an object which appeared +to be shaped like a pair of clumsy trouser legs +with the head and shoulders of a human being +above. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a woman,” cried Nancy, jumping up and +down in her excitement, as she looked through +the glasses. “It’s—it’s——” +</p> +<p> +“It’s Mme. Alta,” exclaimed Billie, as the +woman was lifted onto the beach. +</p> +<p> +No one could explain why the music teacher +should be found on a wrecked schooner, but Mr. +Bangs and Billie exchanged meaning glances as +Mme. Alta was supported into the Life-Saving +Station. +</p> +<p> +The next time the buoy was drawn into shore +it carried Fannie Alta, a shivering, wretched little +figure, who followed her mother silently into +the life-savers’ house. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289'></a>289</span> +</p> +<p> +“Who can the third one be?” said Billie out +loud, although she was speaking to herself. “Can +it be——” +</p> +<p> +She jumped out of the car and ran down the +path to the beach, followed by her three chums. +As she passed Mr. Bangs, he caught her by the +arm and said in her ear: +</p> +<p> +“The missing link.” +</p> +<p> +No one but Billie and Mr. Bangs recognized +Belle Rogers in the miserable object which now +crawled out of the breeches buoy. Her face was +blue and pinched with cold. Her damp hair hung +in her eyes, and she moaned and sobbed most +pitifully. +</p> +<p> +When she saw Billie, she flung her wet arms +around the young girl’s neck. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, forgive me! Forgive me!” she wept. +</p> +<p> +A crowd of people gathered around them. +</p> +<p> +Billie patted her on the shoulder. +</p> +<p> +“I do forgive you,” she whispered, “and if you +would rather not go into the station, we will take +you home in ‘The Comet.’” +</p> +<p> +“Any place but home,” sobbed Belle, as Ben +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290'></a>290</span> +threw his ulster around her shivering shoulders +and Nancy wrapped a scarf about her head. +</p> +<p> +The others had now recognized the poor girl, +and with a generous impulse they tried to shield +her from the gaze of the villagers. +</p> +<p> +“Will you go to Cousin Helen’s, then?” asked +Belle, as they half carried her up the steep path. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” she answered, and in another ten minutes +the miserable refugee was being tenderly +ministered to at Billie’s home by three of the most +detested members of the Blue Bird Society. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291'></a>291</span><a name='chXXIII' id='chXXIII'></a>CHAPTER XXIII.—BELLE’S CONFESSION.</h2> +<p> +Belle, looking still very unlike herself, lay in +Billie’s little brass bed, propped up on pillows. +</p> +<p> +“How can you and Miss Campbell be so kind +to me,” she was saying, “when you know how +wicked I have been?” +</p> +<p> +“But you are sorry and that means everything,” +answered Billie, who was sitting on the side of +the bed, feeding her hot beef tea. +</p> +<p> +“When are the others coming?” asked the invalid. +</p> +<p> +“They have come. I was just going to tell you +after you had finished the tea. Shall I call +them?” +</p> +<p> +Belle nodded, and presently Miss Gray and +Mary Price came into the room. +</p> +<p> +The Principal took the sick girl’s hand kindly. +</p> +<p> +“Speak out from the heart, Belle,” she said, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292'></a>292</span> +“and don’t be afraid. You will be much happier +when you get it off your mind.” +</p> +<p> +“I promise to, Miss Gray,” replied Belle +meekly, gazing miserably at Mary, who looked +pale and ill. +</p> +<p> +Miss Gray sat in a judicial looking armchair; +Mary, with closed eyes, lay on a lounge near the +fire, and Billie seated herself on the foot of the +bed. +</p> +<p> +“I suppose,” began Belle, “it would be almost +impossible for you to believe that a well brought +up girl of decent family could be as wicked as +I have been. When I finally realized what I had +done I thought I would rather run away to South +America with those terrible people than stay here +and bear the shame of it all. But I thank heavens +for the storm. The ship was not sailing for +any good purpose. I feel sure of that. +</p> +<p> +“To begin at the beginning, perhaps you didn’t +know how angry I was when you joined the Blue +Birds, Billie? I hope I shall never be angry +again. I was ill from it and I lay on my bed all +afternoon planning a revenge on all the Blue +Birds, but you, especially. I think I must have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293'></a>293</span> +been insane with rage and mortification. I +wanted to humiliate you, because I thought you +had humiliated me before the whole school. I +thought of dozens of ways of doing it, but the +only plan that seemed good enough was to +prove——” +</p> +<p> +She paused and bit her lip. +</p> +<p> +“To prove that you were—a—thief.” +</p> +<p> +There was a long silence. Nothing could be +heard but the ticking of the little French clock on +the mantel. Miss Gray had started and flushed +crimson. She was only just now realizing what +this confession must mean to the two girls. +</p> +<p> +“I asked Fannie Alta to help me because she +was the only outsider in the class, but I never +dreamed that she was a real thief, herself. She +found out what it was I wanted her to do almost +before I had half breathed it to myself, only +she was afraid of Billie and put it on Mary. It +was my twenty dollars she used, but we found +the scheme didn’t work. Anyhow, she told it all +over school and went so much farther than I had +intended that I soon found myself too deeply involved +to get out. She and her mother owned +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294'></a>294</span> +me, body and soul. I had to take Fannie with +me everywhere I went, even to Mrs. St. Clair’s. +I had to give her my clothes, and explain to +mamma that she was my best friend. Her mother +made me carry letters and messages back and +forth. Once I had to go by myself all the way +to Boulder Lane after dusk and meet a horrible +creature who had only one eye and one arm. +He gave me a letter for Mme. Alta. Another +time I was to meet one of them, a man who +helped him, up in the Sophomore class room of +the High School. I didn’t go, because there was +such a mist.” +</p> +<p> +Billie and Mary exchanged glances. +</p> +<p> +“He was the man who robbed us of the fifty +dollars,” said Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Then whose fifty dollars was it I got?” demanded +Miss Gray. +</p> +<p> +“My monthly allowance,” replied Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Foolish, foolish girls,” said the Principal. +“But it was my own fault. I blame no one else, +and perhaps I wouldn’t have believed the story +just at that time.” +</p> +<p> +“Then,” continued Belle, “the most dreadful +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295'></a>295</span> +thing of all happened. These people were always +in need of money. Everything they had seemed +to go to some object. The one-eyed man, who +was Fannie’s stepfather, was to get some high +position in South America. She used to tell me +what she was going to do when he was made Vice +President, or something. When we went to the +St. Clair’s, Fannie was almost unbearable. She +made me give her my dress and I had to wear +hers, and she insulted me at every turn. But I +didn’t find out until after the party that her stepfather +had been there dressed as a ghost. He +wanted to rob Mrs. St. Clair. It was Fannie who +took the necklace. She was to go back later and +give it to him, so that if her bag was searched +the next morning, when the necklace was missed, +it wouldn’t be found. But she made me go back +instead, after every one else was asleep, I supposed. +It was terrible, when I found myself +alone in the attic, with the necklace hidden under +my wrapper. No one was there. The man must +have been frightened and run away. Then I +heard all of you come and I threw a sheet over me +and hid in a far corner.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296'></a>296</span> +</p> +<p> +“It <em>was</em> you, then?” exclaimed Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, and when I met you and Mary I had +the necklace with me and I didn’t think I had +strength enough to get to my room. When we +got home from Mrs. Ruggles’ next day and I +found Fannie had been sent to town, I knew +something had happened. I thought perhaps she +might have taken the necklace with her, but the +next morning, when you and Mary left before +breakfast, I was certain that one of you had been +accused. +</p> +<p> +“You never can understand how I suffered. +And yet it was what I had planned when I was +so angry. Late Monday afternoon Mr. Bangs, a +detective, came to see me. He wrote across his +card ‘Pierre Lafitte,’ and I was convinced then +that he knew everything.” +</p> +<p> +“You did tell Fannie about the card that was +in the box of jewels, then?” +</p> +<p> +Belle hung her head. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” she said, at last. “In the very beginning, +before I had learned to loathe her and myself +so, I told it to Fannie. +</p> +<p> +“After Mr. Bangs had left,” she went on, “I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297'></a>297</span> +hurried as fast as I could to Mme. Alta’s lodgings +and told her that everything had been discovered. +The husband came in while I was there +and ordered her to leave at once. The ship was +in the harbor, he said. I was ordered to go, too, +and it really did seem best. I felt I should be disgraced +if I stayed and I was too miserable to +reason much, anyway. They were glad to go. +They hated it here, and they were afraid to leave +me, I suppose, for fear I would tell. Ever since +they were almost caught in Smugglers’ Cave, +they have been very careful. +</p> +<p> +“I have made a great many people suffer,” +Belle went on, “Mary and Billie and Mrs. Price +and Mrs. St. Clair, and I have suffered, too, perhaps +more than any of you. But I have learned a +great deal. I never knew before what a wicked, +spoiled girl I was. Mamma and papa never denied +me anything in my life. I have been indulged +and petted until I have been nothing but a +bundle of selfishness. When the ship was wrecked +and we thought we were going to sink any minute +the scales dropped entirely from my eyes and I +saw myself as I really was. I knelt on the deck +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298'></a>298</span> +and prayed and prayed for forgiveness until they +came and told me it was my turn to be taken to +shore. +</p> +<p> +“You will forgive me, won’t you Mary? I will +do everything I can to make up for the trouble +and unhappiness I have caused you.” +</p> +<p> +Belle stretched out her arms toward Mary and +tears flowed down her cheeks and splashed on the +coverlid. +</p> +<p> +Miss Gray wiped her eyes and Billie’s face +worked convulsively for a moment and she +choked back a lump which would rise in her +throat on occasions. +</p> +<p> +Mary came over and took Belle’s hands. +</p> +<p> +“Of course I forgive you, Belle,” she said, kissing +the repentant girl on the lips. +</p> +<p> +“But I must ask your forgiveness, too, Mary,” +cried Miss Gray. “I feel I am not fit to be the +principal of the High School to have so misjudged +you. It was only the strange way you +acted about the fifty dollars which made me credit +for a moment the stories that were told.” +</p> +<p> +When peace was entirely restored, Miss Gray +took her departure. She did not return to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299'></a>299</span> +High School, but hurried to the livery stable, +where she ordered a carriage and had herself +driven straight to Mrs. St. Clair’s. +</p> +<p> +As Belle will not again appear in this story, +you will perhaps be interested to know how sincere +her reformation really was. Her mother +and father scarcely recognized the pale, quiet girl +who returned to them in another day. Her entire +nature had been shaken by the experience, +and for some time she was dazed and silent. But +no one ever saw her angry again, and as if she +wished to give some visible sign of her repentance, +the red rubber curlers were thrown away +and from that time she has worn her hair +straight. +</p> +<p> +There was no evidence against Mme. Alta or +Fannie, except what Belle Rogers could furnish, +and they were finally allowed to go free. But +they were not permitted to remain in quiet West +Haven, where suspicious characters were not welcomed. +</p> +<p> +The police cared little for the music teacher +and her daughter. The prize they looked for +was Ruiz, the famous filibuster and desperado +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300'></a>300</span> +who had smuggled hundreds of rifles into Venezuela +and had robbed and pillaged and even +killed, but had never been caught. +</p> +<p> +Detective Bangs, standing on the shore, the +day of the shipwreck, scanned eagerly the face +of each sailor as he was drawn ashore. But Ruiz +was not among them. It was supposed that he +preferred death to arrest; for he remained on the +sinking ship. But the sturdy little vessel clung +desperately to the Serpent’s Fang until after sunset, +and there are some who believe that Ruiz +swam ashore with his one arm, which was as +strong as iron, and is still at large somewhere +working mischief and misfortune. +</p> +<p> +On the day after the departure of Mme. Alta +and Fannie, Miss Gray called a meeting of the +Faculty and pupils of West Haven High School. +Mary Price was there and so was Billie, and in +the gallery sat Mrs. Price between Mrs. St. Clair +and Miss Campbell. +</p> +<p> +“I called this meeting,” said Miss Gray, “because +I wanted to make an announcement to all +of you at once, since the subject of the announcement +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301'></a>301</span> +concerns us all. We have recently had a +very clever thief in our midst. She has robbed +many of you and has brought unjust suspicion +on some innocent persons by spreading reports. +This girl has been dismissed from the school and +from West Haven. She will never trouble us +again. +</p> +<p> +“Some of us have suffered deeply for the last +few weeks on account of this disgrace and scandal +in the school, and I don’t mind confessing that +I have been one of those persons. I know that +you will all rejoice with me that the affair is concluded. +</p> +<p> +“I want to say further, that at a specially called +meeting, the Board of Education has consented +to add a new post to the school force. This position, +which is that of private and confidential +secretary to the principal and has a salary attached, +is to be filled by Miss Mary Price. I hope +you will all congratulate me on my good fortune +in obtaining so competent and reliable an assistant.” +</p> +<p> +There was wild applause when this announcement was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302'></a>302</span> +made and Mary, smiling and happy, +with her three devoted friends about her, was +obliged to rise and bow her blushing acknowledgments +to her schoolmates. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303'></a>303</span><a name='chXXIV' id='chXXIV'></a>CHAPTER XXIV.—OUT OF THE MISTS.</h2> +<p> +The Motor Maids were gathered in Mrs. +Brown’s sunny parlor around a cheerful driftwood +fire. You may easily guess it was Saturday +morning, because Nancy was darning stockings, +Elinor was at the piano, Mary was reading, +while Billie lay flat on her back on the hearth rug, +her hands crossed under her head, thinking +deeply. +</p> +<p> +“I wish people were not so careless of their +diamond necklaces and things,” she observed, addressing +the ceiling with some irritation. +“Throwing them around in motor cars, giving +them to the first person who comes along, and +not caring to have them returned! It’s a nuisance——” +</p> +<p> +Suddenly the door was thrown violently open +and Merry appeared. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304'></a>304</span> +</p> +<p> +“Mrs. Ruggles,” he announced, making a low +bow. +</p> +<p> +Nancy did not take the trouble to turn around. +Elinor went on playing and Mary reading. It +was only one of Merry’s jokes, they thought. But +Billie jumped up in amazement; for there actually +stood Mrs. Ruggles in the flesh—very much in +the flesh, in fact. She was dressed in decent +black and wore a black bonnet, and Billie could +not decide whether she resembled a queen disguised +as a fish-wife or a fish-wife dressed as a +lady. +</p> +<p> +“Why, it is Mrs. Ruggles,” cried Nancy, glancing +over her shoulder. “Merry plays so many +jokes that we can never tell when he is in earnest +and when he isn’t. Do come in, Mrs. Ruggles. +What brings you up to town so early?” +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Ruggles, who was slow of speech, did not +reply at first. She moved into the room with the +step of a grenadier and stood before Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Are you Miss Wilhelmina Campbell?” she +asked. +</p> +<p> +“She is the same,” put in Merry, “but she’ll +answer to the name of Billie.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305'></a>305</span> +</p> +<p> +Billie nodded and smiled. She was really too +much engaged in admiring Mrs. Ruggles to reply +to her question. +</p> +<p> +Nancy pushed up an armchair. +</p> +<p> +“Please sit down, Mrs. Ruggles, and perhaps +you will have a cookie or a cup of tea.” +</p> +<p> +“No, Miss Nancy, I am not hungry and I +couldn’t eat anyway, until I finished what I have +to say.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s right, Mrs. Ruggles. Get it off your +system. Are you going to scold Billie?” cried +Merry. +</p> +<p> +“No, my boy. I’m going to thank her. She’s +a fine young lady. I have just seen Miss Campbell +and she has told me.” +</p> +<p> +“Told you what?” asked Billie. +</p> +<p> +“Told me that you have kept the box of jewels +as you promised.” +</p> +<p> +“But——” began Billie, a dozen thoughts +flashing through her mind at once in tumultuous +confusion. +</p> +<p> +She saw again the face of the sick woman at +Mrs. Ruggles’, her long hair spread over the +pillow like a mantel of black and the troubled +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306'></a>306</span> +dark eyes which gazed into hers for one brief +moment. +</p> +<p> +“Then that was the automobile lady I saw in +your bedroom?” she burst out. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” replied the old woman. “That was my +daughter, Maria.” +</p> +<p> +“Is Maria home again?” asked Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“I thought she had married a South American,” +said Nancy. +</p> +<p> +“Maria is now a singer,” said Mrs. Ruggles +proudly. “She has sung in Buenos Ayres and +Paris, not in this country. Her husband was +from Venezuela. He was very rich and he gave +her many jewels. He loved her dearly for a few +years, until he began to like something else better.” +</p> +<p> +The old woman paused. It was extremely difficult +for her to speak at such great length when +she was so unaccustomed to talking at all. +</p> +<p> +“My daughter is very beautiful and very +clever. She will be a great singer. He was jealous +of her singing. He wished to be great, too, +and he became a politician. Gradually he spent +all of his money in making trouble for the government +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307'></a>307</span> +of his country. He wished to bring +about a war and make himself a ruler. My son, +my daughter’s step brother, pushed him on. He +was a bad boy, my only son. It is better that he +should be dead. He was always in the thick of +the fight. He couldn’t keep away. His arm was +shot off; his eye put out. But nothing could stop +him.” +</p> +<p> +“Was Ruiz really your son, John, who went +away to sea so many years ago?” interrupted +Nancy. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Ruggles nodded. +</p> +<p> +“What happened next, Mrs. Ruggles?” demanded +Billie. +</p> +<p> +“The next thing was that my Maria could not +stand the life any longer. She came back to +America with her jewels. They were all that was +left of her husband’s fortune and those he wanted +so much that he threatened her many times. If +he had wished to use them for a good purpose and +not for rifles to kill innocent people, Maria would +have given them gladly. But he was too clever +for her, that man. He followed on a fast steamer +and caught up with her before she could get to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308'></a>308</span> +me. He forced her to go with him in an automobile +down the Shell Island road to meet John, +my poor son, who was to take the jewels and sell +them. Maria always carried her jewelry in a +secret pocket inside of her skirt, but she had put +it in a box that day and wrapped the box in her +coat. Her husband did not know this. He +thought she had it in the usual place. When +they were upset going around a curve in the road +my Maria was very seriously injured. She is +still very lame. Her husband went away to get +another car and you know the rest. +</p> +<p> +“When they found out in a few hours that she +did not have the jewels they were very angry. +She told them the truth: that she had given them +to a young lady she had met, and asked her to +take care of them. Although she did not have the +name or address of this young lady, she knew +they would be safe.” +</p> +<p> +“And Mr. Lafitte?” began Billie. +</p> +<p> +“He is an old friend, a lawyer who lives in +Paris. She happened to have his card in her +pocket. But he had just started to America and +the letter she wrote, and your letter, came back +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_309'></a>309</span> +here. That is how I happened to get your name +at last, Miss Wilhelmina. Mr. Lafitte was with +my daughter yesterday.” +</p> +<p> +“And what became of your son-in-law, Mrs. +Ruggles?” asked Elinor. +</p> +<p> +“He died some weeks ago,” replied Mrs. Ruggles. +“He was accidentally shot with one of his +own rifles, which exploded and killed him. My +son had his body sent to us and we laid him to +rest in the old Sabater burying ground, where +all my family is buried. It is better that he +should have died. He only made trouble while he +lived, not only for poor Maria, but for his country, +where many have been killed with the rifles +he has smuggled in. He was a good man until he +got in with those revolutionists. And my poor +son, my poor John, how much sorrow he has +brought us——” +</p> +<p> +Billie wondered if Mrs. Ruggles really knew +the extent of her poor son’s evil career. Perhaps +she did, for the old woman’s face twitched +nervously for a moment and she covered her eyes +with her hand, as if she wished to hide her unhappiness +from the young girls. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_310'></a>310</span> +</p> +<p> +“Maria and I are going away for a long time,” +she went on at last, with a rather shaky voice. “I +will close the Inn. It is hard for me to leave +home in my old age, but Maria wishes it, and it +is better for me to be with her. Good-by and +thank you,” she said simply, rising and taking +Billie’s hand. +</p> +<p> +Billie stood on tiptoe and put her arms around +Mrs. Ruggles’ neck. +</p> +<p> +“Good-by, Mrs. Ruggles,” she said. “I hope +that your troubles are all over now and you and +your daughter will be happy together.” +</p> +<p> +The old woman wiped her eyes. She could not +speak when she said good-by to the other girls, +but silently handed Billie a little package and +hurried away. +</p> +<p> +The package, when unwrapped, proved to be +a small box containing a pretty gold filigree necklace. +Written on a card inside was this message: +</p> +<p> +“With my love and gratitude. This is a simple +little necklace my father brought me once +from a voyage to the East. I am fond of it and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_311'></a>311</span> +that is why I send it to you. Will you wear it +sometimes and think of me? I shall never forget +your kindness and loyalty. +</p> +<p> +“<span class='sc'>Maria Ruggles Cortina.</span>” +</p> +<p> +And now we have reached the end of our tale. +Those troublous first months of Billie Campbell’s +early school days in West Haven are changed into +happy, quiet times, with plenty of study and +plenty of play. All doubts and mysteries are +cleared up, and the Motor Maids, wholesome, nice +girls, are none the worse for their adventures. +</p> +<p> +It is in their beloved “Comet” that we see them +last, flashing down Main Street toward the open +country. +</p> +<p> +Billie, like the good pilot she is, is seated at the +wheel, her fine gray eyes ever on the lookout. +Nancy is bubbling over with laughter and gaiety. +Elinor, on the back seat, holds herself as proudly +as a queen, and little Mary, with a grave smile on +her face, looks out across the fields, her clear +eyes, deep as pools, holding and reflecting, as ever, +the beauty from without intensified by the purity +of the spirit within. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_312'></a>312</span> +</p> +<p> +The friendship of these four school girls was +of the quality that outlives a single season and +many adventures. It held them together, in fact, +so closely that they often found themselves planning +for an indefinite future of partnership and +mutual pleasures. That they realized their anticipations +to some extent at least is assured, +for the next volume of this series, “The Motor +Maids by Palm and Pine,” is a further account +of their good times together. +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p>THE END.</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>BOY AVIATORS’ SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By Captain Wilbur Lawton +</p> +<p> +Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys +</p> +<p> +Cloth Bound +</p> +<p> +Price, 50c per volume +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-weight:bold;'>The Boy Aviators in Nicaragua</span> +</p> +<p> +Or, Leagued With Insurgents +</p> +<p> +The launching of this Twentieth Century series marks +the inauguration of a new era in boys’ books—the +“wonders of modern science” epoch. Frank and Harry +Cheater, the BOY AVIATORS, are the heroes of this exciting, +red-blooded tale of adventure by air and land in +the turbulent Central American republic. The two +brothers with their $10,000 prize aeroplane, the GOLDEN +EAGLE, rescue a chum from death in the clutches of the +Nicaraguans, discover a lost treasure valley of the ancient +Toltec race, and in so doing almost lose their own +lives in the Abyss of the White Serpents, and have many +other exciting experiences, including being blown far +out to sea in their air-skimmer in a tropical storm. It +would be unfair to divulge the part that wireless plays +in rescuing them from their predicament. In a brand +new field of fiction for boys the Chester brothers and +their aeroplane seem destined to fill a top-notch place. +These books are technically correct, wholesomely thrilling +and geared up to third speed. +</p> +<p> +Sold by Booksellers Everywhere +</p> +<p> +HURST & CO. Publishers NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>BOY AVIATORS’ SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +By Captain Wilbur Lawton +</p> +<p> +Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys +</p> +<p> +Cloth Bound +</p> +<p> +Price, 50c per volume +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-weight:bold;'>The Boy Aviators on Secret Service</span> +</p> +<p> +Or, Working With Wireless +</p> +<p> +In this live-wire narrative of peril and adventure, +laid in the Everglades of Florida, the spunky Chester +Boys and their interesting chums, including Ben Stubbs, +the maroon, encounter exciting experiences on Uncle +Sam’s service in a novel field. One must read this +vivid, enthralling story of incident, hardship and pluck +to get an idea of the almost limitless possibilities of +the two greatest inventions of modern times—the aeroplane +and wireless telegraphy. While gripping and +holding the reader’s breathless attention from the opening +words to the finish, this swift-moving story is at +the same time instructive and uplifting. As those +readers who have already made friends with Frank and +Harry Chester and their “bunch” know, there are few +difficulties, no matter how insurmountable they may +seem at first blush, that these up-to-date gritty youths +cannot overcome with flying colors. A clean-cut, real +boys’ book of high voltage. +</p> +<p> +Sold by Booksellers Everywhere +</p> +<p> +HURST & CO. Publishers NEW YORK +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Motor Maids' School Days, by Katherine Stokes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 37434-h.htm or 37434-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3/37434/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by Cornell +University Digital Collections) + + +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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