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- float: left; - margin-right: 1em } - -.align-right { clear: right; - float: right; - margin-left: 1em } - -.align-center { margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto } - -div.shrinkwrap { display: table; } - -/* SECTIONS */ - -body { margin: 5% 10% 5% 10% } - -/* compact list items containing just one p */ -li p.pfirst { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 } - -.first { margin-top: 0 !important; - text-indent: 0 !important } -.last { margin-bottom: 0 !important } - -span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 } -img.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; max-width: 25% } -span.dropspan { font-variant: small-caps } - -.no-page-break { page-break-before: avoid !important } - -/* PAGINATION */ - -@media screen { - .coverpage, .frontispiece, .titlepage, .verso, .dedication, .plainpage - { margin: 10% 0; } - - div.clearpage, div.cleardoublepage - { margin: 10% 0; border: none; border-top: 1px solid gray; } - - .vfill { margin: 5% 10% } -} - -@media print { - div.clearpage { page-break-before: always; padding-top: 10% } - div.cleardoublepage { page-break-before: right; padding-top: 10% } - - .vfill { margin-top: 20% } - h2.title { margin-top: 20% } -} - -</style> -<title>BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES</title> -<meta name="PG.Rights" content="Public Domain" /> -<meta name="PG.Title" content="Billie Bradley and Her Classmates" /> -<meta name="PG.Producer" content="Roger Frank" /> -<meta name="PG.Producer" content="the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net" /> -<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> -<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Janet D. Wheeler" /> -<meta name="DC.Created" content="1921" /> -<meta name="PG.Id" content="40586" /> -<meta name="PG.Released" content="2012-08-26" /> -<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" /> -<meta name="DC.Title" content="Billie Bradley and Her Classmates The Secret of the Locked Tower" /> - -<link href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rel="schema.DCTERMS" /> -<link href="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators" rel="schema.MARCREL" /> -<meta content="Billie Bradley and Her Classmates The Secret of the Locked Tower" name="DCTERMS.title" /> -<meta content="billie.rst" name="DCTERMS.source" /> -<meta content="en" scheme="DCTERMS.RFC4646" name="DCTERMS.language" /> -<meta content="2012-08-26T21:01:50.843084+00:00" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.modified" /> -<meta content="Project Gutenberg" name="DCTERMS.publisher" /> -<meta content="Public Domain in the USA." name="DCTERMS.rights" /> -<link href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40586" rel="DCTERMS.isFormatOf" /> -<meta content="Janet D. Wheeler" name="DCTERMS.creator" /> -<meta content="2012-08-26" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.created" /> -<meta content="width=device-width" name="viewport" /> -<meta content="EpubMaker 0.3.19b4 by Marcello Perathoner <webmaster@gutenberg.org>" name="generator" /> -<style type="text/css"> -.pageno { position: absolute; right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } -.pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } -.lineno { position: absolute; left: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } -.lineno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } -.toc-pageref { float: right } -pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } -</style> -</head> -<body> -<div class="document" id="billie-bradley-and-her-classmates"> -<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES</h1> - -<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> -<div class="align-None container language-en noindent pgheader" id="pg-header" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<p class="noindent pfirst">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 <a class="reference internal" href="#project-gutenberg-license">Project Gutenberg License</a> -included with this eBook or online at -<a class="reference external" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a>.</p> -<p class="noindent pnext"></p> -<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<div class="align-None container noindent white-space-pre-line" id="pg-machine-header"> -<p class="noindent pfirst white-space-pre-line"><span class="white-space-pre-line">Title: Billie Bradley and Her Classmates<br /> - The Secret of the Locked Tower<br /> -<br /> -Author: Janet D. Wheeler<br /> -<br /> -Release Date: August 26, 2012 [EBook #40586]<br /> -<br /> -Language: English<br /> -<br /> -Character set encoding: UTF-8</span></p> -</div> -<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-start-line">*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK <span>BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES</span> ***</p> -<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 4em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-produced-by"><span>Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.</span></p> -<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="noindent pfirst"><span></span></p> -</div> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="align-None center container titlepage white-space-pre-line"> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line"><span class="larger white-space-pre-line">BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES</span></p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line"><span class="smaller white-space-pre-line">OR</span></p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line">THE SECRET OF THE LOCKED TOWER</p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line"><span class="smaller white-space-pre-line">BY</span></p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line">JANET D. WHEELER</p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line"><span class="smaller white-space-pre-line">AUTHOR OF “BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE,”</span><br /> -<span class="smaller white-space-pre-line">“BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND,” ETC.</span></p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line">ILLUSTRATED</p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line">NEW YORK<br /> -CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY<br /> -PUBLISHERS</p> -</div> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="align-None center container verso white-space-pre-line"> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line">Cupples & Leon Company<br /> -Publishers New York</p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line">Copyright, 1921<br /> -Cupples & Leon Company</p> -<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line">Billie Bradley and Her Classmates<br /> -PRINTED IN U. S. A.</p> -</div> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 65%" id="figure-6"> -<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/illus-fpc.jpg" /> -<div class="caption figure"> -They marched through crying “Way for the Queen.”</div> -</div> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="id1"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">Contents</h2> -<div class="container contents"> -<ul class="compact simple toc-list"> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-ithin-ice" id="id2">CHAPTER I—THIN ICE</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-iinearly-frozen" id="id3">CHAPTER II—NEARLY FROZEN</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-iiipolly-haddon" id="id4">CHAPTER III—POLLY HADDON</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-ivgenerous-plans" id="id5">CHAPTER IV—GENEROUS PLANS</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-vbearding-the-lion" id="id6">CHAPTER V—BEARDING THE LION</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-vitrouble" id="id7">CHAPTER VI—TROUBLE</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-viisettling-a-score" id="id8">CHAPTER VII—SETTLING A SCORE</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-viiijust-like-billie" id="id9">CHAPTER VIII—JUST LIKE BILLIE!</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-ixinto-space" id="id10">CHAPTER IX—INTO SPACE</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xthe-cave" id="id11">CHAPTER X—THE CAVE</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xithe-simpleton" id="id12">CHAPTER XI—THE SIMPLETON</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xiithe-accusation" id="id13">CHAPTER XII—THE ACCUSATION</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xiiibillie-is-chosen" id="id14">CHAPTER XIII—BILLIE IS CHOSEN</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xiva-blood-stained-handkerchief" id="id15">CHAPTER XIV—A BLOOD-STAINED HANDKERCHIEF</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xva-discovery" id="id16">CHAPTER XV—A DISCOVERY</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xvichristmas-cheer" id="id17">CHAPTER XVI—CHRISTMAS CHEER</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xviibillie-on-guard" id="id18">CHAPTER XVII—BILLIE ON GUARD</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xviiiamandas-revenge" id="id19">CHAPTER XVIII—AMANDA’S REVENGE</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xixthe-tower-room" id="id20">CHAPTER XIX—THE TOWER ROOM</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxstolen" id="id21">CHAPTER XX—STOLEN</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xximore-mystery" id="id22">CHAPTER XXI—MORE MYSTERY</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxiifirst-prize" id="id23">CHAPTER XXII—FIRST PRIZE</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxiiidisgraced" id="id24">CHAPTER XXIII—DISGRACED</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxivtriumph" id="id25">CHAPTER XXIV—TRIUMPH</a></p> -</li> -<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxvpretty-frocks" id="id26">CHAPTER XXV—PRETTY FROCKS</a></p> -</li> -</ul> -</div> -</div> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ithin-ice"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2">CHAPTER I—THIN ICE</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">Click! click! click! went three pairs of skates -as three snugly-dressed girls fairly flew along the -frozen surface of the lake.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Isn’t it glorious?” cried the laughing, brown-eyed -one, who was no other than Billie Bradley, -as she threw back her head and sniffed the crisp, -cold air. “Who ever heard of the lake freezing -over in the middle of November? And the ice is -pretty solid, too.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“In spots,” added Violet Farrington, a slender, -dark girl with black hair and dark eyes.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What do you mean—‘in spots’?” asked the third -of the trio, Laura Jordon. Laura was as fair as -Violet was dark, and now her blue eyes darted an -anxious glance at her chum. “Do you think we -shall find any thin ice?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I don’t know, of course,” Violet answered -quickly. “But you notice Miss Walters told us to -stay close to the shore, and that certainly looks as -if she weren’t any too certain about the ice.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Walters was the much-loved principal of -Three Towers Hall, the boarding school which the -girls were attending, and to the three chums, Miss -Walters’ word was law.</p> -<p class="pnext">As Billie Bradley had said, Lake Molata, upon -which Three Towers Hall was situated, had frozen -over unusually early this year. Though it was -not quite the middle of November, there had been -several rather heavy snowfalls. The thermometer -had fallen lower and lower till it had dropped below -the freezing point, and after a few days of this -falling weather a thin glaze of ice had begun to -form over the still surface of the lake.</p> -<p class="pnext">At first the girls had not been too joyful, fearing -that the ice was too fragile to last and that one good -thaw would do away with it entirely.</p> -<p class="pnext">But the thaw had not come, and as day after day -the prematurely cold weather continued, the girls -at the Hall had grown more and more excited. -Finally they could stand it no longer and dispatched -a committee of three to Miss Walters—among whom -had been Billie—asking for the unique privilege of -skating over the frozen surface of Lake Molata in -the middle of November.</p> -<p class="pnext">The petition had been granted, with the reservation, -as Vi had said, that the girls should stay close -to shore and not venture out into the uncertain center -of the lake.</p> -<p class="pnext">When the jubilant committee of three had -brought back the glad news to the eagerly waiting -girls the dormitories had been the scene of wild but -noiseless fancy dancing in celebration of the great -event.</p> -<p class="pnext">Soon after was heard the clinking of skates and -the babble of excited girls’ voices as those of the -students who were lucky enough to have prepared -their lessons for the next day, and so had the afternoon -free, made ready for the fun.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then, down the sloping lawn of Three Towers -Hall, the hard, crusted snow crackling merrily under -their feet, down to the edge of the lake where -skates were put on, mufflers tightened and woolly -caps pulled well down to protect ears that already -were feeling the nip of the cold, rushed the crowd -of excited, happy girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">Fun! Any one who has tasted the joy of skating -over freshly-frozen ice on a crisp winter day -when the sun, pouring down, seems only to make -the air more chill, any one who has tasted that joy, -knows that there is no other sport like it.</p> -<p class="pnext">So, singly, in groups of two or three, in parties -of four, the girls spread out over the lake, their -gayly hued caps and sweaters making vivid patches -of color on the surface.</p> -<p class="pnext">Although they had started out with the rest of -the girls, Billie and Laura and Vi had become separated -from them some way or other, and they now -found themselves skimming merrily along with not -another person in sight. This did not worry them, -however, because they had learned by experience -that whenever the three of them were together they -were always sure of having a good time.</p> -<p class="pnext">“A week from now,” Billie cried, strands of hair -escaping from under her tam-o’-shanter and whipping -about her glowing face, “the lake will probably -look as though we had dragged a farmer’s -plow across it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“A week from now we may not have any ice at -all,” added Vi pessimistically.</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura, who was skating between them, let go -their hands for a moment to fasten her sweater -still more closely about her throat. The wind had -stung her face to a vivid red.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I must say you both sound cheerful,” she said -reproachfully, adding with a gay little toss of her -head: “From the way this wind feels, I’d say we -were going to have ice all winter.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t wake her up, she is dreaming,” sang -Billie mockingly, adding, as Laura gave her a push -that would have unbalanced a less skillful skater: -“Who ever heard of Lake Molata being frozen over -all winter?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, who ever heard of its being frozen over -in the middle of November?” Laura retorted, adding -with a grin as Billie looked nonplussed: “I guess -that will hold you for a while.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Laura Jordon,” said Vi, folding her mittened -hands and trying to look very prim and teacher-like, -“report to Miss Walters immediately. That -is the third time you have used slang this morning.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls giggled, and this time it was Vi who -got the push.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Go long with you,” said Billie gayly. “You -can’t imitate the Dill Pickles in a red sweater and -a green cap.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The Dill Pickles, as my old readers will remember, -were two teachers, Miss Ada and Miss Cora -Dill, who had recently lived at the Hall. The two -had done their best to make the girls’ lives miserable -and had finally, after the students had revolted and -marched out of the school, been sent away by Miss -Walters.</p> -<p class="pnext">The vacancies had been filled by teachers who -were as different from the Miss Dills in every way -as they could be, and since then life at Three Towers -Hall had been one happy round of study and fun -for the girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Thank goodness the Dills have gone forever,” -said Vi, in response to Billie’s observation.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” agreed Laura, reminiscently. “It was a -lot of trouble, getting rid of them, but it was worth -it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“There are only nice teachers up at the Hall -now,” said Billie, contentedly. “Especially Miss -Arbuckle.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Isn’t she ducky?” said Laura, enthusiastically, -if disrespectfully. “I was afraid she might change -her mind and take up her old job of governess to -those two kiddies.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wouldn’t have blamed her much, if she had,” -Vi said, with a chuckle. “She might make the little -children behave, while with us——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“She hasn’t a chance,” giggled Billie.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Just the same,” put in Laura, with unusual gravity, -“you notice that we all do what Miss Arbuckle -says. She isn’t stern like Miss Race, either, nor -nasty like the Dill Pickles used to be. I guess we -just obey her because we all like her,” she finished -simply.</p> -<p class="pnext">“That’s right, and——” Billie was saying when -suddenly the ice cracked under her skates and with -a cry she lunged forward. Luckily her feet struck -on solid ice beyond the cracked part, and with difficulty -she regained her balance.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The ice!” she gasped, as Laura and Vi stared -at her. “I struck a thin spot, I guess. Goodness, -that scared me!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I should say so,” agreed Laura, with a little -whistle of astonishment as she edged over to the -treacherous place in the ice which was crisscrossed -over with long cracks. “Look here, girls. I could -almost push this ice through with my finger.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, don’t try it,” advised Vi, backing away -anxiously from the dangerous spot. “I wonder if -there any more places like it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“S’pose there are—lots of them,” said Billie, who -had recovered from her fright and was disposed to -treat the whole thing as a joke. “The thing for us -to do is to keep out of their way, that’s all.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Sounds easy,” grumbled Vi as they joined hands -again and skated on more slowly over the frozen -surface. “But how are we going to know where -the thin places are unless we step on ’em—and fall -through, maybe?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“P’r’aps we’d better go back if——” Billie was -beginning uneasily when a sudden, terrified scream -cut her short. It was a child’s scream and it was -followed by another, and yet another.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh!” cried Laura wildly, “somebody’s getting -killed.”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iinearly-frozen"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3">CHAPTER II—NEARLY FROZEN</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">The screams for help seemed to be quite near -the girls, but whoever was in trouble was hidden -from them by a sharp bend in the lake shore.</p> -<p class="pnext">Without further thought of danger to themselves, -the chums skated forward swiftly, the long fringed -ends of their scarfs flying out behind them and their -bodies thrown eagerly forward.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Maybe somebody is drowning!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s some great peril, you may be sure of that—otherwise -they wouldn’t scream so.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“They are children!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, and little ones at that, if I am any judge of -voices.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Thus talking excitedly the girls skated forward -along the lake shore. Then came a sudden scream -from Vi. She had skated too close to an overhanging -tree and a branch caught in her hair as she -tried to sweep past.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Wait! wait!” she cried. “Don’t leave me behind!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s the trouble?” came simultaneously from -the others.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’m caught—my hair is fast in the tree.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Pull yourself loose,” cried Billie. “Hurry, do! -Oh, just listen to those cries!” she added, as scream -after scream rent the wintry air.</p> -<p class="pnext">In frantic haste poor Vi tried to do as bidden. -But the tree was a thorny one, and she had considerable -trouble to liberate herself.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then came fresh trouble as Billie’s left skate became -loosened.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ve got to fasten it,” she said, and bent down -to do so. Then the classmates swept forward as -before.</p> -<p class="pnext">They rounded the bend in the lake a minute later -and then drew up suddenly as they came upon a -singular scene.</p> -<p class="pnext">Three small children, a boy and two girls, were -standing up to their waists in the icy water. Evidently -they had ventured out upon the lake in a -spirit of mischief, and had stepped upon thin ice -which had given way beneath even their slight -weight. Luckily they had not got far from the -shore, for if the ice had broken through in a deeper -part of the lake they must surely have been -drowned. As it was, they were three very badly -frightened children who were beginning to feel -numb with the cold.</p> -<p class="pnext">At sight of the girls they began to wail afresh -and held out their little arms imploringly.</p> -<p class="pnext">The sight was too much for Billie, and she began -to edge her way cautiously along the thin ice, calling -to the girls to follow her example.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Be careful,” she warned. “If we went through, -too, it would be hard to get out, and while we were -trying it the kiddies would probably freeze to death. -Look out!” she exclaimed, as the ice cracked treacherously -under her weight. “It is paper-thin right -here.”</p> -<p class="pnext">And while the girls are busy at their work of -rescue we will take a few minutes to tell those who -are meeting Billie Bradley and her chums for the first -time something of the good times the girls have had -in other volumes of the series.</p> -<p class="pnext">In the first book, called “Billie Bradley and Her -Inheritance,” the girls had many and varied adventures, -some of which were thrilling and others -only funny. Just when Billie was wondering how -to raise one hundred dollars to pay for a statue -which she had accidentally broken, a queer old aunt -of hers, Beatrice Powerson by name, died and left -to her an inheritance which had at first seemed a -doubtful blessing, namely a rambling gloomy old -homestead at a place called Cherry Corners.</p> -<p class="pnext">The house dated back to Revolutionary times and -had many weird and romantic legends attached to -it. The girls, anxious to see the old place for themselves, -had decided to spend their vacation there, -and a little later some boys had joined them.</p> -<p class="pnext">They had an unusual and exciting time of it and -the climax of the whole outing was the finding of -a shabby old trunk which was hidden away in the -attic. This trunk contained five thousand dollars’ -worth of rare old coins and queer postage stamps, -and this small fortune enabled Billie not only to replace -the statue she had broken but gave her more -than enough to send herself to Three Towers Hall -and her brother Chet to Boxton Military Academy.</p> -<p class="pnext">But we forgot entirely to introduce the boys! -And they at least considered themselves by far the -most important part of the story. Here they are -then—First of all comes Chetwood Bradley, Billie’s -brother, whom his friends called Chet for short. -Chet was a lovable boy, good-looking, quiet, reserved -and devoted to Billie—whose real name, by -the way, was Beatrice.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then there was Ferd Stowing, an all-around -good-natured boy who always added a great deal -to whatever fun was at hand. And last, but not -least, Laura’s brother Teddy. Teddy was fifteen, -as were the other boys, but, unlike them, he looked -quite a good deal older than he was. He was tall, -with wavy hair and handsome gray eyes and an -athletic build which was the envy of most of the -boys at North Bend, where the young folks lived. -Teddy had always liked Billie a lot because, as he -told his sister, Laura, Billie was the nearest like a -boy of all the girls he knew. She liked sports almost -as well as he did and so as a matter of course -they played tennis and hiked and skated a good deal -together.</p> -<p class="pnext">Returning from their vacation in the old homestead -at Cherry Corners, the girls went straight to -Three Towers Hall, the boarding school to which -their parents were sending them, partly because the -young folks wanted to go and partly because the -high school at North Bend was hopelessly inefficient -and unsatisfactory.</p> -<p class="pnext">At the same time, the boys departed for Boxton -Military Academy which was only a little over a -mile from the boarding school and which was also -situated close to Lake Molata.</p> -<p class="pnext">The good times the young folks had at school -are told in the second volume of the series entitled, -“Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall.” The most -startling thing that happened during the year was -the capture of the man whom the boys and girls -had named the “Codfish” on account of his peculiarly -fish-like mouth. The latter had once attempted -to steal Billie’s precious trunk, and had later -on been suspected of planning and carrying out a -robbery at Boxton Military Academy. Later, he -had robbed Miss Race, one of the teachers at the -Hall.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls had made new friends—and enemies -also,—at Three Towers Hall. Chief among the -enemies were Amanda Peabody and her chum, Eliza -Dilks. The girls were both sneaks and tattletales, -and the former, being jealous of Billie and her -chums, had done her best to make life unbearable -for them at Three Towers. That the disagreeable -girls had not succeeded, was not in the least their -fault.</p> -<p class="pnext">Another enemy of Billie’s had been Rose Belser, -a pretty, black-haired, very vain girl who was also -jealous of Billie because of her unusual and immediate -popularity with the girls. However, even -Rose was won over to Billie’s side in the end and -became sincerely repentant for her mean behavior.</p> -<p class="pnext">Connie Danvers, a pretty, fluffy-haired girl, became -a staunch friend of the chums at once, and it -was she who had invited Billie and Laura and Vi -to spend their vacation at Lighthouse Island where -her parents had a summer bungalow. Connie’s -Uncle John, an interesting, bluff character, lived at -the lighthouse on the island.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls had become very much interested in a -mystery surrounding Miss Arbuckle, one of the very -nice new teachers who had come to Three Towers -to replace the disagreeable “Dill Pickles.” They -had also met a queer looking man one day when -they were lost in the woods, and they had wondered -about him a great deal.</p> -<p class="pnext">It seems Miss Arbuckle had been very greatly -disturbed over the loss of an album, and when -Billie, accidentally stumbling upon the book, had returned -it to the teacher, the latter had wept with -joy. Turning over the pages of the album until -she came to the pictures of three beautiful children -she had cried out: “Oh my precious children. I -couldn’t lose your pictures after losing you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Of course this exclamation, together with Miss -Arbuckle’s strange conduct, considerably puzzled -the girls, and they wondered about it all during the -vacation at Lighthouse Island. Then one day a -terrible storm came up and a ship was wrecked on -one of the treacherous shoals which surrounded the -island. The girls, helping in the work of rescue, -discovered three children lashed to a rude raft, and -after releasing the little victims, the girls had carried -them to the Lighthouse to be cared for.</p> -<p class="pnext">Later, Billie saw a marked resemblance in the -three children to the pictures of the children she -had seen in Miss Arbuckle’s album, and what -strange discovery this led to is told in the third volume -of this series entitled “Billie Bradley on Lighthouse -Island.”</p> -<p class="pnext">And now the girls were all back at Three Towers -again in search of further education, likewise, they -hoped, much fun and adventure.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t come any farther,” Billie said to Laura -and Vi, as she stretched herself out at full length -on the ice and reached out to grasp one of the children -in the water. “Lie down on the thick ice, both -of you, and hold on to me just as hard as you can. -When I say pull—pull!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Obediently Laura and Vi flopped down on the -ice, each grasping one of Billie’s feet and holding -on stoutly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’d like to see you get away from us now,” -said Laura.</p> -<p class="pnext">Leaning over, Billie grasped the nearest child -under the arms and tugged with all her strength.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Pull!” she gasped to the girls, “I’m slipping.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls pulled and dragged her, child and all, -out on the more solid ice. They set the child on -his poor shivering little feet and then went back -for the next one. A moment more and all three of -the little things were standing huddled together -on the ice, shivering and crying miserably.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wanna do home!” wailed the little boy. “I -wanna do home.”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iiipolly-haddon"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4">CHAPTER III—POLLY HADDON</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">“Where do you live?” asked Billie, turning to the -oldest of the three children. “Tell us quick, so -we can get you there.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“We live wiv our muvver, Polly Haddon,” said -the little one quaintly, pointing with a shivering finger -out across the lake. “We runned away dis -mornin’.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“So we see,” said Laura, adding, as she turned -to Billie: “I think I know where they live. Teddy -pointed the house out to me one day when we were -taking a hike through the woods. Said he and the -boys had stopped there one day and had bought some -waffles and real maple syrup from Mrs. Haddon. -Of course, I don’t know whether it is the same one -or not——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, come on—we’ll find out,” said Billie, lifting -the largest of the three children in her strong -arms. “You and Vi can manage the other two -kiddies, I guess. You lead the way, Laura, if you -know where the house is.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But hadn’t we better take our skates off and -walk around?” suggested Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We can make it quicker on skates,” said Billie -impatiently, “because we can cut across the -lake——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But the ice!” Laura objected. “It may not be -solid——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ll have to take a chance on that,” Billie returned, -adding with an exasperated stamp of her -foot, “if you don’t hurry and show us the way, -Laura, I’ll do it myself.”</p> -<p class="pnext">So Laura, knowing that nothing could change -Billie’s mind when it was once made up, caught the -little boy in her arms and started off across the -lake, Billie and Vi following close behind her.</p> -<p class="pnext">Luckily the children were not heavy, being thin -almost to emaciation, or the girls could never have -made their goal. As it was, they had to stop several -times and set the children down on the ice to -rest.</p> -<p class="pnext">And more than once the treacherous ice cracked -under their feet, frightening them horribly. They -made it at last, however, and with a sigh of relief -set the children on the ground while they fumbled -with numbed fingers at their skate straps.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Is this where you live?” asked Billie of the -elder of the two little girls. Billie had undone the -last strap buckle and was peering off through the -woods in search of some sort of habitation.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” answered the little girl through chattering -teeth. “Our house is just a little way off, along -that path.”</p> -<p class="pnext">She pointed to a narrow foot path, or rather, to -the place where a foot path had once been. For -now it was obliterated by snow and was indicated -only very faintly by footprints recently made.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie, seeing that the other girls were ready, -caught up the little girl again, holding her close for -warmth and started down the snow-covered path, -Laura and Vi following.</p> -<p class="pnext">The snow was hard, which made the going a little -easier, and in a minute or two they came in -sight of a shabby cabin set in the heart of a small -clearing.</p> -<p class="pnext">If the place had been a mansion, the girls could -not have greeted the sight of it any more joyfully. -They stumbled forward recklessly at the imminent -risk of dropping the poor little children in the snow.</p> -<p class="pnext">Before they could reach the cottage the door of -it opened and a woman stood on the threshold, hatless -and coatless and staring at them anxiously.</p> -<p class="pnext">When she recognized the children she gave a -gesture of relief and backed into the house, motioning -to the girls to follow her.</p> -<p class="pnext">This the girls were not in the least reluctant to -do, for they were chilled through, and the warmth -of Mrs. Haddon’s kitchen was wonderfully comforting.</p> -<p class="pnext">They set the children on the floor, and the little -ones ran straight to their mother. Polly Haddon -dropped to her knees and put her arms around the -three of them, cuddling them hungrily.</p> -<p class="pnext">“My precious little lambs, you frightened mother -so!” she said. “She thought you were lost—but -you are wet—or you have been!” She rose to her -feet and faced the girls while the children clung to -her skirts.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Where did you find my little ones?” she asked -abruptly, looking anxiously from one to the other -of them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We found them up to their waists in icy water,” -Billie explained, knowing that no time was to be -lost if the children were to be saved from a bad -cold. “They fell through the ice on the lake.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Fell through the ice!” the woman repeated -dumbly, then, seeming suddenly to realize the full -seriousness of the situation, she roused herself to -action.</p> -<p class="pnext">With a quick motion she swept the children -nearer to the warmth of the coal stove, then started -for a door at the opposite end of the room. Then as -if she realized that something was due the girls, -she paused and looked back at them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Draw up chairs close to the fire and warm yourselves,” -she directed. “You must be nearly frozen.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls managed to find three rather rickety old -chairs, and these they drew as close to the stove -as they could without scorching their clothes. They -tried to draw the children into their laps, but the -children were either too miserable to want to be -touched by strangers or they had become a little -shy. At any rate, they drew away so sharply that -one of them nearly fell on the stove. This frightened -them all and they began to cry dismally.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls were glad when Mrs. Haddon returned -with three shabby but warm little bath robes which -she hung close to the stove. Then she undressed -the children quickly, rubbed their little bodies till -they were in a glow, then slipped them into the snug -robes.</p> -<p class="pnext">And all the time she was doing it she kept up -a running fire of conversation with the girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Thank goodness,” she said, “I only missed the -children a little while ago. They have always been -so good to play close to the house, and I was so busy -I didn’t look out as usual. And to think that they -ran away and fell into the lake! Well, it’s only -one more trouble, that’s all. It’s funny how a person -can become used to trouble after a while.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But it would have been so much worse,” Billie -suggested, gently, “if the kiddies had fallen through -into deeper water.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Eh?” said Mrs. Haddon, looking up at Billie -quickly, then down again. “Yes, I suppose that -would have been worse.” Then she added, with a -bitterness the girls did not understand: “It isn’t -often that the worst doesn’t happen to me.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Puzzled, the girls looked at each other, then -around the bare, specklessly clean little kitchen.</p> -<p class="pnext">That Mrs. Haddon was very poor, there could -be no doubt. The shabbiness of the place, her -dress, and the children’s clothes all showed that. -But could poverty alone account for the sadness in -her voice?</p> -<p class="pnext">Mrs. Haddon had once been a very pretty woman, -and she was sweet looking yet, in spite of the lines -of worry about her mouth. She had lovely hair, -black as night and thick, but she had arranged it -carelessly, and long strands of it had pulled loose -from the pins and straggled down over her forehead. -At this moment, as though she felt the eyes -of the girls upon her, she flung the untidy hair -back with an impatient movement.</p> -<p class="pnext">“How old are the kiddies?” asked Laura, feeling -that the silence was becoming awkward. “They -look almost the same age.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“There isn’t more than a year’s difference between -Mary and Peter here,” indicating the taller -of the two little girls and the boy. “And Isabel is -thirteen months younger than Peter. Mary is nine -years old,” she added as a sort of afterthought.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nine years old!” cried Vi, in surprise. “Why, -that would make Peter eight and the little girl seven. -I thought they were much younger than that.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” added Laura, thoughtlessly, “they are very -tiny for their age.”</p> -<p class="pnext">As though the innocent words had been a deadly -insult, the woman rose from her knees and shot the -girls so black a glance from her dark eyes that they -were frightened.</p> -<p class="pnext">“My children are tiny—yes,” she said in a hard -voice, repeating what Laura had said. “And no -wonder they are small, when for years they have -been half starved.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Then she turned quickly and herded the three -frightened little ones out of the room.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You go to bed,” she said to them as they disappeared -through the door.</p> -<p class="pnext">Left to themselves, the girls looked blankly at -one another.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Billie, did you hear what I heard?” asked Laura, -anxiously. “Did she really mean that the kiddies -are so little because they don’t get enough to eat?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Sounds that way,” said Billie pityingly. “Poor -little things!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“We must find some way to help them,” Vi was -beginning when Mrs. Haddon herself came into the -room.</p> -<p class="pnext">She seemed to be sorry for what she had said, -and she told them so. She drew up the only chair -that was left in the bare little room and sat down, -facing the chums.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You must have thought it very strange for me -to speak as I did,” she began, and went on hurriedly -as the girls seemed about to protest. “But -I have had so much trouble for years that sometimes -I don’t know just what I’m doing.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Have you lived alone here for very long?” asked -Billie, gently.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Ever since my husband died,” answered Polly -Haddon, leaning back in her chair as though she -were tired and smoothing her heavy hair back from -her forehead. “He was an inventor,” she went on, -encouraged by the girls’ friendly interest, to tell of -her troubles. “For years he made hardly enough -to keep us alive, and after the children came we had -a harder pull of it than ever. Then suddenly,” -she straightened up in her chair and into her black -eyes came a strange gleam, “suddenly, my husband -found the one little thing that was wrong with the -invention he had been working on for so long—just -some little thing it was, that a child could almost -see, yet that he had overlooked—and we were -fairly crazy with happiness. We thought we had -at last realized our dream of a fortune.”</p> -<p class="pnext">She paused a moment, evidently living over that -time in her mind, and the girls, fired by her excitement, -waited impatiently for her to go on.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What happened then?” asked Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Then,” said the woman, the light dying out of -her eyes, leaving them tired and listless again, “the -invention was stolen.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Stolen!” they echoed, breathlessly.</p> -<p class="pnext">The woman nodded wearily. She had evidently -lost all interest in her story.</p> -<p class="pnext">“My husband suspected a Philadelphia knitting -company, whom he had told of his invention and -who were very enthusiastic over it, of having some -hand in the robbery. But when he accused them -of it they denied it and offered a reward of twenty -thousand dollars for the recovery of the models of -the machinery.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Twenty thousand dollars!” repeated Billie in -an awed tone. “I guess they must have liked your -husband’s invention pretty well to offer all that -money for it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The woman nodded, drearily, while two big tears -rolled slowly down her face.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, I think they would have accepted it and -paid my husband almost anything he would have -asked for it,” she answered.</p> -<p class="pnext">“But haven’t you ever found out who stole it?” -asked Vi, eagerly. “I should think that the thief, -whoever he is, would have brought the invention -back because of the twenty thousand dollars.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The woman nodded again.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, that was the queer thing about it,” she -said. “When the knitting company first told us of -the reward we were jubilant, my husband and I. -We thought surely we would recover the precious -invention then. But as the weeks went by and we -heard nothing, the strain was too much. Poor -Frank, after all those years of struggle, with victory -snatched away at the last minute, when he had -every right to think it in his grasp—my poor husband -could fight no longer. He died.”</p> -<p class="pnext">With these words the poor woman bowed her -head upon her hands and sobbed brokenly. The -girls, feeling heartily sorry for her trouble but helpless -to comfort her, rose awkwardly to their feet -and picked up their skates from the floor where they -had thrown them.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie went over to the sobbing woman and patted -her shyly on the shoulder.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I—I wish I could help you,” she ventured. “I—we -are dreadfully sorry for you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Then as the woman neither moved nor made an -answer, Billie motioned to Laura and Vi and they -stepped quietly from the room into the chill of the -open, closing the door softly behind them.</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ivgenerous-plans"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5">CHAPTER IV—GENEROUS PLANS</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">The girls talked a great deal of Mrs. Haddon -and her trouble as they put on their skates and -slowly skated back to the Hall.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It must be dreadful,” Laura was saying thoughtfully -just as the three towers of the school loomed -up before them, “not to have enough to eat. Just -think of it, girls, to be hungry—and not have -enough to eat!”</p> -<p class="pnext">No wonder this condition of affairs seemed unusually -horrible, in fact almost impossible to luxury-loving -Laura, whose father was one of the richest -and most influential men in rich and influential -North Bend. To Laura it seemed incredible that -every one should not have enough and to spare of -the good things that, rightly used, go to make happiness -in this strange old world. She had never -known what it was to have a wish that was not -gratified almost on the instant.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, it must be awful,” Billie answered soberly, -in response to Laura’s exclamation. “And I’m -sure,” she added decidedly, “that I won’t be able to -enjoy another good meal until I know that those -three poor little kiddies and Mrs. Haddon have had -all they could possibly eat—for once, at least.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What do you mean?” they asked, wonderingly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ll pack a basket,” planned Billie, growing -excited over the great idea which had just that minute -occurred to her. “We’ll put everything in it -that we can possibly think of, chicken sandwiches -and a bottle of current jelly, a thermos bottle of hot -coffee and another of milk for the children——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Say wake up, wake up,” begged Laura, irreverently. -“Where do you suppose we are going to get -all this stuff anyway? It’s too late to go to -town——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Who said anything about going to town?” Billie -interrupted impatiently. “I’m going straight to -Miss Walters and tell her all about the Haddon -family and ask her to let us raid the kitchen and -make up the basket ourselves. We can pay for the -things,” she added, as an afterthought.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s a bright idea—but it takes nerve,” said -Laura slangily. “Miss Walters may not like the -idea of feeding the countryside.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’m not asking her to feed the countryside,” -Billie retorted, adding comfortably as a picture of -Miss Walters, white-haired, blue-eyed and sweet, -rose before her: “I’m sure she will let us do it just -this once.”</p> -<p class="pnext">For Miss Walters, strict though she was at maintaining -discipline in the school, was nevertheless generosity -and kindness itself to every one about her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“But,” said Laura, uttering one last protest, “I -don’t believe Mrs. Haddon would accept anything -that looked like charity. She’s too proud.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“We won’t take any chances on her being too -proud to accept it,” said Billie decidedly, adding with -a chuckle: “We’ll do the way the boys used to do on -Hallowe’en, ring the bell and run.”</p> -<p class="pnext">They had no other chance to talk, for in a minute -they were surrounded by about a dozen of their -classmates who all began scolding them at once -about running away and demanded to know where -they had been, so that plans for the Haddons were -pushed temporarily into the background.</p> -<p class="pnext">Laughing and shouting to each other the girls -took off their skates and scrambled up the long -terraced hill that led to Three Towers.</p> -<p class="pnext">If the Hall and its surroundings were beautiful in -the summer time, it was even more attractive in the -winter. The ivy that covered the green-gray stone -of the building was now frosted white with snow -and ice, and this, catching the ruddy gleam of the -afternoon sun, gave the Hall the appearance of a -great, sparkling jewel.</p> -<p class="pnext">The three towers which gave the school its name -made the place seem like some castle of old, and the -surrounding trees and shrubbery, heavily coated with -snow and icicles, gave to the old building just the -air of mystery that it needed.</p> -<p class="pnext">The beauty of the familiar place struck Billie -afresh, and she stopped short suddenly and gazed -up at it with loving eyes.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Isn’t it lovely to have a place like this to come -home to?” she said, as the girls looked at her inquiringly, -“when you are tired and cold and——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Hungry,” finished Laura, giving her a shove. -“Giddap, Billie, you’re slowing down the works.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Slang again,” sighed Vi, plaintively, as Billie -obligingly “giddaped.” “If I should tell Miss Walters——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“You would never live to tell another tale,” -prophesied Laura, amid a gale of laughter from the -girls. “Two sneaks and tattletales are enough,” -she added significantly, as she caught sight of -Amanda Peabody and Eliza Dilks walking a little -ahead of them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wonder where Connie and Nellie have kept -themselves,” said Billie, as she with the other girls -crowded through the wide door of the Hall.</p> -<p class="pnext">“They were up in the dorm, cramming for the -exams when I saw them last,” said a tall girl at -Billie’s elbow. She had evidently not been with -the girls on the lake, for she wore no coat or hat -and she carried a book under each arm as though -she also had been studying.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, hello, Carol!” greeted Billie, putting an arm -about the tall girl and sweeping her toward the -stairs. “So you’ve been grinding away as usual -when you ought to have been out getting some good -fresh air. My, you look as pale as a ghost.”</p> -<p class="pnext">For the tall girl, so studiously inclined, was none -other than Caroline Brant, who had been such a -good friend to Billie upon her arrival at Three -Towers Hall the year before. The girls were all -fond of Caroline, in spite of the undeniable fact -that she was one of those usually despised students -commonly known as “grinds.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“You know I don’t skate,” Caroline said in response -to Billie’s accusation. “And I never could -see why people prefer freezing their toes and noses -to staying comfortably indoors.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“You’re an old lamb,” said Billie with a squeeze. -“But there are lots of things that you never will -see!”</p> -<p class="pnext">As Caroline had predicted, the chums found Connie -Danvers and Nellie Bane in the dormitory, curled -up uncomfortably on the bed, heads bent disconsolately -over two thick and bulky history books.</p> -<p class="pnext">When the door burst open and the chums swung -into the room, skates slung over shoulders, eyes -bright and cheeks glowing from exercise, the two -on the bed flung away their books and looked despairingly -at the newcomers.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Great heavens, here they are back already,” cried -Connie, running her hands wildly through her -fluffy hair. “And I haven’t learned more than five -dates so I can say them straight.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And that’s just five more than I have learned,” -cried Billie gayly, dropping her skates in a corner -and flinging herself on the edge of the bed. “Come -closer, girls,” she added, lowering her voice to a -mysterious whisper while Nellie and Connie -wriggled over to her. “I would whisper in thine -ear. We have met with an adventure!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vbearding-the-lion"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6">CHAPTER V—BEARDING THE LION</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">The one word “adventure” was enough to make -the girls all interest at once. Caroline Brant wedged -herself into a square inch of space on the bed between -Connie and the bedpost, and as Rose Belser -came in at that moment the girls motioned her to -join them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s up?” asked Rose, flinging off her cap -and scarf as she came. “Billie been getting into -mischief again? Or is it only trouble this time?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Trouble, I guess,” said Billie, and then she told -them the astonishing tale of what had happened that -afternoon. But instead of being interested as she -had expected them to be, the girls actually seemed -disappointed.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, was that all you had to tell us?” asked -Connie, when she had finished. “I’m surprised at -you, Billie. I thought you had really done something -exciting.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” added Rose, in her aggravating little -drawl, as she rose to get ready for dinner, “it was -awfully good of you to rescue those three annoying -little brats and return them to their distracted mother -and all that. But I don’t see anything dreadfully -hair-raising about it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Rose read books that were too old for her and -ran with girls who were too old for her and so she -herself contrived to seem much older than she was. -And sometimes Billie found this manner extremely -irritating, in spite of the fact that she and Rose were -friends—now.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I suppose it doesn’t seem very exciting to you,” -she said, as she pulled off her cap and unwound the -muffler from about her neck. “But I presume you -would be a little bit more interested if it was <em class="italics">you</em> -who didn’t have enough to eat.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t be mad at us, Billie,” Connie begged, patting -Billie’s hand soothingly. “Of course we all -feel sorry for the poor little kiddies and their mother -and we want to help them all we can. But you can’t -blame us for being disappointed when you said you -had had an adventure.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wonder if you would call it an adventure,” -mused Billie, more to herself than to them, “if -one of us should find that stolen invention and claim -the twenty thousand dollars reward for it!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Her classmates stopped what they were doing and -stared at her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Wh—what did you say?” demanded Connie.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You heard me,” said Billie, with a grin.</p> -<p class="pnext">“But, Billie, you know that’s absurd,” said Rose, -in her best drawl. “How could we possibly hope to -find a thing that has been missing for a couple of -years?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It may be absurd,” said Billie good-naturedly, -pulling the ribbon from her curls and brushing them -vigorously. “I think it sounds foolish myself. But -while there’s life, there’s hope. Hand me that comb, -will you, Vi?”</p> -<p class="pnext">A few minutes later the big gong sounded through -the halls, announcing gratefully to the hungry girls -that dinner was ready. And now that the vinegary -Misses Dill had gone, delight reigned supreme in -the dining hall.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls had all they could possibly eat of good -satisfying food and they were allowed to chatter -as much as they would as long as they did not become -too noisy.</p> -<p class="pnext">But although they had chicken for dinner and -cranberry sauce and creamed cauliflower, things all -of which she especially liked, Billie enjoyed it less -than any meal she had ever eaten.</p> -<p class="pnext">Again and again before her eyes arose the -reproachful images of the three little Haddons, undersized, -undernourished, half-starved.</p> -<p class="pnext">She could hardly wait until dessert had been -served, and then, with a murmured word to Laura -and Vi, she excused herself from the table and went -in search of Miss Walters.</p> -<p class="pnext">She found that lady in the act of drinking her -after-dinner coffee in the privacy of her own little -domain.</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Walters had a suite of three rooms all to -herself: a bedroom, a dressing-room and a sitting-room, -and all three of the rooms were fitted up in -a manner that befitted a queen.</p> -<p class="pnext">The sitting-room was done in mahogany and -blue. An exquisite Persian rug of dull blue covered -the floor and the rich mahogany furniture was all -upholstered in blue velour. The curtain draperies -were all of this same rich blue over cream-colored -lace. In the center of the room was a huge mahogany -library table upon which stood a handsome -reading lamp with a blue silk shade.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie, who had never been in this sanctum before -and who had seen Miss Walters only in her office, -was amazed when, in reply to her timid knock, the -principal invited her to enter.</p> -<p class="pnext">For a moment she stood dumbly staring, while -Miss Walters set down her cup and looked up with -a smile. The smile changed to a look of surprise -and then to annoyance as the principal saw who the -intruder was.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It must be something very important to bring -you here at this hour, Beatrice,” said Miss Walters, -while poor Billie began to wish herself back in the -security of dormitory C. She was too frightened to -explain her presence, and yet she knew that Miss -Walters expected an explanation. “What is it you -wish?” asked the latter, impatiently.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I—I’m sorry,” said Billie at last, backing away -toward the door. “I shouldn’t have come—but I -thought—that is, I thought it was important.” She -was half through the door by this time, and Miss -Walters, her annoyance changing to amusement, -took pity on her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What was important?” she asked, adding, as -Billie still continued to back away: “Come in here, -Billie Bradley, and shut that door. There’s a draft -in the hall.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Relieved at the use of the familiar name Billie, -the girl obeyed, shutting the door softly, then turned -imploringly to the teacher.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Sit down,” commanded the latter, pointing to -one of the blue velour armchairs near by. “Now -tell me the ‘important thing’ you came about while -I finish my coffee.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie made poor work of her story at first, for -she was still wondering how she had ever had the -courage to approach Miss Walters in the privacy -of her sanctum sanctorum, but as she went on she -became less self-conscious and was encouraged by -Miss Walters’ unfeigned interest.</p> -<p class="pnext">And when, at the end of the recital, Miss Walters -reached over and patted her hand and told her she -had been quite right in coming to her as she had, -Billie was in the seventh heaven of delight.</p> -<p class="pnext">“With poverty behind them, fortune and comfort -ahead, and then again, desolation!” Miss Walters -mused, talking more to herself than Billie. -“How the human mind can stand up under the strain -is a mystery to me. Poor, starving little mites and -pitiful, noble mother, fighting for her young with the -only weapons she has. Lucky mother to have come -to the notice of a girl like you, Billie Bradley,” -she added, turning upon Billie so warm and bright -a smile that the girl’s heart swelled with pride and -adoration.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Then you will let us help the Haddons?” she -asked breathlessly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“More than that,” smiled Miss Walters. “I will -<em class="italics">help</em> you to help them. I think it is too late to -follow out your plan of taking them something to-night.” -But she added as she saw Billie’s bright -face fall: “But we will pack a basket full to the -brim with good things early to-morrow morning and -you and Laura and Violet may take them to the -cottage after breakfast. Only, you must walk -around the lake. I could not take the chance of -your skating after what happened this afternoon.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie stammered out some incoherent words of -thanks, Miss Walters patted her cheek, and in another -moment she found herself standing outside in -the hall in a sort of happy daze.</p> -<p class="pnext">A girl passed her, eyed her curiously, went on a -few steps and then came back. It was Eliza Dilks.</p> -<p class="pnext">“In Miss Walters’ room at night,” said the sneering -voice that Billie knew only too well. “No wonder -you get away with everything—teacher’s pet.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie started to retort angrily, but knowing that -silence was the very worst punishment one could inflict -upon Eliza she merely shrugged her shoulders, -turned up her straight little nose as far as it would -go and walked off, leaving Eliza fuming helplessly.</p> -<p class="pnext">When Billie reached the dormitory she found the -girls waiting for her in an agitated group. There -was not one of them who would have dared to approach -Miss Walters after school hours unless it -had been about a matter of life and death importance, -and they had more than half expected that -Billie would be carried back on a stretcher.</p> -<p class="pnext">When they found out what had really happened -they welcomed Billie as a hero should be welcomed. -They lifted her on their shoulders and carried her -round the dormitory, chanting school songs till a -warning hiss from one of the girls near the door -sent them scuttling. By the time Miss Arbuckle -reached the dormitory, they were bent decorously -over their text-books, seeking what knowledge they -might discover!</p> -<p class="pnext">Next morning, true to her word, Miss Walters -herself superintended the packing of an immense -basket with all the dainties at her command. There -were chicken and roast beef sandwiches, half of a -leg of lamb, two or three different kinds of jelly, -some rice pudding left over from the night before, -a big slab of cake, two quarts of fresh milk, and -some beef tea made especially for the Haddons.</p> -<p class="pnext">And the girls, feeling more important than they -had ever felt before in their lives, marched off after -breakfast, during school hours—Miss Walters having -personally excused them from class—joyfully -bent upon playing the good Samaritan.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I never knew,” said Laura, as if she were making -a great discovery, “that it could make you so happy -to be kind to somebody else!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vitrouble"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7">CHAPTER VI—TROUBLE</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">It was the girls’ intention at first to leave the -hamper of good things before the Haddons’ door so -that Mrs. Haddon would have no chance of refusing -the gift through pride.</p> -<p class="pnext">But when they came to the little cottage after half -an hour of steady walking, they found to their dismay -that Fate had taken a hand and spoiled all their plans.</p> -<p class="pnext">For Mrs. Haddon herself, a shawl over her head -and looking even more worried and anxious than -she had when they had seen her before, rounded the -corner of the house and met them just as they -reached the door.</p> -<p class="pnext">For a moment the girls had a panicky impulse to -drop the basket and run, but on second thought they -decided that that would be just about the worst thing -they could possibly do. And while they were trying -to think up something to say, Mrs. Haddon took -the whole situation entirely out of their hands.</p> -<p class="pnext">At first she did not seem to recognize them, but -the next instant her face lighted up with relief and -she opened the door of the cottage, beckoning them -to enter.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Just stay here in the kitchen a minute where it’s -warm,” she directed them in a strained tone, and -before the girls had time to draw their breath she -had disappeared from the room, leaving the classmates -alone.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now we’ve gone and spilled the beans,” whispered -slangy Laura, eyeing the blameless hamper -disapprovingly as she warmed her chilled hands before -the stove. “I don’t suppose she will touch a -thing now, and after we went and walked all this -way, and everything, too——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Sh-h,” cautioned Billie, a hand to her lips. -“She’s coming back.”</p> -<p class="pnext">At that moment Mrs. Haddon did indeed come -back into the kitchen. She closed the door very -gently behind her and then came quickly toward the -girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Listen,” she said breathlessly. “I don’t know -who sent you, just now. Maybe it was God.” She -caught her breath on the words and the girls regarded -her wonderingly and a little fearfully. For -goodness’ sake! <em class="italics">what</em> was she talking about?</p> -<p class="pnext">“Anyway, you’ve come,” went on the woman, -swiftly. “And if you want to, you can do me a great -favor.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What is it?” they asked together.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Run for the nearest doctor, one of you—or all -of you,” said the woman, her words stumbling over -one another in her agitation. “Peter, my little boy, -is sick. If I don’t have a doctor very soon, he may -die.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, where is the nearest doctor?” asked Billie, -breathlessly, her eyes big with sympathy. “Tell me -and I’ll go.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Half a mile down the road!” said the woman. -“Dr. Ramsey! In the big white house! These are -his office hours. He should be at home. I just -went to a neighbor’s, but she was not at home and -I could not go myself. Peter would have been -alone——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ll go, and I’ll have him back here in half an -hour,” promised Billie, running to the door as she -spoke. But Laura grabbed her skirt and held on -to it.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No, you stay here. I’ll go,” she said, thinking -desperately of the food hamper and fearing that if -Billie went for the doctor she would probably have -to explain their mission.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ll go with you,” volunteered Vi, with the same -thought in mind, and before Billie could do more -than blink, her two chums had flashed through the -door, closing it with a sharp little click behind them. -Then it opened again for an instant and Laura put -her pretty head inside.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You always could explain things so much better -than the rest of us, Billie,” she said, by way of -excuse, it is to be supposed—and then the door closed -again.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was good for Billie at that moment that she -had been blessed with a sense of humor. Otherwise, -she might have been a little put out.</p> -<p class="pnext">As it was, she took it as a joke on her and turned -back resignedly to her task of telling why they had -come to proud Polly Haddon.</p> -<p class="pnext">The latter was pacing the floor anxiously. Then, -as a little moan came from the next room, she flew -to the patient, leaving Billie entirely alone.</p> -<p class="pnext">The latter regarded the hamper uncertainly for -a moment, then, with a sigh, she lifted it from the -floor to the rickety kitchen table.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ll let her see all the good things first,” she -decided wisely, as she removed the cover from the -basket, exposing to view its inviting contents. -“Then maybe she’ll be too busy looking at them to -be angry.”</p> -<p class="pnext">So busy was she that she did not hear Mrs. -Haddon reënter the room. Neither did she know -that the latter was staring unbelievingly over her -shoulder till a slight exclamation of wonder made -her start and whirl round suddenly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Where did you get all that?” asked the woman, -her eyes still fixed on the contents of the basket. -“And what is it for?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s—it’s for you—if you will take it, please,” -stammered Billie, in her surprise and confusion saying -what came first to her mind. “We—we thought -maybe—maybe the kiddies would like the beef tea -and milk and—and—things——” she finished -weakly, thinking resentfully that the girls, or one -of them anyway, might have stayed and helped her -out.</p> -<p class="pnext">But after all, she need not have worried. For an -instant the look that Billie had expected and dreaded -flared into Polly Haddon’s eyes—a look of outraged -pride. But then the woman thought of the -children—and she had no pride.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You said you brought some beef tea?” she repeated, -bending eagerly over the basket. “And milk?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Two quarts of milk,” cried Billie, joyfully, the -relief she felt singing in her voice. “And we made -the beef tea fresh this morning. Why—why—what’s -the matter?”</p> -<p class="pnext">For Polly Haddon’s black eyes had filled with -tears and she had turned away impatiently to hide -them. Beneath the worn old shawl, her thin shoulders -shook in an effort to suppress her hysterical -sobs.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then Billie ran to her and put her young arms -around her and Polly Haddon, who had struggled -so long and so bravely alone, clung to the girl hungrily -while she fought for self-control.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s so long!” she said huskily, “so long since -any one did anything for us—for my babies——” -Her voice broke, and for a minute she just clung to -Billie and let tears wash some of the bitterness from -her heart. Then she straightened up suddenly, wiped -the tears from her eyes with a handkerchief that -Billie had slipped into her hand, and holding the -girl off at arm’s length regarded her intently.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It seems,” said the woman softly, while Billie -looked up at her out of clear, grave eyes, “that when -things get as bad as they can be the Lord sends somebody -to help. This time he sent you. Hark! -What’s that?”</p> -<p class="pnext">It was only the restless turning of a feverish little -body in bed, but the mother was instantly alert.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The beef tea!” she directed, and Billie quickly -handed her one of the bottles. “He has had hardly -any real nourishment since day before yesterday,” -Polly Haddon went on as she poured the liquid -into one of the pans on the stove and sniffed of it -hungrily. “Strong beef tea is just what the little -fellow needs.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie wondered while she watched Mrs. Haddon -with pitying eyes. No nourishment for almost two -days! Why, if they had not come the children might -have starved to death!</p> -<p class="pnext">“Where are the two little girls?” she asked, remembering -suddenly that she had seen no sign of -them.</p> -<p class="pnext">Mrs. Haddon said nothing for so long that Billie -began to think she had not heard her question. Then -the woman turned and faced the girl, holding a -steaming cup of beef broth in her hand.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ve kept them in bed, too,” she said. “I was -afraid they had caught cold, and then, too—one -feels less hungry if one doesn’t move about.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Then abruptly she turned and once more left the -room. Billie would have followed, but the thought -that perhaps Polly Haddon would not wish her to -held her back. The woman had accepted the food -for her children’s sake, because they were practically -starving. But in spite of that she was very proud. -Perhaps she would not wish to have Billie see the -poverty-stricken bareness of the rooms beyond. So -Billie stayed in the kitchen and waited.</p> -<p class="pnext">Her eyes strayed nervously to an alarm clock that -ticked away on a shelf over the sink. She wished the -girls would come with the doctor. If little Peter -was as sick as his mother thought he was, every -minute might be precious. And besides that, they -must get back to school.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then she heard the girls’ voices mingled with the -gruff tones of a man—the doctor, of course—and -her heart jumped with relief. The next moment the -door was flung open and Laura and Vi came in, -followed by an immense man who seemed to completely -fill the narrow doorway. Then Polly Haddon -appeared in the doorway between the two rooms, -an empty cup in her hand. At sight of the doctor -she set down the cup and motioned him eagerly into -the other room.</p> -<p class="pnext">The latter glanced curiously at Billie, flung his -hat on the kitchen table in passing, and disappeared -with Mrs. Haddon into the sick room.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Just luck that we happened to catch the doctor -on his way out,” panted Laura, for the big man had -hustled the girls back to the cottage on a run. “Say, -Billie,” she added, her eyes lighting on the opened -hamper, “I see you did the trick. Any bones -broken?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Tell us about it,” begged Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ll tell you on the way home,” said Billie, her -eye once more on the clock. “Miss Walters told us -not to stay long, you know. We were to come right -back.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Gracious, look at the time!” cried Laura, in -consternation, following Billie’s eyes to the clock. -“Miss Walters will think we have eloped.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wish we could wait and see what the doctor -says,” protested Vi, hanging back, and just then -Billie raised a warning finger.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Listen,” she said.</p> -<p class="pnext">The doctor had raised his voice for a moment and -his words came clearly to the girls where they stood -near the door.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The boy is very sick, Mrs. Haddon,” he said. -“It will take good nursing to pull him through and -plenty of nourishing food.” He lowered his voice -again and the rest of what he said was lost in a -meaningless murmur.</p> -<p class="pnext">In the kitchen the girls stared at each other.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Plenty of nourishing food,” whispered Billie. -“Where is he going to get it?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I guess,” said Laura, as she opened the door, -“it is up to us!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-viisettling-a-score"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8">CHAPTER VII—SETTLING A SCORE</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">The girls walked back to school in a rather -thoughtful frame of mind. They were sorry for -poor Mrs. Haddon, and they were worried about -little Peter.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The sandwiches and milk and things that we -brought this morning will last them a little while,” -Billie said. “But I don’t suppose Miss Walters -would want us to take them food every morning.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, and that reminds me!” cried Laura. “You -haven’t told us yet what happened after we ran for -the doctor and left you alone with Mrs. Haddon.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“There isn’t very much to tell,” said Billie. “She -didn’t want to touch the basket at first, but when she -thought of the kiddies she changed her mind. She -said that the children hadn’t had any real nourishing -food since the day before yesterday.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls were silent for a moment, letting this -last remark of Billie’s sink in. Then it was Billie -who broke the silence.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wonder,” she said, “how they have ever managed -to get along up to this time. They must have -had something to live on.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Why,” said Vi, wrinkling her forehead thoughtfully, -“the doctor said something about Mrs. Haddon -having to give up her work because of ill health. -Didn’t he, Laura?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” said Laura, stuffing her hands deeper into -her pockets. “He seems dreadfully sorry about -poor little Peter. I heard him mumble something -about troubles always coming in a heap.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh,” said Billie, with a big long sigh, “if somebody -could only stumble across those inventions -someway or other! Then we could all be happy -again.”</p> -<p class="pnext">For a moment her classmates stared at Billie -blankly. They had all but forgotten about the invention. -Somehow, Mrs. Haddon’s tale of a nearly -won fortune had seemed unreal and vague to them—almost -like a fairy story. And now here was -Billie bringing it all up again and even talking about -finding that knitting machine model!</p> -<p class="pnext">“If it doesn’t always take you to think up impossible -things, Billie Bradley,” said Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Just the same,” Laura spoke up unexpectedly, -“you must admit that lots of times Billie has done -what we would think was impossible to do.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Goodness, have you got ’em, too?” asked Vi, -with a giggle. “We all know Billie’s a wonder, but -I don’t think she is going to find an invention that -has been missing for a long time. Probably it -wouldn’t be any good, anyway. All rusted and -everything.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“That wouldn’t make any difference,” Billie -pointed out promptly. “As long as they had the -model to copy from they could make any number of -new machines just like it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“All right, rave on, Macduff!” cried Laura, who -was just beginning to read Shakespeare and who -annoyed the other girls by insisting upon quoting -him—incorrectly—upon all occasions. “If you can -find this old thing and get a fortune out of it for -Mrs. Haddon and the kiddies and twenty thousand -nice little dollars for yourself, honey, nobody’ll be -gladder than me.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I,” corrected Violet sternly. “Don’t you know -me is bad grammar?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, me’s a bad girl,” said Laura irrepressibly, -and the girls giggled.</p> -<p class="pnext">A few minutes later they came within sight of -the school and found to their dismay that it was -lunch hour.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Do you mean to say we have been gone all -morning?” cried Laura, stopping short at the familiar -sight of the girls pouring out on the campus -for a breath of air before their studies should commence -again. “Goodness, Miss Walters will murder -us.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, come on,” cried Billie, hurrying the girls -along. “Haven’t we been on an errand of mercy—and -everything? She can’t kill us for that, even if -we were a long time about it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Greetings and laughing gibes were flung at the -girls as they hurried across the snow-covered campus, -but they did not stop to answer. They wanted -to see Miss Walters, explain why they were so late, -and get a bite of something to eat before the afternoon -classes began.</p> -<p class="pnext">They had almost reached the door when a voice -called to Billie from overhead. She looked up unsuspectingly -and received an avalanche of snow right -in the face, almost blinding her and sending her -staggering back against her chums.</p> -<p class="pnext">Sputtering and choking, she dashed the snow from -her eyes and looked up to see who had done such a -mean thing. There at a window just over her head -was the grinning face of Amanda Peabody. In a -flash Billie realized that it had been Amanda who -had pushed the snow from the window ledge upon -her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Want some more?” asked that disagreeable person -in response to Billie’s stare. “There’s just a -little bit left,” and she made a gesture as if to push -the rest of the snow from the windowsill down upon -Billie’s upturned face.</p> -<p class="pnext">But Billie did not wait to see whether she would -really have done it. With a cry she made for the -door of the school, pushing through a group of the -girls who had gathered at the first sign of a fracas. -Laura and Vi followed, fuming.</p> -<p class="pnext">As usual, instead of staying and facing the consequences -of her own deeds, Amanda tried to get -away. But Billie was too quick for her. The -former reached the door of the room just as -Amanda darted through it, bent upon escape.</p> -<p class="pnext">Her eyes blazing, Billie seized the girl’s arm and -hurried her through the hall, Laura and Vi assisting, -and a delighted crowd following close behind.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You let me go—you big cowards, you!” spluttered -Amanda, almost crying with rage and fright. -“You let me go, Billie Bradley! I’ll tell Miss Walters.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Go ahead and tell Miss Walters, you miserable -sneak!” cried Billie, giving the girl a contemptuous -shake. “But you won’t tell her till I’m through with -you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What are you going to do?” whined Amanda, -too scared now even to bluster. “I won’t do it -again, honest I won’t. Only let me go.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t you do it, Billie,” cried one of the girls in -the following crowd. “Don’t let her off so easy.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Billie had no intention of letting her enemy -off easily. Having now reached the outside door, -she shoved it open, at the same time motioning to -Vi and Laura to let go of Amanda.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then she dragged the whimpering, whining girl -over to a spot where the wind had formed the snow -into a small drift. Into this she flung the protesting -girl, and the next instant was upon her, washing -her face with the snow, and it is safe to say that -no girl ever had her face so thoroughly washed before. -And the crowd of girls behind Billie cheered -her on gleefully.</p> -<p class="pnext">There is no telling just how long Billie might have -kept it up, for she was enjoying herself immensely, -if Laura had not brought her to her senses. The -latter leaned down, took a firm grip of the belt on -Billie’s coat and jerked her to her feet.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Better let her go,” she warned. “We will have -Miss Walters or one of the teachers out here in a -minute. Come on, Billie. She’s had enough.”</p> -<p class="pnext">So Billie reluctantly stepped back while Amanda -picked herself out of the snow, wiped her red and -dripping face on her sleeve, and pushed through the -laughing, mocking crowd of girls toward the school.</p> -<p class="pnext">She stopped just before she reached the door, -however, and faced her tormentors, her face distorted -with rage.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You think you’re smart, all of you!” she cried -furiously, then added, as her eyes fell on Billie, who -had drawn a handkerchief from her pocket and was -wiping her hands carefully. “And you, Billie Bradley, -standing there grinning! Some day I’ll make -you grin out of the other side of your mouth. Just -wait!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Would you like your face washed again?” Billie -demanded, darting forward threateningly. “Come -on, let’s get it over with——”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Amanda did not wait for the threat to be -carried out. She scuttled precipitately into the Hall -amid delighted giggles from the girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">Amanda, fairly choking with rage at the laughter, -stopped and shook her fist in the direction of it. -Then, with all sorts of plans in her heart for “getting -even,” she went on toward the dormitory.</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-viiijust-like-billie"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9">CHAPTER VIII—JUST LIKE BILLIE!</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">Several days followed during which the girls -settled down earnestly to their studies. For scholarship -was held very high at Three Towers Hall, and -any one who did not stand well in class was apt to -find herself not only in ill favor with the teachers -but with the students as well.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls had reported to Miss Walters the result -of their visit to Polly Haddon, and the principal -had seemed unusually interested and sympathetic.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now that you girls have taken the Haddon family -under your wing,” she had said, smiling at the -chums, “I think we shall have to see the thing -through—at least until the mother is strong enough -to begin work again. But in the meantime,” she -had added, with a nod of the head that meant -dismissal, “I don’t want interest in the Haddon family -to make my girls neglect their studies. I expect -great things of you this year.”</p> -<p class="pnext">And so the girls, “feeling warm all over,” as -they always did after a talk with Miss Walters, went -back to their work, confident in the thought that the -Haddons would not be left to starve, at least.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Saturday we will go over ourselves and see how -little Peter is,” said Billie, as, pencil in hand, she -prepared to wade into a geometry problem. “Listen, -Laura,” she added, looking up at her friend -hopefully, “if you will help me with this geometry -I’ll coach you in history. Is it a go?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura declared it was a “go,” and so they settled -down to work. But no amount of work could keep -their thoughts from straying time and again to the -Haddon family and the mystery of the stolen invention.</p> -<p class="pnext">As the girls who have read the former adventures -of Billie Bradley already know, Billie and her chums -had been admitted to the “Ghost Club,” a secret society -to which only the most popular girls and those -who stood highest in their studies were admitted.</p> -<p class="pnext">The membership had never exceeded fifteen, for -the girls knew that to have too large a membership -would only cheapen the club. Rose Belser was the -president of it, and Connie Danvers and several -other of the girls’ good friends were members. -Caroline Brant had been asked to join long before, -but had refused because she thought it would take -too much time from her studies.</p> -<p class="pnext">Last year’s Commencement had taken two of the -club’s members, so that now the girls were watching -the freshmen for good material. They were very -careful in choosing, however, for it was far easier -to get members into the club than it was to get them -out.</p> -<p class="pnext">The club was to have its first real meeting in two -weeks, and it was at that meeting that the names of -prospective members were to be tentatively submitted -to the president. After that, a period of close -watching, and then—the fun of initiations.</p> -<p class="pnext">But first came news that ran through the Hall like -wildfire. Some of the boys from Boxton Military -Academy were coming over to the big hill behind -the Three Towers Hall for the first real sledding of -the year, and they had invited as many of the girls -as they knew—and their friends—to meet them -there.</p> -<p class="pnext">Chet and Teddy and Ferd were coming over, of -course, and as the day approached, anticipation grew -accordingly until the girls could think and talk of -nothing but the fun they were going to have.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wonder if Teddy will bring Paul Martinson -with him,” said Vi, after trying vainly for half an -hour to fix her mind on an essay she must hand in -the next morning. “He’s ever so much fun, don’t -you think?”</p> -<p class="pnext">It was in Paul Martinson’s motor boat, which he -had named the <em class="italics">Shelling</em> in honor of Captain Shelling, -who was master of the Military Academy, that the -boys had visited the girls on Lighthouse Island the -summer before.</p> -<p class="pnext">Paul Martinson was a splendid-looking, fine boy -whom all the girls liked—Rose Belser, in particular—but -who, himself, seemed to prefer Billie. Like -Teddy, Paul thought that Billie was the “very best -sport” he knew, and declared that “a fellow can -have more fun with her any day than he can with -another boy.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Of course Teddy did not like this a bit. Having -known Billie practically all his life, he naturally felt -that he should have first right to her. And so there -was a good-natured rivalry between the boys that -amused Billie and Vi and Laura and rather piqued -Rose Belser and Connie Danvers and some of the -other girls at the school, who thought that Billie -had more than her share.</p> -<p class="pnext">“For,” as Connie declared once to a sympathetic -group of girls, “it’s ever so much more fun to be -paddled around in a canoe by a boy than to have to -paddle yourself, and it’s lots of fun to skate with -them because they fairly haul you along. And here -when we haven’t nearly enough to go around, Billie -goes and takes two of the nicest ones. She’s a -darling, of course, but I think she might be content -with one!”</p> -<p class="pnext">And so when Vi had happened to mention innocently -that Paul was ever so much fun, Rose -Belser, who was preparing for a botany quiz at the -other end of the room, looked up and made a face -at her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“How do we know whether he’s any fun or not?” -she said. “You had better ask Billie.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Billie was too busy studying so that she might -be free for the next day’s fun to hear, and Rose’s -shot was lost.</p> -<p class="pnext">As though autumn had regretted giving way to -winter so soon, it had been unexpectedly warm that -day and the girls had worried for fear a thaw might -spoil their sledding. But a cold wind rose in the -night and the morning dawned clear and cold enough -to suit even them.</p> -<p class="pnext">As soon as breakfast was over the coasters donned -sweaters and caps and mufflers and ran down into -the storeroom next the gymnasium to get their -sleds. Then up once more and out into the bright -morning sunshine, their cheeks glowing with health -and their eyes sparkling with anticipation of the fun -ahead of them!</p> -<p class="pnext">There were twenty-five of them in all, but as they -filed out of the side door of the school they looked -like a small army.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Isn’t it funny,” giggled Laura to Billie, “how -many more of the girls turn out when they know -the boys are going to be there?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s sad but true,” admitted Billie, with an answering -chuckle. “After that first heavy snowfall -when we said something about an all-girls’ sledding -party, they didn’t seem awfully anxious about it. -Said it was too early in the season and they hated -dragging sleds up the hill.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now I suppose they will expect the boys to do -the dragging,” laughed Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">When they had climbed almost to the top of the -hill that made such a fine toboggan they heard the -sound of boys’ voices.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Goodness, they must have started before breakfast,” -said Connie Danvers, who was puffing with -the effort to get her plump little body and her heavy -sled up the steep incline. “Say, give me a lift, will -you, Billie? This hill is so slippery.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“You mean that you’re getting too fat,” said -Laura wickedly, as she reached over and grabbed -Connie’s line. “I told you you were eating too much -candy.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie reached the top of the hill first and with -dancing eyes she looked down at the long, steep, ice-covered -incline. The slight thaw of the day before -had been the one thing needed to perfect the sledding. -For the surface of the snow had melted, then frozen -over again, forming a solid coat of ice.</p> -<p class="pnext">As she took this all in gleefully, the first of the -boys emerged from the trees at the foot of the hill -and an impish impulse seized her.</p> -<p class="pnext">With a shout of warning she pulled up her sled, -flung herself upon it, gave a little push, and was off! -Down the hill she hurtled at a terrific rate of speed, -the glaze of ice forming almost no resistance to her -flight.</p> -<p class="pnext">Taken by surprise, the boys had no more than -time to get out of the way before she literally -dropped among them.</p> -<p class="pnext">She swung off to the right, where an abrupt rise -of ice-covered ground checked her speed, and, after -almost reaching the top of this small hill, the back -runners of the sled were caught in the ice and she -was tumbled head over heels, to land in an undignified -heap at the boys’ feet.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then she sat up, rubbed her head and smiled at -them gleefully.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I went some that time, didn’t I?” she said.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, and you might have broken your neck, too,” -said Teddy, in an awfully gruff voice, as he took -both her hands and pulled her to her feet. The other -boys were looking on in admiration at Billie’s feat. -“Don’t you know you should never have taken that -turn to the right? That hill’s too steep.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I know it is—<em class="italics">now</em>,” said Billie ruefully, feeling, -for the first time the horrible suspicion that she had -skinned her knee.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You should have taken one of these paths,” -spoke up Chet, pushing his way through the crowd -of boys and regarding Billie sternly, as an older -brother should. “I thought you knew that.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course I know that,” returned Billie, mimicking -Chet’s tone to perfection. “But will you please -tell me how I could take either one of the paths when -both of them were chock full of boys?”</p> -<p class="pnext">The paths about which they spoke branched off -from the foot of the hill. One had been an old -wagon road which had become overgrown with -bushes and stubble and the other was only a foot -path. Nevertheless, either one was wide enough -to permit easily a sled to pass through and the -ground was level for a long enough distance to allow -the sleds to come to an easy standstill.</p> -<p class="pnext">From the top of the hill the girls had been watching -Billie’s escapade, and now as she started with -the boys up the long slope they looked at one another, -smiling.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Goodness, there she goes again!” sighed Connie -plaintively. “She isn’t satisfied with two of the -boys any more. Now she has the whole crowd of -them!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ixinto-space"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id10">CHAPTER IX—INTO SPACE</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">For a glorious hour the girls and boys enjoyed -what was to them the best sledding of their lives. -They coasted down the hill and dragged their sleds -up again, shouting and calling to each other while -their cheeks and, it must be admitted, sometimes -their noses, too, glowed with the sting of the sharp -wind and they had to stamp hard on the frozen -ground to keep their toes from freezing.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The best sport ever!” cried Paul.</p> -<p class="pnext">“All to the merry,” came from Chet. “What do -you say, girls?” and he turned to Billie and her -classmates.</p> -<p class="pnext">What did they say? All shouted at once that such -fine sport couldn’t possibly be beaten.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Can’t be beat!” sang out Chet gaily. “Just like -old Ma Jackson’s rag carpet.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Ma Jackson’s rag carpet? What do you mean?” -asked Laura.</p> -<p class="pnext">“She couldn’t beat it for fear it would fall apart,” -was the sly reply. And then the merry lad had to -dodge a hard chunk of snow Laura threw at him.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Burr-r! isn’t it cold?” cried Billie, taking a mitten -from one of her hands and blowing on her -numbed fingers. “I’d never know what it was to -feel cold if it weren’t for my fingers and toes. -Teddy! Stop your pushing! What do you want -now?”</p> -<p class="pnext">For Teddy had seized her by the shoulders and -had sat her firmly down upon his big bobsled.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You’ve let Paul Martinson take you down three -times to my once,” he accused her, while he settled -himself comfortably behind her on the sled. “And -now it’s my turn. Hey, look out there, you fellows—we’re -off!”</p> -<p class="pnext">And before the astonished Billie could do more -than utter a giggling protest, they were indeed “off,” -flying down the ice-glazed hill at a rate that took her -breath away.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Some speed, eh?” chortled Teddy in her ear. -“This old boat of mine has got ’em all beat. I bet -we could race them all to a standstill.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Why don’t we try?” Billie yelled back at him. -“It would be lots of fun. Oh, Teddy, look out!” -she shrieked, for they had reached the foot of the -hill and Teddy had skimmed so close to the trunk of -a tree that Billie afterward declared they had scraped -off a piece of bark.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t worry,” Teddy said, reassuringly. “Nothing’s -going to happen to you when you’re with your -uncle Ted.”</p> -<p class="pnext">At which remark Billie could not help giggling to -herself. “Boys did think they were so awfully -much!” Then suddenly she cried out:</p> -<p class="pnext">“Teddy, that’s the wrong path! We have never -been down it before.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“That’s why I’m trying it,” said Teddy recklessly, -as he swung down the strange path that ran -at right angles to the one they were on. “The -ground slopes, too, so we ought to have some more -fun.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie said nothing. She would not for the life -of her have Teddy guess that she was afraid. They -had never been down that path before, because never -before had a sled had momentum enough to carry it -that far.</p> -<p class="pnext">And the ground was sloping more and more and -the sled was going faster and faster with each second. -The path was by no means straight, either, and -if Teddy had not been pretty good at keeping his -head they would most surely have run into something -and have had a nasty spill.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, Teddy, can’t we stop?” asked Billie at last, -unable to keep her fright all to herself. “We don’t -know where this leads to. Can’t you stop, Teddy?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Not very well,” answered the boy uneasily. “We -will surely run on to level ground in a minute. -Don’t worry.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But even as he spoke he jerked the sled around -a sudden turn in the path and they came, apparently, -to the end of the world. With a nasty little scraping -sound the sled dived off into nothingness!</p> -<p class="pnext">It all happened so suddenly that Billie did not -have even time enough to scream. She had a sickening -feeling of falling through space, and then she -struck something—something that yielded, luckily, -under her weight, and she sank, down, down, down, -coming to rest at last in a world where everything -was white and slippery and cold—oh, <em class="italics">so</em> cold.</p> -<p class="pnext">She must have lost consciousness for a minute, -for when she came to herself again in this strange -new world she heard somebody calling her name -wildly and a moment later Santa Claus poked his -head over a snowbank and peered down at her.</p> -<p class="pnext">At least, she thought at first it was Santa Claus, -because his face was so very red and the snow was -clinging to his fuzzy cap in such a funny manner.</p> -<p class="pnext">But in a moment more she realized her mistake, -for the red face and the funny hat disappeared and -in their place were shoved two legs that she was -very sure belonged to Teddy. And in a moment -more Teddy himself slid down beside her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Hello,” she greeted him with a smile. “I thought -you were Santa Claus. Why weren’t you?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Teddy stared at her for a minute, anxiously.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I say,” he cried, taking one of her hands and -rubbing it gently. “I guess that loop the loop of -ours knocked you silly.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’m always silly,” was Billie’s amazing reply, as -she sat up and began feeling herself all over carefully. -“But it certainly did knock me!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Are you all right?” demanded Teddy, watching -her as she stretched out first one leg and then the -other. “You didn’t break anything, did you?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nothing but my dignity,” she answered, with a -giggle that brought an answering grin from the boy. -“Teddy,” she demanded, turning to him suddenly, -“what did happen, anyway?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’m sure I don’t know, except that we came to -the end of that path and jumped off,” answered -Teddy, feeling gingerly of his forehead on which -Billie could see that a large purple lump was beginning -to swell. “If I had had a chance to see what -was coming I could have rolled off the sled and -pulled you with me. But that turn in the road -brought us right on top of it. It’s a sort of precipice, -I guess,” he went on to explain, while Billie -eyed with sympathy the swelling lump on his forehead. -“It’s about fifteen feet high, I think, and if -there hadn’t been snow on the ground we surely -would have got hurt.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“If there hadn’t been snow on the ground, we -wouldn’t have been sledding,” Billie pointed out, -adding, so unexpectedly as to make Teddy jump: -“Who hit you?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Wh—what?” he gasped. Then seeing that her -eyes were fixed on the bump that he was still fingering -gingerly, Teddy’s face grew redder than it already was, -if such a thing were possible, and his -hand fell quickly to his side. “Oh, that!” he said, -loftily, as if it were nothing at all. “I guess the -runner of the sled gave me a whack just as we -dumped over. It doesn’t hurt, though. Not a bit.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I bet it does, too,” said Billie, as the boy pulled -his cap down tight over the tell-tale spot. “Where is -the sled, Teddy?” she added.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Out there, somewhere, sticking in a drift,” answered -the boy. “I didn’t have time to pull it out -because I thought you had been killed or something -and I had to come to look for you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Thanks,” she laughed at him. Then her face -became suddenly serious, and she struggled to her -feet, trying to brush off the snow that seemed to -cover her from head to foot. “How are we going -to get out of this, Teddy?” she asked, looking at -him seriously.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Ask me an easy one,” he returned, his good-looking -face extremely anxious and puzzled. “The -snow is awfully deep, and I don’t believe we could -ever get up to that path again. It would take us -a couple of hours to go around, and besides, I’m not -sure just how to go.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“In other words,” said Billie, trying her best to -speak gayly while her heart sank at this unusually -long speech of Teddy’s, “we’re lost, aren’t we?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I guess it amounts to that,” Teddy answered -soberly, and for a long minute they just stood staring -at each other.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then Billie gave herself an impatient little shake.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Help me out of this,” she said, as she tried to -push through the heavy snow that seemed to press -in upon her from every side. “I’d like to have a -look around, anyway.”</p> -<p class="pnext">She found that even with Teddy’s help it was -no easy task to clamber out of the snowdrift that -she had fallen into, and both she and the boy were -panting with exertion when they had finally managed -to get out into the open.</p> -<p class="pnext">Even there they stood up to their waists in the -clinging snow, and Billie, looking desolately out -over the white expanse, began to realize that she -was very, very cold.</p> -<p class="pnext">“There’s the sled,” said Teddy, pointing to two -runners sticking out of the snow and marking the -spot where the sled had struck. “Wait here and -I’ll get it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie watched him as he struggled through the -drifts, and suddenly she was aware of an overwhelming -desire to sit down where she was and cry.</p> -<p class="pnext">“But that wouldn’t do any good,” she told herself -sharply, “even if this place does look more -lonely than a desert. If we don’t get where it’s -warm pretty soon we’ll turn into icicles ourselves, I -guess.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The wind had become stronger and more biting, -and Billie’s teeth had begun to chatter. She was -glad when Teddy floundered back to her, the rope -of his sled looped over one arm. He slipped the -other arm through hers protectingly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ll find a way out of this soon,” he said, comfortingly. -“You just watch your uncle Teddy.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie tried to laugh but she could not, her teeth -were chattering so.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You said that before,” she told him hysterically. -“And we—we—went over the cliff!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xthe-cave"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id11">CHAPTER X—THE CAVE</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">The next minute Billie was sorry for what she -had said. Teddy’s face clouded over and he looked -at her unhappily.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You ought to know that I didn’t get you into this -on purpose,” he muttered.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, Teddy, d-dear, I didn’t mean it, you know -I d-didn’t,” she stammered, trying hard to control -the chattering of her teeth. “I’m a bad, mean, horrid -girl. T-truly I didn’t mean it,” and she put her -cold little hand penitently over his great big one.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I know you didn’t,” said Teddy, his face clearing -instantly. “You’re cold and tired and all upset. -Poor little kid, I wish I could do all the -<em class="italics">feeling</em>.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, I’m glad you can’t,” said Billie, snuggling -up close to him for warmth. “For you have troubles -enough of your own. Teddy!” She drew up suddenly -and stared at an object that caught her eye. -“What is that thing over there that looks like a -tangle of twigs and leaves? No, not that way. -Over there—to the left.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Teddy followed the direction of her pointing finger -and his face lighted up with excitement. The -“tangle of twigs and branches,” as Billie had described -it, was close to the side of the fifteen-foot -“precipice” over which he and Billie had plunged -a little while before.</p> -<p class="pnext">The fact that the branches were not covered with -snow certainly looked as if they had been put there -rather recently in a crude effort to hide the entrance -to something—perhaps a cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">“That’s worth having a look at,” he said, jerking -the sled up to him and tightening his hold on Billie’s -arm. “Can you make it, Billie? The snow seems -to be deeper over this way.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, I can make it all right,” answered Billie, -stoutly, as she clenched her teeth and shut her eyes -and floundered on through the clinging snow. “I -guess I’ve got to make it!” she added, to herself.</p> -<p class="pnext">They had almost reached their goal when suddenly -they stepped into a hole hidden by the snow and -sank down in the icy whiteness until Billie was -almost up to her neck.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Gosh,” cried Teddy, as he struggled out to -higher ground, pulling his thoroughly frightened -companion after him, “I hope there aren’t many -more places like that around here. We’ll make it -all right, Billie. Say! you’re not crying, are you?” -he broke off, with a boy’s utter terror of tears, as -Billie dug two mittened and numbed hands into her -smarting eyes.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No, I’m not crying,” she answered, giving him -a rather watery smile. “I’m laughing. Can’t you -see I am?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Poor little kid,” said Teddy for the second time -that afternoon, and the sympathy in his voice pretty -nearly did send Billie into a downpour of tears. -She was so thoroughly miserable that it was all she -could do to keep from wailing her grief aloud. But -Teddy had put one big protecting arm around her -now and was half carrying her over to that strange -object that looked so dark against the gleaming bank -of snow.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then he let Billie go, and while she shivered by -herself he laid hold of the branches and pulled with -all his might.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Ooh, look out!” called Billie. “There might be -a bomb or something at the other end. Oh-h!” -The queer doorway gave so easily before the boy’s -strength that he was sent staggering back against -the snowdrift and sat down in it most uncomfortably.</p> -<p class="pnext">The next minute he was up again, had swept the -branches and twigs aside, and was examining the -exposed opening with all a boy’s eager curiosity. -Billie peered eagerly over his shoulder.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What is it?” she asked, breathlessly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s what I thought it was—a cave,” answered -Teddy, joyfully. “Come inside, Billie. It will get -you out of the wind anyway, and give you a chance -to warm up.” He had put an arm about her again -and was pushing her forward with his usual impetuosity, -but Billie hung back.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We don’t know what’s in there,” she protested, -but Teddy refused to listen to her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We don’t know and we don’t care,” he informed -her, masterfully, adding as she still hung back: -“We’ll freeze to death out there, anyway.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But, Ted, suppose some wild animal should be -in there? You know that bears hide in hollow trees -and caves——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Bears sleep most of the winter. Besides, I don’t -think there are any bears around here.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But there might be a—a fox, or a wildcat.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ll take a chance on that. You must remember, -the average wild beast will get out of your way if -you give it half a chance. Come on. As I said before, -if you stay out here, in this icy wind, you’ll -surely freeze to death.”</p> -<p class="pnext">This argument appealed to her, and, with a shivering -look over her shoulder at the desert of whiteness -behind, she stepped gingerly into the blackness -of the cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then with a little nervous giggle she ran back -again, got behind Teddy and pushed him before -her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Gentlemen first!” she said. “Anyway you’re -bigger than I am, Ted.”</p> -<p class="pnext">So Teddy, feeling as important as a boy always -feels when he is protecting a girl that he likes, -walked boldly into the cave, stretching a hand behind -him for Billie to cling to.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Come on, it’s all right,” he assured her. “You’ll -get used to the darkness in a minute. The snow -blinds you. Ouch! What was that?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie gave a little choked scream and would have -run out into the open again, had not Teddy’s grip -on her hand prevented.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t get scared,” the boy said, and bent over -to examine whatever it was he had stubbed his toe -against. “I didn’t mean to yell like that, but, gosh, -that thing did give my toe an awful wallop! I say, -look at this!” and he held up an object that shone -wanly white against the blackness of the cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie, whose eyes had become a little accustomed -to the darkness, saw that what Teddy held looked -like an old, broken water pitcher.</p> -<p class="pnext">“A pitcher,” she said, adding disgustedly: “And -that was what I was afraid of.”</p> -<p class="pnext">At the entrance, this queer hole in the mountain -had been so low that the two had been forced to -stoop down to avoid knocking their heads on the -roof of it. But now, as they felt their way cautiously, -they found to their surprise that they could -stand upright. The walls also seemed to have -widened out and they realized with a thrill of excitement -that they were in a real cave, dug into the -side of the mountain.</p> -<p class="pnext">In here it was darker than it had been at the -entrance, and they had to feel their way about cautiously -to avoid colliding with each other or the -walls of the cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was surprisingly warm and snug in there also, -for the thick snow wrapped them in the warmest -and fleeciest of blankets, and the only place for old -Jack Frost to come in was the narrow entrance of -the cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">And once assured that the owner of the cave, -whether man or animal, was at that moment not at -home, Billie began to feel a sense of exquisite comfort. -Her teeth had ceased to chatter, they were safe -from the bitter north wind, and she had Teddy to -take care of her. What more could any girl want?</p> -<p class="pnext">As for Teddy, he had evidently found something -over in one corner of the cave that interested him -immensely. He had stumbled by accident over what -seemed to be a pile of old junk, and now he was -down on his hands and knees trying to satisfy his -curiosity by the sense of touch.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now aren’t I the idiot!” he exclaimed suddenly, -and Billie started at the sudden sound of his voice -in the darkness. “Here I go feeling around like a -blind man when I have some perfectly good matches -in my pocket. Come on over, Billie, and see what -I’ve found.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Guided by the flare of a match, Billie made her -way across the cave and kneeled down beside the -boy. Then they both stared in utter amazement at -what they saw.</p> -<p class="pnext">Heaped up carelessly in the corner was a mass of -so many and such queerly assorted articles that it -is no wonder the boy and girl were puzzled.</p> -<p class="pnext">There was an old alarm clock, rusty with age and -disuse, a mirror, several gaudy articles of jewelry -that looked as if they might have been found in ten-cent -prize packages, a telephone receiver, a broken -fishing rod that stood lamely against the wall as -though ashamed of its own decrepit state, a sawdust -doll, an empty tin can that evidently had once contained -bait, a talcum powder box full of scented -violet talc—Billie smelled it—and—but it would -take too long to name all the strange things that -Billie and Teddy found there in the corner of the -funny little cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Teddy,” murmured Billie as the boy’s match -burnt out and he struck another one, “what do you -think these things are for? Who do you suppose -owns them?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“How should I know?” asked Teddy, getting to -his feet and looking eagerly about the place, illumined -fitfully by the flare of the match. “Somebody -comes here often, that’s a sure thing. And judging -by those things,” he waved toward the conglomeration -of junk in the corner, “he must be pretty -simple.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, Teddy!” breathed Billie, moving closer to -him. “Suppose he should come and find us here?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Teddy looked down at her with a grin.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Why worry?” he asked. “Haven’t you got your -Uncle Ted?”</p> -<p class="pnext">He had scarcely spoken when there came a terrifying -sound. It was a snarl of rage, half-animal, -half-human.</p> -<p class="pnext">The half-burned match dropped from Teddy’s -fingers. They were in the dark.</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xithe-simpleton"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id12">CHAPTER XI—THE SIMPLETON</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">Billie did not cry out. She was either too frightened -or too brave. But the next minute Teddy’s arm -had reached out and caught her to him reassuringly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s all right,” he whispered in her ear. “Just -hold tight and keep still. I’ll do the talking.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Cautiously he drew her to the back of the cave, -and there they turned and waited for whatever was -to happen. They did not have to wait long.</p> -<p class="pnext">Some one or something was coming into the cave. -There was a growling and muttering in the tunnel-like -entrance and the sounds increased as the intruder -came slowly nearer.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then there came a stumbling sound, followed by -a coarse oath that made Billie clap her hands to her -ears.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s a man, anyway,” Teddy whispered, adding -maliciously: “Stubbed his toe on that old pitcher, I -guess. Glad of it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, Teddy, hush,” whispered Billie frantically. -“He’ll hear you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Evidently the intruder had heard them. He -stopped short as though listening. Billie and Teddy -could distinctly hear his heavy breathing while they -held their own.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then a hoarse, strident voice challenged them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Who are ye?” it cried, menacingly. “Whoever -y’are ye’ve got to git out. I’ll teach ye to go breakin’ -into my cave and meddlin’ with my things. Come -out o’thet, will ye?”</p> -<p class="pnext">For answer, Teddy lighted a match, holding it -high above his head while he studied the intruder. -The latter, evidently startled by the sudden light, -staggered back a little and flung his hand before his -eyes.</p> -<p class="pnext">The advantage was all Teddy’s, and for a moment -it looked as though he would fling himself upon the -little man who stood cowering there. But he hesitated, -and while he hesitated the match burned out -in his fingers and they were left in the dark once -more.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Light another match, Teddy—quick,” whispered -Billie, and he did.</p> -<p class="pnext">This time the man lowered his hands from before -his eyes and stood blinking at them foolishly. He -was so small and so slight and so puny looking in -every way that the gruff voice with which he had -greeted them in the beginning seemed little short of -ridiculous.</p> -<p class="pnext">And while they stared at the little man and the -little man stared at them, Teddy’s third match went -out.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Gosh,” said he, groping in his pocket for another. -“I only hope they hold out, that’s all. I’d -hate to be left in the dark.”</p> -<p class="pnext">He found a match and lit it rather shakily, for -the whole thing was beginning to get on his nerves. -And as the uncertain light flared out once more he -saw that their queer new friend was holding something -out to him.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t touch it,” whispered Billie at his elbow. -“It might be——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But it’s only a candle, Billie, and——” Teddy -was beginning when the little fellow himself interrupted -impatiently.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Light it, light it,” he commanded, glancing nervously -over his shoulder into the spooky corners of -the cave. “Your match will be burnt out and we -will be left in the dark. The dark. I’m afraid of -the dark. Hurry, hurry!”</p> -<p class="pnext">To Teddy and Billie at the same instant came the -startling thought that the man was a lunatic. His -looks, his voice, his manner, were all proof of it.</p> -<p class="pnext">And while Teddy lighted the candle with his one -remaining match, Billie began to shiver wretchedly. -If only they had not found the old cave everything -would have been all right. They might even have -been home by this time. For the moment she had -forgotten how cold it was outside and that neither -she nor Teddy knew the way home.</p> -<p class="pnext">While Teddy glanced about for some place to set -the lighted candle, she furtively studied the simpleton, -into whose hiding-place they had been unlucky -enough to stumble.</p> -<p class="pnext">He was about twenty-one, she guessed, scarcely -more than a boy. His features were as small as his -body, his eyes little and red-rimmed and shifty, with -an expression of vacancy that made Billie’s blood -run cold. His hair, as nearly as she could tell in -the flickering light, was red.</p> -<p class="pnext">And while Billie watched him, he watched Teddy, -and she was surprised to see his vacant eyes suddenly -fill with terror. Then, when Teddy turned -back, after setting the candle on a projecting piece -of rock, the simpleton came close to him, holding -out shaking, imploring hands.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Have you come to take me away? Have you?” -he asked wildly, and then as Teddy still continued -to stare at him, he fell to the ground, groveling in -the dirt at the boy’s feet.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was not a pretty sight, and with a little exclamation -of disgust, Teddy reached down, gripped the -fellow’s collar and jerked him to his feet.</p> -<p class="pnext">“For heaven’s sake, get up,” he cried. “What’s -the matter with you, anyway? I’m not going to -hurt you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“You haven’t come to take me away? You won’t -put me in prison?” whined the simpleton, shaking -and trembling there before them till Billie put her -hands before her eyes to shut out the sight of him. -“I haven’t done anything! Truly I haven’t! Don’t -put me in prison. Oh, I’m afraid of the dark. I’m -afraid of the dark!”</p> -<p class="pnext">There is no telling how much longer he might -have gone on in that manner had not Teddy put a -hand over his mouth and shaken him into silence. -Billie, cowering back against the wall, had begun -to cry.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now,” growled Teddy, giving one extra shake -to the whining wretch, “suppose you keep still for -a minute and try to understand what I am going to -tell you. We didn’t come into your cave to get you, -and we’re not going to hurt you if you will do what -we tell you. We’re lost, and we want to get back -to Three Towers Hall. Do you suppose you can -tell us how?”</p> -<p class="pnext">The simpleton, relieved of his suspicion that they -had come to do him harm, became suddenly sullen. -Teddy had to repeat his question before the fellow -answered.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I can,” he said then, “if I want to.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Teddy was about to answer angrily, but he remembered -that he had heard somewhere that the -only way you can get anything out of a weak-minded -person is to humor him.</p> -<p class="pnext">So he controlled his temper and said that he hoped -very much that the fellow would want to—and the -sooner the better, or words to that effect.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s your name?” asked Billie suddenly. It -was the first time she had spoken, and both Teddy -and the simpleton started. The latter stared at her -a moment open-mouthed, and then his manner underwent -a bewildering change—became softer, more -normal. Evidently he had not noticed before that -she was a girl, for she had been nearly hidden behind -Teddy.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s your name?” asked Billie again.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nick Budd, ma’am,” answered the fellow, never -taking his eyes from Billie’s pretty face. “Son of -Tim Budd, the gardener up at Three Towers Hall.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh!” cried Billie delightedly, while Teddy himself -felt immensely relieved. “Then you will show -us the way home, won’t you? We’ll be ever so much -obliged to you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes’m,” said the poor simpleton, shuffling his -feet as though embarrassed. “I’ll show you right -away. But there’s a powerful lot o’ snow between -us and the Hall,” he added, as he turned to leave -the cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">Teddy started to take the candle to light them out, -but the simpleton, as though he had eyes in the back -of his head, turned upon Teddy furiously.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You let thet candle be,” he cried to the astonished -boy, while Billie shrank back in fresh alarm. -“You let thet candle be, I tell you! It’s my candle, -ain’t it?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Whew!” whistled Teddy, feeling a wild desire -to shout, yet afraid to do it for fear of angering -still more this poor idiot. “Yes, it’s your candle, old -man. Be sure you take good care of it. It’s very -precious.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The simpleton stared at him suspiciously for a -moment, then turned his back and led the way out -of the cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, Teddy, I’m scared to death,” whispered -Billie, as the boy grabbed tight hold of her hand and -started to follow Nick Budd.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You needn’t be,” he whispered back to her. “I -could clean up that little shrimp with one finger.” -Which observation, though extremely slangy, was -very comforting to Billie.</p> -<p class="pnext">They found the sled outside where Teddy had -dropped it when they entered the cave, and then there -began a long, hard struggle with the snow and the -wind that the boy and girl were to remember long -afterward.</p> -<p class="pnext">They did not talk much, for they were too busy -trying to keep up with Nick Budd as he floundered -through the snow, and breath was precious. However, -Billie did find a chance to ask the question that -had been looming bigger and bigger with each second.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Teddy, what do you suppose the boys and girls -will think of our disappearing like that?” she asked -him.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I suppose they’ll think we went off in an aeroplane -or something,” he answered, trying to be funny -and not succeeding very well.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well,” sighed Billie, “I only hope they won’t go -and say anything about it at school—not till we -get back and have a chance to explain, anyway.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Teddy glanced at her quickly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nobody would be mean enough to do that,” he -said, decidedly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No-o, I guess not,” agreed Billie, but in her heart -she was not at all sure. She was thinking of -Amanda Peabody.</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiithe-accusation"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id13">CHAPTER XII—THE ACCUSATION</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">Nick Budd, plunging on in the snow ahead of -the young folks, hardly once turned his head to look -back. Evidently he had made this trip often and -was used to wading through snow half-way to his -waist, for he went so swiftly that Teddy was -winded and Billie pretty nearly worn out when they -at last reached the road.</p> -<p class="pnext">Oh, but what a relief it was to step out on its -hard, crusty firmness after the yielding depth of -the snow in the field!</p> -<p class="pnext">Then Nick Budd turned and addressed them for -the first time since they had left the cave behind -them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“This here is the road thet leads to Three -Towers,” he told them, evidently in a sullen mood -again. “Jest foller straight and ye’ll git thar.” And -before either Teddy or Billie had a chance to thank -him he turned back without another word and -started to retrace his steps through the heavy snow, -leaving the two standing in the middle of the road -staring after him.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then Billie turned wonderingly to the boy.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Teddy, isn’t he the queerest thing?” she -breathed.</p> -<p class="pnext">Teddy nodded.</p> -<p class="pnext">“He sure is,” he said, soberly, adding slowly: -“I’m just wondering what made him so afraid that -we were going to put him in prison. He was scared -almost to death until we told him why we had -come.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But he’s a simpleton,” Billie pointed out. “Poor -thing, I don’t suppose you could count on anything -he says or does. People who aren’t ‘all there’ have -moods, don’t they?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Is that why you act so funny sometimes?” asked -Teddy with a grin, and Billie pouted most becomingly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I think you’re horrid,” she said, while Teddy’s -grin became still wider. “Come on, let’s get back. -I’m freezing to death. Don’t stand there grinning -like an ape,” she commanded, with an impatient -stamp of her foot. “You look silly.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Like Nick Budd?” asked Teddy good-naturedly, -and Billie had to smile. “Look here,” he added, -jerking the sled toward him and motioning to Billie -to sit on it. “We can get back much more quickly -if you let me pull you. Get aboard, Miss Billie, and -I’ll give you a regular sleighride.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh fine!” cried Billie, as she settled herself comfortably -on the big sled. “Only I’m ’fraid its rather -a long pull, Teddy. You may get tired.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Just watch me!” cried the boy, and galloped off -at a great rate, the sled, with Billie clinging wildly -to it, bumping and swaying over the hard and rough -road.</p> -<p class="pnext">Meantime the other boys and girls had been considerably -alarmed by Teddy’s and Billie’s abrupt -disappearance. At first they had supposed that the -two were simply playing a trick on them and would -appear when they got good and ready.</p> -<p class="pnext">But as time passed and nothing happened they -became worried, and even began to talk about a -search party.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Though how they could have got lost, I don’t -know,” Laura had said to an agitated group. “They -certainly know their way about here well enough.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Perhaps they got lost on purpose,” said a nasal -voice, and Billie’s chums turned indignantly to face -the speaker. It was Amanda, of course, and beside -her, so close as to have earned her the title of Amanda’s -“Shadow,” stood her friend and crony, Eliza -Dilks.</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura was about to retort furiously when Billie’s -brother Chet pushed her aside and faced Amanda.</p> -<p class="pnext">“If you were a boy, I’d know what to do to you -for saying a thing like that,” cried the boy, such fury -in his face that Amanda was frightened. “But since -you’re a girl I’ll just tell you to lay off that line of -talk. Billie Bradley is my sister.” As Chet said -the last words proudly there was many a girl present -who would have been glad to own a brother as -loyal as Chet Bradley.</p> -<p class="pnext">As Amanda muttered something to herself and -turned away angrily the boys and girls returned to -the discussion of Billie’s and Teddy’s mysterious -absence.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I think,” suggested Paul Martinson, his face -looking extremely worried, “that we had better -search through the woods thoroughly in case they -are lost. Something must have happened to them -to keep them away this long.”</p> -<p class="pnext">He had no sooner made the suggestion than it -was carried into effect, and the girls and boys scattered -through the woods in search of the two who -had disappeared.</p> -<p class="pnext">They returned in a little while, however, dispirited -and more anxious than ever. There was an attempt -to go on with the fun in the hope that Teddy and -Billie would return in a little while to laugh at their -fears, but it was no use. The fun lagged, and finally -the girls broke up the party altogether by declaring -their intention of going back to the school.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Billie may be at the Hall now for all we know,” -Connie said hopefully, as they started back along -the road. “She may have been cold or something -and asked Teddy to take her home.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Humph,” sniffed Laura, “that sounds a lot like -Billie.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Nevertheless they did hope that, foolish as it -sounded, Billie had returned to the Hall before them. -But when they reached there and found no sign of -either her or Teddy they were puzzled and more -worried than ever.</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys had gone on toward the Academy, and -there was not one of them who was not disturbed -in his mind. Teddy was as popular at the Academy -as Billie was at the Hall, and, besides, Billie was a -general favorite with all the lads.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ll wait a little while after I get back,” Chet -told them as they tramped back silently, their sleds -skidding along behind them, “and then I’ll call up -the Hall. If Billie isn’t back by then we’ll have to -notify the police—or something.”</p> -<p class="pnext">And at the Hall her classmates had decided to -wait a little while also before they reported Billie’s -disappearance to Miss Walters.</p> -<p class="pnext">Probably nothing serious had happened, they -argued, and if Miss Walters were notified Billie -might have a lot of explaining to do that otherwise -she would be saved.</p> -<p class="pnext">But as the minutes sped by and still no sign of -Billie, they fidgeted and squirmed and could set -their minds to nothing.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then suddenly Connie Danvers rushed into the -dormitory, her eyes blazing with wrath.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What do you suppose?” she cried, while the -girls gathered round her. “I met Caroline Brant in -the hall just now and she said that Amanda and -the ‘Shadow’ were spreading the report that Billie -and Teddy ran away on purpose.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, the sneak! The wretched little sneak!” -cried Laura, making a dash for the door. But she -stopped suddenly and ran back to Connie. “Has she -gone to Miss Walters with that report?” she asked, -her hands working as though she longed to get hold -of Amanda.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I don’t think so,” replied Connie. “She hasn’t -had time yet—Laura! where are you going?” for -Laura had started for the door again.</p> -<p class="pnext">“To find Amanda, of course,” Laura cried over -her shoulder, as she flung out of the room. “I’ll -see that she doesn’t get to Miss Walters with that -report.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“She has the right idea, girls,” said Vi excitedly. -“We mustn’t let Amanda say such things about -Billie. Why, if Miss Walters heard it, it would be -dreadful.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Come on then,” said Connie, adding recklessly: -“We’ll see that Amanda doesn’t squeal if we have -to gag her.”</p> -<p class="pnext">They found Amanda and her “Shadow” haranguing -a group of the younger girls at the end of the -hall on the first floor. Billie’s champions, coming -upon the group suddenly, overheard the last of -Amanda’s speech.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course her friends say that she didn’t do it -on purpose,” the girl was saying. “But I know -she did, and I’m going straight to Miss Walters and -tell her about it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura started toward the sneak, but she drew -back so suddenly as nearly to lose her balance and -had to be steadied by the girls behind her.</p> -<p class="pnext">For a familiar figure, hidden until that moment -by the shadows about the great entrance door, suddenly -swung into the light and faced Amanda.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now, what you have said behind my back,” rang -out a clear voice, “you can tell me to my face!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s Billie,” gasped Laura, in joyful relief. “Say, -but she looks good to me.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Come on. I have a notion she may need a little -help,” said Connie, as she made her way to Billie’s -side, causing the freshmen who had been Amanda’s -audience to scatter in panic. Laura and Vi and -several others followed, but Billie did not seem to -notice them.</p> -<p class="pnext">Her eyes were still upon Amanda. The latter, -taken by surprise, at first looked about her for some -means of escape. Then, seeing that she was cornered, -she straightened up defiantly and the usual -sneer overspread her mean features.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, all right,” she said. “I’m not afraid to tell -the truth if <em class="italics">you are</em>. Did you and Teddy Jordon -have a good time when you ran away to-day?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s false!” cried Billie furiously. “And I’ll -make you take it back!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s this? What’s this?” interrupted a cool -voice behind them, and Billie turned with tears of -rage in her eyes to face Miss Arbuckle.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Miss Arbuckle,” she pleaded tensely, “make her -take it back—what she said about me. It isn’t true! -Oh, it isn’t true!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiiibillie-is-chosen"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id14">CHAPTER XIII—BILLIE IS CHOSEN</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">Miss Arbuckle laid a kindly hand on Billie’s -shoulder and looked at Amanda inquiringly. The -latter was smiling triumphantly. Billie had done -what she had hoped she would do. She, Amanda, -would tell what in her mean little mind she really -thought was the truth, and get Billie in bad with -the powers-that-be.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What is this that you are telling about Beatrice, -Amanda?” asked Miss Arbuckle, adding, impatient -of Amanda’s grin: “Be quick about it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“She and Teddy Jordon ran off together to-day -and were gone for about three hours,” she said -triumphantly. “Billie just came in.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie’s eyes, black in her white, set face, looked -up at Miss Arbuckle steadily.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I didn’t do it, Miss Arbuckle,” she said, her lip -quivering. “I—I couldn’t.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I know you couldn’t, Billie Bradley,” said Miss -Arbuckle, so unexpectedly that Amanda’s mouth -dropped open from sheer surprise. “There must be -some mistake.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But they were away together for three hours,” -Amanda repeated, angry at having this tempting -morsel of revenge snatched away from her at the -last minute. “I know it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“That will do, Amanda,” said Miss Arbuckle -sternly. “You have been guilty several times of -starting stories about the girls that have had absolutely -no foundation in truth. And I warn you that -if you are caught again in this mischief it may mean -serious trouble for you.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You say,” she added turning soberly to Billie, -“that you and Teddy Jordon did <em class="italics">not</em> leave the other -boys and girls this morning?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, yes, we did,” said Billie, so eager to explain -that her words tripped all over themselves. “Only -we didn’t do it on purpose.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Arbuckle looked grave and Amanda’s triumphant -leer returned.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Please let me explain——” began poor Billie, -but the teacher interrupted her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, I want you to,” she said. “Only not just -now. Come to me to-morrow morning at nine, -Billie. And I want you to be there also, Amanda. -In the meantime,” she added to the latter, “you will -make no mention of this affair in any way. Do you -understand?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Amanda nodded sullenly and at Miss Arbuckle’s -command the small group of girls that had gathered -dispersed to their various dormitories, talking -excitedly of what had happened.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie was too tired and cold and worn out with -conflicting emotions to talk much at first. But -under the tireless cross-questioning of the girls she -gradually began to give them the story of her -remarkable adventure.</p> -<p class="pnext">They were very much excited about Nick Budd -and the cave, and declared that they must visit it -and Billie must show them the way.</p> -<p class="pnext">But Billie, who was comfortably stretched out -on her bed with Vi rubbing one half-frozen hand -and Laura the other, absolutely denied that she -would do anything of the sort.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It sounds very interesting now,” she said. “But -I tell you I was scared to death while it lasted. I -wouldn’t go back to that place for a million dollars. -Oh, girls,” she added, stretching luxuriously, “you -don’t know how heavenly it feels just to be where -it’s warm.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Didn’t Teddy keep you warm?” asked Rose -Belser, wickedly, but just then the door opened and -Amanda came into the room. Needless to say, -Billie did not answer the question.</p> -<p class="pnext">Promptly at nine o’clock the next morning Billie -went to Miss Arbuckle and told her the story of the -yesterday’s adventure just as it had happened, and -Miss Arbuckle, to Amanda’s immense disgust, -believed her. A little talk by the teacher on the -wisdom of taking fewer chances in the future ended -the interview to which Billie had been looking forward -with not a little dread. And Amanda found -herself once more facing the problem of how “to -get even with Billie Bradley.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls talked and wondered about the queer -little cave and simple Nick Budd, but as the days -went on and they were whirled into a veritable -mælstrom of quizzes and examinations, they gradually -forgot the incident.</p> -<p class="pnext">It seemed that the school work was to be unusually -interesting that year. There were the usual -number of essays to be written, and for one Miss -Walters had offered a prize to the girl turning in the -best work.</p> -<p class="pnext">The title of the essay was “The World’s Greatest -Generals,” and any girl in the school was entitled -to try for it. There were other prizes offered, too, -but Billie, whose mark in English was usually the -highest in her class, thought that she would try for -the composition prize.</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura and Connie and Rose Belser were going -to enter the lists with her, but Vi and Nellie Bane -decided to try for the highest mark in geometry.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Working for a prize makes the work seem more -like a game,” said Connie as she happily looked up -her “greatest generals.” “I’m as excited as if I -were going to a party.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, you’d better not get too excited,” advised -Vi, pulling a lock of her hair absently in order to -solve a particularly steep problem in her beloved -geometry. “Billie is sure to come off with the -essay prize.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, she is, is she?” spoke up Rose, who had set -her heart on the essay prize herself and who could -never quite stifle her former jealousy of Billie. -“Well, maybe she is, but I’m going to give her a -run for her money just the same.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Good!” cried Billie, looking up from her book -and smiling sunnily at Rose. “That’s the kind of -game I like to play.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And how about us?” said Laura, smiling ruefully -over at fluffy-haired Connie. “We don’t seem -to be in this at all.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Besides their studies, the girls had the Ghost Club -to think about and the importance of initiating new -members. They had decided upon two of the freshmen -for the honor, one, a fair-haired intelligent -girl named Ann Fleming and the second a laughing -imp of a girl with red hair and red-brown eyes who -bore the name of Ada Slope.</p> -<p class="pnext">Both girls stood well in their studies and showed -a remarkable popularity among their classmates -considering the short time they had been at the Hall.</p> -<p class="pnext">And of course they were overwhelmed with joy -when Billie drew them aside one day and ordered -them to be in the gymnasium at not later than nine -o’clock that night.</p> -<p class="pnext">They were there before nine, shivering in the -darkness of the big gymnasium and wishing that -this fearful business of being initiated were over -and done with.</p> -<p class="pnext">A few minutes later the “ghosts” arrived and put -the girls through a series of trials that tested their -courage and endurance to the limit.</p> -<p class="pnext">They were made to “walk the plank” blindfolded; -they were prepared for “branding with a red-hot -poker” and then touched with a lump of ice that -made them cry out in imagined pain; they were -handed all sorts of slimy things, harmless in themselves -but terrifying to the overstrained nerves of -the girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">But they came out of the test with flying colors, -and the members of the club were well satisfied with -their choice.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And now,” said Rose Belser—who was still -president of the club—as the handkerchiefs were -removed from the eyes of the new members, “we are -about to put to the test a new rule suggested by a -fellow ghost.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls held their breath, for the announcement -was a surprise to all but Billie, who had herself made -the suggestion.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It occurred to this fellow-member of our illustrious -club,” Rose went on in a deep voice, looking -very weird and ghostly in her long white ceremonial -robe, with only slits cut in it for the eyes and -nose and mouth, “that it is only fair to the new -members who have stood the test, to suggest some -difficult feat for one of the old members to perform—this -person to be chosen by the new members -of the club.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls were silent for a moment, sitting there -like so many actual ghosts in their white robes, and -they thrilled with excitement as they realized the -possibilities of the new rule if it should be accepted.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was fair, for it would give the girls who had -gone through the hazing a chance to “get even,” -and it would also be lots of fun for themselves. -So when Rose called in a sepulchral voice for a vote, -there was a unanimous cry of “aye.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie smiled under her white mask gleefully. She -had known that the girls would be good sports.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The suggestion has been unanimously accepted,” -Rose rumbled on in the deep voice she adopted for -such occasions. “Fellow ghosts, we will now withdraw -and give our fellow members a chance to consult -upon this important topic.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“You don’t have to withdraw,” cried red-haired -Ada Slope, with a giggle that she could not entirely -suppress, despite the “seriousness of the occasion.” -“I’ll give a nickel to any girl who will climb up into -tower number three with only a candle to see by.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And I’ll give a dime,” said Ann Fleming decidedly.</p> -<p class="pnext">A ripple of very human laughter ran through -the ghosts, and Rose had to demand order three -times before she was obeyed.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Very well,” she said then. “Our new members -have decided. It now remains for them to select -one among our number to do this mighty deed. -Advance, new members of the Ghost Club! -Choose!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Ann Fleming put out her hand and touched one -white-robed figure.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I choose this one,” she said.</p> -<p class="pnext">“’Tis done!” cried Ada Slope, dramatically.</p> -<p class="pnext">Oh, poetic justice! For the chosen one was -Billie!</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiva-blood-stained-handkerchief"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15">CHAPTER XIV—A BLOOD-STAINED HANDKERCHIEF</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">The next problem was to find the candle for the -“ghost” to carry up to the gloomy heights of tower -number three. Ada Slope, little minx that she was, -had chosen this particular one of the three towers -for which the Hall was named, because of a legend -among the girls, starting from goodness knows -where, that this tower was haunted.</p> -<p class="pnext">Now Billie was not by any means a coward, and -she had proved by her behavior in the spooky old -mansion at Cherry Corners that she was not inclined -to belief in or fear of ghosts.</p> -<p class="pnext">Yet when Ada Slope ran hastily up to her room -and returned bearing a tiny Christmas candle, which -was all that Billie was to have to accompany her -on her perilous journey, it must be admitted that her -heart began to beat a little faster and she was guilty -for a moment of wishing that Ada Slope had picked -on any other girl but herself.</p> -<p class="pnext">However, she acted so perfectly that there was -not one of her chums but who thought that she was -delighted at the chance to explore the gloomy old -tower—with one little candle for company!</p> -<p class="pnext">“Suppose—” she thought to herself as Laura -lighted the candle for her—or at least she thought -it was Laura; they all looked pretty much alike in -their ghostly robes—“suppose it should go out when -I reach the top of the tower and I should have to -find my way back in the dark!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Courage,” Rose Belser cried, as she pushed -Billie toward the door, the candle flickering in her -hand. “There are those who say that tower number -three is haunted. But let me remind you, friend, -that a ghost is never afraid of a ghost. Farewell!”</p> -<p class="pnext">This was not a very encouraging speech, though -Billie could not help giggling about it as she climbed -the back stairs to the first floor.</p> -<p class="pnext">The house was as still as death, for it was after -ten o’clock now, and everybody, even Miss Walters, -seemed to be in bed.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie almost ran up the second and third flights, -stumbling over her white robe and shielding the -flickering candle with her hand for fear it would -go out.</p> -<p class="pnext">When she reached the fourth floor, which was -really the attic, she went more slowly, for the place -was dark and “spooky”—so she said—and the noise -of her footsteps frightened her. The tiny light of -her candle seemed to make the shadowy corners of -the place all the more startlingly black.</p> -<p class="pnext">Once she thought she heard a noise and stopped -short, her heart beating suffocatingly in her throat. -But it was only the wind sighing drearily around -the place, and she went on again, more slowly now, -starting at every real or imaginary sound.</p> -<p class="pnext">The stairway that led to the third tower was at -the very end of the long attic, and as she came near -to it Billie’s courage almost failed her. It seemed -to her that something sinister and terrible was -closing in around her, and she pressed her hand -against her mouth to keep from screaming.</p> -<p class="pnext">She could see the dim outline of the stairway -right before her, but she was afraid to go forward—and -she dared not go back.</p> -<p class="pnext">What would the girls say if she went back to them -and confessed that she had been too cowardly to -stand the test? She would be disgraced forever in -the eyes of her chums, her reputation for daring and -bravery would be gone, she might even be asked to -resign from the Ghost Club.</p> -<p class="pnext">For a long minute she stood there, fighting the -desire to rush back to friends and human companionship. -Then, with a sharp intake of breath, she -forced herself to approach the stairs.</p> -<p class="pnext">With every step she stopped and listened, glancing -about her fearfully. But nothing save the sound -of her own rapid breathing broke the musty, heavy -silence of the place.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I must go on, I must go on!” she kept telling herself -over and over again. “To the very top of the -tower—to the top of the tower——”</p> -<p class="pnext">What was that?</p> -<p class="pnext">A rattling, a scurrying, a scratching of tiny feet -across the floor. Billie screamed, but stifled the -sound half way by stuffing a handkerchief into her -mouth. Her eyes were wide with terror, her hair -began to stand on end, and with a little moan she -made a rush for the stairs up which she had come -a minute before.</p> -<p class="pnext">She had almost reached them when by the light -of her candle she saw something running across the -floor. It was a mouse. Weakly she leaned against -the wall, trying to summon what remained of her -courage.</p> -<p class="pnext">“They’re only mice, silly—they can’t hurt you,” -she told herself, while her hand shook so that she -could scarcely hold the candle. Then a sudden -thought made her start back for the tower stairs -almost on a run. The candle was burning low. -She must hurry or she would be left in the dark. -Just a quick dive up the stairs to the tower room and -the deed would be done. She could go back then, -to friends and lights and adulation. For she would -be able to tell them proudly that she had done what -no other girl had dared to do—climbed to the top -of tower three.</p> -<p class="pnext">With such thoughts she bolstered up her courage -and ran swiftly up the stairs. But the “swish” of -her garments in that silent place frightened her and -she stopped before she had quite reached the top. -She listened intently.</p> -<p class="pnext">Was it imagination, or had she really heard that -eerie whisper in her ear, felt the soft brushing of a -dress against hers? Of course it was only imagination. -She mustn’t think such things or she could -never climb to the top of those hateful stairs. She -must go on and on—to the top—the very top—Again -that scurrying and squealing as she disturbed -another nest of mice. She grasped the banister -frantically to steady herself.</p> -<p class="pnext">She must go up—up——Finally she had reached -the top of the stairs, and for one joyful minute she -thought that she had climbed to the top of the tower. -She could go back again to the girls—she had turned -toward the stairs when her eye fell on an object that -made her breath catch in her throat.</p> -<p class="pnext">Revealed by the uncertain flare of the candle was -a ladder, leading apparently to some room above. -Of course, that must be the tower room. Then she -still had some climbing to do before her task was -finished.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie’s heart sank as she approached the ladder, -stumbling over bits of junk and rubbish that littered -the floor. She must hurry, too, for the candle was -burning down and she must not be left in the dark -in that place. She would go crazy—or something.</p> -<p class="pnext">Outside the wind was rising, and it wailed around -the corners of the old building with an unspeakably -weird and mournful sound that filled Billie with a -dreadful premonition of evil.</p> -<p class="pnext">She really felt, as she hesitated at the foot of the -ladder, that she must get back to the girls or she -would go mad. Her knees were trembling so that -she was afraid she could never climb the ladder to -the top.</p> -<p class="pnext">But she must do it or go back to the girls disgraced.</p> -<p class="pnext">One hand grasped the rung above her head while -the other held aloft the flickering candle and she -began the difficult climb, hampered by the long white -robe that clung like something alive about her -ankles and by the necessity of holding the candle.</p> -<p class="pnext">Four rungs, five rungs, six rungs—was the ladder -a mile long? she wondered, while the wind wailed -still more dismally about the house.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then at last she reached the top. Her candle -showed a small door not more than four feet high—the -door to the tower room.</p> -<p class="pnext">Her hand felt for the knob. She grasped it. -The door was locked. To make sure, Billie gave -the door a vigorous shake, and as it did so something -white and soft fluttered to her feet and fell on -the top rung of the ladder.</p> -<p class="pnext">For a minute Billie felt faint and dizzy, and she -had to cling to the ladder desperately to keep from -falling.</p> -<p class="pnext">The next moment she saw that what had frightened -her was only a handkerchief, and she stooped -to pick it up. It was old and stained. What was -that stain upon it?</p> -<p class="pnext">She brought the little square of linen closer to her -eyes and then with a stifled scream she flung it from -her while the candle fell from her nerveless fingers -and went out, leaving her in the dark.</p> -<p class="pnext">The stain on the handkerchief was <em class="italics">blood</em>!</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie never remembers to this day how she got -out of that awful place. Someway she half fell, -half scrambled down the ladder, stumbled and fell -and stumbled again in her mad rush across the pitch-black -attic to the head of the stairs.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then down, down, down, a countless number of -stairs that came up and hit her in the face—down, -down to the gymnasium where thousands of ghostly -figures rushed at her——</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, what could have happened to have frightened -her so?” she heard a voice saying from a long, -long distance, and she opened her eyes to find -Laura’s white face bending anxiously over her while -other white-faced girls stared at her pityingly.</p> -<p class="pnext">She struggled to her feet, but her knees wavered -so that she sat down again quite suddenly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s the matter with you all?” she asked, then -as the memory of what had happened came back to -her in a flood she shuddered and instinctively she -looked down at her hands to see if they still held -that piece of linen with the stains upon it.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, I remember,” she murmured, as though -talking to herself. The girls were watching her -anxiously. “I threw it away.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What, honey?” asked Laura gently.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The blood-stained handkerchief!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xva-discovery"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16">CHAPTER XV—A DISCOVERY</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">It took the other girls some time to get the whole -story from Billie, but when she had stammered it -out to them they broke into a babel of excited -exclamations that threatened to bring one of the -teachers to their hiding place.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was Billie herself who thought of this danger -and who finally managed to calm them down a -little.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Not so loud,” she entreated, still feeling faint -and shaky from her experience. “You know what -will happen if somebody finds us here.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But Billie,” protested Laura, though her voice -sank to a more cautious whisper, “we’ve got to do -something about it, you know. There may have -been a murder or something up there.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Perhaps we’d better all go back with Billie and -try to get into that little room at the head of the -ladder,” suggested one of the girls, but the mere -idea made Billie shudder.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You can go,” she said decidedly. “But I’m -through for to-night.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, well, if you won’t go,” said the girl dejectedly, -“it’s all off, of course. We need a guide——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I don’t see why,” protested Billie. “Nobody -gave me a guide.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“No. And it was a shame to send you away up -there all alone,” said Vi, putting a protecting arm -about her. “It’s a wonder you didn’t die of fright.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I suppose,” said Ann Fleming, thoughtfully, -“we might tell one of the teachers about it—or -Miss Walters, perhaps—and she could go with us -up to the tower——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Say,” interrupted Rose Belser with her most -pronounced drawl, as she looked contemptuously -upon the freshman who had proposed so foolish a -thing, “it’s easy to see you haven’t been at Three -Towers long, Ann. Now just what do you suppose -would happen if we told Miss Walters that we were -up after hours initiating and doing stunts?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I—I didn’t think of that,” stammered Ann, -completely crushed.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I thought you didn’t,” answered Rose dryly.</p> -<p class="pnext">For some time afterward the girls discussed in -awed whispers the startling thing that had happened, -and then somebody suddenly conceived the idea that -it would not be a bad thing to go to bed.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie was looking very white and shaky after her -ordeal. Then, too, it was getting late, and there -was always the chance of discovery by some “over-curious -teacher.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But I’ll never, never, sleep a wink,” said Vi, as -they filed ghost-like out of the gymnasium. “I know -I’ll be dreaming of blood-stained handkerchiefs all -night long.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And I don’t think it’s fair,” pouted Connie, -“for Billie to have all the adventures. First she gets -lost with Teddy and discovers a perfectly good cave, -and then she unearths a thrilling mystery, like this. -Too much good luck for one person.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Good luck!” repeated Billie ruefully. “Well, if -you call <em class="italics">that</em> good luck, I certainly would hate to -be the one to find out what bad luck is.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Hush,” ordered Rose, once more assuming the -deep voice of the head of the ghosts. “Some one -may hear you and we’ll all be shot at sunrise.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I never get up that early,” giggled Laura.</p> -<p class="pnext">Many and varied were the plans the girls made -for a storming of tower number three in the hope -of solving the mystery of that little locked door and -the blood-stained handkerchief. However, there -seemed to be so many obstacles in the way of carrying -out these plans that they reluctantly decided to -give up the idea, at least for the time being.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And, anyway,” Laura had said in one of their -discussions, “the blood stains on that handkerchief -might not have meant anything mysterious at all. -Maybe somebody had a nose-bleed.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“How romantic!” drawled Rose while the other -girls giggled at the idea.</p> -<p class="pnext">Their studies and the race for prizes absorbed -the classmates in the days that followed and gradually -the mystery, if indeed it was a mystery, faded -from their minds.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie worked hard, and thought she was getting -along finely. She commenced to grow a trifle pale, -and at this Vi and Laura shook their heads.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t overdo it, Billie,” said Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No kind of prize is worth one’s health,” added -Laura.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t worry about me,” declared Billie, with a -smile. “I know what you want to do—make me -let up so you can pass me.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, you know better than that!” cried Laura.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course she does,” came from Vi. “Now remember, -don’t study so hard that you get sick.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“No danger,” retorted Billie airily.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was nearly a week later when Billie suddenly -realized that there was another thing they had -almost forgotten, and that was Polly Haddon and -her unhappy little family.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And poor little Peter!” said Vi penitently, when -Billie spoke to her about it. “He must be either -better or dead by this time.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Suppose we go over to-morrow”—the next day -being Saturday—Laura suggested. “We can walk -to town first. Or maybe we can get Tim Budd to -drive us over in the wagon. We can get some good -canned stuff, soups and things, and take them over -to the Haddons when we go.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The next day the girls sought out Tim Budd, who -was the gardener at the Hall and who was also, alas! -the father of poor, simple Nick Budd with whom -Teddy and Billie had had so queer an experience. -After a great deal of coaxing, they succeeded in getting -the gardener to take them to town in the carryall. -From this it may be seen that Tim acted as -chauffeur also upon occasion.</p> -<p class="pnext">They were in hilarious spirits all the way to the -town and back again, and it was not until they had -almost reached Three Towers that Vi made a suggestion -that somehow clouded their faces.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Suppose she won’t accept these things?” she -said, giving the well-stocked basket at her feet a -little shove. “You said yourself she was awfully -proud, Billie.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie looked sober for a moment, but Laura, as -ever, found something to laugh at.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Why worry about that?” said the incorrigible -one, gaily. “If she doesn’t want ’em we’ll have a -midnight feast and use them ourselves.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Tim Budd let them out at the Hall and they -walked the rest of the way to the little cottage. -Mrs. Haddon herself opened the door, but she -looked so pale and wan that they hardly recognized -her.</p> -<p class="pnext">The woman welcomed the girls absently, as if -her mind were a great way off, but when her eyes -fell on the basket a resigned little smile played about -her lips.</p> -<p class="pnext">“More charity,” she muttered, as though to herself. -“Well, I will take it because I must. But I’ll -pay it back.” She turned proudly upon the girls -and her fine eyes flashed. “No one can say of -Polly Haddon that she left her debts unpaid.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Taken aback by this unexpected declaration, the -girls said nothing, but shifted their feet uneasily, -wishing fervently that Polly Haddon would turn the -fire of her black eyes on something else.</p> -<p class="pnext">But almost instantly the woman’s mood became -softer, and, seeing the girls’ embarrassment, she -tried to put them at their ease.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Thank you so much,” she said. “Won’t you sit -down? The basket is heavy and you have come a -long way.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls, not knowing what else to do, sat down -on the three spindly chairs awkwardly enough, and -Laura and Vi sent distress signals Billie-wards. -For Billie was always their spokesman.</p> -<p class="pnext">So Billie, who had been as much abashed as any -of them at their rather queer reception, found her -tongue with difficulty and asked Mrs. Haddon how -Peter was.</p> -<p class="pnext">“He is dreadfully low,” Mrs. Haddon answered -softly. Her head drooped wearily and her hands -were crossed listlessly in front of her. “The doctor -says it is not even an even chance whether he lives -or dies.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls murmured their very real sympathy, -and Billie started to ask another question when the -door at the other end of the room opened and the -two little girls, Mary and Isabel, entered.</p> -<p class="pnext">At sight of the visitors they looked startled and -started to retreat, but their mother called to them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Come here,” she said, and the children sidled -slowly up to her where they stood, their large eyes -fixed shyly on the girls. “Don’t you know these -young ladies?” asked the mother, putting an arm -about each of the poor little thin things caressingly -and drawing them up close to her. “They are the -ones who brought you home that day that you were -naughty and ran away, and they have been very kind -to us since.”</p> -<p class="pnext">There was a slight sound from the room beyond -where poor little Peter lay so desperately ill, and -Mrs. Haddon rose suddenly, leaving the two little -girls and the three big girls together.</p> -<p class="pnext">It would have been hard to tell at first who was -the most embarrassed. But as no children had ever -known to resist Billie for very long, the two -little Haddons were soon won over and chatted to -the three big girls in careless, innocent child fashion.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We get good things to eat now,” said Isabel, -confidentially, speaking of the thing that loomed -biggest and most important in her starved little life. -“A man comes almost every night with a basket—just -like this,” and she eyed the basket which the -girls had brought with hungry eyes.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, an’ he’s a funny little man, too,” added -Mary, her big eyes round with eagerness. “He has -whiskers and he stoops—dreadful.”</p> -<p class="pnext">A glance of understanding passed between the -chums.</p> -<p class="pnext">“That description——” Vi began.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Suits Tim Budd——” added Laura.</p> -<p class="pnext">“To a T,” finished Billie.</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xvichristmas-cheer"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17">CHAPTER XVI—CHRISTMAS CHEER</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">So Miss Walters was seeing to it that Polly -Haddon received food regularly—“almost every -night!” Of course Miss Walters had promised to -look out for the family, but the girls had hardly -expected her to be so generous.</p> -<p class="pnext">And while they were still turning the revelation -over wonderingly in their minds, Polly Haddon -called to them softly from the other room.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was a bare little room into which they stepped—barer -and poorer than even they had imagined. -And in the midst of a little iron bed lay Peter, so -pathetically white and emaciated that it tore their -hearts to look at him.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Is he very bad?” asked Billie, turning to weary-eyed -Polly Haddon.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The doctor says he almost surely will die,” -answered the latter in a toneless voice. “He has -just one chance out of a hundred.”</p> -<p class="pnext">And as though speaking the doctor’s name had -brought him there, the big man himself entered at -that moment and the girls took that opportunity to -say good-bye.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Poor little Peter,” sighed Billie, as they walked -slowly homeward. “I suppose if he dies poor Mrs. -Haddon will nearly die too.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wish there was something we could do,” said -Vi, frowning.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I don’t know what more we could do than we -have done,” said Laura gloomily.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Except,” said Billie thoughtfully, her eyes fixed -on the far horizon, “find that invention of hers. -I imagine that would make her so happy that she -might even persuade poor little Peter to live.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Good gracious!” cried Laura, throwing up her -hands in a despairing gesture. “She’s raving again, -girls, she’s raving again!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie laughed, but her eyes were still very thoughtful.</p> -<p class="pnext">But the holiday season was upon them and it -was impossible for the girls to be gloomy or unhappy -for very long. They wished with all their hearts -that Polly Haddon and her pathetic little brood -might be made happy and prosperous once more, -but even while they were wishing they could not -shake off the exultant thought that Christmas was -coming. And Christmas to most of them meant -home and family and turkeys and cranberry sauce -and presents—oh, oodles of presents!</p> -<p class="pnext">“No holiday quite as good as good old Christmas,” -observed Laura, gaily, as she danced around -with a package she had just been doing up in a red -ribbon.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’m with you on that,” declared Billie. “Oh, -do you know, sometimes I can hardly wait until -Christmas comes!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But you’ll wait just the same,” drawled Vi. -“We all will.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s waiting that makes it worth while,” declared -Billie. “It’s like the small boy and the circus. -Tell him in the morning that you will take him in -the afternoon and it doesn’t amount to much. But -tell him a month ahead and he’ll get a whole month’s -fun out of it before it comes off.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“All right, Billie, I’ll tell you a secret,” whispered -Vi, with a twinkle in her eyes. “About a year from -now we’ll have another Christmas. Now is your -time to start thinking about it.” And then there -were giggles all around.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ll wait for one Christmas to be over before I -think of the next,” declared Billie.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie had asked Connie Danvers to come home -with her for over the holidays, but Connie, after, -writing eagerly home for permission, had had to -refuse the invitation. Mrs. Danvers thanked Mrs. -Bradley and Billie, but there was to be a big reunion -of the Danvers family that Christmas and they had -all counted on having Connie with them. If Billie -could come home with Connie for Christmas—but -here Billie shook her head decidedly, though the -invitation was an enticing one. She knew that her -mother would certainly want her at home for the -most wonderful day in all the year.</p> -<p class="pnext">And so when the time came, the classmates went -their several ways after many fond embraces had -been exchanged—to say nothing of various mysterious -little green- and red-ribboned parcels.</p> -<p class="pnext">The Christmas spirit is a wonderful thing, intangible, -yet so real that even the most hardened old -reprobate will thrill to the magic of it. And as these -girls were neither hardened nor reprobates, they -were kept in a continual state of excitement and joyful -anticipation for two whole weeks before the -great day arrived.</p> -<p class="pnext">Ever since the opening of Three Towers Hall in -the fall, the girls had used their spare moments to -sew on little mysterious things which were immediately -hidden upon the arrival of any of their fellow -students, and now these same pieces of needlework -began to blossom forth in gay be-ribboned -boxes that passed between the girls in a continual -stream.</p> -<p class="pnext">Sometimes one would be found between the sheets -of a girl’s bed when she jumped in at night and the -touch of it would elicit a muffled shriek, to be followed -by hysterical giggles when the gift was pulled -from its hiding place and disclosed in all its glory to -be admired and exclaimed over by the girls who had -not been lucky enough to bark their shins on gifts -of their own.</p> -<p class="pnext">And sometimes another be-ribboned parcel would -find its way into the stocking of a lucky maiden -while she slept or be discovered in an out-of-the-way -corner of her desk, nearly covered by books and -papers.</p> -<p class="pnext">And as the time drew still nearer, even interest -in their studies flagged, and the teachers, wisely -forbearing to force them, entered into the fun themselves, -knowing that one could not study much while -the Christmas cheer was in the air.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls had fondly hoped that Teddy and Chet -and Ferd would be able to make the return trip -with them, but as Boxton Academy did not close -for the holidays until the day after the official closing -of Three Towers, the girls were forced to give -up the idea.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, well,” Billie said resignedly, “as long as they -get there for Christmas it will be time enough.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The day of release came at last and found the -three North Bend girls doing a two-step of impatience -on the station platform, waiting for the train, -which was already half an hour late.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Goodness, but your bag looks stuffed, Billie,” -remarked Laura, stopping before Billie’s big suitcase -whose bulging sides did look as though they might -burst at any moment and disgorge the contents.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It has twenty presents in it,” confided Billie, -surveying her fat property with a loving eye. “I -only hope it holds out till we get home, that’s all!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Then the train puffed around the bend and slowed -up to the station. And several hours later three very -much flushed, very much excited, and very pretty -young girls popped off the train at North Bend and -straight into the arms of their doting families.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Merry Christmas!” they cried to every one in -general and no one in particular. “Merry Christmas! -Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Oh, -isn’t it glorious to be at home!”</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys arrived the next day, and they all had a -great reunion at Billie’s home, where they exchanged -presents and talked in hushed tones of what they -hoped that Santa Claus would bring them—to-morrow! -For this was Christmas Eve!</p> -<p class="pnext">But the party broke up soon, and they all went -to bed early so that they could get up at six o’clock -the next morning—at the very latest.</p> -<p class="pnext">Oh, the fun of anticipating and the joy of Christmas -Day. First of all, the bulging stocking with -its lumps of coal and pieces of carefully wrapped -sugar with really pretty things stuck in between.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then the mad rush for the Christmas tree and the -admiring exclamations over its glittering beauty. -And then—the opening of the gay, be-ribboned -boxes. The laughter, the joy, the tears, as each -little parcel disclosed something prettier or funnier -or dearer than the last. It was all so wonderful -that it was a pity it could not have lasted forever.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then, after Christmas, one glorious, ecstatic week -of fun that passed like a day. There were dances -and parties and sleighrides and so many other festivities -that there was hardly a minute of the day -that was not accounted for.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was not till the week was almost over that the -girls thought penitently of the Haddons.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wonder,” said Billie, as she turned over and -over in her fingers a ten dollar gold piece that had -been a gift from an aunt, “what kind of Christmas -poor little Peter has had.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, for goodness’ sake, Billie!” Laura replied a -little impatiently, “what is the use of spoiling all our -fun by bringing up the unhappiness of some one -else? We can’t help it if the Haddons haven’t had -as nice a Christmas as we have. We certainly have -done all we could.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Vi had been eyeing Billie’s gold piece, and -suddenly she had a bright idea all her own.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Listen,” she said, pulling out her pocket book -and fumbling in it eagerly. She brought out a glistening -five dollar gold piece. “We all got a little -money in gold this Christmas. Suppose we do it up -in a box and leave it at the Haddons’ door when we -get back. We have enough money to get along with -for the rest of the term, anyway.”</p> -<p class="pnext">For a moment Laura looked a little undecided, but -Billie jumped up, ran over to Vi and hugged her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You’re a perfect angel!” she cried. “That’s just -exactly what I was thinking myself. Only I wasn’t -going to ask you girls. I was just going to leave -mine and say nothing about it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, well,” grumbled Laura, taking her own -bright coin from its hiding place and handing it over -reluctantly. “If you girls are going to be foolish -I suppose I’ve got to be too. Only it’s no joke,” -she added, in a plaintive tone that made the girls -giggle, “when you think of all the sodas and candy -it would buy!”</p> -<p class="pnext">At last the long anticipated holidays were at an -end and after a few days of readjustment at the -school, the classmates settled down to work in earnest. -For the rest of the semester was crowded with -work and the prizes were held out as a glittering bait -to spur them on to fresh endeavor.</p> -<p class="pnext">Only once, after their return to the Hall, the -girls found time to run over to see the Haddons, -hoping to be able to hide the generous gift they had -decided to make in some inconspicuous place where -it would not be discovered until they had had time -to make their escape.</p> -<p class="pnext">Polly Haddon seemed very glad indeed to see -them, but she had no good news to report of Peter. -He was still very low, but the doctor, great man -that he was, was bending every energy to bring him -through.</p> -<p class="pnext">“But he will die,” said the mother, despairingly. -“There is so little left of him now that I wonder -that every breath he draws is not his last. Oh, my -little boy! My poor little boy! I’ll not let him be -taken from me!”</p> -<p class="pnext">They comforted her as best they could, and then -Billie, to the astonishment of her chums, began asking -questions about the knitting machinery model, -the disappearance of which had so changed life for -this distracted woman.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Was the model large or was it small, so that it -could easily be stolen and hidden away?” she asked, -while Polly Haddon looked up at her with something -like surprise in her black eyes.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It was large,” she answered. “And rather -heavy. It could not be easily stolen, and neither -could it have been hidden away in any small place. -That is why we wondered. But why do you ask?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I don’t know,” answered Billie honestly. “Perhaps -it is just because I would like to help you so -much.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The woman reached over and patted her hand -gently, but her eyes had become listless again.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You—everybody—have been so good to me,” she -said, tonelessly. “I don’t know why you have been -so good—no one ever was before. But there is one -thing you can not do for me. You can not restore -my poor husband’s invention, the loss of which -caused his death. That would be a miracle. And in -these days no one is working miracles.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Mrs. Haddon left the room for a moment, and in -that moment Billie slipped the little box containing -their three precious gold pieces behind the alarm -clock that stood on a shelf over the sink.</p> -<p class="pnext">The woman returned before Billie had quite finished, -but she was too worried and anxious and -unhappy to notice anything unusual. And the little -box was still safe in its hiding place when the girls -took their leave a few minutes later.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Won’t she be surprised when she finds it?” -crowed Vi delightedly. “I feel like Santa Claus.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, you don’t look like it,” returned Laura, -“Your face isn’t red enough.”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xviibillie-on-guard"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18">CHAPTER XVII—BILLIE ON GUARD</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">From this remark of Laura’s it may be easily -seen that she was still a little grouchy about having -to give up five dollars’ worth of sodas and candy. -But away down in her heart she derived more real -pleasure from the thought of what her gold piece -would buy for the Haddons than she would out of -a great deal more than five dollars’ worth of pleasure -for herself.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Billie,” spoke up Vi suddenly after they had -walked some little way in silence, “what did you ask -Mrs. Haddon about that lost invention for?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, it sounded as if you really knew something -about it,” Laura took her up eagerly. “You don’t, -do you?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Not a thing in the world,” Billie replied quickly. -“Only,” she added slowly, the same thoughtful look -in her eyes that had been there before, “so many -queer things have happened to me lately that I’m -getting sort of queer myself, I guess. I can’t help -thinking about that cave Teddy and I found.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, I don’t blame you for thinking of it,” said -Laura, looking curiously at her chum. “I think of it -myself—quite often. But what has that to do with -the stolen machinery models?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nothing, of course,” said Billie, adding as the -three towers of the grand old Hall loomed into -view. “But I would like to have a look at the inside -of that cave again. Maybe the models were taken -there and broken up. The cave was full of junk.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura, really curious by this time, was about to -put a question when she saw Amanda and the -“Shadow” approaching, and the question died in her -throat.</p> -<p class="pnext">The three classmates, who never deliberately -“cut” anybody, nodded to the two girls in a friendly -enough manner, but the latter looked straight at -them and never so much as winked an eye.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Whew!” whistled Laura, softly, as the chums -stopped and looked back after the unmannerly girls. -“Cut, by jinks!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And by Amanda, of all people!” added Vi, in the -same tone.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, come on,” said Billie, and she turned and -led the way up the steps. “There’s no use standing -there and looking after them like a lot of wooden -Indians. I’d like—” she added, her temper getting -the better of her for the moment, “I would like to -wring that girl’s neck.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Do you know,” said Vi a few minutes later -when they were washing themselves in the dormitory, -“that Amanda has entered for the composition -prize?”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls looked at her unbelievingly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Amanda!” cried Billie, laughing at the absurdity -of the thing. “Why, Amanda can hardly write her -own name. You know that.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course I know it,” agreed Vi, scrubbing her -face vigorously. “That’s why it seems so silly. -Unless she has something up her sleeve,” she added -meaningly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“How did you find out?” asked Laura, curling up -on the bed and regarding her chum severely. “Did -she tell you?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Tell me!” repeated Vi with a chuckle. “That <em class="italics">is</em> -a good one. No, I just happened to overhear her -telling Eliza that she had entered for the composition -prize and that she was going to give Billie -Bradley the surprise of her life.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“She surely does love me,” sighed Billie, as she -pulled her pretty curls into place. “I don’t see why -she doesn’t pick on somebody else for a change.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, you’d better look out, that’s all,” said Vi, -wrinkling her forehead seriously. “I’m almost sure -she is planning some crooked work, and it’s up to us -to double cross her.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Hear, hear!” cried Laura delightedly. “And Vi -is the one who is always calling me down for using -slang. Fine for a beginner, Vi darling. Keep it up.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The result of this revelation of Vi’s was to make -the girls watch Amanda and the “Shadow” more -carefully than ever before. And if it had not been -for just this watchfulness there is no telling what -might have happened to Billie Bradley, and through -her, to her classmates.</p> -<p class="pnext">And this was the way it happened.</p> -<p class="pnext">Luckily for the three North Bend chums, -Amanda and her “Shadow” shared the dormitory -with them and Rose Belser. And so it was that -Billie, coming in unexpectedly one day heard the -very end of a sentence spoken in a loud whisper -by Amanda. And though it was only the end of -the sentence, it told a great deal to Billie, whose suspicions -had already been aroused.</p> -<p class="pnext">“—at ten to-night, in Miss Race’s room,” were -the words she caught. The fact that Amanda -stopped speaking at sight of her and grew an -unsightly brick red, gave Billie further proof that -the girl was plotting mischief. Very probably the -scapegoat was to be—herself.</p> -<p class="pnext">She gave no sign that she had heard anything -out of the ordinary, but when she had found the -book she had come for and was out in the hall once -more, her heart was pounding heavily and her face -was hot.</p> -<p class="pnext">Ever since they had come to Three Towers -Amanda had done her best to discredit Billie. She -had not succeeded so far, but some time she might. -Was this the time? thought Billie, a dull rage taking -possession of her.</p> -<p class="pnext">No! She would not let Amanda get the better -of her. She would outwit her, now that she had -been warned. Then a dreadful thought came to -her.</p> -<p class="pnext">Suppose Amanda, thinking she had given her -secret away, postponed her miserable plot, whatever -it was, until another time? No wonder Billie -answered questions queerly that afternoon, so -queerly, in fact, that one teacher asked her if she -were ill and would like to be excused!</p> -<p class="pnext">But Billie did not want to be excused—that would -mean more time to herself to think. And so she -blundered through the miserable afternoon and her -heart jumped with relief when the last gong sounded -that meant liberty.</p> -<p class="pnext">Connie and Laura overtook her in the hall on the -way to the dormitory and Laura looked actually -anxious.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What was the matter with you this afternoon?” -she asked. “Why, you answered ‘no’ three times -when it should have been ‘yes,’ and it sounded so -silly I’d have had to laugh if I hadn’t been scared -to death!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What is it, Billie?” added Connie, putting an -arm about her friend. “You look dreadfully white. -Aren’t you feeling well?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Then, pulling them into a secluded corner of the -dormitory, Billie told them what she had heard, and -as Vi came in just as she had finished, she had to tell -it all over again, just for her benefit.</p> -<p class="pnext">Of course the girls were all angry, and Laura -wanted to go and have it out with Amanda at once, -but Billie, who had had all the afternoon to think -out the best thing to do, commanded her to say -nothing about it to any one.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Listen,” she said, tensely. “Somebody’s apt to -come in at any minute, and then I can’t say it. This -is what we will do to-night.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ll pull our nighties on over our clothes, get -into bed and pretend to go to sleep. Then we’ll wait -till Amanda starts whatever she’s going to do, and -we’ll follow her and see what she’s up to.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And then,” said Laura, driven to more forceful -slang by the necessity for emphasis, “we’ll just about -<em class="italics">settle</em> her!”</p> -<p class="pnext">True to their plans, they retired to the dormitory -that night before Amanda or the “Shadow” or Rose -Belser arrived there, and they hurriedly slipped their -nightgowns over their clothes and got into bed.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Poor Connie’s wailing her heart out,” chuckled -Laura, “because she’s in another dorm and can’t -be in at the death. I say, Vi, push the collar of your -dress down. It shows outside your nightie.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Sh-h,” warned Billie. “I hear somebody coming——”</p> -<p class="pnext">The somebody proved to be no other than -Amanda and Eliza, and when they entered they -found Billie and Laura and Vi sleeping peacefully -with a cherubic expression of utter innocence on -their faces.</p> -<p class="pnext">It seemed to the girls that they had never lived -through an hour so long as that between nine o’clock -and ten that night. And it was with more than -relief that they heard a slight stir at last and saw -a shadowy figure slip out of bed and make noiselessly -for the door. And while they held their -breath for fear their breathing might betray them, -they saw a second shadow flit after the first one. -“The Shadow,” in fact!</p> -<p class="pnext">They waited till the conspirators had had time to -get well down the hall, then they too slipped quietly -out of bed, pulled their nightgowns off, and started -in pursuit.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Sh,” whispered Billie. “Take your time. We -want to let them do it before we catch them at it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">When they reached Miss Race’s door they were -surprised to see a light in the room. Was it possible -Amanda had been brazen enough to turn on -the light herself?</p> -<p class="pnext">Cautiously Billie peeped into the room and saw -that Amanda and Eliza were busily at work doing -something to the teacher’s desk at the other end of -the room. They were alone, so it must have been -Amanda who had switched on the light. The girl -was bold with the courage of stupidity.</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura uttered a stifled exclamation, and would -have pushed past Billie but the latter held her back. -For still another minute she hesitated, then called to -the girls softly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now,” she said, and ran swiftly into the room, -Laura and Vi beside her. So quickly and silently -did they come that they were almost upon the two -girls before either of them looked up. Then——</p> -<p class="pnext">“Amanda Peabody!” cried Billie, her voice -choked with anger. “We’ve caught you this time! -Now let’s see what you were doing!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xviiiamandas-revenge"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19">CHAPTER XVIII—AMANDA’S REVENGE</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">Amanda’s jaw dropped and she sprang back -while Eliza cowered behind her. The former held -an ink bottle which she had been about to turn -upside down in Miss Race’s desk.</p> -<p class="pnext">With a quick movement Laura snatched it from -the girl’s hand and held it aloft triumphantly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Look, Billie,” she said in a loud whisper. -“Amanda was going to spill this in the desk and -then blame it on you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Amanda made a quick dart for the door, but -Billie ran after her and pulled her back.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Not yet,” she said, grimly. “You’ll wait till -we’re through with you or I’ll go to Miss Walters -and report the whole thing. You had better not try -to get funny.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Amanda started to bluster, but on second thoughts -decided not to. Billie and her chums had the argument -all on their side this time, and the thought -made her fume inwardly.</p> -<p class="pnext">As for the “Shadow,” her homely face was pale -with fright, and she stood motionless and scared -on the spot where the girls had first discovered her.</p> -<p class="pnext">The plan of the two conspirators had evidently -been to upset the teacher’s desk and then blame the -whole thing on Billie. But how could Amanda hope -to prove that Billie had done it all?</p> -<p class="pnext">Thus thought the girls as they rummaged through -the desk in search of some further trick. And then, -they found it.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Look at this!” cried Billie, holding aloft a little -square of linen at sight of which Amanda grew -more sullen and Eliza quaked. “It’s my handkerchief -with my initials and my laundry mark on it. -Those—those—girls—were going to leave it here -after spilling the ink, and when Miss Race found it -she would of course think that I was the guilty one. -Oh—what shall we do to them?”</p> -<p class="pnext">She glared at the tricksters while Amanda tossed -her head defiantly and Eliza shrank still farther back -into the corner.</p> -<p class="pnext">“But that would have been so silly,” cried Laura, -who had snatched the handkerchief from Billie and -was examining it eagerly. Vi, in her turn was trying -to pull it from her. “Miss Race would know -that you would have sense enough not to give yourself -away by leaving your handkerchief. Their -heads sure are made of bone,” and she favored the -girls with a contemptuous glance that was harder to -bear than Billie’s anger.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wouldn’t leave my handkerchief on purpose of -course,” Billie pointed out. “I might have dropped -it by accident, though.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But how did they get the hanky,” wondered Vi, -wide-eyed at this example of depravity.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Probably stole it out of my pocket when I -wasn’t looking,” said Billie contemptuously, and at -that Amanda made a show of defense.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You needn’t call me a thief, Billie Bradley!” she -exclaimed, but Laura cut her short with a flippant -observation.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Would you rather she would call Miss Walters?” -she asked, which effectively closed the girl’s mouth.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Let’s make ’em clean up,” suggested Billie. “I’d -call Miss Walters, only they’re not worth spoiling -her sleep for. Come on over here, you two, and get -busy.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“We won’t do it,” said Amanda, but as Billie -started toward her she quite suddenly changed her -mind.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, all right,” she said angrily, as she flounced -over to the desk, pulling the limp “Shadow” after -her. “We’ll do it this time. But you just look out, -Billie Bradley. I’ll make you pay for this.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura struck a dramatic attitude.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Look out,” she cried. “The worm is turning. -Let us nip it in the bud!”</p> -<p class="pnext">It was all right for them to laugh at Amanda’s -discomfiture then and treat the whole thing as a joke, -but in the morning they were not quite sure that they -had done the right thing.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I think we ought to have reported her to Miss -Walters,” worried Vi. “Then she and the Shadow -would have been expelled, or suspended at least, -and we would have had no more trouble with them. -As it is——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, don’t be an old gloom hound,” commanded -Billie, seizing her chum round the waist and whirling -her about the room in a fantastic dance. -“They’ve never been able to do anything to us yet, -so what’s the use of worrying?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Sure,” agreed Laura, busy marking passages in -her “Life of Washington.” “That’s what I say. -We’re too many for ’em.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But in spite of their optimism, in their hearts -the girls decided to watch Amanda and her cowardly -“Shadow” more closely than ever in the -future.</p> -<p class="pnext">And the girls would have been put even more on -their guard if they could have peeped into the -library one afternoon and overheard the curious -conversation that took place between two girls seated -in a far corner of the big room.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ve got it at last!” gloated one of the girls, who -was no other than the plotting Amanda herself. -Eliza, of course, was her inevitable companion.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said -the latter rather snappishly. For, since the fiasco -in Miss Race’s room, she had not entered into -Amanda’s schemes quite so whole-heartedly as she -had before. “I don’t see why you should be so -pleased about finding a musty old book.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course you don’t see,” said Amanda, patronizingly. -“That’s what I’m going to explain to you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">She paused a moment, regarding the “musty old -book” in her hand lovingly. Eliza moved impatiently -in the seat beside her and Amanda grinned at -her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You remember I told you I was going to try for -the composition prize?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” said Eliza crossly, adding with a frankness -that might have been disconcerting to anybody -but Amanda: “And I thought you were crazy even -to think of it. You haven’t a chance in the world -beside Billie Bradley or Rose Belser or any of those -girls.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I know I wouldn’t as a rule,” admitted Amanda, -her small eyes gleaming with triumph. “But with -this book,” she caressed the little volume fondly, -“<em class="italics">they</em> won’t have a chance against <em class="italics">me</em>!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And still I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re -talking about,” snapped Eliza. “I wish you’d stop -grinning to yourself and get to the point—if there -is one,” she added under her breath.</p> -<p class="pnext">“All right,” said Amanda, too delighted with her -own cleverness to notice her shadow’s bad temper. -“Listen then, and I’ll tell you just how I came to -think about it.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I was rummaging through some books on the -top shelf one day, trying to find one I needed, when -down behind the rest of them I happened to come -across this little old book of biographies of the -great generals of the world. It was covered with -dust, and so old and shabby-looking that I was sure -it hadn’t been touched in an age.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” said Eliza impatiently, as Amanda paused -for breath.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course that was before the composition prize -was offered, so I put the book back where I found -it and forgot all about it. But now——” she paused -and the “Shadow” saw a gleam of light.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And now,” Eliza finished, “you think you are -going to get material enough out of this musty little -old book to take the prize away from Billie Bradley. -I see.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh no, you don’t see.” It was Amanda’s turn -to be impatient. “I’m not going to try to write -an original composition at all. Listen,” she lowered -her voice to a whisper although they two were the -only ones in the large room. “I’m going to copy -it from this book—word for word!”</p> -<p class="pnext">For a moment Eliza stared at the grinning girl, -pop-eyed. Then as the daring of the thing sank -into her muddled brain she sank back in her chair -and shook her head slowly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t do it,” she said. “If they should find -out——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But nobody’s going to find out,” cried Amanda, -as gleeful as though the coveted prize were already -in her hands. “This is an old book, and probably -nobody in this place has even heard of it. Say, -won’t that Bradley girl’s eyes stick out when she -sees me walking off with the prize? Oh my, oh my! -This is the time I’m going to settle <em class="italics">her</em>!”</p> -<p class="pnext">It was just about this time that a furor was -caused in the school by the disappearance of articles -belonging to the students.</p> -<p class="pnext">The articles were small and seldom valuable—so -insignificant were some of them, in fact, that the -owners never missed them until the report of -numerous other losses spread through the school -and woke them to the realization that they, too, were -victims of the petty thief—whoever she was.</p> -<p class="pnext">For that the guilty one was one of their schoolmates -there seemed to be little doubt. For what -outsider would care for such things as pencils and -erasers and old jackknives?</p> -<p class="pnext">It was true that one or two of the losses were -valuable. A gold-mounted fountain pen for -instance, which had been a Christmas present to -one of the girls, who lamented her loss with “loud -wailings and gnashings of teeth,” as Laura -described it.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was when the excitement over this strange -series of events was at its height that Billie drew -Laura and Vi aside one day and whispered a -startling decision in their ears.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Girls,” she said, “I’ve dreamed of that locked -room in tower three two nights in succession, and -I’ve found an old bunch of keys and one of them -may fit. Are you willing to come with me? Or -have I got to go alone?”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xixthe-tower-room"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id20">CHAPTER XIX—THE TOWER ROOM</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">For a moment the girls looked as though they -thought Billie had gone mad. The proposal had -been made to them so suddenly that it took their -breath away.</p> -<p class="pnext">“But, Billie, aren’t you afraid—after finding -that blood-stained handkerchief and everything?” -demanded Vi, round-eyed.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course I’m afraid! But I’m going just the -same,” said Billie stoutly. “I’ve wondered and -wondered about what might be in that locked room -till I’m nearly crazy. And if you won’t go with me, -I’m going alone,” she repeated.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t be foolish,” commanded Laura. “If you -go, of course we’ll go. But suppose none of your -keys will fit?” she added, glancing at a half dozen -rusty keys on a still more rusty key ring which -Billie was jingling nervously. Billie had found the -key ring on a nail in a dark corner of her locker the -day before. She had been about to deliver it to the -lost and found office when the inspiration had come -to her. She would try the keys first to see if by -any chance one of them could be used to unlock the -little door in tower three. It would be time enough -afterward to report her discovery.</p> -<p class="pnext">Now at Laura’s question she looked somewhat -provoked.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t you s’pose I’ve thought of that?” she said, -adding, with a twinkling smile: “Somebody is -always taking the joy out of life!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“We can try ’em, anyway,” said Laura doubtfully, -still speaking of the keys. “But they don’t -look very promising.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But, girls,” Vi protested weakly, “suppose we -should find something horrible up there—a skeleton -or something?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, the poor old skeleton couldn’t hurt us,” -returned Laura, adding with a giggle: “Probably it -would be glad to see us after being up there alone -so long.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But the blood-stained handkerchief”—Vi whispered.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, that!” said Laura, with a lofty wave of her -hand. “That’s nothing. I told you before that -probably somebody had a nose-bleed.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Which made even Vi giggle and had the effect of -stilling her fears for the time being, at least.</p> -<p class="pnext">They had hard work getting away from their -classmates without arousing their suspicion, but -they succeeded at last. The three girls ran lightly -up the three flights of stairs that led to the musty -old attic.</p> -<p class="pnext">Now that the moment was at hand they were -more excited than nervous, and their hearts beat -high with the hope that they might really find a -mystery hidden behind that locked door. But what -could it be?</p> -<p class="pnext">The queer sounds and heavy musty smell of the -attic that had seemed so dreadful to Billie on that -never-to-be-forgotten night seemed natural and even -funny in the revealing daylight.</p> -<p class="pnext">The shadowy corners that had seemed so sinister -when lighted only by one tiny flickering candle were -only corners now, cobwebbed and dusty, to be sure, -but harmless.</p> -<p class="pnext">Mice scuttled across the floor squeaking angrily -at being disturbed, but although Vi screamed and -Laura side-stepped nervously, Billie only laughed. -To-day they were only little mice more afraid of -her than she was of them. That night they had -been monsters waiting to devour her.</p> -<p class="pnext">But just the same, some measure of her nervousness -returned when they reached the stairway down -which she had nearly tumbled in her wild flight.</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura and Vi seemed to share her uneasiness, for -they stopped at the foot of the stairs and held back -a little.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Who goes up first to meet the skeleton?” asked -Laura, with an attempt at a laugh that sounded -strained even to herself.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You do,” said Vi, adding maliciously: “You -were the one who said he wouldn’t hurt us.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Seeing that Laura was about to argue the point, -Billie pushed impatiently past them both and ran -defiantly up the stairs. Laura, thus challenged, took -the stairs two at a time after her and Vi followed -reluctantly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Look! There’s the handkerchief,” said Billie, -kicking the tiny square of blood-stained linen over -toward Laura, who jumped nervously out of the -way.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, you needn’t wish it on me,” she said -resentfully, picking up the handkerchief by the very -tip of a corner and presenting it to Billie with a low -bow. “Here, take back your gold——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What are you two whispering about?” demanded -Vi, petulantly, for by this time she was beginning to -wish she had not come.</p> -<p class="pnext">At her question Laura whirled suddenly about -and poked the blood-stained handkerchief directly -beneath Vi’s startled nose.</p> -<p class="pnext">“There,” she said. “Want it?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Vi gave one look, screamed, and fled down the -stairs. She had gone only halfway, however, when -Laura overtook her and dragged her back.</p> -<p class="pnext">“None of that,” she cried. “You can’t back out -now. Besides, we’re only beginning to have some -fun.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Fun!” groaned Vi, keeping a wary eye on the -handkerchief that Laura still held. “Well, I’m glad -I know what to call it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Come on,” said Billie, jingling her rusty keys -and starting up the ladder. “Now we’ll see whether -one of these keys will fit.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I hope it doesn’t,” said Vi, under her breath, but -Laura caught her up sharply.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What did you say?” she demanded.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh—nothing,” said Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">By this time Billie was on the top rung of the -ladder and her fingers trembled as she tried to fit -the first of the keys into the lock. She had more -courage than Vi, yet almost she echoed the other -girl’s wish—that she would not be able to find a key -to fit.</p> -<p class="pnext">She wanted to see what was on the other side of -that locked door, yet for some reason—perhaps the -blood-stained handkerchief—she was afraid to find -out.</p> -<p class="pnext">She had tried every key till she came to the next -to the last, while Laura and Vi fidgeted at the foot -of the ladder.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Won’t they fit?” asked Laura, impatiently and in -a high-strung tone.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” said Billie unexpectedly, as the key slipped -into the lock and turned easily under the pressure -of her fingers. She hesitated and looked down at -the two girls before swinging the door wide.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Aren’t you coming?” she asked, and she could -not, for the life of her, keep a little scared quality -out of her voice.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course,” cried Laura, recovering from her -surprise—for she had really not expected that any -of Billie’s keys would fit—and ascending the ladder -hand over hand. “‘Lead on, Macduff, to victory or -to death!’”</p> -<p class="pnext">Vi groaned again and gingerly put a foot on the -ladder. She did not know which was worse, to -remain there by herself or to follow the girls to—goodness-knew-what. -But the squeak of a mouse -behind her made her decide in favor of company, -and she scurried in a panic up the ladder.</p> -<p class="pnext">Meanwhile Billie and Laura were experiencing -rather severe pangs of something—they could not -have told whether it was disappointment or relief.</p> -<p class="pnext">They had braced themselves to find something -horrible—or at least interesting—in the tower room, -and they were rather taken aback at finding themselves -confronted with a large amount of nothing -at all.</p> -<p class="pnext">There seemed to be a great deal of junk scattered -about, but in the gloom of the place they could not -even make that out very clearly.</p> -<p class="pnext">There were windows all about the tiny room, but -they were so encrusted with ancient dirt and cobwebs -that the bright sunlight of the out-of-doors -was reduced to a weird and spooky twilight, which -seemed somehow to correspond to the forlorn -aspect of the place.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well,” said Laura, drawing a deep breath, “we -come up here expecting to find something interesting -and we get—stung!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It does look that way,” admitted Billie ruefully. -“Seems as if we might at least have met a good -live ghost or two.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Live ghost!” sniffed Laura crossly, for she was -really feeling very much injured. “All the ghosts -that I ever heard about were as dead as a doornail.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“For goodness’ sake, stop talking about dead people,” -said Vi querulously from the doorway. “If -there isn’t anything in here—and thank goodness -there isn’t—let’s go back.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Not yet,” said Billie. Her eyes, become more -accustomed to the dim light, had lighted upon something -interesting among the junk. What had caught -her attention was a large, clumsy-looking thing like -a queerly shaped wooden box. The girls watched -her curiously as she bent over to examine it.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You haven’t found your ghost, have you?” asked -Vi, in a voice that was meant to be sarcastic.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No,” said Billie, a thrill of wonder and excitement -creeping into her voice. “But I may have -found something! Girls, come here and have a -look at this!”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls picked their way over the rubbish that -littered the floor. What had seemed like a peculiarly -shaped box proved on closer inspection to be -some cunningly fashioned wooden machinery.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls looked at each other in awed silence. -To them all in an instant had come the same thrilling -thought.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The lost invention!” murmured Billie. “And we -thought there was nothing here!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxstolen"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21">CHAPTER XX—STOLEN</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">“Oh, but how do we know?” protested Laura. -“It looks like machinery of some kind, but we have -no way of proving that it is the stolen invention.” -“No,” said Billie, still in a kind of daze. “It may -be just some old worthless thing that has been put -up here because it is of no use to anybody. But then -again——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, I think Laura’s right,” put in Vi, to whom -this new find of Billie’s was not very interesting. It -seemed absurd to put any value on that queer-looking -thing. And besides, she was anxious to get out -of that musty, ill-smelling place. “I thought of -Mrs. Haddon at first too, but——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Hello! I wonder what this is,” Laura interrupted -her. There had been some blue prints lying -on the floor near the wooden machinery. In the -poor light they had remained unnoticed until Laura -had stumbled upon them quite by accident.</p> -<p class="pnext">In her eagerness, Billie forgot to be polite. She -snatched the papers from her chum and made her -way to the nearest dust-begrimed window.</p> -<p class="pnext">She scanned the prints eagerly and finally came to -the thing she had so wildly hoped to find. It was -only a name, but it told a great deal.</p> -<p class="pnext">The blue prints were evidently the design of some -sort of machinery, and down at the foot of one page -the designer had put his name—Henry Haddon.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Girls, girls, look!” cried Billie, almost beside -herself with excitement at her discovery. “Now -maybe you’ll dare to say I’m crazy and I don’t know -what I’m talking about. I dreamed of it two nights -in succession, and now my dream has come -true——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, for goodness’ sake, stop waving that thing -around and tell us what you’re raving about,” commanded -Laura, snatching the blue print from Billie -in her turn, while Vi crowded close, looking curiously -over her shoulder.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Here! At the bottom of this page!” crowed -Billie, pointing out the name. “See it? Henry -Haddon!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Henry Haddon!” repeated Laura excitedly. -“Then it looks as if that really were his invention.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“It is the knitting machinery model!” cried Vi, -forgetting that a moment ago she had scoffed at -the idea.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course it is, you gooses—I mean you geese,” -cried Billie, incoherent in her happiness. “I told -you so right along, didn’t I? Next time maybe -you’ll believe your Uncle Billie.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I—guess—yes!” said Laura, still staring at the -blue prints as though she could not believe they were -real. “You surely did have the right idea that time, -Billie.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Of course I did!” cried Billie impishly, bubbling -over with excitement. “And now I’ve got an idea -that’s righter yet. Let’s go to Mrs. Haddon and tell -her about it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Agreed!” cried Laura. Then she glanced uncertainly -at the blue prints. “Shall we take these -along?” she asked.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie hesitated, then shook her head.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No,” she said, “I think we had better leave -everything just as we found it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">So Laura put the important papers back on the -spot where she had found them, or as near to it as -she could remember.</p> -<p class="pnext">She then backed out of the room and felt her way -down the ladder. Vi followed, treading on her fingers, -so that she let go and very nearly tumbled to -the floor.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie came last, for she was to lock the door.</p> -<p class="pnext">But a strange thing happened. Either excitement -had made Billie’s fingers clumsy or something had -really happened to the rusty lock. At any rate, she -could not get the door locked again and after a few -minutes of nervous fumbling, interspersed with -remarks from the girls that were anything but -encouraging, she gave up the attempt.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, well, we’ll be back in a little while, anyway,” -she said, as she came down swiftly hand over hand -and dropped to the floor beside the girls. “Come on -now, let’s hurry and find Mrs. Haddon.”</p> -<p class="pnext">They scurried down the stairs and were hurrying -to their dormitory to get on coats and hats when a -voice hailed them and they stopped impatiently to -find Rose Belser hurrying toward them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Have you heard the latest, girls?” asked the -dark-haired girl excitedly, for once forgetting her -sleepy drawl.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No,” said Billie, trying not to sound as impatient -as she felt, while Laura and Vi frowned openly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s up on the bulletin board,” Rose told them, -too full of her own news to notice their annoyance. -“Connie Danvers has lost a gold wrist watch and -Miss Walters is very much upset about it. She -says that the thief, whoever it is, must be found. -And she has ordered that no girl leave the Hall until -to-morrow morning.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls looked at each other and groaned.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Till to-morrow morning!” said Billie, her face as -long as though a death sentence had just been pronounced -upon her. “Oh, why couldn’t Connie have -held on to her old watch!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Rose’s look of surprise was so genuine that it -put Billie instantly on her guard. The chums were -not ready yet to take anybody into their confidence -about the new discovery.</p> -<p class="pnext">And so she covered her slip as well as she could, -and they went on together to the dormitory, exclaiming -sympathetically over Connie’s loss.</p> -<p class="pnext">The next morning came at last, however, and as -it was Sunday, the girls were free to go as soon as -the morning chapel hour was over. But as Miss -Walters would not allow any girl to leave the building -without special permission from her, the classmates -were forced to go to her and tell her about -their invasion of the tower room and their discovery.</p> -<p class="pnext">She was displeased that they had not asked her -consent before taking such a step. But she was also -very much interested in their story, and readily gave -them her permission to go to Polly Haddon.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Bring her back with you, if you can,” she said, -“and we will all go together to the tower room.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now for the fun!” cried Laura, as a few minutes -later they stepped out into the crisp air. “Whew! -I think we got off lots better than we expected. I -thought Miss Walters would be awfully mad.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Probably she would have been if she hadn’t had -so many other things to worry about,” said Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Poor Connie!” said Billie. “It surely is too bad -about her watch. It was a beauty, and she was so -proud of it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I hope Miss Walters finds the thief pretty soon,” -said Laura, frowning. “Everybody thinks it is one -of the girls, and I’m even beginning to feel guilty -myself.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Do you think——” Vi began, then flushed as the -girls looked at her and stopped.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What?” asked Laura adding, as Vi still hesitated. -“Come on—we won’t eat you.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nothing—only—I was wondering if the thief -might not be Amanda.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, no,” cried Billie quickly. “I’m sure it -couldn’t be, Vi.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The suggestion from Vi startled her, and it troubled -her too, for the very reason that the same idea -had been in her own mind.</p> -<p class="pnext">And suddenly Laura spoke up in support of Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I shouldn’t wonder if Vi is right,” she said. -“Amanda is mean enough for anything.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie had no answer for that, and so she said -nothing. But she was more than ever troubled.</p> -<p class="pnext">As they neared the little white cottage that had -seen so much trouble, they forgot Amanda in anticipation -of Polly Haddon’s joy at the good news they -were bringing her.</p> -<p class="pnext">They knocked on the door, and the moment it was -opened pushed eagerly inside and turned to face the -astonished widow.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie started to speak, but Laura, with her usual -impulsiveness, was before her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ve got good news, Mrs. Haddon,” she -blurted out. “We’ve found your lost invention.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie gasped with dismay as Mrs. Haddon turned -deathly white and grasped the back of a chair for -support.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, Laura, you shouldn’t!” cried Billie, as she -put an arm about the woman and helped her into a -chair. “Get some water, quick! There’s a glass in -the sink.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Mrs. Haddon brushed her impatiently aside.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’m not going to faint,” she said brusquely. -“Tell me why you said that. Hurry!”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Laura thought she had done enough speechmaking -for one day, and it was Billie who answered -the woman’s questions.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It must be ours,” said the latter, at last. “I will -go with you and make sure. Peter? Yes, he will -be all right till I get back. He is much better. I -will be ready in a moment.”</p> -<p class="pnext">She returned in less than a minute, a hat perched -carelessly on her head and a shawl around her -shoulders. Her eyes burned bright in her thin face.</p> -<p class="pnext">No one spoke on the way back. Mrs. Haddon, -her lips set and her eyes fixed straight ahead, said -not a word, and the girls were too awed by her emotion -to break the silence.</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Walters met them in the hall, said a few -words to Mrs. Haddon, then, seeing that the woman -was keyed to the breaking point, led the way straight -to the tower room.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls ran up the ladder ahead of the two -older women. The latter followed more slowly. -Billie pushed open the little door and entered the -room.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then she started, gasped, rubbed her hand across -her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming. For -the spot where the queer wooden machinery had -stood was empty. The invention was gone; and -the blue prints were gone, too!</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xximore-mystery"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22">CHAPTER XXI—MORE MYSTERY</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">Billie Bradley turned cold all over. To have -brought Polly Haddon here—to have practically -promised her a fortune—and then to find—nothing!</p> -<p class="pnext">“Billie! They’re gone!” said a voice at her elbow, -and she turned sharply to find Laura and Vi peering -inquisitively over her shoulder.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I know they’re gone,” she cried, almost sobbing -in her rage and disappointment “Oh, girls, what, -can we do? We can’t tell Mrs. Haddon——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s this you can’t tell me?” asked Polly -Haddon herself, and Billie looked at the woman -miserably.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The model,” she said, her voice almost inaudible. -“It was here yesterday, and now it’s gone.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“<em class="italics">Gone!</em>” cried Miss Walters sharply. “How can -that be? Is it possible that somebody else is in the -habit of visiting this tower?”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Mrs. Haddon pushed her aside.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Do you mean that the model is gone—again—after -bringing me here?” she cried wildly. “Oh, you -could not be so cruel, you could not!” The last word -caught in a sob, and Miss Walters put an arm about -her compassionately.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Listen to me a moment,” she said, in a gentle -voice of authority. “If the girls are certain that -the machinery and the blueprints were here as late -as yesterday——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, we are, we are!” cried Billie eagerly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Then whoever has taken them since could not -have got very far away with them in this short -time,” she went on reassuringly. “Your husband’s -invention—if indeed it was his model the girls found -here—must still be in this neighborhood, perhaps -in this very building. Though who,” she added -thoughtfully, “in this place could wish to steal such -a thing is indeed a mystery.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, Miss Walters!” cried Billie eagerly, “I’m -sure nobody here in the Hall has stolen the invention. -Nobody would have any use for it, and besides, -it isn’t a thing that could be hidden very -easily.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Suddenly Laura had what she thought was a -bright idea.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Maybe somebody stole it who had a grudge -against Mrs. Haddon,” she suggested.</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Walters looked inquiringly at the woman -who had drawn away from her embrace and was -wiping her eyes resignedly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Is there any one you know of who might hold -a grudge against your family?” Miss Walters asked.</p> -<p class="pnext">Mrs. Haddon went over to one of the dust-begrimed -windows and stood there for a moment -looking out, her fingers tapping a restless tattoo on -the windowpane. Then she slowly shook her head.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No, I can’t think of any one,” she said, adding -bitterly: “We were too poor and unimportant to -make enemies of any one. But what does it matter?” -She turned quickly from the window with one -of her fierce changes of mood. “The invention is -gone. I was a fool to think that any good fortune -would ever come to me. Let me go home.”</p> -<p class="pnext">She brushed fiercely past Miss Walters, but the -latter put out a gentle hand and detained her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Wait a little,” she begged. Her heart ached -for the other woman’s suffering. “Come into my -office with me while I make inquiries and find out -if any suspicious person has been seen about here -lately. I am confident,” she added with an assurance -that reached the other woman, “that before -long we shall be able to recover your property. Will -you trust me and believe that I want to help you?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes,” said Polly Haddon, faint hope once more -stirring in her heart. “You are more than kind to -me.”</p> -<p class="pnext">With what different emotions the classmates left -the tower room from those with which they had entered -it so hopefully only a few minutes before.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls supposed that now that Miss Walters -had taken charge of Mrs. Haddon’s affairs, they -would have no further interest in the matter. But, -to their surprise and gratification, Miss Walters motioned -them into her office also.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then she summoned the teachers to her one after -another and questioned them carefully as to whom, -if anybody, had been seen around Three Towers -since the afternoon before.</p> -<p class="pnext">Through it all Mrs. Haddon sat with an expression -of utter hopelessness on her face. Evidently the -faint hope that Miss Walters had for the moment -revived had died away again.</p> -<p class="pnext">It seemed that none of the teachers had seen anything -that might arouse suspicion, and even the girls -were beginning to despair when they were at last -given a clue to work on.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was Miss Arbuckle who gave it to them.</p> -<p class="pnext">She showed considerable surprise at first at being -questioned. But after wrinkling her forehead -thoughtfully for a few minutes she remembered -having seen somebody loitering about the building -late on the preceding afternoon.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Could you identify the person?” asked Miss -Walters quickly, alert at once.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No,” said Miss Arbuckle, hesitantly, “I couldn’t -be at all certain because it was dusk and I saw him -only from the window. But it looked like that -simple son of Tim Budd, the gardener.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nick Budd!” cried the three girls together, and -at the name Polly Haddon also roused from her -reverie.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You could not say certainly that it was Nick -Budd?” said Miss Walters, questioningly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“No, I couldn’t,” returned Miss Arbuckle. “But -I remember thinking at the time that the fellow was -acting in a rather peculiar manner, and I even -thought of reporting him. I was called away by -some duties then, however, and when I looked from -the window again he was gone.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nick Budd!” cried Polly Haddon, in an agitated -tone, her hands clasping and unclasping in her lap. -“You asked a while ago if there was anybody who -might bear a grudge against my family, and I said -there was no one. But I had forgotten poor foolish -Nick Budd!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, Mrs. Haddon?” prompted Miss Walters, -while the girls exchanged excited glances.</p> -<p class="pnext">“At one time my husband employed him as a -handy man about the place,” the woman hurried on. -“But after a while we noticed that things began to -disappear—things that were worthless to any one -else, but dear to us because of their associations.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls and Miss Walters were intensely interested -now. They were thinking of the numerous -petty thefts that had taken place in the Hall during -the past few weeks. Could there be any connection -between that and Polly Haddon’s story?</p> -<p class="pnext">“My husband charged the simpleton with taking -the things,” the woman went on. “He did it gently -enough, too, for he was sorry for the poor fellow, -but Nick fell into one of his rages and slammed out -of the house, muttering to himself. He never came -back, and we never saw him again.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Then this boy did have some reason for wishing -to get even with your husband,” said Miss Walters, -all interest. “It begins to look as if he were the one -who stole your invention in the first place. And if -this was really Nick Budd whom Miss Arbuckle -saw loitering about the school yesterday, it is probable -he had something to do with its second disappearance——” -she broke off suddenly, for Polly -Haddon had risen to her feet.</p> -<p class="pnext">The girls thought they had never seen such a -picture of concentrated fury. She stood clutching -the back of a chair fiercely and her eyes flashed fire.</p> -<p class="pnext">“If it is proved that Nick Budd did this thing,” -she said in a low, tense voice, “I think I shall—shall——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“But you must remember that he is a simpleton -and not accountable as sane people are,” put in Miss -Walters hastily; but apparently the woman did not -hear her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We must catch Nick Budd and make him confess,” -she said impatiently: “Then perhaps we shall -find out where he has hidden my property.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Miss Walters!” cried Billie excitedly, jumping -up, and walking over to the principal, “I think I -know where we can find everything that Nick Budd -has ever stolen.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What do you mean?” asked Miss Walters. -“Speak quickly, Billie.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“In Nick Budd’s cave!” cried Billie, triumphantly.</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxiifirst-prize"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23">CHAPTER XXII—FIRST PRIZE</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">“Billie, you’re a wonder! Come on, let’s go!” -cried Laura, then clapped her hand over her mouth -and turned a panicky red as she caught Miss Walters’ -eye upon her.</p> -<p class="pnext">But Miss Walters was looking through and beyond -Laura, and her gaze came quickly back to -Billie. Polly Haddon’s eyes were fixed on the girl, -too, with passionate intensity.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Tell us what you mean, Billie,” commanded Miss -Walters. “Quickly!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie, remembering suddenly that Miss Arbuckle -was the only one of the faculty who knew of her -adventure with Teddy, was embarrassed for a moment. -But she plunged bravely in and told them -the whole story from beginning to end, sparing no -details.</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Walters was intensely interested, and when -she had finished even Polly Haddon looked encouraged. -The latter wished to set forth at once in -search of the cave, but Miss Walters proposed a -plan that appealed to everybody, especially the hungry -girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Wait and have lunch with me in my rooms,” she -said to Mrs. Haddon. “For it is almost lunch time -now. Then we can start to hunt for the cave as soon -as we have finished.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Mrs. Haddon looked tempted, but she shook her -head.</p> -<p class="pnext">“There are the children,” she said. “And little -Peter. There is no one with them.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Miss Arbuckle settled this objection by offering -to go over and stay with the children and see -that they were well taken care of during their -mother’s absence.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I was a governess and sort of children’s nurse -combined, at one time, you know,” and she smiled -graciously upon the mother. “And I assure you -that I know how to care for children.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Almost upon her words the lunch gong rang, and -Miss Walters thereupon dismissed the girls to the -dining-hall.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Remember, we will start directly after lunch,” -she said to them as they fled.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Billy, it’s just like a story book or a movie!” -cried Vi joyfully, as they took their places at the -table among the noisy, chattering girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Are you certain you can find the cave again, -Billie?” asked Laura, as she attacked her heaped-up -plate of good things ravenously.</p> -<p class="pnext">Before Billie could answer Rose Belser leaned -across the table and asked with a drawl where they -had been keeping themselves all morning.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ve made a snowman,” she chuckled. “But -we needed Billie’s artistic touch to make the face. -I can’t get the nose to look right.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Instinctively the girls glanced out the window and -saw that it was snowing. And they had never noticed -it!</p> -<p class="pnext">“Why, it’s snowing, girls!” remarked Vi brilliantly. -“It looks almost like a blizzard.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Are you just waking up?” asked Connie Danvers, -a little crossly. Connie was cross because it -was the first time in her intimate friendship with the -girls that they had had a secret from her. “Now I -know you’re crazy.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie guessed at Connie’s grievance and, reaching -over, she pressed the hand of her classmate under -the table.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ll tell you all about everything to-night,” she -promised, and Connie’s face brightened miraculously.</p> -<p class="pnext">The snowstorm did indeed look like the beginning -of a blizzard, and as the girls went to get their wraps -they worried not a little for fear this new development -might put an end to their adventure.</p> -<p class="pnext">However, Miss Walters decided that they would -try it, at least, and Mrs. Haddon was eagerly anxious -to be off.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ll try anything once,” whispered Laura to -Billie, as they went out into the already ankle-deep -snow, the wind lashing bitingly against their faces. -“Thank goodness, we can die but once!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Die but once is right,” said Billie grumpily. She -was worried for fear she would not be able to find -the path leading to the cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">It would have been hard enough if the ground -had been clear, but with the snow rapidly obliterating -every landmark, it was well-nigh impossible.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wish Teddy were here,” she said, half to herself, -and her voice was very wistful.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t you though!” echoed Laura, heartily. “It -seems an age since we’ve seen any of the boys.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Say, Billie,” broke in Vi, who was shivering in -the bitter cold despite her warm furs, “are you sure -you are going right? It wouldn’t be any fun to be -lost in these lonely woods with maybe a blizzard -coming on.”</p> -<p class="pnext">At this observation Billie stopped and turned to -Miss Walters and Polly Haddon, who were following -close behind.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’m sorry,” she said, looking up at Miss Walters -appealingly. “If it weren’t snowing I might be able -to find the way, but as it is I’m afraid I would only -get you all lost. I’m lost myself now.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“All right, honey. Don’t look so distressed about -it,” said Miss Walters, patting her kindly on the -shoulder. “You would have to know the way pretty -well to be able to find it in this storm. We shall -have to give it up to-day, and try again as soon as -we can.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Yes, that will be best,” said Polly Haddon, -through chattering teeth. Her thin shawl formed -scarcely any protection against the freezing weather. -“Thank you all so much for bothering with my affairs. -Now I must get back to the children. Good-bye.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Before they had fairly realized she was going, -she was gone, and the girls and Miss Walters turned -back to the Hall.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Bother the old snow,” said Laura crossly. “I -always liked it before, but now I hate it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">They were all glad when the warmth of Three -Towers Hall closed in about them again. Miss -Walters said a few words to them about saying -nothing of this affair to any one. Then she dismissed -them to the dormitory while she herself hurried -off to do a little work that she had neglected all -day. For around examination time, Miss Walters -was not always free, even on Sunday.</p> -<p class="pnext">Some of the girls had seen Billie and Laura and -Vi come in with Miss Walters, and they demanded to -know what “all the excitement was about.” And -the fact that the girls would not talk made their -classmates all the more curious.</p> -<p class="pnext">Connie was the only one to whom they would tell -the story, for they knew that they could trust her as -they trusted themselves.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And it’s still snowing,” mourned Billie, as she -cleared a space on the misted window and looked -out at the snow-covered world. “It looks as if we -shouldn’t get out of here for weeks!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie’s gloomy prophecy was fulfilled. The storm -developed into one of the worst blizzards that part -of the country had ever known, and for almost two -weeks the occupants of Three Towers were practically -house-bound.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was good that the school boasted a well-stocked -larder. Otherwise the girls might actually have gone -hungry. And they wondered a great deal about -Polly Haddon and her little brood.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Suppose she hasn’t enough in the house to eat?” -worried Vi. “Why, they may starve!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Maybe she used the gold pieces we left her to -stock up when she saw the blizzard coming on,” -suggested Billie, and the suggestion comforted them -a great deal.</p> -<p class="pnext">The day was approaching when those competing -for the composition prize were to hand in their essays. -Billie and Laura and Connie and Rose Belser -and the half dozen other girls who had entered the -lists were writing like mad—and biting their pens -to bits—in an effort to get their essays in on time.</p> -<p class="pnext">And in the heart of each was the fervent hope -that she would be the winner. Only Amanda had -no need to hope. She was sure! The prize was -hers!</p> -<p class="pnext">She had carried out her intention of copying her -essay straight from the little musty book. So sure -was she that her ruse would not be detected that -she had not bothered to alter a word. And while the -others worked, she smiled.</p> -<p class="pnext">At last came the day when the finished essays were -to be handed in, and all day long Miss Walters was -closeted in her office with Miss Race and one or -two of the other teachers, reading and tabulating the -manuscripts as they came to her.</p> -<p class="pnext">So busy had Billie been in rewriting a phrase here, -changing a word there, that she handed in her essay -the very last of all—just a scant half hour before -the time was up. But she was happy, because she -knew that she had given her best effort.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I imagine we shall enjoy reading this,” Miss -Walters remarked to her associates, tapping Billie’s -manuscript with a thoughtful finger. “Billie Bradley -has real literary talent.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The result of the contest was to be announced the -next morning in the auditorium and the prizes to -be awarded to the winners.</p> -<p class="pnext">When the longed-for, yet dreaded, moment arrived, -the girls filed into the auditorium, the contestants -near the front, and almost the entire school -occupying the seats behind them.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie’s heart was hammering so loudly that she -glanced about her to see if anybody else seemed to -notice it. But the majority of the girls were babbling -away too excitedly to hear anything but themselves.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie was surprised to see that even the girls -who were expecting to hear their fate within the -next few moments were talking—chattering away -excitedly, to be sure—but still talking. As for herself, -she was sure she could not have uttered a word -just then if her life had depended upon it. She did -want that prize so dreadfully!</p> -<p class="pnext">“Cheer up, Billie,” whispered Vi, slipping a loyal -hand into hers. “You’re not afraid of missing the -prize, are you? Why, you couldn’t miss it if you -tried.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie did not say anything, but she gripped Vi’s -hand hard. And she was still holding on to it when -Miss Walters ascended the platform and a deep -hush spread over the room.</p> -<p class="pnext">“As you all know,” came the clear, sweet voice -of the head of Three Towers Hall, “I have come -here this morning to announce the winners of the -composition prize.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I and my associates have had difficulty in choosing -the winning essays, for the reason that they are -all so excellent. We are only sorry that we have -not a prize to attach to each.”</p> -<p class="pnext">A buzz broke out in the audience, but when Miss -Walters raised her hand it instantly died down -again.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And now,” she said, “not to keep you any longer -in suspense, we will announce the winners.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie’s grip on Vi’s hand tightened till it hurt.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then into the tense silence Miss Walters threw -the bomb of her announcement.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The first prize goes to Amanda Peabody,” she -said. “Will she please step up upon the platform?”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxiiidisgraced"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id24">CHAPTER XXIII—DISGRACED</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">For a moment there was intense silence while -Amanda rose triumphantly and flounced up to the -platform.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then an amazed, angry buzz rose from the -audience of indignant girls. Amanda, who was -proverbially stupid, to have taken the prize from -some of the brightest girls in the school! It was -impossible—incredible! And yet it was only too -true!</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Walters, with a few words of congratulation, -handed the prize—a fine set of books—to -Amanda, and the latter swept haughtily back to -her seat, triumph in every line of her figure as she -passed the other pupils.</p> -<p class="pnext">She had beaten Billie Bradley at last! And her -revenge was sweeter than even she had dreamed it -would be.</p> -<p class="pnext">But Billie, tears of anger and disappointment -stinging her eyes, felt sure that she had not been -beaten fairly. Amanda had played a trick on her, -on the rest of the contestants for the prize, on Miss -Walters herself. But, in Teddy’s vocabulary, -Amanda had “gotten away with it.” The prize was -in her possession.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s a shame,” she heard in angry protest all -about her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“She never did it honestly.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Somebody ought to tell Miss Walters. She -doesn’t know Amanda as well as we do.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Miss Walters had raised her hand for silence, -and in a few seconds the angry murmurs died down -again.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I have the pleasure of awarding the second -prize,” the principal announced, “to Beatrice Bradley. -Will you step up on the platform, Billie?”</p> -<p class="pnext">The second prize! She didn’t want the second -prize, Billie told herself, when Amanda had come -in first. To march up there on the platform with -that girl’s gloating eyes upon her——</p> -<p class="pnext">But Vi and Laura were pulling her out of her -seat, pushing her out into the aisle—and while Billie -hesitated Miss Walters had impatiently repeated her -summons.</p> -<p class="pnext">Someway Billie found her way to the platform, -thanked Miss Walters incoherently for the fine volume -of poetry which was the second prize, and -stumbled back to happy oblivion among her schoolmates.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It’s a shame, honey,” Laura whispered in her -ear, generously forgetting her own disappointment -in Billie’s. “But never mind, you got the second -prize anyway—which was more than the rest of us -did,” she added, with a little stab of regret at her -own failure.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And you would have won the first prize if it -hadn’t been for that cat,” added Vi fiercely.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie pressed their hands gratefully and glanced -for the first time at her prize.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’d like to throw it away!” she cried fiercely.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Sh-h,” whispered Vi, for Miss Walters was -making an interesting announcement.</p> -<p class="pnext">“The winning compositions will now be read,” -she said. “Miss Arbuckle has volunteered to give -us that pleasure.”</p> -<p class="pnext">There was a great clapping of hands as Miss -Arbuckle stepped on the platform and smiled down -at them. For the little teacher was a great favorite -with the girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We will read Amanda’s composition first,” she -said, “as it has had the distinction of winning the -first prize.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Again there was tense silence in the Hall. The -girls were agog with curiosity to hear this wonderful -composition which had been written by one of -the notoriously stupid girls of the school.</p> -<p class="pnext">As for Amanda, she had not foreseen this event. -She had not expected to hear her stolen composition -read aloud, and before all this assembly of -stern young critics. The prospect made her a trifle -nervous, but her smile was as proudly triumphant -as ever.</p> -<p class="pnext">Her chief concern was with Eliza. For the girl -was so white and scared that she threatened to give -the deception away.</p> -<p class="pnext">Amanda gave her a sharp nudge with her elbow.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Cheer up, will you?” she muttered fiercely. -“You’re not at a funeral.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Arbuckle began to read, and as she read -the well-rounded phrases, the telling metaphors, the -girls became more than ever stupefied with astonishment.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Could it be,” they asked themselves incredulously, -“that Amanda had remarkable literary ability -that they had never suspected? Could she really -have written a thing like that?”</p> -<p class="pnext">The same thought seemed to be in Miss Arbuckle’s -mind, for as she read on her brow became clouded -and she paused now and then as though she were -trying to recollect something.</p> -<p class="pnext">Finally she stopped altogether, looked across at -Amanda for a thoughtful moment, then laid the -manuscript down and turned to Miss Walters. She -said something that the girls could not catch, then -hurried from the room.</p> -<p class="pnext">This was something no one had counted upon. -Amanda, her triumphant smile gone at last, quaked -as she heard again the excited buzz of the girls -about her.</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Walters’ voice rose over the murmur, clear -and very grave.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Miss Arbuckle thinks she has made a discovery,” -she said. “She will be back in a moment, and -until then I must ask that there be absolute silence -in the room.”</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Sara Walters possessed that rare gift of -authority that needed no raising of the voice or -undue emphasis to command obedience.</p> -<p class="pnext">Instantly the murmuring stopped and the girls -waited in breathless silence for Miss Arbuckle’s return.</p> -<p class="pnext">They did not have to wait long. A moment later -the teacher reëntered the room, holding a book in -her hand, the sight of which made Amanda’s craven -heart sink in consternation.</p> -<p class="pnext">The book looked like an exact copy of the one -from which she had copied her “original” prize -composition!</p> -<p class="pnext">“Miss Walters,” said Miss Arbuckle in a voice -which indignation made vibrant, “I am sorry to have -to admit that one of the students of Three Towers -Hall has been guilty of so disgraceful an act. But -the composition that I have just read, the essay -that was handed in as original by Amanda Peabody, -has been copied word for word from this -book.</p> -<p class="pnext">“It is an old book that has been in my possession -for years—was my father’s before it was mine—and -doubtless the girl thought herself perfectly safe -in copying from it. Here is the passage.” She -had been marking a place with her finger, and now -she opened the book at the place and handed it to -Miss Walters to read.</p> -<p class="pnext">What a hideous minute for Amanda! If she had -been awaiting a death sentence she could hardly -have felt more terrified.</p> -<p class="pnext">To be publicly disgraced, to have all the girls -laughing at her, gloating over her——</p> -<p class="pnext">With intense gravity Miss Walters closed the -book and laid it on the table. Amanda knew that -her moment had come.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Amanda,” said Miss Walters sternly, “will you -please stand up in your place?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Amanda stood up, conscious of a score of curious -and contemptuous glances focused upon her. -Her heart was beating suffocatingly, her hands were -clenched tight at her side.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You have been guilty to-day,” Miss Walters’ -clear voice pronounced sentence, “of blackening the -good name of Three Towers Hall by a most disgraceful -act. But by your wretched duplicity you -have injured yourself far more than you have injured -any one else. You will go to my office. I -will see you there.”</p> -<p class="pnext">There was intense silence while Amanda, her -head hanging, walked from the room. Then the -eager murmur rose once more, but again Miss Walters -lifted her hand for silence.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I am sorry,” she said. “More sorry than I can -express that such a thing could have happened here. -Of course the first prize will now go to Beatrice -Bradley and I will decide later to whom the second -prize belongs. That is all.” With a little gesture -she dismissed them and she herself walked quickly -from the room.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then the riot that had been suppressed so long -broke loose and the girls formed into little groups -talking excitedly and all at once about the dramatic -turn events had taken.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie, the center of a little group of her own, was -fairly overwhelmed with congratulations.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We knew all along that you should have been -the winner!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“To think that Amanda should try to get away -with a thing like that!” said Laura, disgustedly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“She might have, just the same,” Connie reminded -her. “It was just luck that Miss Arbuckle -happened to have that book.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“My, but I bet you’re happy, Billie Bradley!” -sighed Vi. “I shouldn’t let anybody speak to me -if I were in your place.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s the matter, honey?” asked Laura, regarding -Billie’s sober face curiously. “I say, cheer -up, old dear. What have <em class="italics">you</em> got to gloom about?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I was just thinking about Amanda,” said Billie, -with all her sweet sympathy for the unfortunate. -“I was wondering how it would feel to be in her -shoes now.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Out, out upon such doleful thoughts,” Laura -sang out airily. But Billie, who had turned toward -the window, suddenly clutched her by the arm.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Look!” she said, excitedly. “There’s Nick -Budd!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxivtriumph"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id25">CHAPTER XXIV—TRIUMPH</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">Before her classmates knew what she was about -or had fairly taken in what she had said, Billie had -darted from the room and was flying toward the -dormitory.</p> -<p class="pnext">“She’s crazy again,” cried Vi. “Come on,” and -she and Laura and Connie flew after her, overtaking -her as she reached the stairs.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s the big idea?” gasped Laura, as they -ran together down the hall toward the dormitory. -“What do you expect to do to poor Nick—sandbag -him?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Something like that,” returned Billie, slipping -hurriedly into her coat and hat and motioning impatiently -for the girls to do the same. “If we can -only get hold of him we may be able to frighten him -into telling us where the machinery is.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, and maybe I’ll be able to get my watch -back!” added Connie, pulling a dark cap down over -her fluffy hair and carefully adjusting it at the right -angle.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We won’t get anything if you don’t hurry,” said -Billie, regarding her impatiently. “What do you -think you’re going to, anyway? A party?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“You had better put on your leggings,” suggested -Vi, looking doubtfully at the rubbers Billie had -pulled on over her shoes. “The snow’s awfully -deep.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Haven’t time,” cried Billie, adding distractedly: -“For mercy sake, hurry! While you girls are dolling -up for a party, Nick Budd will be gone.”</p> -<p class="pnext">At this dreadful thought the girls stopped fussing -and followed Billie hurriedly down the stairs. They -slowed down in the lower hall, however, for there -they were apt to meet a teacher, and undue haste -might be thought suspicious by one of these “unreasonable -beings.”</p> -<p class="pnext">At sight of Nick Budd, a plan had come to Billie. -She remembered how terrified he had seemed when -he had found Teddy and her in the cave that day -and thought in his crazy mind that they had come -to arrest him.</p> -<p class="pnext">So she was going to take a chance of so frightening -him with a threat of arrest that he would confess, -and perhaps even be prevailed upon to lead -them to the cave.</p> -<p class="pnext">In case this plan should fail, she had not an idea -in the world what she would do next. But the plan -did not fail. It worked more perfectly than she -had dared to hope.</p> -<p class="pnext">They caught up to the simpleton just as he was -sneaking around to the janitor’s entrance of the -school, and the fellow shrank from them like a -frightened animal.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Wh-what do you want?” he stammered, his -hands out as though to ward them off. “I haven’t -done nothin’. Ye can’t arrest me. I haven’t done -nothin’, I tell you.” His terror was pitiful, but -Billie followed up her advantage ruthlessly while -the girls stood by in admiring silence.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You <em class="italics">have</em> done something,” she told him sternly, -while he cowered still further back from her. -“You’ve stolen things—lots of things. And we <em class="italics">will</em> -have you arrested——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh no—oh no,” he cried out, fairly gibbering -in his terror and slinking further back against the -wall. “Ye’re tryin’ to scare me. I haven’t done -nothin’, I tell ye.”</p> -<p class="pnext">But Billie took him by the sleeve and shook him -as she would a bad child.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I tell you I <em class="italics">know</em>,” she cried, conviction in her -tone that carried even to the poor muddled brain -of the simpleton. “And I know where they are, -too. They are in your cave, hidden away. Every-last-one-of-them!”</p> -<p class="pnext">Of course Billie was taking a big chance, but the -shot went home.</p> -<p class="pnext">The simpleton stared at her for a moment out -of his blood-shot eyes while his big mouth dropped -open. Then he began to cry, great tears that ran -down his grimy face and made crooked streaks -upon it.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was an indescribably terrible and pitiful sight, -the poor silly fellow in his abject terror, and ordinarily -Billie would have felt sorry for him. But -she thought of Polly Haddon, and the thought gave -her courage. Polly Haddon had suffered, and now -if it was this poor simpleton’s turn, it was no more -than he deserved, after all.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Listen to me carefully,” she said, pulling at his -sleeve again and speaking very distinctly. “If you -will take us to the cave and promise to give back -everything you have stolen to the people you have -stolen from, we will try to keep you from being -arrested.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“You won’t put me in jail?” jabbered the simpleton. -“You won’t let the policemen get me?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie shook her head, adding quickly: “But you -must take us to the cave right away and help us -bring back the things you have stolen. Otherwise -we will have you arrested to-night.”</p> -<p class="pnext">They were hardly prepared for his sudden acceptance -of the ultimatum. He turned, with the -swiftness that had surprised Billie and Teddy before, -and strode off through the heavy snow, the -girls, after a minute of indecision, following.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What do you suppose Miss Walters will say?” -Laura whispered in Billie’s ear. “Do you suppose -she will mind our running away like this?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I don’t know,” answered Billie, adding with a -hint of premature triumph in her voice: “I don’t -imagine she will say anything though if we come -home with the knitting machinery models, the blue -prints, and an armful of stolen things besides.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, if I can only get back my watch, I’ll be -happy,” sighed Connie, as she plodded along beside -Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“‘If’ is right,” said Laura, ruefully. “We -haven’t got anything yet, you know.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Now who’s the wet blanket?” cried Billie gayly. -She was feeling amazingly happy and confident all -of a sudden. For had not she just won the first -prize for the best composition? After that she felt -that she could accomplish anything.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was no easy task to make their way through -the woods. Nick Budd trudged along sturdily, -hardly looking at the girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">“He may be simple-minded, but he is as strong -as a horse—at least, when it comes to walking,” remarked -Laura in a whisper.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Many simple-minded folks are strong,” answered -Billie. “Why, some lunatics are noted for their -strength—I once heard my father say so.”</p> -<p class="pnext">They had to pass over an exceedingly rough rise -of ground and then down through a hollow where -the bushes grew close together. Here the walking -was very uneven and Connie gave a sudden cry of -pain.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s the matter?” demanded Billie quickly, -and came to a halt beside her classmate.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I slipped into a hole and I—I guess I wrenched -my ankle,” and Connie made a wry face.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Can’t you go on?” questioned Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I—I guess so, but I’ll do a little limping,” was -Connie’s reply.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ll have to be careful,” warned Billie. “We -don’t want to hurt ourselves if we can help it.”</p> -<p class="pnext">After an hour of trudging through the snow they -came at last to the twig-entwined entrance to Nick’s -cave. Luckily the simpleton had beaten a sort of -path through the snow from Three Towers to the -cave—a fact which showed that he had made frequent -visits to the school—or the girls almost surely -could not have made the trip.</p> -<p class="pnext">Nick pulled aside the twigs that concealed the -entrance and dived inside, leaving the girls to follow -as best they could.</p> -<p class="pnext">But the girls did not follow—immediately. They -were no cowards, but the sight of that yawning dark -mouth was enough to make them hesitate. And besides, -there was a simpleton at the other end of that -dark passage, a simpleton who might be mad enough -by this time to do any desperate thing.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You go first, Billie,” Vi urged nervously. “He -is afraid of you——”</p> -<p class="pnext">But at that moment a dancing light flickered down -the dark passage and immediately Nick Budd himself -appeared, carrying a lighted candle which he -carefully shielded from the wind.</p> -<p class="pnext">The terror had not left his face, and he looked -at Billie abjectly, like a beaten dog.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Will ye come in?” he asked in a barely audible -voice. “Or shall I bring the things out here?”</p> -<p class="pnext">But as the latter course would give the simpleton -an excellent chance to retain some of his loot, Billie -replied firmly that they would come in and see for -themselves.</p> -<p class="pnext">Vi made a noise that sounded something like a -groan, and Connie echoed it pathetically. But they -joined the queer little procession just the same, following -Nick Budd down the dark passage to the -still darker cave, guided only by the flaring light -of his one candle.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was a dangerous thing for the girls to do. -The simpleton, with the cunning of the mentally-deficient, -might have decided to attack them all there -in the darkness of the cave. And he would have -had a good chance of doing it, too.</p> -<p class="pnext">But the gods that favor the daring watched over -the girls that day and brought them safely through -their adventure.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie had evidently thoroughly cowed the simpleton, -and his one thought was to get rid of his -stolen goods as quickly as possible and thus evade -the dreadful prison that loomed more horrible to -him than death.</p> -<p class="pnext">There in a corner of the cave the girls found the -knitting machinery model and the precious blue -prints, besides a great pile of small trinkets that comprised -pretty nearly everything that had been stolen -from the girls during the last few weeks.</p> -<p class="pnext">They were no more eager to linger in the cave -than Nick Budd was to have them. So they -eagerly pocketed as many of the trinkets as they -could—Connie snapping the precious recovered -wrist watch about her wrist with as much joy as -though it had been three times as valuable as it really -was—and Billie, taking the candle from Nick Budd’s -fingers, ordered him to carry the wooden machinery. -She herself took charge of the blue prints.</p> -<p class="pnext">When they had reached the outside world once -more, Billie blew out the candle, threw it into the -cave, and readjusted the twigs at the entrance as -best she could.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then she ordered Nick Budd to lead the way back -to the Hall. This the simpleton did, although he -sometimes staggered under the weight he carried and -several times had to put his burden down.</p> -<p class="pnext">But in spite of the delays and the cold, the return -journey seemed short to the girls, for they were triumphantly -happy and chattered like magpies all the -way back.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I’ve got my wrist watch! I’ve got my wrist -watch!” crowed Connie over and over again till -the girls got tired of hearing her and Laura asked -her if she would mind changing her tune.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And won’t the girls be surprised when we tell -them what sleuths we are,” added Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Humph,” sniffed Laura. “Billie is the real detective. -We’re only—what do you call ’em?—‘also -rans.’ We come in at the end and clap noisily.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Nonsense,” laughed Billie. “I couldn’t have -done a thing without you girls. Look out,” she -cried sharply, as Nick Budd stumbled and almost -dropped his load. “If you should break that thing, -Nick Budd, I’d murder you.” But this last was -delivered in an undertone. The poor simpleton had -troubles enough without being threatened.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh,” giggled Laura, incorrigibly, “ain’t she the -vicious thing?”</p> -<p class="pnext">One would have thought that the girls had had -about enough excitement that day, but it seemed -that fate still held a little more in store for them.</p> -<p class="pnext">They were coming up the winding path that led -to the Hall when they saw a black-clad figure that -looked strangely familiar hurrying on before them.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Isn’t that Polly Haddon?” asked Vi, eagerly. -“Yes, it is. Oh, what luck!”</p> -<p class="pnext">She was about to call out, but Billie stopped her.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We’ll want to break it to her gently,” she -warned, but her warning came too late. Polly Haddon -had heard their voices and had glanced back -indifferently.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then, recognizing the girls, she turned and came -hurrying toward them. At sight of her, Nick Budd -dropped his burden in the snow and ran for all he -was worth back the way he had come.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie tried to put herself between Polly Haddon -and that bulky object in the snow, but once more -she was too late. For the woman had seen.</p> -<p class="pnext">With a little cry, Polly Haddon crumpled suddenly -and lay out in the snow, as inert as a bundle -of old clothes.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Good gracious!” cried Laura frantically. “Now -just when everything is beautiful and lovely, she’s -gone and died!”</p> -</div> -<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxvpretty-frocks"> -<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id26">CHAPTER XXV—PRETTY FROCKS</a></h2> -<p class="pfirst">But Polly Haddon had not died. One very seldom -does—of happiness. Some way the girls managed -to get her inside the Hall and administer hot -drinks and hot food and in a surprisingly short time -she was herself again.</p> -<p class="pnext">Not quite herself, for she was beautified and -transfigured with happiness into a very different -Polly Haddon from the one the girls had known.</p> -<p class="pnext">Miss Walters was summoned and made her come -into her own private rooms. Of course the girls -went also, and while Mrs. Haddon was stretched -luxuriously on a couch in Miss Walters’ sitting-room, -Billie told how she had frightened the simpleton -into confessing his guilt and restoring the -stolen goods.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie was so modest about her leading part in -the affair that Laura was forced to interrupt occasionally, -and, disregarding Billie’s frowns, add a -bit of explanation here and there that enabled her -audience to visualize the thing just as it had happened.</p> -<p class="pnext">The machinery model had been brought inside and -deposited in one of the study halls, and now Miss -Walters asked Mrs. Haddon what she wished done -with it.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We can keep it here for you, in the big school -safe,” she suggested, “or we can have it carried -over to your house, just as you wish.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh no, leave it here,” said Polly Haddon quickly. -“I will notify that Philadelphia knitting company -that the invention has been recovered, and if they -still wish to buy it, it probably will not remain here -long. Oh, how can I thank you all——” her voice -broke, and for a little while all of them felt a bit -uncomfortable while Polly Haddon sobbed out her -happiness and gratitude.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was over at last, however, and the girls were -free to go back to their dormitory and the curiosity -of their friends.</p> -<p class="pnext">Here, perched on the bed with Connie and Vi, -Laura gave a graphic account of everything just as -it had happened to a sympathetic audience of some -twenty girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">She rang Billie’s praises to such an extent that -the poor girl tried to hide herself in an inconspicuous -corner, only to be dragged forth into the limelight -again by a couple of laughing and heartless -maidens.</p> -<p class="pnext">“You get up there where you belong,” cried one -of them, shoving Billie up into the center of the bed -which was already over-crowded with giggling girls. -“Don’t you know that you’re a real, honest-to-goodness -heroine?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And for the second time to-day,” drawled Rose -Belser, her eyes fixed a little enviously upon Billie’s -pretty, flushed face. “Wasn’t it enough to win the -prize, without going and getting yourself in the limelight -<em class="italics">again</em>?”</p> -<p class="pnext">Laura and Vi flushed angrily, for there was a -little malice under the question. But Billie took it -all good-naturedly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well, I didn’t do it on purpose—not the last -part, anyway,” she said.</p> -<p class="pnext">“We know you didn’t, honey,” said Connie, ruffling -Billie’s dark curls fondly. “You’re just naturally -talented.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“By the way,” asked Laura, after an interval -of skylarking, “does anybody know what happened -to Amanda?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“She was suspended,” replied one of the girls.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And I thought it was a pity she wasn’t expelled,” -spoke up another.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Poor Eliza!” drawled Rose. “I wonder what -she will do without her master.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Does anybody know who won the second prize?” -asked Laura carelessly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What a queer question to ask,” said Caroline -Brant, who had been dreaming about the thesis she -was going to write and had hardly heard a word of -the conversation. “<em class="italics">You</em> did, of course!”</p> -<p class="pnext">It took a little time for this to sink in, for Laura -had long ago given up hope of winning a prize for -herself. But when it did finally beat its way into -her mind she straightway proceeded to turn the -place upside down in her hilarity.</p> -<p class="pnext">She found Billie’s sewing basket, dumped out its -contents, and turned it upside down on her head for -a crown.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then she draped a bedspread about her shoulders, -queen fashion, and two of her classmates caught up -the dangling ends that formed a train.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then they marched through the halls crying, -“Way for the queen!” and gathering a crowd of -giggling girls as they went.</p> -<p class="pnext">“What’s it all about?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Queen indeed! Just look at her with that workbasket -on her head!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“They are having the sport because Laura took -the second prize in that composition contest.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, that’s it, is it? Well, I’m glad they showed -up Amanda—and Billie Bradley certainly deserved -the first prize.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The merriment grew louder, and presently the -crowd made Laura mount a stand and deliver what -they called “an oration.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Tell us about making linen dusters for the Laplanders,” -suggested one girl.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Or overcoats for the heathens in Africa,” suggested -another.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Or how to make sponge cake from live sponges.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Or why Washington didn’t use submarines when -his army crossed the Delaware.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I can talk but I can’t make a speech,” declared -Laura. “In other words, I could say something if -I could only frame my speech, properly—that -is——”</p> -<p class="pnext">“If she could only get her tongue to working,” -broke in Vi, and at this the assembled girls roared.</p> -<p class="pnext">It was only when rumor said that Miss Walters -was coming their way that the hilarious party broke -up and scurried for home and safety.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Take off that ridiculous thing,” cried Billie, jerking -at the bedspread, herself weak from laughing. -“And give me back my work basket, woman, before -Miss Walters catches you and sends you after -Amanda.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Goodness,” said Laura, meekly handing Billie -her property, “do you think she would? It may -suit Amanda fine to be suspended, but I’m more -comfortable the way I am.”</p> -<p class="pnext">And so the time wore on with studies and lessons -and fun until the girls woke up one day to -find that the summer holidays were almost upon -them.</p> -<p class="pnext">Mrs. Haddon had sold the knitting machinery -model to the Philadelphia concern at a price that -was a fortune to her.</p> -<p class="pnext">The little white cottage had been remodeled and -furnished prettily, and Polly Haddon had grown -prosperous and handsome and oh, so happy.</p> -<p class="pnext">But the most remarkable thing to the girls was -the change in Mary and Isabel and Peter Haddon. -The children, who had been such sorry little waifs -in their poverty, had grown almost beautiful in the -days of their prosperity. Polly Haddon’s pride in -them and their pretty clothes was almost pathetic.</p> -<p class="pnext">The North Bend girls and Connie were often visitors -at the little cottage, and sometimes the boys -went with them on their visits and were treated to -a dinner of waffles and maple syrup that, to quote -Chet, “would make an Indian’s hair curl.”</p> -<p class="pnext">And now, as the girls realized how fast the time -was flying, they conceived the idea of giving a party. -Not a small party, but a real one with cake and ice-cream -and snappers and everything.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I wonder,” breathed Vi daringly, “if Miss Walters -would mind if we should ask a few of the boys—just -a very few, you know.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“There would have to be enough to go around,” -interposed Billie.</p> -<p class="pnext">“I should say so!” said Connie with emphasis. -“Especially as Billie is sure to have at least two -of them. I want to dance with Teddy and Paul -Martinson once or twice myself, my dear,” she said, -eyeing the laughing Billie sternly.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And I’m quite sure dear Rose will, too—especially -Teddy,” murmured Laura, maliciously.</p> -<p class="pnext">They found that Miss Walters was quite willing -to let them have the party and the boys, too—provided -the latter did not stay too late—and then the -plans began in earnest.</p> -<p class="pnext">They sent invitations to about twenty of the boys -at the Academy and the invitations were accepted -promptly and eagerly.</p> -<p class="pnext">About two days before the great event, the girls -decorated the two big sitting-rooms on the ground -floor which Miss Walters had said they could use, -and when they had finished no ballroom ever looked -prettier—even the girls said so.</p> -<p class="pnext">Then at last came the morning of the great day, -then the afternoon and then—the evening—and time -for the girls to dress.</p> -<p class="pnext">They had brought out their best party frocks for -the occasion and the closest chums had compared -colors carefully so that they would be sure not to -“clash.” Billie was to wear pale green net with a -touch of pink, Laura light blue, Connie had chosen -a lovely rose pink that went well with her fluffy -fairness, and Vi had decided on golden yellow that -made her look like a queen. Rose Belser was -dressed in an expensive black frock that was far -too old for her but that set off her dark prettiness -admirably.</p> -<p class="pnext">There was Nellie Bane in white, and a number -of other girls were in pretty frocks of varied hues. -All were flushed and laughing and excited, and -their happiness made every one of them pretty.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Oh, aren’t I beautiful?” cried Laura with engaging -frankness as she pirouetted before the mirror. -Then she turned to Billie and hugged her rapturously. -“And you’re gorgeous, honey,” she -cried. “I see where we don’t get even a boy apiece -to-night.”</p> -<p class="pnext">The boys arrived early. It was lucky that Billie -could dance with only one boy at a time—or there -might not have been “enough to go around.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“I say, Billie,” Teddy cried once, waltzing her -over into a corner and gazing at her wonderingly, -“I never knew you could look like that. What is -it, anyway? This green and pink thing?” lifting a -piece of filmy net gingerly between his thumb and -finger.</p> -<p class="pnext">Billie looked up impishly in his face while one -foot kept time with the music.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Don’t ask <em class="italics">me</em>,” she said. “It’s because I’m so -happy, I guess. Oh, come on, Teddy, let’s dance!”</p> -<p class="pnext">It was some time later that the three classmates -happened to find themselves together and alone.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Desoited!” cried Laura dramatically. “Where’s -yours, Billie?”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Gone to get me some ice-cream,” said Billie.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Wonderful,” cried Laura. “So has mine!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“And mine!” added Vi.</p> -<p class="pnext">They giggled happily for a minute and then Billie -reached out and put an arm about each of her chums. -She hugged them close, regardless of pretty frocks.</p> -<p class="pnext">“Girls,” she said contentedly, “I think I’m the -very happiest girl in the world.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Except me,” said Laura.</p> -<p class="pnext">“And me!” echoed Vi. “And to think——” she -added, after they had contentedly watched the happy -crowd for a few moments. “To think that in a few -short weeks vacation will be here.”</p> -<p class="pnext">“Well,” said Laura decidedly, “if we have any -more fun this summer than we’ve had this winter, -we’ll have to go <em class="italics">some</em>!”</p> -<p class="pnext">“We shall indeed,” said Billie, happily.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> -</div> -<p class="center pfirst small">THE END.</p> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> -<div class="line"><span class="larger">BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES</span></div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line">By JANET D. WHEELER</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em></div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">1. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE, <em class="italics">or The Queer Homestead at Cherry Corners</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Billie Bradley fell heir to an old homestead -that was unoccupied and located far away in -a lonely section of the country. How Billie -went there, accompanied by some of her -chums, and what queer things happened, go -to make up a story no girl will want to miss.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">2. BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE-TOWERS HALL, <em class="italics">or Leading a Needed Rebellion</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Three-Towers Hall was a boarding school for girls. For a short -time after Billie arrived there all went well. But then the head of -the school had to go on a long journey and she left the girls in charge -of two teachers, sisters, who believed in severe discipline and in very, -very plain food and little of it—and then there was a row! The girls -wired for the head to come back—and all ended happily.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">3. BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND, <em class="italics">or The Mystery of the Wreck</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">One of Billie’s friends owned a summer bungalow on Lighthouse -Island, near the coast. The school girls made up a party and visited -the Island. There was a storm and a wreck, and three little children -were washed ashore. They could tell nothing of themselves, and -Billie and her chums set to work to solve the mystery of their -identity.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">4. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES, <em class="italics">or The Secret of the Locked Tower</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Billie and her chums come to the rescue of several little children -who have broken through the ice. There is the mystery of a lost -invention, and also the dreaded mystery of the locked school tower.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">5. BILLIE BRADLEY AT TWIN LAKES, <em class="italics">or Jolly Schoolgirls Afloat and Ashore</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">A tale of outdoor adventure in which Billie and her chums have a -great variety of adventures. They visit an artists’ colony and there -fall in with a strange girl living with an old boatman who abuses her -constantly. Billie befriended Hulda and the mystery surrounding -the girl was finally cleared up.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics">Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em></p> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> -<div class="line"><span class="larger">THE BARTON BOOKS FOR GIRLS</span></div> -<div class="line">By MAY HOLLIS BARTON</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With colored jacket</em></div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">May Hollis Barton is a new writer for girls -who is bound to win instant popularity. Her -style is somewhat of a mixture of that of -Louise M. Alcott and Mrs. L. T. Meade, but -thoroughly up-to-date in plot and action. -Clean tales that all girls will enjoy reading.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">1. THE GIRL FROM THE COUNTRY, <em class="italics">or Laura Mayford’s City Experiences</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Laura was the oldest of five children and when daddy got sick she -felt she must do something. She had a chance to try her luck in New -York, and there the country girl fell in with many unusual experiences.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">2. THREE GIRL CHUMS AT LAUREL HALL, <em class="italics">or The Mystery of the School by the Lake</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">When the three chums arrived at the boarding school they found -the other students in the grip of a most perplexing mystery. How -this mystery was solved, and what good times the girls had, both in -school and on the lake, go to make a story no girl would care to miss.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">3. NELL GRAYSON’S RANCHING DAYS, <em class="italics">or A City Girl in the Great West</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Showing how Nell, when she had a ranch girl visit her in Boston, -thought her chum very green, but when Nell visited the ranch in the -great West she found herself confronting many conditions of which -she was totally ignorant. A stirring outdoor story.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">4. FOUR LITTLE WOMEN OF ROXBY, <em class="italics">or The Queer Old Lady Who Lost Her Way</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Four sisters are keeping house and having trouble to make both -ends meet. One day there wanders in from a stalled express train an -old lady who cannot remember her identity. The girls take the old -lady in, and, later, are much astonished to learn who she really is.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">5. PLAIN JANE AND PRETTY BETTY, <em class="italics">or The Girl Who Won Out</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The tale of two girls, one plain but sensible, the other pretty but -vain. Unexpectedly both find they have to make their way in the -world. Both have many trials and tribulations. A story of a country -town and then a city.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics">Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em></p> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> -<div class="line"><span class="larger">THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES</span></div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line">By ALICE B. EMERSON</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">12mo. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em></div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Ruth Fielding was an orphan and came to -live with her miserly uncle. Her adventures -and travels make stories that will hold the interest -of every reader.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">Ruth Fielding is a character that will live -in juvenile fiction.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<ol class="arabic simple"> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOODHALL</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING IN THE FAR NORTH</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING AT GOLDEN PASS</p> -</li> -<li><p class="first pfirst">RUTH FIELDING IN ALASKA</p> -</li> -</ol> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> -<div class="line"><span class="larger">THE BETTY GORDON SERIES</span></div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line">By ALICE B. EMERSON</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em></div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">A series of stories by Alice B. Emerson which -are bound to make this writer more popular -than ever with her host of girl readers.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">1. BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM, <em class="italics">or The Mystery of a Nobody</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">At twelve Betty is left an orphan.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON, <em class="italics">or Strange Adventures in a Great City</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Betty goes to the National Capitol to find -her uncle and has several unusual adventures.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL, <em class="italics">or The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">From Washington the scene is shifted to the great oil fields of -our country. A splendid picture of the oil field operations of today.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">4. BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL, <em class="italics">or The Treasure of Indian Chasm</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Seeking treasures of Indian Chasm makes interesting reading.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP, <em class="italics">or The Mystery of Ida Bellethorne</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">At Mountain Camp Betty found herself in the midst of a mystery -involving a girl whom she had previously met in Washington.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">6. BETTY GORDON AT OCEAN PARK, <em class="italics">or School Chums on the Boardwalk</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">A glorious outing that Betty and her chums never forgot.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">7. BETTY GORDON AND HER SCHOOL CHUMS, <em class="italics">or Bringing the Rebels to Terms</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Rebellious students, disliked teachers and mysterious robberies -make a fascinating story.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">8. BETTY GORDON AT RAINBOW RANCH, <em class="italics">or Cowboy Joe’s Secret</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Betty and her chums have a grand time in the saddle.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">9. BETTY GORDON IN MEXICAN WILDS, <em class="italics">or The Secret of the Mountains</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Betty receives a fake telegram and finds both Bob and herself held -for ransom in a mountain cave.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics">Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em></p> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> -<div class="line"><span class="larger">THE RADIO GIRLS SERIES</span></div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line">BY MARGARET PENROSE</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em></div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">A new and up-to-date series taking in the -activities of several bright girls who become -interested in radio. The stories tell of thrilling -exploits, out-door life and the great part the -Radio plays in the adventures of the girls and -in solving their mysteries. Fascinating books -that girls of all ages will want to read.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">1. THE RADIO GIRLS OF ROSELAWN, <em class="italics">or A Strange Message from the Air</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Showing how Jessie Norwood and her chums became interested in -radiophoning, how they gave a concert for a worthy local charity, and -how they received a sudden and unexpected call for help out of the air. -A girl wanted as witness in a celebrated law case disappears, and the -radio girls go to the rescue.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">2. THE RADIO GIRLS ON THE PROGRAM, <em class="italics">or Singing and Reciting at the Sending Station</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">When listening in on a thrilling recitation or a superb concert number -who of us has not longed to “look behind the scenes” to see how it was -done? The girls had made the acquaintance of a sending station manager -and in this volume are permitted to get on the program, much to their -delight. A tale full of action and fun.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">3. THE RADIO GIRLS ON STATION ISLAND, <em class="italics">or The Wireless from the Steam Yacht</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">In this volume the girls travel to the seashore and put in a vacation -on an island where is located a big radio sending station. The big -brother of one of the girls owns a steam yacht and while out with a -pleasure party those on the island receive word by radio that the yacht -is on fire. A tale thrilling to the last page.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">4. THE RADIO GIRLS AT FOREST LODGE, <em class="italics">or The Strange Hut in the Swamp</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The Radio Girls spend several weeks on the shores of a beautiful lake -and with their radio get news of a great forest fire. It also aids them -in rounding up some undesirable folks who occupy the strange hut in the -swamp.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics">Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em></p> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> -<div class="line"><span class="larger">THE GIRL SCOUT SERIES</span></div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line">By LILIAN GARIS</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em></div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">The highest ideals of girlhood as advocated -by the foremost organisations of America -form the background for these stories and while -unobtrusive there is a message in every volume.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">1. THE GIRL SCOUT PIONEERS, <em class="italics">or Winning the First B. C.</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">A story of the True Tred Troop in a Pennsylvania town. Two runaway -girls, who want to see the city, are reclaimed through troop influence. -The story is correct in scout detail.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">2. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE, <em class="italics">or Maid Mary’s Awakening</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The story of a timid little maid who is afraid to take part in other -girls’ activities, while working nobly alone for high ideals. How she -was discovered by the Bellaire Troop and came into her own as “Maid -Mary” makes a fascinating story.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">3. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST, <em class="italics">or The Wig Wag Rescue</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Luna Land, a little island by the sea, is wrapt in a mysterious -seclusion, and Kitty Scuttle, a grotesque figure, succeeds in keeping -all others at bay until the Girl Scouts come.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">4. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP COMALONG, <em class="italics">or Peg of Tamarack Hills</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The girls of Bobolink Troop spend their summer on the shores of Lake -Hocomo. Their discovery of Peg, the mysterious rider, and the clearing -up of her remarkable adventures afford a vigorous plot.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">5. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT ROCKY LEDGE, <em class="italics">or Nora’s Real Vacation</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Nora Blair is the pampered daughter of a frivolous mother. Her dislike -for the rugged life of Girl Scouts is eventually changed to -appreciation, when the rescue of little Lucia, a woodland waif, becomes -a problem for the girls to solve.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics">Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em></p> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> -<div class="line"><span class="larger">THE LINGER-NOT SERIES</span></div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line">By AGNES MILLER</div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em></div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></div> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">This new series of girls’ books is in a new -style of story writing. The interest is in knowing -the girls and seeing them solve the problems -that develop their character. Incidentally, a -great deal of historical information is imparted.</p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">1. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE MYSTERY HOUSE, <em class="italics">or The Story of Nine Adventurous Girls</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">How the Linger-Not girls met and formed their club seems commonplace, -but this writer makes it fascinating, and how they made their club -serve a great purpose continues the interest to the end, and introduces -a new type of girlhood.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">2. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE VALLEY FEUD, <em class="italics">or The Great West Point Chain</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The Linger-Not girls had no thought of becoming mixed up with feuds or -mysteries, but their habit of being useful soon entangled them in some -surprising adventures that turned out happily for all, and made the -valley better because of their visit.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">3. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THEIR GOLDEN QUEST, <em class="italics">or The Log of the Ocean Monarch</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">For a club of girls to become involved in a mystery leading back into -the times of the California gold-rush, seems unnatural until the reader -sees how it happened, and how the girls helped one of their friends to -come into her rightful name and inheritance, forms a fine story.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">4. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE WHISPERING CHARMS, <em class="italics">or The Secret from Old Alaska</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Whether engrossed in thrilling adventures in the Far North or occupied -with quiet home duties, the Linger-Not girls could work unitedly to -solve a colorful mystery in a way that interpreted American freedom to -a sad young stranger, and brought happiness to her and to themselves.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics">Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em></p> -<div class="clearpage"> -</div> -<div class="center line-block noindent outermost"> -<div class="line"><span class="larger">THE CURLYTOPS SERIES</span></div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line">By HOWARD R. GARIS</div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Author of the famous “Bedtime Animal Stories”</em></div> -<div class="line"> </div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em></div> -<div class="line"><em class="italics">Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></div> -</div> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst">1. THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM, <em class="italics">or Vacation Days in the Country</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">A tale of happy vacation days on a farm.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">2. THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND, <em class="italics">or Camping out with Grandpa</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The Curlytops were delighted when grandpa took them to camp on Star -Island.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">3. THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN, <em class="italics">or Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The Curlytops, with their skates and sleds, on lakes and hills.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">4. THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK’S RANCH, <em class="italics">or Little Folks on Ponyback</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Out West on their uncle’s ranch they have a wonderful time.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">5. THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE, <em class="italics">or On the Water with Uncle Ben</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The Curlytops camp out on the shores of a beautiful lake.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">6. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS, <em class="italics">or Uncle Toby’s Strange Collection</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">An old uncle leaves them to care for his collection of pets.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">7. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES, <em class="italics">or Jolly Times Through the Holidays</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">They have great times with their uncle’s collection of animals.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">8. THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS, <em class="italics">or Fun at the Lumber Camp</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">Exciting times in the forest for Curlytops.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">9. THE CURLYTOPS AT SUNSET BEACH, <em class="italics">or What Was Found in the Sand</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The Curlytops have a fine time at the seashore, bathing, digging in the -sand and pony-back riding.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="pfirst">10. THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND, <em class="italics">or The Missing Photograph Albums</em></p> -<blockquote> -<div> -<p class="pfirst">The Curlytops fall in with a moving picture company and get in some of -the pictures.</p> -</div> -</blockquote> -<p class="center pfirst"><em class="italics">Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em></p> -<div class="vspace" style="height: 6em"> -</div> -<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> -<div class="backmatter"> -</div> -<p class="pfirst" id="pg-end-line">*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK <span>BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES</span> ***</p> -<div class="cleardoublepage"> -</div> -</div> -<div class="language-en level-2 pgfooter section" id="a-word-from-project-gutenberg" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<span id="pg-footer"></span><h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">A Word from Project Gutenberg</h2> -<p class="pfirst">We will update this book if we find any errors.</p> -<p class="pnext">This book can be found under: <a class="reference external" href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40586"><span>http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40586</span></a></p> -<p class="pnext">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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