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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8137-8.txt b/8137-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3b2b30 --- /dev/null +++ b/8137-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5915 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red +Cross, by Gertrude W. Morrison + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross + Or Amateur Theatricals for a Worthy Cause + +Author: Gertrude W. Morrison + +Posting Date: February 21, 2015 [EBook #8137] +Release Date: May, 2005 +First Posted: June 17, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS CENTRAL HIGH--RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross + +OR + +AMATEUR THEATRICALS FOR A WORTHY CAUSE + +BY + +GERTRUDE W. MORRISON + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER +I THE ODDEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED +II THE RED CROSS GIRL +III ODD! +IV THE MYSTERY MAN +V SAND IN THE GEARS +VI THE BANK-NOTE +VII SOMETHING EXCITING +VIII THE FOREFRONT OF TROUBLE +IX THE ICE CARNIVAL +X BUT WHO IS HE? +XI A REHEARSAL +XII BUBBLE, BUBBLE +XIII MOTHER WIT HAS AN IDEA +XIV CHAINS ON HIS WHEELS +XV PIE AND POETRY +XVI EMBER NIGHT +XVII A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT +XVIII WHERE WAS PURT? +XIX LAURA LISTENS +XX TWO THINGS ABOUT HESTER +XXI AND A THIRD THING +XXII THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT +XXIII THE LAST REHEARSAL +XXIV MR. NEMO, OF NOWHERE +XXV IT IS ALL ROUNDED UP + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ODDEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED + + +"Well, if that isn't the oddest thing that ever happened!" murmured Laura +Belding, sitting straight up on the stool before the high desk in her +father's glass-enclosed office, from which elevation she could look down +the long aisles of his jewelry store and out into Market Street, +Centerport's main business thoroughfare. + +But Laura was not looking down the vista of the electrically lighted shop +and into the icy street. Instead, she gave her attention to that which lay +right under her eyes upon the desk top. She looked first at the neat +figures she had written upon the page of the day ledger, after carefully +proving them, and thence at the packet of bills and piles of coin on the +desk at her right hand. + +"It is the oddest thing that ever happened," she affirmed, as though in +answer to her own first declaration. + +It was Saturday evening, and it was always Laura's duty to straighten out +her father's books for him on that day, for although she was a high school +girl, she was usually so well prepared in her studies that she could give +the books proper attention weekly. Laura had taken a course in bookkeeping +and she was quite familiar with the business of keeping a simple set of +books like these. + +She never let the day ledger and the cash get far apart. It was her custom +to strike a balance weekly, and this she was doing at this time. Or she was +trying to! But there seemed to be something entirely wrong with the cash +itself. + +She knew that the figures on the ledger were correct. She had asked her +father, and even Chet, her brother, who was helping in the store this +evening, if either of them had taken out any cash without setting the sum +down in the proper record. + +"It is an even fifty dollars--neither more nor less," she had told them, +with a puzzled little frown corrugating her pretty forehead. + +They had both denied any such act--Chet, of course, vigorously. + +"What kind of hardware are you trying to hang on me, Mother Wit?" he +demanded of his sister. "I know Christmas will soon be on top of us, and a +fellow needs all the money there is in the world to buy even one girl a +decent present. But I assure you I haven't taken to nicking papa's cash +drawer." + +"I don't know but mother is right," Laura sighed. "Your language is +becoming something to listen to with fear and trembling. And I am not +accusing you, Chetwood. I'm only asking you!" + +"And I'm only answering you--emphatically," chuckled her brother. + +"It is no laughing matter when you cannot find fifty dollars," she told +him. + +"You'd better stir your wits a little, then, Sis," he advised. "You know +Jess and Lance will be along soon and we were all going shopping together, +and skating afterward. Lance and I want to practice our grapevine whirl." + +But being advised to hurry did not help. For half an hour since Chet had +last spoken the girl had sat in a web of mystery that fairly made her head +spin! Her ledger figures were proved over and over again. But the cash! +Then once more she bent to her task. + +The piles of coin were all right she finally decided. She counted them over +and over again, and they came to the same penny exactly. So she pushed the +coin aside. + +Then she slowly and carefully counted again the bank-notes, turning them +one by one face down from left to right. The amount, added to the sum of +the coins, was equal to the figures on the ledger. Then she did what she +had already done ten or a dozen times. She recounted the bills, turning +them from right to left. + +She was fifty dollars short! + +Christmas was approaching, and the Belding jewelry store was, of course, +rather busier than at other seasons. That was why Chet Belding was helping +out behind the counters. Out there, he kept a closer watch on the front +door than Laura, with her financial trouble, could. + +Suddenly he darted down the long room to welcome a group of young people +who pushed open the jewelry-store door. They burst in with a hail of merry +voices and a clatter of tongues that drowned every other sound in the store +for a minute, although there were but four of them. + +"Easy! Easy!" begged Mr. Belding, who was giving his attention to a +customer near the front of the store. "Take your friends back to Laura's +coop, Chetwood." + +Hushed for the moment, the party drifted back toward Laura's desk. The +young girl was still too deeply engaged with the ledger and cash to look up +at first. + +"What is the matter, Mother Wit?" demanded the taller of the two girls who +had just come in--a most attractive-looking maiden, whom Chet had at once +taken on his arm. + +"Engine trouble," chuckled Laura's brother. "The old thing just won't +budge! Isn't that it, Laura?" + +The tall youth--dark and delightfully romantic-looking, any girl would have +told you--went around into the little office and looked over Laura's +shoulder. + +"What's gone wrong, Laura?" he asked, with sympathy in his voice and +manner. + +"You want to get a move on, Mother Wit!" cried the youngest girl of the +troop, saucy looking, and with ruddy cheeks and flyaway curls. This was +Clara Hargrew, whom her friends called Bobby, and whose father kept the big +grocery store just a block away from the Belding jewelry store. "Everybody +will have picked over the presents in all the stores and got the best of +everything before we get there." + +"That's right," said the last member of the group; and this was a short and +sturdy boy who had the same mischievous twinkle in his eye that Bobby +Hargrew displayed. + +His name was Long, and because he was short, everybody at Central High +(save the teachers, of course) called him "Short and Long." He and Bobby +Hargrew were what hopeless grown folk called "a team!" When they were not +hatching up some ridiculous trick together, they were separately in +mischief. + +"But you say Short and Long has done some of his Christmas shopping +already," Jess Morse, the tall visitor, said. "Just think, Laura! He has +sent Purt Sweet his annual present." + +"So soon?" said Laura Belding, but with her mind scarcely on what her +friends were saying. "And Thanksgiving is only just passed!" + +"I thought I'd better be early," said Short and Long, with solemn +countenance. "I wrote 'Not to be opened till Christmas' upon the package." + +Bobby and Jess and Lance burst into giggles. "Let's have the joke!" +demanded Chet. "What did you send the poor fish, Short?" + +"You guessed it! You guessed it, Chet Belding!" cried Bobby. "Aren't you a +clever lad?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Laura, now becoming more seriously interested. + +"Why," Jess Morse said, "he got a codfish down at the market and wrapped it +up in a lot of paper and put it in a long, beautifully decorated Christmas +box. If Purt Sweet keeps that box without opening it until Christmas, I am +afraid the Board of Health will be making inquiries about the Sweet +premises." + +"You scamp!" exclaimed Laura sternly, to Short and Long. + +"He's all right!" declared Bobby warmly. "You know just how mean and stingy +Purt Sweet is--and his mother has more money than anybody else in +Centerport. Last Christmas, d'you know what Purt did?" + +"Something silly, of course," Laura said. + +"I don't know what you call silly. I call it mean," declared the smaller +girl. "Purt got it noised abroad that he was going to give a present to +every fellow in his class--didn't he, Short?" + +"That's what he did," said Billy Long, taking up the story. "And the day +before Christmas he got us all over to his house and offered each of us a +drink of ice-water! And some of the kids had been foolish enough to buy him +things--and give 'em to him ahead of time, too!" + +"Serves you right for being so piggish," commented Chet. + +"It was a mean trick," agreed Laura, "for some of the boys in Purt's grade +are much younger than he is. But this idea of giving Christmas presents +because you expect something in return----" + +"Is pretty small potatoes," finished Lance Darby, the dark youth. "But +what's the matter here, Laura?" he added. "I've counted these bills and +they are just exactly right by those figures you have set down there." + +"You turned them from left to right as you counted, Lance," cried Laura. + +"Sure! I counted the face of each bill," was the answer. + +"Now count them the other way!" exclaimed Laura in despair. + +Her friends gathered around while Laura did this. Even Chet gave some +attention to his sister's trouble now. From right to left the packet of +bank-notes came to fifty dollars less than the sum accredited to them on +the ledger. + +"Well, what do you know about that?" breathed Lance. + +"That's the strangest thing!" declared Jess Morse. + +"Why," said Bobby of the quick mind, "must be some of the bills are not +printed right." + +"Nonsense!" ejaculated Chet. + +"Who ever heard of such a thing as a banknote being printed wrong unless it +was a counterfeit?" demanded Laura. + +Mr. Belding, having finished with his customer, came back to the little +office and heard this. "I am quite sure we have taken in no +counterfeits--eh, Chet?" he said, smiling. + +"And there's only one big bill--this hundred," said Chet, who had taken the +package of bills and was flirting them through his fingers. "I took that in +myself when I sold that lavallière to the man I told you about, Father. You +remember? He was a stranger, and he said he wanted to give it to a young +girl. I------" + +"Let's see that bill, Chet!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew suddenly. + +Chet slipped the hundred-dollar note out of the packet and handed it to the +grocer's daughter. But she immediately cried: + +"I want to see the hundred-dollar bill, Chet. Not this one." + +"Why, that's the hundred------" + +"This is a fifty," interrupted Bobby. "Can't you see?" + +She displayed the face of a fifty-dollar bank-note to their wondering eyes. +Their exclamations drowned Mr. Belding's voice, and he had to speak twice +before Bobby heard him. + +"Turn it over!" + +The grocer's daughter did so. The other side of the bill was the face of a +hundred-dollar bank-note! At this there certainly was a hullabaloo in and +around the office. Mr. Belding could scarcely make himself heard again. He +was annoyed. + +"What is the matter with that bank-note? Whether it is counterfeit or not, +you took it in over the counter, Chetwood," he said coldly. + +"This very day," admitted his oldest son. + +"Then, my boy, it is up to you," said the jeweler grimly. + +"What----Just what do you mean?" asked Chet, somewhat troubled by his +father's sternness. + +"In a jewelry store," said Mr. Belding seriously, "as I have often told +you, a clerk must keep his eyes open. You admit taking in this bill. If the +Treasury Department says it is worth only fifty dollars, I shall expect you +to make good the other fifty." + +The young people stared at each other in awed silence as the jeweler turned +away. They could feel how annoyed he was. + +"Gee!" gasped Chet, "if I'm nicked fifty dollars, how shall I ever be able +to buy Christmas presents, or even give anything for the Red Cross drive?" + +"Oh, I'm sorry, Chet!" Jess Morse murmured. + +"Looks as if hard times had camped on your trail, old boy," declared Lance. + +"But maybe it is a hundred-dollar bill," Laura said. + +"It's tough," Short and Long muttered. + +"Try to pass it on somebody else," chuckled Bobby, who was not very +sympathetic at that moment. + +"Got it all locked up, Laura?" Jess asked. "Well, let us go then. You can't +make that bill right by looking at it, Chet." + +"I--I wish I could get hold of the man who passed it on me," murmured the +big fellow. + +"Would you know him again?" Lance asked. + +"Sure," returned his chum, getting his own coat and hat while his sister +put on her outdoor clothing. "All ready? We're going, Pa." + +"Remember what I said about that bill, Chetwood," Mr. Belding admonished +him. "You will learn after this, I guess, to look at both sides of a +hundred-dollar bill--or any other--when it is offered to you." + +"Aw, it's a good hundred, I bet," grumbled Chet. + +"If it is, I'll add an extra fifty to my Red Cross subscription," rejoined +his father with some tartness. + +"Well, that's something!" Bobby Hargrew said quickly. "We want to boost the +fund all we can. And what do you think?" + +"My brain has stopped functioning entirely since I got so bothered by that +bank-note," declared Laura Belding, shaking her head. "I can't think." + +"Mr. Sharp and the rest of the faculty have agreed that we shall give a +show for the Red Cross," declared Bobby, with enthusiasm. "Just what we +wanted them to do!" + +"Oh, joy!" cried Jess, clasping her hands in delight. + +"Miss Josephine Morse, leading lady, impressarioess, and so forth," laughed +Lance Darby, "will surely be in on the theatricals." + +"Maybe they will let you write the play, Jess," said Chet admiringly. + +They reached the door and stepped into the street. There had been rain and +a freeze. The sidewalks, as well as the highway itself, were slippery. +Bobby suddenly screamed: + +"See there! Oh! He'll be killed!" + +A rapidly-driven automobile turned the corner by the Belding store. A man +was crossing Market Street, coming toward the group of young people. + +The careless driver had not put on his chains. The car skidded. The next +instant the pedestrian was knocked down, and at least one wheel ran over +his prostrate body. + +Instead of stopping, the car went into high speed and dashed up the street +and was quickly out of sight. The young people ran to the prostrate man. +Nobody for the moment thought of the automobile driver who was responsible +for the affair. + +The victim had blood on his face from a cut high up on his crown. He was +unconscious. It was Chet Belding who stood up and spoke, first of all. + +"I thought so! I thought so!" he gasped. "Do you know who this is?" + +"Who?" asked Jess, clinging to his arm as the crowd gathered. + +"This is the man who passed that phony hundred-dollar bill on me. The very +one!" + +"Is he dead?" whispered Bobby Hargrew, looking under Chefs elbow down at +the crimson-streaked face of the unfortunate man. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE RED CROSS GIRL + + +Market street was well lighted, but it was not well policed. That last fact +could not be denied, or the recklessly driven automobile that had knocked +down the stranger would never have got away so easily. People from both +sides of the street and from the stores near by ran to the spot; but no +policeman appeared until long after the automobile was out of sight. + +The exciting statement that Chet Belding had made so interested and +surprised his friends that for a few moments they gave the victim of the +injury little of their attention. Meanwhile a figure glided into the group +and knelt beside the injured man who lay upon the ice-covered street. It +was a girl, not older than Laura and Jess, but one who was dressed in the +veil and cloak of the Red Cross. + +She was not the only Red Cross worker on Market Street that Saturday +evening, for the drive for the big Red Cross fund had begun, and many +workers were collecting. This girl, however seemed to have a practical +knowledge of first-aid work. She drew forth a small case, wiped the blood +away from the man's face with cotton, and then began to bandage the wound +as his head rested against her knee. + +"Somebody send for the ambulance," she commanded, in a clear and pleasant +voice. "I think he has a fractured leg, and he may be hurt otherwise." + +Her request brought the three girls of Central High to their senses. Bobby +darted away to telephone to the hospital from her father's store. The older +girls offered the Red Cross worker their aid. + +For a year and a half the girls of Central High had been interested in the +Girls' Branch League athletics; and with their training under Mrs. Case, +the athletic instructor, they had all learned something about first-aid +work. + +The girls of Centerport had changed in character without a doubt since the +three high schools of the city had become interested so deeply in girls' +athletics. With the high schools of Keyport and Lumberport, an association +of league units had been formed, and the girls of the five educational +institutions were rivals to a proper degree in many games and sports. + +How all this had begun and how Laura Belding by her individual efforts had +made possible the Central High's beautiful gymnasium and athletic field, is +told in the first volume of this series, entitled: "The Girls of Central +High; Or, Rivals for All Honors." This story served to introduce this party +of young people who have met in the jewelry store, as well as a number of +other characters, to the reader. + +In "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna; Or, The Crew That Won," the +enthusiasm in sports among the girls of the five high schools reaches a +high point. + +As the three cities in the league are all situated upon the beautiful lake +named above, aquatic games hold a high place in the estimation of the rival +associations in the league. Fun and sports fill this second volume. + +"The Girls of Central High at Basket Ball; Or, The Great Gymnasium +Mystery," the third book, tells of several very exciting games in which the +basket-ball team of Central High takes part, and the reader learns, as +well, a good deal more about the individual characters of the girls +themselves and of some very exciting adventures they have. + +"The Girls of Central High on the Stage; Or, The Play That Took the Prize," +the fourth volume in the series, is really Jess Morse's story, although +Laura and their other close friends have much to do in the book and take +part in the play which Jess wrote, and which was acted in the school +auditorium. It was proved that Jess Morse had considerable talent for play +writing, and the professional production of her school play aided the girl +and her mother over a most trying financial experience. + +The fifth volume, "The Girls of Central High on Track and Field; Or, The +Champions of the School League," is an all around athletic story in which +rivalries for place in school athletics, excitement and interest of plot, +and stories of character building are woven into a tale calculated to hold +the attention of any reader interested in high school doings. + +During the summer previous to the opening of the present story in the +series, these friends spent a most enjoyable time camping on Acorn Island, +and the sixth tale, "The Girls of Central High in Camp; Or, The Old +Professor's Secret," is as full of mystery, adventure, and fun as it can +be. Since the end of the long vacation the Girls of Central High, as well +as the boys who are their friends, had settled down to hard work both in +studies and athletics. Ice had come early this year and already Lake Luna +was frozen near the shore and most of the steamboat traffic between the +lake cities had ceased. + +The great pre-holiday Red Cross drive had now enthralled the girls of +Central High, as well as the bulk of Centerport's population. Everybody +wanted to put the city "over the top" with more than its quota subscribed +to the fund. + +In the first place, the boys' and girls' athletic associations of Central +High were planning an Ice Carnival to raise funds for the cause, and it was +because of that exhibition that Chet Belding and Lance Darby wished to get +down to the ice that evening and try their own particular turn, after the +shopping expedition that also had been planned. + +As it happened, however, neither the shopping nor the skating was done on +this particular Saturday night. + +As Bobby Hargrew ran to telephone to the hospital, Short and Long had +grabbed the wrists of his two older and taller boy friends and led them out +of the crowd in a very mysterious way. + +"Did you get a good look at that car?" he whispered to Chet and Lance. + +"Of course I didn't," said the latter. "It went up the street like the +wind. Didn't it, Chet?" + +"That rascal was going some when he turned the corner of Rapidan Street. I +wonder he did not skid again and smash his car to pieces against the +hydrant. Served him right if he had," Chet said. + +"There were no chains on his wheels," said Short and Long, in the same +mysterious way. + +"You said it," agreed Lance. "What then?" + +"There are not many cars in Centerport right now without chains on. The +streets have been icy for more than twenty-four hours." + +"Your statement is irrefutable," said Chet, grinning. + +"Get it off your chest, Short and Long," begged Lance. "What do you mean?" + +"I mean," said the earnest lad, "that I know a car that was out this +afternoon without chains, and it was a seven-seater Perriton car--just as +this one that knocked down Chet's friend was." + +"It was a Perriton, I believe," murmured Lance. + +But Chetwood Belding said: "I don't know whether that poor fellow is a +friend of mine or not. If I have to give Pa fifty dollars--Whew!" + +"But the car?" urged Lance Darby. "Who has a Perriton car, Short and Long?" + +"And without chains?" added Chet, waking up to the main topic. + +"Come along, fellows," said the younger lad. "I won't tell you. But I'll +take you to where you can see the car I mean. If it still is without chains +on the wheels, and has just been used--Well, we can talk about it then!" + +"All right," said Chet. "We can't do any good here. Here comes the +ambulance. That poor fellow is going to be in the hospital for some time, I +bet." + +There was such a crowd around the spot where the victim of the accident lay +that the boys could not see the Central High girls, save Bobby Hargrew, who +came running back from her father's store just as the clanging of the +ambulance gong warned the crowd that the hospital had responded in its +usual prompt fashion. + +The boys hailed the smaller girl and told her they were off to hunt for the +car that had knocked down the victim. Then the three hurried away. + +Meanwhile, in the center of the crowd Laura Belding and Jess Morse had been +aiding the girl in the Red Cross uniform as best they could to care for the +man who was hurt. The latter had not opened his eyes when the ambulance +worked its way into the crowd and halted beside the three girls on their +knees in the street. + +"What have you there?" asked the young doctor, who swung himself off the +rear of the truck. + +Laura and Jess told him. The third girl, the one who had done the most for +the unfortunate man, did not at first say a word. + +The driver brought the rolled stretcher and blanket. He laid it down beside +the victim. When the doctor had finished his brief notes he helped his aid +lift the man to the stretcher. They picked it up and shoved it carefully +into the ambulance. + +"I know you, Miss Belding," said the doctor. "And this is Miss Morse, isn't +it? Do you mind giving me your name and address?" he asked the third girl. + +Was there a moment's hesitation on the part of the Red Cross girl? Laura +thought there was; yet almost instantly the stranger replied: + +"My name is Janet Steele." + +"Ah! Your address?" repeated the doctor. + +This time there was no doubt that the girl flushed, and more than a few +seconds passed before she made answer: + +"Thirty-seven Whiffle Street." + +At the same moment somebody exclaimed: "Here comes Fatty Morehead, the cop. +Better late than never," and a general laugh went up from the crowd. + +Jess seized Laura's wrist, exclaiming: "Oh, Laura! he will want to take +down our names and addresses, too. Let's get away." + +The Red Cross girl uttered an ejaculation of chagrin. She began pushing her +way out of the press, and in an opposite direction from that in which the +portly policeman was coming. + +Jess whispered swiftly in Laura's ear: "Come on! Let's follow her! I'm +awfully interested in that Red Cross girl, Laura!" + +"Why should you be?" asked her chum. "Although she looks like a nice girl, +I never saw her before." + +"Neither did I," said Jess. "But did you hear the address she gave? That is +the poor end of Whiffle Street, as you very well know, and mother and I +used to live right across the street from that house. I did not know +anybody lived in the old Eaton place. It has been empty for a long, long +time." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ODD! + + +Bobby Hargrew met Laura and Jess on the edge of the crowd, for she had been +unable to worm herself into the middle of it again, and told them swiftly +of the boys' departure to hunt for the car that had done the damage. + +"And that's just like the boys!" exclaimed Jess Morse, with some +exasperation. "To run away and desert us!" + +"I don't know but I'm glad," said Laura. "I don't feel much like shopping +after seeing that poor man hurt." + +"Or skating, either," complained Jess. + +Presently the three overtook the strange girl. Bobby, whom Chet had said +was "just as friendly with strangers as a pup with a waggy tail," +immediately got into conversation with her. + +"Say! was he hurt badly?" she asked. + +"I think his right leg was broken," the Red Cross girl replied. "And his +head was badly hurt. Your friends, here, could see that." + +"He bled dreadfully," sighed Laura. "But you had the bandage on so nicely +that the doctor did not even disturb it, my dear." + +"Thank you," said the Red Cross girl. She hesitated on the corner of the +side street. "I fear I must leave you here. I am going home." + +"Oh," cried Jess, who was enormously curious, "we can go your way just as +well as not, Miss Steele! We live at the other end of Whiffle Street--up on +the hill, you know." + +"All but me," put in Bobby. "But I can run right through Laura's yard to my +house." + +She indicated Laura as she spoke. The Red Cross girl looked at Mother Wit +with some expectancy. Jess came to the rescue. + +"Let's get acquainted," she said. "Why not? We'll never meet again under +more thrilling circumstances," and she laughed. "This is Miss Laura +Belding, Miss Steele. On your other hand is Miss Hargrew--Miss Clara +Hargrew. I am Josephine Morse. I used to live across the street from the +old Eaton place where you live now." + +"You are a stranger in town, are you not?" Laura asked, taking the new +girl's hand. + +"Yes, Miss Belding. We have only been here four weeks. But I have worked in +the Red Cross before--and one must do something, you know." + +"Do something!" burst forth Bobby. "If you went to Central High and had Gee +Gee for one of your teachers, you'd have plenty to do." + +"We are all three Central High girls," said Laura gently. "Have you +finished school, Miss Steele?" + +"I have not been able to attend school regularly for two years," admitted +the new girl. "I am afraid," and she smiled apologetically, "that you are +all much further advanced in your education than I am. You see, my mother +is an invalid and I must give her a great deal of my time. It does not +interfere, however, with my doing a little for the Red Cross." + +"I am sorry your mother is ill," said Laura. + +"We were advised to come up here for her sake," said Janet Steele hastily. +"We have been living in a coast town. The doctors thought an inland +climate--a drier climate--would be beneficial." + +"I hope it will prove so," said Laura. + +"It seems a shame you can't get out with the other girls," Jess added. + +"And come to school and let Gee Gee get after you," joined in Bobby grimly. + +"Is she such a very strict disciplinarian?" asked Miss Steele, smiling down +at the irrepressible one as they walked through the side street toward +Whiffle. + +"She's the limit," declared Bobby. + +"Oh," said Laura mildly, "I think Miss Carrington is nowhere near so strict +as she used to be. Margit Salgo really has made her quite human, you know." + +"Say!" grumbled Bobby, "she can hand out demerits just as easy as ever. And +she had her sense of humor extracted years ago." + +"Has that fault cropped up lately, my dear?" asked Laura, laughing. "It +must be so. What happened, Bobby?" + +The younger girl, who was a sophomore, whereas Laura and Jess were juniors, +came directly under Miss Carrington's attention in several classes. Bobby +was forever getting into trouble with the strict teacher. + +"Why, look, now," said Bobby, warmly, "just what happened yesterday! +English class. You know, that's nuts for Gee Gee. I was bothered enough, I +can tell you, trying to correct a paper she had handed back to me, and she +kept right on talking and asking questions, and the recitation period was +almost ended. I didn't want to hang around there to correct that paper--" + +"You know very well you should have taken it home to correct," Laura put +in. + +"Oh, don't tell me that! I take so much extra work home as it is, that +Father Tom Hargrew asks me if I don't do anything at all in school. And, +anyway, I didn't think Gee Gee saw me. But, of course, she did." + +"And then what?" Jess asked. + +"Why, she shot a question at me, and I didn't get it at first. 'Miss +Hargrew! Pay attention!' she went on. Of course, that brought me up +standing. 'What is a pseudonym?' she wanted to know. How silly! You know +the trouble we've been having with that car Father Tom bought. 'I don't +know what it is, Miss Carrington,' I told her. 'But if it is something that +belongs to an automobile, father will have to buy a new one pretty soon, +I'm sure.'" + +"And she docked you for that!" exclaimed Jess, as though wildly amazed. +"How cruel!" + +"Really, I am afraid we are sometimes cruel to our dear teachers," laughed +Laura. "But if they are too serious they are such a temptation to us witty +ones." + +"Now, don't be sarcastic, Mother Wit," said Jess, shaking her chum a little +by the elbow. "You know very well you enjoy nagging the teachers a bit +yourself, now and then. And Professor Dimp!" + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" gasped Bobby suddenly. "Did you hear the latest about Old +Dimple?" + +"Now, girls," said Laura, quite sternly, "I refuse to hear of Professor +Dimp being made a goose of." + +"Gander, dear! Gander!" exclaimed Jess, _sotto voce_. + +"He's an old dear," declared Laura, quite as earnestly. "We found that out, +I am sure, when we went camping on Acorn Island last summer." + +"True! True!" admitted her chum. + +"Oh, nobody wants to hurt the old fellow," chuckled Bobby. "But one day +this week there was a bunch of the boys down at the post-office, and +Professor Dimp came in to mail a letter. You know he is always reading on +the street when he walks; never sees anybody, and goes stumbling about +blindly with a book under his nose. He got into the revolving door and +Short and Long declares Old Dimple went around ten times before he knew +enough to come out--and then he was on the street again and had failed to +mail the letter." + +"Oh, Bobby!" cried Jess, while Miss Steele was quite convulsed by the +statement. + +"He's so absent-minded," said Laura sympathetically. "Why didn't Short and +Long tell him he was in the revolving door?" + +"Humph!" chuckled Bobby, "I guess Short thought the old fellow needed the +exercise." + +Just then the girls came to the corner of Whiffle Street The street was +narrow and crooked in an elbow here. The houses were mostly small, and were +out of repair. It was, indeed, the poor end of Whiffle Street. On the hill +end were some of the best residences in Centerport. + +"There's the Eaton place across the street," said Jess briskly. "I see +there is a light, Miss Steele." + +"That is mother's room on the first floor--right off the piazza. You know, +we could not begin to use all the house," the girl added frankly. "There +are only mother and I and Aunt Jinny." + +"Oh! Your aunt?" asked Jess. + +"She is mother's old nurse. She has come with us--to help do the housework, +you know," Miss Steele said frankly, yet again flushing a little. "I--I +guess I have never lived just as you girls do. We have moved around a great +deal. I have got such education as I have by fits and starts, you see. I +suppose you three girls have a perfectly delightful time at your Central +High?" + +"Especially when Gee Gee gets after us with a sharp stick," grumbled Bobby. + +"Don't mind Bobby," said Laura, laughing. "She is dreadfully slangy, and +sometimes quite impossible. We do have fine times at Central High. +Especially in our games and athletic work." + +"Miss Steele must be sure and come to our Ice Carnival next week," said +Jess. + +"'Ice Carnival'?" cried the Red Cross girl. "And I just love to skate!" + +There came a sudden tapping on the window of the lighted room in the old +Eaton house. The girls had crossed the street and were standing at the +gate. Janet Steele wheeled quickly and waved her hand. A sitting figure was +dimly outlined at the long, French window. + +"Oh!" Janet said. "Mother wants us to come in. She doesn't see many +people--and she enjoys young folk. Won't you come in? It will be a pleasure +for us both." + +Jess and Bobby looked at Laura. They allowed Mother Wit to decide the +question, and she was but a few seconds in doing so. + +"Why, of course! It's not late," she said. "We shall stay but a minute this +time, Miss Steele." + +"Call me Janet," whispered the Red Cross girl, squeezing Laura's arm as +they went through the sagging gate. + +The quartette climbed the steep steps to the piazza. That the Eaton house +was in bad repair was proved by the broken boards in steps and piazza floor +and the dilapidated condition of the railing. Even the lock of the front +door was broken. Janet turned the knob and ushered them into the dimly-lit +hall. + +This was neatly if sparsely furnished. And everything seemed scrupulously +clean. Their young hostess opened the door into her mother's room, which +was that originally intended for the parlor. + +The eager and curious girls of Central High saw first of all the figure of +the woman in the wheel chair by the window. She had pulled down the shade +now and dropped the curtains into place. The whole room was warm and well +lighted. There was a gas chandelier lighted to the full and an open grate +heaped with red coals. There was a good rug, comfortable chairs, and a +canopied bed set in a corner. A tea-table with furnishings was drawn up +near the fireplace. If one was obliged to spend one's time in a single +room, this apartment seemed amply furnished for such a condition. + +Mrs. Steele herself was no wan and hopeless-looking invalid. She was as +buxom as Janet, and Janet was as well built a girl, even, as Laura Belding. +The invalid had shrunken none in body or limbs. She owned, too, a very +attractive smile, and she held out both hands to greet her young visitors. + +"I am delighted!" she said in a strong, quick voice, which matched her +smile and bright glance perfectly. "Why, Janey, you may go out every +evening, if you will only bring back with you such a bevy of fresh, sweet +faces. Introduce me--do!" + +The introductions were made amid considerable gaiety. Mother Wit took the +lead in telling Mrs. Steele who they were. Later Janet related the accident +on Market Street, which had led to her acquaintance with the three girls of +Central High. + +Laura's keen eyes were not alone fixed upon Mrs. Steele while they talked. +She took into consideration everything in the house. There was no mark of +poverty; yet the Steeles lived in a house in a poor neighborhood and one +that was positively out of repair, and they occupied only a small part of +it. + +When the three girls came out again and Janet had gone in and closed the +door, Laura was in a brown study. + +"Wake up, Mother Wit!" commanded Jess. "What do you think of the +Steeles--and all?" + +All Laura Belding could say in comment, was: + +"Odd!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MYSTERY MAN + + +The three boys who had set off to find the car that had knocked down the +stranger on the icy street were as mysterious the next day as they could +be. At least, so their girl friends declared. + +Being Sunday, there was no general gathering of the Central High girls and +boys, but Laura, naturally, saw her brother early. He was coming from his +shower in bathrobe and slippers when Laura looked out of her own door. + +"What sort of fox-and-goose chase did Short and Long take you and Lance +away on?" she demanded. + +"Oh, I don't know that he was altogether foolish," said Chet doubtfully. + +"Then did you really find some trace of the car?" cried Laura, eagerly. + +"Well, we found a car. Yes." + +"'Goodness to gracious!' as poor Lizzie Bean says. You are +noncommunicative, Chetwood Belding. What do you mean--you found a car?" + +"Laura," said her brother, "I don't know--nor does Lance, or Short and +Long--whether the fellow we suspect had anything to do with that accident +or not." + +"Oh!" + +"And we don't want to get him in wrong." + +"Who is it?" demanded his sister, bluntly. + +"No. We won't tell anybody who it is we suspect until we make further +investigations." + +"I declare, you are as mysterious as a regular detective! And suppose the +police do make inquiries?" + +"They will, of course," + +"And what will you boys tell them?" + +"Pooh!" returned Chet, going on to his room to dress, "they won't ask us +because they don't know we know anything about it." + +"I guess you don't know much!" shouted Laura after him before he closed his +door. + +It was the same when Jess Morse met Lance Darby on the way to Sunday +School. + +"Ho, Launcelot!" she cried. "Tell us all the news--that is a good child. +Who was that awful person who ran down the man last night? I hear from Dr. +Agnew that they had to patch the poor victim up a good deal at the +hospital. Did you boys find the guilty party?" + +"I don't know that we did," said Darby. "You see, nobody seemed to see the +license number of the automobile." + +"But didn't Short and Long have suspicions?" + +"Well, what are suspicions?" demanded the boy. "We all agreed to say +nothing about it unless we have proof. And we haven't any proof--as yet." + +"Why, I believe you are 'holding out' on your friends, Lance," declared +Jess, in surprise. "For shame!" + +"Aw, ask Chet--if you must know!" exclaimed Lance, hurrying away. + +As it chanced it was Bobby Hargrew who attempted to play inquisitor with +Short and Long, meeting the boy with the youngest Long, Tommy, on the +slippery hill of Nugent Street Tommy was so bundled up in a "Teddy Bear" +costume that he could scarcely trudge along, and he held tightly to his +brother's hand. + +"For goodness' sake!" exclaimed Bobby, when she saw Tommy slipping all over +the icy sidewalk, "what is the matter with that boy?" + +"He hasn't got his sea-legs on," grinned Short and Long. + +"You mean to tell me he is nearly five years old and can walk no better +than _that?_" exclaimed Bobby teasingly. "Why, we have a little dog at home +that isn't even a year old yet, and he can ran right over this ice. He can +walk twice as good as Tommy does." + +"Hoh!" exclaimed that youngster defensively. "That dog's got twice as many +legs as I have." + +"Right you are, Kid!" chuckled his brother. "He got you there, Clara." + +"And did you boys get that man who ran the poor fellow down on Market +Street last night?" demanded Bobby, with interest. "Did you have him +arrested?" + +"No. What do you suppose? We're not going around snitching to the police," +growled Short and Long. + +"But if that man at the hospital is seriously hurt----" + +"Oh, we're not sure it's the right car," said the boy, and evidently did +not wish to talk about it. + +"Billy Long!" exclaimed the girl. "Are you boys trying to defend the guilty +person?" + +"Aw----" + +"Suppose that man at the hospital dies?" + +"Pshaw! He wasn't hurt as bad as all that." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because I've been to the hospital to find out He's got a broken leg and a +broken head----" + +"Is he conscious yet?" demanded Bobby Hargrew quickly. + +"No-o. They say he doesn't know anybody--and nobody knows who he is." + +"Now you see!" cried the girl "Maybe he will die! And you boys will let the +man who did it get away." + +"Oh, he won't get away," grumbled Short and Long. "We know where to find +him when we want to." + +"You'd better let the police know where to find him," said Bobby tartly. + +"You're not the police, Bobby Hargrew!" returned Short and Long, grinning +and going on with Tommy. + +The girls, of course, got together and compared notes and decided that the +boys were "real mean, so now!" To pay Chet and Lance and Billy Long for +being so secretive about the person they suspected of having caused the +injury to the stranger Saturday evening, the three girls went alone that +Sunday afternoon to the hospital to inquire after the injured man. + +And there they met Janet Steele again. The Red Cross girl had been making +inquiries, too, about the same case. + +"It really is a very serious matter," Janet said to her new friends. "The +man who knocked him down should be found. Although the doctors think he has +no internal injuries after all, there is a compound fracture which will +keep him in bed for a long time, and in addition he seems unable to give +any satisfactory explanation of who he is or where he comes from." + +"Goodness!" exclaimed Jess Morse. "Do you mean he has lost his mind?" + +"Merely mislaid it," said Janet with a smile. "Or, at least, he cannot +remember his name and address." + +"Didn't he have any papers about him that explain those points?" asked +Laura. + +"That seems to be odd, too," said Janet "No. Not a mark on his clothing, +either. But he was plentifully supplied with money, and all the bills were +brand new." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Laura. "That reminds me. That funny bill he passed on Chet +was brand new, too. I wonder if all his money is queer?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Janet, wonderingly. "Is the man a criminal, do +you think?" + +Laura and Jess explained about the peculiarly printed bill, which had given +the first named so much trouble in making up her father's accounts the +evening before. + +"But that may be all explained in time," said Janet. + +"All right," grumbled Bobby Hargrew. "But suppose poor Chet has to lose +fifty dollars?" + +"Father is going to take the bill to the bank to-morrow to see if they can +explain the mystery," Laura said. + +"But that will not explain the mystery of the stranger." said Jess. "Why, +he is a regular 'man of mystery,' isn't he?" + +"Humph!" said Bobby. "And so is the fellow the boys think ran him down. He +is a man of mystery as well." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SAND IN THE GEARS + + +Since the whole school had taken such a tremendous interest in "the +profession" at the time Central High blossomed forth in Jess Morse's play, +the M.O.R.s had given several playlets, and Mrs. Case, the physical +instructor, had staged folk dances and tableaux in the big hall. + +For the Red Cross the association of girls connected with the Girls Branch +Athletic League that had carried forward these smaller affairs, had +determined to stage "a real play." Nellie Agnew, the doctor's daughter, and +secretary of the club, had sent to a publisher for copies of plays that +could be put on by amateurs, and interest in the affair waxed high already. + +The principal point of decision was the identity of the play they were to +produce. Mr. Sharp and the other members of the school faculty had agreed +to let the girls act, and the big hall, or auditorium, could be used for +the production. At noon on Monday the girls interested in the performance +met in the principals office to decide upon the play. + +"And of course," grumbled Bobby Hargrew to the Lockwood twins, Dora and +Dorothy, "all the teachers have got to come and interfere. We can't do a +sol-i-ta-ry thing without Gee Gee, or Miss Black, or some of them, poking +their noses into it." + +"You can't say that Professor Dimp pokes his nose into our affairs," +laughed Dora. + +"No, indeed," said her twin. "Outside of his Latin and physics he doesn't +seem to have a single idea." + +"Doesn't he?" scoffed Bobby. "The boys say he's gone into the dressmaking +business, or something." + +"What is that?" asked Dora, smiling. "What do they mean?" + +"Why, the professor's niece is living with him now. He is not much used to +having a woman in his sitting-room, I guess. She sits and sews with him in +the evening while he reads or corrects our futile work," said Bobby, +grinning. + +"The other night Ellie Lingard--that's his niece--lost her scissors and she +said they hunted all over the room for them. The next morning in one of the +physics classes the professor opened his book, and there were the lost +scissors, which he had tucked into it for a bookmark while he helped Ellie +Lingard hunt for her lost property." + +"Oh, oh!" laughed the twins. + +"The worst of it was," continued Bobby, with an elfish grin, "Old Dimple +grabbed them up and said right out loud: 'Oh, here they are, Ellie!' The +boys just hooted, and poor Old Dimp was as mad as a hatter." + +"The poor old man," said Dorothy commiseratingly. + +It was a fact that, although Professor Dimp did not interfere in this play +business, most of the other teachers desired to have their opinions +considered. The girls would not have minded Mr. Sharp. Indeed, they courted +his advice. But when Miss Grace Gee Carrington stood up to speak, some of +them audibly groaned. + +Miss Carrington was Mr. Sharp's assistant and almost in complete control of +the girls of the school. At least, the girls came in contact with her much +more than they did with Mr. Sharp himself. + +She was a very stiff and precise woman, with an acrid temper and a sharp +tongue. She had been teaching unruly girls for so many years that she was +to a degree quite soured upon the world--especially that world of school +which she had so much to do with. + +Of late, however, Miss Carrington had become interested "quite in a human +way," her girls said, in a person who had first appeared to the ken of the +girls of Central High as a Gypsy girl. Margit Salgo's father, a Hungarian +Gypsy musician, had married Miss Carrington's sister, much against the +desire of Miss Grace Gee Carrington herself. When the orphaned Margit found +her way to Centerport she made such an impression upon her aunt's heart +that the latter finally took the girl into her own home and adopted her as +"Margaret Carrington." + +That, however, could not change Miss Carrington's nature. She was severe +and (in the opinion of fly-away Bobby Hargrew) she was much inclined to +interfere in the girls' affairs. On this occasion the girls were not +disappointed when Miss Carrington "said her little say." + +"I approve of any acceptable attempt to raise funds for such a worthy +object as this we have in mind," said Miss Carrington. "An exhibition which +will interest the school in general and our parents and friends likewise, +meets, I am sure, with the approval of us all. Some of our young ladies, I +feel quite sure, show some talent for playing, and much interest therein. +Without meaning to pun, I would add that I wish they showed as great talent +for work as for play." + +"She could not help giving us that dig, if she were to be martyred for it," +Nellie Agnew whispered to Laura. + +"Sh! She'll see your lips move," warned Dora Lockwood, on the other side of +the doctor's daughter. "I believe she has learned lip reading." + +Miss Carrington went on quite calmly: "The first consideration, however, it +seems to me, is the selection of the play. I should not wish to see the +standard of Central High lowered by the acting of a play that would cater +only to the amusement-loving crowd. It should be educational. We should +achieve in a small way what the Greek players tried to teach--a love of +beauty, of form, of some great truth that can be inculcated in this way on +the public mind." + +"But, Miss Carrington!" cried Bess Yeager, one of the seniors, almost +interrupting the staid teacher, "we want to make money for the Red Cross. +We could not get a room full with a Greek play." + +"I beg Miss Yeager's pardon," said Miss Carrington stiffly. "We have our +standard of education to uphold first of all." + +"I hope you will excuse me, Miss Carrington," said Laura, likewise rising +to object. "Our first object is to give the people something that will +amuse them so that they will crowd the auditorium. Otherwise our object +will not have been achieved. This is a purely money-making scheme," added +the jeweler's daughter with her low, sweet laugh. + +"I am amazed to hear you say so!" exclaimed the instructor, quick for +argument at any time. "Have you young ladies no higher desire than to make +the rabble laugh?" + +"I want you to know," muttered Jess Morse, "that my mother is coming, and +she isn't 'rabble.'" + +Perhaps it was fortunate that Miss Carrington did not hear this comment. +But she could not fail to hear some of the others made by the girls. There +was earnest protest in all parts of the room. Mr. Sharp brought them to +order. + +"Miss Carrington has, under ordinary circumstances, made an excellent +point, and I want you all to notice it," said the principal. "We are an +educational institution here on the hill. If we were giving a class play, +or anything like that, I should vote for Miss Carrington's idea. At such a +time something primarily educational should be in order. + +"But as I understand it, you young ladies are going to act for the benefit +of the Red Cross fund, and what will benefit that fund the most is the +drawing together of a well-paying crowd to see you act. + +"I am afraid we shall have to set aside our own desires, Miss Carrington," +he continued, smiling at his assistant. "We must let the actors choose +their own play--as long as it is a proper one--and abide for once by the +decision of those of our friends who wish to be amused rather than +educated." + +"He's half backing her up!" complained Dora. + +"Well, he has to pour oil on the troubled waters," whispered Laura. + +"Huh!" grumbled Bobby Hargrew. "But Gee Gee is determined to throw sand in +the gears, not oil on the waters. She always does." + +Really, Miss Carrington seemed in an interfering mood that day. Nellie had +a collection of plays from which they were supposed to choose that very +session the one to be acted. There was but brief time to learn the parts +and the acting directions. But Mr. Mann, who had directed them in other +plays, said he thought he would be able to whip the girls into shape for a +performance in two weeks. Although they were amateurs, they had all had +some experience. + +When the girls themselves got a chance to talk it was shown that their +desires were all for a parlor comedy with bright lines, some farcical turns +to the plot, but a play of sufficient weight to gain the approval of +sober-minded people. It was, however, far from being classic. + +"Such a play is preposterous!" ejaculated Miss Carrington, breaking out +again. "Don't you think so yourself, Mr. Sharp?" + +The principal had the book in his hand and was skimming through some of the +dialogue. If the truth was told he was on a broad grin. + +"I don't know about that, Miss Carrington. It--it is really very funny." + +"'Funny!'" gasped his assistant, with all the emphasis she dared show in +the presence of the principal. "As though to make fun should be our +target!" + +"What would you like to have us play?" asked Bobby, daringly. "Julius +Caesar? If we do, I want to play old Julius. He dies in the first act. The +rest of us would be killed lingeringly by the audience, I know, before the +last." + +"Miss Hargrew!" snapped the teacher. Then she remembered that this was not +a recitation and she could not easily punish the girl. She shook her head +and looked offended during the remainder of the discussion. + +"But you know very well," snapped Lily Pendleton, a rather overdressed +girl, as they all crowded out of the schoolhouse after the meeting, "that +Gee Gee will do her wickedest to spoil it all." + +"Oh, no!" cried Laura. "Not when it is for the Red Cross!" + +"It wouldn't matter what the object was," said Jess morosely. "She always +does try to crab the game." + +"Goodness, Josephine!" gasped her chum, "you are positively as slangy as +Chet." + +"I guess I catch it from him," admitted Jess Morse. "And she is a crab!" + +"Now girls!" called Nellie, a regular Martha for trouble at the present +moment. "Now girls, remember the 'sides' will be here day after tomorrow, +and Mr. Mann will look us over and give out the parts that afternoon in the +small hall. Nobody must be absent. We want this show to be the biggest +success that ever was." + +"It won't be if Gee Gee can help it," growled Bobby Hargrew, shaking her +curls. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BANK-NOTE + + +"There's one sure thing about it," Lance Darby said to Laura when she told +him of the way in which Miss Carrington had tried to interfere with the +girls' choice of the play, "she cannot butt into the Ice Carnival +arrangements. Nobody but your Mrs. Case and our Mr. Haskins has anything to +say about the Carnival Committee's arrangements." + +"Oh! Indeed?" laughed Laura. "There you are mistaken about the far-reaching +influence of our Miss Carrington." + +"What do you mean?" + +"You forget that our share of the Carnival is under the jurisdiction of the +Girls Branch League, and in the constitution and by-laws of that +association it is stated that none of us girls can take part in any +exhibition without the consent of our teachers, and without, indeed, having +a certain standing in all branches of study. Miss Carrington can get her +word in right there." + +"Wow, wow! That's so, I presume," admitted Lance. + +"But we have gone so far now," said Laura complacently, "that I don't think +even Bobby will be refused permission to join in the festivities--and Bobby +is a splendid little skater, Lance." + +"Bobby is all right," agreed the youth. "But here comes old Chet--and his +face is as long as the moral law. He is still worried about that fifty +dollars he may have to dig down into his jeans for--if your father sticks +to what he said he'd do." + +Chetwood had a cheerful word, however, despite his serious aspect. + +"Have you seen the ice, Lance?" he demanded, brightening up. + +"Not to-day, old boy." + +"It's scrumptious--just!" exclaimed the big fellow. "They have been shaving +it, and have got it all roped off." + +"Better have somebody watch it, too, or the kids from downtown will get in +there and cut it all up. Just like 'em," growled Lance. + +"Don't fret. Old Godey is on guard. Trust him to keep the kids off the +track," said Chet. "Is father at home, Laura?" + +"He's just come in," said his sister. "Has he found out about that +bank-note yet?" + +"That is what I wanted to know," said the worried Chet. "I've been over to +the hospital this afternoon--before I went down to the lake shore. That, +chap who was hurt is off his nanny----" + +"Chet! Don't let mother hear you," begged Laura, yet laughing. + +"I wouldn't want the mater to be shocked," admitted Chet. "But that is +exactly what is the trouble with that man who gave me the phony bill. The +doctor told me the crack he got on the head had injured his brain." + +"The poor man!" sighed his sister. + +"What about 'poor me'?" demanded Chet indignantly. "And they say he carried +a roll of brand new bills big enough to choke a cow! The doctor says he +thinks the money is good, too. But he passed that hundred-dollar note on +me----" + +"If it is a hundred," interjected Lance. + +"Now you said a forkful," grumbled Chet, shaking his head. "Let's go in and +see what father has to say about it. He was going to see Mr. Monroe at the +First National. They say Mr. Monroe knows all about money--knew the fellow +who invented it, personally, I guess." + +The young folks found Mr. Belding in the library, and he welcomed them with +his customary smile when the three came in. + +"The bank-note?" he repeated. "I left it for Mr. Monroe to look at. He was +out of town. But he will tell me when he returns--if he knows about it. It +is a curious thing. And I hope it will teach you a lesson, Chetwood." + +"Sure!" grumbled Chet, "Of course, there is nothing so important in this +world as learning lessons. Little thing about me being nicked fifty dollars +isn't considered." + +His father laughed at his rueful countenance. "Well, Son, I can't offer you +much sympathy. Perhaps the Treasury Department will make it right. And how +about that man who gave it to you? He can't get far with a broken leg." + +"He's gone far enough already," declared Chet. "They say he has lost his +memory." + +"What's that?" cried Mr. Belding. + +"Looks fishy, doesn't it?" said Lance. "Lots of folks who owe money lose +their memories." + +"No," said Chet, shaking his head. "This chap really got a hard bang on the +head, and the doctors say he may never remember who he is." + +"Lost his identity?" demanded Mr. Belding. + +"Completely. At least, he doesn't know his name or where he came from. He +remembers a part of his life, they say, for he seems to think he has been +in Alaska. Asked the nurse, in fact, how long Sitka had had such a hospital +as this. Thought he was in Sitka, you see." + +"Why, isn't it strange?" Laura said. "The poor fellow!" + +"He's not poor, I tell you," said the literal Chet. + +"He's got a lot of money. But not a card, or a mark about him--not even on +his clothes--to tell who he is." + +"How about his hat?" questioned Lance. "And his suit? The labels, I mean." + +"The hat was brand new," said Chet, "and was bought right here in +Centerport. Oh, the hospital folks have been trying through the police to +find out something about him. Nothing doing, they say." + +"Why," said Mr. Belding thoughtfully, "there must be some way of +discovering who the unfortunate is, even if he cannot remember himself." + +"Who do you mean, Pa, by 'the unfortunate'?" demanded his son. "I should +think I was the unfortunate. Especially if that bank-note is phony." + +"But you did not get a broken leg--and a broken head--out of it," his +father said dryly. + +"That's all right," muttered Chet "But I am likely to have a broken +pocketbook, all right all right!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SOMETHING EXCITING + + +Mr. Belding was not unmindful of his son's anxiety regarding the odd +bank-note that Chet had taken over the counter in the jewelry store. +Besides, Laura sat herself upon the arm of his big Morris chair after +dinner that Monday evening, and said: + +"You know, dear Pa, Chet is a pretty good boy. And fifty dollars is much +more money than he can afford to lose--all in one bunch." + +"Indeed?" said her father indignantly. "And how about me? With my expensive +family, do you think I can afford to lose fifty dollars? And the boy is +careless." + +"I deny it," said Laura briskly. + +"Chet! not careless?" + +"Only thoughtless." + +"What is the difference?" + +"Academic, or moral?" demanded Mother Wit, looking at him slyly. + +"Oh, well, it doesn't pay to split hairs with you," declared her father, +pinching a warm cheek until it was rosier than ever. "But what's the big +idea, as Chet himself would say?" + +"Why, now, Pa Belding----" + +"Out with it! What do you want me to do?" + +"I--I thought if you'd make Chet pay only half of the fifty dollars, that +perhaps you lost----" + +"Well?" he growled, in apparent indignation still. + +"Why, I would pay the other twenty-five!" burst out Laura hurriedly. "Only +you must promise not to tell Chet." + +"What do you mean? To pay half his fine?" + +"Well, you don't need to halloo so about it, Pa dear," she pouted. + +"I wouldn't let you!" + +"Oh, yes you would. You know it is going to be awfully hard on Chet to take +that money out of the bank to pay you." + +"There, there!" said Mr. Belding gruffly. "We won't talk about it--yet. +Perhaps we'll find the bank-note is all right." + +But he said afterward to his wife that evening: "What are we going to do +with such children, Mother? You can't punish one without hurting the other +right to the quick." + +"We have been blessed in our children, Henry," said Mrs. Belding proudly. +"And--really--Chet should not be too much blamed." + +"There, there!" exclaimed her husband in a disgusted tone of voice. "You're +every whit as bad as Laura." + +Mr. Monroe did not return to the bank for several days; and meanwhile other +important and interesting things were happening. The three boys who seemed +to have secret knowledge about the accident on Market Street refused to +answer the questions of their girl friends as to the identity of the car +that had run the victim down. + +"You are just the meanest boys!" flared out Bobby Hargrew, as they all +trooped down to Lake Luna to take almost the last look at the roped-off +arena before the carnival would twinkle its lights that evening at six +o'clock. + +"I don't know, Bobby," drawled Chet. "I believe we really could be meaner +if we tried." + +"No you couldn't!" snapped Clara Hargrew with finality. + +"Oh, girls!" gasped Laura suddenly, "tell me what this is coming up the +hill? Or am I seeing something that you folks don't?" + +"Gee!" exclaimed the slangy Bobby, forgetting her indignation with Chet and +the other boys. "Is it? Can it be?" + +"Pretty Sweet!" ejaculated Jess, beginning to laugh. "And he is in his +forest green hunting suit. _I_ call it his 'Robin Ridinghood' suit." + +"It just matches him, all right," said Lance. "He's verdant green and so is +the suit. And look how he is carrying that gun, will you?" + +The gun was in its case, but the boy in question was carrying the shotgun +in a most awkward manner. Without a doubt he was half afraid of it. + +"And I bet he hasn't had a charge in it all the time he's been out. Who did +he go with?" asked Chet. + +"Some of the East Siders. They cater to him a lot, and you know," said +Lance, with disgust, "tight as Purt is with money, if you flatter him you +can pull his leg." + +"Dear me!" murmured Laura, "it is not in your province to use such slang, +Lance. Leave that to Chet and Bobby." + +"Hey, Pretty!" Chet shouted to the very dandified lad, as he crossed the +street toward them. "What luck, old top?" + +Although when they had first seen him, Prettyman Sweet was undoubtedly +footsore, he began to strut now and pride "fairly exuded from his +countenance," as Jess whispered to her chum. + +"Did you get any cottontails?" demanded Lance. + +"Oh, a few--a few, muh boy," declared Pretty Sweet airily. + +Then they saw that he had a game bag slung over his shoulder in true +sportsman style. + +"I did not suppose you would go out to shoot the poor, innocent little +rabbits, Mr. Sweet," said Laura, with sober face but dancing eyes. "They +have never done you any harm." + +"I bet a real bad rabbit would make Purt run," muttered Bobby. + +"Oh, Miss Belding!" said the school dandy. "You know I'm awf'ly keen on +sport--awf'ly keen, doncher know. I just _have_ to get a day now and then +in the woods, when game is in season." + +"He's as keen on it as the two Irishmen were, who went hunting for the +first time," broke in Bobby. "When they sighted a bird sitting on a bush +Meehan took very careful aim and prepared to fire. Said his friend, +grabbing him by the arm: + +"'Don't fire, Meehan! Shure an' yez haven't loaded yer gun.' + +"'That's as it may be, me lad,' retorted Meehan, 'but fire I must. The +bur-rd won't wait!'" + +Prettyman Sweet was used to being laughed at, yet he flushed at the gibe. + +"Never mind," he said. "I bring home the game, just the same." + +"You 'bring home the bacon,' in other words," said Chet, approaching him. +"Let's see the bunnies?" + +Nothing loath, the overdressed boy opened the bag and displayed his +plunder. He brought two big hares out of the bag by their ears and held +them up with pride. + +"Bet they were trapped," said Bobby in an undertone. + +"They were not trapped!" cried Purt Sweet sharply. "See! That is where one +was shot! And there is the other--see?" + +"Jinks!" said Lance. "Both through the head. _You_ never did it, Purt?" + +"I did so!" cried the huntsman angrily. "I shot them both." + +Chet was looking them over closely. He shook his head. + +"They have been shot all right," he said. "And you shot them over there on +Cavern Island?" + +"I can prove it," said Purt haughtily. + +"That's all right," said Chet thoughtfully. "You may have shot them--and on +Cavern Island. But whose rabbits were they before you bought them?" + +"What? I--Oh!" + +Bobby and Jess began to giggle. Chet grinned as he added: + +"Those are Belgian hares, not rabbits, Pretty. Somebody has put something +over on you. Belgian hares don't run wild in the woods of Cavern +Island--that is sure." + +"Bet he shot them hanging up on a fence," snapped Short and Long, who thus +far had said never a word to Prettyman Sweet. + +"And I know the market to-day is full of Belgian hares," chuckled Chet. +"Oh, Purt! you never could pull off anything like that on us in a hundred +years." + +"I don't care--I--I--" + +The angry Purt snatched up his game bag and marched away. + +"That he's been caught in the trick puts a crimp in him," chuckled Chet +Belding. + +"And that isn't all that ought to happen to him," muttered Short and Long, +who seemed to have become suddenly very bitter against the dandified Sweet. + +"Can it, Billy, can it," advised Lance. "Give a calf rope enough and he +will hang himself." + +"And maybe that fellow ought to be hung," was Short and Long's further +comment. + +"Why, Billy!" exclaimed Laura, "what ever do you mean?" + +"Yes, Short and Long," said Jess. "Why the 'orrid hobservation about poor +Purt?" + +Perhaps Billy Long would have blurted out something, had not another +incident taken place which so excited all the young people that they forgot +Purt Sweet and his foibles. + +The group had reached Lakeside Avenue, which overlooked many shore estates +and some private docks. This was the residential end of Centerport, and the +vicinity in summer was lovely. Now the outlook on Lake Luna's sparkling +surface--frozen in a sheen of ice to the shore of Cavern Island in the +middle of the lake--was wonderfully attractive. + +At the foot of Nugent Street, which they now reached, the girls and boys +from Central High heard suddenly a great shouting and peals of laughter +from up the hill. Some snow still lay on the side of Nugent Street; and the +hill was a glare of ice. Down the steep descent were coming three or four +heavy sleds loaded with young folks. Many of them were girls and boys of +Central High. + +"Some coasting!" exclaimed Chet. "I had no idea it was so good. We ought to +get our bob out, Lance." + +"Oh, see, Laura!" murmured Jess. "There comes Janet Steele. She must have +been canvassing for Red Cross members away over here. I wish we had time to +do some of that work." + +The Red Cross girl appeared from around a turn in the avenue, and the +instant she spied her new friends she waved her gloved hand. + +"Is that the girl who gave first-aid to the man on Market Street Saturday +night?" asked Chet. + +"Some little queen, isn't she?" rejoined Lance, with twinkling eyes. + +"Oh," said Laura placidly, "you needn't think that you can get us girls +jealous about Janet Steele. She is an awfully sweet girl." + +"And she isn't little at all," put in Jess, tossing her head. "She is as +husky as Eve Sitz." + +Before they could say more, or further hail the Red Cross girl, there was a +crash and terrific rattling around the turn of the avenue. The next instant +a horse appeared, madly galloping along the roadway, and drawing the +shattered remains of a grocery wagon after him. + +The maddened beast would, so it seemed, cross the foot of Nugent Street +just as the bobsleds shot down to that point. Across the avenue was a steep +bank against which the sleds were easily halted. But they could not be +stopped before they crossed Lakeside Avenue! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FOREFRONT OF TROUBLE + + +The three boys drew Laura and her girl friends into the gateway of a +residence that faced the lake. The Red Cross girl was on the other side of +Nugent Street, and the runaway horse was coming along the avenue behind +her. + +Chet would have leaped away to her assistance had not Jess grabbed him by +the arm and screamed. The sleds were almost at the crossing, and surely +Chet Belding would have been knocked down. + +Janet Steele proved to be perfectly able to look out for herself. And on +this occasion she could even do more than that. + +She whirled and saw the horse coming with the wrecked wagon. She could not +see up the hill of Nugent Street, for the corner house barred her vision in +that direction. But without doubt she had heard the eager shouts of the +coasters and understood what was ahead of them. + +The runaway would cross the foot of the hill just in time, perhaps, to +collide with one or more of the bobsleds. + +Almost opposite the foot of Nugent Street and right beside the steep bank +against which the coasters had been wont to stop their sleds, was a narrow +lane pitching toward the lakeshore. This lane was near Janet Steele. + +Chet saw it and realized how the horse might be turned. But the boy was too +far away. Even as he shook off Jess Morse's frenzied hold on his arm, the +runaway was upon Janet Steele. + +The latter had whipped off the Red Cross veil she wore. Seizing it by both +extremes she allowed the veil to float out on the brisk winter breeze, +darting with it into the street. + +The runaway's glaring eyes caught sight of the flapping folds of the veil, +and he swerved, his hoofs sliding on the slippery drive. The eyes of a +horse magnify objects tremendously, and the girl's figure and her flowing +veil probably looked to the frightened animal like some awful and +threatening bogey. + +Scrambling and snorting, he swerved to the side of the road, saw the open +lane, and the next moment thundered into it, the broken wagon skidding +across the lane and smashing into a gatepost. + +It was at the same instant that the head sled came sweeping down Nugent +Street, crossed the avenue, and stood almost on end against the bank, +stopping abruptly in the snow bank. + +The other sleds poured down and stopped; but none had been in so much +danger as that first one. Laura and Chet and their friends started on the +run for the spot--and for Janet Steele. + +"Oh! _Oh! OH!_" shrieked in crescendo one girl who had ridden on the first +bobsled. "We might have been killed!" + +Some of the boys ran after the horse. The rest of the young people +surrounded Janet Steele. + +"How brave you were," murmured Jess Morse admiringly. + +"You've got a head on you, sure enough!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew, while the +Red Cross girl, blushing and with downcast eyes, began hastily to adjust +her veil again. + +"Oh, it was nothing," murmured Janet. + +"Tell it to Lily. Here comes Lily Pendleton," said Jess, smiling again. +"She won't think it was nothing." + +The girl who had shrieked so loudly came up quickly to the group of Central +High girls. + +"Did you turn that horse?" she demanded of Janet Steele. "You are a regular +duck! We might have all been killed! I never will ride down a hill with +Freddy Brubach again! There should have been somebody down here to signal +that we were coming!" + +"Guess the horse would not have paid much attention to signals, Lil," +laughed Laura. + +"Only the kind that Miss Steele waved," added Bobby. + +"Is that your name?" Lily Pendleton asked the Red Cross girl. "I'm awfully +glad to know you." + +"And much gladder that she was right on the job here when the horse came +along, aren't you, Lil?" chuckled Bobby. + +"She ought to have a medal," declared one of the other girls. + +"Let's write to Mr. Carnegie about her," proposed Jess, but good-naturedly, +and hugged Janet now that she had rearranged her veil. + +"Oh, dear me!" gasped Janet Steele, "please don't make so much over so +little. I shall almost be sorry that I turned the horse into the lane. And +it was a little thing. I am not afraid of horses." + +"A mere medal is nothing to Miss Steele, I bet," said Bobby, the emphatic. +"I expect she has a trunk full of 'em. Like the German army officer who had +his chest covered with iron crosses and medals and the like. Somebody asked +him how he came to get them all. + +"'Vell,' he said, pointing to the biggest and shiniest medal, 'I got dot py +meestake; undt dey gif me de odders pecause I got dot one!'" + +"Oh, you and your jokes, Bobby!" said Lily Pendleton, with some scorn. +"This was a serious business. And there is another very serious matter, +girls, that I have to call to your attention," she added, turning to Laura +and Jess. + +"What has gone wrong? Nothing about the play, I hope!" cried Jess. + +"It is worse, because it is right at hand," said Lily, shaking her head. +"What do you suppose Miss Carrington has done?" + +"Oh, Gee Gee!" groaned Bobby, in despair. "I knew she would break out in a +fresh spot." + +"Do tell us what it is," begged Jess Morse. + +"It is about Hessie," said Lily. + +"Hester Grimes?" demanded Laura, with a rather grim expression. "What has +happened to her now?" + +"Why!" cried Lily, rather sharply, "you speak as though Hessie was always +getting into trouble." + +"You cannot deny but that she has frequently made a _faux pas,_ as it +were," said Jess, smiling. + +"And what she does wrong," added Laura, with some bitterness, "usually +affects the rest of us." + +"She did not do a thing wrong!" cried Lily stormily. "You girls are just +too mean!" + +"Oh, come on, Lil," said Bobby. "Tell us the worst. We're prepared for +murder, even." + +"You are very rude, Clara Hargrew," declared Lily Pendleton. "Hessie is not +to blame. She failed in rhetoric, and when Miss Carrington tried to put a +lot of home work on her she refused to take it." + +"What?" gasped Jess. + +"Oh! She did refuse, did she?" snapped Bobby. "And a fat lot that would +help her!" + +"Well, I don't care!" cried Lily. "Gee Gee is just as mean----" + +"Granted!" agreed Bobby, with emphasis. "But tell us how much Hessie has +been set back?" + +"Of course Miss Carrington has punished her if she was impudent," said +Laura decidedly. + +"She has punished us all!" cried Lily. "She refuses to allow Hessie to +skate to-night. She's out of it." + +"Out of the carnival?" cried several of her listeners in chorus. + +"And Hester," cried Bobby, "is in the Dress Parade. What did I tell you? +Gee Gee was just hoping to queer us." + +"It is Hester Grimes who has queered us," Laura said, much more sternly +than she usually spoke. "And we were all warned to be so careful!" + +"Now, don't blame Hessie!" cried Hester's chum angrily. + +"I'd like to know who we are to blame, then?" demanded Jess Morse, with +disgust, "Knowing that Gee Gee is what she is, why couldn't Hester keep her +own temper?" + +"Well! I just guess--" + +But after all it was Mother Wit who, though greatly offended, became +peacemaker. + +"There, there!" she said. "Enough is done already. We shall miss Hester. +But we mustn't get angry with each other and therefore spoil the whole +Dress Parade. That masquerade should be the most spectacular number on the +program." + +"But who will take Grimes' place?" demanded Bobby. + +Laura stood beside Janet Steele, whose eyes were wide open, her cheeks +glowing, and even her lips ajar with excitement. Laura had a very keen +mind, and already she had apprehended that Janet was more deeply interested +in this discussion, and the subject of it, than a stranger naturally would +be. She turned now to stare into the Red Cross girl's face. + +"Oh, Miss Steele!" she said, "didn't you tell us that you loved to skate?" + +"Ye-es," admitted Janet. + +"And she's as big as Hessie Grimes!" exclaimed Jess on the other side, and +catching her chum's idea. + +"Would you take Hester's part in the masquerade?" asked Laura pointblank. + +"But she doesn't belong to Central High!" wailed Lily Pendleton. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Jess. "What does it matter? This is all for a show. +It is no competition with other members of the League." + +"Right-o, Jess!" crowed Bobby Hargrew. + +"We-ell!" murmured Lily doubtfully. + +"Come, Miss Steele--Janet," said Laura, pleadingly. "I know you can help +us. Hester, being the biggest girl, was to lead in certain figures on the +ice. You could easily learn them. And you can wear her costume, I know." + +"Why--I----" + +"You don't know anything of the kind, Laura Belding," snapped Lily, +interrupting Janet. "I don't believe Hessie would let any other girl wear +her masquerade suit." + +"Sure she wouldn't!" exclaimed Bobby, with disgust. "She'll crab the whole +game if she can. Hester Grimes always was a nuisance." + +But Laura suddenly clapped her hands in real joy. "Oh, no!" she cried. "We +won't ask Janet to wear any other girl's costume. I know what would be +fine." + +"Let's hear it, Laura dear," said Jess, eagerly. "Of course, you would have +a bright idea. You always do." + +"Why," said the pleased Laura, "if Janet will come and skate with us, she +need only wear the very cloak and veil she has on now. What could be more +fitting for a leader of our costume parade? The whole carnival is for the +Red Cross, and with a Red Cross girl to lead the procession, and Chet in +his Uncle Sam suit to lead the boys--Why! it will be the best ever." + +"Hooray!" shouted Bobby, wild with enthusiasm. + +"It is splendid!" agreed Jess. + +Everybody in hearing agreed, save, perhaps, Lily Pendleton. Laura turned to +Janet again and clasped her gloved hands over the new girl's arm. + +"Will you, dear? Will you help us out?" she asked. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ICE CARNIVAL + + +"Oh, Miss Laura! Do you really mean it?" murmured Janet Steele, her full +pink cheeks actually becoming white she was so much in earnest. + +"Of course we mean it," Jess Morse said practically. "And glad to have +you." + +"I don't know--" + +Janet looked for a moment at the sulky-faced Lily Pendleton. Jess +immediately pulled that young girl forward. + +"Why, Lil isn't half as bad as she sounds," declared Jess, laughing. "This +is our very particular friend, Janet Steele, Lil. You've got to treat her +nicely. If you don't," she added sharply, "you'll never get a chance to go +camping with us girls again as you did last summer. You and your Hester +Grimes can go off somewhere by yourselves." + +Really, Lily Pendleton had improved a good deal since the time Jess +mentioned, and the latter's blunt speech brought her to a better mind at +once. + +"Well, of course," she said, offering Janet her hand, "I did not mean it +just that way. You know how cranky Hessie is when she does get mad. But +Laura has suggested a perfectly splendid idea. Miss Steele as a Red Cross +girl and Chet as Uncle Sam will be fine to lead the grand march on skates." + +So it was decided, and they hurried Janet down to the girls' boathouse, +which had a warm, cozy clubroom at one end where Mr. Godey, the watchman, +stayed, and where, at this time of year, he was often busy sharpening +skates. Laura found a pair of skates for the Red Cross girl, and for an +hour the latter practiced with the girls of Central High the steps and +figures of the masquerade parade, which Laura and her friends already had +worked out to perfection. + +"Don't worry a bit about to-night, Janet," Laura told her, when they all +hurried away from the lakeshore about dusk. "We'll push you through the +figures. Jess and I will be on either side of you, except when we pair off +with the boys. And then you will be with my brother Chet. And if he isn't +nice to you he'll hear from me!" she added with vigor. + +"Oh, but Laura!" whispered Jess Morse, as they separated from Janet, "Chet +mustn't be too nice to her. For Janet Steele is an awfully pretty girl." + +"Now, dear!" exclaimed her laughing chum, "don't develop incipient +jealousy." + +With only two hours before them in which to do a hundred things, the girls +were as busy as bees for the remainder of the afternoon. That Hester Grimes +had been forbidden to take part in the carnival by Gee Gee troubled the +girls of Central High less than they might have been troubled had it been +almost any other of their number that the strict teacher had demerited. +For, to tell the truth, Hester Grimes was not well loved. + +The daughter and much-indulged only child of a wealthy butcher, Hester had +in the beginning expected to be catered to by her schoolmates. With such +rather shallow schoolmates as Lily Pendleton, Hester was successful. Lily +toadied to her, to use Bobby Hargrew's expression; nor was Lily alone in +this. + +Upon those whom Hester considered her friends she spent her pocket money +lavishly. She was not a pretty girl, but was a tremendously healthy +one--strong, well developed, and tomboyish in her activities. Yet she +lacked magnetism and the popularity that little Bobby Hargrew, for +instance, attained by the exercise of the very same traits Hester +possessed. + +Hester antagonized almost everybody--teachers and students alike. Even +placid, peace-loving Mother Wit, found Hester incompatible. And because +Laura Belding was a natural leader and was very popular in the school, +Hester disliked her and showed in every way possible that she would not +follow in Laura's train. Yet there had been a time when Hester had felt +under obligation to Laura. + +Laura was secretly glad to see Lily Pendleton weaned slowly away from the +butcher's daughter. The last summer had started Lily in the right +direction, and although the overdressed girl had still some weaknesses of +character to overcome, she had greatly improved, as this incident of the +afternoon revealed. + +Lily was not alone in complaining about Miss Carrington's harshness, +however. It was the principal topic of conversation when the girls gathered +in the boathouse rooms to prepare for the races and the features that were +to precede the principal attraction of the carnival--the masquerade grand +march. + +"Sh! She's right here now," whispered Bobby Hargrew sepulchrally, coming +into the dressing-room. "She's on watch at the door." + +"Who?" asked Jess Morse. + +"Not Hester?" cried Lily. "She told me she wouldn't come down here!" + +"Gee Gee," shot back Bobby, with pursed lips. "She is going to be sure that +Hester doesn't appear." + +"Mean thing!" Nellie Agnew said. And when the doctor's gentle daughter made +such a statement she had to be fully aroused. "She thinks she has spoiled +the whole act!" + +"I believe you," Bessie Yeager said. "I wonder if Miss Carrington really +sleeps at night?" + +"Why not, Bess?" cried Dora Lockwood. + +"I think she lies awake thinking up mean things to do to us." + +"Oh, oh!" murmured Nellie. + +"I bet you!" exclaimed the slangy Bobby. + +"Careful, girls. If she hears you!" warned Laura. + +"Then you would be 'perspicuous au grautin,' as the fellow said," chuckled +Bobby. "There! the whistle has sounded." + +"The fête has begun," sighed Jess. "I do hope everything will go off +right." + +"The boys are taking in money all right," Laura said with satisfaction. "I +believe we shall make a thousand dollars for the Red Cross." + +"I hope so," said her chum. "Come on, girls! It's first the fancy skating +before the ice arena is all cut up." + +The effort to make the Ice Carnival of the Central High a success was aided +by a perfect evening and perfect ice. The latter had been shaved and +smoothed over every gnarly place. There was not a single crack in which a +skate could be caught to throw the wearer. The arena roped off from the +spectators was as smooth as a ballroom floor. + +It was about two acres in extent. Around three sides of the roped-off space +there was a roped-off alley with boards laid upon the ice upon which the +spectators could stand. Uprights held the strings of colored lights which +were supplied with electricity from the city lighting company; for this was +not the first exhibition of the kind that had been staged upon Lake Luna. + +Around the alley allotted to the audience, each member of which had to pay +a half dollar for a ticket, was a guarded space so that those who did not +pay entrance fee could not get near enough to enjoy the spectacle. + +The short-distance races, following the figure skating, were all within the +oval of the principal arena. Then the ropes were taken down at one end and +the long-distance races came off, a mile track having been marked with +staffs upon the ice, staffs which now held the clusters of colored +lanterns. + +For two hours the company was so well amused that few were driven away by +the cold--and it was an intensely cold night The ringing of the skates on +the almost adamantine ice revealed the fact that Jack Frost had a tight +clutch on the waters of Lake Luna. + +"I wish my mother could have seen this," Janet Steele murmured to Laura +Belding. "I think it is like fairyland." + +"Isn't it pretty? Now comes the torchlight procession. The boys arranged +this their own selves. See if it isn't pretty!" + +The short end of the oval had been closed again after the long-distance +races, and now there dashed into the arena from the boys' lane to the +dressing-rooms a long line of figures in dominos, each bearing a colored +light. They were the boys that could skate the best--the most sure-footed. + +Back and forth, around and around, in and out and across! The swift +movement of the figures was well nigh bewildering; while the intermingling +of colored lights, their weaving in and out, made a brilliant pattern that +brought applause again and again from the spectators. + +Then the boys divided, taking stations some distance apart, and the torches +were tossed from hand to hand, as Indian clubs are tossed in gymnasium +exercises. The effect was spectacular and seemed a much more difficult +exercise than it really was. + +Meanwhile the girls selected for the masquerade were dressing in the +boathouse. Their masquerade costumes were as diverse and elaborate as +though it were a ball they were attending. There was no dress as simple as +Janet Steele's Red Cross uniform; yet with her glowing face and sparkling +eyes and white teeth there were few more effective figures in the party. + +She had proved herself to be a fine and strong skater. Laura and Jess, who +sponsored her, were delighted with the new girl's appearance on the ice. +She had learned, too, her part quite perfectly. When the girls first came +out and the boys darted back to get into their fancy costumes, the summary +of the figures the girls wove on the ice were already known to Janet. She +fulfilled her part. + +Then returned the boys, "all rigged out," Bobby said, and the masquerade +parade began. The crowd standing about the arena cheered and shouted. It +really was a most attractive grand march, and there chanced, better still, +to be no accident. Smoothly the young people wended their way about the +ice, their skates ringing, their supple bodies swaying in time to the +music, led by those two masks of Uncle Sam and the Red Cross girl. + +"It is lovely," Mrs. Belding said to her husband. "What a fine skater our +Chetwood is, Henry. And it is so near Christmas! I hope that bank-note will +turn out to be a good one so that he will not lose the money," she finished +wistfully. + +"There, there!" said the jeweler. "I'll go to see Monroe to-morrow. He's at +home again." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BUT WHO IS HE? + + +"Well, Mr. Monroe," the jeweler said, when he was ushered into the banker's +office the following forenoon by the bank watchman, "I presume that bill is +a counterfeit of some kind?" + +"My dear Belding," said the banker, who was a portly and jolly man, who +shook a good deal when he chuckled, and who shook now, "I thought you were +old enough, and experienced enough, to discover the counterfeit from the +real." + +"My son took the bill in over the counter," said the jeweler, rather +chagrined. + +"But haven't you examined it?" said Mr. Monroe, taking the strange +bank-note from a drawer of his desk. + +"Well--yes," was the admission, made grudgingly. + +"And are you not yet assured?" + +"Neither one way nor the other," frankly confessed the jeweler. "It was +taken by Chet for a hundred-dollar bill. And it is that on one side!" + +"It certainly looks to be," chuckled Mr. Monroe. + +"But who ever heard of such a thing?" demanded the exasperated customer of +the bank. "A hundred printed on one side and a fifty on the other! The +printers of bank-notes do not make such mistakes." + +"Hold on! Nobody is infallible in this world--not even a bank-note +printer," said the banker, reaching into another drawer and bringing forth +a large indexed scrapbook. + +"Here's a case that happened some years ago. I am a scrapbook fiend, +Belding," chuckled Mr. Monroe. "There were once two bills issued for a +Kansas bank just like this one you have brought to me. Only this note that +we have here was printed for the Drovers' Levee Bank of Osage, Ohio, as you +can easily see. This note went through that bank, was signed by Bedford +Knox, cashier, and Peyton J. Weld, president, as you can see, and its +peculiar printing was not discovered. + +"Ah, here we have it!" added Mr. Monroe, fluttering the stiff leaves of the +scrapbook and finally coming to the article in question. "Listen here: 'It +was found on communication with Washington that a record was held there of +the bill, and the department was anxious to recall it. With another bill it +had been printed for a bank in Kansas, and the mistake had been made by the +printer who had turned the sheet upside down in printing the reverse side. +The first plate bore the obverse of a fifty-dollar bill at the top and of a +hundred-dollar bill at the bottom, while the other plate held the reverse +of both sides. By turning the sheet around for the reverse printing, the +fifty-dollar impression had been made on the back of the hundred-dollar +bill.' + +"Do you see, now?" laughed the banker. "Quite an easy and simple mistake, +and one that might often be made, only the printers are very careful men." + +Oddly enough, Mr. Belding, although relieved by the probability that the +Department at Washington would make the strange bill right for him, was +suddenly attracted by another fact. + +"I wonder," he said, "if that man came from Osage, Ohio?" + +"What man? The one who passed the bank-note on your son?" + +"Yes. You know, he was injured and is now in the hospital." + +"I don't know. Go on." + +Mr. Belding related the story of the accident and the unfortunate mental +condition of the injured man. "They tell me all the money he had with him +was new money--fresh from the Treasury." + +"He probably did not make it himself," chuckled the jolly banker. "Poor +chap! Don't the doctors think he will recover his memory?" + +"That I cannot say," the jeweler said, rising. "Then you think I may +relieve Chet's mind?" + +"Oh, yes. I will give you another hundred for this bill, if you want me to. +I will send this to Washington, where they probably already have a record +of it. Bills of this denomination are printed by twos, and the other has +probably turned up--as in the case of the Kansas bank-note." + +Aside from the satisfaction this interview of his father's with Mr. Monroe +accorded Chet Belding, further interest on the part of all the young people +was aroused in the case of the injured stranger. Oddly enough, when Laura +and Jess went to the hospital to inquire about the man, they found Janet +Steele, the Red Cross girl, there on the same errand. + +Since the Ice Carnival, that had proved such a money-making affair for the +Red Cross, the Central High girls had considered Janet almost one of +themselves. Although nobody seemed to know who or what the Steeles were, +and they certainly lived very oddly in the old house at the lower end of +Whiffle Street, Janet was so likable, and her invalid mother was evidently +so much of a gentlewoman, that Laura and her chum had vouched for Janet and +declared her to be "all right." + +The matron of the hospital was the person whom the girls interviewed on +this occasion. Mrs. Langworth had some interest in each patient besides the +doctor's professional concern. She was sympathetic. + +"We do not know what to call him," she explained. "He laughs rather grimly +about it and tells us to call him 'John.' But that, I am sure, is not his +name. He merely wishes us to have a 'handle' for him. And you cannot tell +me," added the matron, shaking her head, "that he is one of those rough +miners right out of Alaska!" + +"Does he say he is?" asked Janet, with increased interest. + +"He remembers of being in Alaska, he says. He was coming out, he tells us, +when something happened to him. And that is the last he can remember. He +believes he 'made his pile,' as he expresses it. Oh, he uses mining +expressions, and may have lived roughly and in the open, as miners do, at +some time in his life. But not recently, I am sure." + +"And not a thing about him to identify him?" asked Laura. + +"Not a thing. Plenty of money. Not much jewelry----" + +"Oh! The lavallière my brother sold him!" cried Laura. "He said it was for +'a nice little girl he knew.' It was only a ten dollar one--one of those +French novelties, you know, that we sell so many of at this time of year." + +"He had that in an envelope in his pocket," said Mrs. Langworth. + +"Then he had not made the presentation of it to 'the nice little girl,'" +murmured Laura, thoughtfully. + +"It almost proves he is a stranger in town, does it not?" asked Jess. "He +bought the chain in the morning, and he was not hurt until evening. Do you +know if he had any lodging in Centerport?" + +"The police have searched the hotels, I believe," said the matron, "and +described the poor fellow to the clerks and managers. Nobody seems to know +him." + +"Do--do you suppose we might see him?" Laura asked hesitatingly. + +"Oh, Laura! Would you want to?" Jess murmured. + +"Why not?" said the matron, smiling. "Not just now, perhaps. But the next +time you come--in the afternoon, of course. He will be glad to see young +faces, I have no doubt I will speak to Dr. Agnew when he comes in," for +Nellie's father was of importance at the Centerport Hospital. + +"But who is he, do you suppose?" Jess Morse demanded, when the three girls +left the hospital and walked uptown again. "He can't be any person who has +friends in Centerport, or they would look him up." + +"That seems to be sure enough," admitted her chum. Then: "Shall we walk +along with Janet?" + +"Of course," said Jess. "Are you going home, Miss Steele?" + +"Yes," said the girl in the Red Cross uniform. "I have been on duty at the +Central Chapter; but mother expects me now." + +"How is your mother, dear?" asked Laura, with sympathy. + +"She is as well as can be expected," said Janet gravely. "If she had +nothing to worry her mind she would be better in health," and she sighed. + +Janet did not explain what this worry was, and even Jess, blunt-spoken as +she often was, could not ask pointblank what serious trouble Mrs. Steele +had on her mind. + +Again the Central High girls went in to see the invalid upon Janet's +invitation. They found Bobby Hargrew there before them. Harum-scarum as +Bobby was, nobody could accuse her of lack of sympathy; and she had already +learned that her fun and frolic pleased the invalid. Bobby did not mind +playing the jester for her friends. + +Of course, the strange man at the hospital was the pivot on which the +conversation turned. + +"Were you there, too, to inquire about him?" asked Mrs. Steele of Janet. + +Laura noticed a certain wistfulness in the invalid's tone and look; but she +did not understand it. Merely, Mother Wit noted and pigeonholed the remark. +Janet said practically: + +"I can't help feeling an interest in him, as I helped him that evening he +was hurt." + +"But have they learned nothing about him?" + +"Only that the hundred-dollar bill he gave Chet is probably all right," +laughed Jess Morse. + +"They say he had a big money roll," said Bobby. + +"Not a poor man, of course," Laura agreed. + +"And Mrs. Langworth says she is sure he has been in Alaska," Jess added. + +Laura noted the swift glance that passed between the invalid and her +daughter. + +"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Steele, "you did not tell me that" + +"No," said Janet, shaking her head, "But lots of men go to Alaska, Mamma." + +"Ye-es," admitted Mrs. Steele. + +"And come back with plenty of money," put in Bobby, smiling. "This poor +man's money doesn't help him much, does it? He doesn't seem to have any +friends here in Centerport. He is just as much a stranger as the man they +tell about who came back to his old home town after a great many years and +found a lot of changes. As he rode uptown his taxicab stopped to let a +funeral go by. + +"'Who's dead?' asked the returned wanderer of the taxicab driver. + +"'Dan Jones,' said the driver. + +"'Not Dan Jones that kept the hotel!' cried the man. 'Why, I knew him well. +Can it be possible that Dan is dead?' + +"'I reckon he's dead, Mister,' said the chauffeur, as the hearse went by. +'What d'you think they're doin'--rehearsin' with him?'" + +"How very lonely the poor man must feel," said Mrs. Steele, after laughing +at Bobby's story. + +"We're going in to see him the next time," Jess said. + +Mrs. Steele looked again swiftly at her daughter. "You will see him, too, +won't you, Janet?" she murmured. + +Her daughter seemed not to like the idea; but Jess said quickly: + +"We will take Janet with us, Mrs. Steele. And Bobby, too. If Mrs. Langworth +approves, I mean. 'The more the merrier.' Really, I'm awfully interested in +him myself." + +Laura, said nothing; but she wondered why the invalid showed so much +interest in the injured man. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A REHEARSAL + + +The copies of the play chosen for production by the girls of the Central +High Players Club had arrived, and Mr. Mann, who was to direct the +production, called the members of the club together in the small hall which +was just off Mr. Sharp's office. + +"And thank goodness!" murmured Bobby Hargrew, "Gee Gee cannot break into +this session. What do you suppose she has suggested?" + +"Mercy! how do you expect us to guess the vagaries of the Carrington mind?" +returned Lily Pendleton. "Something foolish, I'll be bound." + +"Sh! Remember Mr. Mann is an instructor, too," said Nellie Agnew. + +"That is all right, Doctress," giggled Lily. "Mr. Mann is a good fellow and +will not peach." + +"Tell us the awful truth, Bobby," drawled Jess. "What is Gee Gee's latest?" + +"I understand," said the younger girl, "that she has been to Mr. Sharp and +begged him to exercise his authority and make us act 'Pyramus and Thisbe' +instead of 'The Rose Garden.'" + +"Goodness! That old thing?" flung out Dora Lockwood. + +"There is a burlesque on 'Pyramus and Thisbe' that we might give," chuckled +Jess. "And it's all in doggerel. Let's!" + +"Reckless ones! Would you spoil all our chances?" demanded Laura. + +"Aw--well----" + +"Remember, we are working for a worthy cause," Dorothy Lockwood mouthed, in +imitation of the scorned Miss Carrington. + +"You are right, Dory," Laura said soberly. "The Red Cross is worth +suffering for." + +"Right-o, my dear girl," declared Jess Morse with conviction. "Let us put +aside Gee Gee and listen to what Mr. Mann has to say." + +They had already talked over the characters of the play. None of them was +beyond the capabilities of the girls of Central High. But what delighted +some of them was that there were boys' parts--and girls would fill them! + +Of course, Bobby Hargrew had been cast for one of the male parts. Bobby's +father had always said she should have been a boy, and was wont to call her +"my eldest son." She had assumed mannish ways--sometimes when the +assumption was not particularly in good taste. + +"But Short and Long," she growled in her very "basest" voice, "says I can't +walk like a boy. Says anybody will know I'm a girl. I have a mind to get my +hair cut short." + +"Don't you dare, Clara Hargrew!" Laura commanded. "You'd be sorry +afterward--and so would your father." + +Bobby would never do anything to hurt "Father Tom," as she always called +Mr. Hargrew, so her enthusiasm for this suggested prank subsided. But she +growled: + +"Anyway, it's a sailor suit I am going to wear, and I guess I can walk like +a sailor, just as well as Short and Long." + +"Better," declared Nellie soothingly. "And then, those wide-legged trousers +sailors wear are quite modest." + +At this all the girls laughed. Knickers in their gymnasium and field work +had become second nature to them. + +"But think of me," cried Jess, "in what Chet calls 'the soup to nuts!' +Really the dress-suit of mankind is awfully silly, after all." + +"And uncomfortable!" declared Dora. + +"Attention, young ladies!" exclaimed Mr. Mann at that moment. + +He was a rotund, beaming little man, with vast enthusiasm and the +patience--so Nellie declared--of an angel. + +"Not a full-sized angel," Bobby had denied seriously. "He is more the size +of a cherub--one of those you see pictured leaning their elbows on clouds." + +But, of course, neither of the girls made this comment within Mr. Mann's +hearing. + +The final decisions regarding the choice of parts were now made. The copies +of the play were distributed. Mr. Mann even read aloud the first two acts, +instructing and advising as he went along, so that the girls could gain +some general idea of what was expected of them. + +Before they were finished another point came up. There was a single +character in the play that had not been accorded to any girl. It was not a +speaking part; but it was an important part, for the other characters +talked about it, and the silent character was supposed to appear on several +occasions in "The Rose Garden." + +"We need a tall, dark girl," said Mr. Mann. "One who walks particularly +well and who win not be overlooked by the audience even when she merely +crosses the stage. Who----?" + +"Margit Salgo!" exclaimed Jess, who had every bit of the new play and its +needs very close to her heart. + +"Of course!" cried Laura and the Lockwood twins. "Margit is just the one," +Mother Wit added. + +"Oh!" said Mr. Mann at last. "You mean Margaret Carrington?" + +"And she walks like a queen," sighed Lily Pendleton. "I wish I could learn +to walk as she does." + +"You know what Mrs. Case says," put in Bobby, in an undertone. "She says +your feet, Lil, have been bound like a Chinese woman's of the old regime." + +"Oh, you!" + +"Margit went barefoot and lived in the open for years," said Laura. + +"She was 'near to Nature's heart,'" laughed Jess. "Of course, she never +tried to squeeze a number six foot into narrow twos." + +"Never mind the size of her feet," said Mr. Mann good-naturedly. "If she +can take the part, she will be just the one for it I remember that Miss +Carrington's niece does have a queenly walk. And that is just what we need. +But do you think we can get her?" + +"She has never joined our club," said Jess thoughtfully. + +"I am not sure that she has ever been invited," Laura said. "But she is +always busy----" + +"Gee Gee pretty near works her to death," growled Bobby. "I shouldn't +wonder if Margit flew the coop some day." + +"I am not sure, Miss Hargrew," said Mr. Mann, without a smile, "that I +ought not to take you to task for your language. It really is inexcusable." + +"Oh, dear me, Mr. Mann, don't you begin!" begged the culprit "If I am +academic in school in my speech, let me be relieved out of sessions, I +pray." + +"But about Margit Salgo?" queried Laura. "Do you suppose she will be able +to help us? I know she will be willing to, if we ask her." + +"Gee Gee will object, you bet," growled Bobby under her breath. + +That was not to be known, however, without asking. Laura said she would +speak to Margaret about it, while Mr. Mann intimated that he would mention +to Miss Carrington, the elder, that her niece was almost necessary to the +success of the play. + +Margit Salgo was not so straightly kept by Miss Carrington as she was +engaged from morning to night in her studies. Having been utterly neglected +as far as mental development went for several years, the half-gypsy girl +was much behind others of her age at Central High. + +Miss Grace Gee Carrington was pushing her protégé on as fast as possible. +She was not yet in the classes of those, girls of her age whom she knew at +Central High; but she was fast forging ahead and she took much pride in her +own advancement. + +Therefore she did not see Miss Carrington's sternness as Bobby, for +instance, saw it. She found her aunt kind and considerate, if very firm. +And the girl who had been half wild when Laura Belding first found her, as +has been related in "The Girls of Central High on Track and Field," was +settling into a very sedate and industrious young woman. + +What girl, however, does not love to "dress up and act?" Margit Salgo was +delighted when Laura explained their need to her. + +"Just as sure as auntie will let me, I'll act," declared the dark beauty, +flushing brilliantly and her black eyes aflame with interest. "You are a +dear, Laura Belding, to think of me," and she hugged Mother Wit heartily. + +Two days passed, and then came the first rehearsal. This, of course, could +be little more than a reading of the parts before Mr. Mann, with the latter +to advise them as to elocution and stage business. But Bobby declared she +had been practicing walking like a boy and had succeeded in copying Short +and Long almost exactly. + +"Why me?" demanded Billy sharply, whose usual sweet temper seemed to have +become dreadfully soured of late. + +"Well, why not?" demanded Bobby. "Should I copy Pretty Sweet's strut?" + +"Aw--him!" snorted Billy Long, turning away in vexation. + +"Now, tell me," said the quick-minded Bobby Hargrew to Laura and Jess, with +whom she chanced to be walking at the moment, "why it is that Billy has +taken such a violent dislike to poor Purt of late? Why, he doesn't feel +kindly enough toward him to send him another dead fish!" + +They were going to the rehearsal, which was in the small hall of the +school. Of course, there was a sight of bustle and talking. Every girl was +greatly excited over her part. Some were "sure they couldn't do it," while +there were those who "could not possibly remember cues." + +"And I know I shall laugh just at the wrong place," said Lily Pendleton. "I +always do." + +"If you do," growled Bobby, "I'll do something to you that will make you +feel far from laughing, I assure you." + +"How savagely you talk!" sighed Nellie Agnew. "That boy's part you are to +fill is already affecting you, Clara." + +"'Sailor Bob' is going to be terrifically rough, I suppose," Jess said, +laughing. + +Mr. Mann called them to order, and the girls finally rustled into seats and +prepared to go through "The Rose Garden" for the first time. Everybody knew +her first speeches, and as Mr. Mann accentuated the cues and advised about +the business the girls did very well during the first act. + +But with the opening of the second act there was a halt. Here was where +"the dark lady" should come in. Her first appearance marked a flourishing +period by Jess, who strode about the stage as the hero of the piece. + +"And Margit's not here!" cried Dora Lockwood. "Shouldn't she be, Mr. Mann? +Really, her entrance gives me my cue, not Adrian's speech." + +Adrian was Jess Morse. She nodded her head vigorously. "Of course, Margit +ought to be here to rehearse with us." + +"I am afraid," said Mr. Mann, with pursed lips, "that we shall have to give +up the idea of having Miss Carrington--the younger--for the part." + +"Oh, oh, oh!" chorused some of the girls. "Can't Margit play?" + +"Isn't that just like Gee Gee?" demanded Bobby furiously. + +"She wanted to, I am sure," Laura said. "It is not Margit's fault." + +"Of course it isn't," snapped Jess. "That old--" + +Fortunately she got no farther. The door opened at that instant and Miss +Grace Gee Carrington entered. She was a very tall woman with grayish hair, +eyeglasses, and a sallow complexion. Her dignity of carriage and stern +manner were quite overpowering. + +"Young ladies!" she said sharply, having come into the room and closed the +door, "I have a word to say. I told Mr. Mann I would come here and explain +why my niece cannot take part in any such foolish and inconsequential +exhibition as this that you have determined on." + +She glared around, and the girls' faces assumed various expressions of +disturbance. Some, even, were frightened, for Miss Carrington had always +reigned by power of fear. + +"I would not allow Margaret to lower herself by appearing in such a play. I +disapprove greatly of girls taking boys' parts. The object of the play +itself is merely to amuse. There is nothing worth while or educational +about it." + +Again silence, and the girls only glanced fearfully at each other. + +"I have a proposition to make to you," said the stern teacher. "It is not +too late to change your plans. I have Mr. Sharp's permission to make the +suggestion. He will agree to your changing the play and will +be--er--satisfied, I am sure, if you accept my advice and put on the play +which I first suggested. This is an old Greek play with real value to it We +gave it once in my own college days, and it truly made a sensation. I +should be quite willing for Margaret to appear in that play, and I should, +in fact, be willing to give Mr. Mann the benefit of my own experience in +rehearsing the piece." + +Mr. Mann actually looked frightened. The stern instructor overpowered him +exactly as she did many of the girls. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BUBBLE, BUBBLE + + +"Toot! Toot! Toot-te-toot! Back water!" muttered Bobby Hargrew. "Wouldn't I +cut a shine acting in a Greek play? Oh, my!" + +Her imprudence--and impudence--was fortunately drowned by the general +murmur of objection that went up from the girls of the club. That Miss +Carrington's suggestion met with general objection was so plain that even +the stern woman herself must have realized it. + +"Of course," she said, really "cattish," "you girls would prefer something +silly." + +"Perhaps, Miss Carrington," said Laura with more boldness than most of her +mates possessed, "we prefer something more simple. 'The Rose Garden' does +not call for more than we can give to it. I am afraid the play you suggest +would take too much study." + +"Ha!" snapped the tall teacher. Then she went on: "I want you all to +understand that your recitations must be up to the average while you put in +your time on such a mediocre performance as this you are determined upon. +Of course, if the play was of an educational nature we might relax our +school rules a little--" + +"Oh! Oh! Bribery!" whispered Jess to Nellie. + +"It seems," Mr. Mann finally found voice to say, "that the desire of the +young ladies is for the piece selected. It is too late, as Miss Belding +says, to make a change now." + +"Then Margaret cannot act!" exclaimed Miss Carrington, and, turning +angrily, she left the hall in a way that had she been one of the girls, it +would have been said, "She flounced out." + +The rehearsal continued; but most of the girls were in a sober state of +mind. There was a general desire among them to stand high in all their +studies. They had learned when first they entered upon the athletic +contests and exercises of the Girls Branch League that they must keep up in +studies and in deportment or they could not get into the good times of the +League. + +It was so with the secret society, the M. O. R.'s, and likewise in this +acting club. "Fun" was merely a reward for good work in school. Not alone +was Miss Carrington stiff on this point, the principal and the rest of the +faculty were quite as determined that no outside adventures or activities +should lower the standard of the girls of Central High. + +At the present time the members of the club had a serious fact to +contemplate. A girl to fill the part of the "dark lady" in the garden must +be found. As it was not a speaking part, the person filling the character +must more particularly look as she was described in the play. + +"We want a type," said Mr. Mann. "Tall, graceful, brunette, and with +queenly carriage. You must find her before the next rehearsal. I must have +plenty of time to train her, for her appearance is of grave importance--as +you young ladies can yourselves see." + +"Oh, dear me!" groaned Nellie Agnew, when the rehearsal was finished. "And +Margit Salgo would have been just the one!" + +"And the poor girl certainly would have enjoyed being one of us," Laura +said. + +"Take it from me," said Bobby gruffly, "she's just the meanest--" + +"Margit?" cried Jess. + +"Gee Gee! I'm good and disgusted with her." + +But Bobby, for once in her life, was very circumspect during recitations +that week. She felt that Gee Gee was watching for a chance to demerit her, +and the girl did not intend to give the teacher occasion for doing so. + +"For once I am going to be so good, and have my lessons so perfect, that +she cannot find fault." + +"But trust Miss Carrington to find fault if she felt like it!" grumbled the +girl a day or so later. + +"Miss Hargrew, do not stride so. And keep your elbows in. Why! you walk +like a grenadier. And don't sprawl in your seat that way. Are you not a +lady?" + +Ah, but it was hard for saucy Bobby to keep her tongue back of her teeth! + +"Have you lost your tongue?" nagged Miss Carrington. + +Bobby's eyes flashed a reply. But her lips "ran o'er with honey," as Jess +Morse quoted, _sotto voce_. + +"No, Miss Carrington. I am merely holding it," said the girl softly. + +Miss Carrington flushed. She knew she was unfair; and Bobby's unexpected +reply pilloried the teacher before the whole class. There was a bustle in +the room and a not-entirely-smothered snicker. + +Had there been any way of punishing the girl Miss Carrington would +certainly have done it. She was neither just nor merciful, but she was +exact. She could see no crevice in Bobby's armor. The incident had to pass, +and the girl remained unpunished. + +However, it did seem as though Miss Carrington were more watchful each day +of the girls who belonged to the Players Club. She was evidently expecting +those who had parts to learn to show some falling off in recitation, or the +like. Her sharp tongue lashed those who faltered unmercifully. The girls +began to show the strain. They became nervous. + +"I really feel as though I must scream sometimes!" said Nellie Agnew, +almost in tears, one afternoon as the particular chums of Central High left +the building for home. "I know my lessons just as well as ever, but Gee Gee +has got me so worked up that I expect to fail every time I come up to +recite to her." + +"She is too old to teach, anyway," snapped Jess. "My mother says so. She +ought to have been put on the shelf by the Board of Education long ago." + +"Oh, oh!" gasped Dora Lockwood. "What bliss if she were!" + +"She is not so awfully old," said Laura thoughtfully. + +"But she is awful!" sniffed Jess. + +"She acts like a spoiled child," Nellie said. "If she cannot have her own +way in everything she gets mad and becomes disagreeable." + +This was pretty strong language from the doctor's daughter. At the moment +Bobby Hargrew appeared, whistling, and with her hands in her coat pockets. +She was evidently practicing her manly stride. But she did not grin when +she saw the juniors approaching. Instead, in a most dolorous voice she sang +out, quoting the witches' chant: + + "'Double, double; toil and trouble; + Fire burn and cauldron bubble.' + +"Everything's stewing, girls, and it is bound to be some brew. Do you know +the latest?" + +"Couldn't guess," said Jess Morse. "But it is something bad, I warrant." + +"Everything's going wrong, girls!" wailed Nellie. + +"I just saw Mr. Mann and Lil. Couldn't help overhearing what she was giving +him. What do you suppose she wants to do?" + +"Play the lead instead of Laura," snapped Jess. + +"That would not be so strange," Dora Lockwood observed. "Would it, +Dorothy?" + +"Not at all. Lil Pendleton--" + +"Wait a minute," proposed Laura Belding. "Let us hear her crime before we +sentence her to death." + +"That's right," agreed Bobby. "Oh, she surely has put her foot in it! She +told Mr. Mann that Hessie is just the girl to act 'the dark lady' in our +play. What do you know about that?" + +"Ow! Ow! That hurts!" squealed Dora. + +"She never _did_?" gasped her twin. + +"Hope to die!" exclaimed Bobby recklessly. "That is exactly the game she is +trying to work." + +"Hester Grimes! Of all persons!" groaned Nellie. + +"Lil hasn't said a word about it to me," Jess Morse declared. + +"No, she is going to get Mr. Mann himself to propose Hester--" + +"But Hessie isn't a member of the club!" cried Nellie. + +"We have set a precedent there," said Laura thoughtfully. "We took Janet +Steele into the ice carnival, and she was not a member of the school." + +"That was an entirely different thing!" snapped Jess. + +"Why, Hester Grimes is no more fit to play that part than I am fit for the +professional stage!" Nellie Agnew said. "What can Lil mean?" + +"I bet a cooky," Bobby growled, "that Hester put Lil up to it. You know, +Hess is crazy to get her finger into every pie; but she would never come +straight out and ask to join our club." + +"She'd be blackballed," said Dora tartly. + +"I believe she would," agreed her twin. + +Bobby chuckled. "There would be two black beans against her, and no +mistake." + +"What did you say to Lil, Clara?" demanded Laura thoughtfully. + +"Not a word." + +"How was that?" Jess asked. "You didn't have a sudden attack of lockjaw, +did you?" + +"Don't fret, Jess," said Bobby sharply. "I know when to keep my mouth shut +on occasion. I came right away from there to find you girls. Something must +be done about it." + +"Oh, dear me!" groaned Nellie. "If Margit Salgo had only been allowed to +take the part!" + +"What did I tell you?" almost snarled Bobby. "Gee Gee has managed to queer +the whole business. This play is going to be a failure." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MOTHER WIT HAS AN IDEA + + +The ice carnival had been such a success in a spectacular as well as a +monetary way that many of the friends of the Central High girls and boys +declared they would like to have it repeated. More than a thousand +dollars--to be exact, one thousand and twenty dollars--had been made for +the Red Cross. + +Centerport was doing its very best to gather its quota for the great +institution that was doing so much good in the world. Janet Steele +confessed to Laura that she had gained more than one hundred dollar +memberships, and that nearly all of these had given something in addition +to their membership fee. + +"I wish we girls could help," said Laura wistfully. + +"And you having done so much already!" cried Janet. "Why, you've already +done more than your share! And doing a play, too!" + +"I am afraid the play will not be a great success," Mother Wit sighed, but +more to herself than to the other girl. + +Those who wished to repeat the ice carnival success had to give the idea +up, for before the end of the week there swept down over the North Woods +and across frozen Lake Luna such a blizzard as the surrounding country had +not seen for several years. The street cars stopped running, traffic of all +sorts was tied up, and even the electricity for lighting purposes was put +out of commission for twenty-four hours. + +Of course, it did not keep many of the girls and boys of Central High at +home. Snow piled up in the streets did not daunt them at all. But when the +amateur actors undertook to rehearse they had to do so by the light of +candles and kerosene lamps. + +The rehearsal did not go very well, either. The girls were "snippy" to each +other--at least, Jess said they were, and Bobby declared she was one of the +very "snippiest--so there!" + +"Girls! Girls!" begged Laura, "when there are so many other people to +fight, let us not fight each other. 'Little birds should in their nests +agree,' and so forth." + +"Oh, poodle soup!" ejaculated Bobby, under her breath. "Don't anybody dare +spring old saws and sayings on me in my present mood." + +"I believe you'd bite, Bobby," whispered Nellie Agnew. + +A cry went up for Lily Pendleton, and then it was found that she was not +present. + +"The only girl who is made of either sugar or salt," declared Josephine +Morse. "Of course, the snow would keep her away!" + +"But where is her friend, Miss Grimes?" asked Mr. Mann, rather tartly. "I +shall have my work cut out for me in training her, I fear." + +"You will, indeed," moaned Laura. + +"Now, Mr. Mann!" cried Bobby boldly, "you are not really going to let that +Hester Grimes act in this play, are you? She is perfectly horrid!" + +"Miss Hargrew," was the somewhat sharp answer, "I hope you will not let +personal dislikes enter into this play. It does not matter who or what Miss +Grimes may be, if she can take the part--" + +"But she'll never be able to do it in the world!" + +"That is to be seen," said Mr. Mann firmly. "Remember, we are working for +the benefit of the Red Cross." + +"Hear! Hear!" murmured Laura. "Perhaps Hester will do very well." + +"And perhaps she won't!" snapped Bobby. + +"Why, she can't possibly _act!"_ Jess Morse said hopelessly. + +"You will let me be the judge of that, Miss Morse, if you please," said Mr. +Mann, speaking rather tartly. + +"Mercy, everybody to-day is as crisp as pie-crust--no two ways about it!" +whispered Bobby to Jess. + +The girls plowed home through the deep snow, most of them in no mood for +amusement. Even Laura Belding had a long face when she entered the house. + +"How was the funeral?" asked Chet, who was buried in one of the deep +library chairs with a book. + +"What?" she asked before she caught his meaning. + +"You must have buried somebody by the way you look," declared her brother. + +"Don't nag, Chettie," sighed his sister. "We are having terrible times." + +"I judged so," Chet said dryly. "Don't you always have sich when you girls +go in for acting?" + +"Now--" + +"I am sympathetic, Laura--I swear I am!" her brother cried, putting up his +hands for pardon. "Don't shoot. But of course things always will go wrong. +Who is it--Bobby? Or Jess? Or Lil?" + +"It is Hester Grimes." + +"Wow!" exclaimed Chet. "I didn't know she was in it at all." + +Laura told him of the emergency that had arisen and how Hester Grimes +seemed certain to be drawn into the affair. + +"Why, that big chunk can't act," said Chet quite impolitely. "She looks +enough like her father to put on his apron and stand behind one of his +butcher blocks." + +"Oh, that is awful!" Laura objected. "But I know she will spoil our play." + +"Humph! Why didn't you, Laura, suggest somebody else for the part, as long +as Margit couldn't take it?" + +"I didn't know of anybody." + +"I thought they called you 'Mother Wit,'" scoffed Chet. "You're not even a +little bit bright." + +"No, I guess you are right. I have lost all my brightness," sighed Laura. +"It has been rubbed off." + +"Then you admit it was merely plate," laughed Chet. "But say! why didn't +you think of the girl who helped you out before?" + +"Who? What girl?" + +"That Red Cross girl. What's her name?" + +"Janet Steele!" + +"That's the one. Some pippin," said Chet with enthusiasm. "I saw her this +afternoon and helped her plow home--" + +"Chetwood Belding! Wait till Jess Morse hears about it." + +"Aw--" + +"Jess will spark, old boy; you see if she doesn't" + +"Jess is the best girl in the world; and she's got too much sense to object +to my helping another girl home through the snow." + +"All right," chuckled Laura, in a much more cheerful mood. "But don't make +the mistake of praising Janet to Jess. That is where the crime comes in." + +"Oh! Well, I won't," her brother declared thoughtfully. + +"And where did you beau Janet from?" Laura asked. + +"The hospital." + +"Were you there to see that poor man?" + +"Rich man, you mean," grinned her brother. "I took him some books and a lot +of papers. He is able to sit up and read." + +"But he doesn't know who he is?" + +"He declares his name is John _Something_, and that he ought to be in +Alaska right now. Says the last he knew he was in Sitka. Something happened +to him there. Whatever it was, his brain must have been affected at that +time. For he cannot remember anything about the first part of his life." + +"But, Chetwood!" exclaimed Laura earnestly, "that man is not a miner. He is +not tanned. His hands are not rough. He was as well groomed, the matron +says, as any gentleman who ever was brought to the Centerport Hospital." + +"But he was in Alaska. You should hear him tell about it." + +"He has lived two lives, then," said Laura thoughtfully. + +"And must be beginning his third now," put in Chet. "What do you know about +that? And him with a roll of more than two thousand dollars--every bill +brand-new." + +"Oh, Chet!" + +"Well, what is it?" her brother asked, looking curiously into Laura's +suddenly glowing face. + +"Does he know he has so much money?" + +"Why, yes. I've been telling him to-day all about that funny bill he passed +on me. He says he is glad he has so fat a purse, as he will be obliged to +remain in bed long with that leg in a cast." + +"But, Chet! has he got the money himself?" + +"It is in the hospital safe." + +"I wonder! I wonder!" the girl murmured. + +"What is it now?" asked Chet + +"I wonder if any other bills in his roll are like that hundred-fifty note +father swapped with Mr. Monroe for you." + +"Huh?" ejaculated her brother, quite puzzled. + +"It was on the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, Ohio. I wrote it down, and +the names of the cashier and president of the bank. Do find out, Chet, if +there are any more of those new bills issued by that bank in his roll." + +"What for?" demanded Chet. + +That Laura would not tell him, only made him promise to do as she asked. +Mother Wit had an idea; but she would not explain it to anybody yet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAINS ON HIS WHEELS + + +"How came you to meet Janet?" asked Laura Belding, remembering what her +brother had first told her about the Red Cross girl. + +"She was coming my way, of course." + +"Coming your way?" Laura repeated, her eyebrows raised questioningly. "Oh! +I see! You met her at the hospital." + +"You said a forkful," declared the slangy youth. + +"Dear me, Chet," Laura observed soberly. "I think your slang is becoming +atrocious. So Janet was down there!" + +"She had been calling on our friend with the broken leg, too," said Chet. + +"She does seem interested in him, doesn't she?" Laura said thoughtfully. "I +wonder why?" + +"Because her mother's half-brother went to Alaska years ago and they never +heard of him again," said Chet. "She told me." + +"Oh!" + +"Nothing wonderful about that," the brother declared. + +"It is interesting." + +"To them, I suppose," said Chet "But why don't you ask Miss Steele to join +you girls in the play you are getting up?" + +"I never thought of it," confessed Laura. + +"Your thought-works are out of kilter, Sis," declared Chet, laughing again. +"I'd certainly play Miss Steele off against the menace of Hester Grimes." + +There was something besides mere sound in Chet Belding's advice, and his +sister appreciated the fact. But she did not go bluntly to the other girls +and suggest the Red Cross girl for the part of "the dark lady." She +realized that, if the new girl could act, she would amply fill the part in +the play. But Hester was supposed to have it now, and the very next day Mr. +Mann gave that candidate an hour's training in the part Hester was supposed +to fill. + +When they all came together for rehearsal again the second day, Hester +Grimes was present and she showed the effect of Mr. Mann's personal help. +Yet her work was so stiffly done, and she was so awkward, that it seemed to +most of the girls that she was bound to hurt and hinder rather than help in +the production. + +"She'd put a crimp in anything," declared Bobby Hargrew, as the Hill girls +went home that afternoon. + +The streets in this residential section had been pretty well cleared of +snow, and people had their automobiles out once more. + +"Say, Jess!" exclaimed Bobby. + +"Say it," urged Josephine Morse. "I promise not to bite you." + +"If Hester plays that part, what are they going to do with her hands and +feet?" asked the unkind Bobby. + +"Oh, hush!" exclaimed Laura. + +"Well, when she's supposed to pick the rose and hold it up to the light, +and kiss it, her hand is going to look like a full-grown lobster--and just +as red." + +"Girls, we must not!" begged Laura. "Somebody will surely tell Hester what +we say, and then--" + +"She'll refuse to play," said Jess. + +"Oh, fine, _fine_!" murmured one of the Lockwood twins. + +"If we get her mad it will do no good," Nellie Agnew said. "Maybe then she +will insist on being 'the dark lady.'" + +The boys were on the corner of Nugent Street waiting for the girls to come +along. + +"How goes the battle, Laura?" asked Lance Darby. "Have you learned your +part yet?" + +"I thought I had," sighed Laura. "But when I come to take cues and try to +remember the business of the piece, I forget my lines." + +"This being leading lady is pretty tough on Mother Wit," laughed Chet. + +"Oh, my!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew suddenly. "Here comes Pretty Sweet in his +car. Why! he's got Lil with him. I thought that was all over." + +They gaily hailed the driver of the automobile and his companion as the +vehicle passed. Short and Long, with gloomy face, watched the car out of +sight. + +"Well," he growled, "he's got nonskid-chains on his wheels to-day, all +right." + +"Chains on his wheels, Billy?" asked Bobby. "What do you mean? Doesn't he +always have them on in winter?" + +"Humph! He forgot 'em once, anyway." + +"Hey, Billy!" exclaimed Chet Belding, "you are skidding yourself, aren't +you?" + +"Aw----" + +"Least said soonest mended," added Lance, likewise giving the smaller boy a +quick, stern look. + +"Oh, I see!" muttered Bobby, searching the flushed face of Short and Long. +"Say, Billy----" + +But Short and Long started on a quick trot for home, and left his friends +to stare after him. It was Bobby who did most of the staring, however. She +said to Jess and Laura, after they had parted from the other boys: + +"What do you know about that boy? I'm just wise to him. I believe I know +what is the matter with Short and Long." + +"Do you mean," asked Laura, "what makes him act so to Purt?" + +"You have guessed my meaning, Mother Wit." + +"What is the trouble between them?" demanded Jess. "Although Billy never +was much in love with Purt Sweet." + +"Don't you two girls remember the Saturday night that man was hurt on +Market Street?" + +"I should say I do remember it!" Laura agreed. "He is in the hospital yet, +and he doesn't know who he is or where he came from." + +"Oh, it's nothing to do with his identity," Bobby hastened to say. "It is +about the car that ran him down. You know the police never have found the +guilty driver." + +"Goodness!" gasped Jess. "You surely don't mean----" + +"I mean that the car had no chains on its rear wheels. That is all that was +noticed about it Nobody got the number. But I heard Short and Long say he +knew somebody who had been driving a car that day without chains. And the +boys left us, didn't they, to look up the car?" + +"What has that to do with Purt Sweet?" demanded Laura. + +"Why, you heard what Billy just said about him and his chains!" cried +Bobby. "'He's got nonskid-chains on his wheels to-day, all right.' Didn't +you hear him? And he's had a grouch against Pretty Sweet ever since the +time--about--that the man was hurt." + +"Oh, Purt wouldn't have done such a thing. He might have run the man down; +but he would never have run off and left him in the street!" + +"I don't know," Jess said. "He'd be frightened half to death, of course, if +he did knock the man down." + +"I do not believe Prettyman Sweet is heartless," declared Laura warmly. +"The boys are making a mistake. I'm going to tell Chet so." + +But when she took her brother to task about this matter she could not get +Chet to admit a thing. He refused to say anything illuminating about the +car that had run down the stranger at the hospital, or if the boys +suspected anybody in particular. + +"If we think we know anything, I can't tell you," Chet declared "Billy? +Why, he's always sore at Purt Sweet. You can't tell anything by him!" + +Just the same it was evident that the boys were hiding much from their girl +chums; and, of course, that being the case, the girls were made all the +more curious. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PIE AND POETRY + + +Laura's sleeves were rolled up to her plump elbows and she had an +enveloping apron on that covered her dress from neck to toe. There was +flour on her arms, on one cheek, and even on the tip of her nose. + +Out-of-doors old Boreas, Jess said, held sway. Shutters flapped, the +branches of the hard maple creaked against the clapboarded ell of the +house, and there was an occasional throaty rattle in the chimney that made +one think that the Spirit of the Wind was dying there. + +"You certainly are poetic," drawled Bobby, who had come into the Beldings' +big kitchen, too, and was comfortably seated on the end of the table at +which Laura had been rolling out piecrust. + +"Now, if that crust is only crisp!" murmured Mother Wit. + +"If it isn't," chuckled Chet, stamping the snow off his shoes, "we'll make +you eat it all." + +"I'm willing to take the contract of eating it, sight unseen, if Laura made +the pie," interjected Lance Darby, opening the door suddenly. + +"Come in! Come in!" cried Jess. "Want to freeze us all?" + +"You would better not be so reckless, Lance," Laura said, smiling. "These +are mock cherry pies; and I never do know whether I get sugar enough in +them until they are done. Some cranberries are sourer than others, you +know." + +"M-m! Ah!" sighed Chet ecstatically. "If there is one thing I like----" + +Lance began to sing-song: + + "'There was a young woman named Hooker, + Who wasn't so much of a looker; + But she could build a pie + That would knock out your eye! + So along came a fellow and took 'er!'" + +"Oh! Oh! We're all running to poetry," groaned Chet. "This will never do." + +"'Poetry,' indeed!" scoffed Jess Morse. "I want to know how Lance dares +trespass upon Bobby's domain of limericks?" + +"And I wish to know," Laura added haughtily, "how he dares intimate that I +am not 'a good looker'?" + +"'_Peccavi!_"' groaned Lance. "I have sinned! But, anyway, Bobby is off the +limerick business. Aren't you, Bobby?" + +"She hasn't sprung a good one for an age," declared Chet. + +"A shortage," sighed Laura. + +"Gee Gee says the lowest form of wit is the pun, and the most execrable +form of rhyme is the limerick," declared Jess soberly. + +"Just for that," snapped Bobby, "I'll give you a bunch of them. Only these +must be written down to be appreciated." + +She produced a long slip of paper from her pocket, uncrumpled it, and began +to read: + + "'There was a fine lady named Cholmondely, + In person and manner so colmondely + That the people in town + From noble to clown + Did nothing but gaze at her, dolmondely.' + +Now, isn't that refined and beautiful?" + +"It is--not!" said Chet. "That is only a play upon pronunciation." + +"Carping critics!" exclaimed Lance. "Go ahead, Bobby. Let's hear the +others." + +As Bobby had been saving them up for just such an opportunity as this, she +proceeded to read: + + "'There lived in the City of Worcester + A lively political borcester, + Who would sit on his gate + When his own candidate + Was passing, and crow like a rorcester!" + +"Help! Help!" moaned Chet, falling into the cook's rocking chair and making +it creak tremendously. + +"Don't break up the furniture," his sister advised him, as she took a peep +at the pies in the oven. + +"'Pies and poetry'!" exclaimed Jess. "Go ahead, Bobby. Relieve your +constitution of those sad, sad doggerels." + +Nothing loath, the younger girl, and with twinkling eyes, sing-songed the +following: + + "'There was a young sailor of Gloucester, + Who had a sweetheart, but he loucest'er. + She bade him good-day, + So some people say, + Because he too frequently boucest'er.' + +Take notice all you 'bossy' youths." + +"Isn't English the funny language?" demanded Chet, sitting up again. "And +spelling! My! Do you wonder foreigners find English so difficult? Here's +one that I found in an almanac at the drug store," and he fished out a +clipping and read it to them: + + "'A lady once purchased some myrrh + Of a druggist who said unto hyrrh: + "For a dose, my dear Miss, + Put a few drops of this + In a glass with some water, and styrrh."'" + +"Do, do stop!" begged Laura. + +"I promise not to offend again," said Lance. "Besides, I hope to taste some +of the pie, and a pie-taster should not be a poetaster." + +"Oh! Oh! Awful!" Jess cried. + +"I've run out of limericks myself," confessed Chet. + +"But one more!" Bobby hastened to say. Then dramatically she mouthed, with +her black eyes fastened on Chet: + + "'Said Chetwood to young Short and Long, + "Just list to my warning in song: + If you know of the crime, + For both reason and rhyme + Betray it--and so ring the gong!"'" + +The other girls burst out laughing at the expression on the boys' faces. +Chet and Lance looked much disturbed, and Chet finally scowled upon the +teasing Bobby and shook his head. + +"What do you know about that?" whispered Lance to his chum. + +"You are altogether too smart, Bobby," declared Chet. "What do you mean?" + +"We know you and Short and Long are trying to hide something from us," said +Jess quickly. + +"You might as well tell us all about it," Laura put in quietly. "What has +Billy really got against Purt Sweet?" + +"I don't admit he has anything against Purt," said Chet quickly. + +"Nothing but suspicion," muttered Lance, likewise shaking his head. + +"Then there is something in it?" Laura said quickly. "Can it be possible +that Purt Sweet would do such an awful thing and not really betray himself +before this?" + +"There you've said it, Laura!" cried Lance. "That is what I tell both Chet +and Billy. If Pretty was guilty, he would be scared so that he would never +dare go out again in his car." + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Bobby with dancing eyes. "Then my rhyme is a true bill?" + +"Aw, Lance would have to give it away!" growled Chet. + +"Boys are as clannish as they can be!" said Jess severely. "We are just as +much interested as you are, Chet. What made Billy believe Pretty Sweet ran +the man down?" + +"Oh, well," sighed Chet, "we might as well give in to you girls, I +suppose." + +"Besides," laughed his sister, "the pies are almost done, and both you and +Lance will want to sample them." + +"Go on. Tell 'em, Chet," said Lance. + +"Why, Billy had been riding that day in the Sweets' car. You know Purt is +too lazy to breathe sometimes, and he wouldn't get out his chains and put +'em on. Billy knew that the chains were not on at dinner time that evening, +for he passed the Sweet place and saw the car standing outside the garage +with the radiator blanketed. + +"Well, the only thing we were sure of about the car that ran that man +down--the Alaskan miner, you know--was that the rear wheels had no chains +on them, and that it was a Perriton car like Purt's." + +"Yes, it was a Perriton," said his sister. + +"So we fellows hiked up there to Sweets'. Purt was out with the car. He +came home in about an hour, and he was still skidding over the ice. We +tried to get out of him where he had been, but he wouldn't tell. We had to +almost muzzle Billy, or he would have accused him right there and then. And +Billy has been savage over it ever since." + +"Really then," said Laura, "there is nothing sure about it." + +"Well, it is sure the car was a Perriton. And since then we have found out +that Purt's is the only Perriton in town that isn't out of commission for +the winter. You can talk as you please about it: If the police only knew +what we know, sure thing Purt would be neck-deep in trouble right now!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +EMBER NIGHT + + +The three girls of Central High and their boy friends had not come together +on this stormy Saturday morning merely to feast on "pie and poetry." + +The ice carnival had made them so much money that Laura and her friends +desired to try something else besides the play which was now in rehearsal. +They wanted to "keep the ball rolling," increasing the collections for the +Red Cross from day to day. + +Fairs and bazaars were being held; special collectors like Janet Steele +were going about the city; noonday meetings were inaugurated in downtown +churches and halls; a dozen new and old ways of raising money were being +tried. + +And so Mother Wit had evolved what she called "Ember Night," and the young +people who helped carry the thing through were delighted with the idea. To +tell the truth, the idea had been suggested to Laura Belding during the big +storm when the lighting plant of the city was put out of order for one +night. + +She and her friends laid the plans for the novel fête on this Saturday +after Laura's pie baking and after they had discussed the possibility of +Prettyman Sweet being the guilty person whose car had run down the strange +man now at the Centerport Hospital. + +They put pies and poetry, and even Purt Sweet, aside, to discuss Laura's +idea. Each member of the informal committee meeting in the Beldings' +kitchen was given his or her part to do. + +Laura herself was to see Colonel Swayne, who was the president of the Light +and Power Company and who was likewise Mother Wit's very good friend. Jess +agreed to interview the local chief of the Salvation Army. Chet would see +the Chief of Police to get his permission. Each one had his or her work cut +put. + +"Every cat must catch mice," said Mother Wit. + +Plans for Ember Night were swiftly made, and it was arranged to hold the +fête the next Tuesday evening, providing the weather was clear. Jess, whose +mother held a position on the Centerport _Clarion_, wrote a piece about +this street carnival for the Sunday paper, and the idea was popular with +nearly every one. + +Exchange Place was the heart of the city--a wide square on which fronted +the city hall, the court house, the railroad station, and several other of +the more important buildings of the place. + +In the center of the square a Red Cross booth was built and trimmed with +Christmas greens, which had just come into market. Members of the several +city chapters appeared in uniform to take part in the fête. There was a +platform for speakers, and a bandstand, and before eight o'clock on Tuesday +evening a great crowd had assembled to take part in the exercises. + +That one of the Central High school girls had suggested and really planned +the affair, made it all the more popular. + +"What won't Laura Belding think of next?" asked those who knew her. + +But Laura did not put herself forward in the affair. She presided over one +of the red pots borrowed from the Salvation Army that were slung from their +tripods at each intersecting corner of the streets radiating from Exchange +Place, and for a half mile on all sides of the square. + +Under each pot was a bundle of resinous and oil-soaked wood that would burn +brightly for an hour. At the booth in Exchange Place fuel for a much larger +bonfire was laid. + +The crowd gathered more densely as nine o'clock drew near. The mayor +himself stepped upon the speaker's platform. The police had roped off lanes +through the crowd from the Red Cross booth to the nearest corners. + +Janet Steele came late and she chanced to pass Laura's corner, which was in +sight of the speaker's stand and the booth. She halted to speak with Laura +a moment. + +"Isn't it just fine?" she said. "I wish mother could see this crowd." + +"I imagine you would like to have her see lots of things," returned Laura. +"Our friend at the hospital, for instance." + +"Who--who do you mean?" gasped Janet, evidently disturbed. + +"The man who was hurt, I mean." + +"Oh! He is quite interesting," said the other girl and slipped away. +Laura's suggestion had seemingly startled her. + +The band played, and then the mayor stepped forward to make his speech. At +just this moment a motor car moved quietly in beside the curb near which +Laura Belding stood guarding her red pot. Somebody called her name in a low +tone, and Laura turned to greet Prettyman Sweet's mother with a smile. + +Mrs. Sweet was alone in the tonneau of her car, which Purt himself was +driving. The school exquisite, who was so often the butt of the boys' +jokes, but was just now an object of suspicion, admired Laura Belding +immensely. He got out of the car to come and stand with her on the corner. + +"Got your nonskid-chains on, Purt?" asked Laura. + +"On the rear wheels? Surely," said Sweet, eyeing the girl in some surprise, +because of her question. + +"My dear Laura!" cried Mrs. Sweet "Won't you come and talk to me while we +are waiting?" + +"Can't now, Mrs. Sweet. I am on duty," laughed Laura. + +They could not hear what the mayor said, for they were two blocks away. But +they had an excellent view of the stand and the Red Cross booth, and the +crowd that pressed close to the police ropes. + +Suddenly the mayor threw up his hand in command, and almost instantly--as +though he had himself switched off the light--all the street lamps in the +business section of Centerport went out The arc light over the spot where +Laura stood blinked, glowed for a moment, and then subsided. Mrs. Sweet +cried out in alarm. + +"This is all right," Laura called to her. "Now watch." + +The mayor, in the half-darkness, stepped down from the platform and threw +into the heart of the big bonfire the combustibles that set it off. The +flames leaped up, spreading rapidly. The crowd cheered as eight boys, +dressed in the knee-length dominos they had worn on the night of the ice +carnival, dashed into the ring with resinous torches. They thrust the +torches into the flames and the instant the torches were alight, they +wheeled and dashed away through the lanes the police had kept open. + +The red flames dancing before the Red Cross booth, and the sparking, +flaming torches which the boys swung above their heads as they ran through +the crowd to the various corners where the red pots hung, made an inspiring +picture in the unwonted gloom of the streets. + +"See how the Red Cross spreads!" cried Laura. "There's Nellie's fire +going." + +They could see the spark of new fire under the pot a block away. A short +figure with flaming torch was approaching Laura's corner at high speed. + +"Here comes Short and Long, I do believe," drawled Prettyman Sweet. + +"My pot will soon be boiling," laughed Laura. "What are you going to throw +in, Purt? And you, Mrs. Sweet? Give all you can--and as often as you can." + +"Oh, I'll start you off, Laura," declared Purt, pulling out a handful of +coins that rang the next moment in the bottom of the iron pot. + +"Here's my purse, Prettyman!" called his mother, leaning from the car. "You +put in my offering." + +The few bystanders around Laura's corner began laughingly to contribute +before the torch reached the spot. But Short and Long arrived the next +moment. He stooped, thrust the blazing torch into the middle of the fuel +under Laura's pot, and wheeled to run to his next comer. + +The flames crackled, springing up ravenously. The boy's cotton gown flapped +across the fire and before he could leap away the flames had seized upon +the domino! + +"Oh, Billy!" shrieked Laura Belding. "You are on fire!" + +The short boy leaped away; but he could not leave the flames behind him. He +threw down the torch and tried to tear off the domino. In a moment he was a +pillar of flame! + +"A blanket! A robe! Quick, Purt!" cried Laura, and started toward the +victim of the accident, bare-handed. + +For once Purt Sweet did as he was told, and did it quickly. He ran with the +robe from the front seat of the automobile. Laura grabbed one end and +together they wrapped their schoolmate in the heavy folds. + +Short and Long was cast to the street and they rolled him in the blanket. +The fire was smothered, but what injury had it done to the boy? + +He was unconscious; for in falling he had struck his head, and the wound +was bleeding. Mrs. Sweet was crying and wringing her hands. + +"Oh, it's awful! Purt! Purt! Take me home!" she sobbed. + +"No, Purt!" exclaimed Laura. "Take him to the hospital" + +"Of course we will," gasped the youth. "Help me lift him, Laura. Oh, the +poor kid!" + +Only the few people near by had seen the accident. Not even a policeman +came. Laura and Purt staggered to the car with the wrapped-up body of the +smaller lad. His face was horribly blackened, but that might be nothing but +smoke. Just how badly Billy Long was injured they could not guess. + +Mrs. Sweet shrank back into the corner of the tonneau seat and begged Laura +to get in with the injured boy. + +"I can't! I can't touch him!" wailed the woman. "It's awful! Suppose he +should be dead?" + +"He's not dead," declared Purt. "We won't let him die--the poor kid! Here, +mother, you hold his head and we'll lay him down on the seat. Let his head +and shoulders lie right in your lap." + +"Oh, Laura! Do come!" cried the woman. + +"I can't, Mrs. Sweet!" returned Laura, sobbing. "I've got to stay and watch +my pot boil. Do be quick, Purt!" + +She stepped out of the car. Purt slammed the tonneau door and leaped to the +steering wheel. In a moment the self-starter sputtered, and then the car +wheels began to roll. + +Mrs. Sweet was actually forced to do something that she had never done +before--personally help somebody in trouble. Perhaps the experience would +do her good, Laura thought. + +In tears the latter returned to the corner. The fire was brightly blazing +underneath her swinging pot. There was already quite a collection of coins +and a few bills in the bottom of the receptacle. But although Laura stuck +to the post of duty, her heart was no longer in the ceremonies of Ember +Night. She wished heartily that she had never suggested the entertainment, +even if it did benefit the Red Cross. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT + + +It did really prove to be one of the most successful forms of money-raising +for the Red Cross that had been attempted in Centerport. And later they +tried Ember Night in Lumberport and Keyport. + +Laura Belding was not proud of her success, however, for poor Short and +Long had been badly burned. Fortunately his face was only blackened, and +the doctors decided that he had not inhaled any of the scorching flame. + +Laura and Purt had wrapped him in the blanket so quickly that the fire was +smothered almost at once. Yet there were bad burns on his arms and +body--burns that would leave ineffaceable scars. + +The girls of Central High had two interests now to take them to the +hospital. The stranger who did not know his name and Short and Long both +came in for a lot of attention. + +The latter had never known before how popular with his schoolmates he was. +Fruit, flowers, candy and the nicest confections from the Hill kitchens +found their way in profusion to Billy's bedside. + +After a day or two the doctors let him see whoever came, and he could talk +all right. It made him forget the smart of his burns. + +Of course his sister Alice came frequently, and she had to bring Tommy, the +irrepressible, along. Tommy was more interested in the good things to eat +at his brother's bedside, however, than he was in Billy's bodily condition. + +There was so much jelly, and blanc-mange, and other goodies that the +invalid could not possibly consume all. Tommy sat and ate, and ate, until +the nurse said: + +"Tommy, don't you know that you are distending your stomach with all those +sweets? It is not good for you." + +When Tommy learned that "distending" meant that his stomach was being +stretched, he was delighted. + +"Gimme some more, Allie," he begged his sister. "Please do, Allie dear. I +want to stwetch my 'tomach. It's never been big 'nough to hold all I want +to eat." + +The interest of Laura and her close friends in the strange man with the +broken leg did not lag. He talked freely with his visitors; but mostly +about Alaska and his adventures in the gold mines. + +As near as he could guess, he must have come out of the mines with his +"pile," as he expressed it, almost ten years before. + +"What under the canopy I have been doing since, I don't know. But if I've +got down to two thousand dollars capital, I must have been having an +awfully good time spending money; for I know I had a poke full of gold dust +when I struck the coast and went over to Sitka." + +"More likely he was robbed," said Chet. + +"He looks about as much like a miner as Pa Belding," Laura declared. + +There was too much going on just then, however, for Mother Wit to try out +the thought that had come to her mind regarding this man. All these +interests had to be sidetracked for school and lessons. And just at this +time recitations seemed to be particularly hard. With rehearsals for the +play, and all, mere knowledge was very difficult to acquire. + +"I know I'm not half prepared in physics," wailed Nellie Agnew, as she and +other juniors trooped into school one day, two weeks before Christmas. + +"And I," said Jess Morse, "know about as much regarding this political +economy as I do about sweeping up the Milky Way with a star brush." + +"How poetic!" cried Laura, laughing. "I wonder if we all are as well +prepared?" + +"They expect too much of us," declared Dora Lockwood. + +"Much too much!" echoed her sister. + +"I wonder," said Laura, "if we don't expect too much of the teachers?" + +In the physics recitation Nellie Agnew, as she prophesied, came to grief. + +Miss Carrington seemed to have an uncanny knowledge of whom to call on at +such times. She seemed aware that Nellie had not prepared her lesson +properly. It might be that the wary teacher read her pupils' faces. +Nellie's was so woebegone that it was scarcely possible to overlook the +fact that she probably felt her shortcomings in the task at hand. + +Miss Carrington called on the doctor's daughter almost the first one in +physics. To say "unprepared!" to Miss Carrington was to bring upon one's +head the shattered vials of her wrath. There was no excuse for not trying, +that strict instructor considered. + +So Nellie tried. She stumbled along in her first answer "like a blind man +in a blind alley," so Jess Morse declared. It was pitiful, and all the +class sympathized. The gentle Nellie was led to make the most ridiculous +statements by the silky-voiced teacher. + +"And you are a physician's daughter!" Miss Carrington burst out at last. +"For shame!" + +"If I were Nell," said Dora Lockwood to her twin, "I'd cut pills altogether +after this. I'd rather take math with Mr. Sharp himself." + +Miss Grace G. Carrington was never content to let a pupil fail and sit +down. She nagged and browbeat poor Nellie until the girl lost her nerve and +began to cry. By that time the other girls were all angry and upset, and +that physics recitation was bound to go badly. + +When Jess was called on she rose with blazing cheeks and angry eyes to face +their tormentor. Miss Carrington saw antagonism writ large upon Jess +Morse's face. + +"I presume, Miss Morse, you think I cannot puzzle you?" said Miss +Carrington in her very nastiest way. + +"You can doubtless puzzle me," said Jess sharply. "But you cannot make me +cry, Miss Carrington." + +"Sit down!" ejaculated the angry teacher. "That goes for a demerit." + +"And it is about as fair as your demerits usually are," cried Jess. + +"Two, Miss Morse," said the teacher. "One more and you will not act in that +play next week." + +"If I'd been born dumb," sighed Jess afterward, "it would have been money +in my pocket. I almost had to bite the tip of my tongue off to keep from +saying something more." + +"And so ruin the whole play?" said Laura softly. + +"Huh! I guess Hester Grimes will do that," declared Jess. "She moves about +the stage like an automaton. She is going to get us a big laugh, but in the +wrong place. Now, you see." + +The girls rehearsed every afternoon, and the athletic work was neglected. +Mrs. Case excused those who were engaged in producing the play. "The Rose +Garden" was not such an easily acted play as they had at first supposed. +Mr. Mann was patient with them; but in Hester Grimes' case he could not +help the feeling of annoyance that took possession of him. + +Hester Grimes took offence so easily. + +"Every rehearsal I look for her to cut up rusty," Jess cried. "And somebody +has got to play the part of the dark lady! It is not a part that can be cut +out of the cast, although it is not a speaking part." + +Hester had begun to complain, too, because she had no lines. She considered +that she was being deprived of her rights, and was of less importance than +the other girls, because she was dumb on the stage. + +"Why! even Bobby Hargrew," she complained, "with her silly sailor part, has +lines to repeat, besides that sailor's hornpipe in the first act. Of +course, you girls would wish the least important part onto me." + +"What nonsense, Hester!" cried Jess. "If you really understood the play and +the significance of your part, you would not say such a thing. And do, do +be less like a wooden image." + +"Humph! I guess I know my part, Jess Morse," snapped Hester. "It doesn't +matter at all what I do on the stage." + +"What did I tell you?" groaned Bobby. "'Double! Double!' and-so-forth. +There is trouble brewing. If we all had measles or chicken-pox, and so +couldn't give the play, we'd be in luck, I verily believe." + +"Oh, don't, Bobby!" begged Dora Lockwood. "You are so reckless." + +"Just the same, I feel it in my bones that Hester is going to kick over the +traces," said Bobby grimly. + +"If only Margit Salgo had been allowed to have the part," groaned Dorothy. + +"It's Gee Gee's fault if the play is a failure," snapped Bobby. + +Never had the disagreeable teacher at Central High been so little liked as +at this time. They blamed Miss Carrington more than they did Hester. + +As the party of troubled girls left the school-house on this particular +afternoon, Lily Pendleton ran after them. + +"What do you think has happened?" she cried. + +"It's something bad, of course," groaned Nellie Agnew. + +"Who is hurt?" asked Laura. + +"It isn't that," said Lily. "But poor Purt Sweet!" + +"Now what has he done?" asked Jess. + +"It is what they say he has done, not what he really has done," wailed +Lily. "The police have been to his house. And what do you think?" + +"I bet his mother's had a fit!" exclaimed Bobby, in an undertone. + +"The police accuse Purt of running down that man on Market Street the other +Saturday night," said Lily warmly. "And Purt doesn't know anything more +about it than a baby! Isn't it awful, girls?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WHERE WAS PURT? + + +The police examination of Purt Sweet was no light matter. Two of +Centerport's detective force had been working on the case ever since the +stranger had been knocked down on Market Street, and, like Chet Belding and +his friends, the detectives finally had come to the conclusion that +Prettyman Sweet's automobile was the only Perriton car in the city that had +not been in storage on that night. + +The detectives' visit to the Sweet residence, and Purt's later call upon +the Chief of Police at his command, were dreadfully shocking to the boy's +mother. Purt had to reassure her and insist that he was not going to be +arrested and sent to jail at once; so he had not much time to be frightened +himself. Indeed, he came out in rather good colors on this particular +occasion. + +The boy's father had long since died. Purt had been indulged by his mother +to a ridiculous degree, and as a usual thing Purt's conversation and his +activities were ridiculed by his schoolmates. + +"This disgrace will kill me, Prettyman!" wailed Mrs. Sweet. + +"Where does the disgrace come in," pleaded poor Purt, "when I haven't +really done anything?" + +"But they say you have!" + +"I can't help what they say." + +"You were out that evening with the car. I remember it very well," his +mother declared. + +"What of it? I wasn't on Market Street the whole evening," grumbled the +boy. + +"Where were you then?" she demanded. + +It seemed as though everybody else asked Purt Sweet that question, from the +Chief of Police down; and it was the one question the boy would not answer. + +He grew red, and sputtered, and begged the question, every time anybody +sought to discover just where he was with the automobile on that Saturday +evening after dinner. Even when Chief Donovan threatened him with arrest, +Purt said: + +"If I should tell you it wouldn't do any good. It would not relieve me of +suspicion and would maybe only make trouble for other people. I was out +with our car, and that is all there is to it. But I did not run that man +down. I was not on Market Street." + +He stuck to this. And his honest manner impressed the head of the police +force. Besides, Mrs. Sweet was very wealthy, and if Purt was arrested she +would immediately bail him and would engage the best counsel in the county +to defend her son. It is one thing to accuse a person of a fault. As Chief +Donovan very well knew, it is an entirely different matter to prove such +accusation. + +The news of Purt's trouble was not long in getting to Short and Long in the +hospital. Chet and Lance really thought the smaller boy would express some +satisfaction over Purt's trouble. But to their surprise Billy took up +cudgels for the dandy as soon as he was told that the police suspected him +of the offense. + +"What's the matter with you, Short?" demanded the big fellow. "You've been +sure Purt was guilty all the time." + +"I don't care!" declared Billy. "He's one of us fellows, isn't he?" + +"Admitted he goes to Central High," Chet said. + +"But he isn't one of our gang," Lance added. + +"I don't care! The police are always too fresh," said Billy, who had reason +for believing that the Centerport police sometimes made serious mistakes. +Billy had had his own experience, as related in "The Girls of Central High +on Lake Luna." + +"Then you don't believe Purt did it?" demanded Lance. + +"No, I don't. I was mistaken," declared Short and Long. "Purt's all right" + +"Wow! Wow!" murmured Chet. + +"See how he brought me here in his car when I was hurt. And look at the +stuff Purt's given me while I've been here," said Billy excitedly. "He'd +never have hurt that man and run away without seeing what he'd done. No, +sir!" + +"Crackey, Billy!" said Chet, "you've turned square around." + +"I know I have. And I ought to be ashamed of myself for ever distrusting +Purt," said the invalid vigorously. + +"Then why won't Purt tell where he was?" demanded Lance doubtfully. + +"I don't care where he was," said Billy. "If he says he didn't hit the man, +he didn't. That's all. And we've got to prove it, boys." + +"Some job you suggest," said Chet slowly. "It looks to me as though Pretty +Sweet was in a bad hole, and no mistake." + +Even the most charitable of his schoolmates took this view of Purt Sweet's +trouble. His denial of guilt did not establish the fact of his innocence. +His inability, or refusal, to explain where he was at the time of the +accident on Market Street in front of Mr. Belding's jewelry store made the +situation very difficult indeed. + +"If he could only put forward an alibi," Lance Darby said, when the Hill +crowd of Central High boys and girls discussed the matter. + +"But he won't say a word!" cried Nellie. "I believe he is innocent." + +"Then why doesn't he tell where he was at the time?" demanded Laura +sternly. + +"Is he scared to tell the truth?" asked Jess. + +"I don't think he is," Chet observed thoughtfully. "Somehow he acts +differently from usual." + +"You're right," Bobby declared, with frank approval of one of whom she had +never approved before. "I believe there's a big change in old Purt." + +"Well, it's strange," Laura remarked. "He never showed such obstinacy +before." + +"He's never shown any particular courage before, either," said her brother. +"That's what gets me!" + +"Where does the courage come in?" demanded Lance. + +"I believe Chet is right," Jess said. "Purt is trying to shield somebody." + +"From what?" and "Who?" were the chorused demands. + +"I don't know," Jess told them. "There is somebody else mixed up in this +trouble. It stands to reason Purt would not be so obstinate if he had +nothing to hide. And we are pretty much of the opinion--all of us--that he +really did not run that man down. Therefore, if he is not shielding some +other person, what is he about?" + +"I've asked him frankly," Chet said, "and all I could get out of him was +that he 'couldn't tell.' No sense to that," growled the big fellow. + +It seemed that Purt Sweet had pretty well succeeded in puzzling his friends +as well as the police. The latter were evidently waiting to get something +provable on poor Purt. Then a warrant would be issued for his arrest. + +By this time the stranger who had been the start of all the trouble and +mystery--the man from Alaska, as the hospital force called him--was able to +be up and wheeled in a chair, although his leg was not yet out of plaster. + +Billy Long heard of this, and he grew very anxious to see the man whose +accident was the beginning of Purt's trouble. Billy had quickly become a +favorite with both the nurses and doctors of the Centerport Hospital. He +was brave in bearing pain, and he was as generous as he could be with the +goodies and fruit and flowers that were brought to him. He divided these +with the other patients in his ward, and cheered his mates with his lively +chatter. + +At first, however, there had been an hour or so every other day when a +screen was placed about Billy's bed and the doctor and nurse had a very bad +time, indeed, dressing the dreadful burns the boy had sustained. + +Short and Long could not help screaming at times, and when he did not +really scream the others in the ward could hear his half-stifled moans and +sobs. These experiences were hard to bear. + +When the dressings were over and his courage was restored the screen was +removed from about Billy's cot and he would grin ruefully enough at his +nearer neighbors. + +"I'm an awful baby. Too tender-hearted--that's me all over," he said once. +"I never could stand seeing anybody hurt--and I can see just what they are +doing to me all the time!" + +Billy knew that the man from Alaska was being wheeled up and down the +corridor, and he begged so hard to speak with him that the nurse went out +and asked the orderly to wheel the chair in to Billy's cot. + +"So you are the brave boy I've heard about, are you?" said the stranger, +smiling at the bandaged boy from Central High. + +"I know how brave you've heard me," said Billy soberly. "I do a lot of +hollering when they are plastering me up." + +The man laughed and said: "Just the same I am glad to know you. My name +seems to have got away from me for the time being. My mind's slipped a cog, +as you might say. What do they call you, son?" + +Billy told him his name. "And," he added, "I was right there in front of +Chet Belding's father's jewelry store when that automobile knocked you +down." + +"You don't mean it?" + +"Yes, sir. I saw the machine. It was a Perriton car all right. It might +even have been Pretty Sweet's car. But it wasn't Pretty Sweet driving it, I +am sure." + +The boy's earnestness caught the man's full attention. "I guess this Sweet +boy they tell about is a friend of yours, son?" he said. + +"He is a friend all right, all right," said Billy Long. "And I never knew +it till right here when I got hurt. Purt--that's what we call him--is a +good fellow. And I am sure he wouldn't do such a thing as to knock you down +and then run away without finding out if he had hurt you." + +"I don't know how that may be," said the man seriously. "But whoever it was +that ran me down did me a bad turn. I can't find my name--or who I am--or +where I belong. I tell you what it is, Billy Long, that is a serious +condition for anybody to be in." + +"I guess that's so," admitted the boy. "And you got your leg broken, too, +in two places." + +"I don't mind much about the broken leg," said the man who had lost his +name. "What I am sore about, Billy Long, is not having any name to use. +It--it is awfully embarrassing." + +"Yes, sir, I guess it is." + +"So, you see, I don't feel very kindly toward this Sweet boy, if he was the +one who knocked me down." + +"Oh, but I'm sure he isn't the one." + +"Why are you so sure?" + +"Because he wouldn't be so mean about it, and lie, and all, if he had done +it. You see, a boy who has been so nice to me as he has, couldn't really be +so mean as all that to anybody else." + +"Not conclusive," said the man. "You only make a statement. You don't offer +proof." + +"But I--Well!" ejaculated Billy, "I'd do most anything to make you see that +Purt _couldn't_ be guilty of knocking you down." + +"I'll tell you," said the man without a name, smiling again, "I haven't any +particular hard feelings against your friend. Or I wouldn't have if I could +get my name and memory back. So you find out some way of helping me recover +my memory--you and your young friends, Billy Long--and I'll forgive the +Sweet boy, whether he hurt me or not." + +"Suppose the cops arrest him?" asked Billy worriedly. + +"I'll do all I can to keep them from annoying Sweet if you boys and girls +can find out who I am and where I belong," declared the man, laughing +somewhat ruefully. + +And Billy shook hands on that To his mind the task was not impossible. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +LAURA LISTENS + + +Laura Belding had evolved an idea regarding "Mr. Nemo of Nowhere," as Bobby +dubbed the stranger at the hospital. In fact, she had two ideas which were +entwined in her thought. But up to this point she had found no time to work +out either. + +She had taken nobody into her confidence; for Mother Wit was not one to +"tell all she knew in a minute." On both points Laura desired to consider +her way with caution. + +She went shopping with her mother to several stores on Market Street one +afternoon, skipping the rehearsal of "The Rose Garden" for this purpose. +The Christmas crowds were greater than she had ever seen them before. But +the enthusiasm for the Red Cross drive had by no means faltered in spite of +the season. + +Ember Night had gathered nearly five thousand dollars for the cause. Laura +treasured a very nicely worded letter of appreciation from the mayor's +secretary, thanking the Central High girl for her suggestion, which had +proved so efficacious in money-raising. Laura was not exhibiting this +letter to very many people, but she was secretly proud of it. + +In every store she entered Laura saw a Red Cross booth, while collectors +with padlocked boxes were weaving in and out among the shoppers. + +"Give Again! Warranted Not to Hurt You!" was the slogan. Wearing a Red +Cross button did not absolve one from being solicited. + +And she saw that the people were giving with a smile. Centerport was still +enthusiastic over the drive. Laura seriously considered what she and her +Central High girl friends were trying to do for the fund. Would the play be +a success? If they only gave one performance and the audience was not +enthusiastic enough to warrant a second, and then a third, she would +consider that they had failed. + +All of a sudden, while she was thinking of this very serious fact, Laura +came face to face with Janet Steele. + +"You are just the girl I wished most to see, Janet!" cried the Central High +girl. + +"I always want to see you, Laura Belding," declared the Red Cross girl, who +was evidently off duty and homeward bound. + +"Thank you, dear," Laura said. "You must prove that. I want you to do me a +favor." + +"What can I possibly do for you?" laughed Janet. "Hurry and tell me." + +"You may not be so willing after you hear what it is." + +"You doubt my willingness to prove my friendship?" demanded Janet soberly. + +"Not a bit of it! But, listen here." She told Janet swiftly what she +desired, and from the sparkle in her eyes and the rising flush in her face +it was easily seen that Laura had not asked a favor that Janet would not +willingly give. + +"Oh, but my dear!" she cried, "I shall have to ask mother." + +"I presume you will," said Laura, smiling. "Shall I go along with you and +see what she says?" + +"Can you?" + +"I have done all my mother's errands--look at these bundles," said Laura. +"We might as well have this matter settled at once. Your mother won't mind +my coming in this way, will she?" + +"You may come in any way you wish, and any time you wish, my dear," said +Janet warmly. "Mother very much approves of you." + +"It is sweet of you to say so," returned the girl of Central High. "I shall +be quite sure she approves of me if she lets you do what I want in this +case, Janet," and she laughed again as they turned off the busy main street +into a quieter one. + +The invalid was at the long window, and beckoned to Laura to come in before +she saw that that was the visitor's intention. + +"I cannot begin to tell you how delighted we are to have you girls call," +Mrs. Steele said, when she had greeted both her daughter and Laura with a +kiss. "It would be so nice if Janet could go to school; then she might +bring home a crowd of young folks every afternoon," and the invalid +laughed. + +"But, you see, Miss Belding, I am so trying in the morning. It does seem +that it is all Aunt Jinny and Janet can do to get me out of my bed, and +dressed, and fed, and seated here on my throne for the day." + +"It seems too bad that the weather is not so you can go out," Laura said. + +"Oh, I almost never go out," Mrs. Steele replied. "Though I tell Janet that +when spring comes, if we can only get the agent to repair that porch, she +can wheel me back and forth on it in my chair." + +"Better than that, dear Mrs. Steele," Laura promised, "we will come with +our car and take you for a ride all over Centerport, and along the Lakeside +Drive. It is beautiful in the spring." + +"How nice of you!" cried the invalid. "But that, of course, depends upon +whether we are in Centerport when the pleasant weather comes," said Mrs. +Steele sadly. + +"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Laura, "do you mean that you think of going away?" + +"Now, Mother!" murmured Janet, as though the thought was repugnant to her, +too. + +"How can we tell?" cried the invalid, just a little excitedly. "You know, +Janet, if we should hear of your uncle----" + +"Oh, Mother!" sighed the girl, "I do wish you would give up hope of Uncle +Jack's ever turning up again." + +"Don't talk that way," said her mother sharply. "You do not know Jack as I +do. He was only my half brother, but the very nicest boy who ever lived. +Why, he gave up all his share of the income from my father's estate to me, +and went off to the wilds to seek his own fortune. + +"How was he to know that some of the investments poor father made would +turn out badly, and that our income would be reduced to a mere pittance? +For I tell you, Miss Belding," added the invalid less vehemently, "that we +have almost nothing, divided by three, to live on. That is, an income for +one must support us three. Aunt Jinny is one of us, you know." + +"Now, Mother!" begged Janet "Sha'n't I get tea for us?" + +"Of course! What am I thinking of?" returned her mother. "Tell Aunt Jinny +to make it in the flowered teapot I fancy the flowered teapot to-day--and +the blue-striped cups and saucers. + +"Do you know, Miss Belding, what the complete delight of wealth is? It is +an ability to see variety about one in the home. You need not use the same +old cups and saucers every day! If I were rich I would have the furniture +changed in my room every few days. Sameness is my _bête noire_." + +"It must be very hard for you, shut in so much," said Laura quietly. + +"And poor Janet is shut in a good deal of the time with me, and suffers +because of my crotchets. Ah, if we could only find Jack Weld--my half +brother, you know, Miss Belding. He went away to make his fortune, and I +believe he made it. He has probably settled down somewhere, in good health +and with plenty, and without an idea as to our situation. He never was a +letter writer. And he had every reason to suppose that we were well fixed +for life. Then, we have moved about so much----" + +Janet came back with the tea things. Mrs. Steele left the subject of her +brother, and Laura found opportunity of broaching the matter on which she +had come. What she wished Janet to do pleased the latter's mother +immensely. She was, in fact, delighted. + +"How nice of you to suggest it, Miss Belding," said Mrs. Steele. "I know +Janet will be glad to do it. Will you not, Janet?" + +"I--I'll try," said her daughter, flushed and excited at the prospect +Laura's suggestion opened before her. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TWO THINGS ABOUT HESTER + + +Scarcely was Bobby Hargrew of a happier disposition and of more volatile +temperament than the Lockwood twins. Dora and Dorothy, while still chubby +denizens of the nursery, saw that the world was bound to be full of fun for +them if they attacked it in the right spirit. + +Dora and Dorothy's mother had died when they were very small, and the twins +had been left to the mercy of relatives and servants, some of whom did not +understand the needs of the growing girls as their mother would have done. +Much of this is told in "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna." + +Almost as soon as the twins could stagger about in infant explorations of +the house and grounds, they were wont to exchange the red and blue ribbons +tied on their dimpled wrists by their nurse to tell them apart. For never +were two creatures so entirely alike as Dora and Dorothy Lockwood. + +And they had grown to maidenhood with, seemingly, the same features, the +same voices, the same tastes, and with an unbounded love for and confidence +in each other. As they always dressed alike nobody could be sure which was +Dora and which Dorothy. + +Now that they were well along in high school, the twins had been put on +their honor not to recite for each other or to help each other in any +unfair way. There really was a very close tie between them--almost an +uncanny chord of harmony. Indeed, if one was punished the other wept! + +The teachers of Central High were fond of the twins--all save Miss +Carrington. Her attitude of considering the pupils her deadly enemies +extended to the happy-go-lucky sisters. She did not believe there was such +a thing as "school-girl honor." That is why she had such a hard time with +her pupils. + +In the play the girls of Central High were rehearsing, Dora and Dorothy +played two distinct characters. Makeup and costume made this possible. But +at the first dress rehearsal the twins pretty nearly broke up the scene in +which they both appeared on the stage, by reciting each other's parts. + +Dora was an old, old woman--a village witch with a cane--while Dorothy was +a frisky young matron from the city. When they met by the rustic well in +the rose garden, haunted by that "dark lady" who was giving Mr. Mann so +much trouble, Dora uttered the sprightly lines of her blooming sister, +while the latter mouthed the old hag's prophecies. + +It was ridiculous, of course, and the girls could not go on with the +rehearsal for some minutes because of their laughter. But Mr. Mann was not +so well pleased. Dora and Dorothy promised not to do it again. + +"If I'd done anything like that, you'd all have jumped on me," Hester +Grimes declared with a sniff. "It wouldn't have been considered funny at +all." + +"And it wouldn't have been," murmured Jess to Laura. + +"There is one thing about you, Hessie," said Bobby, in her most honeyed +tone, "that 'precludes,' as Gee Gee would say, your doing such a thing." + +"What's that, Miss Smarty?" + +"You are not twins," declared Bobby, with gravity. "So you could not very +well play that trick." + +"Oh, my!" murmured Nellie, "what would we do if Hester were twins?" + +"Don't mention it!" begged Jess. "The thought is terrifying." + +But there proved to be a second thing about Hester which came out +prominently within the week. This was something that not many of the girls +of Central High had suspected before the moment of revelation. + +The first performance of "The Rose Garden" was set for Friday night. There +would follow a matinee and evening performance on Saturday--provided, of +course, the first performance encouraged the managers to go on with the +production. + +"It all depends," sighed Jess, bearing a deal of the responsibility for the +success of the piece on her young shoulders. "If we are punk, then nobody +will come back to see the show a second time, or advise other folks to see +it. And if we don't make a heap of money for the Red Cross, after all the +advertising we've had, what will folks think of us?" + +They were really all worried by the fear of failure. All but Hester. She +did not appear to care. And it did seem as though every time she rehearsed +she made the "dark lady" of the rose garden more wooden and impossible than +before. + +At length Mr. Mann had given her up as hopeless. It seemed impossible to +make Hester act like a human being even, let alone like a graceful lady. + +"So you see, now that he lets me alone, I do very well," asserted Hester, +with vast assurance and a characteristic toss of her head. "I knew I was +right all the time. Now, finally, Mr. Mann admits it." + +When she said this to Lily, even Lily had her doubts. When Bobby heard her +say it, she fairly hooted her scorn. + +Of course, Hester instantly flew into a rage with Bobby. This was only two +days before the fateful Friday and before recitations in the morning. The +girls had gathered in the main lower corridor of Central High. The bell for +classes had not yet rung. + +"I'll show you how smart you are, Clara Hargrew!" Hester almost screamed. +"I've a good mind to slap you!" + +"That might make me smart, Hess," drawled the smaller girl coolly. "But it +would not change the facts in the case at all. You are spoiling the whole +play--the most effective scenes in it, too--by your obstinacy. Mr. Mann has +given you up as a bad egg, that's all. If the play is a failure, it will be +your fault." + +And for once Laura Belding did not interfere to stop Bobby's tart tongue. +Perhaps the bell for assembly rang too quickly for Mother Wit to interfere. +At any rate, before Hester could make any rejoinder, they were hurrying in +to their seats. + +But the big girl was in a towering rage. She was fairly pale, she was so +angry. Her teeth were clenched. Her eyes sparkled wrathfully. She was in no +mood to face Miss Grace G. Harrington, who chanced to have the juniors +before her for mediæval history during the first period on this Wednesday +morning. + +Naturally, with the first performance of the play but two days away, those +girls who were to act in it could not give their undivided attention to +recitations. But Miss Carrington had determined to make no concessions. + +She was firmly convinced that Central High should support no such farcical +production as "The Rose Garden." Anything classical--especially if it were +beyond the acting ability of the girls--would have pleased the obstinate +woman. + +"Something," as Nellie said, "in which we would all be draped in Greek +style, in sheets, and wear sandals and flesh colored hose, covered from +neck to instep, and with long speeches in blank verse to mouth. That is the +sort of a performance to satisfy Miss Carrington." + +"Amen!" agreed Bobby. + +"Wait till she sees Bobby's knickers," chuckled Dora Lockwood. "You know +Gee Gee always looks as though she wanted to put on blinders when she comes +into the girls' gym." + +Of course, these remarks were not passed in history class. But Dora was +somehow inattentive just the same on this morning. She sat on one side of +Hester Grimes and Dorothy on the other. The angry girl between the twins +looked like a vengeful high priestess of Trouble--and Trouble appeared. + +Miss Carrington asked Dora a direct question, speaking her name as she +always did, and glaring at the twin in question near-sightedly, in an +endeavor to see the girl's lips move when she answered. She was sure of +Dora's seat; but, of course, she could not be sure whether Dora or Dorothy +was sitting in it. Her refusal to accept the fact that the twins were on +their honor kept Miss Carrington in doubt. + +"Relate some incident, with date, in the life of Saladin, Dora," the +teacher commanded. + +Dora hesitated. This was a "jump question," as the pupils called it. Miss +Carrington, as she frequently did, had gone back several lessons for this +query, and Dora was hazy about Saladin. + +"Come, Dora!" ejaculated the teacher harshly. "Have you no answer?" + +Dorothy leaned forward to look across Hester's desk at her sister. She was +anxious that Dora should not fail. She would have imparted, could she have +done so, her knowledge of Saladin to her twin. But there was only nervous +anxiety in her look and manner. + +The moment Dora's lips opened and she began her reply, Hester turned +sharply and stared at Dorothy. It was a despicable trick--a mean and +contemptible attempt to get the twins into trouble. And Hester did it +deliberately. + +She knew that Miss Carrington was much more near-sighted than she was +willing to acknowledge. Seeing Hester look at Dorothy caused the teacher to +believe that Dorothy was answering for her sister. + +"Stop!" commanded Miss Carrington, rising quickly from her seat on the +platform. + +Dora, who had begun very well at last, halted in her answer and looked +surprised. Miss Carrington was glaring now at Dorothy. + +"How dare you, Dorothy Lockwood?" she demanded, her face quite red with +anger. "There is no trusting any of you girls. Cheat!" + +There was a sudden intake of breath all over the room. Some of the girls +looked positively horror-stricken. For the teacher to use such an +expression shocked Laura, and Jess, and Nellie for an instant, as though +the word had been addressed to them personally. + +"Oh!" gasped Jess. + +The teacher flashed her a glance. "Silence, Miss Morse!" + +Dorothy had risen slowly to her feet. "What--what do you mean, Miss +Carrington?" she whispered. "Do you say I--I have _cheated?"_ + +"Cheat!" repeated the teacher, with an index finger pointing Dorothy down. +"I saw you. I heard you. You started to answer for your sister." + +"I did not!" cried the accused girl. + +"She certainly did not, Miss Carrington!" repeated Dora, rising likewise. + +"Silence!" exclaimed Miss Carrington. "I would not believe either of you. +You are both disgracing your classmates and Central High." + +A sibilant hiss rose in the back of the room. The girls were more angry at +this outburst of the teacher than all of them dared show. + +Dorothy burst into a fit of weeping. She covered her face with her hands +and ran out of the room. Dora, defying Miss Carrington, muttered: + +"Ugly, mean thing!" + +Then she ran after her sister. The room was in tense excitement. Miss +Carrington saw suddenly that she positively had nobody on her side. She +began to question the girls immediately surrounding the twins' seats. + +"You saw her answer for her sister, Miss Morse?" + +"I did not," declared Jess icily. + +"Were you not looking at Dorothy, Laura?" asked the teacher. + +"No, Miss Carrington. I was looking at Dora." + +"And Dora answered!" cried the usually gentle and retiring Nellie Agnew. + +"Why----Miss Grimes!" exclaimed the disturbed teacher. "You know that +Dorothy was answering for her sister?" + +"Oh, no, Miss Carrington," denied Hester. + +"But you looked at her?" + +"Yes." + +"What for?" snapped the teacher. + +"Why," drawled Hester, "that pin Dorothy wears in her blouse was on crooked +and it attracted my attention." + +That was the second thing about Hester Grimes. She was not alone a dunce +when it came to acting, she was a prevaricator as well. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AND A THIRD THING + + +What might have happened following this explosion of bad temper and +ill-feeling, had Mr. Sharp himself not entered the room, nobody will ever +know. Miss Carrington had been led into a most unjust and unkind criticism +of the Lockwood twins. She had been deliberately led into it by Hester +Grimes. She knew Hester had done this. + +The other girls knew it, too; and they all, the young folks, believed that +the teacher had been most cruel and unfair. + +Mr. Sharp could not have failed to appreciate the fact that there was a +tense feeling in the room that never arose from an ordinary recitation in +mediæval history. But he smilingly overlooked anything of the kind. + +"Pardon me, Miss Carrington--and you, young ladies," he said, bowing and +smiling. "I have been in the senior classes, and now I am here to make the +same statement I made there, and that I shall make to the sophomores later. +May I speak to your class, Miss Carrington?" + +Miss Carrington could not find her voice, but she bowed her permission for +the principal to go on. + +"Several of you young ladies," said Mr. Sharp, "are to take part in the +play on Friday evening. Your work, in school, I fear, is being scamped a +bit. Do the best you can; give your interest and attention as well as you +may to the recitations. + +"But I wish to announce that, until after this week, we teachers will +excuse such failures as you may make in your work; only, of course, all +faults will have to be made up after the holidays. We want you to give the +play in a way to bring honor upon the school as a whole. + +"I have enjoyed your last two rehearsals, and feel confident that, with a +few raw spots smoothed over, you will produce 'The Rose Garden' in a way to +please your friends and satisfy your critics. The faculty as a whole feel +as I do about it. Go in and win!" + +The little speech cleared the atmosphere of the class-room immediately. It +did not please Miss Carrington, of course; but the girls felt that they +could even forgive her after what Mr. Sharp had said. + +Dora and Dorothy Lockwood had been insulted and maligned. They did not +appear again at that recitation. + +"But do you think old Gee Gee would say that she was wrong, and beg their +pardon?" demanded Bobby, at recess. "Not on your life!" + +"I don't know that a teacher in her situation could publicly acknowledge +she was utterly in the wrong," Laura observed thoughtfully. + +"I would like to know why not?" demanded Jess Morse. + +"Why, you see, the fault really lies upon the conscience of one of us +girls," said Laura, looking significantly at Hester. + +The latter turned furiously, as though she had been waiting for and +expecting just this criticism. But surely she had not expected it from this +source. All the girls were amazed to hear Laura speak so harshly. + +"Oh, Laura!" murmured Jess. "Now you have done it! She's going to blow up!" + +"And she'll leave us flat on the play business," groaned Bobby. + +Hester came across the reception room to Laura with flashing eyes and her +face mottled with rage. + +"What is that you say, Laura Belding?" she demanded. + +"I will repeat it," said Laura firmly. "The whole trouble is on your +conscience. You deliberately led Miss Carrington astray." + +"Oh! I did, did I?" + +"You most certainly did. Miss Carrington was both cruel to Dora and Dorothy +and unfair. But you knew her failing, and you led her to believe that +Dorothy was answering the question she put to Dora. No wonder Miss +Carrington was angered." + +"Is that so?" sneered Hester. "And who are you, to tell me when I'm wrong?" + +"Somebody has to tell you, Hester," said Jess sweetly, for she was bound to +take up cudgels for her chum. + +"And you can mind your business, too, Jess Morse!" snarled Hester. + +"Dear, dear!" Nellie begged. "Let us not quarrel." + +Yet for once Mother Wit seemed determined upon making trouble. Usually +acting as peacemaker, the girls around her were amazed to hear her say: + +"You are quite in the wrong, Hester. And you know it. You should beg Miss +Carrington's pardon; and you should ask pardon of all of us, as well as of +Dora and Dorothy, for disgracing the class." + +"What do you mean?" screamed Hester Grimes. "Do you suppose I would tell +old Gee Gee that it was my fault?" + +"You deliberately prevaricated--to her and to us," said Laura calmly. + +"Call me a story-teller, do you?" cried the butcher's daughter. "How dare +you! I'll get even with you, Laura Belding!" + +"It is the truth," Laura said, slowly and firmly. + +"I'll fix you for this, Laura Belding!" pursued Hester, trembling with +rage. She turned to sweep them all with her angry glance. "I'll fix you +all! I won't have anything to do with any of you out of school--so there! +And I won't act in your hateful old play!" + +She ran out of the room as she said this and left the girls--at least, most +of them--in a state of blank despair. The bell rang for the next session +before anybody could speak. + +Laura seemed quite calm and unruffled. The others got through their +recitations as best they could until lunch hour. Jess and Bobby caught up +with Laura on the street when the latter went out for her customary walk. + +"Oh, Laura! What shall we do?" almost wept Jess. "Only two days! Nobody can +learn that part--not even as good as Hester knew it--before Friday night." + +At that moment Chet Belding appeared from around the corner. He was red and +almost breathless--in a high state of excitement, and no mistake. + +"What do you think, girls?" he cried, "We got a line on Purt Sweet's +automobile and why he has been hiding about where it was that Saturday +night the man from Alaska was hurt." + +"What is it? Tell us?" asked Laura. + +"I met Dan Smith. He goes to the East High, you know, and he lives across +the street from the Grimes' place. You know?" + +"Hester Grimes?" cried Jess. + +"Yes. Your dear friend. Well, Dan was up all night that night with a raging +toothache. He said the Grimes' had a party. Purt was there with his car. +Dan knows the car was taken away from the house and was gone more than an +hour that evening, and that Purt did not go with the car. + +"See? He's shielding somebody--the poor fish!" added Chet. "That is what +Short and Long has been saying. Now, what do you know about that?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT + + +The news Chet had divulged was so exciting that the girls quite forgot for +the time being the wreck that Hester Grimes seemed to have made of the +forthcoming performance of "The Rose Garden." + +Their chattering tongues mentioned Hester more than once, however, as they +discussed Chet's news. Whether Purt Sweet's car had run down the man from +Alaska or not, what did Hester know about it? + +"Can it be possible that Purt is shielding Hester in this matter?" Laura +queried gravely. + +"Oh, it couldn't be! She wasn't in that car that knocked down Mr. Nemo of +Nowhere," Bobby declared emphatically. + +"He has always favored Hester and Lil," Jess + +"Pooh!" again put in the irrepressible. "That's only because Pretty Sweet +thinks there is nothing in this world so good or great as money; and both +the Grimes and the Pendleton families have got oodles of it." + +"I don't know about that," Chet said quite as thoughtfully as his sister. +"It may not be their folks' money that attracts Purt to those two girls." + +"What then?" demanded Bobby. + +"They flatter him. He can lap that up like our cat laps cream." + +"That is true," agreed Jess Morse. + +"Certainly we don't flatter, him," Bobby said bluntly. + +"It may be that we have never given Purt a fair deal," Laura observed. +"Hester and Lil do not make fun of him." + +"And is he paying Hester back by shouldering something for her?" Jess +asked. + +"Oh, she never was in that car when it was taken away from where Purt had +it parked before the Grimes' house," Chet hastened to declare with +assurance. "I got all the facts from Dan Smith. He'd swear to them." + +"Let us hear the particulars," begged Laura. + +"Why, Dan says he was up at his window on the third floor of their house +watching the lights in the Grimes' house. It was a big party. Dancing on +the lower floor, and a crowd of folks. He saw two men--or maybe boys--run +out of the side door and down to the gate, as though they were sneaking +away from some of the others, you know." + +"Well?" his sister responded. "Go on." + +"Dan didn't know the fellows. Fact was, he couldn't see their faces very +well, and so he could not be sure of their identity in any case." + +"The street is pretty wide there, it's a fact," murmured Bobby. + +"Those two fellows looked back as though they expected to be spied upon. +But they went to the car, found it was all right (Purt had the radiator +blanketed) and got in. The starter worked, and she got into action as slick +as a whistle, Dan said. He thought it was all right or he would have raised +the window and halloaed at 'em. There were no girls with them. The two +fellows went off alone in the car." + +"There were two men in the car that struck Mr. Nemo of Nowhere," murmured +Bobby. + +"Purt appeared, Dan says, after a little while and looked for the car. He +got quite excited. Asked everybody that came along if they had seen it. He +was in a stew for fair. And while he was running up and down, popping off +like an engine exhaust, back came the car with only one of the fellows in +it." + +"Ha! The mystery deepens," said Jess, in mock tragic tones. "What became of +the other villain?" + +"You answer that question," grinned Chet. "You asked it!" + +"But what happened then?" asked Laura interestedly. + +"There was a row between Purt and the fellow who brought back the car. Purt +pointed to the mudguard on the off side, as though it had been bent, or +scraped in some way----" + +"That's what struck the man as he fell on Market Street," interrupted Bobby +with confidence. "I saw it hit him." + +"It was blood on the guard," said Laura. + +"Oh, my!" gasped Jess. "Do you suppose so?" + +"Like enough," Chet agreed. "But it was too far away for Dan to see. And +finally Purt drove off without returning to the house with the other +fellow." + +"But who was he?" Jess asked. + +"Who?" + +"The fellow Purt quarreled with for taking the car." + +"Give it up," said Chet, shaking his head. + +"And what became of the other man?" Laura queried. + +"There were two in the car when it hit the man from Alaska," Jess declared. + +"Gee!" ejaculated Bobby. "There's the nine-ten express west" + +"Who----What do you mean, young one?" demanded Chet. + +"'Young one' yourself!" snapped Clara Hargrew, immediately on her dignity. +"There are no medals on you for age, Chet Belding." + +"Or whiskers, either," laughed Laura, slyly eyeing her brother, for she was +aware that he had a safety razor hidden away in his bureau drawer. + +"Come, come!" said Jess, "What about this nine-ten express Bobby spoke of?" + +"Why," said the younger girl, "I noticed Mr. Belding's clock--the big +chronometer in the show window--as we came out of the store that Saturday +evening. It was just nine o'clock when we stood there and saw Mr. Nemo of +Nowhere run down by the car. Anybody driving that car could have made the +railroad station just about in time for the ten minutes' past nine +express--the Cannon Ball, don't they call it?" + +"That is the train," admitted Laura. "But why----" + +"Just wait a minute. Give me time," advised Bobby. "That car that did the +damage was headed for the station." + +"True," murmured Jess. "At least, it was going in that direction." + +"And when Purt's car came back to the Grimes' house after those two fellows +Dan Smith saw run away with it, there was only one person in the car. The +second individual had been dropped." + +"At the station!" exclaimed Chet, catching the idea. "That is why they +stole Purt's car." + +"I declare," Laura said. "Your idea sounds very reasonable, Bobby." + +"Bobby is right there with the brainworks," said Chet, with admiration. + +"Oh," said Bobby, "I'm not altogether 'non compos mend-us,' as the fellow +said." + +Chet was very serious, after all. "I tell you what," he blurted out, "if +Purt won't help himself with the police, maybe we can get him out of the +muss in spite of all." + +"Why does he want to act the donkey?" demanded Jess. + +"Are you sure he is?" asked Laura thoughtfully. + +"I tell you," said the excited Chet, "we can find out who had to leave +Hester Grimes' party to catch that express. It ought to be a good lead. +What do you think, Laura?" + +"I am wondering," said Mother Wit, "if we have always been fair to +Prettyman Sweet? Of course, he is silly in some ways, and dresses +ridiculously, and is not much of a sport. But if he is keeping still about +this matter so as not to make trouble for Hester, or any of her folks, +there is something fine in his action, don't you think?" + +"Well--yes," admitted Jess. "It would seem so." + +"I never thought of poor Purt as a chivalrous knight," said Bobby. + +"Maybe Laura is right," remarked Chet, rather grudgingly. + +"He is much more of a gentleman, perhaps, than we have given him credit for +being," Laura concluded. "I hope it is proved so in the end." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE LAST REHEARSAL + + +That afternoon, when the girls gathered for rehearsal, Hester, nor anybody +else, appeared to play "the dark lady of the roses." Mr. Mann made no +comment upon this fact, but he looked very serious, indeed. + +The play was acted from the first entrance to the final curtain. The other +characters had to speak of, and even to, the important and missing +character, and it was plain to all as the play progressed that the absence +of "the dark lady" was going to be a fatal hindrance to the success of the +piece. + +Even Lily Pendleton, Hester's last lingering friend, showed a good deal of +spleen at Hester's action. + +"I never will forgive Hessie," Lily said, almost in tears. And the other +girls had to urge her over and over again to be sure and come herself on +Thursday for the last dress rehearsal. + +"If the piece is wrecked, let us be castaways together," begged Jess. +"Don't anybody else fail. Promise, girls!" + +They promised sadly. Mr. Mann had hurried away as soon as the last words +were said. + +"Too disgusted to even speak to us," Nellie said sadly. "I am real sorry +for him, girls. He has tried so hard." + +"He deserves a leather medal," said Bobby emphatically. + +"And what do we deserve?" demanded one of the twins. + +"I know what Hester Grimes deserves," said Bobby darkly. + +It was not likely, however, that Hester Grimes would get her deserts. They +were all agreed on that point, if on no other. + +That Wednesday afternoon when the girls separated it was with drooping +spirits--all but Laura Belding, at least. Perhaps it was because she always +had so many irons in the fire that trouble seemed to roll off her young +shoulders like rainwater off a duck's feathers. + +At least, when she started for the street car that took her to the hospital +before she went home, she was cheerful of countenance and smiling. She +carried that same cheerfulness into the hospital itself and to Billy Long's +ward. + +The active Billy was, as he himself expressed it, "fed up" on the hospital +by now. He was grateful for what they had done for him there and the way in +which they treated him in every way, but confinement was beginning to wear +on his spirits. + +"Gee, Laura Belding!" ejaculated the young patient, seizing her hand with +both his own when she appeared, "a sight of you is just a stop-station this +side of eternity. Have they changed the hours? Aren't they twice as long as +they used to be?" + +"No, indeed, my poor boy," Laura said. "There are only sixty minutes in +each. I wish I could shorten the time for you." + +"Take it from me," growled Short and Long, having hard work to keep back +the tears, "this being in bed is the bunk. Don't let anybody tell you +different." + +But Laura caught his attention the next moment with Purt Sweet's trouble. +What Chet had found out from Dan Smith, Hester Grimes' neighbor, interested +the quick mind of Billy Long immensely. + +"Gee! I knew it must be something like that. Sure! Purt is shielding +somebody for Hester. That's it!" + +"Have you no idea who it can be? The man who drove the car, I mean, or the +one who possibly took the nine-ten express out of town that night? Hester +has no brothers----" + +"Say!" exclaimed Billy, "there is somebody who will know. If Purt was there +at the party, so was Lil Pendleton." + +"Lily!" exclaimed Laura. "I never thought of her." + +"And if she is likely to be sore on Hester now, as you say you all are," +Billy continued, "she won't be for shielding Hester or any of her friends +or relatives. Let me tell you that!" + +"I believe she must have been at the party. Hester invites her to +everything of the kind she has; although she seldom invites any of the +other girls of Central High." + +"Go to it!" urged the patient "Ask Lil Pendleton. I'd like to have Purt +cleared of this. I told that man from Alaska so. But, gee, Laura! I wish we +could find some way of giving him the right steer." + +"You mean you would like to help him find his name and identity?" + +"Yep. He says sometimes he feels that he is just going to remember--then it +all dissipates in his mind like a cloud. He's bad off, he is!" + +"I am going to see him now. I have an idea, Billy." + +"You're always full of ideas, Laura," the boy said admiringly. "I've been +raking my poor nut back and forth and crossways, without getting a glimmer +of an idea how to help him. He says if we can show him how to find his +memory, he'll do all he can for Purt," Billy added wistfully. + +"You are very anxious to help Prettyman Sweet, aren't you, Billy?" +suggested the girl of Central High as she rose to go. + +"You bet I am." + +"Why? You boys never thought much of him before, you know." + +Billy flushed, but he stuck to his guns. "I tell you," he said, "we never +gave Purt a fair deal, I guess. He's all right. He isn't like Chet, or +Lance, or Reddy Butts, or the rest of the fellows, but there's good parts +to Purt." + +"You think he has proved himself a better fellow than you thought before?" + +"You bet!" said Billy vigorously. "He's been mighty nice to me; and I +always was playing jokes on him, and--Aw! when a fellow lies like I do in +bed and has so much time to think, he gets on to himself," added the boy +gruffly. "Sending dead fish to other fellows isn't such a smart joke after +all." + +"I am going to see your friend, the Alaskan miner, now," the girl said, +squeezing the boy's hand understandingly. + +"If you find out some way of jogging his memory, I'd like to be in on it," +Billy cried. + +"You shall," promised Laura, as she tripped away. + +By this time Laura was so well known at the hospital that nobody stopped +her from going to the unknown man's private room where he was now +established with his particular nurse. He hailed the girl's appearance +almost as gladly as Billy Long had done. + +"Your bright young faces make you high-school girls--and the boys, of +course--as welcome as can be," he said. "I'd like to do something when I +get out of this hospital in return for all your kindness to me. But if I +can't get a grip on what and who I am----" + +"I have thought of a way by which we may help you to that," interjected +Laura. "You know, you must have been doing something all these years since +you won your fortune in Alaska." + +"Surely! But what became of my wealth? That is a hard question." + +"Perhaps we can help you find out what you have been doing. Then you will +gradually remember it all. Have you those bank-notes they say you carried +in your pocket when you were brought in?" + +"Why, they are in the hospital safe. I haven't had to use much of my money +yet," he said, puzzled. + +"I want to look at that money--all of it," said Laura. "It is too late +to-night, but to-morrow afternoon I will come with my brother, and I wish +you would have those bank-notes here. I have an idea." + +"I'll do just as you say, Miss Laura," said the man. "But I don't +understand----" + +"You will," she told him, laughing, as she hurried away. + +There was, therefore, much puzzlement of mind in several quarters that +night--and Laura Belding was partly at fault. She retained all her usual +placidity, and even on the morrow, when she went to school and found the +other girls so very despondent about the play, she refused to join in their +prophecies of ill. + +This was the day of the last rehearsal. Mr. Mann had told them that he +wished the actors to rest between this dress rehearsal and the first public +performance of "The Rose Garden" on the following evening. + +"I just know it will be a dreadful fizzle," wailed Jess, before Mr. Mann +called the rise of the curtain. + +Everything was in readiness, however, for a perfect rehearsal. The curtain +was properly manipulated and the scene shifters, the light man, and all the +other helpers were at their stations, as well as the orchestra in the pit. + +The girls had been excused from studies at one o'clock--of course, greatly +to Miss Carrington's disapproval. Since her "run-in" with the Lockwood +twins, as Bobby inelegantly called it, the teacher had been less exacting, +although quite as stern-looking as ever. + +Dora and Dorothy, being cheerful souls, had recovered from their excitement +over the incident in history class, and were so much interested in their +parts in the play now that they forgot all about Gee Gee's ill treatment. + +Indeed, when the curtain was rung up every girl in the piece was in a state +of excitement. Although they felt that the failure of the part of "the dark +lady of the roses" would utterly ruin some of the best lines and most +telling points in the play, they were all ready to act their own parts with +vigor and a real appreciation of what those parts meant. + +Bobby, as the sailor lad, came on with a rolling gait that would have done +credit to any "garby" in the Navy. Jess, as the swashbuckling hero, +swaggered about the stage in a delightful burlesque of such a character, as +the author intended the part to be played. + +Then the lights were lowered for the evening glow and "Adrian" turned to +point out the "dark lady"--that mysterious figure supposed to haunt the +rose garden and for weal or woe influence the hero's house and his affairs. + +Jess recited her lines roundly, pointing the while to the garden along the +shadowy paths of which the dark lady of the roses was supposed to wander. +With incredible amazement--a shock that was more real than Jess could +possibly have expressed in any feigned surprise--she beheld the dark lady +as the book read, moving quietly across the garden, gracefully swaying as +she lightly trod the fictitious sod, stooping to pluck and then kissing the +rose, and finally disappearing into the wings with a flash of brilliant +eyes and the revelation of a charming countenance for the audience. + +It was lucky that this signaled the curtain's fall on the first act, or +Jess Morse would have spoiled her own good work by the expression of her +amazement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MR. NEMO, OF NOWHERE + + +"Who is it?" + +"Can it be Margit Salgo?" + +"How very, very wonderful!" + +These were some of the ejaculations of the girls behind the scenes. + +At just the right moment the figure of the dark lady had glided from the +dressing-rooms to the wings and gone on at the cue. Her acting gave just +the needed touch to the pretty scene. Her appearance had been most +charming. And, above all, the surprise had been "such a relief!" + +"I'm so glad Hester got mad with us and refused to act," sighed Bessie +Yeager. "Whoever this girl is, she is fine." + +"Is it a professional Mr. Mann has engaged?" somebody wanted to know. + +"Laura Belding! Laura Belding!" cried Dora. "What do you know about it?" + +"I warrant Laura knows all about it," said Jess, recovered from her +amazement. "It is just like Mother Wit to have saved us. And I believe I +recognize that very charming Lady Mystery--do I not?" + +"Isn't she splendid?" cried Laura, enthusiastically, "I knew she could do +it. And Mr. Mann has been giving her an hour's training every day for a +week." + +"Goodness!" drawled Lily Pendleton, "how did you know Hester would cut up +so mean?" + +"Doesn't she always do something to queer us if she can?" snapped Bobby. +"Laura, you are a wonder!" + +"It is Janet Steele," declared Jess. "Of course! I should have thought of +her myself. She is all right--just the one we needed." + +And it took some courage on Jess' part for her to say this, for she knew +that Chet Belding had expressed very warm admiration indeed of Janet +Steele. + +The rehearsal went off splendidly after that. Everybody was encouraged. The +rotund little Mr. Mann beamed--"more than ever like a cherub," Bobby +declared. They came to the final curtain with tremendous applause from the +back benches where some of the faculty sat in the dark. + +"And I do believe," said Nellie Agnew, in almost a scared voice, "that Gee +Gee applauded! Can it be possible, girls? Do you suppose that for once she +gives us credit for knowing a little something?" + +"If she applauded, her hands slipped by mistake!" grumbled Bobby. "You know +very well that nothing would change Gee Gee's opinion. Not even an +earthquake." + +It was late when the rehearsal was over, and Laura knew that Chet would be +waiting outside with their car. She hurried Jess and Bobby, and even Janet, +into their outer wraps as quickly as possible. + +"For you might as well go along with us, Janet," Laura said to the new girl +"We're going to the hospital first, but we'll drop you at your home coming +back." + +Just what they were to do at the hospital nobody knew save Laura and Chet, +and they refused to explain. When they arrived at the institution they went +directly to the private room now occupied by Mr. Nemo of Nowhere. + +Billy Long, up in a chair for the first time, was present to greet the +girls of Central High. And the man from Alaska seemed particularly glad to +see them. + +"Here is the money, Miss Laura," he said, producing a packet of crisp +bank-notes. "I'd give it all to know just who I am. I seem to be right on +the verge of discovering it to-day; yet something balks me." + +"Oh, look at all that money!" crowed Billy, as Laura accepted the bills, +while Chet, with the help of the interested nurse, arranged the bed-table +and gave the man a pad and a fountain pen. + +The head surgeon, who had taken a great interest in the case and with whom +Laura had already conferred, tiptoed into the room and stood to look on. + +"You bankers," said Laura, laughing, and speaking to the patient, "are +always so much better off than ordinary folks. You pass out any old kind of +money to your customers; but you never see a banker with anything but new +bank-notes in his pocket." + +The man listened to her sharply. A sudden quickened interest appeared in +his countenance. The others heard Mother Wit's speech with growing +excitement. + +"See," said the girl of Central High, extracting one of the bank-notes from +the packet "Here is another bill on the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, +Ohio. Did you notice that? Doesn't it sound familiar to you?" + +She repeated the name of the bank and its locality slowly. "You have more +bills of that same bank. But none like the one you gave Chet when you +bought that lavallière for 'the nice little girl' you told him you expected +to give it to." + +The man stared at her. He seemed enthralled by what she said. Laura +proceeded in her quiet way: + +"Just write this name, please: 'Bedford Knox.' Thanks. Now write it again. +He is cashier of your bank in Osage, Ohio." + +Jess barely stifled a cry with her handkerchief. But everybody else was +silent, watching the man laboriously writing the name as requested by +Laura. + +It was a disappointment. No doubt of that The man did not write the name as +though he were familiar with it at all. But Laura was still smiling when he +looked up at her, almost childishly, for further directions. + +"Now try this other, please," said the girl firmly. "Two men always sign +bank-notes to make them legal tender. The cashier and the president The +president of the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, Ohio, is----" + +She hesitated. The man poised his pen over the paper expectantly. Said +Laura, briskly: + +"Write 'Peyton J. Weld.'" + +At her words Janet Steele uttered a startled exclamation. The man did not +notice this. He wrote the name as Laura requested. Chet, looking over his +shoulder and with one of the Osage bank-notes in his hand for comparison, +watched the signature dashed off in almost perfect imitation of that upon +the bank-note. + +"You guessed it, Mother Wit!" the big boy cried. "Write it again, Mr. Weld. +That is your name as sure as you live!" + +The surgeon stepped quickly to the bedside and his sharp eyes darted from +the bank-note in the boy's hand to the signature his patient had written. +The man looked wonderingly about the room, his puzzled gaze drifting from +one to another of his visitors until it finally fastened upon the pale +countenance of Janet Steele. + +Catching his eye, the girl stepped forward impulsively, her hands clasped. + +"Uncle Jack!" she breathed. + +"You--you look quite like your mother used to, my dear," the man in bed +said in rather a strange voice. + +The surgeon eased him back upon the pillows, and at a nod the nurse sent +the visitors out of the room. In the corridor they all stood amazed, +staring at Janet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IT IS ALL ROUNDED UP + + +"Of course," Lily Pendleton confessed, "I was at Hester's party," + +"And Purt Sweet was there?" queried Laura earnestly. + +"Mr. Sweet certainly was present, too," said the other girl. "You girls +need not be so jealous if we are the only two from Central High that got +invited." + +"You can have my share and welcome," said Bobby. + +"And mine, too," confessed Jess. + +"These interrogations are not inspired by jealousy," laughed Mother Wit. + +It was on Friday as the girls gathered for recitations that this +conversation occurred. Lily Pendleton was inclined to object to having her +intimacy with Hester Grimes inquired into. + +"Do you remember what night that party was held, Lily?" asked Laura. + +"Why, no. On a Saturday night, I believe." + +"Quite so. And on a particular Saturday night," said Laura. + +"You said it!" murmured Bobby. + +"I don't know what you mean!" cried Lily Pendleton. + +"But you will before I get through with you," said Laura. "Now, listen! You +know about that man who had his leg broken on Market Street?" + +"The one the police say Purt ran down with his car?" + +"The same." + +"Of course I do," Lily cried. "And Purt is as innocent as you are!" + +"Granted," said Laura. "Therefore you will help us explain the mystery, and +so relieve Purt Sweet of suspicion. For he refuses to say anything himself +to the police." + +"Why--why----What do I know about it?" demanded Lily. + +"Do you know that the party was held the very Saturday night the man was +hurt?" + +"No! Was it?" + +"It was. And Purt had his car up there at the Grimes' house." + +"Did he? I didn't know. He went away early, I believe." + +"And earlier still a couple of boys, or men, borrowed Purt's car without +his knowing it--until afterward," Laura declared earnestly. "One of those +fellows had to catch a train." + +"Why, that was Hester's cousin, Jeff Rounds! He lives at Norridge. Don't +you know?" + +"Who was the other fellow?" asked Laura sharply. + +"Why--I----Oh! it must have been Tom Langley. He lives next door to +Hester. Do you know," said Lily, preening a little, "I think Tom is kind of +sweet on Hessie." + +"Good night!" moaned Bobby. "What is the matter with him? Is he blind?" + +"He must have had very bad eyesight or he would not have run down that poor +Mr. Weld on Market Street!" exclaimed Jess tartly. + +"What do you mean?" gasped Lily. "Tom Langley has gone away for the winter +anyway. He went suddenly----" + +"Right after that party, I bet a cooky," cried Bobby. + +"Well--ye-es," admitted Lily. + +"Scared!" exclaimed Jess. + +"The coward!" cried Laura. + +"And left poor Purt to face the music," Bobby observed. "Well, old Purt is +better than we ever gave him credit for. Now we'll make him square himself +with the police." + +It was Mr. Nemo of Nowhere, now Mr. Peyton J. Weld, who had the most to do +with settling the police end of Purt Sweet's trouble. It was some weeks +before he could do this, for the shock of his mental recovery racked the +man greatly. For some days the surgeon would not let the young folk see +their friend whose mind had been so twisted. + +"I don't know but we did more harm than good, Laura," Chet Belding said +anxiously, when they discussed Mr. Weld's condition. + +"I don't believe so," his sister said. "At any rate, we revealed him as +Janet's Uncle Jack, and the discovery has done Mrs. Steele a world of good +already." + +That the man who, for a time, had forgotten who he was and had forgotten a +number of years of his life, finally recovered completely, can safely be +stated. His very first outing from the hospital was in Purt Sweet's car, +and the boy drove him first of all to the office of the Chief of Police. + +Purt had refused utterly to make trouble for either Hester Grimes' cousin +Jeff or for Tom Langley. Mr. Weld assured the Chief of Police that, +although it was Purt's car that had struck him down on the icy street, Purt +had not been in the car at the time. + +Nor did the boy of Central High have anything to do with the accident. His +car had been borrowed without permission by "parties unknown," as far as +Mr. Weld was concerned, and to this day the police of Centerport are rather +hazy as to just who it was that stole Purt Sweet's car and committed the +assault. + +"And I feel sort of hazy myself," Jess Morse said, when they were all +talking it over at one time. "Mostly hazy about this Man from Nowhere. How +did he so suddenly become Janet Steele's Uncle Jack?" + +"And his name 'Peyton'?" added Nellie Agnew. + +"Why, his middle name was John--they always called him by it at home," +explained Laura Belding. "And, of course, Janet and her mother knew nothing +about the name written on those Osage bank bills. I didn't suspect the +relationship myself. + +"But I began to be quite sure that he must have had something to do with +the bank for which those bills were issued. And it seemed probable that, as +he had so much money with him when he landed in Centerport, that he must be +somebody in Osage of wealth and prominence. I wrote secretly to the +postmaster at Osage and learned that the president of the Drovers' Levee +Bank had gone East on a vacation--presumably to hunt up some relatives that +he had not seen for some time." + +"Sly Mother Wit!" cried Jess. + +"Not such a wonderful thing to do," laughed Laura. + +"Not half so wonderful," put in the irrepressible Bobby Hargrew, "as it +seemed to the countryman who came to town and stood gazing up at the tall +steeple of the cathedral. As he gazed the bell began to toll The hick +stopped a passer-by and said: + +"'Tell me, why does the bell ring at this time of day?' + +"The other man studied the hick for a moment and then said: 'That's easy. +There's somebody pulling on the rope.'" + +"Well," said Nellie, when the laugh had subsided, "I guess Janet and her +mother are glad our Laura had such a bright idea." + +"Of course! They are going back to Osage with Mr. Weld when he has fully +recovered. And so we shall lose an awfully nice girl friend," Laura +declared. + +"Gee!" sighed Chet. "And such a pretty girl!" + +Jess said not a word. + + * * * * * + +Of course, all twisted threads must be straightened out at the end of the +story; but our tale really ends with the performance of "The Rose Garden." +That on Friday night was most enthusiastically received by the friends and +parents of the girls of Central High. + +It was a worthy production, and the girls deserved all the applause they +received. It encouraged them to give two further performances, and +altogether the three netted a large sum for the Red Cross. The play, in +fact, was the means of raising more money for the fund than any other +single method used for that object in Centerport. + +The city "went over the top" in its quota of both memberships and funds, +and that before Christmas. The girls of Central High could rest on their +laurels over the holidays, knowing that they had done well. + +"But wait till Gee Gee gets after us after New Year's," prophesied Bobby. + +"Don't be so pessimistic," said Jess. "Maybe she won't." + +"Why won't she?" demanded Dora Lockwood. + +"Nothing will change her," sighed Dora's twin. + +"Say!" gasped Bobby, stricken with a sudden thought, "maybe she'll get the +pip, or something, and not be able to teach. That is our only hope!" + +"Suppose we turn over a new leaf, as Miss Carrington won't," suggested +Laura in her placid way. + +"What's that?" demanded Bobby suspiciously. + +"Suppose we agree not to annoy her any more than we can help for the rest +of the school year?" + +"There! Isn't that just like you, Laura Belding?" demanded Jess. +"Suggesting the impossible." + +This was said in the wings of the school stage during the last performance +of "The Rose Garden." The curtain went up on the last act and the girls +became quiet They watched Janet Steele, as the dark lady of the roses, move +again across the stage. She was very graceful and very pretty. The boys out +front applauded her enthusiastically. + +Laura pinched Jess's arm. "Janet certainly has made a hit," she whispered. + +"Well," admitted Jess, "she deserves their applause. And she just about +saved our play, Laura. There is no getting around that." + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High Aiding the +Red Cross, by Gertrude W. Morrison + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS CENTRAL HIGH--RED CROSS *** + +***** This file should be named 8137-8.txt or 8137-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/3/8137/ + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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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Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/8137-8.zip b/8137-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b2a97e --- /dev/null +++ b/8137-8.zip diff --git a/8137-h.zip b/8137-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f75e68 --- /dev/null +++ b/8137-h.zip diff --git a/8137-h/8137-h.htm b/8137-h/8137-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1338a37 --- /dev/null +++ b/8137-h/8137-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6533 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Girls of Central High +Aiding the Red Cross, by Gertrude W. Morrison</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} +blockquote {font-size:14pt} +P {font-size:14pt} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red +Cross, by Gertrude W. Morrison + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross + Or Amateur Theatricals for a Worthy Cause + +Author: Gertrude W. Morrison + +Posting Date: February 21, 2015 [EBook #8137] +Release Date: May, 2005 +First Posted: June 17, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS CENTRAL HIGH--RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<center> +<img src="images/redcross.png" width="600" alt= +"'Stop!' commanded Miss Carrington"> +</center> +<h1 align="center">The Girls</h1> + +<h1 align="center">of Central High</h1> + +<h1 align="center">Aiding the Red Cross</h1> + +<br> +<h3 align="center">OR</h3> + +<h3 align="center">AMATEUR THEATRICALS FOR</h3> + +<h3 align="center">A WORTHY CAUSE</h3> + +<br> +<h3 align="center">BY</h3> + +<h3 align="center">GERTRUDE W. MORRISON</h3> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center">CONTENTS</h1> + +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER<br> +<br> +<a href="#chapI">I THE ODDEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED</a><br> +<a href="#chapII">II THE RED CROSS GIRL</a><br> +<a href="#chapIII">III ODD!</a><br> +<a href="#chapIV">IV THE MYSTERY MAN</a><br> +<a href="#chapV">V SAND IN THE GEARS</a><br> +<a href="#chapVI">VI THE BANK-NOTE</a><br> +<a href="#chapVII">VII SOMETHING EXCITING</a><br> +<a href="#chapVIII">VIII THE FOREFRONT OF TROUBLE</a><br> +<a href="#chapIX">IX THE ICE CARNIVAL</a><br> +<a href="#chapX">X BUT WHO IS HE?</a><br> +<a href="#chapXI">XI A REHEARSAL</a><br> +<a href="#chapXII">XII BUBBLE, BUBBLE</a><br> +<a href="#chapXIII">XIII MOTHER WIT HAS AN IDEA</a><br> +<a href="#chapXIV">XIV CHAINS ON HIS WHEELS</a><br> +<a href="#chapXV">XV PIE AND POETRY</a><br> +<a href="#chapXVI">XVI EMBER NIGHT</a><br> +<a href="#chapXVII">XVII A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT</a><br> +<a href="#chapXVIII">XVIII WHERE WAS PURT?</a><br> +<a href="#chapXIX">XIX LAURA LISTENS</a><br> +<a href="#chapXX">XX TWO THINGS ABOUT HESTER</a><br> +<a href="#chapXXI">XXI AND A THIRD THING</a><br> +<a href="#chapXXII">XXII THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT</a><br> +<a href="#chapXXIII">XXIII THE LAST REHEARSAL</a><br> +<a href="#chapXXIV">XXIV MR. NEMO, OF NOWHERE</a><br> +<a href="#chapXXV">XXV IT IS ALL ROUNDED UP</a><br> + + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapI">CHAPTER I</h1> + +<h2 align="center">THE ODDEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED</h2> + +<p>"Well, if that isn't the oddest thing that ever happened!" +murmured Laura Belding, sitting straight up on the stool before +the high desk in her father's glass-enclosed office, from which +elevation she could look down the long aisles of his jewelry +store and out into Market Street, Centerport's main business +thoroughfare.</p> + +<p>But Laura was not looking down the vista of the electrically +lighted shop and into the icy street. Instead, she gave her +attention to that which lay right under her eyes upon the desk +top. She looked first at the neat figures she had written upon +the page of the day ledger, after carefully proving them, and +thence at the packet of bills and piles of coin on the desk at +her right hand.</p> + +<p>"It is the oddest thing that ever happened," she affirmed, as +though in answer to her own first declaration.</p> + +<p>It was Saturday evening, and it was always Laura's duty to +straighten out her father's books for him on that day, for +although she was a high school girl, she was usually so well +prepared in her studies that she could give the books proper +attention weekly. Laura had taken a course in bookkeeping and she +was quite familiar with the business of keeping a simple set of +books like these.</p> + +<p>She never let the day ledger and the cash get far apart. It +was her custom to strike a balance weekly, and this she was doing +at this time. Or she was trying to! But there seemed to be +something entirely wrong with the cash itself.</p> + +<p>She knew that the figures on the ledger were correct. She had +asked her father, and even Chet, her brother, who was helping in +the store this evening, if either of them had taken out any cash +without setting the sum down in the proper record.</p> + +<p>"It is an even fifty dollars--neither more nor less," she had +told them, with a puzzled little frown corrugating her pretty +forehead.</p> + +<p>They had both denied any such act--Chet, of course, +vigorously.</p> + +<p>"What kind of hardware are you trying to hang on me, Mother +Wit?" he demanded of his sister. "I know Christmas will soon be +on top of us, and a fellow needs all the money there is in the +world to buy even one girl a decent present. But I assure you I +haven't taken to nicking papa's cash drawer."</p> + +<p>"I don't know but mother is right," Laura sighed. "Your +language is becoming something to listen to with fear and +trembling. And I am not accusing you, Chetwood. I'm only asking +you!"</p> + +<p>"And I'm only answering you--emphatically," chuckled her +brother.</p> + +<p>"It is no laughing matter when you cannot find fifty dollars," +she told him.</p> + +<p>"You'd better stir your wits a little, then, Sis," he advised. +"You know Jess and Lance will be along soon and we were all going +shopping together, and skating afterward. Lance and I want to +practice our grapevine whirl."</p> + +<p>But being advised to hurry did not help. For half an hour +since Chet had last spoken the girl had sat in a web of mystery +that fairly made her head spin! Her ledger figures were proved +over and over again. But the cash! Then once more she bent to her +task.</p> + +<p>The piles of coin were all right she finally decided. She +counted them over and over again, and they came to the same penny +exactly. So she pushed the coin aside.</p> + +<p>Then she slowly and carefully counted again the bank-notes, +turning them one by one face down from left to right. The amount, +added to the sum of the coins, was equal to the figures on the +ledger. Then she did what she had already done ten or a dozen +times. She recounted the bills, turning them from right to +left.</p> + +<p>She was fifty dollars short!</p> + +<p>Christmas was approaching, and the Belding jewelry store was, +of course, rather busier than at other seasons. That was why Chet +Belding was helping out behind the counters. Out there, he kept a +closer watch on the front door than Laura, with her financial +trouble, could.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he darted down the long room to welcome a group of +young people who pushed open the jewelry-store door. They burst +in with a hail of merry voices and a clatter of tongues that +drowned every other sound in the store for a minute, although +there were but four of them.</p> + +<p>"Easy! Easy!" begged Mr. Belding, who was giving his attention +to a customer near the front of the store. "Take your friends +back to Laura's coop, Chetwood."</p> + +<p>Hushed for the moment, the party drifted back toward Laura's +desk. The young girl was still too deeply engaged with the ledger +and cash to look up at first.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Mother Wit?" demanded the taller of the +two girls who had just come in--a most attractive-looking maiden, +whom Chet had at once taken on his arm.</p> + +<p>"Engine trouble," chuckled Laura's brother. "The old thing +just won't budge! Isn't that it, Laura?"</p> + +<p>The tall youth--dark and delightfully romantic-looking, any +girl would have told you--went around into the little office and +looked over Laura's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"What's gone wrong, Laura?" he asked, with sympathy in his +voice and manner.</p> + +<p>"You want to get a move on, Mother Wit!" cried the youngest +girl of the troop, saucy looking, and with ruddy cheeks and +flyaway curls. This was Clara Hargrew, whom her friends called +Bobby, and whose father kept the big grocery store just a block +away from the Belding jewelry store. "Everybody will have picked +over the presents in all the stores and got the best of +everything before we get there."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said the last member of the group; and this +was a short and sturdy boy who had the same mischievous twinkle +in his eye that Bobby Hargrew displayed.</p> + +<p>His name was Long, and because he was short, everybody at +Central High (save the teachers, of course) called him "Short and +Long." He and Bobby Hargrew were what hopeless grown folk called +"a team!" When they were not hatching up some ridiculous trick +together, they were separately in mischief.</p> + +<p>"But you say Short and Long has done some of his Christmas +shopping already," Jess Morse, the tall visitor, said. "Just +think, Laura! He has sent Purt Sweet his annual present."</p> + +<p>"So soon?" said Laura Belding, but with her mind scarcely on +what her friends were saying. "And Thanksgiving is only just +passed!"</p> + +<p>"I thought I'd better be early," said Short and Long, with +solemn countenance. "I wrote 'Not to be opened till Christmas' +upon the package."</p> + +<p>Bobby and Jess and Lance burst into giggles. "Let's have the +joke!" demanded Chet. "What did you send the poor fish, +Short?"</p> + +<p>"You guessed it! You guessed it, Chet Belding!" cried Bobby. +"Aren't you a clever lad?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Laura, now becoming more seriously +interested.</p> + +<p>"Why," Jess Morse said, "he got a codfish down at the market +and wrapped it up in a lot of paper and put it in a long, +beautifully decorated Christmas box. If Purt Sweet keeps that box +without opening it until Christmas, I am afraid the Board of +Health will be making inquiries about the Sweet premises."</p> + +<p>"You scamp!" exclaimed Laura sternly, to Short and Long.</p> + +<p>"He's all right!" declared Bobby warmly. "You know just how +mean and stingy Purt Sweet is--and his mother has more money than +anybody else in Centerport. Last Christmas, d'you know what Purt +did?"</p> + +<p>"Something silly, of course," Laura said.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you call silly. I call it mean," declared +the smaller girl. "Purt got it noised abroad that he was going to +give a present to every fellow in his class--didn't he, +Short?"</p> + +<p>"That's what he did," said Billy Long, taking up the story. +"And the day before Christmas he got us all over to his house and +offered each of us a drink of ice-water! And some of the kids had +been foolish enough to buy him things--and give 'em to him ahead +of time, too!"</p> + +<p>"Serves you right for being so piggish," commented Chet.</p> + +<p>"It was a mean trick," agreed Laura, "for some of the boys in +Purt's grade are much younger than he is. But this idea of giving +Christmas presents because you expect something in +return----"</p> + +<p>"Is pretty small potatoes," finished Lance Darby, the dark +youth. "But what's the matter here, Laura?" he added. "I've +counted these bills and they are just exactly right by those +figures you have set down there."</p> + +<p>"You turned them from left to right as you counted, Lance," +cried Laura.</p> + +<p>"Sure! I counted the face of each bill," was the answer.</p> + +<p>"Now count them the other way!" exclaimed Laura in +despair.</p> + +<p>Her friends gathered around while Laura did this. Even Chet +gave some attention to his sister's trouble now. From right to +left the packet of bank-notes came to fifty dollars less than the +sum accredited to them on the ledger.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you know about that?" breathed Lance.</p> + +<p>"That's the strangest thing!" declared Jess Morse.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Bobby of the quick mind, "must be some of the +bills are not printed right."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" ejaculated Chet.</p> + +<p>"Who ever heard of such a thing as a banknote being printed +wrong unless it was a counterfeit?" demanded Laura.</p> + +<p>Mr. Belding, having finished with his customer, came back to +the little office and heard this. "I am quite sure we have taken +in no counterfeits--eh, Chet?" he said, smiling.</p> + +<p>"And there's only one big bill--this hundred," said Chet, who +had taken the package of bills and was flirting them through his +fingers. "I took that in myself when I sold that +lavallière to the man I told you about, Father. You +remember? He was a stranger, and he said he wanted to give it to +a young girl. I------"</p> + +<p>"Let's see that bill, Chet!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew +suddenly.</p> + +<p>Chet slipped the hundred-dollar note out of the packet and +handed it to the grocer's daughter. But she immediately +cried:</p> + +<p>"I want to see the hundred-dollar bill, Chet. Not this +one."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's the hundred------"</p> + +<p>"This is a fifty," interrupted Bobby. "Can't you see?"</p> + +<p>She displayed the face of a fifty-dollar bank-note to their +wondering eyes. Their exclamations drowned Mr. Belding's voice, +and he had to speak twice before Bobby heard him.</p> + +<p>"Turn it over!"</p> + +<p>The grocer's daughter did so. The other side of the bill was +the face of a hundred-dollar bank-note! At this there certainly +was a hullabaloo in and around the office. Mr. Belding could +scarcely make himself heard again. He was annoyed.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with that bank-note? Whether it is +counterfeit or not, you took it in over the counter, Chetwood," +he said coldly.</p> + +<p>"This very day," admitted his oldest son.</p> + +<p>"Then, my boy, it is up to you," said the jeweler grimly.</p> + +<p>"What----Just what do you mean?" asked Chet, somewhat troubled +by his father's sternness.</p> + +<p>"In a jewelry store," said Mr. Belding seriously, "as I have +often told you, a clerk must keep his eyes open. You admit taking +in this bill. If the Treasury Department says it is worth only +fifty dollars, I shall expect you to make good the other +fifty."</p> + +<p>The young people stared at each other in awed silence as the +jeweler turned away. They could feel how annoyed he was.</p> + +<p>"Gee!" gasped Chet, "if I'm nicked fifty dollars, how shall I +ever be able to buy Christmas presents, or even give anything for +the Red Cross drive?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm sorry, Chet!" Jess Morse murmured.</p> + +<p>"Looks as if hard times had camped on your trail, old boy," +declared Lance.</p> + +<p>"But maybe it is a hundred-dollar bill," Laura said.</p> + +<p>"It's tough," Short and Long muttered.</p> + +<p>"Try to pass it on somebody else," chuckled Bobby, who was not +very sympathetic at that moment.</p> + +<p>"Got it all locked up, Laura?" Jess asked. "Well, let us go +then. You can't make that bill right by looking at it, Chet."</p> + +<p>"I--I wish I could get hold of the man who passed it on me," +murmured the big fellow.</p> + +<p>"Would you know him again?" Lance asked.</p> + +<p>"Sure," returned his chum, getting his own coat and hat while +his sister put on her outdoor clothing. "All ready? We're going, +Pa."</p> + +<p>"Remember what I said about that bill, Chetwood," Mr. Belding +admonished him. "You will learn after this, I guess, to look at +both sides of a hundred-dollar bill--or any other--when it is +offered to you."</p> + +<p>"Aw, it's a good hundred, I bet," grumbled Chet.</p> + +<p>"If it is, I'll add an extra fifty to my Red Cross +subscription," rejoined his father with some tartness.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's something!" Bobby Hargrew said quickly. "We want +to boost the fund all we can. And what do you think?"</p> + +<p>"My brain has stopped functioning entirely since I got so +bothered by that bank-note," declared Laura Belding, shaking her +head. "I can't think."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sharp and the rest of the faculty have agreed that we +shall give a show for the Red Cross," declared Bobby, with +enthusiasm. "Just what we wanted them to do!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, joy!" cried Jess, clasping her hands in delight.</p> + +<p>"Miss Josephine Morse, leading lady, impressarioess, and so +forth," laughed Lance Darby, "will surely be in on the +theatricals."</p> + +<p>"Maybe they will let you write the play, Jess," said Chet +admiringly.</p> + +<p>They reached the door and stepped into the street. There had +been rain and a freeze. The sidewalks, as well as the highway +itself, were slippery. Bobby suddenly screamed:</p> + +<p>"See there! Oh! He'll be killed!"</p> + +<p>A rapidly-driven automobile turned the corner by the Belding +store. A man was crossing Market Street, coming toward the group +of young people.</p> + +<p>The careless driver had not put on his chains. The car +skidded. The next instant the pedestrian was knocked down, and at +least one wheel ran over his prostrate body.</p> + +<p>Instead of stopping, the car went into high speed and dashed +up the street and was quickly out of sight. The young people ran +to the prostrate man. Nobody for the moment thought of the +automobile driver who was responsible for the affair.</p> + +<p>The victim had blood on his face from a cut high up on his +crown. He was unconscious. It was Chet Belding who stood up and +spoke, first of all.</p> + +<p>"I thought so! I thought so!" he gasped. "Do you know who this +is?"</p> + +<p>"Who?" asked Jess, clinging to his arm as the crowd +gathered.</p> + +<p>"This is the man who passed that phony hundred-dollar bill on +me. The very one!"</p> + +<p>"Is he dead?" whispered Bobby Hargrew, looking under Chefs +elbow down at the crimson-streaked face of the unfortunate +man.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapII">CHAPTER II</h1> + +<h2 align="center">THE RED CROSS GIRL</h2> + +<p>Market street was well lighted, but it was not well policed. +That last fact could not be denied, or the recklessly driven +automobile that had knocked down the stranger would never have +got away so easily. People from both sides of the street and from +the stores near by ran to the spot; but no policeman appeared +until long after the automobile was out of sight.</p> + +<p>The exciting statement that Chet Belding had made so +interested and surprised his friends that for a few moments they +gave the victim of the injury little of their attention. +Meanwhile a figure glided into the group and knelt beside the +injured man who lay upon the ice-covered street. It was a girl, +not older than Laura and Jess, but one who was dressed in the +veil and cloak of the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>She was not the only Red Cross worker on Market Street that +Saturday evening, for the drive for the big Red Cross fund had +begun, and many workers were collecting. This girl, however +seemed to have a practical knowledge of first-aid work. She drew +forth a small case, wiped the blood away from the man's face with +cotton, and then began to bandage the wound as his head rested +against her knee.</p> + +<p>"Somebody send for the ambulance," she commanded, in a clear +and pleasant voice. "I think he has a fractured leg, and he may +be hurt otherwise."</p> + +<p>Her request brought the three girls of Central High to their +senses. Bobby darted away to telephone to the hospital from her +father's store. The older girls offered the Red Cross worker +their aid.</p> + +<p>For a year and a half the girls of Central High had been +interested in the Girls' Branch League athletics; and with their +training under Mrs. Case, the athletic instructor, they had all +learned something about first-aid work.</p> + +<p>The girls of Centerport had changed in character without a +doubt since the three high schools of the city had become +interested so deeply in girls' athletics. With the high schools +of Keyport and Lumberport, an association of league units had +been formed, and the girls of the five educational institutions +were rivals to a proper degree in many games and sports.</p> + +<p>How all this had begun and how Laura Belding by her individual +efforts had made possible the Central High's beautiful gymnasium +and athletic field, is told in the first volume of this series, +entitled: "The Girls of Central High; Or, Rivals for All Honors." +This story served to introduce this party of young people who +have met in the jewelry store, as well as a number of other +characters, to the reader.</p> + +<p>In "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna; Or, The Crew That +Won," the enthusiasm in sports among the girls of the five high +schools reaches a high point.</p> + +<p>As the three cities in the league are all situated upon the +beautiful lake named above, aquatic games hold a high place in +the estimation of the rival associations in the league. Fun and +sports fill this second volume.</p> + +<p>"The Girls of Central High at Basket Ball; Or, The Great +Gymnasium Mystery," the third book, tells of several very +exciting games in which the basket-ball team of Central High +takes part, and the reader learns, as well, a good deal more +about the individual characters of the girls themselves and of +some very exciting adventures they have.</p> + +<p>"The Girls of Central High on the Stage; Or, The Play That +Took the Prize," the fourth volume in the series, is really Jess +Morse's story, although Laura and their other close friends have +much to do in the book and take part in the play which Jess +wrote, and which was acted in the school auditorium. It was +proved that Jess Morse had considerable talent for play writing, +and the professional production of her school play aided the girl +and her mother over a most trying financial experience.</p> + +<p>The fifth volume, "The Girls of Central High on Track and +Field; Or, The Champions of the School League," is an all around +athletic story in which rivalries for place in school athletics, +excitement and interest of plot, and stories of character +building are woven into a tale calculated to hold the attention +of any reader interested in high school doings.</p> + +<p>During the summer previous to the opening of the present story +in the series, these friends spent a most enjoyable time camping +on Acorn Island, and the sixth tale, "The Girls of Central High +in Camp; Or, The Old Professor's Secret," is as full of mystery, +adventure, and fun as it can be. Since the end of the long +vacation the Girls of Central High, as well as the boys who are +their friends, had settled down to hard work both in studies and +athletics. Ice had come early this year and already Lake Luna was +frozen near the shore and most of the steamboat traffic between +the lake cities had ceased.</p> + +<p>The great pre-holiday Red Cross drive had now enthralled the +girls of Central High, as well as the bulk of Centerport's +population. Everybody wanted to put the city "over the top" with +more than its quota subscribed to the fund.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the boys' and girls' athletic associations +of Central High were planning an Ice Carnival to raise funds for +the cause, and it was because of that exhibition that Chet +Belding and Lance Darby wished to get down to the ice that +evening and try their own particular turn, after the shopping +expedition that also had been planned.</p> + +<p>As it happened, however, neither the shopping nor the skating +was done on this particular Saturday night.</p> + +<p>As Bobby Hargrew ran to telephone to the hospital, Short and +Long had grabbed the wrists of his two older and taller boy +friends and led them out of the crowd in a very mysterious +way.</p> + +<p>"Did you get a good look at that car?" he whispered to Chet +and Lance.</p> + +<p>"Of course I didn't," said the latter. "It went up the street +like the wind. Didn't it, Chet?"</p> + +<p>"That rascal was going some when he turned the corner of +Rapidan Street. I wonder he did not skid again and smash his car +to pieces against the hydrant. Served him right if he had," Chet +said.</p> + +<p>"There were no chains on his wheels," said Short and Long, in +the same mysterious way.</p> + +<p>"You said it," agreed Lance. "What then?"</p> + +<p>"There are not many cars in Centerport right now without +chains on. The streets have been icy for more than twenty-four +hours."</p> + +<p>"Your statement is irrefutable," said Chet, grinning.</p> + +<p>"Get it off your chest, Short and Long," begged Lance. "What +do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I mean," said the earnest lad, "that I know a car that was +out this afternoon without chains, and it was a seven-seater +Perriton car--just as this one that knocked down Chet's friend +was."</p> + +<p>"It was a Perriton, I believe," murmured Lance.</p> + +<p>But Chetwood Belding said: "I don't know whether that poor +fellow is a friend of mine or not. If I have to give Pa fifty +dollars--Whew!"</p> + +<p>"But the car?" urged Lance Darby. "Who has a Perriton car, +Short and Long?"</p> + +<p>"And without chains?" added Chet, waking up to the main +topic.</p> + +<p>"Come along, fellows," said the younger lad. "I won't tell +you. But I'll take you to where you can see the car I mean. If it +still is without chains on the wheels, and has just been +used--Well, we can talk about it then!"</p> + +<p>"All right," said Chet. "We can't do any good here. Here comes +the ambulance. That poor fellow is going to be in the hospital +for some time, I bet."</p> + +<p>There was such a crowd around the spot where the victim of the +accident lay that the boys could not see the Central High girls, +save Bobby Hargrew, who came running back from her father's store +just as the clanging of the ambulance gong warned the crowd that +the hospital had responded in its usual prompt fashion.</p> + +<p>The boys hailed the smaller girl and told her they were off to +hunt for the car that had knocked down the victim. Then the three +hurried away.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in the center of the crowd Laura Belding and Jess +Morse had been aiding the girl in the Red Cross uniform as best +they could to care for the man who was hurt. The latter had not +opened his eyes when the ambulance worked its way into the crowd +and halted beside the three girls on their knees in the +street.</p> + +<p>"What have you there?" asked the young doctor, who swung +himself off the rear of the truck.</p> + +<p>Laura and Jess told him. The third girl, the one who had done +the most for the unfortunate man, did not at first say a +word.</p> + +<p>The driver brought the rolled stretcher and blanket. He laid +it down beside the victim. When the doctor had finished his brief +notes he helped his aid lift the man to the stretcher. They +picked it up and shoved it carefully into the ambulance.</p> + +<p>"I know you, Miss Belding," said the doctor. "And this is Miss +Morse, isn't it? Do you mind giving me your name and address?" he +asked the third girl.</p> + +<p>Was there a moment's hesitation on the part of the Red Cross +girl? Laura thought there was; yet almost instantly the stranger +replied:</p> + +<p>"My name is Janet Steele."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Your address?" repeated the doctor.</p> + +<p>This time there was no doubt that the girl flushed, and more +than a few seconds passed before she made answer:</p> + +<p>"Thirty-seven Whiffle Street."</p> + +<p>At the same moment somebody exclaimed: "Here comes Fatty +Morehead, the cop. Better late than never," and a general laugh +went up from the crowd.</p> + +<p>Jess seized Laura's wrist, exclaiming: "Oh, Laura! he will +want to take down our names and addresses, too. Let's get +away."</p> + +<p>The Red Cross girl uttered an ejaculation of chagrin. She +began pushing her way out of the press, and in an opposite +direction from that in which the portly policeman was coming.</p> + +<p>Jess whispered swiftly in Laura's ear: "Come on! Let's follow +her! I'm awfully interested in that Red Cross girl, Laura!"</p> + +<p>"Why should you be?" asked her chum. "Although she looks like +a nice girl, I never saw her before."</p> + +<p>"Neither did I," said Jess. "But did you hear the address she +gave? That is the poor end of Whiffle Street, as you very well +know, and mother and I used to live right across the street from +that house. I did not know anybody lived in the old Eaton place. +It has been empty for a long, long time."</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapIII">CHAPTER III</h1> + +<h2 align="center">ODD!</h2> + +<p>Bobby Hargrew met Laura and Jess on the edge of the crowd, for +she had been unable to worm herself into the middle of it again, +and told them swiftly of the boys' departure to hunt for the car +that had done the damage.</p> + +<p>"And that's just like the boys!" exclaimed Jess Morse, with +some exasperation. "To run away and desert us!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know but I'm glad," said Laura. "I don't feel much +like shopping after seeing that poor man hurt."</p> + +<p>"Or skating, either," complained Jess.</p> + +<p>Presently the three overtook the strange girl. Bobby, whom +Chet had said was "just as friendly with strangers as a pup with +a waggy tail," immediately got into conversation with her.</p> + +<p>"Say! was he hurt badly?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I think his right leg was broken," the Red Cross girl +replied. "And his head was badly hurt. Your friends, here, could +see that."</p> + +<p>"He bled dreadfully," sighed Laura. "But you had the bandage +on so nicely that the doctor did not even disturb it, my +dear."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said the Red Cross girl. She hesitated on the +corner of the side street. "I fear I must leave you here. I am +going home."</p> + +<p>"Oh," cried Jess, who was enormously curious, "we can go your +way just as well as not, Miss Steele! We live at the other end of +Whiffle Street--up on the hill, you know."</p> + +<p>"All but me," put in Bobby. "But I can run right through +Laura's yard to my house."</p> + +<p>She indicated Laura as she spoke. The Red Cross girl looked at +Mother Wit with some expectancy. Jess came to the rescue.</p> + +<p>"Let's get acquainted," she said. "Why not? We'll never meet +again under more thrilling circumstances," and she laughed. "This +is Miss Laura Belding, Miss Steele. On your other hand is Miss +Hargrew--Miss Clara Hargrew. I am Josephine Morse. I used to live +across the street from the old Eaton place where you live +now."</p> + +<p>"You are a stranger in town, are you not?" Laura asked, taking +the new girl's hand.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Belding. We have only been here four weeks. But I +have worked in the Red Cross before--and one must do something, +you know."</p> + +<p>"Do something!" burst forth Bobby. "If you went to Central +High and had Gee Gee for one of your teachers, you'd have plenty +to do."</p> + +<p>"We are all three Central High girls," said Laura gently. +"Have you finished school, Miss Steele?"</p> + +<p>"I have not been able to attend school regularly for two +years," admitted the new girl. "I am afraid," and she smiled +apologetically, "that you are all much further advanced in your +education than I am. You see, my mother is an invalid and I must +give her a great deal of my time. It does not interfere, however, +with my doing a little for the Red Cross."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry your mother is ill," said Laura.</p> + +<p>"We were advised to come up here for her sake," said Janet +Steele hastily. "We have been living in a coast town. The doctors +thought an inland climate--a drier climate--would be +beneficial."</p> + +<p>"I hope it will prove so," said Laura.</p> + +<p>"It seems a shame you can't get out with the other girls," +Jess added.</p> + +<p>"And come to school and let Gee Gee get after you," joined in +Bobby grimly.</p> + +<p>"Is she such a very strict disciplinarian?" asked Miss Steele, +smiling down at the irrepressible one as they walked through the +side street toward Whiffle.</p> + +<p>"She's the limit," declared Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Laura mildly, "I think Miss Carrington is nowhere +near so strict as she used to be. Margit Salgo really has made +her quite human, you know."</p> + +<p>"Say!" grumbled Bobby, "she can hand out demerits just as easy +as ever. And she had her sense of humor extracted years ago."</p> + +<p>"Has that fault cropped up lately, my dear?" asked Laura, +laughing. "It must be so. What happened, Bobby?"</p> + +<p>The younger girl, who was a sophomore, whereas Laura and Jess +were juniors, came directly under Miss Carrington's attention in +several classes. Bobby was forever getting into trouble with the +strict teacher.</p> + +<p>"Why, look, now," said Bobby, warmly, "just what happened +yesterday! English class. You know, that's nuts for Gee Gee. I +was bothered enough, I can tell you, trying to correct a paper +she had handed back to me, and she kept right on talking and +asking questions, and the recitation period was almost ended. I +didn't want to hang around there to correct that paper--"</p> + +<p>"You know very well you should have taken it home to correct," +Laura put in.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't tell me that! I take so much extra work home as it +is, that Father Tom Hargrew asks me if I don't do anything at all +in school. And, anyway, I didn't think Gee Gee saw me. But, of +course, she did."</p> + +<p>"And then what?" Jess asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, she shot a question at me, and I didn't get it at first. +'Miss Hargrew! Pay attention!' she went on. Of course, that +brought me up standing. 'What is a pseudonym?' she wanted to +know. How silly! You know the trouble we've been having with that +car Father Tom bought. 'I don't know what it is, Miss +Carrington,' I told her. 'But if it is something that belongs to +an automobile, father will have to buy a new one pretty soon, I'm +sure.'"</p> + +<p>"And she docked you for that!" exclaimed Jess, as though +wildly amazed. "How cruel!"</p> + +<p>"Really, I am afraid we are sometimes cruel to our dear +teachers," laughed Laura. "But if they are too serious they are +such a temptation to us witty ones."</p> + +<p>"Now, don't be sarcastic, Mother Wit," said Jess, shaking her +chum a little by the elbow. "You know very well you enjoy nagging +the teachers a bit yourself, now and then. And Professor +Dimp!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! Oh!" gasped Bobby suddenly. "Did you hear the latest +about Old Dimple?"</p> + +<p>"Now, girls," said Laura, quite sternly, "I refuse to hear of +Professor Dimp being made a goose of."</p> + +<p>"Gander, dear! Gander!" exclaimed Jess, <i>sotto voce</i>.</p> + +<p>"He's an old dear," declared Laura, quite as earnestly. "We +found that out, I am sure, when we went camping on Acorn Island +last summer."</p> + +<p>"True! True!" admitted her chum.</p> + +<p>"Oh, nobody wants to hurt the old fellow," chuckled Bobby. +"But one day this week there was a bunch of the boys down at the +post-office, and Professor Dimp came in to mail a letter. You +know he is always reading on the street when he walks; never sees +anybody, and goes stumbling about blindly with a book under his +nose. He got into the revolving door and Short and Long declares +Old Dimple went around ten times before he knew enough to come +out--and then he was on the street again and had failed to mail +the letter."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bobby!" cried Jess, while Miss Steele was quite convulsed +by the statement.</p> + +<p>"He's so absent-minded," said Laura sympathetically. "Why +didn't Short and Long tell him he was in the revolving door?"</p> + +<p>"Humph!" chuckled Bobby, "I guess Short thought the old fellow +needed the exercise."</p> + +<p>Just then the girls came to the corner of Whiffle Street The +street was narrow and crooked in an elbow here. The houses were +mostly small, and were out of repair. It was, indeed, the poor +end of Whiffle Street. On the hill end were some of the best +residences in Centerport.</p> + +<p>"There's the Eaton place across the street," said Jess +briskly. "I see there is a light, Miss Steele."</p> + +<p>"That is mother's room on the first floor--right off the +piazza. You know, we could not begin to use all the house," the +girl added frankly. "There are only mother and I and Aunt +Jinny."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Your aunt?" asked Jess.</p> + +<p>"She is mother's old nurse. She has come with us--to help do +the housework, you know," Miss Steele said frankly, yet again +flushing a little. "I--I guess I have never lived just as you +girls do. We have moved around a great deal. I have got such +education as I have by fits and starts, you see. I suppose you +three girls have a perfectly delightful time at your Central +High?"</p> + +<p>"Especially when Gee Gee gets after us with a sharp stick," +grumbled Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Don't mind Bobby," said Laura, laughing. "She is dreadfully +slangy, and sometimes quite impossible. We do have fine times at +Central High. Especially in our games and athletic work."</p> + +<p>"Miss Steele must be sure and come to our Ice Carnival next +week," said Jess.</p> + +<p>"'Ice Carnival'?" cried the Red Cross girl. "And I just love +to skate!"</p> + +<p>There came a sudden tapping on the window of the lighted room +in the old Eaton house. The girls had crossed the street and were +standing at the gate. Janet Steele wheeled quickly and waved her +hand. A sitting figure was dimly outlined at the long, French +window.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" Janet said. "Mother wants us to come in. She doesn't see +many people--and she enjoys young folk. Won't you come in? It +will be a pleasure for us both."</p> + +<p>Jess and Bobby looked at Laura. They allowed Mother Wit to +decide the question, and she was but a few seconds in doing +so.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course! It's not late," she said. "We shall stay but +a minute this time, Miss Steele."</p> + +<p>"Call me Janet," whispered the Red Cross girl, squeezing +Laura's arm as they went through the sagging gate.</p> + +<p>The quartette climbed the steep steps to the piazza. That the +Eaton house was in bad repair was proved by the broken boards in +steps and piazza floor and the dilapidated condition of the +railing. Even the lock of the front door was broken. Janet turned +the knob and ushered them into the dimly-lit hall.</p> + +<p>This was neatly if sparsely furnished. And everything seemed +scrupulously clean. Their young hostess opened the door into her +mother's room, which was that originally intended for the +parlor.</p> + +<p>The eager and curious girls of Central High saw first of all +the figure of the woman in the wheel chair by the window. She had +pulled down the shade now and dropped the curtains into place. +The whole room was warm and well lighted. There was a gas +chandelier lighted to the full and an open grate heaped with red +coals. There was a good rug, comfortable chairs, and a canopied +bed set in a corner. A tea-table with furnishings was drawn up +near the fireplace. If one was obliged to spend one's time in a +single room, this apartment seemed amply furnished for such a +condition.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Steele herself was no wan and hopeless-looking invalid. +She was as buxom as Janet, and Janet was as well built a girl, +even, as Laura Belding. The invalid had shrunken none in body or +limbs. She owned, too, a very attractive smile, and she held out +both hands to greet her young visitors.</p> + +<p>"I am delighted!" she said in a strong, quick voice, which +matched her smile and bright glance perfectly. "Why, Janey, you +may go out every evening, if you will only bring back with you +such a bevy of fresh, sweet faces. Introduce me--do!"</p> + +<p>The introductions were made amid considerable gaiety. Mother +Wit took the lead in telling Mrs. Steele who they were. Later +Janet related the accident on Market Street, which had led to her +acquaintance with the three girls of Central High.</p> + +<p>Laura's keen eyes were not alone fixed upon Mrs. Steele while +they talked. She took into consideration everything in the house. +There was no mark of poverty; yet the Steeles lived in a house in +a poor neighborhood and one that was positively out of repair, +and they occupied only a small part of it.</p> + +<p>When the three girls came out again and Janet had gone in and +closed the door, Laura was in a brown study.</p> + +<p>"Wake up, Mother Wit!" commanded Jess. "What do you think of +the Steeles--and all?"</p> + +<p>All Laura Belding could say in comment, was:</p> + +<p>"Odd!"</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapIV">CHAPTER IV</h1> + +<h2 align="center">THE MYSTERY MAN</h2> + +<p>The three boys who had set off to find the car that had +knocked down the stranger on the icy street were as mysterious +the next day as they could be. At least, so their girl friends +declared.</p> + +<p>Being Sunday, there was no general gathering of the Central +High girls and boys, but Laura, naturally, saw her brother early. +He was coming from his shower in bathrobe and slippers when Laura +looked out of her own door.</p> + +<p>"What sort of fox-and-goose chase did Short and Long take you +and Lance away on?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know that he was altogether foolish," said Chet +doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Then did you really find some trace of the car?" cried Laura, +eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Well, we found a car. Yes."</p> + +<p>"'Goodness to gracious!' as poor Lizzie Bean says. You are +noncommunicative, Chetwood Belding. What do you mean--you found a +car?"</p> + +<p>"Laura," said her brother, "I don't know--nor does Lance, or +Short and Long--whether the fellow we suspect had anything to do +with that accident or not."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"And we don't want to get him in wrong."</p> + +<p>"Who is it?" demanded his sister, bluntly.</p> + +<p>"No. We won't tell anybody who it is we suspect until we make +further investigations."</p> + +<p>"I declare, you are as mysterious as a regular detective! And +suppose the police do make inquiries?"</p> + +<p>"They will, of course,"</p> + +<p>"And what will you boys tell them?"</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" returned Chet, going on to his room to dress, "they +won't ask us because they don't know we know anything about +it."</p> + +<p>"I guess you don't know much!" shouted Laura after him before +he closed his door.</p> + +<p>It was the same when Jess Morse met Lance Darby on the way to +Sunday School.</p> + +<p>"Ho, Launcelot!" she cried. "Tell us all the news--that is a +good child. Who was that awful person who ran down the man last +night? I hear from Dr. Agnew that they had to patch the poor +victim up a good deal at the hospital. Did you boys find the +guilty party?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that we did," said Darby. "You see, nobody +seemed to see the license number of the automobile."</p> + +<p>"But didn't Short and Long have suspicions?"</p> + +<p>"Well, what are suspicions?" demanded the boy. "We all agreed +to say nothing about it unless we have proof. And we haven't any +proof--as yet."</p> + +<p>"Why, I believe you are 'holding out' on your friends, Lance," +declared Jess, in surprise. "For shame!"</p> + +<p>"Aw, ask Chet--if you must know!" exclaimed Lance, hurrying +away.</p> + +<p>As it chanced it was Bobby Hargrew who attempted to play +inquisitor with Short and Long, meeting the boy with the youngest +Long, Tommy, on the slippery hill of Nugent Street Tommy was so +bundled up in a "Teddy Bear" costume that he could scarcely +trudge along, and he held tightly to his brother's hand.</p> + +<p>"For goodness' sake!" exclaimed Bobby, when she saw Tommy +slipping all over the icy sidewalk, "what is the matter with that +boy?"</p> + +<p>"He hasn't got his sea-legs on," grinned Short and Long.</p> + +<p>"You mean to tell me he is nearly five years old and can walk +no better than <i>that?</i>" exclaimed Bobby teasingly. "Why, we +have a little dog at home that isn't even a year old yet, and he +can ran right over this ice. He can walk twice as good as Tommy +does."</p> + +<p>"Hoh!" exclaimed that youngster defensively. "That dog's got +twice as many legs as I have."</p> + +<p>"Right you are, Kid!" chuckled his brother. "He got you there, +Clara."</p> + +<p>"And did you boys get that man who ran the poor fellow down on +Market Street last night?" demanded Bobby, with interest. "Did +you have him arrested?"</p> + +<p>"No. What do you suppose? We're not going around snitching to +the police," growled Short and Long.</p> + +<p>"But if that man at the hospital is seriously hurt----"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we're not sure it's the right car," said the boy, and +evidently did not wish to talk about it.</p> + +<p>"Billy Long!" exclaimed the girl. "Are you boys trying to +defend the guilty person?"</p> + +<p>"Aw----"</p> + +<p>"Suppose that man at the hospital dies?"</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! He wasn't hurt as bad as all that."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?"</p> + +<p>"Because I've been to the hospital to find out He's got a +broken leg and a broken head----"</p> + +<p>"Is he conscious yet?" demanded Bobby Hargrew quickly.</p> + +<p>"No-o. They say he doesn't know anybody--and nobody knows who +he is."</p> + +<p>"Now you see!" cried the girl "Maybe he will die! And you boys +will let the man who did it get away."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he won't get away," grumbled Short and Long. "We know +where to find him when we want to."</p> + +<p>"You'd better let the police know where to find him," said +Bobby tartly.</p> + +<p>"You're not the police, Bobby Hargrew!" returned Short and +Long, grinning and going on with Tommy.</p> + +<p>The girls, of course, got together and compared notes and +decided that the boys were "real mean, so now!" To pay Chet and +Lance and Billy Long for being so secretive about the person they +suspected of having caused the injury to the stranger Saturday +evening, the three girls went alone that Sunday afternoon to the +hospital to inquire after the injured man.</p> + +<p>And there they met Janet Steele again. The Red Cross girl had +been making inquiries, too, about the same case.</p> + +<p>"It really is a very serious matter," Janet said to her new +friends. "The man who knocked him down should be found. Although +the doctors think he has no internal injuries after all, there is +a compound fracture which will keep him in bed for a long time, +and in addition he seems unable to give any satisfactory +explanation of who he is or where he comes from."</p> + +<p>"Goodness!" exclaimed Jess Morse. "Do you mean he has lost his +mind?"</p> + +<p>"Merely mislaid it," said Janet with a smile. "Or, at least, +he cannot remember his name and address."</p> + +<p>"Didn't he have any papers about him that explain those +points?" asked Laura.</p> + +<p>"That seems to be odd, too," said Janet "No. Not a mark on his +clothing, either. But he was plentifully supplied with money, and +all the bills were brand new."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Laura. "That reminds me. That funny bill he +passed on Chet was brand new, too. I wonder if all his money is +queer?"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Janet, wonderingly. "Is the man a +criminal, do you think?"</p> + +<p>Laura and Jess explained about the peculiarly printed bill, +which had given the first named so much trouble in making up her +father's accounts the evening before.</p> + +<p>"But that may be all explained in time," said Janet.</p> + +<p>"All right," grumbled Bobby Hargrew. "But suppose poor Chet +has to lose fifty dollars?"</p> + +<p>"Father is going to take the bill to the bank to-morrow to see +if they can explain the mystery," Laura said.</p> + +<p>"But that will not explain the mystery of the stranger." said +Jess. "Why, he is a regular 'man of mystery,' isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Humph!" said Bobby. "And so is the fellow the boys think ran +him down. He is a man of mystery as well."</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapV">CHAPTER V</h1> + +<h2 align="center">SAND IN THE GEARS</h2> + +<p>Since the whole school had taken such a tremendous interest in +"the profession" at the time Central High blossomed forth in Jess +Morse's play, the M.O.R.s had given several playlets, and Mrs. +Case, the physical instructor, had staged folk dances and +tableaux in the big hall.</p> + +<p>For the Red Cross the association of girls connected with the +Girls Branch Athletic League that had carried forward these +smaller affairs, had determined to stage "a real play." Nellie +Agnew, the doctor's daughter, and secretary of the club, had sent +to a publisher for copies of plays that could be put on by +amateurs, and interest in the affair waxed high already.</p> + +<p>The principal point of decision was the identity of the play +they were to produce. Mr. Sharp and the other members of the +school faculty had agreed to let the girls act, and the big hall, +or auditorium, could be used for the production. At noon on +Monday the girls interested in the performance met in the +principals office to decide upon the play.</p> + +<p>"And of course," grumbled Bobby Hargrew to the Lockwood twins, +Dora and Dorothy, "all the teachers have got to come and +interfere. We can't do a sol-i-ta-ry thing without Gee Gee, or +Miss Black, or some of them, poking their noses into it."</p> + +<p>"You can't say that Professor Dimp pokes his nose into our +affairs," laughed Dora.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," said her twin. "Outside of his Latin and physics +he doesn't seem to have a single idea."</p> + +<p>"Doesn't he?" scoffed Bobby. "The boys say he's gone into the +dressmaking business, or something."</p> + +<p>"What is that?" asked Dora, smiling. "What do they mean?"</p> + +<p>"Why, the professor's niece is living with him now. He is not +much used to having a woman in his sitting-room, I guess. She +sits and sews with him in the evening while he reads or corrects +our futile work," said Bobby, grinning.</p> + +<p>"The other night Ellie Lingard--that's his niece--lost her +scissors and she said they hunted all over the room for them. The +next morning in one of the physics classes the professor opened +his book, and there were the lost scissors, which he had tucked +into it for a bookmark while he helped Ellie Lingard hunt for her +lost property."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh!" laughed the twins.</p> + +<p>"The worst of it was," continued Bobby, with an elfish grin, +"Old Dimple grabbed them up and said right out loud: 'Oh, here +they are, Ellie!' The boys just hooted, and poor Old Dimp was as +mad as a hatter."</p> + +<p>"The poor old man," said Dorothy commiseratingly.</p> + +<p>It was a fact that, although Professor Dimp did not interfere +in this play business, most of the other teachers desired to have +their opinions considered. The girls would not have minded Mr. +Sharp. Indeed, they courted his advice. But when Miss Grace Gee +Carrington stood up to speak, some of them audibly groaned.</p> + +<p>Miss Carrington was Mr. Sharp's assistant and almost in +complete control of the girls of the school. At least, the girls +came in contact with her much more than they did with Mr. Sharp +himself.</p> + +<p>She was a very stiff and precise woman, with an acrid temper +and a sharp tongue. She had been teaching unruly girls for so +many years that she was to a degree quite soured upon the +world--especially that world of school which she had so much to +do with.</p> + +<p>Of late, however, Miss Carrington had become interested "quite +in a human way," her girls said, in a person who had first +appeared to the ken of the girls of Central High as a Gypsy girl. +Margit Salgo's father, a Hungarian Gypsy musician, had married +Miss Carrington's sister, much against the desire of Miss Grace +Gee Carrington herself. When the orphaned Margit found her way to +Centerport she made such an impression upon her aunt's heart that +the latter finally took the girl into her own home and adopted +her as "Margaret Carrington."</p> + +<p>That, however, could not change Miss Carrington's nature. She +was severe and (in the opinion of fly-away Bobby Hargrew) she was +much inclined to interfere in the girls' affairs. On this +occasion the girls were not disappointed when Miss Carrington +"said her little say."</p> + +<p>"I approve of any acceptable attempt to raise funds for such a +worthy object as this we have in mind," said Miss Carrington. "An +exhibition which will interest the school in general and our +parents and friends likewise, meets, I am sure, with the approval +of us all. Some of our young ladies, I feel quite sure, show some +talent for playing, and much interest therein. Without meaning to +pun, I would add that I wish they showed as great talent for work +as for play."</p> + +<p>"She could not help giving us that dig, if she were to be +martyred for it," Nellie Agnew whispered to Laura.</p> + +<p>"Sh! She'll see your lips move," warned Dora Lockwood, on the +other side of the doctor's daughter. "I believe she has learned +lip reading."</p> + +<p>Miss Carrington went on quite calmly: "The first +consideration, however, it seems to me, is the selection of the +play. I should not wish to see the standard of Central High +lowered by the acting of a play that would cater only to the +amusement-loving crowd. It should be educational. We should +achieve in a small way what the Greek players tried to teach--a +love of beauty, of form, of some great truth that can be +inculcated in this way on the public mind."</p> + +<p>"But, Miss Carrington!" cried Bess Yeager, one of the seniors, +almost interrupting the staid teacher, "we want to make money for +the Red Cross. We could not get a room full with a Greek +play."</p> + +<p>"I beg Miss Yeager's pardon," said Miss Carrington stiffly. +"We have our standard of education to uphold first of all."</p> + +<p>"I hope you will excuse me, Miss Carrington," said Laura, +likewise rising to object. "Our first object is to give the +people something that will amuse them so that they will crowd the +auditorium. Otherwise our object will not have been achieved. +This is a purely money-making scheme," added the jeweler's +daughter with her low, sweet laugh.</p> + +<p>"I am amazed to hear you say so!" exclaimed the instructor, +quick for argument at any time. "Have you young ladies no higher +desire than to make the rabble laugh?"</p> + +<p>"I want you to know," muttered Jess Morse, "that my mother is +coming, and she isn't 'rabble.'"</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was fortunate that Miss Carrington did not hear +this comment. But she could not fail to hear some of the others +made by the girls. There was earnest protest in all parts of the +room. Mr. Sharp brought them to order.</p> + +<p>"Miss Carrington has, under ordinary circumstances, made an +excellent point, and I want you all to notice it," said the +principal. "We are an educational institution here on the hill. +If we were giving a class play, or anything like that, I should +vote for Miss Carrington's idea. At such a time something +primarily educational should be in order.</p> + +<p>"But as I understand it, you young ladies are going to act for +the benefit of the Red Cross fund, and what will benefit that +fund the most is the drawing together of a well-paying crowd to +see you act.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid we shall have to set aside our own desires, Miss +Carrington," he continued, smiling at his assistant. "We must let +the actors choose their own play--as long as it is a proper +one--and abide for once by the decision of those of our friends +who wish to be amused rather than educated."</p> + +<p>"He's half backing her up!" complained Dora.</p> + +<p>"Well, he has to pour oil on the troubled waters," whispered +Laura.</p> + +<p>"Huh!" grumbled Bobby Hargrew. "But Gee Gee is determined to +throw sand in the gears, not oil on the waters. She always +does."</p> + +<p>Really, Miss Carrington seemed in an interfering mood that +day. Nellie had a collection of plays from which they were +supposed to choose that very session the one to be acted. There +was but brief time to learn the parts and the acting directions. +But Mr. Mann, who had directed them in other plays, said he +thought he would be able to whip the girls into shape for a +performance in two weeks. Although they were amateurs, they had +all had some experience.</p> + +<p>When the girls themselves got a chance to talk it was shown +that their desires were all for a parlor comedy with bright +lines, some farcical turns to the plot, but a play of sufficient +weight to gain the approval of sober-minded people. It was, +however, far from being classic.</p> + +<p>"Such a play is preposterous!" ejaculated Miss Carrington, +breaking out again. "Don't you think so yourself, Mr. Sharp?"</p> + +<p>The principal had the book in his hand and was skimming +through some of the dialogue. If the truth was told he was on a +broad grin.</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that, Miss Carrington. It--it is really +very funny."</p> + +<p>"'Funny!'" gasped his assistant, with all the emphasis she +dared show in the presence of the principal. "As though to make +fun should be our target!"</p> + +<p>"What would you like to have us play?" asked Bobby, daringly. +"Julius Caesar? If we do, I want to play old Julius. He dies in +the first act. The rest of us would be killed lingeringly by the +audience, I know, before the last."</p> + +<p>"Miss Hargrew!" snapped the teacher. Then she remembered that +this was not a recitation and she could not easily punish the +girl. She shook her head and looked offended during the remainder +of the discussion.</p> + +<p>"But you know very well," snapped Lily Pendleton, a rather +overdressed girl, as they all crowded out of the schoolhouse +after the meeting, "that Gee Gee will do her wickedest to spoil +it all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" cried Laura. "Not when it is for the Red Cross!"</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't matter what the object was," said Jess morosely. +"She always does try to crab the game."</p> + +<p>"Goodness, Josephine!" gasped her chum, "you are positively as +slangy as Chet."</p> + +<p>"I guess I catch it from him," admitted Jess Morse. "And she +is a crab!"</p> + +<p>"Now girls!" called Nellie, a regular Martha for trouble at +the present moment. "Now girls, remember the 'sides' will be here +day after tomorrow, and Mr. Mann will look us over and give out +the parts that afternoon in the small hall. Nobody must be +absent. We want this show to be the biggest success that ever +was."</p> + +<p>"It won't be if Gee Gee can help it," growled Bobby Hargrew, +shaking her curls.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapVI">CHAPTER VI</h1> + +<h2 align="center">THE BANK-NOTE</h2> + +<p>"There's one sure thing about it," Lance Darby said to Laura +when she told him of the way in which Miss Carrington had tried +to interfere with the girls' choice of the play, "she cannot butt +into the Ice Carnival arrangements. Nobody but your Mrs. Case and +our Mr. Haskins has anything to say about the Carnival +Committee's arrangements."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Indeed?" laughed Laura. "There you are mistaken about the +far-reaching influence of our Miss Carrington."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"You forget that our share of the Carnival is under the +jurisdiction of the Girls Branch League, and in the constitution +and by-laws of that association it is stated that none of us +girls can take part in any exhibition without the consent of our +teachers, and without, indeed, having a certain standing in all +branches of study. Miss Carrington can get her word in right +there."</p> + +<p>"Wow, wow! That's so, I presume," admitted Lance.</p> + +<p>"But we have gone so far now," said Laura complacently, "that +I don't think even Bobby will be refused permission to join in +the festivities--and Bobby is a splendid little skater, +Lance."</p> + +<p>"Bobby is all right," agreed the youth. "But here comes old +Chet--and his face is as long as the moral law. He is still +worried about that fifty dollars he may have to dig down into his +jeans for--if your father sticks to what he said he'd do."</p> + +<p>Chetwood had a cheerful word, however, despite his serious +aspect.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen the ice, Lance?" he demanded, brightening +up.</p> + +<p>"Not to-day, old boy."</p> + +<p>"It's scrumptious--just!" exclaimed the big fellow. "They have +been shaving it, and have got it all roped off."</p> + +<p>"Better have somebody watch it, too, or the kids from downtown +will get in there and cut it all up. Just like 'em," growled +Lance.</p> + +<p>"Don't fret. Old Godey is on guard. Trust him to keep the kids +off the track," said Chet. "Is father at home, Laura?"</p> + +<p>"He's just come in," said his sister. "Has he found out about +that bank-note yet?"</p> + +<p>"That is what I wanted to know," said the worried Chet. "I've +been over to the hospital this afternoon--before I went down to +the lake shore. That, chap who was hurt is off his nanny----"</p> + +<p>"Chet! Don't let mother hear you," begged Laura, yet +laughing.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't want the mater to be shocked," admitted Chet. "But +that is exactly what is the trouble with that man who gave me the +phony bill. The doctor told me the crack he got on the head had +injured his brain."</p> + +<p>"The poor man!" sighed his sister.</p> + +<p>"What about 'poor me'?" demanded Chet indignantly. "And they +say he carried a roll of brand new bills big enough to choke a +cow! The doctor says he thinks the money is good, too. But he +passed that hundred-dollar note on me----"</p> + +<p>"If it is a hundred," interjected Lance.</p> + +<p>"Now you said a forkful," grumbled Chet, shaking his head. +"Let's go in and see what father has to say about it. He was +going to see Mr. Monroe at the First National. They say Mr. +Monroe knows all about money--knew the fellow who invented it, +personally, I guess."</p> + +<p>The young folks found Mr. Belding in the library, and he +welcomed them with his customary smile when the three came +in.</p> + +<p>"The bank-note?" he repeated. "I left it for Mr. Monroe to +look at. He was out of town. But he will tell me when he +returns--if he knows about it. It is a curious thing. And I hope +it will teach you a lesson, Chetwood."</p> + +<p>"Sure!" grumbled Chet, "Of course, there is nothing so +important in this world as learning lessons. Little thing about +me being nicked fifty dollars isn't considered."</p> + +<p>His father laughed at his rueful countenance. "Well, Son, I +can't offer you much sympathy. Perhaps the Treasury Department +will make it right. And how about that man who gave it to you? He +can't get far with a broken leg."</p> + +<p>"He's gone far enough already," declared Chet. "They say he +has lost his memory."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" cried Mr. Belding.</p> + +<p>"Looks fishy, doesn't it?" said Lance. "Lots of folks who owe +money lose their memories."</p> + +<p>"No," said Chet, shaking his head. "This chap really got a +hard bang on the head, and the doctors say he may never remember +who he is."</p> + +<p>"Lost his identity?" demanded Mr. Belding.</p> + +<p>"Completely. At least, he doesn't know his name or where he +came from. He remembers a part of his life, they say, for he +seems to think he has been in Alaska. Asked the nurse, in fact, +how long Sitka had had such a hospital as this. Thought he was in +Sitka, you see."</p> + +<p>"Why, isn't it strange?" Laura said. "The poor fellow!"</p> + +<p>"He's not poor, I tell you," said the literal Chet.</p> + +<p>"He's got a lot of money. But not a card, or a mark about +him--not even on his clothes--to tell who he is."</p> + +<p>"How about his hat?" questioned Lance. "And his suit? The +labels, I mean."</p> + +<p>"The hat was brand new," said Chet, "and was bought right here +in Centerport. Oh, the hospital folks have been trying through +the police to find out something about him. Nothing doing, they +say."</p> + +<p>"Why," said Mr. Belding thoughtfully, "there must be some way +of discovering who the unfortunate is, even if he cannot remember +himself."</p> + +<p>"Who do you mean, Pa, by 'the unfortunate'?" demanded his son. +"I should think I was the unfortunate. Especially if that +bank-note is phony."</p> + +<p>"But you did not get a broken leg--and a broken head--out of +it," his father said dryly.</p> + +<p>"That's all right," muttered Chet "But I am likely to have a +broken pocketbook, all right all right!"</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapVII">CHAPTER VII</h1> + +<h2 align="center">SOMETHING EXCITING</h2> + +<p>Mr. Belding was not unmindful of his son's anxiety regarding +the odd bank-note that Chet had taken over the counter in the +jewelry store. Besides, Laura sat herself upon the arm of his big +Morris chair after dinner that Monday evening, and said:</p> + +<p>"You know, dear Pa, Chet is a pretty good boy. And fifty +dollars is much more money than he can afford to lose--all in one +bunch."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" said her father indignantly. "And how about me? With +my expensive family, do you think I can afford to lose fifty +dollars? And the boy is careless."</p> + +<p>"I deny it," said Laura briskly.</p> + +<p>"Chet! not careless?"</p> + +<p>"Only thoughtless."</p> + +<p>"What is the difference?"</p> + +<p>"Academic, or moral?" demanded Mother Wit, looking at him +slyly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, it doesn't pay to split hairs with you," declared +her father, pinching a warm cheek until it was rosier than ever. +"But what's the big idea, as Chet himself would say?"</p> + +<p>"Why, now, Pa Belding----"</p> + +<p>"Out with it! What do you want me to do?"</p> + +<p>"I--I thought if you'd make Chet pay only half of the fifty +dollars, that perhaps you lost----"</p> + +<p>"Well?" he growled, in apparent indignation still.</p> + +<p>"Why, I would pay the other twenty-five!" burst out Laura +hurriedly. "Only you must promise not to tell Chet."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? To pay half his fine?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you don't need to halloo so about it, Pa dear," she +pouted.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't let you!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes you would. You know it is going to be awfully hard on +Chet to take that money out of the bank to pay you."</p> + +<p>"There, there!" said Mr. Belding gruffly. "We won't talk about +it--yet. Perhaps we'll find the bank-note is all right."</p> + +<p>But he said afterward to his wife that evening: "What are we +going to do with such children, Mother? You can't punish one +without hurting the other right to the quick."</p> + +<p>"We have been blessed in our children, Henry," said Mrs. +Belding proudly. "And--really--Chet should not be too much +blamed."</p> + +<p>"There, there!" exclaimed her husband in a disgusted tone of +voice. "You're every whit as bad as Laura."</p> + +<p>Mr. Monroe did not return to the bank for several days; and +meanwhile other important and interesting things were happening. +The three boys who seemed to have secret knowledge about the +accident on Market Street refused to answer the questions of +their girl friends as to the identity of the car that had run the +victim down.</p> + +<p>"You are just the meanest boys!" flared out Bobby Hargrew, as +they all trooped down to Lake Luna to take almost the last look +at the roped-off arena before the carnival would twinkle its +lights that evening at six o'clock.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Bobby," drawled Chet. "I believe we really +could be meaner if we tried."</p> + +<p>"No you couldn't!" snapped Clara Hargrew with finality.</p> + +<p>"Oh, girls!" gasped Laura suddenly, "tell me what this is +coming up the hill? Or am I seeing something that you folks +don't?"</p> + +<p>"Gee!" exclaimed the slangy Bobby, forgetting her indignation +with Chet and the other boys. "Is it? Can it be?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty Sweet!" ejaculated Jess, beginning to laugh. "And he +is in his forest green hunting suit. <i>I</i> call it his 'Robin +Ridinghood' suit."</p> + +<p>"It just matches him, all right," said Lance. "He's verdant +green and so is the suit. And look how he is carrying that gun, +will you?"</p> + +<p>The gun was in its case, but the boy in question was carrying +the shotgun in a most awkward manner. Without a doubt he was half +afraid of it.</p> + +<p>"And I bet he hasn't had a charge in it all the time he's been +out. Who did he go with?" asked Chet.</p> + +<p>"Some of the East Siders. They cater to him a lot, and you +know," said Lance, with disgust, "tight as Purt is with money, if +you flatter him you can pull his leg."</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" murmured Laura, "it is not in your province to use +such slang, Lance. Leave that to Chet and Bobby."</p> + +<p>"Hey, Pretty!" Chet shouted to the very dandified lad, as he +crossed the street toward them. "What luck, old top?"</p> + +<p>Although when they had first seen him, Prettyman Sweet was +undoubtedly footsore, he began to strut now and pride "fairly +exuded from his countenance," as Jess whispered to her chum.</p> + +<p>"Did you get any cottontails?" demanded Lance.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a few--a few, muh boy," declared Pretty Sweet airily.</p> + +<p>Then they saw that he had a game bag slung over his shoulder +in true sportsman style.</p> + +<p>"I did not suppose you would go out to shoot the poor, +innocent little rabbits, Mr. Sweet," said Laura, with sober face +but dancing eyes. "They have never done you any harm."</p> + +<p>"I bet a real bad rabbit would make Purt run," muttered +Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Belding!" said the school dandy. "You know I'm +awf'ly keen on sport--awf'ly keen, doncher know. I just +<i>have</i> to get a day now and then in the woods, when game is +in season."</p> + +<p>"He's as keen on it as the two Irishmen were, who went hunting +for the first time," broke in Bobby. "When they sighted a bird +sitting on a bush Meehan took very careful aim and prepared to +fire. Said his friend, grabbing him by the arm:</p> + +<p>"'Don't fire, Meehan! Shure an' yez haven't loaded yer +gun.'</p> + +<p>"'That's as it may be, me lad,' retorted Meehan, 'but fire I +must. The bur-rd won't wait!'"</p> + +<p>Prettyman Sweet was used to being laughed at, yet he flushed +at the gibe.</p> + +<p>"Never mind," he said. "I bring home the game, just the +same."</p> + +<p>"You 'bring home the bacon,' in other words," said Chet, +approaching him. "Let's see the bunnies?"</p> + +<p>Nothing loath, the overdressed boy opened the bag and +displayed his plunder. He brought two big hares out of the bag by +their ears and held them up with pride.</p> + +<p>"Bet they were trapped," said Bobby in an undertone.</p> + +<p>"They were not trapped!" cried Purt Sweet sharply. "See! That +is where one was shot! And there is the other--see?"</p> + +<p>"Jinks!" said Lance. "Both through the head. <i>You</i> never +did it, Purt?"</p> + +<p>"I did so!" cried the huntsman angrily. "I shot them +both."</p> + +<p>Chet was looking them over closely. He shook his head.</p> + +<p>"They have been shot all right," he said. "And you shot them +over there on Cavern Island?"</p> + +<p>"I can prove it," said Purt haughtily.</p> + +<p>"That's all right," said Chet thoughtfully. "You may have shot +them--and on Cavern Island. But whose rabbits were they before +you bought them?"</p> + +<p>"What? I--Oh!"</p> + +<p>Bobby and Jess began to giggle. Chet grinned as he added:</p> + +<p>"Those are Belgian hares, not rabbits, Pretty. Somebody has +put something over on you. Belgian hares don't run wild in the +woods of Cavern Island--that is sure."</p> + +<p>"Bet he shot them hanging up on a fence," snapped Short and +Long, who thus far had said never a word to Prettyman Sweet.</p> + +<p>"And I know the market to-day is full of Belgian hares," +chuckled Chet. "Oh, Purt! you never could pull off anything like +that on us in a hundred years."</p> + +<p>"I don't care--I--I--"</p> + +<p>The angry Purt snatched up his game bag and marched away.</p> + +<p>"That he's been caught in the trick puts a crimp in him," +chuckled Chet Belding.</p> + +<p>"And that isn't all that ought to happen to him," muttered +Short and Long, who seemed to have become suddenly very bitter +against the dandified Sweet.</p> + +<p>"Can it, Billy, can it," advised Lance. "Give a calf rope +enough and he will hang himself."</p> + +<p>"And maybe that fellow ought to be hung," was Short and Long's +further comment.</p> + +<p>"Why, Billy!" exclaimed Laura, "what ever do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Short and Long," said Jess. "Why the 'orrid hobservation +about poor Purt?"</p> + +<p>Perhaps Billy Long would have blurted out something, had not +another incident taken place which so excited all the young +people that they forgot Purt Sweet and his foibles.</p> + +<p>The group had reached Lakeside Avenue, which overlooked many +shore estates and some private docks. This was the residential +end of Centerport, and the vicinity in summer was lovely. Now the +outlook on Lake Luna's sparkling surface--frozen in a sheen of +ice to the shore of Cavern Island in the middle of the lake--was +wonderfully attractive.</p> + +<p>At the foot of Nugent Street, which they now reached, the +girls and boys from Central High heard suddenly a great shouting +and peals of laughter from up the hill. Some snow still lay on +the side of Nugent Street; and the hill was a glare of ice. Down +the steep descent were coming three or four heavy sleds loaded +with young folks. Many of them were girls and boys of Central +High.</p> + +<p>"Some coasting!" exclaimed Chet. "I had no idea it was so +good. We ought to get our bob out, Lance."</p> + +<p>"Oh, see, Laura!" murmured Jess. "There comes Janet Steele. +She must have been canvassing for Red Cross members away over +here. I wish we had time to do some of that work."</p> + +<p>The Red Cross girl appeared from around a turn in the avenue, +and the instant she spied her new friends she waved her gloved +hand.</p> + +<p>"Is that the girl who gave first-aid to the man on Market +Street Saturday night?" asked Chet.</p> + +<p>"Some little queen, isn't she?" rejoined Lance, with twinkling +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Laura placidly, "you needn't think that you can get +us girls jealous about Janet Steele. She is an awfully sweet +girl."</p> + +<p>"And she isn't little at all," put in Jess, tossing her head. +"She is as husky as Eve Sitz."</p> + +<p>Before they could say more, or further hail the Red Cross +girl, there was a crash and terrific rattling around the turn of +the avenue. The next instant a horse appeared, madly galloping +along the roadway, and drawing the shattered remains of a grocery +wagon after him.</p> + +<p>The maddened beast would, so it seemed, cross the foot of +Nugent Street just as the bobsleds shot down to that point. +Across the avenue was a steep bank against which the sleds were +easily halted. But they could not be stopped before they crossed +Lakeside Avenue!</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapVIII">CHAPTER VIII</h1> + +<h2 align="center">THE FOREFRONT OF TROUBLE</h2> + +<p>The three boys drew Laura and her girl friends into the +gateway of a residence that faced the lake. The Red Cross girl +was on the other side of Nugent Street, and the runaway horse was +coming along the avenue behind her.</p> + +<p>Chet would have leaped away to her assistance had not Jess +grabbed him by the arm and screamed. The sleds were almost at the +crossing, and surely Chet Belding would have been knocked +down.</p> + +<p>Janet Steele proved to be perfectly able to look out for +herself. And on this occasion she could even do more than +that.</p> + +<p>She whirled and saw the horse coming with the wrecked wagon. +She could not see up the hill of Nugent Street, for the corner +house barred her vision in that direction. But without doubt she +had heard the eager shouts of the coasters and understood what +was ahead of them.</p> + +<p>The runaway would cross the foot of the hill just in time, +perhaps, to collide with one or more of the bobsleds.</p> + +<p>Almost opposite the foot of Nugent Street and right beside the +steep bank against which the coasters had been wont to stop their +sleds, was a narrow lane pitching toward the lakeshore. This lane +was near Janet Steele.</p> + +<p>Chet saw it and realized how the horse might be turned. But +the boy was too far away. Even as he shook off Jess Morse's +frenzied hold on his arm, the runaway was upon Janet Steele.</p> + +<p>The latter had whipped off the Red Cross veil she wore. +Seizing it by both extremes she allowed the veil to float out on +the brisk winter breeze, darting with it into the street.</p> + +<p>The runaway's glaring eyes caught sight of the flapping folds +of the veil, and he swerved, his hoofs sliding on the slippery +drive. The eyes of a horse magnify objects tremendously, and the +girl's figure and her flowing veil probably looked to the +frightened animal like some awful and threatening bogey.</p> + +<p>Scrambling and snorting, he swerved to the side of the road, +saw the open lane, and the next moment thundered into it, the +broken wagon skidding across the lane and smashing into a +gatepost.</p> + +<p>It was at the same instant that the head sled came sweeping +down Nugent Street, crossed the avenue, and stood almost on end +against the bank, stopping abruptly in the snow bank.</p> + +<p>The other sleds poured down and stopped; but none had been in +so much danger as that first one. Laura and Chet and their +friends started on the run for the spot--and for Janet +Steele.</p> + +<p>"Oh! <i>Oh! OH!</i>" shrieked in crescendo one girl who had +ridden on the first bobsled. "We might have been killed!"</p> + +<p>Some of the boys ran after the horse. The rest of the young +people surrounded Janet Steele.</p> + +<p>"How brave you were," murmured Jess Morse admiringly.</p> + +<p>"You've got a head on you, sure enough!" exclaimed Bobby +Hargrew, while the Red Cross girl, blushing and with downcast +eyes, began hastily to adjust her veil again.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was nothing," murmured Janet.</p> + +<p>"Tell it to Lily. Here comes Lily Pendleton," said Jess, +smiling again. "She won't think it was nothing."</p> + +<p>The girl who had shrieked so loudly came up quickly to the +group of Central High girls.</p> + +<p>"Did you turn that horse?" she demanded of Janet Steele. "You +are a regular duck! We might have all been killed! I never will +ride down a hill with Freddy Brubach again! There should have +been somebody down here to signal that we were coming!"</p> + +<p>"Guess the horse would not have paid much attention to +signals, Lil," laughed Laura.</p> + +<p>"Only the kind that Miss Steele waved," added Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Is that your name?" Lily Pendleton asked the Red Cross girl. +"I'm awfully glad to know you."</p> + +<p>"And much gladder that she was right on the job here when the +horse came along, aren't you, Lil?" chuckled Bobby.</p> + +<p>"She ought to have a medal," declared one of the other +girls.</p> + +<p>"Let's write to Mr. Carnegie about her," proposed Jess, but +good-naturedly, and hugged Janet now that she had rearranged her +veil.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me!" gasped Janet Steele, "please don't make so much +over so little. I shall almost be sorry that I turned the horse +into the lane. And it was a little thing. I am not afraid of +horses."</p> + +<p>"A mere medal is nothing to Miss Steele, I bet," said Bobby, +the emphatic. "I expect she has a trunk full of 'em. Like the +German army officer who had his chest covered with iron crosses +and medals and the like. Somebody asked him how he came to get +them all.</p> + +<p>"'Vell,' he said, pointing to the biggest and shiniest medal, +'I got dot py meestake; undt dey gif me de odders pecause I got +dot one!'"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you and your jokes, Bobby!" said Lily Pendleton, with +some scorn. "This was a serious business. And there is another +very serious matter, girls, that I have to call to your +attention," she added, turning to Laura and Jess.</p> + +<p>"What has gone wrong? Nothing about the play, I hope!" cried +Jess.</p> + +<p>"It is worse, because it is right at hand," said Lily, shaking +her head. "What do you suppose Miss Carrington has done?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Gee Gee!" groaned Bobby, in despair. "I knew she would +break out in a fresh spot."</p> + +<p>"Do tell us what it is," begged Jess Morse.</p> + +<p>"It is about Hessie," said Lily.</p> + +<p>"Hester Grimes?" demanded Laura, with a rather grim +expression. "What has happened to her now?"</p> + +<p>"Why!" cried Lily, rather sharply, "you speak as though Hessie +was always getting into trouble."</p> + +<p>"You cannot deny but that she has frequently made a <i>faux +pas,</i> as it were," said Jess, smiling.</p> + +<p>"And what she does wrong," added Laura, with some bitterness, +"usually affects the rest of us."</p> + +<p>"She did not do a thing wrong!" cried Lily stormily. "You +girls are just too mean!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, come on, Lil," said Bobby. "Tell us the worst. We're +prepared for murder, even."</p> + +<p>"You are very rude, Clara Hargrew," declared Lily Pendleton. +"Hessie is not to blame. She failed in rhetoric, and when Miss +Carrington tried to put a lot of home work on her she refused to +take it."</p> + +<p>"What?" gasped Jess.</p> + +<p>"Oh! She did refuse, did she?" snapped Bobby. "And a fat lot +that would help her!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't care!" cried Lily. "Gee Gee is just as +mean----"</p> + +<p>"Granted!" agreed Bobby, with emphasis. "But tell us how much +Hessie has been set back?"</p> + +<p>"Of course Miss Carrington has punished her if she was +impudent," said Laura decidedly.</p> + +<p>"She has punished us all!" cried Lily. "She refuses to allow +Hessie to skate to-night. She's out of it."</p> + +<p>"Out of the carnival?" cried several of her listeners in +chorus.</p> + +<p>"And Hester," cried Bobby, "is in the Dress Parade. What did I +tell you? Gee Gee was just hoping to queer us."</p> + +<p>"It is Hester Grimes who has queered us," Laura said, much +more sternly than she usually spoke. "And we were all warned to +be so careful!"</p> + +<p>"Now, don't blame Hessie!" cried Hester's chum angrily.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know who we are to blame, then?" demanded Jess +Morse, with disgust, "Knowing that Gee Gee is what she is, why +couldn't Hester keep her own temper?"</p> + +<p>"Well! I just guess--"</p> + +<p>But after all it was Mother Wit who, though greatly offended, +became peacemaker.</p> + +<p>"There, there!" she said. "Enough is done already. We shall +miss Hester. But we mustn't get angry with each other and +therefore spoil the whole Dress Parade. That masquerade should be +the most spectacular number on the program."</p> + +<p>"But who will take Grimes' place?" demanded Bobby.</p> + +<p>Laura stood beside Janet Steele, whose eyes were wide open, +her cheeks glowing, and even her lips ajar with excitement. Laura +had a very keen mind, and already she had apprehended that Janet +was more deeply interested in this discussion, and the subject of +it, than a stranger naturally would be. She turned now to stare +into the Red Cross girl's face.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Steele!" she said, "didn't you tell us that you +loved to skate?"</p> + +<p>"Ye-es," admitted Janet.</p> + +<p>"And she's as big as Hessie Grimes!" exclaimed Jess on the +other side, and catching her chum's idea.</p> + +<p>"Would you take Hester's part in the masquerade?" asked Laura +pointblank.</p> + +<p>"But she doesn't belong to Central High!" wailed Lily +Pendleton.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" exclaimed Jess. "What does it matter? This is all +for a show. It is no competition with other members of the +League."</p> + +<p>"Right-o, Jess!" crowed Bobby Hargrew.</p> + +<p>"We-ell!" murmured Lily doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Come, Miss Steele--Janet," said Laura, pleadingly. "I know +you can help us. Hester, being the biggest girl, was to lead in +certain figures on the ice. You could easily learn them. And you +can wear her costume, I know."</p> + +<p>"Why--I----"</p> + +<p>"You don't know anything of the kind, Laura Belding," snapped +Lily, interrupting Janet. "I don't believe Hessie would let any +other girl wear her masquerade suit."</p> + +<p>"Sure she wouldn't!" exclaimed Bobby, with disgust. "She'll +crab the whole game if she can. Hester Grimes always was a +nuisance."</p> + +<p>But Laura suddenly clapped her hands in real joy. "Oh, no!" +she cried. "We won't ask Janet to wear any other girl's costume. +I know what would be fine."</p> + +<p>"Let's hear it, Laura dear," said Jess, eagerly. "Of course, +you would have a bright idea. You always do."</p> + +<p>"Why," said the pleased Laura, "if Janet will come and skate +with us, she need only wear the very cloak and veil she has on +now. What could be more fitting for a leader of our costume +parade? The whole carnival is for the Red Cross, and with a Red +Cross girl to lead the procession, and Chet in his Uncle Sam suit +to lead the boys--Why! it will be the best ever."</p> + +<p>"Hooray!" shouted Bobby, wild with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"It is splendid!" agreed Jess.</p> + +<p>Everybody in hearing agreed, save, perhaps, Lily Pendleton. +Laura turned to Janet again and clasped her gloved hands over the +new girl's arm.</p> + +<p>"Will you, dear? Will you help us out?" she asked.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapIX">CHAPTER IX</h1> + +<h2 align="center">THE ICE CARNIVAL</h2> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Laura! Do you really mean it?" murmured Janet +Steele, her full pink cheeks actually becoming white she was so +much in earnest.</p> + +<p>"Of course we mean it," Jess Morse said practically. "And glad +to have you."</p> + +<p>"I don't know--"</p> + +<p>Janet looked for a moment at the sulky-faced Lily Pendleton. +Jess immediately pulled that young girl forward.</p> + +<p>"Why, Lil isn't half as bad as she sounds," declared Jess, +laughing. "This is our very particular friend, Janet Steele, Lil. +You've got to treat her nicely. If you don't," she added sharply, +"you'll never get a chance to go camping with us girls again as +you did last summer. You and your Hester Grimes can go off +somewhere by yourselves."</p> + +<p>Really, Lily Pendleton had improved a good deal since the time +Jess mentioned, and the latter's blunt speech brought her to a +better mind at once.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course," she said, offering Janet her hand, "I did +not mean it just that way. You know how cranky Hessie is when she +does get mad. But Laura has suggested a perfectly splendid idea. +Miss Steele as a Red Cross girl and Chet as Uncle Sam will be +fine to lead the grand march on skates."</p> + +<p>So it was decided, and they hurried Janet down to the girls' +boathouse, which had a warm, cozy clubroom at one end where Mr. +Godey, the watchman, stayed, and where, at this time of year, he +was often busy sharpening skates. Laura found a pair of skates +for the Red Cross girl, and for an hour the latter practiced with +the girls of Central High the steps and figures of the masquerade +parade, which Laura and her friends already had worked out to +perfection.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry a bit about to-night, Janet," Laura told her, +when they all hurried away from the lakeshore about dusk. "We'll +push you through the figures. Jess and I will be on either side +of you, except when we pair off with the boys. And then you will +be with my brother Chet. And if he isn't nice to you he'll hear +from me!" she added with vigor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but Laura!" whispered Jess Morse, as they separated from +Janet, "Chet mustn't be too nice to her. For Janet Steele is an +awfully pretty girl."</p> + +<p>"Now, dear!" exclaimed her laughing chum, "don't develop +incipient jealousy."</p> + +<p>With only two hours before them in which to do a hundred +things, the girls were as busy as bees for the remainder of the +afternoon. That Hester Grimes had been forbidden to take part in +the carnival by Gee Gee troubled the girls of Central High less +than they might have been troubled had it been almost any other +of their number that the strict teacher had demerited. For, to +tell the truth, Hester Grimes was not well loved.</p> + +<p>The daughter and much-indulged only child of a wealthy +butcher, Hester had in the beginning expected to be catered to by +her schoolmates. With such rather shallow schoolmates as Lily +Pendleton, Hester was successful. Lily toadied to her, to use +Bobby Hargrew's expression; nor was Lily alone in this.</p> + +<p>Upon those whom Hester considered her friends she spent her +pocket money lavishly. She was not a pretty girl, but was a +tremendously healthy one--strong, well developed, and tomboyish +in her activities. Yet she lacked magnetism and the popularity +that little Bobby Hargrew, for instance, attained by the exercise +of the very same traits Hester possessed.</p> + +<p>Hester antagonized almost everybody--teachers and students +alike. Even placid, peace-loving Mother Wit, found Hester +incompatible. And because Laura Belding was a natural leader and +was very popular in the school, Hester disliked her and showed in +every way possible that she would not follow in Laura's train. +Yet there had been a time when Hester had felt under obligation +to Laura.</p> + +<p>Laura was secretly glad to see Lily Pendleton weaned slowly +away from the butcher's daughter. The last summer had started +Lily in the right direction, and although the overdressed girl +had still some weaknesses of character to overcome, she had +greatly improved, as this incident of the afternoon revealed.</p> + +<p>Lily was not alone in complaining about Miss Carrington's +harshness, however. It was the principal topic of conversation +when the girls gathered in the boathouse rooms to prepare for the +races and the features that were to precede the principal +attraction of the carnival--the masquerade grand march.</p> + +<p>"Sh! She's right here now," whispered Bobby Hargrew +sepulchrally, coming into the dressing-room. "She's on watch at +the door."</p> + +<p>"Who?" asked Jess Morse.</p> + +<p>"Not Hester?" cried Lily. "She told me she wouldn't come down +here!"</p> + +<p>"Gee Gee," shot back Bobby, with pursed lips. "She is going to +be sure that Hester doesn't appear."</p> + +<p>"Mean thing!" Nellie Agnew said. And when the doctor's gentle +daughter made such a statement she had to be fully aroused. "She +thinks she has spoiled the whole act!"</p> + +<p>"I believe you," Bessie Yeager said. "I wonder if Miss +Carrington really sleeps at night?"</p> + +<p>"Why not, Bess?" cried Dora Lockwood.</p> + +<p>"I think she lies awake thinking up mean things to do to +us."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh!" murmured Nellie.</p> + +<p>"I bet you!" exclaimed the slangy Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Careful, girls. If she hears you!" warned Laura.</p> + +<p>"Then you would be 'perspicuous au grautin,' as the fellow +said," chuckled Bobby. "There! the whistle has sounded."</p> + +<p>"The fête has begun," sighed Jess. "I do hope everything +will go off right."</p> + +<p>"The boys are taking in money all right," Laura said with +satisfaction. "I believe we shall make a thousand dollars for the +Red Cross."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," said her chum. "Come on, girls! It's first the +fancy skating before the ice arena is all cut up."</p> + +<p>The effort to make the Ice Carnival of the Central High a +success was aided by a perfect evening and perfect ice. The +latter had been shaved and smoothed over every gnarly place. +There was not a single crack in which a skate could be caught to +throw the wearer. The arena roped off from the spectators was as +smooth as a ballroom floor.</p> + +<p>It was about two acres in extent. Around three sides of the +roped-off space there was a roped-off alley with boards laid upon +the ice upon which the spectators could stand. Uprights held the +strings of colored lights which were supplied with electricity +from the city lighting company; for this was not the first +exhibition of the kind that had been staged upon Lake Luna.</p> + +<p>Around the alley allotted to the audience, each member of +which had to pay a half dollar for a ticket, was a guarded space +so that those who did not pay entrance fee could not get near +enough to enjoy the spectacle.</p> + +<p>The short-distance races, following the figure skating, were +all within the oval of the principal arena. Then the ropes were +taken down at one end and the long-distance races came off, a +mile track having been marked with staffs upon the ice, staffs +which now held the clusters of colored lanterns.</p> + +<p>For two hours the company was so well amused that few were +driven away by the cold--and it was an intensely cold night The +ringing of the skates on the almost adamantine ice revealed the +fact that Jack Frost had a tight clutch on the waters of Lake +Luna.</p> + +<p>"I wish my mother could have seen this," Janet Steele murmured +to Laura Belding. "I think it is like fairyland."</p> + +<p>"Isn't it pretty? Now comes the torchlight procession. The +boys arranged this their own selves. See if it isn't pretty!"</p> + +<p>The short end of the oval had been closed again after the +long-distance races, and now there dashed into the arena from the +boys' lane to the dressing-rooms a long line of figures in +dominos, each bearing a colored light. They were the boys that +could skate the best--the most sure-footed.</p> + +<p>Back and forth, around and around, in and out and across! The +swift movement of the figures was well nigh bewildering; while +the intermingling of colored lights, their weaving in and out, +made a brilliant pattern that brought applause again and again +from the spectators.</p> + +<p>Then the boys divided, taking stations some distance apart, +and the torches were tossed from hand to hand, as Indian clubs +are tossed in gymnasium exercises. The effect was spectacular and +seemed a much more difficult exercise than it really was.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the girls selected for the masquerade were dressing +in the boathouse. Their masquerade costumes were as diverse and +elaborate as though it were a ball they were attending. There was +no dress as simple as Janet Steele's Red Cross uniform; yet with +her glowing face and sparkling eyes and white teeth there were +few more effective figures in the party.</p> + +<p>She had proved herself to be a fine and strong skater. Laura +and Jess, who sponsored her, were delighted with the new girl's +appearance on the ice. She had learned, too, her part quite +perfectly. When the girls first came out and the boys darted back +to get into their fancy costumes, the summary of the figures the +girls wove on the ice were already known to Janet. She fulfilled +her part.</p> + +<p>Then returned the boys, "all rigged out," Bobby said, and the +masquerade parade began. The crowd standing about the arena +cheered and shouted. It really was a most attractive grand march, +and there chanced, better still, to be no accident. Smoothly the +young people wended their way about the ice, their skates +ringing, their supple bodies swaying in time to the music, led by +those two masks of Uncle Sam and the Red Cross girl.</p> + +<p>"It is lovely," Mrs. Belding said to her husband. "What a fine +skater our Chetwood is, Henry. And it is so near Christmas! I +hope that bank-note will turn out to be a good one so that he +will not lose the money," she finished wistfully.</p> + +<p>"There, there!" said the jeweler. "I'll go to see Monroe +to-morrow. He's at home again."</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapX">CHAPTER X</h1> + +<h2 align="center">BUT WHO IS HE?</h2> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Monroe," the jeweler said, when he was ushered into +the banker's office the following forenoon by the bank watchman, +"I presume that bill is a counterfeit of some kind?"</p> + +<p>"My dear Belding," said the banker, who was a portly and jolly +man, who shook a good deal when he chuckled, and who shook now, +"I thought you were old enough, and experienced enough, to +discover the counterfeit from the real."</p> + +<p>"My son took the bill in over the counter," said the jeweler, +rather chagrined.</p> + +<p>"But haven't you examined it?" said Mr. Monroe, taking the +strange bank-note from a drawer of his desk.</p> + +<p>"Well--yes," was the admission, made grudgingly.</p> + +<p>"And are you not yet assured?"</p> + +<p>"Neither one way nor the other," frankly confessed the +jeweler. "It was taken by Chet for a hundred-dollar bill. And it +is that on one side!"</p> + +<p>"It certainly looks to be," chuckled Mr. Monroe.</p> + +<p>"But who ever heard of such a thing?" demanded the exasperated +customer of the bank. "A hundred printed on one side and a fifty +on the other! The printers of bank-notes do not make such +mistakes."</p> + +<p>"Hold on! Nobody is infallible in this world--not even a +bank-note printer," said the banker, reaching into another drawer +and bringing forth a large indexed scrapbook.</p> + +<p>"Here's a case that happened some years ago. I am a scrapbook +fiend, Belding," chuckled Mr. Monroe. "There were once two bills +issued for a Kansas bank just like this one you have brought to +me. Only this note that we have here was printed for the Drovers' +Levee Bank of Osage, Ohio, as you can easily see. This note went +through that bank, was signed by Bedford Knox, cashier, and +Peyton J. Weld, president, as you can see, and its peculiar +printing was not discovered.</p> + +<p>"Ah, here we have it!" added Mr. Monroe, fluttering the stiff +leaves of the scrapbook and finally coming to the article in +question. "Listen here: 'It was found on communication with +Washington that a record was held there of the bill, and the +department was anxious to recall it. With another bill it had +been printed for a bank in Kansas, and the mistake had been made +by the printer who had turned the sheet upside down in printing +the reverse side. The first plate bore the obverse of a +fifty-dollar bill at the top and of a hundred-dollar bill at the +bottom, while the other plate held the reverse of both sides. By +turning the sheet around for the reverse printing, the +fifty-dollar impression had been made on the back of the +hundred-dollar bill.'</p> + +<p>"Do you see, now?" laughed the banker. "Quite an easy and +simple mistake, and one that might often be made, only the +printers are very careful men."</p> + +<p>Oddly enough, Mr. Belding, although relieved by the +probability that the Department at Washington would make the +strange bill right for him, was suddenly attracted by another +fact.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," he said, "if that man came from Osage, Ohio?"</p> + +<p>"What man? The one who passed the bank-note on your son?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. You know, he was injured and is now in the +hospital."</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Go on."</p> + +<p>Mr. Belding related the story of the accident and the +unfortunate mental condition of the injured man. "They tell me +all the money he had with him was new money--fresh from the +Treasury."</p> + +<p>"He probably did not make it himself," chuckled the jolly +banker. "Poor chap! Don't the doctors think he will recover his +memory?"</p> + +<p>"That I cannot say," the jeweler said, rising. "Then you think +I may relieve Chet's mind?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. I will give you another hundred for this bill, if +you want me to. I will send this to Washington, where they +probably already have a record of it. Bills of this denomination +are printed by twos, and the other has probably turned up--as in +the case of the Kansas bank-note."</p> + +<p>Aside from the satisfaction this interview of his father's +with Mr. Monroe accorded Chet Belding, further interest on the +part of all the young people was aroused in the case of the +injured stranger. Oddly enough, when Laura and Jess went to the +hospital to inquire about the man, they found Janet Steele, the +Red Cross girl, there on the same errand.</p> + +<p>Since the Ice Carnival, that had proved such a money-making +affair for the Red Cross, the Central High girls had considered +Janet almost one of themselves. Although nobody seemed to know +who or what the Steeles were, and they certainly lived very oddly +in the old house at the lower end of Whiffle Street, Janet was so +likable, and her invalid mother was evidently so much of a +gentlewoman, that Laura and her chum had vouched for Janet and +declared her to be "all right."</p> + +<p>The matron of the hospital was the person whom the girls +interviewed on this occasion. Mrs. Langworth had some interest in +each patient besides the doctor's professional concern. She was +sympathetic.</p> + +<p>"We do not know what to call him," she explained. "He laughs +rather grimly about it and tells us to call him 'John.' But that, +I am sure, is not his name. He merely wishes us to have a +'handle' for him. And you cannot tell me," added the matron, +shaking her head, "that he is one of those rough miners right out +of Alaska!"</p> + +<p>"Does he say he is?" asked Janet, with increased interest.</p> + +<p>"He remembers of being in Alaska, he says. He was coming out, +he tells us, when something happened to him. And that is the last +he can remember. He believes he 'made his pile,' as he expresses +it. Oh, he uses mining expressions, and may have lived roughly +and in the open, as miners do, at some time in his life. But not +recently, I am sure."</p> + +<p>"And not a thing about him to identify him?" asked Laura.</p> + +<p>"Not a thing. Plenty of money. Not much jewelry----"</p> + +<p>"Oh! The lavallière my brother sold him!" cried Laura. +"He said it was for 'a nice little girl he knew.' It was only a +ten dollar one--one of those French novelties, you know, that we +sell so many of at this time of year."</p> + +<p>"He had that in an envelope in his pocket," said Mrs. +Langworth.</p> + +<p>"Then he had not made the presentation of it to 'the nice +little girl,'" murmured Laura, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"It almost proves he is a stranger in town, does it not?" +asked Jess. "He bought the chain in the morning, and he was not +hurt until evening. Do you know if he had any lodging in +Centerport?"</p> + +<p>"The police have searched the hotels, I believe," said the +matron, "and described the poor fellow to the clerks and +managers. Nobody seems to know him."</p> + +<p>"Do--do you suppose we might see him?" Laura asked +hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Laura! Would you want to?" Jess murmured.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" said the matron, smiling. "Not just now, perhaps. +But the next time you come--in the afternoon, of course. He will +be glad to see young faces, I have no doubt I will speak to Dr. +Agnew when he comes in," for Nellie's father was of importance at +the Centerport Hospital.</p> + +<p>"But who is he, do you suppose?" Jess Morse demanded, when the +three girls left the hospital and walked uptown again. "He can't +be any person who has friends in Centerport, or they would look +him up."</p> + +<p>"That seems to be sure enough," admitted her chum. Then: +"Shall we walk along with Janet?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Jess. "Are you going home, Miss Steele?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the girl in the Red Cross uniform. "I have been on +duty at the Central Chapter; but mother expects me now."</p> + +<p>"How is your mother, dear?" asked Laura, with sympathy.</p> + +<p>"She is as well as can be expected," said Janet gravely. "If +she had nothing to worry her mind she would be better in health," +and she sighed.</p> + +<p>Janet did not explain what this worry was, and even Jess, +blunt-spoken as she often was, could not ask pointblank what +serious trouble Mrs. Steele had on her mind.</p> + +<p>Again the Central High girls went in to see the invalid upon +Janet's invitation. They found Bobby Hargrew there before them. +Harum-scarum as Bobby was, nobody could accuse her of lack of +sympathy; and she had already learned that her fun and frolic +pleased the invalid. Bobby did not mind playing the jester for +her friends.</p> + +<p>Of course, the strange man at the hospital was the pivot on +which the conversation turned.</p> + +<p>"Were you there, too, to inquire about him?" asked Mrs. Steele +of Janet.</p> + +<p>Laura noticed a certain wistfulness in the invalid's tone and +look; but she did not understand it. Merely, Mother Wit noted and +pigeonholed the remark. Janet said practically:</p> + +<p>"I can't help feeling an interest in him, as I helped him that +evening he was hurt."</p> + +<p>"But have they learned nothing about him?"</p> + +<p>"Only that the hundred-dollar bill he gave Chet is probably +all right," laughed Jess Morse.</p> + +<p>"They say he had a big money roll," said Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Not a poor man, of course," Laura agreed.</p> + +<p>"And Mrs. Langworth says she is sure he has been in Alaska," +Jess added.</p> + +<p>Laura noted the swift glance that passed between the invalid +and her daughter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Steele, "you did not tell me +that"</p> + +<p>"No," said Janet, shaking her head, "But lots of men go to +Alaska, Mamma."</p> + +<p>"Ye-es," admitted Mrs. Steele.</p> + +<p>"And come back with plenty of money," put in Bobby, smiling. +"This poor man's money doesn't help him much, does it? He doesn't +seem to have any friends here in Centerport. He is just as much a +stranger as the man they tell about who came back to his old home +town after a great many years and found a lot of changes. As he +rode uptown his taxicab stopped to let a funeral go by.</p> + +<p>"'Who's dead?' asked the returned wanderer of the taxicab +driver.</p> + +<p>"'Dan Jones,' said the driver.</p> + +<p>"'Not Dan Jones that kept the hotel!' cried the man. 'Why, I +knew him well. Can it be possible that Dan is dead?'</p> + +<p>"'I reckon he's dead, Mister,' said the chauffeur, as the +hearse went by. 'What d'you think they're doin'--rehearsin' with +him?'"</p> + +<p>"How very lonely the poor man must feel," said Mrs. Steele, +after laughing at Bobby's story.</p> + +<p>"We're going in to see him the next time," Jess said.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Steele looked again swiftly at her daughter. "You will +see him, too, won't you, Janet?" she murmured.</p> + +<p>Her daughter seemed not to like the idea; but Jess said +quickly:</p> + +<p>"We will take Janet with us, Mrs. Steele. And Bobby, too. If +Mrs. Langworth approves, I mean. 'The more the merrier.' Really, +I'm awfully interested in him myself."</p> + +<p>Laura, said nothing; but she wondered why the invalid showed +so much interest in the injured man.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXI">CHAPTER XI</h1> + +<h2 align="center">A REHEARSAL</h2> + +<p>The copies of the play chosen for production by the girls of +the Central High Players Club had arrived, and Mr. Mann, who was +to direct the production, called the members of the club together +in the small hall which was just off Mr. Sharp's office.</p> + +<p>"And thank goodness!" murmured Bobby Hargrew, "Gee Gee cannot +break into this session. What do you suppose she has +suggested?"</p> + +<p>"Mercy! how do you expect us to guess the vagaries of the +Carrington mind?" returned Lily Pendleton. "Something foolish, +I'll be bound."</p> + +<p>"Sh! Remember Mr. Mann is an instructor, too," said Nellie +Agnew.</p> + +<p>"That is all right, Doctress," giggled Lily. "Mr. Mann is a +good fellow and will not peach."</p> + +<p>"Tell us the awful truth, Bobby," drawled Jess. "What is Gee +Gee's latest?"</p> + +<p>"I understand," said the younger girl, "that she has been to +Mr. Sharp and begged him to exercise his authority and make us +act 'Pyramus and Thisbe' instead of 'The Rose Garden.'"</p> + +<p>"Goodness! That old thing?" flung out Dora Lockwood.</p> + +<p>"There is a burlesque on 'Pyramus and Thisbe' that we might +give," chuckled Jess. "And it's all in doggerel. Let's!"</p> + +<p>"Reckless ones! Would you spoil all our chances?" demanded +Laura.</p> + +<p>"Aw--well----"</p> + +<p>"Remember, we are working for a worthy cause," Dorothy +Lockwood mouthed, in imitation of the scorned Miss +Carrington.</p> + +<p>"You are right, Dory," Laura said soberly. "The Red Cross is +worth suffering for."</p> + +<p>"Right-o, my dear girl," declared Jess Morse with conviction. +"Let us put aside Gee Gee and listen to what Mr. Mann has to +say."</p> + +<p>They had already talked over the characters of the play. None +of them was beyond the capabilities of the girls of Central High. +But what delighted some of them was that there were boys' +parts--and girls would fill them!</p> + +<p>Of course, Bobby Hargrew had been cast for one of the male +parts. Bobby's father had always said she should have been a boy, +and was wont to call her "my eldest son." She had assumed mannish +ways--sometimes when the assumption was not particularly in good +taste.</p> + +<p>"But Short and Long," she growled in her very "basest" voice, +"says I can't walk like a boy. Says anybody will know I'm a girl. +I have a mind to get my hair cut short."</p> + +<p>"Don't you dare, Clara Hargrew!" Laura commanded. "You'd be +sorry afterward--and so would your father."</p> + +<p>Bobby would never do anything to hurt "Father Tom," as she +always called Mr. Hargrew, so her enthusiasm for this suggested +prank subsided. But she growled:</p> + +<p>"Anyway, it's a sailor suit I am going to wear, and I guess I +can walk like a sailor, just as well as Short and Long."</p> + +<p>"Better," declared Nellie soothingly. "And then, those +wide-legged trousers sailors wear are quite modest."</p> + +<p>At this all the girls laughed. Knickers in their gymnasium and +field work had become second nature to them.</p> + +<p>"But think of me," cried Jess, "in what Chet calls 'the soup +to nuts!' Really the dress-suit of mankind is awfully silly, +after all."</p> + +<p>"And uncomfortable!" declared Dora.</p> + +<p>"Attention, young ladies!" exclaimed Mr. Mann at that +moment.</p> + +<p>He was a rotund, beaming little man, with vast enthusiasm and +the patience--so Nellie declared--of an angel.</p> + +<p>"Not a full-sized angel," Bobby had denied seriously. "He is +more the size of a cherub--one of those you see pictured leaning +their elbows on clouds."</p> + +<p>But, of course, neither of the girls made this comment within +Mr. Mann's hearing.</p> + +<p>The final decisions regarding the choice of parts were now +made. The copies of the play were distributed. Mr. Mann even read +aloud the first two acts, instructing and advising as he went +along, so that the girls could gain some general idea of what was +expected of them.</p> + +<p>Before they were finished another point came up. There was a +single character in the play that had not been accorded to any +girl. It was not a speaking part; but it was an important part, +for the other characters talked about it, and the silent +character was supposed to appear on several occasions in "The +Rose Garden."</p> + +<p>"We need a tall, dark girl," said Mr. Mann. "One who walks +particularly well and who win not be overlooked by the audience +even when she merely crosses the stage. Who----?"</p> + +<p>"Margit Salgo!" exclaimed Jess, who had every bit of the new +play and its needs very close to her heart.</p> + +<p>"Of course!" cried Laura and the Lockwood twins. "Margit is +just the one," Mother Wit added.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mr. Mann at last. "You mean Margaret +Carrington?"</p> + +<p>"And she walks like a queen," sighed Lily Pendleton. "I wish I +could learn to walk as she does."</p> + +<p>"You know what Mrs. Case says," put in Bobby, in an undertone. +"She says your feet, Lil, have been bound like a Chinese woman's +of the old regime."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you!"</p> + +<p>"Margit went barefoot and lived in the open for years," said +Laura.</p> + +<p>"She was 'near to Nature's heart,'" laughed Jess. "Of course, +she never tried to squeeze a number six foot into narrow +twos."</p> + +<p>"Never mind the size of her feet," said Mr. Mann +good-naturedly. "If she can take the part, she will be just the +one for it I remember that Miss Carrington's niece does have a +queenly walk. And that is just what we need. But do you think we +can get her?"</p> + +<p>"She has never joined our club," said Jess thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I am not sure that she has ever been invited," Laura said. +"But she is always busy----"</p> + +<p>"Gee Gee pretty near works her to death," growled Bobby. "I +shouldn't wonder if Margit flew the coop some day."</p> + +<p>"I am not sure, Miss Hargrew," said Mr. Mann, without a smile, +"that I ought not to take you to task for your language. It +really is inexcusable."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me, Mr. Mann, don't you begin!" begged the culprit +"If I am academic in school in my speech, let me be relieved out +of sessions, I pray."</p> + +<p>"But about Margit Salgo?" queried Laura. "Do you suppose she +will be able to help us? I know she will be willing to, if we ask +her."</p> + +<p>"Gee Gee will object, you bet," growled Bobby under her +breath.</p> + +<p>That was not to be known, however, without asking. Laura said +she would speak to Margaret about it, while Mr. Mann intimated +that he would mention to Miss Carrington, the elder, that her +niece was almost necessary to the success of the play.</p> + +<p>Margit Salgo was not so straightly kept by Miss Carrington as +she was engaged from morning to night in her studies. Having been +utterly neglected as far as mental development went for several +years, the half-gypsy girl was much behind others of her age at +Central High.</p> + +<p>Miss Grace Gee Carrington was pushing her +protégé on as fast as possible. She was not yet in +the classes of those, girls of her age whom she knew at Central +High; but she was fast forging ahead and she took much pride in +her own advancement.</p> + +<p>Therefore she did not see Miss Carrington's sternness as +Bobby, for instance, saw it. She found her aunt kind and +considerate, if very firm. And the girl who had been half wild +when Laura Belding first found her, as has been related in "The +Girls of Central High on Track and Field," was settling into a +very sedate and industrious young woman.</p> + +<p>What girl, however, does not love to "dress up and act?" +Margit Salgo was delighted when Laura explained their need to +her.</p> + +<p>"Just as sure as auntie will let me, I'll act," declared the +dark beauty, flushing brilliantly and her black eyes aflame with +interest. "You are a dear, Laura Belding, to think of me," and +she hugged Mother Wit heartily.</p> + +<p>Two days passed, and then came the first rehearsal. This, of +course, could be little more than a reading of the parts before +Mr. Mann, with the latter to advise them as to elocution and +stage business. But Bobby declared she had been practicing +walking like a boy and had succeeded in copying Short and Long +almost exactly.</p> + +<p>"Why me?" demanded Billy sharply, whose usual sweet temper +seemed to have become dreadfully soured of late.</p> + +<p>"Well, why not?" demanded Bobby. "Should I copy Pretty Sweet's +strut?"</p> + +<p>"Aw--him!" snorted Billy Long, turning away in vexation.</p> + +<p>"Now, tell me," said the quick-minded Bobby Hargrew to Laura +and Jess, with whom she chanced to be walking at the moment, "why +it is that Billy has taken such a violent dislike to poor Purt of +late? Why, he doesn't feel kindly enough toward him to send him +another dead fish!"</p> + +<p>They were going to the rehearsal, which was in the small hall +of the school. Of course, there was a sight of bustle and +talking. Every girl was greatly excited over her part. Some were +"sure they couldn't do it," while there were those who "could not +possibly remember cues."</p> + +<p>"And I know I shall laugh just at the wrong place," said Lily +Pendleton. "I always do."</p> + +<p>"If you do," growled Bobby, "I'll do something to you that +will make you feel far from laughing, I assure you."</p> + +<p>"How savagely you talk!" sighed Nellie Agnew. "That boy's part +you are to fill is already affecting you, Clara."</p> + +<p>"'Sailor Bob' is going to be terrifically rough, I suppose," +Jess said, laughing.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mann called them to order, and the girls finally rustled +into seats and prepared to go through "The Rose Garden" for the +first time. Everybody knew her first speeches, and as Mr. Mann +accentuated the cues and advised about the business the girls did +very well during the first act.</p> + +<p>But with the opening of the second act there was a halt. Here +was where "the dark lady" should come in. Her first appearance +marked a flourishing period by Jess, who strode about the stage +as the hero of the piece.</p> + +<p>"And Margit's not here!" cried Dora Lockwood. "Shouldn't she +be, Mr. Mann? Really, her entrance gives me my cue, not Adrian's +speech."</p> + +<p>Adrian was Jess Morse. She nodded her head vigorously. "Of +course, Margit ought to be here to rehearse with us."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid," said Mr. Mann, with pursed lips, "that we shall +have to give up the idea of having Miss Carrington--the +younger--for the part."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh, oh!" chorused some of the girls. "Can't Margit +play?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't that just like Gee Gee?" demanded Bobby furiously.</p> + +<p>"She wanted to, I am sure," Laura said. "It is not Margit's +fault."</p> + +<p>"Of course it isn't," snapped Jess. "That old--"</p> + +<p>Fortunately she got no farther. The door opened at that +instant and Miss Grace Gee Carrington entered. She was a very +tall woman with grayish hair, eyeglasses, and a sallow +complexion. Her dignity of carriage and stern manner were quite +overpowering.</p> + +<p>"Young ladies!" she said sharply, having come into the room +and closed the door, "I have a word to say. I told Mr. Mann I +would come here and explain why my niece cannot take part in any +such foolish and inconsequential exhibition as this that you have +determined on."</p> + +<p>She glared around, and the girls' faces assumed various +expressions of disturbance. Some, even, were frightened, for Miss +Carrington had always reigned by power of fear.</p> + +<p>"I would not allow Margaret to lower herself by appearing in +such a play. I disapprove greatly of girls taking boys' parts. +The object of the play itself is merely to amuse. There is +nothing worth while or educational about it."</p> + +<p>Again silence, and the girls only glanced fearfully at each +other.</p> + +<p>"I have a proposition to make to you," said the stern teacher. +"It is not too late to change your plans. I have Mr. Sharp's +permission to make the suggestion. He will agree to your changing +the play and will be--er--satisfied, I am sure, if you accept my +advice and put on the play which I first suggested. This is an +old Greek play with real value to it We gave it once in my own +college days, and it truly made a sensation. I should be quite +willing for Margaret to appear in that play, and I should, in +fact, be willing to give Mr. Mann the benefit of my own +experience in rehearsing the piece."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mann actually looked frightened. The stern instructor +overpowered him exactly as she did many of the girls.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXII">CHAPTER XII</h1> + +<h2 align="center">BUBBLE, BUBBLE</h2> + +<p>"Toot! Toot! Toot-te-toot! Back water!" muttered Bobby +Hargrew. "Wouldn't I cut a shine acting in a Greek play? Oh, +my!"</p> + +<p>Her imprudence--and impudence--was fortunately drowned by the +general murmur of objection that went up from the girls of the +club. That Miss Carrington's suggestion met with general +objection was so plain that even the stern woman herself must +have realized it.</p> + +<p>"Of course," she said, really "cattish," "you girls would +prefer something silly."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, Miss Carrington," said Laura with more boldness than +most of her mates possessed, "we prefer something more simple. +'The Rose Garden' does not call for more than we can give to it. +I am afraid the play you suggest would take too much study."</p> + +<p>"Ha!" snapped the tall teacher. Then she went on: "I want you +all to understand that your recitations must be up to the average +while you put in your time on such a mediocre performance as this +you are determined upon. Of course, if the play was of an +educational nature we might relax our school rules a +little--"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! Bribery!" whispered Jess to Nellie.</p> + +<p>"It seems," Mr. Mann finally found voice to say, "that the +desire of the young ladies is for the piece selected. It is too +late, as Miss Belding says, to make a change now."</p> + +<p>"Then Margaret cannot act!" exclaimed Miss Carrington, and, +turning angrily, she left the hall in a way that had she been one +of the girls, it would have been said, "She flounced out."</p> + +<p>The rehearsal continued; but most of the girls were in a sober +state of mind. There was a general desire among them to stand +high in all their studies. They had learned when first they +entered upon the athletic contests and exercises of the Girls +Branch League that they must keep up in studies and in deportment +or they could not get into the good times of the League.</p> + +<p>It was so with the secret society, the M. O. R.'s, and +likewise in this acting club. "Fun" was merely a reward for good +work in school. Not alone was Miss Carrington stiff on this +point, the principal and the rest of the faculty were quite as +determined that no outside adventures or activities should lower +the standard of the girls of Central High.</p> + +<p>At the present time the members of the club had a serious fact +to contemplate. A girl to fill the part of the "dark lady" in the +garden must be found. As it was not a speaking part, the person +filling the character must more particularly look as she was +described in the play.</p> + +<p>"We want a type," said Mr. Mann. "Tall, graceful, brunette, +and with queenly carriage. You must find her before the next +rehearsal. I must have plenty of time to train her, for her +appearance is of grave importance--as you young ladies can +yourselves see."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me!" groaned Nellie Agnew, when the rehearsal was +finished. "And Margit Salgo would have been just the one!"</p> + +<p>"And the poor girl certainly would have enjoyed being one of +us," Laura said.</p> + +<p>"Take it from me," said Bobby gruffly, "she's just the +meanest--"</p> + +<p>"Margit?" cried Jess.</p> + +<p>"Gee Gee! I'm good and disgusted with her."</p> + +<p>But Bobby, for once in her life, was very circumspect during +recitations that week. She felt that Gee Gee was watching for a +chance to demerit her, and the girl did not intend to give the +teacher occasion for doing so.</p> + +<p>"For once I am going to be so good, and have my lessons so +perfect, that she cannot find fault."</p> + +<p>"But trust Miss Carrington to find fault if she felt like it!" +grumbled the girl a day or so later.</p> + +<p>"Miss Hargrew, do not stride so. And keep your elbows in. Why! +you walk like a grenadier. And don't sprawl in your seat that +way. Are you not a lady?"</p> + +<p>Ah, but it was hard for saucy Bobby to keep her tongue back of +her teeth!</p> + +<p>"Have you lost your tongue?" nagged Miss Carrington.</p> + +<p>Bobby's eyes flashed a reply. But her lips "ran o'er with +honey," as Jess Morse quoted, <i>sotto voce</i>.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Carrington. I am merely holding it," said the girl +softly.</p> + +<p>Miss Carrington flushed. She knew she was unfair; and Bobby's +unexpected reply pilloried the teacher before the whole class. +There was a bustle in the room and a not-entirely-smothered +snicker.</p> + +<p>Had there been any way of punishing the girl Miss Carrington +would certainly have done it. She was neither just nor merciful, +but she was exact. She could see no crevice in Bobby's armor. The +incident had to pass, and the girl remained unpunished.</p> + +<p>However, it did seem as though Miss Carrington were more +watchful each day of the girls who belonged to the Players Club. +She was evidently expecting those who had parts to learn to show +some falling off in recitation, or the like. Her sharp tongue +lashed those who faltered unmercifully. The girls began to show +the strain. They became nervous.</p> + +<p>"I really feel as though I must scream sometimes!" said Nellie +Agnew, almost in tears, one afternoon as the particular chums of +Central High left the building for home. "I know my lessons just +as well as ever, but Gee Gee has got me so worked up that I +expect to fail every time I come up to recite to her."</p> + +<p>"She is too old to teach, anyway," snapped Jess. "My mother +says so. She ought to have been put on the shelf by the Board of +Education long ago."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh!" gasped Dora Lockwood. "What bliss if she were!"</p> + +<p>"She is not so awfully old," said Laura thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"But she is awful!" sniffed Jess.</p> + +<p>"She acts like a spoiled child," Nellie said. "If she cannot +have her own way in everything she gets mad and becomes +disagreeable."</p> + +<p>This was pretty strong language from the doctor's daughter. At +the moment Bobby Hargrew appeared, whistling, and with her hands +in her coat pockets. She was evidently practicing her manly +stride. But she did not grin when she saw the juniors +approaching. Instead, in a most dolorous voice she sang out, +quoting the witches' chant:<br> +<br> + "'Double, double; toil and trouble;<br> + Fire burn and cauldron bubble.'<br> +</p> + +<p>"Everything's stewing, girls, and it is bound to be some brew. +Do you know the latest?"</p> + +<p>"Couldn't guess," said Jess Morse. "But it is something bad, I +warrant."</p> + +<p>"Everything's going wrong, girls!" wailed Nellie.</p> + +<p>"I just saw Mr. Mann and Lil. Couldn't help overhearing what +she was giving him. What do you suppose she wants to do?"</p> + +<p>"Play the lead instead of Laura," snapped Jess.</p> + +<p>"That would not be so strange," Dora Lockwood observed. "Would +it, Dorothy?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. Lil Pendleton--"</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," proposed Laura Belding. "Let us hear her +crime before we sentence her to death."</p> + +<p>"That's right," agreed Bobby. "Oh, she surely has put her foot +in it! She told Mr. Mann that Hessie is just the girl to act 'the +dark lady' in our play. What do you know about that?"</p> + +<p>"Ow! Ow! That hurts!" squealed Dora.</p> + +<p>"She never <i>did</i>?" gasped her twin.</p> + +<p>"Hope to die!" exclaimed Bobby recklessly. "That is exactly +the game she is trying to work."</p> + +<p>"Hester Grimes! Of all persons!" groaned Nellie.</p> + +<p>"Lil hasn't said a word about it to me," Jess Morse +declared.</p> + +<p>"No, she is going to get Mr. Mann himself to propose +Hester--"</p> + +<p>"But Hessie isn't a member of the club!" cried Nellie.</p> + +<p>"We have set a precedent there," said Laura thoughtfully. "We +took Janet Steele into the ice carnival, and she was not a member +of the school."</p> + +<p>"That was an entirely different thing!" snapped Jess.</p> + +<p>"Why, Hester Grimes is no more fit to play that part than I am +fit for the professional stage!" Nellie Agnew said. "What can Lil +mean?"</p> + +<p>"I bet a cooky," Bobby growled, "that Hester put Lil up to it. +You know, Hess is crazy to get her finger into every pie; but she +would never come straight out and ask to join our club."</p> + +<p>"She'd be blackballed," said Dora tartly.</p> + +<p>"I believe she would," agreed her twin.</p> + +<p>Bobby chuckled. "There would be two black beans against her, +and no mistake."</p> + +<p>"What did you say to Lil, Clara?" demanded Laura +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Not a word."</p> + +<p>"How was that?" Jess asked. "You didn't have a sudden attack +of lockjaw, did you?"</p> + +<p>"Don't fret, Jess," said Bobby sharply. "I know when to keep +my mouth shut on occasion. I came right away from there to find +you girls. Something must be done about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear me!" groaned Nellie. "If Margit Salgo had only been +allowed to take the part!"</p> + +<p>"What did I tell you?" almost snarled Bobby. "Gee Gee has +managed to queer the whole business. This play is going to be a +failure."</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXIII">CHAPTER XIII</h1> + +<h2 align="center">MOTHER WIT HAS AN IDEA</h2> + +<p>The ice carnival had been such a success in a spectacular as +well as a monetary way that many of the friends of the Central +High girls and boys declared they would like to have it repeated. +More than a thousand dollars--to be exact, one thousand and +twenty dollars--had been made for the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>Centerport was doing its very best to gather its quota for the +great institution that was doing so much good in the world. Janet +Steele confessed to Laura that she had gained more than one +hundred dollar memberships, and that nearly all of these had +given something in addition to their membership fee.</p> + +<p>"I wish we girls could help," said Laura wistfully.</p> + +<p>"And you having done so much already!" cried Janet. "Why, +you've already done more than your share! And doing a play, +too!"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid the play will not be a great success," Mother Wit +sighed, but more to herself than to the other girl.</p> + +<p>Those who wished to repeat the ice carnival success had to +give the idea up, for before the end of the week there swept down +over the North Woods and across frozen Lake Luna such a blizzard +as the surrounding country had not seen for several years. The +street cars stopped running, traffic of all sorts was tied up, +and even the electricity for lighting purposes was put out of +commission for twenty-four hours.</p> + +<p>Of course, it did not keep many of the girls and boys of +Central High at home. Snow piled up in the streets did not daunt +them at all. But when the amateur actors undertook to rehearse +they had to do so by the light of candles and kerosene lamps.</p> + +<p>The rehearsal did not go very well, either. The girls were +"snippy" to each other--at least, Jess said they were, and Bobby +declared she was one of the very "snippiest--so there!"</p> + +<p>"Girls! Girls!" begged Laura, "when there are so many other +people to fight, let us not fight each other. 'Little birds +should in their nests agree,' and so forth."</p> + +<p>"Oh, poodle soup!" ejaculated Bobby, under her breath. "Don't +anybody dare spring old saws and sayings on me in my present +mood."</p> + +<p>"I believe you'd bite, Bobby," whispered Nellie Agnew.</p> + +<p>A cry went up for Lily Pendleton, and then it was found that +she was not present.</p> + +<p>"The only girl who is made of either sugar or salt," declared +Josephine Morse. "Of course, the snow would keep her away!"</p> + +<p>"But where is her friend, Miss Grimes?" asked Mr. Mann, rather +tartly. "I shall have my work cut out for me in training her, I +fear."</p> + +<p>"You will, indeed," moaned Laura.</p> + +<p>"Now, Mr. Mann!" cried Bobby boldly, "you are not really going +to let that Hester Grimes act in this play, are you? She is +perfectly horrid!"</p> + +<p>"Miss Hargrew," was the somewhat sharp answer, "I hope you +will not let personal dislikes enter into this play. It does not +matter who or what Miss Grimes may be, if she can take the +part--"</p> + +<p>"But she'll never be able to do it in the world!"</p> + +<p>"That is to be seen," said Mr. Mann firmly. "Remember, we are +working for the benefit of the Red Cross."</p> + +<p>"Hear! Hear!" murmured Laura. "Perhaps Hester will do very +well."</p> + +<p>"And perhaps she won't!" snapped Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Why, she can't possibly <i>act!"</i> Jess Morse said +hopelessly.</p> + +<p>"You will let me be the judge of that, Miss Morse, if you +please," said Mr. Mann, speaking rather tartly.</p> + +<p>"Mercy, everybody to-day is as crisp as pie-crust--no two ways +about it!" whispered Bobby to Jess.</p> + +<p>The girls plowed home through the deep snow, most of them in +no mood for amusement. Even Laura Belding had a long face when +she entered the house.</p> + +<p>"How was the funeral?" asked Chet, who was buried in one of +the deep library chairs with a book.</p> + +<p>"What?" she asked before she caught his meaning.</p> + +<p>"You must have buried somebody by the way you look," declared +her brother.</p> + +<p>"Don't nag, Chettie," sighed his sister. "We are having +terrible times."</p> + +<p>"I judged so," Chet said dryly. "Don't you always have sich +when you girls go in for acting?"</p> + +<p>"Now--"</p> + +<p>"I am sympathetic, Laura--I swear I am!" her brother cried, +putting up his hands for pardon. "Don't shoot. But of course +things always will go wrong. Who is it--Bobby? Or Jess? Or +Lil?"</p> + +<p>"It is Hester Grimes."</p> + +<p>"Wow!" exclaimed Chet. "I didn't know she was in it at +all."</p> + +<p>Laura told him of the emergency that had arisen and how Hester +Grimes seemed certain to be drawn into the affair.</p> + +<p>"Why, that big chunk can't act," said Chet quite impolitely. +"She looks enough like her father to put on his apron and stand +behind one of his butcher blocks."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is awful!" Laura objected. "But I know she will +spoil our play."</p> + +<p>"Humph! Why didn't you, Laura, suggest somebody else for the +part, as long as Margit couldn't take it?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't know of anybody."</p> + +<p>"I thought they called you 'Mother Wit,'" scoffed Chet. +"You're not even a little bit bright."</p> + +<p>"No, I guess you are right. I have lost all my brightness," +sighed Laura. "It has been rubbed off."</p> + +<p>"Then you admit it was merely plate," laughed Chet. "But say! +why didn't you think of the girl who helped you out before?"</p> + +<p>"Who? What girl?"</p> + +<p>"That Red Cross girl. What's her name?"</p> + +<p>"Janet Steele!"</p> + +<p>"That's the one. Some pippin," said Chet with enthusiasm. "I +saw her this afternoon and helped her plow home--"</p> + +<p>"Chetwood Belding! Wait till Jess Morse hears about it."</p> + +<p>"Aw--"</p> + +<p>"Jess will spark, old boy; you see if she doesn't"</p> + +<p>"Jess is the best girl in the world; and she's got too much +sense to object to my helping another girl home through the +snow."</p> + +<p>"All right," chuckled Laura, in a much more cheerful mood. +"But don't make the mistake of praising Janet to Jess. That is +where the crime comes in."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Well, I won't," her brother declared thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"And where did you beau Janet from?" Laura asked.</p> + +<p>"The hospital."</p> + +<p>"Were you there to see that poor man?"</p> + +<p>"Rich man, you mean," grinned her brother. "I took him some +books and a lot of papers. He is able to sit up and read."</p> + +<p>"But he doesn't know who he is?"</p> + +<p>"He declares his name is John <i>Something</i>, and that he +ought to be in Alaska right now. Says the last he knew he was in +Sitka. Something happened to him there. Whatever it was, his +brain must have been affected at that time. For he cannot +remember anything about the first part of his life."</p> + +<p>"But, Chetwood!" exclaimed Laura earnestly, "that man is not a +miner. He is not tanned. His hands are not rough. He was as well +groomed, the matron says, as any gentleman who ever was brought +to the Centerport Hospital."</p> + +<p>"But he was in Alaska. You should hear him tell about it."</p> + +<p>"He has lived two lives, then," said Laura thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"And must be beginning his third now," put in Chet. "What do +you know about that? And him with a roll of more than two +thousand dollars--every bill brand-new."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Chet!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it?" her brother asked, looking curiously into +Laura's suddenly glowing face.</p> + +<p>"Does he know he has so much money?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes. I've been telling him to-day all about that funny +bill he passed on me. He says he is glad he has so fat a purse, +as he will be obliged to remain in bed long with that leg in a +cast."</p> + +<p>"But, Chet! has he got the money himself?"</p> + +<p>"It is in the hospital safe."</p> + +<p>"I wonder! I wonder!" the girl murmured.</p> + +<p>"What is it now?" asked Chet</p> + +<p>"I wonder if any other bills in his roll are like that +hundred-fifty note father swapped with Mr. Monroe for you."</p> + +<p>"Huh?" ejaculated her brother, quite puzzled.</p> + +<p>"It was on the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, Ohio. I wrote it +down, and the names of the cashier and president of the bank. Do +find out, Chet, if there are any more of those new bills issued +by that bank in his roll."</p> + +<p>"What for?" demanded Chet.</p> + +<p>That Laura would not tell him, only made him promise to do as +she asked. Mother Wit had an idea; but she would not explain it +to anybody yet.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXIV">CHAPTER XIV</h1> + +<h2 align="center">CHAINS ON HIS WHEELS</h2> + +<p>"How came you to meet Janet?" asked Laura Belding, remembering +what her brother had first told her about the Red Cross girl.</p> + +<p>"She was coming my way, of course."</p> + +<p>"Coming your way?" Laura repeated, her eyebrows raised +questioningly. "Oh! I see! You met her at the hospital."</p> + +<p>"You said a forkful," declared the slangy youth.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, Chet," Laura observed soberly. "I think your slang +is becoming atrocious. So Janet was down there!"</p> + +<p>"She had been calling on our friend with the broken leg, too," +said Chet.</p> + +<p>"She does seem interested in him, doesn't she?" Laura said +thoughtfully. "I wonder why?"</p> + +<p>"Because her mother's half-brother went to Alaska years ago +and they never heard of him again," said Chet. "She told me."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"Nothing wonderful about that," the brother declared.</p> + +<p>"It is interesting."</p> + +<p>"To them, I suppose," said Chet "But why don't you ask Miss +Steele to join you girls in the play you are getting up?"</p> + +<p>"I never thought of it," confessed Laura.</p> + +<p>"Your thought-works are out of kilter, Sis," declared Chet, +laughing again. "I'd certainly play Miss Steele off against the +menace of Hester Grimes."</p> + +<p>There was something besides mere sound in Chet Belding's +advice, and his sister appreciated the fact. But she did not go +bluntly to the other girls and suggest the Red Cross girl for the +part of "the dark lady." She realized that, if the new girl could +act, she would amply fill the part in the play. But Hester was +supposed to have it now, and the very next day Mr. Mann gave that +candidate an hour's training in the part Hester was supposed to +fill.</p> + +<p>When they all came together for rehearsal again the second +day, Hester Grimes was present and she showed the effect of Mr. +Mann's personal help. Yet her work was so stiffly done, and she +was so awkward, that it seemed to most of the girls that she was +bound to hurt and hinder rather than help in the production.</p> + +<p>"She'd put a crimp in anything," declared Bobby Hargrew, as +the Hill girls went home that afternoon.</p> + +<p>The streets in this residential section had been pretty well +cleared of snow, and people had their automobiles out once +more.</p> + +<p>"Say, Jess!" exclaimed Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Say it," urged Josephine Morse. "I promise not to bite +you."</p> + +<p>"If Hester plays that part, what are they going to do with her +hands and feet?" asked the unkind Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hush!" exclaimed Laura.</p> + +<p>"Well, when she's supposed to pick the rose and hold it up to +the light, and kiss it, her hand is going to look like a +full-grown lobster--and just as red."</p> + +<p>"Girls, we must not!" begged Laura. "Somebody will surely tell +Hester what we say, and then--"</p> + +<p>"She'll refuse to play," said Jess.</p> + +<p>"Oh, fine, <i>fine</i>!" murmured one of the Lockwood +twins.</p> + +<p>"If we get her mad it will do no good," Nellie Agnew said. +"Maybe then she will insist on being 'the dark lady.'"</p> + +<p>The boys were on the corner of Nugent Street waiting for the +girls to come along.</p> + +<p>"How goes the battle, Laura?" asked Lance Darby. "Have you +learned your part yet?"</p> + +<p>"I thought I had," sighed Laura. "But when I come to take cues +and try to remember the business of the piece, I forget my +lines."</p> + +<p>"This being leading lady is pretty tough on Mother Wit," +laughed Chet.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew suddenly. "Here comes Pretty +Sweet in his car. Why! he's got Lil with him. I thought that was +all over."</p> + +<p>They gaily hailed the driver of the automobile and his +companion as the vehicle passed. Short and Long, with gloomy +face, watched the car out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Well," he growled, "he's got nonskid-chains on his wheels +to-day, all right."</p> + +<p>"Chains on his wheels, Billy?" asked Bobby. "What do you mean? +Doesn't he always have them on in winter?"</p> + +<p>"Humph! He forgot 'em once, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Hey, Billy!" exclaimed Chet Belding, "you are skidding +yourself, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"Aw----"</p> + +<p>"Least said soonest mended," added Lance, likewise giving the +smaller boy a quick, stern look.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see!" muttered Bobby, searching the flushed face of +Short and Long. "Say, Billy----"</p> + +<p>But Short and Long started on a quick trot for home, and left +his friends to stare after him. It was Bobby who did most of the +staring, however. She said to Jess and Laura, after they had +parted from the other boys:</p> + +<p>"What do you know about that boy? I'm just wise to him. I +believe I know what is the matter with Short and Long."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean," asked Laura, "what makes him act so to +Purt?"</p> + +<p>"You have guessed my meaning, Mother Wit."</p> + +<p>"What is the trouble between them?" demanded Jess. "Although +Billy never was much in love with Purt Sweet."</p> + +<p>"Don't you two girls remember the Saturday night that man was +hurt on Market Street?"</p> + +<p>"I should say I do remember it!" Laura agreed. "He is in the +hospital yet, and he doesn't know who he is or where he came +from."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's nothing to do with his identity," Bobby hastened to +say. "It is about the car that ran him down. You know the police +never have found the guilty driver."</p> + +<p>"Goodness!" gasped Jess. "You surely don't mean----"</p> + +<p>"I mean that the car had no chains on its rear wheels. That is +all that was noticed about it Nobody got the number. But I heard +Short and Long say he knew somebody who had been driving a car +that day without chains. And the boys left us, didn't they, to +look up the car?"</p> + +<p>"What has that to do with Purt Sweet?" demanded Laura.</p> + +<p>"Why, you heard what Billy just said about him and his +chains!" cried Bobby. "'He's got nonskid-chains on his wheels +to-day, all right.' Didn't you hear him? And he's had a grouch +against Pretty Sweet ever since the time--about--that the man was +hurt."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Purt wouldn't have done such a thing. He might have run +the man down; but he would never have run off and left him in the +street!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Jess said. "He'd be frightened half to death, +of course, if he did knock the man down."</p> + +<p>"I do not believe Prettyman Sweet is heartless," declared +Laura warmly. "The boys are making a mistake. I'm going to tell +Chet so."</p> + +<p>But when she took her brother to task about this matter she +could not get Chet to admit a thing. He refused to say anything +illuminating about the car that had run down the stranger at the +hospital, or if the boys suspected anybody in particular.</p> + +<p>"If we think we know anything, I can't tell you," Chet +declared "Billy? Why, he's always sore at Purt Sweet. You can't +tell anything by him!"</p> + +<p>Just the same it was evident that the boys were hiding much +from their girl chums; and, of course, that being the case, the +girls were made all the more curious.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXV">CHAPTER XV</h1> + +<h2 align="center">PIE AND POETRY</h2> + +<p>Laura's sleeves were rolled up to her plump elbows and she had +an enveloping apron on that covered her dress from neck to toe. +There was flour on her arms, on one cheek, and even on the tip of +her nose.</p> + +<p>Out-of-doors old Boreas, Jess said, held sway. Shutters +flapped, the branches of the hard maple creaked against the +clapboarded ell of the house, and there was an occasional throaty +rattle in the chimney that made one think that the Spirit of the +Wind was dying there.</p> + +<p>"You certainly are poetic," drawled Bobby, who had come into +the Beldings' big kitchen, too, and was comfortably seated on the +end of the table at which Laura had been rolling out +piecrust.</p> + +<p>"Now, if that crust is only crisp!" murmured Mother Wit.</p> + +<p>"If it isn't," chuckled Chet, stamping the snow off his shoes, +"we'll make you eat it all."</p> + +<p>"I'm willing to take the contract of eating it, sight unseen, +if Laura made the pie," interjected Lance Darby, opening the door +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Come in! Come in!" cried Jess. "Want to freeze us all?"</p> + +<p>"You would better not be so reckless, Lance," Laura said, +smiling. "These are mock cherry pies; and I never do know whether +I get sugar enough in them until they are done. Some cranberries +are sourer than others, you know."</p> + +<p>"M-m! Ah!" sighed Chet ecstatically. "If there is one thing I +like----"</p> + +<p>Lance began to sing-song:<br> +<br> + "'There was a young woman named Hooker,<br> + Who wasn't so much of a looker;<br> + But she could build a pie<br> + That would knock out your eye!<br> + So along came a fellow and took 'er!'"<br> +</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! We're all running to poetry," groaned Chet. "This +will never do."</p> + +<p>"'Poetry,' indeed!" scoffed Jess Morse. "I want to know how +Lance dares trespass upon Bobby's domain of limericks?"</p> + +<p>"And I wish to know," Laura added haughtily, "how he dares +intimate that I am not 'a good looker'?"</p> + +<p>"'<i>Peccavi!</i>"' groaned Lance. "I have sinned! But, +anyway, Bobby is off the limerick business. Aren't you, +Bobby?"</p> + +<p>"She hasn't sprung a good one for an age," declared Chet.</p> + +<p>"A shortage," sighed Laura.</p> + +<p>"Gee Gee says the lowest form of wit is the pun, and the most +execrable form of rhyme is the limerick," declared Jess +soberly.</p> + +<p>"Just for that," snapped Bobby, "I'll give you a bunch of +them. Only these must be written down to be appreciated."</p> + +<p>She produced a long slip of paper from her pocket, uncrumpled +it, and began to read:<br> +<br> + "'There was a fine lady named Cholmondely,<br> + In person and manner so colmondely<br> + That the people in town<br> + From noble to clown<br> + Did nothing but gaze at her, dolmondely.'<br> +</p> + +<p>Now, isn't that refined and beautiful?"</p> + +<p>"It is--not!" said Chet. "That is only a play upon +pronunciation."</p> + +<p>"Carping critics!" exclaimed Lance. "Go ahead, Bobby. Let's +hear the others."</p> + +<p>As Bobby had been saving them up for just such an opportunity +as this, she proceeded to read:<br> +<br> + "'There lived in the City of Worcester<br> + A lively political borcester,<br> + Who would sit on his gate<br> + When his own candidate<br> + Was passing, and crow like a rorcester!"<br> +</p> + +<p>"Help! Help!" moaned Chet, falling into the cook's rocking +chair and making it creak tremendously.</p> + +<p>"Don't break up the furniture," his sister advised him, as she +took a peep at the pies in the oven.</p> + +<p>"'Pies and poetry'!" exclaimed Jess. "Go ahead, Bobby. Relieve +your constitution of those sad, sad doggerels."</p> + +<p>Nothing loath, the younger girl, and with twinkling eyes, +sing-songed the following:<br> +<br> + "'There was a young sailor of Gloucester,<br> + Who had a sweetheart, but he loucest'er.<br> + She bade him good-day,<br> + So some people say,<br> + Because he too frequently boucest'er.'<br> +</p> + +<p>Take notice all you 'bossy' youths."</p> + +<p>"Isn't English the funny language?" demanded Chet, sitting up +again. "And spelling! My! Do you wonder foreigners find English +so difficult? Here's one that I found in an almanac at the drug +store," and he fished out a clipping and read it to them:<br> +<br> + "'A lady once purchased some myrrh<br> + Of a druggist who said unto hyrrh:<br> + "For a dose, my dear Miss,<br> + Put a few drops of this<br> + In a glass with some water, and styrrh."'"<br> +</p> + +<p>"Do, do stop!" begged Laura.</p> + +<p>"I promise not to offend again," said Lance. "Besides, I hope +to taste some of the pie, and a pie-taster should not be a +poetaster."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! Awful!" Jess cried.</p> + +<p>"I've run out of limericks myself," confessed Chet.</p> + +<p>"But one more!" Bobby hastened to say. Then dramatically she +mouthed, with her black eyes fastened on Chet:<br> +<br> + "'Said Chetwood to young Short and Long,<br> + "Just list to my warning in song:<br> + If you know of the crime,<br> + For both reason and rhyme<br> + Betray it--and so ring the gong!"'"<br> +</p> + +<p>The other girls burst out laughing at the expression on the +boys' faces. Chet and Lance looked much disturbed, and Chet +finally scowled upon the teasing Bobby and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"What do you know about that?" whispered Lance to his +chum.</p> + +<p>"You are altogether too smart, Bobby," declared Chet. "What do +you mean?"</p> + +<p>"We know you and Short and Long are trying to hide something +from us," said Jess quickly.</p> + +<p>"You might as well tell us all about it," Laura put in +quietly. "What has Billy really got against Purt Sweet?"</p> + +<p>"I don't admit he has anything against Purt," said Chet +quickly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing but suspicion," muttered Lance, likewise shaking his +head.</p> + +<p>"Then there is something in it?" Laura said quickly. "Can it +be possible that Purt Sweet would do such an awful thing and not +really betray himself before this?"</p> + +<p>"There you've said it, Laura!" cried Lance. "That is what I +tell both Chet and Billy. If Pretty was guilty, he would be +scared so that he would never dare go out again in his car."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh!" cried Bobby with dancing eyes. "Then my rhyme is a +true bill?"</p> + +<p>"Aw, Lance would have to give it away!" growled Chet.</p> + +<p>"Boys are as clannish as they can be!" said Jess severely. "We +are just as much interested as you are, Chet. What made Billy +believe Pretty Sweet ran the man down?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," sighed Chet, "we might as well give in to you +girls, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Besides," laughed his sister, "the pies are almost done, and +both you and Lance will want to sample them."</p> + +<p>"Go on. Tell 'em, Chet," said Lance.</p> + +<p>"Why, Billy had been riding that day in the Sweets' car. You +know Purt is too lazy to breathe sometimes, and he wouldn't get +out his chains and put 'em on. Billy knew that the chains were +not on at dinner time that evening, for he passed the Sweet place +and saw the car standing outside the garage with the radiator +blanketed.</p> + +<p>"Well, the only thing we were sure of about the car that ran +that man down--the Alaskan miner, you know--was that the rear +wheels had no chains on them, and that it was a Perriton car like +Purt's."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was a Perriton," said his sister.</p> + +<p>"So we fellows hiked up there to Sweets'. Purt was out with +the car. He came home in about an hour, and he was still skidding +over the ice. We tried to get out of him where he had been, but +he wouldn't tell. We had to almost muzzle Billy, or he would have +accused him right there and then. And Billy has been savage over +it ever since."</p> + +<p>"Really then," said Laura, "there is nothing sure about +it."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is sure the car was a Perriton. And since then we +have found out that Purt's is the only Perriton in town that +isn't out of commission for the winter. You can talk as you +please about it: If the police only knew what we know, sure thing +Purt would be neck-deep in trouble right now!"</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXVI">CHAPTER XVI</h1> + +<h2 align="center">EMBER NIGHT</h2> + +<p>The three girls of Central High and their boy friends had not +come together on this stormy Saturday morning merely to feast on +"pie and poetry."</p> + +<p>The ice carnival had made them so much money that Laura and +her friends desired to try something else besides the play which +was now in rehearsal. They wanted to "keep the ball rolling," +increasing the collections for the Red Cross from day to day.</p> + +<p>Fairs and bazaars were being held; special collectors like +Janet Steele were going about the city; noonday meetings were +inaugurated in downtown churches and halls; a dozen new and old +ways of raising money were being tried.</p> + +<p>And so Mother Wit had evolved what she called "Ember Night," +and the young people who helped carry the thing through were +delighted with the idea. To tell the truth, the idea had been +suggested to Laura Belding during the big storm when the lighting +plant of the city was put out of order for one night.</p> + +<p>She and her friends laid the plans for the novel fête on +this Saturday after Laura's pie baking and after they had +discussed the possibility of Prettyman Sweet being the guilty +person whose car had run down the strange man now at the +Centerport Hospital.</p> + +<p>They put pies and poetry, and even Purt Sweet, aside, to +discuss Laura's idea. Each member of the informal committee +meeting in the Beldings' kitchen was given his or her part to +do.</p> + +<p>Laura herself was to see Colonel Swayne, who was the president +of the Light and Power Company and who was likewise Mother Wit's +very good friend. Jess agreed to interview the local chief of the +Salvation Army. Chet would see the Chief of Police to get his +permission. Each one had his or her work cut put.</p> + +<p>"Every cat must catch mice," said Mother Wit.</p> + +<p>Plans for Ember Night were swiftly made, and it was arranged +to hold the fête the next Tuesday evening, providing the +weather was clear. Jess, whose mother held a position on the +Centerport <i>Clarion</i>, wrote a piece about this street +carnival for the Sunday paper, and the idea was popular with +nearly every one.</p> + +<p>Exchange Place was the heart of the city--a wide square on +which fronted the city hall, the court house, the railroad +station, and several other of the more important buildings of the +place.</p> + +<p>In the center of the square a Red Cross booth was built and +trimmed with Christmas greens, which had just come into market. +Members of the several city chapters appeared in uniform to take +part in the fête. There was a platform for speakers, and a +bandstand, and before eight o'clock on Tuesday evening a great +crowd had assembled to take part in the exercises.</p> + +<p>That one of the Central High school girls had suggested and +really planned the affair, made it all the more popular.</p> + +<p>"What won't Laura Belding think of next?" asked those who knew +her.</p> + +<p>But Laura did not put herself forward in the affair. She +presided over one of the red pots borrowed from the Salvation +Army that were slung from their tripods at each intersecting +corner of the streets radiating from Exchange Place, and for a +half mile on all sides of the square.</p> + +<p>Under each pot was a bundle of resinous and oil-soaked wood +that would burn brightly for an hour. At the booth in Exchange +Place fuel for a much larger bonfire was laid.</p> + +<p>The crowd gathered more densely as nine o'clock drew near. The +mayor himself stepped upon the speaker's platform. The police had +roped off lanes through the crowd from the Red Cross booth to the +nearest corners.</p> + +<p>Janet Steele came late and she chanced to pass Laura's corner, +which was in sight of the speaker's stand and the booth. She +halted to speak with Laura a moment.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it just fine?" she said. "I wish mother could see this +crowd."</p> + +<p>"I imagine you would like to have her see lots of things," +returned Laura. "Our friend at the hospital, for instance."</p> + +<p>"Who--who do you mean?" gasped Janet, evidently disturbed.</p> + +<p>"The man who was hurt, I mean."</p> + +<p>"Oh! He is quite interesting," said the other girl and slipped +away. Laura's suggestion had seemingly startled her.</p> + +<p>The band played, and then the mayor stepped forward to make +his speech. At just this moment a motor car moved quietly in +beside the curb near which Laura Belding stood guarding her red +pot. Somebody called her name in a low tone, and Laura turned to +greet Prettyman Sweet's mother with a smile.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sweet was alone in the tonneau of her car, which Purt +himself was driving. The school exquisite, who was so often the +butt of the boys' jokes, but was just now an object of suspicion, +admired Laura Belding immensely. He got out of the car to come +and stand with her on the corner.</p> + +<p>"Got your nonskid-chains on, Purt?" asked Laura.</p> + +<p>"On the rear wheels? Surely," said Sweet, eyeing the girl in +some surprise, because of her question.</p> + +<p>"My dear Laura!" cried Mrs. Sweet "Won't you come and talk to +me while we are waiting?"</p> + +<p>"Can't now, Mrs. Sweet. I am on duty," laughed Laura.</p> + +<p>They could not hear what the mayor said, for they were two +blocks away. But they had an excellent view of the stand and the +Red Cross booth, and the crowd that pressed close to the police +ropes.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the mayor threw up his hand in command, and almost +instantly--as though he had himself switched off the light--all +the street lamps in the business section of Centerport went out +The arc light over the spot where Laura stood blinked, glowed for +a moment, and then subsided. Mrs. Sweet cried out in alarm.</p> + +<p>"This is all right," Laura called to her. "Now watch."</p> + +<p>The mayor, in the half-darkness, stepped down from the +platform and threw into the heart of the big bonfire the +combustibles that set it off. The flames leaped up, spreading +rapidly. The crowd cheered as eight boys, dressed in the +knee-length dominos they had worn on the night of the ice +carnival, dashed into the ring with resinous torches. They thrust +the torches into the flames and the instant the torches were +alight, they wheeled and dashed away through the lanes the police +had kept open.</p> + +<p>The red flames dancing before the Red Cross booth, and the +sparking, flaming torches which the boys swung above their heads +as they ran through the crowd to the various corners where the +red pots hung, made an inspiring picture in the unwonted gloom of +the streets.</p> + +<p>"See how the Red Cross spreads!" cried Laura. "There's +Nellie's fire going."</p> + +<p>They could see the spark of new fire under the pot a block +away. A short figure with flaming torch was approaching Laura's +corner at high speed.</p> + +<p>"Here comes Short and Long, I do believe," drawled Prettyman +Sweet.</p> + +<p>"My pot will soon be boiling," laughed Laura. "What are you +going to throw in, Purt? And you, Mrs. Sweet? Give all you +can--and as often as you can."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll start you off, Laura," declared Purt, pulling out a +handful of coins that rang the next moment in the bottom of the +iron pot.</p> + +<p>"Here's my purse, Prettyman!" called his mother, leaning from +the car. "You put in my offering."</p> + +<p>The few bystanders around Laura's corner began laughingly to +contribute before the torch reached the spot. But Short and Long +arrived the next moment. He stooped, thrust the blazing torch +into the middle of the fuel under Laura's pot, and wheeled to run +to his next comer.</p> + +<p>The flames crackled, springing up ravenously. The boy's cotton +gown flapped across the fire and before he could leap away the +flames had seized upon the domino!</p> + +<p>"Oh, Billy!" shrieked Laura Belding. "You are on fire!"</p> + +<p>The short boy leaped away; but he could not leave the flames +behind him. He threw down the torch and tried to tear off the +domino. In a moment he was a pillar of flame!</p> + +<p>"A blanket! A robe! Quick, Purt!" cried Laura, and started +toward the victim of the accident, bare-handed.</p> + +<p>For once Purt Sweet did as he was told, and did it quickly. He +ran with the robe from the front seat of the automobile. Laura +grabbed one end and together they wrapped their schoolmate in the +heavy folds.</p> + +<p>Short and Long was cast to the street and they rolled him in +the blanket. The fire was smothered, but what injury had it done +to the boy?</p> + +<p>He was unconscious; for in falling he had struck his head, and +the wound was bleeding. Mrs. Sweet was crying and wringing her +hands.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's awful! Purt! Purt! Take me home!" she sobbed.</p> + +<p>"No, Purt!" exclaimed Laura. "Take him to the hospital"</p> + +<p>"Of course we will," gasped the youth. "Help me lift him, +Laura. Oh, the poor kid!"</p> + +<p>Only the few people near by had seen the accident. Not even a +policeman came. Laura and Purt staggered to the car with the +wrapped-up body of the smaller lad. His face was horribly +blackened, but that might be nothing but smoke. Just how badly +Billy Long was injured they could not guess.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sweet shrank back into the corner of the tonneau seat and +begged Laura to get in with the injured boy.</p> + +<p>"I can't! I can't touch him!" wailed the woman. "It's awful! +Suppose he should be dead?"</p> + +<p>"He's not dead," declared Purt. "We won't let him die--the +poor kid! Here, mother, you hold his head and we'll lay him down +on the seat. Let his head and shoulders lie right in your +lap."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Laura! Do come!" cried the woman.</p> + +<p>"I can't, Mrs. Sweet!" returned Laura, sobbing. "I've got to +stay and watch my pot boil. Do be quick, Purt!"</p> + +<p>She stepped out of the car. Purt slammed the tonneau door and +leaped to the steering wheel. In a moment the self-starter +sputtered, and then the car wheels began to roll.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sweet was actually forced to do something that she had +never done before--personally help somebody in trouble. Perhaps +the experience would do her good, Laura thought.</p> + +<p>In tears the latter returned to the corner. The fire was +brightly blazing underneath her swinging pot. There was already +quite a collection of coins and a few bills in the bottom of the +receptacle. But although Laura stuck to the post of duty, her +heart was no longer in the ceremonies of Ember Night. She wished +heartily that she had never suggested the entertainment, even if +it did benefit the Red Cross.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXVII">CHAPTER XVII</h1> + +<h2 align="center">A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT</h2> + +<p>It did really prove to be one of the most successful forms of +money-raising for the Red Cross that had been attempted in +Centerport. And later they tried Ember Night in Lumberport and +Keyport.</p> + +<p>Laura Belding was not proud of her success, however, for poor +Short and Long had been badly burned. Fortunately his face was +only blackened, and the doctors decided that he had not inhaled +any of the scorching flame.</p> + +<p>Laura and Purt had wrapped him in the blanket so quickly that +the fire was smothered almost at once. Yet there were bad burns +on his arms and body--burns that would leave ineffaceable +scars.</p> + +<p>The girls of Central High had two interests now to take them +to the hospital. The stranger who did not know his name and Short +and Long both came in for a lot of attention.</p> + +<p>The latter had never known before how popular with his +schoolmates he was. Fruit, flowers, candy and the nicest +confections from the Hill kitchens found their way in profusion +to Billy's bedside.</p> + +<p>After a day or two the doctors let him see whoever came, and +he could talk all right. It made him forget the smart of his +burns.</p> + +<p>Of course his sister Alice came frequently, and she had to +bring Tommy, the irrepressible, along. Tommy was more interested +in the good things to eat at his brother's bedside, however, than +he was in Billy's bodily condition.</p> + +<p>There was so much jelly, and blanc-mange, and other goodies +that the invalid could not possibly consume all. Tommy sat and +ate, and ate, until the nurse said:</p> + +<p>"Tommy, don't you know that you are distending your stomach +with all those sweets? It is not good for you."</p> + +<p>When Tommy learned that "distending" meant that his stomach +was being stretched, he was delighted.</p> + +<p>"Gimme some more, Allie," he begged his sister. "Please do, +Allie dear. I want to stwetch my 'tomach. It's never been big +'nough to hold all I want to eat."</p> + +<p>The interest of Laura and her close friends in the strange man +with the broken leg did not lag. He talked freely with his +visitors; but mostly about Alaska and his adventures in the gold +mines.</p> + +<p>As near as he could guess, he must have come out of the mines +with his "pile," as he expressed it, almost ten years before.</p> + +<p>"What under the canopy I have been doing since, I don't know. +But if I've got down to two thousand dollars capital, I must have +been having an awfully good time spending money; for I know I had +a poke full of gold dust when I struck the coast and went over to +Sitka."</p> + +<p>"More likely he was robbed," said Chet.</p> + +<p>"He looks about as much like a miner as Pa Belding," Laura +declared.</p> + +<p>There was too much going on just then, however, for Mother Wit +to try out the thought that had come to her mind regarding this +man. All these interests had to be sidetracked for school and +lessons. And just at this time recitations seemed to be +particularly hard. With rehearsals for the play, and all, mere +knowledge was very difficult to acquire.</p> + +<p>"I know I'm not half prepared in physics," wailed Nellie +Agnew, as she and other juniors trooped into school one day, two +weeks before Christmas.</p> + +<p>"And I," said Jess Morse, "know about as much regarding this +political economy as I do about sweeping up the Milky Way with a +star brush."</p> + +<p>"How poetic!" cried Laura, laughing. "I wonder if we all are +as well prepared?"</p> + +<p>"They expect too much of us," declared Dora Lockwood.</p> + +<p>"Much too much!" echoed her sister.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Laura, "if we don't expect too much of the +teachers?"</p> + +<p>In the physics recitation Nellie Agnew, as she prophesied, +came to grief.</p> + +<p>Miss Carrington seemed to have an uncanny knowledge of whom to +call on at such times. She seemed aware that Nellie had not +prepared her lesson properly. It might be that the wary teacher +read her pupils' faces. Nellie's was so woebegone that it was +scarcely possible to overlook the fact that she probably felt her +shortcomings in the task at hand.</p> + +<p>Miss Carrington called on the doctor's daughter almost the +first one in physics. To say "unprepared!" to Miss Carrington was +to bring upon one's head the shattered vials of her wrath. There +was no excuse for not trying, that strict instructor +considered.</p> + +<p>So Nellie tried. She stumbled along in her first answer "like +a blind man in a blind alley," so Jess Morse declared. It was +pitiful, and all the class sympathized. The gentle Nellie was led +to make the most ridiculous statements by the silky-voiced +teacher.</p> + +<p>"And you are a physician's daughter!" Miss Carrington burst +out at last. "For shame!"</p> + +<p>"If I were Nell," said Dora Lockwood to her twin, "I'd cut +pills altogether after this. I'd rather take math with Mr. Sharp +himself."</p> + +<p>Miss Grace G. Carrington was never content to let a pupil fail +and sit down. She nagged and browbeat poor Nellie until the girl +lost her nerve and began to cry. By that time the other girls +were all angry and upset, and that physics recitation was bound +to go badly.</p> + +<p>When Jess was called on she rose with blazing cheeks and angry +eyes to face their tormentor. Miss Carrington saw antagonism writ +large upon Jess Morse's face.</p> + +<p>"I presume, Miss Morse, you think I cannot puzzle you?" said +Miss Carrington in her very nastiest way.</p> + +<p>"You can doubtless puzzle me," said Jess sharply. "But you +cannot make me cry, Miss Carrington."</p> + +<p>"Sit down!" ejaculated the angry teacher. "That goes for a +demerit."</p> + +<p>"And it is about as fair as your demerits usually are," cried +Jess.</p> + +<p>"Two, Miss Morse," said the teacher. "One more and you will +not act in that play next week."</p> + +<p>"If I'd been born dumb," sighed Jess afterward, "it would have +been money in my pocket. I almost had to bite the tip of my +tongue off to keep from saying something more."</p> + +<p>"And so ruin the whole play?" said Laura softly.</p> + +<p>"Huh! I guess Hester Grimes will do that," declared Jess. "She +moves about the stage like an automaton. She is going to get us a +big laugh, but in the wrong place. Now, you see."</p> + +<p>The girls rehearsed every afternoon, and the athletic work was +neglected. Mrs. Case excused those who were engaged in producing +the play. "The Rose Garden" was not such an easily acted play as +they had at first supposed. Mr. Mann was patient with them; but +in Hester Grimes' case he could not help the feeling of annoyance +that took possession of him.</p> + +<p>Hester Grimes took offence so easily.</p> + +<p>"Every rehearsal I look for her to cut up rusty," Jess cried. +"And somebody has got to play the part of the dark lady! It is +not a part that can be cut out of the cast, although it is not a +speaking part."</p> + +<p>Hester had begun to complain, too, because she had no lines. +She considered that she was being deprived of her rights, and was +of less importance than the other girls, because she was dumb on +the stage.</p> + +<p>"Why! even Bobby Hargrew," she complained, "with her silly +sailor part, has lines to repeat, besides that sailor's hornpipe +in the first act. Of course, you girls would wish the least +important part onto me."</p> + +<p>"What nonsense, Hester!" cried Jess. "If you really understood +the play and the significance of your part, you would not say +such a thing. And do, do be less like a wooden image."</p> + +<p>"Humph! I guess I know my part, Jess Morse," snapped Hester. +"It doesn't matter at all what I do on the stage."</p> + +<p>"What did I tell you?" groaned Bobby. "'Double! Double!' +and-so-forth. There is trouble brewing. If we all had measles or +chicken-pox, and so couldn't give the play, we'd be in luck, I +verily believe."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't, Bobby!" begged Dora Lockwood. "You are so +reckless."</p> + +<p>"Just the same, I feel it in my bones that Hester is going to +kick over the traces," said Bobby grimly.</p> + +<p>"If only Margit Salgo had been allowed to have the part," +groaned Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"It's Gee Gee's fault if the play is a failure," snapped +Bobby.</p> + +<p>Never had the disagreeable teacher at Central High been so +little liked as at this time. They blamed Miss Carrington more +than they did Hester.</p> + +<p>As the party of troubled girls left the school-house on this +particular afternoon, Lily Pendleton ran after them.</p> + +<p>"What do you think has happened?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"It's something bad, of course," groaned Nellie Agnew.</p> + +<p>"Who is hurt?" asked Laura.</p> + +<p>"It isn't that," said Lily. "But poor Purt Sweet!"</p> + +<p>"Now what has he done?" asked Jess.</p> + +<p>"It is what they say he has done, not what he really has +done," wailed Lily. "The police have been to his house. And what +do you think?"</p> + +<p>"I bet his mother's had a fit!" exclaimed Bobby, in an +undertone.</p> + +<p>"The police accuse Purt of running down that man on Market +Street the other Saturday night," said Lily warmly. "And Purt +doesn't know anything more about it than a baby! Isn't it awful, +girls?"</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</h1> + +<h2 align="center">WHERE WAS PURT?</h2> + +<p>The police examination of Purt Sweet was no light matter. Two +of Centerport's detective force had been working on the case ever +since the stranger had been knocked down on Market Street, and, +like Chet Belding and his friends, the detectives finally had +come to the conclusion that Prettyman Sweet's automobile was the +only Perriton car in the city that had not been in storage on +that night.</p> + +<p>The detectives' visit to the Sweet residence, and Purt's later +call upon the Chief of Police at his command, were dreadfully +shocking to the boy's mother. Purt had to reassure her and insist +that he was not going to be arrested and sent to jail at once; so +he had not much time to be frightened himself. Indeed, he came +out in rather good colors on this particular occasion.</p> + +<p>The boy's father had long since died. Purt had been indulged +by his mother to a ridiculous degree, and as a usual thing Purt's +conversation and his activities were ridiculed by his +schoolmates.</p> + +<p>"This disgrace will kill me, Prettyman!" wailed Mrs. +Sweet.</p> + +<p>"Where does the disgrace come in," pleaded poor Purt, "when I +haven't really done anything?"</p> + +<p>"But they say you have!"</p> + +<p>"I can't help what they say."</p> + +<p>"You were out that evening with the car. I remember it very +well," his mother declared.</p> + +<p>"What of it? I wasn't on Market Street the whole evening," +grumbled the boy.</p> + +<p>"Where were you then?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>It seemed as though everybody else asked Purt Sweet that +question, from the Chief of Police down; and it was the one +question the boy would not answer.</p> + +<p>He grew red, and sputtered, and begged the question, every +time anybody sought to discover just where he was with the +automobile on that Saturday evening after dinner. Even when Chief +Donovan threatened him with arrest, Purt said:</p> + +<p>"If I should tell you it wouldn't do any good. It would not +relieve me of suspicion and would maybe only make trouble for +other people. I was out with our car, and that is all there is to +it. But I did not run that man down. I was not on Market +Street."</p> + +<p>He stuck to this. And his honest manner impressed the head of +the police force. Besides, Mrs. Sweet was very wealthy, and if +Purt was arrested she would immediately bail him and would engage +the best counsel in the county to defend her son. It is one thing +to accuse a person of a fault. As Chief Donovan very well knew, +it is an entirely different matter to prove such accusation.</p> + +<p>The news of Purt's trouble was not long in getting to Short +and Long in the hospital. Chet and Lance really thought the +smaller boy would express some satisfaction over Purt's trouble. +But to their surprise Billy took up cudgels for the dandy as soon +as he was told that the police suspected him of the offense.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with you, Short?" demanded the big fellow. +"You've been sure Purt was guilty all the time."</p> + +<p>"I don't care!" declared Billy. "He's one of us fellows, isn't +he?"</p> + +<p>"Admitted he goes to Central High," Chet said.</p> + +<p>"But he isn't one of our gang," Lance added.</p> + +<p>"I don't care! The police are always too fresh," said Billy, +who had reason for believing that the Centerport police sometimes +made serious mistakes. Billy had had his own experience, as +related in "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna."</p> + +<p>"Then you don't believe Purt did it?" demanded Lance.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't. I was mistaken," declared Short and Long. +"Purt's all right"</p> + +<p>"Wow! Wow!" murmured Chet.</p> + +<p>"See how he brought me here in his car when I was hurt. And +look at the stuff Purt's given me while I've been here," said +Billy excitedly. "He'd never have hurt that man and run away +without seeing what he'd done. No, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Crackey, Billy!" said Chet, "you've turned square +around."</p> + +<p>"I know I have. And I ought to be ashamed of myself for ever +distrusting Purt," said the invalid vigorously.</p> + +<p>"Then why won't Purt tell where he was?" demanded Lance +doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"I don't care where he was," said Billy. "If he says he didn't +hit the man, he didn't. That's all. And we've got to prove it, +boys."</p> + +<p>"Some job you suggest," said Chet slowly. "It looks to me as +though Pretty Sweet was in a bad hole, and no mistake."</p> + +<p>Even the most charitable of his schoolmates took this view of +Purt Sweet's trouble. His denial of guilt did not establish the +fact of his innocence. His inability, or refusal, to explain +where he was at the time of the accident on Market Street in +front of Mr. Belding's jewelry store made the situation very +difficult indeed.</p> + +<p>"If he could only put forward an alibi," Lance Darby said, +when the Hill crowd of Central High boys and girls discussed the +matter.</p> + +<p>"But he won't say a word!" cried Nellie. "I believe he is +innocent."</p> + +<p>"Then why doesn't he tell where he was at the time?" demanded +Laura sternly.</p> + +<p>"Is he scared to tell the truth?" asked Jess.</p> + +<p>"I don't think he is," Chet observed thoughtfully. "Somehow he +acts differently from usual."</p> + +<p>"You're right," Bobby declared, with frank approval of one of +whom she had never approved before. "I believe there's a big +change in old Purt."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's strange," Laura remarked. "He never showed such +obstinacy before."</p> + +<p>"He's never shown any particular courage before, either," said +her brother. "That's what gets me!"</p> + +<p>"Where does the courage come in?" demanded Lance.</p> + +<p>"I believe Chet is right," Jess said. "Purt is trying to +shield somebody."</p> + +<p>"From what?" and "Who?" were the chorused demands.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," Jess told them. "There is somebody else mixed +up in this trouble. It stands to reason Purt would not be so +obstinate if he had nothing to hide. And we are pretty much of +the opinion--all of us--that he really did not run that man down. +Therefore, if he is not shielding some other person, what is he +about?"</p> + +<p>"I've asked him frankly," Chet said, "and all I could get out +of him was that he 'couldn't tell.' No sense to that," growled +the big fellow.</p> + +<p>It seemed that Purt Sweet had pretty well succeeded in +puzzling his friends as well as the police. The latter were +evidently waiting to get something provable on poor Purt. Then a +warrant would be issued for his arrest.</p> + +<p>By this time the stranger who had been the start of all the +trouble and mystery--the man from Alaska, as the hospital force +called him--was able to be up and wheeled in a chair, although +his leg was not yet out of plaster.</p> + +<p>Billy Long heard of this, and he grew very anxious to see the +man whose accident was the beginning of Purt's trouble. Billy had +quickly become a favorite with both the nurses and doctors of the +Centerport Hospital. He was brave in bearing pain, and he was as +generous as he could be with the goodies and fruit and flowers +that were brought to him. He divided these with the other +patients in his ward, and cheered his mates with his lively +chatter.</p> + +<p>At first, however, there had been an hour or so every other +day when a screen was placed about Billy's bed and the doctor and +nurse had a very bad time, indeed, dressing the dreadful burns +the boy had sustained.</p> + +<p>Short and Long could not help screaming at times, and when he +did not really scream the others in the ward could hear his +half-stifled moans and sobs. These experiences were hard to +bear.</p> + +<p>When the dressings were over and his courage was restored the +screen was removed from about Billy's cot and he would grin +ruefully enough at his nearer neighbors.</p> + +<p>"I'm an awful baby. Too tender-hearted--that's me all over," +he said once. "I never could stand seeing anybody hurt--and I can +see just what they are doing to me all the time!"</p> + +<p>Billy knew that the man from Alaska was being wheeled up and +down the corridor, and he begged so hard to speak with him that +the nurse went out and asked the orderly to wheel the chair in to +Billy's cot.</p> + +<p>"So you are the brave boy I've heard about, are you?" said the +stranger, smiling at the bandaged boy from Central High.</p> + +<p>"I know how brave you've heard me," said Billy soberly. "I do +a lot of hollering when they are plastering me up."</p> + +<p>The man laughed and said: "Just the same I am glad to know +you. My name seems to have got away from me for the time being. +My mind's slipped a cog, as you might say. What do they call you, +son?"</p> + +<p>Billy told him his name. "And," he added, "I was right there +in front of Chet Belding's father's jewelry store when that +automobile knocked you down."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. I saw the machine. It was a Perriton car all right. +It might even have been Pretty Sweet's car. But it wasn't Pretty +Sweet driving it, I am sure."</p> + +<p>The boy's earnestness caught the man's full attention. "I +guess this Sweet boy they tell about is a friend of yours, son?" +he said.</p> + +<p>"He is a friend all right, all right," said Billy Long. "And I +never knew it till right here when I got hurt. Purt--that's what +we call him--is a good fellow. And I am sure he wouldn't do such +a thing as to knock you down and then run away without finding +out if he had hurt you."</p> + +<p>"I don't know how that may be," said the man seriously. "But +whoever it was that ran me down did me a bad turn. I can't find +my name--or who I am--or where I belong. I tell you what it is, +Billy Long, that is a serious condition for anybody to be +in."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's so," admitted the boy. "And you got your leg +broken, too, in two places."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind much about the broken leg," said the man who had +lost his name. "What I am sore about, Billy Long, is not having +any name to use. It--it is awfully embarrassing."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I guess it is."</p> + +<p>"So, you see, I don't feel very kindly toward this Sweet boy, +if he was the one who knocked me down."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I'm sure he isn't the one."</p> + +<p>"Why are you so sure?"</p> + +<p>"Because he wouldn't be so mean about it, and lie, and all, if +he had done it. You see, a boy who has been so nice to me as he +has, couldn't really be so mean as all that to anybody else."</p> + +<p>"Not conclusive," said the man. "You only make a statement. +You don't offer proof."</p> + +<p>"But I--Well!" ejaculated Billy, "I'd do most anything to make +you see that Purt <i>couldn't</i> be guilty of knocking you +down."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you," said the man without a name, smiling again, +"I haven't any particular hard feelings against your friend. Or I +wouldn't have if I could get my name and memory back. So you find +out some way of helping me recover my memory--you and your young +friends, Billy Long--and I'll forgive the Sweet boy, whether he +hurt me or not."</p> + +<p>"Suppose the cops arrest him?" asked Billy worriedly.</p> + +<p>"I'll do all I can to keep them from annoying Sweet if you +boys and girls can find out who I am and where I belong," +declared the man, laughing somewhat ruefully.</p> + +<p>And Billy shook hands on that To his mind the task was not +impossible.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXIX">CHAPTER XIX</h1> + +<h2 align="center">LAURA LISTENS</h2> + +<p>Laura Belding had evolved an idea regarding "Mr. Nemo of +Nowhere," as Bobby dubbed the stranger at the hospital. In fact, +she had two ideas which were entwined in her thought. But up to +this point she had found no time to work out either.</p> + +<p>She had taken nobody into her confidence; for Mother Wit was +not one to "tell all she knew in a minute." On both points Laura +desired to consider her way with caution.</p> + +<p>She went shopping with her mother to several stores on Market +Street one afternoon, skipping the rehearsal of "The Rose Garden" +for this purpose. The Christmas crowds were greater than she had +ever seen them before. But the enthusiasm for the Red Cross drive +had by no means faltered in spite of the season.</p> + +<p>Ember Night had gathered nearly five thousand dollars for the +cause. Laura treasured a very nicely worded letter of +appreciation from the mayor's secretary, thanking the Central +High girl for her suggestion, which had proved so efficacious in +money-raising. Laura was not exhibiting this letter to very many +people, but she was secretly proud of it.</p> + +<p>In every store she entered Laura saw a Red Cross booth, while +collectors with padlocked boxes were weaving in and out among the +shoppers.</p> + +<p>"Give Again! Warranted Not to Hurt You!" was the slogan. +Wearing a Red Cross button did not absolve one from being +solicited.</p> + +<p>And she saw that the people were giving with a smile. +Centerport was still enthusiastic over the drive. Laura seriously +considered what she and her Central High girl friends were trying +to do for the fund. Would the play be a success? If they only +gave one performance and the audience was not enthusiastic enough +to warrant a second, and then a third, she would consider that +they had failed.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden, while she was thinking of this very serious +fact, Laura came face to face with Janet Steele.</p> + +<p>"You are just the girl I wished most to see, Janet!" cried the +Central High girl.</p> + +<p>"I always want to see you, Laura Belding," declared the Red +Cross girl, who was evidently off duty and homeward bound.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, dear," Laura said. "You must prove that. I want +you to do me a favor."</p> + +<p>"What can I possibly do for you?" laughed Janet. "Hurry and +tell me."</p> + +<p>"You may not be so willing after you hear what it is."</p> + +<p>"You doubt my willingness to prove my friendship?" demanded +Janet soberly.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it! But, listen here." She told Janet swiftly +what she desired, and from the sparkle in her eyes and the rising +flush in her face it was easily seen that Laura had not asked a +favor that Janet would not willingly give.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but my dear!" she cried, "I shall have to ask +mother."</p> + +<p>"I presume you will," said Laura, smiling. "Shall I go along +with you and see what she says?"</p> + +<p>"Can you?"</p> + +<p>"I have done all my mother's errands--look at these bundles," +said Laura. "We might as well have this matter settled at once. +Your mother won't mind my coming in this way, will she?"</p> + +<p>"You may come in any way you wish, and any time you wish, my +dear," said Janet warmly. "Mother very much approves of you."</p> + +<p>"It is sweet of you to say so," returned the girl of Central +High. "I shall be quite sure she approves of me if she lets you +do what I want in this case, Janet," and she laughed again as +they turned off the busy main street into a quieter one.</p> + +<p>The invalid was at the long window, and beckoned to Laura to +come in before she saw that that was the visitor's intention.</p> + +<p>"I cannot begin to tell you how delighted we are to have you +girls call," Mrs. Steele said, when she had greeted both her +daughter and Laura with a kiss. "It would be so nice if Janet +could go to school; then she might bring home a crowd of young +folks every afternoon," and the invalid laughed.</p> + +<p>"But, you see, Miss Belding, I am so trying in the morning. It +does seem that it is all Aunt Jinny and Janet can do to get me +out of my bed, and dressed, and fed, and seated here on my throne +for the day."</p> + +<p>"It seems too bad that the weather is not so you can go out," +Laura said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I almost never go out," Mrs. Steele replied. "Though I +tell Janet that when spring comes, if we can only get the agent +to repair that porch, she can wheel me back and forth on it in my +chair."</p> + +<p>"Better than that, dear Mrs. Steele," Laura promised, "we will +come with our car and take you for a ride all over Centerport, +and along the Lakeside Drive. It is beautiful in the spring."</p> + +<p>"How nice of you!" cried the invalid. "But that, of course, +depends upon whether we are in Centerport when the pleasant +weather comes," said Mrs. Steele sadly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Laura, "do you mean that you think of +going away?"</p> + +<p>"Now, Mother!" murmured Janet, as though the thought was +repugnant to her, too.</p> + +<p>"How can we tell?" cried the invalid, just a little excitedly. +"You know, Janet, if we should hear of your uncle----"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mother!" sighed the girl, "I do wish you would give up +hope of Uncle Jack's ever turning up again."</p> + +<p>"Don't talk that way," said her mother sharply. "You do not +know Jack as I do. He was only my half brother, but the very +nicest boy who ever lived. Why, he gave up all his share of the +income from my father's estate to me, and went off to the wilds +to seek his own fortune.</p> + +<p>"How was he to know that some of the investments poor father +made would turn out badly, and that our income would be reduced +to a mere pittance? For I tell you, Miss Belding," added the +invalid less vehemently, "that we have almost nothing, divided by +three, to live on. That is, an income for one must support us +three. Aunt Jinny is one of us, you know."</p> + +<p>"Now, Mother!" begged Janet "Sha'n't I get tea for us?"</p> + +<p>"Of course! What am I thinking of?" returned her mother. "Tell +Aunt Jinny to make it in the flowered teapot I fancy the flowered +teapot to-day--and the blue-striped cups and saucers.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Miss Belding, what the complete delight of +wealth is? It is an ability to see variety about one in the home. +You need not use the same old cups and saucers every day! If I +were rich I would have the furniture changed in my room every few +days. Sameness is my <i>bête noire</i>."</p> + +<p>"It must be very hard for you, shut in so much," said Laura +quietly.</p> + +<p>"And poor Janet is shut in a good deal of the time with me, +and suffers because of my crotchets. Ah, if we could only find +Jack Weld--my half brother, you know, Miss Belding. He went away +to make his fortune, and I believe he made it. He has probably +settled down somewhere, in good health and with plenty, and +without an idea as to our situation. He never was a letter +writer. And he had every reason to suppose that we were well +fixed for life. Then, we have moved about so much----"</p> + +<p>Janet came back with the tea things. Mrs. Steele left the +subject of her brother, and Laura found opportunity of broaching +the matter on which she had come. What she wished Janet to do +pleased the latter's mother immensely. She was, in fact, +delighted.</p> + +<p>"How nice of you to suggest it, Miss Belding," said Mrs. +Steele. "I know Janet will be glad to do it. Will you not, +Janet?"</p> + +<p>"I--I'll try," said her daughter, flushed and excited at the +prospect Laura's suggestion opened before her.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXX">CHAPTER XX</h1> + +<h2 align="center">TWO THINGS ABOUT HESTER</h2> + +<p>Scarcely was Bobby Hargrew of a happier disposition and of +more volatile temperament than the Lockwood twins. Dora and +Dorothy, while still chubby denizens of the nursery, saw that the +world was bound to be full of fun for them if they attacked it in +the right spirit.</p> + +<p>Dora and Dorothy's mother had died when they were very small, +and the twins had been left to the mercy of relatives and +servants, some of whom did not understand the needs of the +growing girls as their mother would have done. Much of this is +told in "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna."</p> + +<p>Almost as soon as the twins could stagger about in infant +explorations of the house and grounds, they were wont to exchange +the red and blue ribbons tied on their dimpled wrists by their +nurse to tell them apart. For never were two creatures so +entirely alike as Dora and Dorothy Lockwood.</p> + +<p>And they had grown to maidenhood with, seemingly, the same +features, the same voices, the same tastes, and with an unbounded +love for and confidence in each other. As they always dressed +alike nobody could be sure which was Dora and which Dorothy.</p> + +<p>Now that they were well along in high school, the twins had +been put on their honor not to recite for each other or to help +each other in any unfair way. There really was a very close tie +between them--almost an uncanny chord of harmony. Indeed, if one +was punished the other wept!</p> + +<p>The teachers of Central High were fond of the twins--all save +Miss Carrington. Her attitude of considering the pupils her +deadly enemies extended to the happy-go-lucky sisters. She did +not believe there was such a thing as "school-girl honor." That +is why she had such a hard time with her pupils.</p> + +<p>In the play the girls of Central High were rehearsing, Dora +and Dorothy played two distinct characters. Makeup and costume +made this possible. But at the first dress rehearsal the twins +pretty nearly broke up the scene in which they both appeared on +the stage, by reciting each other's parts.</p> + +<p>Dora was an old, old woman--a village witch with a cane--while +Dorothy was a frisky young matron from the city. When they met by +the rustic well in the rose garden, haunted by that "dark lady" +who was giving Mr. Mann so much trouble, Dora uttered the +sprightly lines of her blooming sister, while the latter mouthed +the old hag's prophecies.</p> + +<p>It was ridiculous, of course, and the girls could not go on +with the rehearsal for some minutes because of their laughter. +But Mr. Mann was not so well pleased. Dora and Dorothy promised +not to do it again.</p> + +<p>"If I'd done anything like that, you'd all have jumped on me," +Hester Grimes declared with a sniff. "It wouldn't have been +considered funny at all."</p> + +<p>"And it wouldn't have been," murmured Jess to Laura.</p> + +<p>"There is one thing about you, Hessie," said Bobby, in her +most honeyed tone, "that 'precludes,' as Gee Gee would say, your +doing such a thing."</p> + +<p>"What's that, Miss Smarty?"</p> + +<p>"You are not twins," declared Bobby, with gravity. "So you +could not very well play that trick."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my!" murmured Nellie, "what would we do if Hester were +twins?"</p> + +<p>"Don't mention it!" begged Jess. "The thought is +terrifying."</p> + +<p>But there proved to be a second thing about Hester which came +out prominently within the week. This was something that not many +of the girls of Central High had suspected before the moment of +revelation.</p> + +<p>The first performance of "The Rose Garden" was set for Friday +night. There would follow a matinee and evening performance on +Saturday--provided, of course, the first performance encouraged +the managers to go on with the production.</p> + +<p>"It all depends," sighed Jess, bearing a deal of the +responsibility for the success of the piece on her young +shoulders. "If we are punk, then nobody will come back to see the +show a second time, or advise other folks to see it. And if we +don't make a heap of money for the Red Cross, after all the +advertising we've had, what will folks think of us?"</p> + +<p>They were really all worried by the fear of failure. All but +Hester. She did not appear to care. And it did seem as though +every time she rehearsed she made the "dark lady" of the rose +garden more wooden and impossible than before.</p> + +<p>At length Mr. Mann had given her up as hopeless. It seemed +impossible to make Hester act like a human being even, let alone +like a graceful lady.</p> + +<p>"So you see, now that he lets me alone, I do very well," +asserted Hester, with vast assurance and a characteristic toss of +her head. "I knew I was right all the time. Now, finally, Mr. +Mann admits it."</p> + +<p>When she said this to Lily, even Lily had her doubts. When +Bobby heard her say it, she fairly hooted her scorn.</p> + +<p>Of course, Hester instantly flew into a rage with Bobby. This +was only two days before the fateful Friday and before +recitations in the morning. The girls had gathered in the main +lower corridor of Central High. The bell for classes had not yet +rung.</p> + +<p>"I'll show you how smart you are, Clara Hargrew!" Hester +almost screamed. "I've a good mind to slap you!"</p> + +<p>"That might make me smart, Hess," drawled the smaller girl +coolly. "But it would not change the facts in the case at all. +You are spoiling the whole play--the most effective scenes in it, +too--by your obstinacy. Mr. Mann has given you up as a bad egg, +that's all. If the play is a failure, it will be your fault."</p> + +<p>And for once Laura Belding did not interfere to stop Bobby's +tart tongue. Perhaps the bell for assembly rang too quickly for +Mother Wit to interfere. At any rate, before Hester could make +any rejoinder, they were hurrying in to their seats.</p> + +<p>But the big girl was in a towering rage. She was fairly pale, +she was so angry. Her teeth were clenched. Her eyes sparkled +wrathfully. She was in no mood to face Miss Grace G. Harrington, +who chanced to have the juniors before her for mediæval +history during the first period on this Wednesday morning.</p> + +<p>Naturally, with the first performance of the play but two days +away, those girls who were to act in it could not give their +undivided attention to recitations. But Miss Carrington had +determined to make no concessions.</p> + +<p>She was firmly convinced that Central High should support no +such farcical production as "The Rose Garden." Anything +classical--especially if it were beyond the acting ability of the +girls--would have pleased the obstinate woman.</p> + +<p>"Something," as Nellie said, "in which we would all be draped +in Greek style, in sheets, and wear sandals and flesh colored +hose, covered from neck to instep, and with long speeches in +blank verse to mouth. That is the sort of a performance to +satisfy Miss Carrington."</p> + +<p>"Amen!" agreed Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Wait till she sees Bobby's knickers," chuckled Dora Lockwood. +"You know Gee Gee always looks as though she wanted to put on +blinders when she comes into the girls' gym."</p> + +<p>Of course, these remarks were not passed in history class. But +Dora was somehow inattentive just the same on this morning. She +sat on one side of Hester Grimes and Dorothy on the other. The +angry girl between the twins looked like a vengeful high +priestess of Trouble--and Trouble appeared.</p> + +<p>Miss Carrington asked Dora a direct question, speaking her +name as she always did, and glaring at the twin in question +near-sightedly, in an endeavor to see the girl's lips move when +she answered. She was sure of Dora's seat; but, of course, she +could not be sure whether Dora or Dorothy was sitting in it. Her +refusal to accept the fact that the twins were on their honor +kept Miss Carrington in doubt.</p> + +<p>"Relate some incident, with date, in the life of Saladin, +Dora," the teacher commanded.</p> + +<p>Dora hesitated. This was a "jump question," as the pupils +called it. Miss Carrington, as she frequently did, had gone back +several lessons for this query, and Dora was hazy about +Saladin.</p> + +<p>"Come, Dora!" ejaculated the teacher harshly. "Have you no +answer?"</p> + +<p>Dorothy leaned forward to look across Hester's desk at her +sister. She was anxious that Dora should not fail. She would have +imparted, could she have done so, her knowledge of Saladin to her +twin. But there was only nervous anxiety in her look and +manner.</p> + +<p>The moment Dora's lips opened and she began her reply, Hester +turned sharply and stared at Dorothy. It was a despicable +trick--a mean and contemptible attempt to get the twins into +trouble. And Hester did it deliberately.</p> + +<p>She knew that Miss Carrington was much more near-sighted than +she was willing to acknowledge. Seeing Hester look at Dorothy +caused the teacher to believe that Dorothy was answering for her +sister.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" commanded Miss Carrington, rising quickly from her +seat on the platform.</p> + +<p>Dora, who had begun very well at last, halted in her answer +and looked surprised. Miss Carrington was glaring now at +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"How dare you, Dorothy Lockwood?" she demanded, her face quite +red with anger. "There is no trusting any of you girls. +Cheat!"</p> + +<p>There was a sudden intake of breath all over the room. Some of +the girls looked positively horror-stricken. For the teacher to +use such an expression shocked Laura, and Jess, and Nellie for an +instant, as though the word had been addressed to them +personally.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" gasped Jess.</p> + +<p>The teacher flashed her a glance. "Silence, Miss Morse!"</p> + +<p>Dorothy had risen slowly to her feet. "What--what do you mean, +Miss Carrington?" she whispered. "Do you say I--I have +<i>cheated?"</i></p> + +<p>"Cheat!" repeated the teacher, with an index finger pointing +Dorothy down. "I saw you. I heard you. You started to answer for +your sister."</p> + +<p>"I did not!" cried the accused girl.</p> + +<p>"She certainly did not, Miss Carrington!" repeated Dora, +rising likewise.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" exclaimed Miss Carrington. "I would not believe +either of you. You are both disgracing your classmates and +Central High."</p> + +<p>A sibilant hiss rose in the back of the room. The girls were +more angry at this outburst of the teacher than all of them dared +show.</p> + +<p>Dorothy burst into a fit of weeping. She covered her face with +her hands and ran out of the room. Dora, defying Miss Carrington, +muttered:</p> + +<p>"Ugly, mean thing!"</p> + +<p>Then she ran after her sister. The room was in tense +excitement. Miss Carrington saw suddenly that she positively had +nobody on her side. She began to question the girls immediately +surrounding the twins' seats.</p> + +<p>"You saw her answer for her sister, Miss Morse?"</p> + +<p>"I did not," declared Jess icily.</p> + +<p>"Were you not looking at Dorothy, Laura?" asked the +teacher.</p> + +<p>"No, Miss Carrington. I was looking at Dora."</p> + +<p>"And Dora answered!" cried the usually gentle and retiring +Nellie Agnew.</p> + +<p>"Why----Miss Grimes!" exclaimed the disturbed teacher. "You +know that Dorothy was answering for her sister?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Miss Carrington," denied Hester.</p> + +<p>"But you looked at her?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"What for?" snapped the teacher.</p> + +<p>"Why," drawled Hester, "that pin Dorothy wears in her blouse +was on crooked and it attracted my attention."</p> + +<p>That was the second thing about Hester Grimes. She was not +alone a dunce when it came to acting, she was a prevaricator as +well.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXXI">CHAPTER XXI</h1> + +<h2 align="center">AND A THIRD THING</h2> + +<p>What might have happened following this explosion of bad +temper and ill-feeling, had Mr. Sharp himself not entered the +room, nobody will ever know. Miss Carrington had been led into a +most unjust and unkind criticism of the Lockwood twins. She had +been deliberately led into it by Hester Grimes. She knew Hester +had done this.</p> + +<p>The other girls knew it, too; and they all, the young folks, +believed that the teacher had been most cruel and unfair.</p> + +<p>Mr. Sharp could not have failed to appreciate the fact that +there was a tense feeling in the room that never arose from an +ordinary recitation in mediæval history. But he smilingly +overlooked anything of the kind.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Miss Carrington--and you, young ladies," he said, +bowing and smiling. "I have been in the senior classes, and now I +am here to make the same statement I made there, and that I shall +make to the sophomores later. May I speak to your class, Miss +Carrington?"</p> + +<p>Miss Carrington could not find her voice, but she bowed her +permission for the principal to go on.</p> + +<p>"Several of you young ladies," said Mr. Sharp, "are to take +part in the play on Friday evening. Your work, in school, I fear, +is being scamped a bit. Do the best you can; give your interest +and attention as well as you may to the recitations.</p> + +<p>"But I wish to announce that, until after this week, we +teachers will excuse such failures as you may make in your work; +only, of course, all faults will have to be made up after the +holidays. We want you to give the play in a way to bring honor +upon the school as a whole.</p> + +<p>"I have enjoyed your last two rehearsals, and feel confident +that, with a few raw spots smoothed over, you will produce 'The +Rose Garden' in a way to please your friends and satisfy your +critics. The faculty as a whole feel as I do about it. Go in and +win!"</p> + +<p>The little speech cleared the atmosphere of the class-room +immediately. It did not please Miss Carrington, of course; but +the girls felt that they could even forgive her after what Mr. +Sharp had said.</p> + +<p>Dora and Dorothy Lockwood had been insulted and maligned. They +did not appear again at that recitation.</p> + +<p>"But do you think old Gee Gee would say that she was wrong, +and beg their pardon?" demanded Bobby, at recess. "Not on your +life!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that a teacher in her situation could publicly +acknowledge she was utterly in the wrong," Laura observed +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I would like to know why not?" demanded Jess Morse.</p> + +<p>"Why, you see, the fault really lies upon the conscience of +one of us girls," said Laura, looking significantly at +Hester.</p> + +<p>The latter turned furiously, as though she had been waiting +for and expecting just this criticism. But surely she had not +expected it from this source. All the girls were amazed to hear +Laura speak so harshly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Laura!" murmured Jess. "Now you have done it! She's going +to blow up!"</p> + +<p>"And she'll leave us flat on the play business," groaned +Bobby.</p> + +<p>Hester came across the reception room to Laura with flashing +eyes and her face mottled with rage.</p> + +<p>"What is that you say, Laura Belding?" she demanded.</p> + +<p>"I will repeat it," said Laura firmly. "The whole trouble is +on your conscience. You deliberately led Miss Carrington +astray."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I did, did I?"</p> + +<p>"You most certainly did. Miss Carrington was both cruel to +Dora and Dorothy and unfair. But you knew her failing, and you +led her to believe that Dorothy was answering the question she +put to Dora. No wonder Miss Carrington was angered."</p> + +<p>"Is that so?" sneered Hester. "And who are you, to tell me +when I'm wrong?"</p> + +<p>"Somebody has to tell you, Hester," said Jess sweetly, for she +was bound to take up cudgels for her chum.</p> + +<p>"And you can mind your business, too, Jess Morse!" snarled +Hester.</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear!" Nellie begged. "Let us not quarrel."</p> + +<p>Yet for once Mother Wit seemed determined upon making trouble. +Usually acting as peacemaker, the girls around her were amazed to +hear her say:</p> + +<p>"You are quite in the wrong, Hester. And you know it. You +should beg Miss Carrington's pardon; and you should ask pardon of +all of us, as well as of Dora and Dorothy, for disgracing the +class."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" screamed Hester Grimes. "Do you suppose I +would tell old Gee Gee that it was my fault?"</p> + +<p>"You deliberately prevaricated--to her and to us," said Laura +calmly.</p> + +<p>"Call me a story-teller, do you?" cried the butcher's +daughter. "How dare you! I'll get even with you, Laura +Belding!"</p> + +<p>"It is the truth," Laura said, slowly and firmly.</p> + +<p>"I'll fix you for this, Laura Belding!" pursued Hester, +trembling with rage. She turned to sweep them all with her angry +glance. "I'll fix you all! I won't have anything to do with any +of you out of school--so there! And I won't act in your hateful +old play!"</p> + +<p>She ran out of the room as she said this and left the +girls--at least, most of them--in a state of blank despair. The +bell rang for the next session before anybody could speak.</p> + +<p>Laura seemed quite calm and unruffled. The others got through +their recitations as best they could until lunch hour. Jess and +Bobby caught up with Laura on the street when the latter went out +for her customary walk.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Laura! What shall we do?" almost wept Jess. "Only two +days! Nobody can learn that part--not even as good as Hester knew +it--before Friday night."</p> + +<p>At that moment Chet Belding appeared from around the corner. +He was red and almost breathless--in a high state of excitement, +and no mistake.</p> + +<p>"What do you think, girls?" he cried, "We got a line on Purt +Sweet's automobile and why he has been hiding about where it was +that Saturday night the man from Alaska was hurt."</p> + +<p>"What is it? Tell us?" asked Laura.</p> + +<p>"I met Dan Smith. He goes to the East High, you know, and he +lives across the street from the Grimes' place. You know?"</p> + +<p>"Hester Grimes?" cried Jess.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Your dear friend. Well, Dan was up all night that night +with a raging toothache. He said the Grimes' had a party. Purt +was there with his car. Dan knows the car was taken away from the +house and was gone more than an hour that evening, and that Purt +did not go with the car.</p> + +<p>"See? He's shielding somebody--the poor fish!" added Chet. +"That is what Short and Long has been saying. Now, what do you +know about that?"</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXXII">CHAPTER XXII</h1> + +<h2 align="center">THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT</h2> + +<p>The news Chet had divulged was so exciting that the girls +quite forgot for the time being the wreck that Hester Grimes +seemed to have made of the forthcoming performance of "The Rose +Garden."</p> + +<p>Their chattering tongues mentioned Hester more than once, +however, as they discussed Chet's news. Whether Purt Sweet's car +had run down the man from Alaska or not, what did Hester know +about it?</p> + +<p>"Can it be possible that Purt is shielding Hester in this +matter?" Laura queried gravely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it couldn't be! She wasn't in that car that knocked down +Mr. Nemo of Nowhere," Bobby declared emphatically.</p> + +<p>"He has always favored Hester and Lil," Jess</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" again put in the irrepressible. "That's only because +Pretty Sweet thinks there is nothing in this world so good or +great as money; and both the Grimes and the Pendleton families +have got oodles of it."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about that," Chet said quite as thoughtfully as +his sister. "It may not be their folks' money that attracts Purt +to those two girls."</p> + +<p>"What then?" demanded Bobby.</p> + +<p>"They flatter him. He can lap that up like our cat laps +cream."</p> + +<p>"That is true," agreed Jess Morse.</p> + +<p>"Certainly we don't flatter, him," Bobby said bluntly.</p> + +<p>"It may be that we have never given Purt a fair deal," Laura +observed. "Hester and Lil do not make fun of him."</p> + +<p>"And is he paying Hester back by shouldering something for +her?" Jess asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she never was in that car when it was taken away from +where Purt had it parked before the Grimes' house," Chet hastened +to declare with assurance. "I got all the facts from Dan Smith. +He'd swear to them."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear the particulars," begged Laura.</p> + +<p>"Why, Dan says he was up at his window on the third floor of +their house watching the lights in the Grimes' house. It was a +big party. Dancing on the lower floor, and a crowd of folks. He +saw two men--or maybe boys--run out of the side door and down to +the gate, as though they were sneaking away from some of the +others, you know."</p> + +<p>"Well?" his sister responded. "Go on."</p> + +<p>"Dan didn't know the fellows. Fact was, he couldn't see their +faces very well, and so he could not be sure of their identity in +any case."</p> + +<p>"The street is pretty wide there, it's a fact," murmured +Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Those two fellows looked back as though they expected to be +spied upon. But they went to the car, found it was all right +(Purt had the radiator blanketed) and got in. The starter worked, +and she got into action as slick as a whistle, Dan said. He +thought it was all right or he would have raised the window and +halloaed at 'em. There were no girls with them. The two fellows +went off alone in the car."</p> + +<p>"There were two men in the car that struck Mr. Nemo of +Nowhere," murmured Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Purt appeared, Dan says, after a little while and looked for +the car. He got quite excited. Asked everybody that came along if +they had seen it. He was in a stew for fair. And while he was +running up and down, popping off like an engine exhaust, back +came the car with only one of the fellows in it."</p> + +<p>"Ha! The mystery deepens," said Jess, in mock tragic tones. +"What became of the other villain?"</p> + +<p>"You answer that question," grinned Chet. "You asked it!"</p> + +<p>"But what happened then?" asked Laura interestedly.</p> + +<p>"There was a row between Purt and the fellow who brought back +the car. Purt pointed to the mudguard on the off side, as though +it had been bent, or scraped in some way----"</p> + +<p>"That's what struck the man as he fell on Market Street," +interrupted Bobby with confidence. "I saw it hit him."</p> + +<p>"It was blood on the guard," said Laura.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my!" gasped Jess. "Do you suppose so?"</p> + +<p>"Like enough," Chet agreed. "But it was too far away for Dan +to see. And finally Purt drove off without returning to the house +with the other fellow."</p> + +<p>"But who was he?" Jess asked.</p> + +<p>"Who?"</p> + +<p>"The fellow Purt quarreled with for taking the car."</p> + +<p>"Give it up," said Chet, shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"And what became of the other man?" Laura queried.</p> + +<p>"There were two in the car when it hit the man from Alaska," +Jess declared.</p> + +<p>"Gee!" ejaculated Bobby. "There's the nine-ten express +west"</p> + +<p>"Who----What do you mean, young one?" demanded Chet.</p> + +<p>"'Young one' yourself!" snapped Clara Hargrew, immediately on +her dignity. "There are no medals on you for age, Chet +Belding."</p> + +<p>"Or whiskers, either," laughed Laura, slyly eyeing her +brother, for she was aware that he had a safety razor hidden away +in his bureau drawer.</p> + +<p>"Come, come!" said Jess, "What about this nine-ten express +Bobby spoke of?"</p> + +<p>"Why," said the younger girl, "I noticed Mr. Belding's +clock--the big chronometer in the show window--as we came out of +the store that Saturday evening. It was just nine o'clock when we +stood there and saw Mr. Nemo of Nowhere run down by the car. +Anybody driving that car could have made the railroad station +just about in time for the ten minutes' past nine express--the +Cannon Ball, don't they call it?"</p> + +<p>"That is the train," admitted Laura. "But why----"</p> + +<p>"Just wait a minute. Give me time," advised Bobby. "That car +that did the damage was headed for the station."</p> + +<p>"True," murmured Jess. "At least, it was going in that +direction."</p> + +<p>"And when Purt's car came back to the Grimes' house after +those two fellows Dan Smith saw run away with it, there was only +one person in the car. The second individual had been +dropped."</p> + +<p>"At the station!" exclaimed Chet, catching the idea. "That is +why they stole Purt's car."</p> + +<p>"I declare," Laura said. "Your idea sounds very reasonable, +Bobby."</p> + +<p>"Bobby is right there with the brainworks," said Chet, with +admiration.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said Bobby, "I'm not altogether 'non compos mend-us,' as +the fellow said."</p> + +<p>Chet was very serious, after all. "I tell you what," he +blurted out, "if Purt won't help himself with the police, maybe +we can get him out of the muss in spite of all."</p> + +<p>"Why does he want to act the donkey?" demanded Jess.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure he is?" asked Laura thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I tell you," said the excited Chet, "we can find out who had +to leave Hester Grimes' party to catch that express. It ought to +be a good lead. What do you think, Laura?"</p> + +<p>"I am wondering," said Mother Wit, "if we have always been +fair to Prettyman Sweet? Of course, he is silly in some ways, and +dresses ridiculously, and is not much of a sport. But if he is +keeping still about this matter so as not to make trouble for +Hester, or any of her folks, there is something fine in his +action, don't you think?"</p> + +<p>"Well--yes," admitted Jess. "It would seem so."</p> + +<p>"I never thought of poor Purt as a chivalrous knight," said +Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Maybe Laura is right," remarked Chet, rather grudgingly.</p> + +<p>"He is much more of a gentleman, perhaps, than we have given +him credit for being," Laura concluded. "I hope it is proved so +in the end."</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</h1> + +<h2 align="center">THE LAST REHEARSAL</h2> + +<p>That afternoon, when the girls gathered for rehearsal, Hester, +nor anybody else, appeared to play "the dark lady of the roses." +Mr. Mann made no comment upon this fact, but he looked very +serious, indeed.</p> + +<p>The play was acted from the first entrance to the final +curtain. The other characters had to speak of, and even to, the +important and missing character, and it was plain to all as the +play progressed that the absence of "the dark lady" was going to +be a fatal hindrance to the success of the piece.</p> + +<p>Even Lily Pendleton, Hester's last lingering friend, showed a +good deal of spleen at Hester's action.</p> + +<p>"I never will forgive Hessie," Lily said, almost in tears. And +the other girls had to urge her over and over again to be sure +and come herself on Thursday for the last dress rehearsal.</p> + +<p>"If the piece is wrecked, let us be castaways together," +begged Jess. "Don't anybody else fail. Promise, girls!"</p> + +<p>They promised sadly. Mr. Mann had hurried away as soon as the +last words were said.</p> + +<p>"Too disgusted to even speak to us," Nellie said sadly. "I am +real sorry for him, girls. He has tried so hard."</p> + +<p>"He deserves a leather medal," said Bobby emphatically.</p> + +<p>"And what do we deserve?" demanded one of the twins.</p> + +<p>"I know what Hester Grimes deserves," said Bobby darkly.</p> + +<p>It was not likely, however, that Hester Grimes would get her +deserts. They were all agreed on that point, if on no other.</p> + +<p>That Wednesday afternoon when the girls separated it was with +drooping spirits--all but Laura Belding, at least. Perhaps it was +because she always had so many irons in the fire that trouble +seemed to roll off her young shoulders like rainwater off a +duck's feathers.</p> + +<p>At least, when she started for the street car that took her to +the hospital before she went home, she was cheerful of +countenance and smiling. She carried that same cheerfulness into +the hospital itself and to Billy Long's ward.</p> + +<p>The active Billy was, as he himself expressed it, "fed up" on +the hospital by now. He was grateful for what they had done for +him there and the way in which they treated him in every way, but +confinement was beginning to wear on his spirits.</p> + +<p>"Gee, Laura Belding!" ejaculated the young patient, seizing +her hand with both his own when she appeared, "a sight of you is +just a stop-station this side of eternity. Have they changed the +hours? Aren't they twice as long as they used to be?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, my poor boy," Laura said. "There are only sixty +minutes in each. I wish I could shorten the time for you."</p> + +<p>"Take it from me," growled Short and Long, having hard work to +keep back the tears, "this being in bed is the bunk. Don't let +anybody tell you different."</p> + +<p>But Laura caught his attention the next moment with Purt +Sweet's trouble. What Chet had found out from Dan Smith, Hester +Grimes' neighbor, interested the quick mind of Billy Long +immensely.</p> + +<p>"Gee! I knew it must be something like that. Sure! Purt is +shielding somebody for Hester. That's it!"</p> + +<p>"Have you no idea who it can be? The man who drove the car, I +mean, or the one who possibly took the nine-ten express out of +town that night? Hester has no brothers----"</p> + +<p>"Say!" exclaimed Billy, "there is somebody who will know. If +Purt was there at the party, so was Lil Pendleton."</p> + +<p>"Lily!" exclaimed Laura. "I never thought of her."</p> + +<p>"And if she is likely to be sore on Hester now, as you say you +all are," Billy continued, "she won't be for shielding Hester or +any of her friends or relatives. Let me tell you that!"</p> + +<p>"I believe she must have been at the party. Hester invites her +to everything of the kind she has; although she seldom invites +any of the other girls of Central High."</p> + +<p>"Go to it!" urged the patient "Ask Lil Pendleton. I'd like to +have Purt cleared of this. I told that man from Alaska so. But, +gee, Laura! I wish we could find some way of giving him the right +steer."</p> + +<p>"You mean you would like to help him find his name and +identity?"</p> + +<p>"Yep. He says sometimes he feels that he is just going to +remember--then it all dissipates in his mind like a cloud. He's +bad off, he is!"</p> + +<p>"I am going to see him now. I have an idea, Billy."</p> + +<p>"You're always full of ideas, Laura," the boy said admiringly. +"I've been raking my poor nut back and forth and crossways, +without getting a glimmer of an idea how to help him. He says if +we can show him how to find his memory, he'll do all he can for +Purt," Billy added wistfully.</p> + +<p>"You are very anxious to help Prettyman Sweet, aren't you, +Billy?" suggested the girl of Central High as she rose to go.</p> + +<p>"You bet I am."</p> + +<p>"Why? You boys never thought much of him before, you +know."</p> + +<p>Billy flushed, but he stuck to his guns. "I tell you," he +said, "we never gave Purt a fair deal, I guess. He's all right. +He isn't like Chet, or Lance, or Reddy Butts, or the rest of the +fellows, but there's good parts to Purt."</p> + +<p>"You think he has proved himself a better fellow than you +thought before?"</p> + +<p>"You bet!" said Billy vigorously. "He's been mighty nice to +me; and I always was playing jokes on him, and--Aw! when a fellow +lies like I do in bed and has so much time to think, he gets on +to himself," added the boy gruffly. "Sending dead fish to other +fellows isn't such a smart joke after all."</p> + +<p>"I am going to see your friend, the Alaskan miner, now," the +girl said, squeezing the boy's hand understandingly.</p> + +<p>"If you find out some way of jogging his memory, I'd like to +be in on it," Billy cried.</p> + +<p>"You shall," promised Laura, as she tripped away.</p> + +<p>By this time Laura was so well known at the hospital that +nobody stopped her from going to the unknown man's private room +where he was now established with his particular nurse. He hailed +the girl's appearance almost as gladly as Billy Long had +done.</p> + +<p>"Your bright young faces make you high-school girls--and the +boys, of course--as welcome as can be," he said. "I'd like to do +something when I get out of this hospital in return for all your +kindness to me. But if I can't get a grip on what and who I +am----"</p> + +<p>"I have thought of a way by which we may help you to that," +interjected Laura. "You know, you must have been doing something +all these years since you won your fortune in Alaska."</p> + +<p>"Surely! But what became of my wealth? That is a hard +question."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we can help you find out what you have been doing. +Then you will gradually remember it all. Have you those +bank-notes they say you carried in your pocket when you were +brought in?"</p> + +<p>"Why, they are in the hospital safe. I haven't had to use much +of my money yet," he said, puzzled.</p> + +<p>"I want to look at that money--all of it," said Laura. "It is +too late to-night, but to-morrow afternoon I will come with my +brother, and I wish you would have those bank-notes here. I have +an idea."</p> + +<p>"I'll do just as you say, Miss Laura," said the man. "But I +don't understand----"</p> + +<p>"You will," she told him, laughing, as she hurried away.</p> + +<p>There was, therefore, much puzzlement of mind in several +quarters that night--and Laura Belding was partly at fault. She +retained all her usual placidity, and even on the morrow, when +she went to school and found the other girls so very despondent +about the play, she refused to join in their prophecies of +ill.</p> + +<p>This was the day of the last rehearsal. Mr. Mann had told them +that he wished the actors to rest between this dress rehearsal +and the first public performance of "The Rose Garden" on the +following evening.</p> + +<p>"I just know it will be a dreadful fizzle," wailed Jess, +before Mr. Mann called the rise of the curtain.</p> + +<p>Everything was in readiness, however, for a perfect rehearsal. +The curtain was properly manipulated and the scene shifters, the +light man, and all the other helpers were at their stations, as +well as the orchestra in the pit.</p> + +<p>The girls had been excused from studies at one o'clock--of +course, greatly to Miss Carrington's disapproval. Since her +"run-in" with the Lockwood twins, as Bobby inelegantly called it, +the teacher had been less exacting, although quite as +stern-looking as ever.</p> + +<p>Dora and Dorothy, being cheerful souls, had recovered from +their excitement over the incident in history class, and were so +much interested in their parts in the play now that they forgot +all about Gee Gee's ill treatment.</p> + +<p>Indeed, when the curtain was rung up every girl in the piece +was in a state of excitement. Although they felt that the failure +of the part of "the dark lady of the roses" would utterly ruin +some of the best lines and most telling points in the play, they +were all ready to act their own parts with vigor and a real +appreciation of what those parts meant.</p> + +<p>Bobby, as the sailor lad, came on with a rolling gait that +would have done credit to any "garby" in the Navy. Jess, as the +swashbuckling hero, swaggered about the stage in a delightful +burlesque of such a character, as the author intended the part to +be played.</p> + +<p>Then the lights were lowered for the evening glow and "Adrian" +turned to point out the "dark lady"--that mysterious figure +supposed to haunt the rose garden and for weal or woe influence +the hero's house and his affairs.</p> + +<p>Jess recited her lines roundly, pointing the while to the +garden along the shadowy paths of which the dark lady of the +roses was supposed to wander. With incredible amazement--a shock +that was more real than Jess could possibly have expressed in any +feigned surprise--she beheld the dark lady as the book read, +moving quietly across the garden, gracefully swaying as she +lightly trod the fictitious sod, stooping to pluck and then +kissing the rose, and finally disappearing into the wings with a +flash of brilliant eyes and the revelation of a charming +countenance for the audience.</p> + +<p>It was lucky that this signaled the curtain's fall on the +first act, or Jess Morse would have spoiled her own good work by +the expression of her amazement.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</h1> + +<h2 align="center">MR. NEMO, OF NOWHERE</h2> + +<p>"Who is it?"</p> + +<p>"Can it be Margit Salgo?"</p> + +<p>"How very, very wonderful!"</p> + +<p>These were some of the ejaculations of the girls behind the +scenes.</p> + +<p>At just the right moment the figure of the dark lady had +glided from the dressing-rooms to the wings and gone on at the +cue. Her acting gave just the needed touch to the pretty scene. +Her appearance had been most charming. And, above all, the +surprise had been "such a relief!"</p> + +<p>"I'm so glad Hester got mad with us and refused to act," +sighed Bessie Yeager. "Whoever this girl is, she is fine."</p> + +<p>"Is it a professional Mr. Mann has engaged?" somebody wanted +to know.</p> + +<p>"Laura Belding! Laura Belding!" cried Dora. "What do you know +about it?"</p> + +<p>"I warrant Laura knows all about it," said Jess, recovered +from her amazement. "It is just like Mother Wit to have saved us. +And I believe I recognize that very charming Lady Mystery--do I +not?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't she splendid?" cried Laura, enthusiastically, "I knew +she could do it. And Mr. Mann has been giving her an hour's +training every day for a week."</p> + +<p>"Goodness!" drawled Lily Pendleton, "how did you know Hester +would cut up so mean?"</p> + +<p>"Doesn't she always do something to queer us if she can?" +snapped Bobby. "Laura, you are a wonder!"</p> + +<p>"It is Janet Steele," declared Jess. "Of course! I should have +thought of her myself. She is all right--just the one we +needed."</p> + +<p>And it took some courage on Jess' part for her to say this, +for she knew that Chet Belding had expressed very warm admiration +indeed of Janet Steele.</p> + +<p>The rehearsal went off splendidly after that. Everybody was +encouraged. The rotund little Mr. Mann beamed--"more than ever +like a cherub," Bobby declared. They came to the final curtain +with tremendous applause from the back benches where some of the +faculty sat in the dark.</p> + +<p>"And I do believe," said Nellie Agnew, in almost a scared +voice, "that Gee Gee applauded! Can it be possible, girls? Do you +suppose that for once she gives us credit for knowing a little +something?"</p> + +<p>"If she applauded, her hands slipped by mistake!" grumbled +Bobby. "You know very well that nothing would change Gee Gee's +opinion. Not even an earthquake."</p> + +<p>It was late when the rehearsal was over, and Laura knew that +Chet would be waiting outside with their car. She hurried Jess +and Bobby, and even Janet, into their outer wraps as quickly as +possible.</p> + +<p>"For you might as well go along with us, Janet," Laura said to +the new girl "We're going to the hospital first, but we'll drop +you at your home coming back."</p> + +<p>Just what they were to do at the hospital nobody knew save +Laura and Chet, and they refused to explain. When they arrived at +the institution they went directly to the private room now +occupied by Mr. Nemo of Nowhere.</p> + +<p>Billy Long, up in a chair for the first time, was present to +greet the girls of Central High. And the man from Alaska seemed +particularly glad to see them.</p> + +<p>"Here is the money, Miss Laura," he said, producing a packet +of crisp bank-notes. "I'd give it all to know just who I am. I +seem to be right on the verge of discovering it to-day; yet +something balks me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, look at all that money!" crowed Billy, as Laura accepted +the bills, while Chet, with the help of the interested nurse, +arranged the bed-table and gave the man a pad and a fountain +pen.</p> + +<p>The head surgeon, who had taken a great interest in the case +and with whom Laura had already conferred, tiptoed into the room +and stood to look on.</p> + +<p>"You bankers," said Laura, laughing, and speaking to the +patient, "are always so much better off than ordinary folks. You +pass out any old kind of money to your customers; but you never +see a banker with anything but new bank-notes in his pocket."</p> + +<p>The man listened to her sharply. A sudden quickened interest +appeared in his countenance. The others heard Mother Wit's speech +with growing excitement.</p> + +<p>"See," said the girl of Central High, extracting one of the +bank-notes from the packet "Here is another bill on the Drovers' +Levee Bank, of Osage, Ohio. Did you notice that? Doesn't it sound +familiar to you?"</p> + +<p>She repeated the name of the bank and its locality slowly. +"You have more bills of that same bank. But none like the one you +gave Chet when you bought that lavallière for 'the nice +little girl' you told him you expected to give it to."</p> + +<p>The man stared at her. He seemed enthralled by what she said. +Laura proceeded in her quiet way:</p> + +<p>"Just write this name, please: 'Bedford Knox.' Thanks. Now +write it again. He is cashier of your bank in Osage, Ohio."</p> + +<p>Jess barely stifled a cry with her handkerchief. But everybody +else was silent, watching the man laboriously writing the name as +requested by Laura.</p> + +<p>It was a disappointment. No doubt of that The man did not +write the name as though he were familiar with it at all. But +Laura was still smiling when he looked up at her, almost +childishly, for further directions.</p> + +<p>"Now try this other, please," said the girl firmly. "Two men +always sign bank-notes to make them legal tender. The cashier and +the president The president of the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, +Ohio, is----"</p> + +<p>She hesitated. The man poised his pen over the paper +expectantly. Said Laura, briskly:</p> + +<p>"Write 'Peyton J. Weld.'"</p> + +<p>At her words Janet Steele uttered a startled exclamation. The +man did not notice this. He wrote the name as Laura requested. +Chet, looking over his shoulder and with one of the Osage +bank-notes in his hand for comparison, watched the signature +dashed off in almost perfect imitation of that upon the +bank-note.</p> + +<p>"You guessed it, Mother Wit!" the big boy cried. "Write it +again, Mr. Weld. That is your name as sure as you live!"</p> + +<p>The surgeon stepped quickly to the bedside and his sharp eyes +darted from the bank-note in the boy's hand to the signature his +patient had written. The man looked wonderingly about the room, +his puzzled gaze drifting from one to another of his visitors +until it finally fastened upon the pale countenance of Janet +Steele.</p> + +<p>Catching his eye, the girl stepped forward impulsively, her +hands clasped.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Jack!" she breathed.</p> + +<p>"You--you look quite like your mother used to, my dear," the +man in bed said in rather a strange voice.</p> + +<p>The surgeon eased him back upon the pillows, and at a nod the +nurse sent the visitors out of the room. In the corridor they all +stood amazed, staring at Janet.</p> + +<hr> +<h1 align="center" id="chapXXV">CHAPTER XXV</h1> + +<h2 align="center">IT IS ALL ROUNDED UP</h2> + +<p>"Of course," Lily Pendleton confessed, "I was at Hester's +party,"</p> + +<p>"And Purt Sweet was there?" queried Laura earnestly.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Sweet certainly was present, too," said the other girl. +"You girls need not be so jealous if we are the only two from +Central High that got invited."</p> + +<p>"You can have my share and welcome," said Bobby.</p> + +<p>"And mine, too," confessed Jess.</p> + +<p>"These interrogations are not inspired by jealousy," laughed +Mother Wit.</p> + +<p>It was on Friday as the girls gathered for recitations that +this conversation occurred. Lily Pendleton was inclined to object +to having her intimacy with Hester Grimes inquired into.</p> + +<p>"Do you remember what night that party was held, Lily?" asked +Laura.</p> + +<p>"Why, no. On a Saturday night, I believe."</p> + +<p>"Quite so. And on a particular Saturday night," said +Laura.</p> + +<p>"You said it!" murmured Bobby.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean!" cried Lily Pendleton.</p> + +<p>"But you will before I get through with you," said Laura. +"Now, listen! You know about that man who had his leg broken on +Market Street?"</p> + +<p>"The one the police say Purt ran down with his car?"</p> + +<p>"The same."</p> + +<p>"Of course I do," Lily cried. "And Purt is as innocent as you +are!"</p> + +<p>"Granted," said Laura. "Therefore you will help us explain the +mystery, and so relieve Purt Sweet of suspicion. For he refuses +to say anything himself to the police."</p> + +<p>"Why--why----What do I know about it?" demanded Lily.</p> + +<p>"Do you know that the party was held the very Saturday night +the man was hurt?"</p> + +<p>"No! Was it?"</p> + +<p>"It was. And Purt had his car up there at the Grimes' +house."</p> + +<p>"Did he? I didn't know. He went away early, I believe."</p> + +<p>"And earlier still a couple of boys, or men, borrowed Purt's +car without his knowing it--until afterward," Laura declared +earnestly. "One of those fellows had to catch a train."</p> + +<p>"Why, that was Hester's cousin, Jeff Rounds! He lives at +Norridge. Don't you know?"</p> + +<p>"Who was the other fellow?" asked Laura sharply.</p> + +<p>"Why--I----Oh! it must have been Tom Langley. He lives next +door to Hester. Do you know," said Lily, preening a little, "I +think Tom is kind of sweet on Hessie."</p> + +<p>"Good night!" moaned Bobby. "What is the matter with him? Is +he blind?"</p> + +<p>"He must have had very bad eyesight or he would not have run +down that poor Mr. Weld on Market Street!" exclaimed Jess +tartly.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" gasped Lily. "Tom Langley has gone away +for the winter anyway. He went suddenly----"</p> + +<p>"Right after that party, I bet a cooky," cried Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Well--ye-es," admitted Lily.</p> + +<p>"Scared!" exclaimed Jess.</p> + +<p>"The coward!" cried Laura.</p> + +<p>"And left poor Purt to face the music," Bobby observed. "Well, +old Purt is better than we ever gave him credit for. Now we'll +make him square himself with the police."</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Nemo of Nowhere, now Mr. Peyton J. Weld, who had +the most to do with settling the police end of Purt Sweet's +trouble. It was some weeks before he could do this, for the shock +of his mental recovery racked the man greatly. For some days the +surgeon would not let the young folk see their friend whose mind +had been so twisted.</p> + +<p>"I don't know but we did more harm than good, Laura," Chet +Belding said anxiously, when they discussed Mr. Weld's +condition.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe so," his sister said. "At any rate, we +revealed him as Janet's Uncle Jack, and the discovery has done +Mrs. Steele a world of good already."</p> + +<p>That the man who, for a time, had forgotten who he was and had +forgotten a number of years of his life, finally recovered +completely, can safely be stated. His very first outing from the +hospital was in Purt Sweet's car, and the boy drove him first of +all to the office of the Chief of Police.</p> + +<p>Purt had refused utterly to make trouble for either Hester +Grimes' cousin Jeff or for Tom Langley. Mr. Weld assured the +Chief of Police that, although it was Purt's car that had struck +him down on the icy street, Purt had not been in the car at the +time.</p> + +<p>Nor did the boy of Central High have anything to do with the +accident. His car had been borrowed without permission by +"parties unknown," as far as Mr. Weld was concerned, and to this +day the police of Centerport are rather hazy as to just who it +was that stole Purt Sweet's car and committed the assault.</p> + +<p>"And I feel sort of hazy myself," Jess Morse said, when they +were all talking it over at one time. "Mostly hazy about this Man +from Nowhere. How did he so suddenly become Janet Steele's Uncle +Jack?"</p> + +<p>"And his name 'Peyton'?" added Nellie Agnew.</p> + +<p>"Why, his middle name was John--they always called him by it +at home," explained Laura Belding. "And, of course, Janet and her +mother knew nothing about the name written on those Osage bank +bills. I didn't suspect the relationship myself.</p> + +<p>"But I began to be quite sure that he must have had something +to do with the bank for which those bills were issued. And it +seemed probable that, as he had so much money with him when he +landed in Centerport, that he must be somebody in Osage of wealth +and prominence. I wrote secretly to the postmaster at Osage and +learned that the president of the Drovers' Levee Bank had gone +East on a vacation--presumably to hunt up some relatives that he +had not seen for some time."</p> + +<p>"Sly Mother Wit!" cried Jess.</p> + +<p>"Not such a wonderful thing to do," laughed Laura.</p> + +<p>"Not half so wonderful," put in the irrepressible Bobby +Hargrew, "as it seemed to the countryman who came to town and +stood gazing up at the tall steeple of the cathedral. As he gazed +the bell began to toll The hick stopped a passer-by and said:</p> + +<p>"'Tell me, why does the bell ring at this time of day?'</p> + +<p>"The other man studied the hick for a moment and then said: +'That's easy. There's somebody pulling on the rope.'"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Nellie, when the laugh had subsided, "I guess +Janet and her mother are glad our Laura had such a bright +idea."</p> + +<p>"Of course! They are going back to Osage with Mr. Weld when he +has fully recovered. And so we shall lose an awfully nice girl +friend," Laura declared.</p> + +<p>"Gee!" sighed Chet. "And such a pretty girl!"</p> + +<p>Jess said not a word.</p> + +<hr> +<p>Of course, all twisted threads must be straightened out at the +end of the story; but our tale really ends with the performance +of "The Rose Garden." That on Friday night was most +enthusiastically received by the friends and parents of the girls +of Central High.</p> + +<p>It was a worthy production, and the girls deserved all the +applause they received. It encouraged them to give two further +performances, and altogether the three netted a large sum for the +Red Cross. The play, in fact, was the means of raising more money +for the fund than any other single method used for that object in +Centerport.</p> + +<p>The city "went over the top" in its quota of both memberships +and funds, and that before Christmas. The girls of Central High +could rest on their laurels over the holidays, knowing that they +had done well.</p> + +<p>"But wait till Gee Gee gets after us after New Year's," +prophesied Bobby.</p> + +<p>"Don't be so pessimistic," said Jess. "Maybe she won't."</p> + +<p>"Why won't she?" demanded Dora Lockwood.</p> + +<p>"Nothing will change her," sighed Dora's twin.</p> + +<p>"Say!" gasped Bobby, stricken with a sudden thought, "maybe +she'll get the pip, or something, and not be able to teach. That +is our only hope!"</p> + +<p>"Suppose we turn over a new leaf, as Miss Carrington won't," +suggested Laura in her placid way.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" demanded Bobby suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we agree not to annoy her any more than we can help +for the rest of the school year?"</p> + +<p>"There! Isn't that just like you, Laura Belding?" demanded +Jess. "Suggesting the impossible."</p> + +<p>This was said in the wings of the school stage during the last +performance of "The Rose Garden." The curtain went up on the last +act and the girls became quiet They watched Janet Steele, as the +dark lady of the roses, move again across the stage. She was very +graceful and very pretty. The boys out front applauded her +enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>Laura pinched Jess's arm. "Janet certainly has made a hit," +she whispered.</p> + +<p>"Well," admitted Jess, "she deserves their applause. And she +just about saved our play, Laura. There is no getting around +that."</p> + +<p>THE END</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High Aiding the +Red Cross, by Gertrude W. Morrison + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS CENTRAL HIGH--RED CROSS *** + +***** This file should be named 8137-h.htm or 8137-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/3/8137/ + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6495ccf --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #8137 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8137) diff --git a/old/7gred10.txt b/old/7gred10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ace11d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7gred10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5880 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red +Cross, by Gertrude W. Morrison + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross + Or Amateur Theatricals for a Worthy Cause + +Author: Gertrude W. Morrison + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8137] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS AIDING THE RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross + +OR + +AMATEUR THEATRICALS FOR A WORTHY CAUSE + +BY + +GERTRUDE W. MORRISON + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER +I THE ODDEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED +II THE RED CROSS GIRL +III ODD! +IV THE MYSTERY MAN +V SAND IN THE GEARS +VI THE BANK-NOTE +VII SOMETHING EXCITING +VIII THE FOREFRONT OF TROUBLE +IX THE ICE CARNIVAL +X BUT WHO IS HE? +XI A REHEARSAL +XII BUBBLE, BUBBLE +XIII MOTHER WIT HAS AN IDEA +XIV CHAINS ON HIS WHEELS +XV PIE AND POETRY +XVI EMBER NIGHT +XVII A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT +XVIII WHERE WAS PURT? +XIX LAURA LISTENS +XX TWO THINGS ABOUT HESTER +XXI AND A THIRD THING +XXII THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT +XXIII THE LAST REHEARSAL +XXIV MR. NEMO, OF NOWHERE +XXV IT IS ALL ROUNDED UP + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ODDEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED + + +"Well, if that isn't the oddest thing that ever happened!" murmured Laura +Belding, sitting straight up on the stool before the high desk in her +father's glass-enclosed office, from which elevation she could look down +the long aisles of his jewelry store and out into Market Street, +Centerport's main business thoroughfare. + +But Laura was not looking down the vista of the electrically lighted shop +and into the icy street. Instead, she gave her attention to that which lay +right under her eyes upon the desk top. She looked first at the neat +figures she had written upon the page of the day ledger, after carefully +proving them, and thence at the packet of bills and piles of coin on the +desk at her right hand. + +"It is the oddest thing that ever happened," she affirmed, as though in +answer to her own first declaration. + +It was Saturday evening, and it was always Laura's duty to straighten out +her father's books for him on that day, for although she was a high school +girl, she was usually so well prepared in her studies that she could give +the books proper attention weekly. Laura had taken a course in bookkeeping +and she was quite familiar with the business of keeping a simple set of +books like these. + +She never let the day ledger and the cash get far apart. It was her custom +to strike a balance weekly, and this she was doing at this time. Or she was +trying to! But there seemed to be something entirely wrong with the cash +itself. + +She knew that the figures on the ledger were correct. She had asked her +father, and even Chet, her brother, who was helping in the store this +evening, if either of them had taken out any cash without setting the sum +down in the proper record. + +"It is an even fifty dollars--neither more nor less," she had told them, +with a puzzled little frown corrugating her pretty forehead. + +They had both denied any such act--Chet, of course, vigorously. + +"What kind of hardware are you trying to hang on me, Mother Wit?" he +demanded of his sister. "I know Christmas will soon be on top of us, and a +fellow needs all the money there is in the world to buy even one girl a +decent present. But I assure you I haven't taken to nicking papa's cash +drawer." + +"I don't know but mother is right," Laura sighed. "Your language is +becoming something to listen to with fear and trembling. And I am not +accusing you, Chetwood. I'm only asking you!" + +"And I'm only answering you--emphatically," chuckled her brother. + +"It is no laughing matter when you cannot find fifty dollars," she told +him. + +"You'd better stir your wits a little, then, Sis," he advised. "You know +Jess and Lance will be along soon and we were all going shopping together, +and skating afterward. Lance and I want to practice our grapevine whirl." + +But being advised to hurry did not help. For half an hour since Chet had +last spoken the girl had sat in a web of mystery that fairly made her head +spin! Her ledger figures were proved over and over again. But the cash! +Then once more she bent to her task. + +The piles of coin were all right she finally decided. She counted them over +and over again, and they came to the same penny exactly. So she pushed the +coin aside. + +Then she slowly and carefully counted again the bank-notes, turning them +one by one face down from left to right. The amount, added to the sum of +the coins, was equal to the figures on the ledger. Then she did what she +had already done ten or a dozen times. She recounted the bills, turning +them from right to left. + +She was fifty dollars short! + +Christmas was approaching, and the Belding jewelry store was, of course, +rather busier than at other seasons. That was why Chet Belding was helping +out behind the counters. Out there, he kept a closer watch on the front +door than Laura, with her financial trouble, could. + +Suddenly he darted down the long room to welcome a group of young people +who pushed open the jewelry-store door. They burst in with a hail of merry +voices and a clatter of tongues that drowned every other sound in the store +for a minute, although there were but four of them. + +"Easy! Easy!" begged Mr. Belding, who was giving his attention to a +customer near the front of the store. "Take your friends back to Laura's +coop, Chetwood." + +Hushed for the moment, the party drifted back toward Laura's desk. The +young girl was still too deeply engaged with the ledger and cash to look up +at first. + +"What is the matter, Mother Wit?" demanded the taller of the two girls who +had just come in--a most attractive-looking maiden, whom Chet had at once +taken on his arm. + +"Engine trouble," chuckled Laura's brother. "The old thing just won't +budge! Isn't that it, Laura?" + +The tall youth--dark and delightfully romantic-looking, any girl would have +told you--went around into the little office and looked over Laura's +shoulder. + +"What's gone wrong, Laura?" he asked, with sympathy in his voice and +manner. + +"You want to get a move on, Mother Wit!" cried the youngest girl of the +troop, saucy looking, and with ruddy cheeks and flyaway curls. This was +Clara Hargrew, whom her friends called Bobby, and whose father kept the big +grocery store just a block away from the Belding jewelry store. "Everybody +will have picked over the presents in all the stores and got the best of +everything before we get there." + +"That's right," said the last member of the group; and this was a short and +sturdy boy who had the same mischievous twinkle in his eye that Bobby +Hargrew displayed. + +His name was Long, and because he was short, everybody at Central High +(save the teachers, of course) called him "Short and Long." He and Bobby +Hargrew were what hopeless grown folk called "a team!" When they were not +hatching up some ridiculous trick together, they were separately in +mischief. + +"But you say Short and Long has done some of his Christmas shopping +already," Jess Morse, the tall visitor, said. "Just think, Laura! He has +sent Purt Sweet his annual present." + +"So soon?" said Laura Belding, but with her mind scarcely on what her +friends were saying. "And Thanksgiving is only just passed!" + +"I thought I'd better be early," said Short and Long, with solemn +countenance. "I wrote 'Not to be opened till Christmas' upon the package." + +Bobby and Jess and Lance burst into giggles. "Let's have the joke!" +demanded Chet. "What did you send the poor fish, Short?" + +"You guessed it! You guessed it, Chet Belding!" cried Bobby. "Aren't you a +clever lad?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Laura, now becoming more seriously interested. + +"Why," Jess Morse said, "he got a codfish down at the market and wrapped it +up in a lot of paper and put it in a long, beautifully decorated Christmas +box. If Purt Sweet keeps that box without opening it until Christmas, I am +afraid the Board of Health will be making inquiries about the Sweet +premises." + +"You scamp!" exclaimed Laura sternly, to Short and Long. + +"He's all right!" declared Bobby warmly. "You know just how mean and stingy +Purt Sweet is--and his mother has more money than anybody else in +Centerport. Last Christmas, d'you know what Purt did?" + +"Something silly, of course," Laura said. + +"I don't know what you call silly. I call it mean," declared the smaller +girl. "Purt got it noised abroad that he was going to give a present to +every fellow in his class--didn't he, Short?" + +"That's what he did," said Billy Long, taking up the story. "And the day +before Christmas he got us all over to his house and offered each of us a +drink of ice-water! And some of the kids had been foolish enough to buy him +things--and give 'em to him ahead of time, too!" + +"Serves you right for being so piggish," commented Chet. + +"It was a mean trick," agreed Laura, "for some of the boys in Purt's grade +are much younger than he is. But this idea of giving Christmas presents +because you expect something in return----" + +"Is pretty small potatoes," finished Lance Darby, the dark youth. "But +what's the matter here, Laura?" he added. "I've counted these bills and +they are just exactly right by those figures you have set down there." + +"You turned them from left to right as you counted, Lance," cried Laura. + +"Sure! I counted the face of each bill," was the answer. + +"Now count them the other way!" exclaimed Laura in despair. + +Her friends gathered around while Laura did this. Even Chet gave some +attention to his sister's trouble now. From right to left the packet of +bank-notes came to fifty dollars less than the sum accredited to them on +the ledger. + +"Well, what do you know about that?" breathed Lance. + +"That's the strangest thing!" declared Jess Morse. + +"Why," said Bobby of the quick mind, "must be some of the bills are not +printed right." + +"Nonsense!" ejaculated Chet. + +"Who ever heard of such a thing as a banknote being printed wrong unless it +was a counterfeit?" demanded Laura. + +Mr. Belding, having finished with his customer, came back to the little +office and heard this. "I am quite sure we have taken in no counterfeits-- +eh, Chet?" he said, smiling. + +"And there's only one big bill--this hundred," said Chet, who had taken the +package of bills and was flirting them through his fingers. "I took that in +myself when I sold that lavalliere to the man I told you about, Father. You +remember? He was a stranger, and he said he wanted to give it to a young +girl. I------" + +"Let's see that bill, Chet!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew suddenly. + +Chet slipped the hundred-dollar note out of the packet and handed it to the +grocer's daughter. But she immediately cried: + +"I want to see the hundred-dollar bill, Chet. Not this one." + +"Why, that's the hundred------" + +"This is a fifty," interrupted Bobby. "Can't you see?" + +She displayed the face of a fifty-dollar bank-note to their wondering eyes. +Their exclamations drowned Mr. Belding's voice, and he had to speak twice +before Bobby heard him. + +"Turn it over!" + +The grocer's daughter did so. The other side of the bill was the face of a +hundred-dollar bank-note! At this there certainly was a hullabaloo in and +around the office. Mr. Belding could scarcely make himself heard again. He +was annoyed. + +"What is the matter with that bank-note? Whether it is counterfeit or not, +you took it in over the counter, Chetwood," he said coldly. + +"This very day," admitted his oldest son. + +"Then, my boy, it is up to you," said the jeweler grimly. + +"What----Just what do you mean?" asked Chet, somewhat troubled by his +father's sternness. + +"In a jewelry store," said Mr. Belding seriously, "as I have often told +you, a clerk must keep his eyes open. You admit taking in this bill. If the +Treasury Department says it is worth only fifty dollars, I shall expect you +to make good the other fifty." + +The young people stared at each other in awed silence as the jeweler turned +away. They could feel how annoyed he was. + +"Gee!" gasped Chet, "if I'm nicked fifty dollars, how shall I ever be able +to buy Christmas presents, or even give anything for the Red Cross drive?" + +"Oh, I'm sorry, Chet!" Jess Morse murmured. + +"Looks as if hard times had camped on your trail, old boy," declared Lance. + +"But maybe it is a hundred-dollar bill," Laura said. + +"It's tough," Short and Long muttered. + +"Try to pass it on somebody else," chuckled Bobby, who was not very +sympathetic at that moment. + +"Got it all locked up, Laura?" Jess asked. "Well, let us go then. You can't +make that bill right by looking at it, Chet." + +"I--I wish I could get hold of the man who passed it on me," murmured the +big fellow. + +"Would you know him again?" Lance asked. + +"Sure," returned his chum, getting his own coat and hat while his sister +put on her outdoor clothing. "All ready? We're going, Pa." + +"Remember what I said about that bill, Chetwood," Mr. Belding admonished +him. "You will learn after this, I guess, to look at both sides of a +hundred-dollar bill--or any other--when it is offered to you." + +"Aw, it's a good hundred, I bet," grumbled Chet. + +"If it is, I'll add an extra fifty to my Red Cross subscription," rejoined +his father with some tartness. + +"Well, that's something!" Bobby Hargrew said quickly. "We want to boost the +fund all we can. And what do you think?" + +"My brain has stopped functioning entirely since I got so bothered by that +bank-note," declared Laura Belding, shaking her head. "I can't think." + +"Mr. Sharp and the rest of the faculty have agreed that we shall give a +show for the Red Cross," declared Bobby, with enthusiasm. "Just what we +wanted them to do!" + +"Oh, joy!" cried Jess, clasping her hands in delight. + +"Miss Josephine Morse, leading lady, impressarioess, and so forth," laughed +Lance Darby, "will surely be in on the theatricals." + +"Maybe they will let you write the play, Jess," said Chet admiringly. + +They reached the door and stepped into the street. There had been rain and +a freeze. The sidewalks, as well as the highway itself, were slippery. +Bobby suddenly screamed: + +"See there! Oh! He'll be killed!" + +A rapidly-driven automobile turned the corner by the Belding store. A man +was crossing Market Street, coming toward the group of young people. + +The careless driver had not put on his chains. The car skidded. The next +instant the pedestrian was knocked down, and at least one wheel ran over +his prostrate body. + +Instead of stopping, the car went into high speed and dashed up the street +and was quickly out of sight. The young people ran to the prostrate man. +Nobody for the moment thought of the automobile driver who was responsible +for the affair. + +The victim had blood on his face from a cut high up on his crown. He was +unconscious. It was Chet Belding who stood up and spoke, first of all. + +"I thought so! I thought so!" he gasped. "Do you know who this is?" + +"Who?" asked Jess, clinging to his arm as the crowd gathered. + +"This is the man who passed that phony hundred-dollar bill on me. The very +one!" + +"Is he dead?" whispered Bobby Hargrew, looking under Chefs elbow down at +the crimson-streaked face of the unfortunate man. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE RED CROSS GIRL + + +Market street was well lighted, but it was not well policed. That last fact +could not be denied, or the recklessly driven automobile that had knocked +down the stranger would never have got away so easily. People from both +sides of the street and from the stores near by ran to the spot; but no +policeman appeared until long after the automobile was out of sight. + +The exciting statement that Chet Belding had made so interested and +surprised his friends that for a few moments they gave the victim of the +injury little of their attention. Meanwhile a figure glided into the group +and knelt beside the injured man who lay upon the ice-covered street. It +was a girl, not older than Laura and Jess, but one who was dressed in the +veil and cloak of the Red Cross. + +She was not the only Red Cross worker on Market Street that Saturday +evening, for the drive for the big Red Cross fund had begun, and many +workers were collecting. This girl, however seemed to have a practical +knowledge of first-aid work. She drew forth a small case, wiped the blood +away from the man's face with cotton, and then began to bandage the wound +as his head rested against her knee. + +"Somebody send for the ambulance," she commanded, in a clear and pleasant +voice. "I think he has a fractured leg, and he may be hurt otherwise." + +Her request brought the three girls of Central High to their senses. Bobby +darted away to telephone to the hospital from her father's store. The older +girls offered the Red Cross worker their aid. + +For a year and a half the girls of Central High had been interested in the +Girls' Branch League athletics; and with their training under Mrs. Case, +the athletic instructor, they had all learned something about first-aid +work. + +The girls of Centerport had changed in character without a doubt since the +three high schools of the city had become interested so deeply in girls' +athletics. With the high schools of Keyport and Lumberport, an association +of league units had been formed, and the girls of the five educational +institutions were rivals to a proper degree in many games and sports. + +How all this had begun and how Laura Belding by her individual efforts had +made possible the Central High's beautiful gymnasium and athletic field, is +told in the first volume of this series, entitled: "The Girls of Central +High; Or, Rivals for All Honors." This story served to introduce this party +of young people who have met in the jewelry store, as well as a number of +other characters, to the reader. + +In "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna; Or, The Crew That Won," the +enthusiasm in sports among the girls of the five high schools reaches a +high point. + +As the three cities in the league are all situated upon the beautiful lake +named above, aquatic games hold a high place in the estimation of the rival +associations in the league. Fun and sports fill this second volume. + +"The Girls of Central High at Basket Ball; Or, The Great Gymnasium +Mystery," the third book, tells of several very exciting games in which the +basket-ball team of Central High takes part, and the reader learns, as +well, a good deal more about the individual characters of the girls +themselves and of some very exciting adventures they have. + +"The Girls of Central High on the Stage; Or, The Play That Took the Prize," +the fourth volume in the series, is really Jess Morse's story, although +Laura and their other close friends have much to do in the book and take +part in the play which Jess wrote, and which was acted in the school +auditorium. It was proved that Jess Morse had considerable talent for play +writing, and the professional production of her school play aided the girl +and her mother over a most trying financial experience. + +The fifth volume, "The Girls of Central High on Track and Field; Or, The +Champions of the School League," is an all around athletic story in which +rivalries for place in school athletics, excitement and interest of plot, +and stories of character building are woven into a tale calculated to hold +the attention of any reader interested in high school doings. + +During the summer previous to the opening of the present story in the +series, these friends spent a most enjoyable time camping on Acorn Island, +and the sixth tale, "The Girls of Central High in Camp; Or, The Old +Professor's Secret," is as full of mystery, adventure, and fun as it can +be. Since the end of the long vacation the Girls of Central High, as well +as the boys who are their friends, had settled down to hard work both in +studies and athletics. Ice had come early this year and already Lake Luna +was frozen near the shore and most of the steamboat traffic between the +lake cities had ceased. + +The great pre-holiday Red Cross drive had now enthralled the girls of +Central High, as well as the bulk of Centerport's population. Everybody +wanted to put the city "over the top" with more than its quota subscribed +to the fund. + +In the first place, the boys' and girls' athletic associations of Central +High were planning an Ice Carnival to raise funds for the cause, and it was +because of that exhibition that Chet Belding and Lance Darby wished to get +down to the ice that evening and try their own particular turn, after the +shopping expedition that also had been planned. + +As it happened, however, neither the shopping nor the skating was done on +this particular Saturday night. + +As Bobby Hargrew ran to telephone to the hospital, Short and Long had +grabbed the wrists of his two older and taller boy friends and led them out +of the crowd in a very mysterious way. + +"Did you get a good look at that car?" he whispered to Chet and Lance. + +"Of course I didn't," said the latter. "It went up the street like the +wind. Didn't it, Chet?" + +"That rascal was going some when he turned the corner of Rapidan Street. I +wonder he did not skid again and smash his car to pieces against the +hydrant. Served him right if he had," Chet said. + +"There were no chains on his wheels," said Short and Long, in the same +mysterious way. + +"You said it," agreed Lance. "What then?" + +"There are not many cars in Centerport right now without chains on. The +streets have been icy for more than twenty-four hours." + +"Your statement is irrefutable," said Chet, grinning. + +"Get it off your chest, Short and Long," begged Lance. "What do you mean?" + +"I mean," said the earnest lad, "that I know a car that was out this +afternoon without chains, and it was a seven-seater Perriton car--just as +this one that knocked down Chet's friend was." + +"It was a Perriton, I believe," murmured Lance. + +But Chetwood Belding said: "I don't know whether that poor fellow is a +friend of mine or not. If I have to give Pa fifty dollars--Whew!" + +"But the car?" urged Lance Darby. "Who has a Perriton car, Short and Long?" + +"And without chains?" added Chet, waking up to the main topic. + +"Come along, fellows," said the younger lad. "I won't tell you. But I'll +take you to where you can see the car I mean. If it still is without chains +on the wheels, and has just been used--Well, we can talk about it then!" + +"All right," said Chet. "We can't do any good here. Here comes the +ambulance. That poor fellow is going to be in the hospital for some time, I +bet." + +There was such a crowd around the spot where the victim of the accident lay +that the boys could not see the Central High girls, save Bobby Hargrew, who +came running back from her father's store just as the clanging of the +ambulance gong warned the crowd that the hospital had responded in its +usual prompt fashion. + +The boys hailed the smaller girl and told her they were off to hunt for the +car that had knocked down the victim. Then the three hurried away. + +Meanwhile, in the center of the crowd Laura Belding and Jess Morse had been +aiding the girl in the Red Cross uniform as best they could to care for the +man who was hurt. The latter had not opened his eyes when the ambulance +worked its way into the crowd and halted beside the three girls on their +knees in the street. + +"What have you there?" asked the young doctor, who swung himself off the +rear of the truck. + +Laura and Jess told him. The third girl, the one who had done the most for +the unfortunate man, did not at first say a word. + +The driver brought the rolled stretcher and blanket. He laid it down beside +the victim. When the doctor had finished his brief notes he helped his aid +lift the man to the stretcher. They picked it up and shoved it carefully +into the ambulance. + +"I know you, Miss Belding," said the doctor. "And this is Miss Morse, isn't +it? Do you mind giving me your name and address?" he asked the third girl. + +Was there a moment's hesitation on the part of the Red Cross girl? Laura +thought there was; yet almost instantly the stranger replied: + +"My name is Janet Steele." + +"Ah! Your address?" repeated the doctor. + +This time there was no doubt that the girl flushed, and more than a few +seconds passed before she made answer: + +"Thirty-seven Whiffle Street." + +At the same moment somebody exclaimed: "Here comes Fatty Morehead, the cop. +Better late than never," and a general laugh went up from the crowd. + +Jess seized Laura's wrist, exclaiming: "Oh, Laura! he will want to take +down our names and addresses, too. Let's get away." + +The Red Cross girl uttered an ejaculation of chagrin. She began pushing her +way out of the press, and in an opposite direction from that in which the +portly policeman was coming. + +Jess whispered swiftly in Laura's ear: "Come on! Let's follow her! I'm +awfully interested in that Red Cross girl, Laura!" + +"Why should you be?" asked her chum. "Although she looks like a nice girl, +I never saw her before." + +"Neither did I," said Jess. "But did you hear the address she gave? That is +the poor end of Whiffle Street, as you very well know, and mother and I +used to live right across the street from that house. I did not know +anybody lived in the old Eaton place. It has been empty for a long, long +time." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ODD! + + +Bobby Hargrew met Laura and Jess on the edge of the crowd, for she had been +unable to worm herself into the middle of it again, and told them swiftly +of the boys' departure to hunt for the car that had done the damage. + +"And that's just like the boys!" exclaimed Jess Morse, with some +exasperation. "To run away and desert us!" + +"I don't know but I'm glad," said Laura. "I don't feel much like shopping +after seeing that poor man hurt." + +"Or skating, either," complained Jess. + +Presently the three overtook the strange girl. Bobby, whom Chet had said +was "just as friendly with strangers as a pup with a waggy tail," +immediately got into conversation with her. + +"Say! was he hurt badly?" she asked. + +"I think his right leg was broken," the Red Cross girl replied. "And his +head was badly hurt. Your friends, here, could see that." + +"He bled dreadfully," sighed Laura. "But you had the bandage on so nicely +that the doctor did not even disturb it, my dear." + +"Thank you," said the Red Cross girl. She hesitated on the corner of the +side street. "I fear I must leave you here. I am going home." + +"Oh," cried Jess, who was enormously curious, "we can go your way just as +well as not, Miss Steele! We live at the other end of Whiffle Street--up on +the hill, you know." + +"All but me," put in Bobby. "But I can run right through Laura's yard to my +house." + +She indicated Laura as she spoke. The Red Cross girl looked at Mother Wit +with some expectancy. Jess came to the rescue. + +"Let's get acquainted," she said. "Why not? We'll never meet again under +more thrilling circumstances," and she laughed. "This is Miss Laura +Belding, Miss Steele. On your other hand is Miss Hargrew--Miss Clara +Hargrew. I am Josephine Morse. I used to live across the street from the +old Eaton place where you live now." + +"You are a stranger in town, are you not?" Laura asked, taking the new +girl's hand. + +"Yes, Miss Belding. We have only been here four weeks. But I have worked in +the Red Cross before--and one must do something, you know." + +"Do something!" burst forth Bobby. "If you went to Central High and had Gee +Gee for one of your teachers, you'd have plenty to do." + +"We are all three Central High girls," said Laura gently. "Have you +finished school, Miss Steele?" + +"I have not been able to attend school regularly for two years," admitted +the new girl. "I am afraid," and she smiled apologetically, "that you are +all much further advanced in your education than I am. You see, my mother +is an invalid and I must give her a great deal of my time. It does not +interfere, however, with my doing a little for the Red Cross." + +"I am sorry your mother is ill," said Laura. + +"We were advised to come up here for her sake," said Janet Steele hastily. +"We have been living in a coast town. The doctors thought an inland +climate--a drier climate--would be beneficial." + +"I hope it will prove so," said Laura. + +"It seems a shame you can't get out with the other girls," Jess added. + +"And come to school and let Gee Gee get after you," joined in Bobby grimly. + +"Is she such a very strict disciplinarian?" asked Miss Steele, smiling down +at the irrepressible one as they walked through the side street toward +Whiffle. + +"She's the limit," declared Bobby. + +"Oh," said Laura mildly, "I think Miss Carrington is nowhere near so strict +as she used to be. Margit Salgo really has made her quite human, you know." + +"Say!" grumbled Bobby, "she can hand out demerits just as easy as ever. And +she had her sense of humor extracted years ago." + +"Has that fault cropped up lately, my dear?" asked Laura, laughing. "It +must be so. What happened, Bobby?" + +The younger girl, who was a sophomore, whereas Laura and Jess were juniors, +came directly under Miss Carrington's attention in several classes. Bobby +was forever getting into trouble with the strict teacher. + +"Why, look, now," said Bobby, warmly, "just what happened yesterday! +English class. You know, that's nuts for Gee Gee. I was bothered enough, I +can tell you, trying to correct a paper she had handed back to me, and she +kept right on talking and asking questions, and the recitation period was +almost ended. I didn't want to hang around there to correct that paper--" + +"You know very well you should have taken it home to correct," Laura put +in. + +"Oh, don't tell me that! I take so much extra work home as it is, that +Father Tom Hargrew asks me if I don't do anything at all in school. And, +anyway, I didn't think Gee Gee saw me. But, of course, she did." + +"And then what?" Jess asked. + +"Why, she shot a question at me, and I didn't get it at first. 'Miss +Hargrew! Pay attention!' she went on. Of course, that brought me up +standing. 'What is a pseudonym?' she wanted to know. How silly! You know +the trouble we've been having with that car Father Tom bought. 'I don't +know what it is, Miss Carrington,' I told her. 'But if it is something that +belongs to an automobile, father will have to buy a new one pretty soon, +I'm sure.'" + +"And she docked you for that!" exclaimed Jess, as though wildly amazed. +"How cruel!" + +"Really, I am afraid we are sometimes cruel to our dear teachers," laughed +Laura. "But if they are too serious they are such a temptation to us witty +ones." + +"Now, don't be sarcastic, Mother Wit," said Jess, shaking her chum a little +by the elbow. "You know very well you enjoy nagging the teachers a bit +yourself, now and then. And Professor Dimp!" + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" gasped Bobby suddenly. "Did you hear the latest about Old +Dimple?" + +"Now, girls," said Laura, quite sternly, "I refuse to hear of Professor +Dimp being made a goose of." + +"Gander, dear! Gander!" exclaimed Jess, _sotto voce_. + +"He's an old dear," declared Laura, quite as earnestly. "We found that out, +I am sure, when we went camping on Acorn Island last summer." + +"True! True!" admitted her chum. + +"Oh, nobody wants to hurt the old fellow," chuckled Bobby. "But one day +this week there was a bunch of the boys down at the post-office, and +Professor Dimp came in to mail a letter. You know he is always reading on +the street when he walks; never sees anybody, and goes stumbling about +blindly with a book under his nose. He got into the revolving door and +Short and Long declares Old Dimple went around ten times before he knew +enough to come out--and then he was on the street again and had failed to +mail the letter." + +"Oh, Bobby!" cried Jess, while Miss Steele was quite convulsed by the +statement. + +"He's so absent-minded," said Laura sympathetically. "Why didn't Short and +Long tell him he was in the revolving door?" + +"Humph!" chuckled Bobby, "I guess Short thought the old fellow needed the +exercise." + +Just then the girls came to the corner of Whiffle Street The street was +narrow and crooked in an elbow here. The houses were mostly small, and were +out of repair. It was, indeed, the poor end of Whiffle Street. On the hill +end were some of the best residences in Centerport. + +"There's the Eaton place across the street," said Jess briskly. "I see +there is a light, Miss Steele." + +"That is mother's room on the first floor--right off the piazza. You know, +we could not begin to use all the house," the girl added frankly. "There +are only mother and I and Aunt Jinny." + +"Oh! Your aunt?" asked Jess. + +"She is mother's old nurse. She has come with us--to help do the housework, +you know," Miss Steele said frankly, yet again flushing a little. "I--I +guess I have never lived just as you girls do. We have moved around a great +deal. I have got such education as I have by fits and starts, you see. I +suppose you three girls have a perfectly delightful time at your Central +High?" + +"Especially when Gee Gee gets after us with a sharp stick," grumbled Bobby. + +"Don't mind Bobby," said Laura, laughing. "She is dreadfully slangy, and +sometimes quite impossible. We do have fine times at Central High. +Especially in our games and athletic work." + +"Miss Steele must be sure and come to our Ice Carnival next week," said +Jess. + +"'Ice Carnival'?" cried the Red Cross girl. "And I just love to skate!" + +There came a sudden tapping on the window of the lighted room in the old +Eaton house. The girls had crossed the street and were standing at the +gate. Janet Steele wheeled quickly and waved her hand. A sitting figure was +dimly outlined at the long, French window. + +"Oh!" Janet said. "Mother wants us to come in. She doesn't see many +people--and she enjoys young folk. Won't you come in? It will be a pleasure +for us both." + +Jess and Bobby looked at Laura. They allowed Mother Wit to decide the +question, and she was but a few seconds in doing so. + +"Why, of course! It's not late," she said. "We shall stay but a minute this +time, Miss Steele." + +"Call me Janet," whispered the Red Cross girl, squeezing Laura's arm as +they went through the sagging gate. + +The quartette climbed the steep steps to the piazza. That the Eaton house +was in bad repair was proved by the broken boards in steps and piazza floor +and the dilapidated condition of the railing. Even the lock of the front +door was broken. Janet turned the knob and ushered them into the dimly-lit +hall. + +This was neatly if sparsely furnished. And everything seemed scrupulously +clean. Their young hostess opened the door into her mother's room, which +was that originally intended for the parlor. + +The eager and curious girls of Central High saw first of all the figure of +the woman in the wheel chair by the window. She had pulled down the shade +now and dropped the curtains into place. The whole room was warm and well +lighted. There was a gas chandelier lighted to the full and an open grate +heaped with red coals. There was a good rug, comfortable chairs, and a +canopied bed set in a corner. A tea-table with furnishings was drawn up +near the fireplace. If one was obliged to spend one's time in a single +room, this apartment seemed amply furnished for such a condition. + +Mrs. Steele herself was no wan and hopeless-looking invalid. She was as +buxom as Janet, and Janet was as well built a girl, even, as Laura Belding. +The invalid had shrunken none in body or limbs. She owned, too, a very +attractive smile, and she held out both hands to greet her young visitors. + +"I am delighted!" she said in a strong, quick voice, which matched her +smile and bright glance perfectly. "Why, Janey, you may go out every +evening, if you will only bring back with you such a bevy of fresh, sweet +faces. Introduce me--do!" + +The introductions were made amid considerable gaiety. Mother Wit took the +lead in telling Mrs. Steele who they were. Later Janet related the accident +on Market Street, which had led to her acquaintance with the three girls of +Central High. + +Laura's keen eyes were not alone fixed upon Mrs. Steele while they talked. +She took into consideration everything in the house. There was no mark of +poverty; yet the Steeles lived in a house in a poor neighborhood and one +that was positively out of repair, and they occupied only a small part of +it. + +When the three girls came out again and Janet had gone in and closed the +door, Laura was in a brown study. + +"Wake up, Mother Wit!" commanded Jess. "What do you think of the Steeles-- +and all?" + +All Laura Belding could say in comment, was: + +"Odd!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MYSTERY MAN + + +The three boys who had set off to find the car that had knocked down the +stranger on the icy street were as mysterious the next day as they could +be. At least, so their girl friends declared. + +Being Sunday, there was no general gathering of the Central High girls and +boys, but Laura, naturally, saw her brother early. He was coming from his +shower in bathrobe and slippers when Laura looked out of her own door. + +"What sort of fox-and-goose chase did Short and Long take you and Lance +away on?" she demanded. + +"Oh, I don't know that he was altogether foolish," said Chet doubtfully. + +"Then did you really find some trace of the car?" cried Laura, eagerly. + +"Well, we found a car. Yes." + +"'Goodness to gracious!' as poor Lizzie Bean says. You are +noncommunicative, Chetwood Belding. What do you mean--you found a car?" + +"Laura," said her brother, "I don't know--nor does Lance, or Short and +Long--whether the fellow we suspect had anything to do with that accident +or not." + +"Oh!" + +"And we don't want to get him in wrong." + +"Who is it?" demanded his sister, bluntly. + +"No. We won't tell anybody who it is we suspect until we make further +investigations." + +"I declare, you are as mysterious as a regular detective! And suppose the +police do make inquiries?" + +"They will, of course," + +"And what will you boys tell them?" + +"Pooh!" returned Chet, going on to his room to dress, "they won't ask us +because they don't know we know anything about it" + +"I guess you don't know much!" shouted Laura after him before he closed his +door. + +It was the same when Jess Morse met Lance Darby on the way to Sunday +School. + +"Ho, Launcelot!" she cried. "Tell us all the news--that is a good child. +Who was that awful person who ran down the man last night? I hear from Dr. +Agnew that they had to patch the poor victim up a good deal at the +hospital. Did you boys find the guilty party?" + +"I don't know that we did," said Darby. "You see, nobody seemed to see the +license number of the automobile." + +"But didn't Short and Long have suspicions?" + +"Well, what are suspicions?" demanded the boy. "We all agreed to say +nothing about it unless we have proof. And we haven't any proof--as yet." + +"Why, I believe you are 'holding out' on your friends, Lance," declared +Jess, in surprise. "For shame!" + +"Aw, ask Chet--if you must know!" exclaimed Lance, hurrying away. + +As it chanced it was Bobby Hargrew who attempted to play inquisitor with +Short and Long, meeting the boy with the youngest Long, Tommy, on the +slippery hill of Nugent Street Tommy was so bundled up in a "Teddy Bear" +costume that he could scarcely trudge along, and he held tightly to his +brother's hand. + +"For goodness' sake!" exclaimed Bobby, when she saw Tommy slipping all over +the icy sidewalk, "what is the matter with that boy?" + +"He hasn't got his sea-legs on," grinned Short and Long. + +"You mean to tell me he is nearly five years old and can walk no better +than _that?_" exclaimed Bobby teasingly. "Why, we have a little dog at home +that isn't even a year old yet, and he can ran right over this ice. He can +walk twice as good as Tommy does." + +"Hoh!" exclaimed that youngster defensively. "That dog's got twice as many +legs as I have." + +"Right you are, Kid!" chuckled his brother. "He got you there, Clara." + +"And did you boys get that man who ran the poor fellow down on Market +Street last night?" demanded Bobby, with interest. "Did you have him +arrested?" + +"No. What do you suppose? We're not going around snitching to the police," +growled Short and Long. + +"But if that man at the hospital is seriously hurt----" + +"Oh, we're not sure it's the right car," said the boy, and evidently did +not wish to talk about it. + +"Billy Long!" exclaimed the girl. "Are you boys trying to defend the guilty +person?" + +"Aw----" + +"Suppose that man at the hospital dies?" + +"Pshaw! He wasn't hurt as bad as all that." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because I've been to the hospital to find out He's got a broken leg and a +broken head----" + +"Is he conscious yet?" demanded Bobby Hargrew quickly. + +"No-o. They say he doesn't know anybody--and nobody knows who he is." + +"Now you see!" cried the girl "Maybe he will die! And you boys will let the +man who did it get away." + +"Oh, he won't get away," grumbled Short and Long. "We know where to find +him when we want to." + +"You'd better let the police know where to find him," said Bobby tartly. + +"You're not the police, Bobby Hargrew!" returned Short and Long, grinning +and going on with Tommy. + +The girls, of course, got together and compared notes and decided that the +boys were "real mean, so now!" To pay Chet and Lance and Billy Long for +being so secretive about the person they suspected of having caused the +injury to the stranger Saturday evening, the three girls went alone that +Sunday afternoon to the hospital to inquire after the injured man. + +And there they met Janet Steele again. The Red Cross girl had been making +inquiries, too, about the same case. + +"It really is a very serious matter," Janet said to her new friends. "The +man who knocked him down should be found. Although the doctors think he has +no internal injuries after all, there is a compound fracture which will +keep him in bed for a long time, and in addition he seems unable to give +any satisfactory explanation of who he is or where he comes from." + +"Goodness!" exclaimed Jess Morse. "Do you mean he has lost his mind?" + +"Merely mislaid it," said Janet with a smile. "Or, at least, he cannot +remember his name and address." + +"Didn't he have any papers about him that explain those points?" asked +Laura. + +"That seems to be odd, too," said Janet "No. Not a mark on his clothing, +either. But he was plentifully supplied with money, and all the bills were +brand new." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Laura. "That reminds me. That funny bill he passed on Chet +was brand new, too. I wonder if all his money is queer?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Janet, wonderingly. "Is the man a criminal, do +you think?" + +Laura and Jess explained about the peculiarly printed bill, which had given +the first named so much trouble in making up her father's accounts the +evening before. + +"But that may be all explained in time," said Janet. + +"All right," grumbled Bobby Hargrew. "But suppose poor Chet has to lose +fifty dollars?" + +"Father is going to take the bill to the bank to-morrow to see if they can +explain the mystery," Laura said. + +"But that will not explain the mystery of the stranger." said Jess. "Why, +he is a regular 'man of mystery,' isn't he?" + +"Humph!" said Bobby. "And so is the fellow the boys think ran him down. He +is a man of mystery as well." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SAND IN THE GEARS + + +Since the whole school had taken such a tremendous interest in "the +profession" at the time Central High blossomed forth in Jess Morse's play, +the M.O.R.s had given several playlets, and Mrs. Case, the physical +instructor, had staged folk dances and tableaux in the big hall. + +For the Red Cross the association of girls connected with the Girls Branch +Athletic League that had carried forward these smaller affairs, had +determined to stage "a real play." Nellie Agnew, the doctor's daughter, and +secretary of the club, had sent to a publisher for copies of plays that +could be put on by amateurs, and interest in the affair waxed high already. + +The principal point of decision was the identity of the play they were to +produce. Mr. Sharp and the other members of the school faculty had agreed +to let the girls act, and the big hall, or auditorium, could be used for +the production. At noon on Monday the girls interested in the performance +met in the principals office to decide upon the play. + +"And of course," grumbled Bobby Hargrew to the Lockwood twins, Dora and +Dorothy, "all the teachers have got to come and interfere. We can't do a +sol-i-ta-ry thing without Gee Gee, or Miss Black, or some of them, poking +their noses into it." + +"You can't say that Professor Dimp pokes his nose into our affairs," +laughed Dora. + +"No, indeed," said her twin. "Outside of his Latin and physics he doesn't +seem to have a single idea." + +"Doesn't he?" scoffed Bobby. "The boys say he's gone into the dressmaking +business, or something." + +"What is that?" asked Dora, smiling. "What do they mean?" + +"Why, the professor's niece is living with him now. He is not much used to +having a woman in his sitting-room, I guess. She sits and sews with him in +the evening while he reads or corrects our futile work," said Bobby, +grinning. + +"The other night Ellie Lingard--that's his niece--lost her scissors and she +said they hunted all over the room for them. The next morning in one of the +physics classes the professor opened his book, and there were the lost +scissors, which he had tucked into it for a bookmark while he helped Ellie +Lingard hunt for her lost property." + +"Oh, oh!" laughed the twins. + +"The worst of it was," continued Bobby, with an elfish grin, "Old Dimple +grabbed them up and said right out loud: 'Oh, here they are, Ellie!' The +boys just hooted, and poor Old Dimp was as mad as a hatter." + +"The poor old man," said Dorothy commiseratingly. + +It was a fact that, although Professor Dimp did not interfere in this play +business, most of the other teachers desired to have their opinions +considered. The girls would not have minded Mr. Sharp. Indeed, they courted +his advice. But when Miss Grace Gee Carrington stood up to speak, some of +them audibly groaned. + +Miss Carrington was Mr. Sharp's assistant and almost in complete control of +the girls of the school. At least, the girls came in contact with her much +more than they did with Mr. Sharp himself. + +She was a very stiff and precise woman, with an acrid temper and a sharp +tongue. She had been teaching unruly girls for so many years that she was +to a degree quite soured upon the world--especially that world of school +which she had so much to do with. + +Of late, however, Miss Carrington had become interested "quite in a human +way," her girls said, in a person who had first appeared to the ken of the +girls of Central High as a Gypsy girl. Margit Salgo's father, a Hungarian +Gypsy musician, had married Miss Carrington's sister, much against the +desire of Miss Grace Gee Carrington herself. When the orphaned Margit found +her way to Centerport she made such an impression upon her aunt's heart +that the latter finally took the girl into her own home and adopted her as +"Margaret Carrington." + +That, however, could not change Miss Carrington's nature. She was severe +and (in the opinion of fly-away Bobby Hargrew) she was much inclined to +interfere in the girls' affairs. On this occasion the girls were not +disappointed when Miss Carrington "said her little say." + +"I approve of any acceptable attempt to raise funds for such a worthy +object as this we have in mind," said Miss Carrington. "An exhibition which +will interest the school in general and our parents and friends likewise, +meets, I am sure, with the approval of us all. Some of our young ladies, I +feel quite sure, show some talent for playing, and much interest therein. +Without meaning to pun, I would add that I wish they showed as great talent +for work as for play." + +"She could not help giving us that dig, if she were to be martyred for it," +Nellie Agnew whispered to Laura. + +"Sh! She'll see your lips move," warned Dora Lockwood, on the other side of +the doctor's daughter. "I believe she has learned lip reading." + +Miss Carrington went on quite calmly: "The first consideration, however, it +seems to me, is the selection of the play. I should not wish to see the +standard of Central High lowered by the acting of a play that would cater +only to the amusement-loving crowd. It should be educational. We should +achieve in a small way what the Greek players tried to teach--a love of +beauty, of form, of some great truth that can be inculcated in this way on +the public mind." + +"But, Miss Carrington!" cried Bess Yeager, one of the seniors, almost +interrupting the staid teacher, "we want to make money for the Red Cross. +We could not get a room full with a Greek play." + +"I beg Miss Yeager's pardon," said Miss Carrington stiffly. "We have our +standard of education to uphold first of all." + +"I hope you will excuse me, Miss Carrington," said Laura, likewise rising +to object. "Our first object is to give the people something that will +amuse them so that they will crowd the auditorium. Otherwise our object +will not have been achieved. This is a purely money-making scheme," added +the jeweler's daughter with her low, sweet laugh. + +"I am amazed to hear you say so!" exclaimed the instructor, quick for +argument at any time. "Have you young ladies no higher desire than to make +the rabble laugh?" + +"I want you to know," muttered Jess Morse, "that my mother is coming, and +she isn't 'rabble.'" + +Perhaps it was fortunate that Miss Carrington did not hear this comment. +But she could not fail to hear some of the others made by the girls. There +was earnest protest in all parts of the room. Mr. Sharp brought them to +order. + +"Miss Carrington has, under ordinary circumstances, made an excellent +point, and I want you all to notice it," said the principal. "We are an +educational institution here on the hill. If we were giving a class play, +or anything like that, I should vote for Miss Carrington's idea. At such a +time something primarily educational should be in order. + +"But as I understand it, you young ladies are going to act for the benefit +of the Red Cross fund, and what will benefit that fund the most is the +drawing together of a well-paying crowd to see you act. + +"I am afraid we shall have to set aside our own desires, Miss Carrington," +he continued, smiling at his assistant. "We must let the actors choose +their own play--as long as it is a proper one--and abide for once by the +decision of those of our friends who wish to be amused rather than +educated." + +"He's half backing her up!" complained Dora. + +"Well, he has to pour oil on the troubled waters," whispered Laura. + +"Huh!" grumbled Bobby Hargrew. "But Gee Gee is determined to throw sand in +the gears, not oil on the waters. She always does." + +Really, Miss Carrington seemed in an interfering mood that day. Nellie had +a collection of plays from which they were supposed to choose that very +session the one to be acted. There was but brief time to learn the parts +and the acting directions. But Mr. Mann, who had directed them in other +plays, said he thought he would be able to whip the girls into shape for a +performance in two weeks. Although they were amateurs, they had all had +some experience. + +When the girls themselves got a chance to talk it was shown that their +desires were all for a parlor comedy with bright lines, some farcical turns +to the plot, but a play of sufficient weight to gain the approval of +sober-minded people. It was, however, far from being classic. + +"Such a play is preposterous!" ejaculated Miss Carrington, breaking out +again. "Don't you think so yourself, Mr. Sharp?" + +The principal had the book in his hand and was skimming through some of the +dialogue. If the truth was told he was on a broad grin. + +"I don't know about that, Miss Carrington. It--it is really very funny." + +"'Funny!'" gasped his assistant, with all the emphasis she dared show in +the presence of the principal. "As though to make fun should be our +target!" + +"What would you like to have us play?" asked Bobby, daringly. "Julius +Caesar? If we do, I want to play old Julius. He dies in the first act. The +rest of us would be killed lingeringly by the audience, I know, before the +last." + +"Miss Hargrew!" snapped the teacher. Then she remembered that this was not +a recitation and she could not easily punish the girl. She shook her head +and looked offended during the remainder of the discussion. + +"But you know very well," snapped Lily Pendleton, a rather overdressed +girl, as they all crowded out of the schoolhouse after the meeting, "that +Gee Gee will do her wickedest to spoil it all." + +"Oh, no!" cried Laura. "Not when it is for the Red Cross!" + +"It wouldn't matter what the object was," said Jess morosely. "She always +does try to crab the game." + +"Goodness, Josephine!" gasped her chum, "you are positively as slangy as +Chet." + +"I guess I catch it from him," admitted Jess Morse. "And she is a crab!" + +"Now girls!" called Nellie, a regular Martha for trouble at the present +moment. "Now girls, remember the 'sides' will be here day after tomorrow, +and Mr. Mann will look us over and give out the parts that afternoon in the +small hall. Nobody must be absent. We want this show to be the biggest +success that ever was." + +"It won't be if Gee Gee can help it," growled Bobby Hargrew, shaking her +curls. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BANK-NOTE + + +"There's one sure thing about it," Lance Darby said to Laura when she told +him of the way in which Miss Carrington had tried to interfere with the +girls' choice of the play, "she cannot butt into the Ice Carnival +arrangements. Nobody but your Mrs. Case and our Mr. Haskins has anything to +say about the Carnival Committee's arrangements." + +"Oh! Indeed?" laughed Laura. "There you are mistaken about the far-reaching +influence of our Miss Carrington." + +"What do you mean?" + +"You forget that our share of the Carnival is under the jurisdiction of the +Girls Branch League, and in the constitution and by-laws of that +association it is stated that none of us girls can take part in any +exhibition without the consent of our teachers, and without, indeed, having +a certain standing in all branches of study. Miss Carrington can get her +word in right there." + +"Wow, wow! That's so, I presume," admitted Lance. + +"But we have gone so far now," said Laura complacently, "that I don't think +even Bobby will be refused permission to join in the festivities--and Bobby +is a splendid little skater, Lance." + +"Bobby is all right," agreed the youth. "But here comes old Chet--and his +face is as long as the moral law. He is still worried about that fifty +dollars he may have to dig down into his jeans for--if your father sticks +to what he said he'd do." + +Chetwood had a cheerful word, however, despite his serious aspect. + +"Have you seen the ice, Lance?" he demanded, brightening up. + +"Not to-day, old boy." + +"It's scrumptious--just!" exclaimed the big fellow. "They have been shaving +it, and have got it all roped off." + +"Better have somebody watch it, too, or the kids from downtown will get in +there and cut it all up. Just like 'em," growled Lance. + +"Don't fret. Old Godey is on guard. Trust him to keep the kids off the +track," said Chet. "Is father at home, Laura?" + +"He's just come in," said his sister. "Has he found out about that +bank-note yet?" + +"That is what I wanted to know," said the worried Chet. "I've been over to +the hospital this afternoon--before I went down to the lake shore. That, +chap who was hurt is off his nanny----" + +"Chet! Don't let mother hear you," begged Laura, yet laughing. + +"I wouldn't want the mater to be shocked," admitted Chet. "But that is +exactly what is the trouble with that man who gave me the phony bill. The +doctor told me the crack he got on the head had injured his brain." + +"The poor man!" sighed his sister. + +"What about 'poor me'?" demanded Chet indignantly. "And they say he carried +a roll of brand new bills big enough to choke a cow! The doctor says he +thinks the money is good, too. But he passed that hundred-dollar note on +me----" + +"If it is a hundred," interjected Lance. + +"Now you said a forkful," grumbled Chet, shaking his head. "Let's go in and +see what father has to say about it. He was going to see Mr. Monroe at the +First National. They say Mr. Monroe knows all about money--knew the fellow +who invented it, personally, I guess." + +The young folks found Mr. Belding in the library, and he welcomed them with +his customary smile when the three came in. + +"The bank-note?" he repeated. "I left it for Mr. Monroe to look at. He was +out of town. But he will tell me when he returns--if he knows about it. It +is a curious thing. And I hope it will teach you a lesson, Chetwood." + +"Sure!" grumbled Chet, "Of course, there is nothing so important in this +world as learning lessons. Little thing about me being nicked fifty dollars +isn't considered." + +His father laughed at his rueful countenance. "Well, Son, I can't offer you +much sympathy. Perhaps the Treasury Department will make it right. And how +about that man who gave it to you? He can't get far with a broken leg." + +"He's gone far enough already," declared Chet. "They say he has lost his +memory." + +"What's that?" cried Mr. Belding. + +"Looks fishy, doesn't it?" said Lance. "Lots of folks who owe money lose +their memories." + +"No," said Chet, shaking his head. "This chap really got a hard bang on the +head, and the doctors say he may never remember who he is." + +"Lost his identity?" demanded Mr. Belding. + +"Completely. At least, he doesn't know his name or where he came from. He +remembers a part of his life, they say, for he seems to think he has been +in Alaska. Asked the nurse, in fact, how long Sitka had had such a hospital +as this. Thought he was in Sitka, you see." + +"Why, isn't it strange?" Laura said. "The poor fellow!" + +"He's not poor, I tell you," said the literal Chet. + +"He's got a lot of money. But not a card, or a mark about him--not even on +his clothes--to tell who he is." + +"How about his hat?" questioned Lance. "And his suit? The labels, I mean." + +"The hat was brand new," said Chet, "and was bought right here in +Centerport. Oh, the hospital folks have been trying through the police to +find out something about him. Nothing doing, they say." + +"Why," said Mr. Belding thoughtfully, "there must be some way of +discovering who the unfortunate is, even if he cannot remember himself." + +"Who do you mean, Pa, by 'the unfortunate'?" demanded his son. "I should +think I was the unfortunate. Especially if that bank-note is phony." + +"But you did not get a broken leg--and a broken head--out of it," his +father said dryly. + +"That's all right," muttered Chet "But I am likely to have a broken +pocketbook, all right all right!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SOMETHING EXCITING + + +Mr. Belding was not unmindful of his son's anxiety regarding the odd +bank-note that Chet had taken over the counter in the jewelry store. +Besides, Laura sat herself upon the arm of his big Morris chair after +dinner that Monday evening, and said: + +"You know, dear Pa, Chet is a pretty good boy. And fifty dollars is much +more money than he can afford to lose--all in one bunch." + +"Indeed?" said her father indignantly. "And how about me? With my expensive +family, do you think I can afford to lose fifty dollars? And the boy is +careless." + +"I deny it," said Laura briskly. + +"Chet! not careless?" + +"Only thoughtless." + +"What is the difference?" + +"Academic, or moral?" demanded Mother Wit, looking at him slyly. + +"Oh, well, it doesn't pay to split hairs with you," declared her father, +pinching a warm cheek until it was rosier than ever. "But what's the big +idea, as Chet himself would say?" + +"Why, now, Pa Belding----" + +"Out with it! What do you want me to do?" + +"I--I thought if you'd make Chet pay only half of the fifty dollars, that +perhaps you lost----" + +"Well?" he growled, in apparent indignation still. + +"Why, I would pay the other twenty-five!" burst out Laura hurriedly. "Only +you must promise not to tell Chet." + +"What do you mean? To pay half his fine?" + +"Well, you don't need to halloo so about it, Pa dear," she pouted. + +"I wouldn't let you!" + +"Oh, yes you would. You know it is going to be awfully hard on Chet to take +that money out of the bank to pay you." + +"There, there!" said Mr. Belding gruffly. "We won't talk about it--yet. +Perhaps we'll find the bank-note is all right." + +But he said afterward to his wife that evening: "What are we going to do +with such children, Mother? You can't punish one without hurting the other +right to the quick." + +"We have been blessed in our children, Henry," said Mrs. Belding proudly. +"And--really--Chet should not be too much blamed." + +"There, there!" exclaimed her husband in a disgusted tone of voice. "You're +every whit as bad as Laura." + +Mr. Monroe did not return to the bank for several days; and meanwhile other +important and interesting things were happening. The three boys who seemed +to have secret knowledge about the accident on Market Street refused to +answer the questions of their girl friends as to the identity of the car +that had run the victim down. + +"You are just the meanest boys!" flared out Bobby Hargrew, as they all +trooped down to Lake Luna to take almost the last look at the roped-off +arena before the carnival would twinkle its lights that evening at six +o'clock. + +"I don't know, Bobby," drawled Chet. "I believe we really could be meaner +if we tried." + +"No you couldn't!" snapped Clara Hargrew with finality. + +"Oh, girls!" gasped Laura suddenly, "tell me what this is coming up the +hill? Or am I seeing something that you folks don't?" + +"Gee!" exclaimed the slangy Bobby, forgetting her indignation with Chet and +the other boys. "Is it? Can it be?" + +"Pretty Sweet!" ejaculated Jess, beginning to laugh. "And he is in his +forest green hunting suit. _I_ call it his 'Robin Ridinghood' suit." + +"It just matches him, all right," said Lance. "He's verdant green and so is +the suit. And look how he is carrying that gun, will you?" + +The gun was in its case, but the boy in question was carrying the shotgun +in a most awkward manner. Without a doubt he was half afraid of it. + +"And I bet he hasn't had a charge in it all the time he's been out. Who did +he go with?" asked Chet. + +"Some of the East Siders. They cater to him a lot, and you know," said +Lance, with disgust, "tight as Purt is with money, if you flatter him you +can pull his leg." + +"Dear me!" murmured Laura, "it is not in your province to use such slang, +Lance. Leave that to Chet and Bobby." + +"Hey, Pretty!" Chet shouted to the very dandified lad, as he crossed the +street toward them. "What luck, old top?" + +Although when they had first seen him, Prettyman Sweet was undoubtedly +footsore, he began to strut now and pride "fairly exuded from his +countenance," as Jess whispered to her chum. + +"Did you get any cottontails?" demanded Lance. + +"Oh, a few--a few, muh boy," declared Pretty Sweet airily. + +Then they saw that he had a game bag slung over his shoulder in true +sportsman style. + +"I did not suppose you would go out to shoot the poor, innocent little +rabbits, Mr. Sweet," said Laura, with sober face but dancing eyes. "They +have never done you any harm." + +"I bet a real bad rabbit would make Purt run," muttered Bobby. + +"Oh, Miss Belding!" said the school dandy. "You know I'm awf'ly keen on +sport--awf'ly keen, doncher know. I just _have_ to get a day now and then +in the woods, when game is in season." + +"He's as keen on it as the two Irishmen were, who went hunting for the +first time," broke in Bobby. "When they sighted a bird sitting on a bush +Meehan took very careful aim and prepared to fire. Said his friend, +grabbing him by the arm: + +"'Don't fire, Meehan! Shure an' yez haven't loaded yer gun.' + +"'That's as it may be, me lad,' retorted Meehan, 'but fire I must. The +bur-rd won't wait!'" + +Prettyman Sweet was used to being laughed at, yet he flushed at the gibe. + +"Never mind," he said. "I bring home the game, just the same." + +"You 'bring home the bacon,' in other words," said Chet, approaching him. +"Let's see the bunnies?" + +Nothing loath, the overdressed boy opened the bag and displayed his +plunder. He brought two big hares out of the bag by their ears and held +them up with pride. + +"Bet they were trapped," said Bobby in an undertone. + +"They were not trapped!" cried Purt Sweet sharply. "See! That is where one +was shot! And there is the other--see?" + +"Jinks!" said Lance. "Both through the head. _You_ never did it, Purt?" + +"I did so!" cried the huntsman angrily. "I shot them both." + +Chet was looking them over closely. He shook his head. + +"They have been shot all right," he said. "And you shot them over there on +Cavern Island?" + +"I can prove it," said Purt haughtily. + +"That's all right," said Chet thoughtfully. "You may have shot them--and on +Cavern Island. But whose rabbits were they before you bought them?" + +"What? I--Oh!" + +Bobby and Jess began to giggle. Chet grinned as he added: + +"Those are Belgian hares, not rabbits, Pretty. Somebody has put something +over on you. Belgian hares don't run wild in the woods of Cavern Island-- +that is sure." + +"Bet he shot them hanging up on a fence," snapped Short and Long, who thus +far had said never a word to Prettyman Sweet. + +"And I know the market to-day is full of Belgian hares," chuckled Chet. +"Oh, Purt! you never could pull off anything like that on us in a hundred +years." + +"I don't care--I--I--" + +The angry Purt snatched up his game bag and marched away. + +"That he's been caught in the trick puts a crimp in him," chuckled Chet +Belding. + +"And that isn't all that ought to happen to him," muttered Short and Long, +who seemed to have become suddenly very bitter against the dandified Sweet. + +"Can it, Billy, can it," advised Lance. "Give a calf rope enough and he +will hang himself." + +"And maybe that fellow ought to be hung," was Short and Long's further +comment. + +"Why, Billy!" exclaimed Laura, "what ever do you mean?" + +"Yes, Short and Long," said Jess. "Why the 'orrid hobservation about poor +Purt?" + +Perhaps Billy Long would have blurted out something, had not another +incident taken place which so excited all the young people that they forgot +Purt Sweet and his foibles. + +The group had reached Lakeside Avenue, which overlooked many shore estates +and some private docks. This was the residential end of Centerport, and the +vicinity in summer was lovely. Now the outlook on Lake Luna's sparkling +surface--frozen in a sheen of ice to the shore of Cavern Island in the +middle of the lake--was wonderfully attractive. + +At the foot of Nugent Street, which they now reached, the girls and boys +from Central High heard suddenly a great shouting and peals of laughter +from up the hill. Some snow still lay on the side of Nugent Street; and the +hill was a glare of ice. Down the steep descent were coming three or four +heavy sleds loaded with young folks. Many of them were girls and boys of +Central High. + +"Some coasting!" exclaimed Chet. "I had no idea it was so good. We ought to +get our bob out, Lance." + +"Oh, see, Laura!" murmured Jess. "There comes Janet Steele. She must have +been canvassing for Red Cross members away over here. I wish we had time to +do some of that work." + +The Red Cross girl appeared from around a turn in the avenue, and the +instant she spied her new friends she waved her gloved hand. + +"Is that the girl who gave first-aid to the man on Market Street Saturday +night?" asked Chet. + +"Some little queen, isn't she?" rejoined Lance, with twinkling eyes. + +"Oh," said Laura placidly, "you needn't think that you can get us girls +jealous about Janet Steele. She is an awfully sweet girl." + +"And she isn't little at all," put in Jess, tossing her head. "She is as +husky as Eve Sitz." + +Before they could say more, or further hail the Red Cross girl, there was a +crash and terrific rattling around the turn of the avenue. The next instant +a horse appeared, madly galloping along the roadway, and drawing the +shattered remains of a grocery wagon after him. + +The maddened beast would, so it seemed, cross the foot of Nugent Street +just as the bobsleds shot down to that point. Across the avenue was a steep +bank against which the sleds were easily halted. But they could not be +stopped before they crossed Lakeside Avenue! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FOREFRONT OF TROUBLE + + +The three boys drew Laura and her girl friends into the gateway of a +residence that faced the lake. The Red Cross girl was on the other side of +Nugent Street, and the runaway horse was coming along the avenue behind +her. + +Chet would have leaped away to her assistance had not Jess grabbed him by +the arm and screamed. The sleds were almost at the crossing, and surely +Chet Belding would have been knocked down. + +Janet Steele proved to be perfectly able to look out for herself. And on +this occasion she could even do more than that. + +She whirled and saw the horse coming with the wrecked wagon. She could not +see up the hill of Nugent Street, for the corner house barred her vision in +that direction. But without doubt she had heard the eager shouts of the +coasters and understood what was ahead of them. + +The runaway would cross the foot of the hill just in time, perhaps, to +collide with one or more of the bobsleds. + +Almost opposite the foot of Nugent Street and right beside the steep bank +against which the coasters had been wont to stop their sleds, was a narrow +lane pitching toward the lakeshore. This lane was near Janet Steele. + +Chet saw it and realized how the horse might be turned. But the boy was too +far away. Even as he shook off Jess Morse's frenzied hold on his arm, the +runaway was upon Janet Steele. + +The latter had whipped off the Red Cross veil she wore. Seizing it by both +extremes she allowed the veil to float out on the brisk winter breeze, +darting with it into the street. + +The runaway's glaring eyes caught sight of the flapping folds of the veil, +and he swerved, his hoofs sliding on the slippery drive. The eyes of a +horse magnify objects tremendously, and the girl's figure and her flowing +veil probably looked to the frightened animal like some awful and +threatening bogey. + +Scrambling and snorting, he swerved to the side of the road, saw the open +lane, and the next moment thundered into it, the broken wagon skidding +across the lane and smashing into a gatepost. + +It was at the same instant that the head sled came sweeping down Nugent +Street, crossed the avenue, and stood almost on end against the bank, +stopping abruptly in the snow bank. + +The other sleds poured down and stopped; but none had been in so much +danger as that first one. Laura and Chet and their friends started on the +run for the spot--and for Janet Steele. + +"Oh! _Oh! OH!_" shrieked in crescendo one girl who had ridden on the first +bobsled. "We might have been killed!" + +Some of the boys ran after the horse. The rest of the young people +surrounded Janet Steele. + +"How brave you were," murmured Jess Morse admiringly. + +"You've got a head on you, sure enough!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew, while the +Red Cross girl, blushing and with downcast eyes, began hastily to adjust +her veil again. + +"Oh, it was nothing," murmured Janet. + +"Tell it to Lily. Here comes Lily Pendleton," said Jess, smiling again. +"She won't think it was nothing." + +The girl who had shrieked so loudly came up quickly to the group of Central +High girls. + +"Did you turn that horse?" she demanded of Janet Steele. "You are a regular +duck! We might have all been killed! I never will ride down a hill with +Freddy Brubach again! There should have been somebody down here to signal +that we were coming!" + +"Guess the horse would not have paid much attention to signals, Lil," +laughed Laura. + +"Only the kind that Miss Steele waved," added Bobby. + +"Is that your name?" Lily Pendleton asked the Red Cross girl. "I'm awfully +glad to know you." + +"And much gladder that she was right on the job here when the horse came +along, aren't you, Lil?" chuckled Bobby. + +"She ought to have a medal," declared one of the other girls. + +"Let's write to Mr. Carnegie about her," proposed Jess, but good-naturedly, +and hugged Janet now that she had rearranged her veil. + +"Oh, dear me!" gasped Janet Steele, "please don't make so much over so +little. I shall almost be sorry that I turned the horse into the lane. And +it was a little thing. I am not afraid of horses." + +"A mere medal is nothing to Miss Steele, I bet," said Bobby, the emphatic. +"I expect she has a trunk full of 'em. Like the German army officer who had +his chest covered with iron crosses and medals and the like. Somebody asked +him how he came to get them all. + +"'Vell,' he said, pointing to the biggest and shiniest medal, 'I got dot py +meestake; undt dey gif me de odders pecause I got dot one!'" + +"Oh, you and your jokes, Bobby!" said Lily Pendleton, with some scorn. +"This was a serious business. And there is another very serious matter, +girls, that I have to call to your attention," she added, turning to Laura +and Jess. + +"What has gone wrong? Nothing about the play, I hope!" cried Jess. + +"It is worse, because it is right at hand," said Lily, shaking her head. +"What do you suppose Miss Carrington has done?" + +"Oh, Gee Gee!" groaned Bobby, in despair. "I knew she would break out in a +fresh spot." + +"Do tell us what it is," begged Jess Morse. + +"It is about Hessie," said Lily. + +"Hester Grimes?" demanded Laura, with a rather grim expression. "What has +happened to her now?" + +"Why!" cried Lily, rather sharply, "you speak as though Hessie was always +getting into trouble." + +"You cannot deny but that she has frequently made a _faux pas,_ as it +were," said Jess, smiling. + +"And what she does wrong," added Laura, with some bitterness, "usually +affects the rest of us." + +"She did not do a thing wrong!" cried Lily stormily. "You girls are just +too mean!" + +"Oh, come on, Lil," said Bobby. "Tell us the worst. We're prepared for +murder, even." + +"You are very rude, Clara Hargrew," declared Lily Pendleton. "Hessie is not +to blame. She failed in rhetoric, and when Miss Carrington tried to put a +lot of home work on her she refused to take it." + +"What?" gasped Jess. + +"Oh! She did refuse, did she?" snapped Bobby. "And a fat lot that would +help her!" + +"Well, I don't care!" cried Lily. "Gee Gee is just as mean----" + +"Granted!" agreed Bobby, with emphasis. "But tell us how much Hessie has +been set back?" + +"Of course Miss Carrington has punished her if she was impudent," said +Laura decidedly. + +"She has punished us all!" cried Lily. "She refuses to allow Hessie to +skate to-night. She's out of it." + +"Out of the carnival?" cried several of her listeners in chorus. + +"And Hester," cried Bobby, "is in the Dress Parade. What did I tell you? +Gee Gee was just hoping to queer us." + +"It is Hester Grimes who has queered us," Laura said, much more sternly +than she usually spoke. "And we were all warned to be so careful!" + +"Now, don't blame Hessie!" cried Hester's chum angrily. + +"I'd like to know who we are to blame, then?" demanded Jess Morse, with +disgust, "Knowing that Gee Gee is what she is, why couldn't Hester keep her +own temper?" + +"Well! I just guess--" + +But after all it was Mother Wit who, though greatly offended, became +peacemaker. + +"There, there!" she said. "Enough is done already. We shall miss Hester. +But we mustn't get angry with each other and therefore spoil the whole +Dress Parade. That masquerade should be the most spectacular number on the +program." + +"But who will take Grimes' place?" demanded Bobby. + +Laura stood beside Janet Steele, whose eyes were wide open, her cheeks +glowing, and even her lips ajar with excitement. Laura had a very keen +mind, and already she had apprehended that Janet was more deeply interested +in this discussion, and the subject of it, than a stranger naturally would +be. She turned now to stare into the Red Cross girl's face. + +"Oh, Miss Steele!" she said, "didn't you tell us that you loved to skate?" + +"Ye-es," admitted Janet. + +"And she's as big as Hessie Grimes!" exclaimed Jess on the other side, and +catching her chum's idea. + +"Would you take Hester's part in the masquerade?" asked Laura pointblank. + +"But she doesn't belong to Central High!" wailed Lily Pendleton. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Jess. "What does it matter? This is all for a show. +It is no competition with other members of the League." + +"Right-o, Jess!" crowed Bobby Hargrew. + +"We-ell!" murmured Lily doubtfully. + +"Come, Miss Steele--Janet," said Laura, pleadingly. "I know you can help +us. Hester, being the biggest girl, was to lead in certain figures on the +ice. You could easily learn them. And you can wear her costume, I know." + +"Why--I----" + +"You don't know anything of the kind, Laura Belding," snapped Lily, +interrupting Janet. "I don't believe Hessie would let any other girl wear +her masquerade suit." + +"Sure she wouldn't!" exclaimed Bobby, with disgust. "She'll crab the whole +game if she can. Hester Grimes always was a nuisance." + +But Laura suddenly clapped her hands in real joy. "Oh, no!" she cried. "We +won't ask Janet to wear any other girl's costume. I know what would be +fine." + +"Let's hear it, Laura dear," said Jess, eagerly. "Of course, you would have +a bright idea. You always do." + +"Why," said the pleased Laura, "if Janet will come and skate with us, she +need only wear the very cloak and veil she has on now. What could be more +fitting for a leader of our costume parade? The whole carnival is for the +Red Cross, and with a Red Cross girl to lead the procession, and Chet in +his Uncle Sam suit to lead the boys--Why! it will be the best ever." + +"Hooray!" shouted Bobby, wild with enthusiasm. + +"It is splendid!" agreed Jess. + +Everybody in hearing agreed, save, perhaps, Lily Pendleton. Laura turned to +Janet again and clasped her gloved hands over the new girl's arm. + +"Will you, dear? Will you help us out?" she asked. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ICE CARNIVAL + + +"Oh, Miss Laura! Do you really mean it?" murmured Janet Steele, her full +pink cheeks actually becoming white she was so much in earnest. + +"Of course we mean it," Jess Morse said practically. "And glad to have +you." + +"I don't know--" + +Janet looked for a moment at the sulky-faced Lily Pendleton. Jess +immediately pulled that young girl forward. + +"Why, Lil isn't half as bad as she sounds," declared Jess, laughing. "This +is our very particular friend, Janet Steele, Lil. You've got to treat her +nicely. If you don't," she added sharply, "you'll never get a chance to go +camping with us girls again as you did last summer. You and your Hester +Grimes can go off somewhere by yourselves." + +Really, Lily Pendleton had improved a good deal since the time Jess +mentioned, and the latter's blunt speech brought her to a better mind at +once. + +"Well, of course," she said, offering Janet her hand, "I did not mean it +just that way. You know how cranky Hessie is when she does get mad. But +Laura has suggested a perfectly splendid idea. Miss Steele as a Red Cross +girl and Chet as Uncle Sam will be fine to lead the grand march on skates." + +So it was decided, and they hurried Janet down to the girls' boathouse, +which had a warm, cozy clubroom at one end where Mr. Godey, the watchman, +stayed, and where, at this time of year, he was often busy sharpening +skates. Laura found a pair of skates for the Red Cross girl, and for an +hour the latter practiced with the girls of Central High the steps and +figures of the masquerade parade, which Laura and her friends already had +worked out to perfection. + +"Don't worry a bit about to-night, Janet," Laura told her, when they all +hurried away from the lakeshore about dusk. "We'll push you through the +figures. Jess and I will be on either side of you, except when we pair off +with the boys. And then you will be with my brother Chet. And if he isn't +nice to you he'll hear from me!" she added with vigor. + +"Oh, but Laura!" whispered Jess Morse, as they separated from Janet, "Chet +mustn't be too nice to her. For Janet Steele is an awfully pretty girl." + +"Now, dear!" exclaimed her laughing chum, "don't develop incipient +jealousy." + +With only two hours before them in which to do a hundred things, the girls +were as busy as bees for the remainder of the afternoon. That Hester Grimes +had been forbidden to take part in the carnival by Gee Gee troubled the +girls of Central High less than they might have been troubled had it been +almost any other of their number that the strict teacher had demerited. +For, to tell the truth, Hester Grimes was not well loved. + +The daughter and much-indulged only child of a wealthy butcher, Hester had +in the beginning expected to be catered to by her schoolmates. With such +rather shallow schoolmates as Lily Pendleton, Hester was successful. Lily +toadied to her, to use Bobby Hargrew's expression; nor was Lily alone in +this. + +Upon those whom Hester considered her friends she spent her pocket money +lavishly. She was not a pretty girl, but was a tremendously healthy +one--strong, well developed, and tomboyish in her activities. Yet she +lacked magnetism and the popularity that little Bobby Hargrew, for +instance, attained by the exercise of the very same traits Hester +possessed. + +Hester antagonized almost everybody--teachers and students alike. Even +placid, peace-loving Mother Wit, found Hester incompatible. And because +Laura Belding was a natural leader and was very popular in the school, +Hester disliked her and showed in every way possible that she would not +follow in Laura's train. Yet there had been a time when Hester had felt +under obligation to Laura. + +Laura was secretly glad to see Lily Pendleton weaned slowly away from the +butcher's daughter. The last summer had started Lily in the right +direction, and although the overdressed girl had still some weaknesses of +character to overcome, she had greatly improved, as this incident of the +afternoon revealed. + +Lily was not alone in complaining about Miss Carrington's harshness, +however. It was the principal topic of conversation when the girls gathered +in the boathouse rooms to prepare for the races and the features that were +to precede the principal attraction of the carnival--the masquerade grand +march. + +"Sh! She's right here now," whispered Bobby Hargrew sepulchrally, coming +into the dressing-room. "She's on watch at the door." + +"Who?" asked Jess Morse. + +"Not Hester?" cried Lily. "She told me she wouldn't come down here!" + +"Gee Gee," shot back Bobby, with pursed lips. "She is going to be sure that +Hester doesn't appear." + +"Mean thing!" Nellie Agnew said. And when the doctor's gentle daughter made +such a statement she had to be fully aroused. "She thinks she has spoiled +the whole act!" + +"I believe you," Bessie Yeager said. "I wonder if Miss Carrington really +sleeps at night?" + +"Why not, Bess?" cried Dora Lockwood. + +"I think she lies awake thinking up mean things to do to us." + +"Oh, oh!" murmured Nellie. + +"I bet you!" exclaimed the slangy Bobby. + +"Careful, girls. If she hears you!" warned Laura. + +"Then you would be 'perspicuous au grautin,' as the fellow said," chuckled +Bobby. "There! the whistle has sounded." + +"The fete has begun," sighed Jess. "I do hope everything will go off +right." + +"The boys are taking in money all right," Laura said with satisfaction. "I +believe we shall make a thousand dollars for the Red Cross." + +"I hope so," said her chum. "Come on, girls! It's first the fancy skating +before the ice arena is all cut up." + +The effort to make the Ice Carnival of the Central High a success was aided +by a perfect evening and perfect ice. The latter had been shaved and +smoothed over every gnarly place. There was not a single crack in which a +skate could be caught to throw the wearer. The arena roped off from the +spectators was as smooth as a ballroom floor. + +It was about two acres in extent. Around three sides of the roped-off space +there was a roped-off alley with boards laid upon the ice upon which the +spectators could stand. Uprights held the strings of colored lights which +were supplied with electricity from the city lighting company; for this was +not the first exhibition of the kind that had been staged upon Lake Luna. + +Around the alley allotted to the audience, each member of which had to pay +a half dollar for a ticket, was a guarded space so that those who did not +pay entrance fee could not get near enough to enjoy the spectacle. + +The short-distance races, following the figure skating, were all within the +oval of the principal arena. Then the ropes were taken down at one end and +the long-distance races came off, a mile track having been marked with +staffs upon the ice, staffs which now held the clusters of colored +lanterns. + +For two hours the company was so well amused that few were driven away by +the cold--and it was an intensely cold night The ringing of the skates on +the almost adamantine ice revealed the fact that Jack Frost had a tight +clutch on the waters of Lake Luna. + +"I wish my mother could have seen this," Janet Steele murmured to Laura +Belding. "I think it is like fairyland." + +"Isn't it pretty? Now comes the torchlight procession. The boys arranged +this their own selves. See if it isn't pretty!" + +The short end of the oval had been closed again after the long-distance +races, and now there dashed into the arena from the boys' lane to the +dressing-rooms a long line of figures in dominos, each bearing a colored +light. They were the boys that could skate the best--the most sure-footed. + +Back and forth, around and around, in and out and across! The swift +movement of the figures was well nigh bewildering; while the intermingling +of colored lights, their weaving in and out, made a brilliant pattern that +brought applause again and again from the spectators. + +Then the boys divided, taking stations some distance apart, and the torches +were tossed from hand to hand, as Indian clubs are tossed in gymnasium +exercises. The effect was spectacular and seemed a much more difficult +exercise than it really was. + +Meanwhile the girls selected for the masquerade were dressing in the +boathouse. Their masquerade costumes were as diverse and elaborate as +though it were a ball they were attending. There was no dress as simple as +Janet Steele's Red Cross uniform; yet with her glowing face and sparkling +eyes and white teeth there were few more effective figures in the party. + +She had proved herself to be a fine and strong skater. Laura and Jess, who +sponsored her, were delighted with the new girl's appearance on the ice. +She had learned, too, her part quite perfectly. When the girls first came +out and the boys darted back to get into their fancy costumes, the summary +of the figures the girls wove on the ice were already known to Janet. She +fulfilled her part. + +Then returned the boys, "all rigged out," Bobby said, and the masquerade +parade began. The crowd standing about the arena cheered and shouted. It +really was a most attractive grand march, and there chanced, better still, +to be no accident. Smoothly the young people wended their way about the +ice, their skates ringing, their supple bodies swaying in time to the +music, led by those two masks of Uncle Sam and the Red Cross girl. + +"It is lovely," Mrs. Belding said to her husband. "What a fine skater our +Chetwood is, Henry. And it is so near Christmas! I hope that bank-note will +turn out to be a good one so that he will not lose the money," she finished +wistfully. + +"There, there!" said the jeweler. "I'll go to see Monroe to-morrow. He's at +home again." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BUT WHO IS HE? + + +"Well, Mr. Monroe," the jeweler said, when he was ushered into the banker's +office the following forenoon by the bank watchman, "I presume that bill is +a counterfeit of some kind?" + +"My dear Belding," said the banker, who was a portly and jolly man, who +shook a good deal when he chuckled, and who shook now, "I thought you were +old enough, and experienced enough, to discover the counterfeit from the +real." + +"My son took the bill in over the counter," said the jeweler, rather +chagrined. + +"But haven't you examined it?" said Mr. Monroe, taking the strange +bank-note from a drawer of his desk. + +"Well--yes," was the admission, made grudgingly. + +"And are you not yet assured?" + +"Neither one way nor the other," frankly confessed the jeweler. "It was +taken by Chet for a hundred-dollar bill. And it is that on one side!" + +"It certainly looks to be," chuckled Mr. Monroe. + +"But who ever heard of such a thing?" demanded the exasperated customer of +the bank. "A hundred printed on one side and a fifty on the other! The +printers of bank-notes do not make such mistakes." + +"Hold on! Nobody is infallible in this world--not even a bank-note +printer," said the banker, reaching into another drawer and bringing forth +a large indexed scrapbook. + +"Here's a case that happened some years ago. I am a scrapbook fiend, +Belding," chuckled Mr. Monroe. "There were once two bills issued for a +Kansas bank just like this one you have brought to me. Only this note that +we have here was printed for the Drovers' Levee Bank of Osage, Ohio, as you +can easily see. This note went through that bank, was signed by Bedford +Knox, cashier, and Peyton J. Weld, president, as you can see, and its +peculiar printing was not discovered. + +"Ah, here we have it!" added Mr. Monroe, fluttering the stiff leaves of the +scrapbook and finally coming to the article in question. "Listen here: 'It +was found on communication with Washington that a record was held there of +the bill, and the department was anxious to recall it. With another bill it +had been printed for a bank in Kansas, and the mistake had been made by the +printer who had turned the sheet upside down in printing the reverse side. +The first plate bore the obverse of a fifty-dollar bill at the top and of a +hundred-dollar bill at the bottom, while the other plate held the reverse +of both sides. By turning the sheet around for the reverse printing, the +fifty-dollar impression had been made on the back of the hundred-dollar +bill.' + +"Do you see, now?" laughed the banker. "Quite an easy and simple mistake, +and one that might often be made, only the printers are very careful men." + +Oddly enough, Mr. Belding, although relieved by the probability that the +Department at Washington would make the strange bill right for him, was +suddenly attracted by another fact. + +"I wonder," he said, "if that man came from Osage, Ohio?" + +"What man? The one who passed the bank-note on your son?" + +"Yes. You know, he was injured and is now in the hospital." + +"I don't know. Go on." + +Mr. Belding related the story of the accident and the unfortunate mental +condition of the injured man. "They tell me all the money he had with him +was new money--fresh from the Treasury." + +"He probably did not make it himself," chuckled the jolly banker. "Poor +chap! Don't the doctors think he will recover his memory?" + +"That I cannot say," the jeweler said, rising. "Then you think I may +relieve Chet's mind?" + +"Oh, yes. I will give you another hundred for this bill, if you want me to. +I will send this to Washington, where they probably already have a record +of it. Bills of this denomination are printed by twos, and the other has +probably turned up--as in the case of the Kansas bank-note." + +Aside from the satisfaction this interview of his father's with Mr. Monroe +accorded Chet Belding, further interest on the part of all the young people +was aroused in the case of the injured stranger. Oddly enough, when Laura +and Jess went to the hospital to inquire about the man, they found Janet +Steele, the Red Cross girl, there on the same errand. + +Since the Ice Carnival, that had proved such a money-making affair for the +Red Cross, the Central High girls had considered Janet almost one of +themselves. Although nobody seemed to know who or what the Steeles were, +and they certainly lived very oddly in the old house at the lower end of +Whiffle Street, Janet was so likable, and her invalid mother was evidently +so much of a gentlewoman, that Laura and her chum had vouched for Janet and +declared her to be "all right." + +The matron of the hospital was the person whom the girls interviewed on +this occasion. Mrs. Langworth had some interest in each patient besides the +doctor's professional concern. She was sympathetic. + +"We do not know what to call him," she explained. "He laughs rather grimly +about it and tells us to call him 'John.' But that, I am sure, is not his +name. He merely wishes us to have a 'handle' for him. And you cannot tell +me," added the matron, shaking her head, "that he is one of those rough +miners right out of Alaska!" + +"Does he say he is?" asked Janet, with increased interest. + +"He remembers of being in Alaska, he says. He was coming out, he tells us, +when something happened to him. And that is the last he can remember. He +believes he 'made his pile,' as he expresses it. Oh, he uses mining +expressions, and may have lived roughly and in the open, as miners do, at +some time in his life. But not recently, I am sure." + +"And not a thing about him to identify him?" asked Laura. + +"Not a thing. Plenty of money. Not much jewelry----" + +"Oh! The lavalliere my brother sold him!" cried Laura. "He said it was for +'a nice little girl he knew.' It was only a ten dollar one--one of those +French novelties, you know, that we sell so many of at this time of year." + +"He had that in an envelope in his pocket," said Mrs. Langworth. + +"Then he had not made the presentation of it to 'the nice little girl,'" +murmured Laura. thoughtfully. + +"It almost proves he is a stranger in town, does it not?" asked Jess. "He +bought the chain in the morning, and he was not hurt until evening. Do you +know if he had any lodging in Centerport?" + +"The police have searched the hotels, I believe," said the matron, "and +described the poor fellow to the clerks and managers. Nobody seems to know +him." + +"Do--do you suppose we might see him?" Laura asked hesitatingly. + +"Oh, Laura! Would you want to?" Jess murmured. + +"Why not?" said the matron, smiling. "Not just now, perhaps. But the next +time you come--in the afternoon, of course. He will be glad to see young +faces, I have no doubt I will speak to Dr. Agnew when he comes in," for +Nellie's father was of importance at the Centerport Hospital. + +"But who is he, do you suppose?" Jess Morse demanded, when the three girls +left the hospital and walked uptown again. "He can't be any person who has +friends in Centerport, or they would look him up." + +"That seems to be sure enough," admitted her chum. Then: "Shall we walk +along with Janet?" + +"Of course," said Jess. "Are you going home, Miss Steele?" + +"Yes," said the girl in the Red Cross uniform. "I have been on duty at the +Central Chapter; but mother expects me now." + +"How is your mother, dear?" asked Laura, with sympathy. + +"She is as well as can be expected," said Janet gravely. "If she had +nothing to worry her mind she would be better in health," and she sighed. + +Janet did not explain what this worry was, and even Jess, blunt-spoken as +she often was, could not ask pointblank what serious trouble Mrs. Steele +had on her mind. + +Again the Central High girls went in to see the invalid upon Janet's +invitation. They found Bobby Hargrew there before them. Harum-scarum as +Bobby was, nobody could accuse her of lack of sympathy; and she had already +learned that her fun and frolic pleased the invalid. Bobby did not mind +playing the jester for her friends. + +Of course, the strange man at the hospital was the pivot on which the +conversation turned. + +"Were you there, too, to inquire about him?" asked Mrs. Steele of Janet. + +Laura noticed a certain wistfulness in the invalid's tone and look; but she +did not understand it. Merely, Mother Wit noted and pigeonholed the remark. +Janet said practically: + +"I can't help feeling an interest in him, as I helped him that evening he +was hurt." + +"But have they learned nothing about him?" + +"Only that the hundred-dollar bill he gave Chet is probably all right," +laughed Jess Morse. + +"They say he had a big money roll," said Bobby. + +"Not a poor man, of course," Laura agreed. + +"And Mrs. Langworth says she is sure he has been in Alaska," Jess added. + +Laura noted the swift glance that passed between the invalid and her +daughter. + +"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Steele, "you did not tell me that" + +"No," said Janet, shaking her head, "But lots of men go to Alaska, Mamma." + +"Ye-es," admitted Mrs. Steele. + +"And come back with plenty of money," put in Bobby, smiling. "This poor +man's money doesn't help him much, does it? He doesn't seem to have any +friends here in Centerport. He is just as much a stranger as the man they +tell about who came back to his old home town after a great many years and +found a lot of changes. As he rode uptown his taxicab stopped to let a +funeral go by. + +"'Who's dead?' asked the returned wanderer of the taxicab driver. + +"'Dan Jones,' said the driver. + +"'Not Dan Jones that kept the hotel!' cried the man. 'Why, I knew him well. +Can it be possible that Dan is dead?' + +"'I reckon he's dead, Mister,' said the chauffeur, as the hearse went by. +'What d'you think they're doin'--rehearsin' with him?'" + +"How very lonely the poor man must feel," said Mrs. Steele, after laughing +at Bobby's story. + +"We're going in to see him the next time," Jess said. + +Mrs. Steele looked again swiftly at her daughter. "You will see him, too, +won't you, Janet?" she murmured. + +Her daughter seemed not to like the idea; but Jess said quickly: + +"We will take Janet with us, Mrs. Steele. And Bobby, too. If Mrs. Langworth +approves, I mean. 'The more the merrier.' Really, I'm awfully interested in +him myself." + +Laura, said nothing; but she wondered why the invalid showed so much +interest in the injured man. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A REHEARSAL + + +The copies of the play chosen for production by the girls of the Central +High Players Club had arrived, and Mr. Mann, who was to direct the +production, called the members of the club together in the small hall which +was just off Mr. Sharp's office. + +"And thank goodness!" murmured Bobby Hargrew, "Gee Gee cannot break into +this session. What do you suppose she has suggested?" + +"Mercy! how do you expect us to guess the vagaries of the Carrington mind?" +returned Lily Pendleton. "Something foolish, I'll be bound." + +"Sh! Remember Mr. Mann is an instructor, too," said Nellie Agnew. + +"That is all right, Doctress," giggled Lily. "Mr. Mann is a good fellow and +will not peach." + +"Tell us the awful truth, Bobby," drawled Jess. "What is Gee Gee's latest?" + +"I understand," said the younger girl, "that she has been to Mr. Sharp and +begged him to exercise his authority and make us act 'Pyramus and Thisbe' +instead of 'The Rose Garden.'" + +"Goodness! That old thing?" flung out Dora Lockwood. + +"There is a burlesque on 'Pyramus and Thisbe' that we might give," chuckled +Jess. "And it's all in doggerel. Let's!" + +"Reckless ones! Would you spoil all our chances?" demanded Laura. + +"Aw--well----" + +"Remember, we are working for a worthy cause," Dorothy Lockwood mouthed, in +imitation of the scorned Miss Carrington. + +"You are right, Dory," Laura said soberly. "The Red Cross is worth +suffering for." + +"Right-o, my dear girl," declared Jess Morse with conviction. "Let us put +aside Gee Gee and listen to what Mr. Mann has to say." + +They had already talked over the characters of the play. None of them was +beyond the capabilities of the girls of Central High. But what delighted +some of them was that there were boys' parts--and girls would fill them! + +Of course, Bobby Hargrew had been cast for one of the male parts. Bobby's +father had always said she should have been a boy, and was wont to call her +"my eldest son." She had assumed mannish ways--sometimes when the +assumption was not particularly in good taste. + +"But Short and Long," she growled in her very "basest" voice, "says I can't +walk like a boy. Says anybody will know I'm a girl. I have a mind to get my +hair cut short" + +"Don't you dare, Clara Hargrew!" Laura commanded. "You'd be sorry +afterward--and so would your father." + +Bobby would never do anything to hurt "Father Tom," as she always called +Mr. Hargrew, so her enthusiasm for this suggested prank subsided. But she +growled: + +"Anyway, it's a sailor suit I am going to wear, and I guess I can walk like +a sailor, just as well as Short and Long." + +"Better," declared Nellie soothingly. "And then, those wide-legged trousers +sailors wear are quite modest." + +At this all the girls laughed. Knickers in their gymnasium and field work +had become second nature to them. + +"But think of me," cried Jess, "in what Chet calls 'the soup to nuts!' +Really the dress-suit of mankind is awfully silly, after all." + +"And uncomfortable!" declared Dora. + +"Attention, young ladies!" exclaimed Mr. Mann at that moment. + +He was a rotund, beaming little man, with vast enthusiasm and the +patience--so Nellie declared--of an angel. + +"Not a full-sized angel," Bobby had denied seriously. "He is more the size +of a cherub--one of those you see pictured leaning their elbows on clouds." + +But, of course, neither of the girls made this comment within Mr. Mann's +hearing. + +The final decisions regarding the choice of parts were now made. The copies +of the play were distributed. Mr. Mann even read aloud the first two acts, +instructing and advising as he went along, so that the girls could gain +some general idea of what was expected of them. + +Before they were finished another point came up. There was a single +character in the play that had not been accorded to any girl. It was not a +speaking part; but it was an important part, for the other characters +talked about it, and the silent character was supposed to appear on several +occasions in "The Rose Garden." + +"We need a tall, dark girl," said Mr. Mann. "One who walks particularly +well and who win not be overlooked by the audience even when she merely +crosses the stage. Who----?" + +"Margit Salgo!" exclaimed Jess, who had every bit of the new play and its +needs very close to her heart. + +"Of course!" cried Laura and the Lockwood twins. "Margit is just the one," +Mother Wit added. + +"Oh!" said Mr. Mann at last. "You mean Margaret Carrington?" + +"And she walks like a queen," sighed Lily Pendleton. "I wish I could learn +to walk as she does." + +"You know what Mrs. Case says," put in Bobby, in an undertone. "She says +your feet, Lil, have been bound like a Chinese woman's of the old regime." + +"Oh, you!" + +"Margit went barefoot and lived in the open for years," said Laura. + +"She was 'near to Nature's heart,'" laughed Jess. "Of course, she never +tried to squeeze a number six foot into narrow twos." + +"Never mind the size of her feet," said Mr. Mann good-naturedly. "If she +can take the part, she will be just the one for it I remember that Miss +Carrington's niece does have a queenly walk. And that is just what we need. +But do you think we can get her?" + +"She has never joined our club," said Jess thoughtfully. + +"I am not sure that she has ever been invited," Laura said. "But she is +always busy----" + +"Gee Gee pretty near works her to death," growled Bobby. "I shouldn't +wonder if Margit flew the coop some day." + +"I am not sure, Miss Hargrew," said Mr. Mann, without a smile, "that I +ought not to take you to task for your language. It really is inexcusable." + +"Oh, dear me, Mr. Mann, don't you begin!" begged the culprit "If I am +academic in school in my speech, let me be relieved out of sessions, I +pray." + +"But about Margit Salgo?" queried Laura. "Do you suppose she will be able +to help us? I know she will be willing to, if we ask her." + +"Gee Gee will object, you bet," growled Bobby under her breath. + +That was not to be known, however, without asking. Laura said she would +speak to Margaret about it, while Mr. Mann intimated that he would mention +to Miss Carrington, the elder, that her niece was almost necessary to the +success of the play. + +Margit Salgo was not so straightly kept by Miss Carrington as she was +engaged from morning to night in her studies. Having been utterly neglected +as far as mental development went for several years, the half-gypsy girl +was much behind others of her age at Central High. + +Miss Grace Gee Carrington was pushing her protege on as fast as possible. +She was not yet in the classes of those, girls of her age whom she knew at +Central High; but she was fast forging ahead and she took much pride in her +own advancement. + +Therefore she did not see Miss Carrington's sternness as Bobby, for +instance, saw it. She found her aunt kind and considerate, if very firm. +And the girl who had been half wild when Laura Belding first found her, as +has been related in "The Girls of Central High on Track and Field," was +settling into a very sedate and industrious young woman. + +What girl, however, does not love to "dress up and act?" Margit Salgo was +delighted when Laura explained their need to her. + +"Just as sure as auntie will let me, I'll act," declared the dark beauty, +flushing brilliantly and her black eyes aflame with interest. "You are a +dear, Laura Belding, to think of me," and she hugged Mother Wit heartily. + +Two days passed, and then came the first rehearsal. This, of course, could +be little more than a reading of the parts before Mr. Mann, with the latter +to advise them as to elocution and stage business. But Bobby declared she +had been practicing walking like a boy and had succeeded in copying Short +and Long almost exactly. + +"Why me?" demanded Billy sharply, whose usual sweet temper seemed to have +become dreadfully soured of late. + +"Well, why not?" demanded Bobby. "Should I copy Pretty Sweet's strut?" + +"Aw--him!" snorted Billy Long, turning away in vexation. + +"Now, tell me," said the quick-minded Bobby Hargrew to Laura and Jess, with +whom she chanced to be walking at the moment, "why it is that Billy has +taken such a violent dislike to poor Purt of late? Why, he doesn't feel +kindly enough toward him to send him another dead fish!" + +They were going to the rehearsal, which was in the small hall of the +school. Of course, there was a sight of bustle and talking. Every girl was +greatly excited over her part. Some were "sure they couldn't do it," while +there were those who "could not possibly remember cues." + +"And I know I shall laugh just at the wrong place," said Lily Pendleton. "I +always do." + +"If you do," growled Bobby, "I'll do something to you that will make you +feel far from laughing, I assure you." + +"How savagely you talk!" sighed Nellie Agnew. "That boy's part you are to +fill is already affecting you, Clara." + +"'Sailor Bob' is going to be terrifically rough, I suppose," Jess said, +laughing. + +Mr. Mann called them to order, and the girls finally rustled into seats and +prepared to go through "The Rose Garden" for the first time. Everybody knew +her first speeches, and as Mr. Mann accentuated the cues and advised about +the business the girls did very well during the first act. + +But with the opening of the second act there was a halt. Here was where +"the dark lady" should come in. Her first appearance marked a flourishing +period by Jess, who strode about the stage as the hero of the piece. + +"And Margit's not here!" cried Dora Lockwood. "Shouldn't she be, Mr. Mann? +Really, her entrance gives me my cue, not Adrian's speech." + +Adrian was Jess Morse. She nodded her head vigorously. "Of course, Margit +ought to be here to rehearse with us." + +"I am afraid," said Mr. Mann, with pursed lips, "that we shall have to give +up the idea of having Miss Carrington--the younger--for the part." + +"Oh, oh, oh!" chorused some of the girls. "Can't Margit play?" + +"Isn't that just like Gee Gee?" demanded Bobby furiously. + +"She wanted to, I am sure," Laura said. "It is not Margit's fault." + +"Of course it isn't," snapped Jess. "That old--" + +Fortunately she got no farther. The door opened at that instant and Miss +Grace Gee Carrington entered. She was a very tall woman with grayish hair, +eyeglasses, and a sallow complexion. Her dignity of carriage and stern +manner were quite overpowering. + +"Young ladies!" she said sharply, having come into the room and closed the +door, "I have a word to say. I told Mr. Mann I would come here and explain +why my niece cannot take part in any such foolish and inconsequential +exhibition as this that you have determined on." + +She glared around, and the girls' faces assumed various expressions of +disturbance. Some, even, were frightened, for Miss Carrington had always +reigned by power of fear. + +"I would not allow Margaret to lower herself by appearing in such a play. I +disapprove greatly of girls taking boys' parts. The object of the play +itself is merely to amuse. There is nothing worth while or educational +about it." + +Again silence, and the girls only glanced fearfully at each other. + +"I have a proposition to make to you," said the stern teacher. "It is not +too late to change your plans. I have Mr. Sharp's permission to make the +suggestion. He will agree to your changing the play and will +be--er--satisfied, I am sure, if you accept my advice and put on the play +which I first suggested. This is an old Greek play with real value to it We +gave it once in my own college days, and it truly made a sensation. I +should be quite willing for Margaret to appear in that play, and I should, +in fact, be willing to give Mr. Mann the benefit of my own experience in +rehearsing the piece." + +Mr. Mann actually looked frightened. The stern instructor overpowered him +exactly as she did many of the girls. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BUBBLE, BUBBLE + + +"Toot! Toot! Toot-te-toot! Back water!" muttered Bobby Hargrew. "Wouldn't I +cut a shine acting in a Greek play? Oh, my!" + +Her imprudence--and impudence--was fortunately drowned by the general +murmur of objection that went up from the girls of the club. That Miss +Carrington's suggestion met with general objection was so plain that even +the stern woman herself must have realized it. + +"Of course," she said, really "cattish," "you girls would prefer something +silly." + +"Perhaps, Miss Carrington," said Laura with more boldness than most of her +mates possessed, "we prefer something more simple. 'The Rose Garden' does +not call for more than we can give to it. I am afraid the play you suggest +would take too much study." + +"Ha!" snapped the tall teacher. Then she went on: "I want you all to +understand that your recitations must be up to the average while you put in +your time on such a mediocre performance as this you are determined upon. +Of course, if the play was of an educational nature we might relax our +school rules a little--" + +"Oh! Oh! Bribery!" whispered Jess to Nellie. + +"It seems," Mr. Mann finally found voice to say, "that the desire of the +young ladies is for the piece selected. It is too late, as Miss Belding +says, to make a change now." + +"Then Margaret cannot act!" exclaimed Miss Carrington, and, turning +angrily, she left the hall in a way that had she been one of the girls, it +would have been said, "She flounced out." + +The rehearsal continued; but most of the girls were in a sober state of +mind. There was a general desire among them to stand high in all their +studies. They had learned when first they entered upon the athletic +contests and exercises of the Girls Branch League that they must keep up in +studies and in deportment or they could not get into the good times of the +League. + +It was so with the secret society, the M. O. R.'s, and likewise in this +acting club. "Fun" was merely a reward for good work in school. Not alone +was Miss Carrington stiff on this point, the principal and the rest of the +faculty were quite as determined that no outside adventures or activities +should lower the standard of the girls of Central High. + +At the present time the members of the club had a serious fact to +contemplate. A girl to fill the part of the "dark lady" in the garden must +be found. As it was not a speaking part, the person filling the character +must more particularly look as she was described in the play. + +"We want a type," said Mr. Mann. "Tall, graceful, brunette, and with +queenly carriage. You must find her before the next rehearsal. I must have +plenty of time to train her, for her appearance is of grave importance--as +you young ladies can yourselves see." + +"Oh, dear me!" groaned Nellie Agnew, when the rehearsal was finished. "And +Margit Salgo would have been just the one!" + +"And the poor girl certainly would have enjoyed being one of us," Laura +said. + +"Take it from me," said Bobby gruffly, "she's just the meanest--" + +"Margit?" cried Jess. + +"Gee Gee! I'm good and disgusted with her." + +But Bobby, for once in her life, was very circumspect during recitations +that week. She felt that Gee Gee was watching for a chance to demerit her, +and the girl did not intend to give the teacher occasion for doing so. + +"For once I am going to be so good, and have my lessons so perfect, that +she cannot find fault." + +"But trust Miss Carrington to find fault if she felt like it!" grumbled the +girl a day or so later. + +"Miss Hargrew, do not stride so. And keep your elbows in. Why! you walk +like a grenadier. And don't sprawl in your seat that way. Are you not a +lady?" + +Ah, but it was hard for saucy Bobby to keep her tongue back of her teeth! + +"Have you lost your tongue?" nagged Miss Carrington. + +Bobby's eyes flashed a reply. But her lips "ran o'er with honey," as Jess +Morse quoted, _sotto voce_. + +"No, Miss Carrington. I am merely holding it," said the girl softly. + +Miss Carrington flushed. She knew she was unfair; and Bobby's unexpected +reply pilloried the teacher before the whole class. There was a bustle in +the room and a not-entirely-smothered snicker. + +Had there been any way of punishing the girl Miss Carrington would +certainly have done it. She was neither just nor merciful, but she was +exact. She could see no crevice in Bobby's armor. The incident had to pass, +and the girl remained unpunished. + +However, it did seem as though Miss Carrington were more watchful each day +of the girls who belonged to the Players Club. She was evidently expecting +those who had parts to learn to show some falling off in recitation, or the +like. Her sharp tongue lashed those who faltered unmercifully. The girls +began to show the strain. They became nervous. + +"I really feel as though I must scream sometimes!" said Nellie Agnew, +almost in tears, one afternoon as the particular chums of Central High left +the building for home. "I know my lessons just as well as ever, but Gee Gee +has got me so worked up that I expect to fail every time I come up to +recite to her." + +"She is too old to teach, anyway," snapped Jess. "My mother says so. She +ought to have been put on the shelf by the Board of Education long ago." + +"Oh, oh!" gasped Dora Lockwood. "What bliss if she were!" + +"She is not so awfully old," said Laura thoughtfully. + +"But she is awful!" sniffed Jess. + +"She acts like a spoiled child," Nellie said. "If she cannot have her own +way in everything she gets mad and becomes disagreeable." + +This was pretty strong language from the doctor's daughter. At the moment +Bobby Hargrew appeared, whistling, and with her hands in her coat pockets. +She was evidently practicing her manly stride. But she did not grin when +she saw the juniors approaching. Instead, in a most dolorous voice she sang +out, quoting the witches' chant: + + "'Double, double; toil and trouble; + Fire burn and cauldron bubble.' + +"Everything's stewing, girls, and it is bound to be some brew. Do you know +the latest?" + +"Couldn't guess," said Jess Morse. "But it is something bad, I warrant." + +"Everything's going wrong, girls!" wailed Nellie. + +"I just saw Mr. Mann and Lil. Couldn't help overhearing what she was giving +him. What do you suppose she wants to do?" + +"Play the lead instead of Laura," snapped Jess. + +"That would not be so strange," Dora Lockwood observed. "Would it, +Dorothy?" + +"Not at all. Lil Pendleton--" + +"Wait a minute," proposed Laura Belding. "Let us hear her crime before we +sentence her to death." + +"That's right," agreed Bobby. "Oh, she surely has put her foot in it! She +told Mr. Mann that Hessie is just the girl to act 'the dark lady' in our +play. What do you know about that?" + +"Ow! Ow! That hurts!" squealed Dora. + +"She never _did_?" gasped her twin. + +"Hope to die!" exclaimed Bobby recklessly. "That is exactly the game she is +trying to work." + +"Hester Grimes! Of all persons!" groaned Nellie. + +"Lil hasn't said a word about it to me," Jess Morse declared. + +"No, she is going to get Mr. Mann himself to propose Hester--" + +"But Hessie isn't a member of the club!" cried Nellie. + +"We have set a precedent there," said Laura thoughtfully. "We took Janet +Steele into the ice carnival, and she was not a member of the school." + +"That was an entirely different thing!" snapped Jess. + +"Why, Hester Grimes is no more fit to play that part than I am fit for the +professional stage!" Nellie Agnew said. "What can Lil mean?" + +"I bet a cooky," Bobby growled, "that Hester put Lil up to it. You know, +Hess is crazy to get her finger into every pie; but she would never come +straight out and ask to join our club." + +"She'd be blackballed," said Dora tartly. + +"I believe she would," agreed her twin. + +Bobby chuckled. "There would be two black beans against her, and no +mistake." + +"What did you say to Lil, Clara?" demanded Laura thoughtfully. + +"Not a word." + +"How was that?" Jess asked. "You didn't have a sudden attack of lockjaw, +did you?" + +"Don't fret, Jess," said Bobby sharply. "I know when to keep my mouth shut +on occasion. I came right away from there to find you girls. Something must +be done about it." + +"Oh, dear me!" groaned Nellie. "If Margit Salgo had only been allowed to +take the part!" + +"What did I tell you?" almost snarled Bobby. "Gee Gee has managed to queer +the whole business. This play is going to be a failure." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MOTHER WIT HAS AN IDEA + + +The ice carnival had been such a success in a spectacular as well as a +monetary way that many of the friends of the Central High girls and boys +declared they would like to have it repeated. More than a thousand +dollars--to be exact, one thousand and twenty dollars--had been made for +the Red Cross. + +Centerport was doing its very best to gather its quota for the great +institution that was doing so much good in the world. Janet Steele +confessed to Laura that she had gained more than one hundred dollar +memberships, and that nearly all of these had given something in addition +to their membership fee. + +"I wish we girls could help," said Laura wistfully. + +"And you having done so much already!" cried Janet. "Why, you've already +done more than your share! And doing a play, too!" + +"I am afraid the play will not be a great success," Mother Wit sighed, but +more to herself than to the other girl. + +Those who wished to repeat the ice carnival success had to give the idea +up, for before the end of the week there swept down over the North Woods +and across frozen Lake Luna such a blizzard as the surrounding country had +not seen for several years. The street cars stopped running, traffic of all +sorts was tied up, and even the electricity for lighting purposes was put +out of commission for twenty-four hours. + +Of course, it did not keep many of the girls and boys of Central High at +home. Snow piled up in the streets did not daunt them at all. But when the +amateur actors undertook to rehearse they had to do so by the light of +candles and kerosene lamps. + +The rehearsal did not go very well, either. The girls were "snippy" to each +other--at least, Jess said they were, and Bobby declared she was one of the +very "snippiest--so there!" + +"Girls! Girls!" begged Laura, "when there are so many other people to +fight, let us not fight each other. 'Little birds should in their nests +agree,' and so forth." + +"Oh, poodle soup!" ejaculated Bobby, under her breath. "Don't anybody dare +spring old saws and sayings on me in my present mood." + +"I believe you'd bite, Bobby," whispered Nellie Agnew. + +A cry went up for Lily Pendleton, and then it was found that she was not +present. + +"The only girl who is made of either sugar or salt," declared Josephine +Morse. "Of course, the snow would keep her away!" + +"But where is her friend, Miss Grimes?" asked Mr. Mann, rather tartly. "I +shall have my work cut out for me in training her, I fear." + +"You will, indeed," moaned Laura. + +"Now, Mr. Mann!" cried Bobby boldly, "you are not really going to let that +Hester Grimes act in this play, are you? She is perfectly horrid!" + +"Miss Hargrew," was the somewhat sharp answer, "I hope you will not let +personal dislikes enter into this play. It does not matter who or what Miss +Grimes may be, if she can take the part--" + +"But she'll never be able to do it in the world!" + +"That is to be seen," said Mr. Mann firmly. "Remember, we are working for +the benefit of the Red Cross." + +"Hear! Hear!" murmured Laura. "Perhaps Hester will do very well." + +"And perhaps she won't!" snapped Bobby. + +"Why, she can't possibly _act!"_ Jess Morse said hopelessly. + +"You will let me be the judge of that, Miss Morse, if you please," said Mr. +Mann, speaking rather tartly. + +"Mercy, everybody to-day is as crisp as pie-crust--no two ways about it!" +whispered Bobby to Jess. + +The girls plowed home through the deep snow, most of them in no mood for +amusement. Even Laura Belding had a long face when she entered the house. + +"How was the funeral?" asked Chet, who was buried in one of the deep +library chairs with a book. + +"What?" she asked before she caught his meaning. + +"You must have buried somebody by the way you look," declared her brother. + +"Don't nag, Chettie," sighed his sister. "We are having terrible times." + +"I judged so," Chet said dryly. "Don't you always have sich when you girls +go in for acting?" + +"Now--" + +"I am sympathetic, Laura--I swear I am!" her brother cried, putting up his +hands for pardon. "Don't shoot. But of course things always will go wrong. +Who is it--Bobby? Or Jess? Or Lil?" + +"It is Hester Grimes." + +"Wow!" exclaimed Chet. "I didn't know she was in it at all." + +Laura told him of the emergency that had arisen and how Hester Grimes +seemed certain to be drawn into the affair. + +"Why, that big chunk can't act," said Chet quite impolitely. "She looks +enough like her father to put on his apron and stand behind one of his +butcher blocks." + +"Oh, that is awful!" Laura objected. "But I know she will spoil our play." + +"Humph! Why didn't you, Laura, suggest somebody else for the part, as long +as Margit couldn't take it?" + +"I didn't know of anybody." + +"I thought they called you 'Mother Wit,'" scoffed Chet. "You're not even a +little bit bright." + +"No, I guess you are right. I have lost all my brightness," sighed Laura. +"It has been rubbed off." + +"Then you admit it was merely plate," laughed Chet. "But say! why didn't +you think of the girl who helped you out before?" + +"Who? What girl?" + +"That Red Cross girl. What's her name?" + +"Janet Steele!" + +"That's the one. Some pippin," said Chet with enthusiasm. I saw her this +afternoon and helped her plow home--" + +"Chetwood Belding! Wait till Jess Morse hears about it." + +"Aw--" + +"Jess will spark, old boy; you see if she doesn't" + +"Jess is the best girl in the world; and she's got too much sense to object +to my helping another girl home through the snow." + +"All right," chuckled Laura, in a much more cheerful mood. "But don't make +the mistake of praising Janet to Jess. That is where the crime comes in." + +"Oh! Well, I won't," her brother declared thoughtfully. + +"And where did you beau Janet from?" Laura asked. + +"The hospital." + +"Were you there to see that poor man?" + +"Rich man, you mean," grinned her brother. "I took him some books and a lot +of papers. He is able to sit up and read." + +"But he doesn't know who he is?" + +"He declares his name is John _Something_, and that he ought to be in +Alaska right now. Says the last he knew he was in Sitka. Something happened +to him there. Whatever it was, his brain must have been affected at that +time. For he cannot remember anything about the first part of his life." + +"But, Chetwood!" exclaimed Laura earnestly, "that man is not a miner. He is +not tanned. His hands are not rough. He was as well groomed, the matron +says, as any gentleman who ever was brought to the Centerport Hospital." + +"But he was in Alaska. You should hear him tell about it." + +"He has lived two lives, then," said Laura thoughtfully. + +"And must be beginning his third now," put in Chet. "What do you know about +that? And him with a roll of more than two thousand dollars--every bill +brand-new." + +"Oh, Chet!" + +"Well, what is it?" her brother asked, looking curiously into Laura's +suddenly glowing face. + +"Does he know he has so much money?" + +"Why, yes. I've been telling him to-day all about that funny bill he passed +on me. He says he is glad he has so fat a purse, as he will be obliged to +remain in bed long with that leg in a cast." + +"But, Chet! has he got the money himself?" + +"It is in the hospital safe." + +"I wonder! I wonder!" the girl murmured. + +"What is it now?" asked Chet + +"I wonder if any other bills in his roll are like that hundred-fifty note +father swapped with Mr. Monroe for you." + +"Huh?" ejaculated her brother, quite puzzled. + +"It was on the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, Ohio. I wrote it down, and +the names of the cashier and president of the bank. Do find out, Chet, if +there are any more of those new bills issued by that bank in his roll." + +"What for?" demanded Chet. + +That Laura would not tell him, only made him promise to do as she asked. +Mother Wit had an idea; but she would not explain it to anybody yet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAINS ON HIS WHEELS + + +"How came you to meet Janet?" asked Laura Belding, remembering what her +brother had first told her about the Red Cross girl. + +"She was coming my way, of course." + +"Coming your way?" Laura repeated, her eyebrows raised questioningly. "Oh! +I see! You met her at the hospital." + +"You said a forkful," declared the slangy youth. + +"Dear me, Chet," Laura observed soberly. "I think your slang is becoming +atrocious. So Janet was down there!" + +"She had been calling on our friend with the broken leg, too," said Chet. + +"She does seem interested in him, doesn't she?" Laura said thoughtfully. "I +wonder why?" + +"Because her mother's half-brother went to Alaska years ago and they never +heard of him again," said Chet. "She told me." + +"Oh!" + +"Nothing wonderful about that," the brother declared. + +"It is interesting." + +"To them, I suppose," said Chet "But why don't you ask Miss Steele to join +you girls in the play you are getting up?" + +"I never thought of it," confessed Laura. + +"Your thought-works are out of kilter, Sis," declared Chet, laughing again. +"I'd certainly play Miss Steele off against the menace of Hester Grimes." + +There was something besides mere sound in Chet Belding's advice, and his +sister appreciated the fact. But she did not go bluntly to the other girls +and suggest the Red Cross girl for the part of "the dark lady." She +realized that, if the new girl could act, she would amply fill the part in +the play. But Hester was supposed to have it now, and the very next day Mr. +Mann gave that candidate an hour's training in the part Hester was supposed +to fill. + +When they all came together for rehearsal again the second day, Hester +Grimes was present and she showed the effect of Mr. Mann's personal help. +Yet her work was so stiffly done, and she was so awkward, that it seemed to +most of the girls that she was bound to hurt and hinder rather than help in +the production. + +"She'd put a crimp in anything," declared Bobby Hargrew, as the Hill girls +went home that afternoon. + +The streets in this residential section had been pretty well cleared of +snow, and people had their automobiles out once more. + +"Say, Jess!" exclaimed Bobby. + +"Say it," urged Josephine Morse. "I promise not to bite you." + +"If Hester plays that part, what are they going to do with her hands and +feet?" asked the unkind Bobby. + +"Oh, hush!" exclaimed Laura. + +"Well, when she's supposed to pick the rose and hold it up to the light, +and kiss it, her hand is going to look like a full-grown lobster--and just +as red." + +"Girls, we must not!" begged Laura. "Somebody will surely tell Hester what +we say, and then--" + +"She'll refuse to play," said Jess. + +"Oh, fine, _fine_!" murmured one of the Lockwood twins. + +"If we get her mad it will do no good," Nellie Agnew said. "Maybe then she +will insist on being 'the dark lady.'" + +The boys were on the corner of Nugent Street waiting for the girls to come +along. + +"How goes the battle, Laura?" asked Lance Darby. "Have you learned your +part yet?" + +"I thought I had," sighed Laura. "But when I come to take cues and try to +remember the business of the piece, I forget my lines." + +"This being leading lady is pretty tough on Mother Wit," laughed Chet. + +"Oh, my!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew suddenly. "Here comes Pretty Sweet in his +car. Why! he's got Lil with him. I thought that was all over." + +They gaily hailed the driver of the automobile and his companion as the +vehicle passed. Short and Long, with gloomy face, watched the car out of +sight. + +"Well," he growled, "he's got nonskid-chains on his wheels to-day, all +right" + +"Chains on his wheels, Billy?" asked Bobby. "What do you mean? Doesn't he +always have them on in winter?" + +"Humph! He forgot 'em once, anyway." + +"Hey, Billy!" exclaimed Chet Belding, "you are skidding yourself, aren't +you?" + +"Aw----" + +"Least said soonest mended," added Lance, likewise giving the smaller boy a +quick, stern look. + +"Oh, I see!" muttered Bobby, searching the flushed face of Short and Long. +"Say, Billy----" + +But Short and Long started on a quick trot for home, and left his friends +to stare after him. It was Bobby who did most of the staring, however. She +said to Jess and Laura, after they had parted from the other boys: + +"What do you know about that boy? I'm just wise to him. I believe I know +what is the matter with Short and Long." + +"Do you mean," asked Laura, "what makes him act so to Purt?" + +"You have guessed my meaning, Mother Wit." + +"What is the trouble between them?" demanded Jess. "Although Billy never +was much in love with Purt Sweet." + +"Don't you two girls remember the Saturday night that man was hurt on +Market Street?" + +"I should say I do remember it!" Laura agreed. "He is in the hospital yet, +and he doesn't know who he is or where he came from." + +"Oh, it's nothing to do with his identity," Bobby hastened to say. "It is +about the car that ran him down. You know the police never have found the +guilty driver." + +"Goodness!" gasped Jess. "You surely don't mean----" + +"I mean that the car had no chains on its rear wheels. That is all that was +noticed about it Nobody got the number. But I heard Short and Long say he +knew somebody who had been driving a car that day without chains. And the +boys left us, didn't they, to look up the car?" + +"What has that to do with Purt Sweet?" demanded Laura. + +"Why, you heard what Billy just said about him and his chains!" cried +Bobby. "'He's got nonskid-chains on his wheels to-day, all right.' Didn't +you hear him? And he's had a grouch against Pretty Sweet ever since the +time--about--that the man was hurt." + +"Oh, Purt wouldn't have done such a thing. He might have run the man down; +but he would never have run off and left him in the street!" + +"I don't know," Jess said. "He'd be frightened half to death, of course, if +he did knock the man down." + +"I do not believe Prettyman Sweet is heartless," declared Laura warmly. +"The boys are making a mistake. I'm going to tell Chet so." + +But when she took her brother to task about this matter she could not get +Chet to admit a thing. He refused to say anything illuminating about the +car that had run down the stranger at the hospital, or if the boys +suspected anybody in particular. + +"If we think we know anything, I can't tell you," Chet declared "Billy? +Why, he's always sore at Purt Sweet. You can't tell anything by him!" + +Just the same it was evident that the boys were hiding much from their girl +chums; and, of course, that being the case, the girls were made all the +more curious. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PIE AND POETRY + + +Laura's sleeves were rolled up to her plump elbows and she had an +enveloping apron on that covered her dress from neck to toe. There was +flour on her arms, on one cheek, and even on the tip of her nose. + +Out-of-doors old Boreas, Jess said, held sway. Shutters flapped, the +branches of the hard maple creaked against the clapboarded ell of the +house, and there was an occasional throaty rattle in the chimney that made +one think that the Spirit of the Wind was dying there. + +"You certainly are poetic," drawled Bobby, who had come into the Beldings' +big kitchen, too, and was comfortably seated on the end of the table at +which Laura had been rolling out piecrust. + +"Now, if that crust is only crisp!" murmured Mother Wit. + +"If it isn't," chuckled Chet, stamping the snow off his shoes, "we'll make +you eat it all." + +"I'm willing to take the contract of eating it, sight unseen, if Laura made +the pie," interjected Lance Darby, opening the door suddenly. + +"Come in! Come in!" cried Jess. "Want to freeze us all?" + +"You would better not be so reckless, Lance," Laura said, smiling. "These +are mock cherry pies; and I never do know whether I get sugar enough in +them until they are done. Some cranberries are sourer than others, you +know." + +"M-m! Ah!" sighed Chet ecstatically. "If there is one thing I like----" + +Lance began to sing-song: + + "'There was a young woman named Hooker, + Who wasn't so much of a looker; + But she could build a pie + That would knock out your eye! + So along came a fellow and took 'er!'" + +"Oh! Oh! We're all running to poetry," groaned Chet. "This will never do." + +"'Poetry,' indeed!" scoffed Jess Morse. "I want to know how Lance dares +trespass upon Bobby's domain of limericks?" + +"And I wish to know," Laura added haughtily, "how he dares intimate that I +am not 'a good looker'?" + +"'_Peccavi!_"' groaned Lance. "I have sinned! But, anyway, Bobby is off the +limerick business. Aren't you, Bobby?" + +"She hasn't sprung a good one for an age," declared Chet. + +"A shortage," sighed Laura. + +"Gee Gee says the lowest form of wit is the pun, and the most execrable +form of rhyme is the limerick," declared Jess soberly. + +"Just for that," snapped Bobby, "I'll give you a bunch of them. Only these +must be written down to be appreciated." + +She produced a long slip of paper from her pocket, uncrumpled it, and began +to read: + + "'There was a fine lady named Cholmondely, + In person and manner so colmondely + That the people in town + From noble to clown + Did nothing but gaze at her, dolmondely.' + +Now, isn't that refined and beautiful?" + +"It is--not!" said Chet. "That is only a play upon pronunciation." + +"Carping critics!" exclaimed Lance. "Go ahead, Bobby. Let's hear the +others." + +As Bobby had been saving them up for just such an opportunity as this, she +proceeded to read: + + "'There lived in the City of Worcester + A lively political borcester, + Who would sit on his gate + When his own candidate + Was passing, and crow like a rorcester!" + +"Help! Help!" moaned Chet, falling into the cook's rocking chair and making +it creak tremendously. + +"Don't break up the furniture," his sister advised him, as she took a peep +at the pies in the oven. + +"'Pies and poetry'!" exclaimed Jess. "Go ahead, Bobby. Relieve your +constitution of those sad, sad doggerels." + +Nothing loath, the younger girl, and with twinkling eyes, sing-songed the +following: + + "'There was a young sailor of Gloucester, + Who had a sweetheart, but he loucest'er. + She bade him good-day, + So some people say, + Because he too frequently boucest'er.' + +Take notice all you 'bossy' youths." + +"Isn't English the funny language?" demanded Chet, sitting up again. "And +spelling! My! Do you wonder foreigners find English so difficult? Here's +one that I found in an almanac at the drug store," and he fished out a +clipping and read it to them: + + "'A lady once purchased some myrrh + Of a druggist who said unto hyrrh: + "For a dose, my dear Miss, + Put a few drops of this + In a glass with some water, and styrrh."'" + +"Do, do stop!" begged Laura. + +"I promise not to offend again," said Lance. "Besides, I hope to taste some +of the pie, and a pie-taster should not be a poetaster." + +"Oh! Oh! Awful!" Jess cried. + +"I've run out of limericks myself," confessed Chet. + +"But one more!" Bobby hastened to say. Then dramatically she mouthed, with +her black eyes fastened on Chet: + + "'Said Chetwood to young Short and Long, + "Just list to my warning in song: + If you know of the crime, + For both reason and rhyme + Betray it--and so ring the gong!"'" + +The other girls burst out laughing at the expression on the boys' faces. +Chet and Lance looked much disturbed, and Chet finally scowled upon the +teasing Bobby and shook his head. + +"What do you know about that?" whispered Lance to his chum. + +"You are altogether too smart, Bobby," declared Chet. "What do you mean?" + +"We know you and Short and Long are trying to hide something from us," said +Jess quickly. + +"You might as well tell us all about it," Laura put in quietly. "What has +Billy really got against Purt Sweet?" + +"I don't admit he has anything against Purt," said Chet quickly. + +"Nothing but suspicion," muttered Lance, likewise shaking his head. + +"Then there is something in it?" Laura said quickly. "Can it be possible +that Purt Sweet would do such an awful thing and not really betray himself +before this?" + +"There you've said it, Laura!" cried Lance. "That is what I tell both Chet +and Billy. If Pretty was guilty, he would be scared so that he would never +dare go out again in his car." + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Bobby with dancing eyes. "Then my rhyme is a true bill?" + +"Aw, Lance would have to give it away!" growled Chet. + +"Boys are as clannish as they can be!" said Jess severely. "We are just as +much interested as you are, Chet. What made Billy believe Pretty Sweet ran +the man down?" + +"Oh, well," sighed Chet, "we might as well give in to you girls, I +suppose." + +"Besides," laughed his sister, "the pies are almost done, and both you and +Lance will want to sample them." + +"Go on. Tell 'em, Chet," said Lance. + +"Why, Billy had been riding that day in the Sweets' car. You know Purt is +too lazy to breathe sometimes, and he wouldn't get out his chains and put +'em on. Billy knew that the chains were not on at dinner time that evening, +for he passed the Sweet place and saw the car standing outside the garage +with the radiator blanketed. + +"Well, the only thing we were sure of about the car that ran that man +down--the Alaskan miner, you know--was that the rear wheels had no chains +on them, and that it was a Perriton car like Purt's." + +"Yes, it was a Perriton," said his sister. + +"So we fellows hiked up there to Sweets'. Purt was out with the car. He +came home in about an hour, and he was still skidding over the ice. We +tried to get out of him where he had been, but he wouldn't tell. We had to +almost muzzle Billy, or he would have accused him right there and then. And +Billy has been savage over it ever since." + +"Really then," said Laura, "there is nothing sure about it." + +"Well, it is sure the car was a Perriton. And since then we have found out +that Purt's is the only Perriton in town that isn't out of commission for +the winter. You can talk as you please about it: If the police only knew +what we know, sure thing Purt would be neck-deep in trouble right now!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +EMBER NIGHT + + +The three girls of Central High and their boy friends had not come together +on this stormy Saturday morning merely to feast on "pie and poetry." + +The ice carnival had made them so much money that Laura and her friends +desired to try something else besides the play which was now in rehearsal. +They wanted to "keep the ball rolling," increasing the collections for the +Red Cross from day to day. + +Fairs and bazaars were being held; special collectors like Janet Steele +were going about the city; noonday meetings were inaugurated in downtown +churches and halls; a dozen new and old ways of raising money were being +tried. + +And so Mother Wit had evolved what she called "Ember Night," and the young +people who helped carry the thing through were delighted with the idea. To +tell the truth, the idea had been suggested to Laura Belding during the big +storm when the lighting plant of the city was put out of order for one +night. + +She and her friends laid the plans for the novel fete on this Saturday +after Laura's pie baking and after they had discussed the possibility of +Prettyman Sweet being the guilty person whose car had run down the strange +man now at the Centerport Hospital. + +They put pies and poetry, and even Purt Sweet, aside, to discuss Laura's +idea. Each member of the informal committee meeting in the Beldings' +kitchen was given his or her part to do. + +Laura herself was to see Colonel Swayne, who was the president of the Light +and Power Company and who was likewise Mother Wit's very good friend. Jess +agreed to interview the local chief of the Salvation Army. Chet would see +the Chief of Police to get his permission. Each one had his or her work cut +put. + +"Every cat must catch mice," said Mother Wit. + +Plans for Ember Night were swiftly made, and it was arranged to hold the +fete the next Tuesday evening, providing the weather was clear. Jess, whose +mother held a position on the Centerport _Clarion_, wrote a piece about +this street carnival for the Sunday paper, and the idea was popular with +nearly every one. + +Exchange Place was the heart of the city--a wide square on which fronted +the city hall, the court house, the railroad station, and several other of +the more important buildings of the place. + +In the center of the square a Red Cross booth was built and trimmed with +Christmas greens, which had just come into market. Members of the several +city chapters appeared in uniform to take part in the fete. There was a +platform for speakers, and a bandstand, and before eight o'clock on Tuesday +evening a great crowd had assembled to take part in the exercises. + +That one of the Central High school girls had suggested and really planned +the affair, made it all the more popular. + +"What won't Laura Belding think of next?" asked those who knew her. + +But Laura did not put herself forward in the affair. She presided over one +of the red pots borrowed from the Salvation Army that were slung from their +tripods at each intersecting corner of the streets radiating from Exchange +Place, and for a half mile on all sides of the square. + +Under each pot was a bundle of resinous and oil-soaked wood that would burn +brightly for an hour. At the booth in Exchange Place fuel for a much larger +bonfire was laid. + +The crowd gathered more densely as nine o'clock drew near. The mayor +himself stepped upon the speaker's platform. The police had roped off lanes +through the crowd from the Red Cross booth to the nearest corners. + +Janet Steele came late and she chanced to pass Laura's corner, which was in +sight of the speaker's stand and the booth. She halted to speak with Laura +a moment. + +"Isn't it just fine?" she said. "I wish mother could see this crowd." + +"I imagine you would like to have her see lots of things," returned Laura. +"Our friend at the hospital, for instance." + +"Who--who do you mean?" gasped Janet, evidently disturbed. + +"The man who was hurt, I mean." + +"Oh! He is quite interesting," said the other girl and slipped away. +Laura's suggestion had seemingly startled her. + +The band played, and then the mayor stepped forward to make his speech. At +just this moment a motor car moved quietly in beside the curb near which +Laura Belding stood guarding her red pot. Somebody called her name in a low +tone, and Laura turned to greet Prettyman Sweet's mother with a smile. + +Mrs. Sweet was alone in the tonneau of her car, which Purt himself was +driving. The school exquisite, who was so often the butt of the boys' +jokes, but was just now an object of suspicion, admired Laura Belding +immensely. He got out of the car to come and stand with her on the corner. + +"Got your nonskid-chains on, Purt?" asked Laura. + +"On the rear wheels? Surely," said Sweet, eyeing the girl in some surprise, +because of her question. + +"My dear Laura!" cried Mrs. Sweet "Won't you come and talk to me while we +are waiting?" + +"Can't now, Mrs. Sweet. I am on duty," laughed Laura. + +They could not hear what the mayor said, for they were two blocks away. But +they had an excellent view of the stand and the Red Cross booth, and the +crowd that pressed close to the police ropes. + +Suddenly the mayor threw up his hand in command, and almost instantly--as +though he had himself switched off the light--all the street lamps in the +business section of Centerport went out The arc light over the spot where +Laura stood blinked, glowed for a moment, and then subsided. Mrs. Sweet +cried out in alarm. + +"This is all right," Laura called to her. "Now watch." + +The mayor, in the half-darkness, stepped down from the platform and threw +into the heart of the big bonfire the combustibles that set it off. The +flames leaped up, spreading rapidly. The crowd cheered as eight boys, +dressed in the knee-length dominos they had worn on the night of the ice +carnival, dashed into the ring with resinous torches. They thrust the +torches into the flames and the instant the torches were alight, they +wheeled and dashed away through the lanes the police had kept open. + +The red flames dancing before the Red Cross booth, and the sparking, +flaming torches which the boys swung above their heads as they ran through +the crowd to the various corners where the red pots hung, made an inspiring +picture in the unwonted gloom of the streets. + +"See how the Red Cross spreads!" cried Laura. "There's Nellie's fire +going." + +They could see the spark of new fire under the pot a block away. A short +figure with flaming torch was approaching Laura's corner at high speed. + +"Here comes Short and Long, I do believe," drawled Prettyman Sweet. + +"My pot will soon be boiling," laughed Laura. "What are you going to throw +in, Purt? And you, Mrs. Sweet? Give all you can--and as often as you can." + +"Oh, I'll start you off, Laura," declared Purt, pulling out a handful of +coins that rang the next moment in the bottom of the iron pot. + +"Here's my purse, Prettyman!" called his mother, leaning from the car. "You +put in my offering." + +The few bystanders around Laura's corner began laughingly to contribute +before the torch reached the spot. But Short and Long arrived the next +moment. He stooped, thrust the blazing torch into the middle of the fuel +under Laura's pot, and wheeled to run to his next comer. + +The flames crackled, springing up ravenously. The boy's cotton gown flapped +across the fire and before he could leap away the flames had seized upon +the domino! + +"Oh, Billy!" shrieked Laura Belding. "You are on fire!" + +The short boy leaped away; but he could not leave the flames behind him. He +threw down the torch and tried to tear off the domino. In a moment he was a +pillar of flame! + +"A blanket! A robe! Quick, Purt!" cried Laura, and started toward the +victim of the accident, bare-handed. + +For once Purt Sweet did as he was told, and did it quickly. He ran with the +robe from the front seat of the automobile. Laura grabbed one end and +together they wrapped their schoolmate in the heavy folds. + +Short and Long was cast to the street and they rolled him in the blanket. +The fire was smothered, but what injury had it done to the boy? + +He was unconscious; for in falling he had struck his head, and the wound +was bleeding. Mrs. Sweet was crying and wringing her hands. + +"Oh, it's awful! Purt! Purt! Take me home!" she sobbed. + +"No, Purt!" exclaimed Laura. "Take him to the hospital" + +"Of course we will," gasped the youth. "Help me lift him, Laura. Oh, the +poor kid!" + +Only the few people near by had seen the accident. Not even a policeman +came. Laura and Purt staggered to the car with the wrapped-up body of the +smaller lad. His face was horribly blackened, but that might be nothing but +smoke. Just how badly Billy Long was injured they could not guess. + +Mrs. Sweet shrank back into the corner of the tonneau seat and begged Laura +to get in with the injured boy. + +"I can't! I can't touch him!" wailed the woman. "It's awful! Suppose he +should be dead?" + +"He's not dead," declared Purt. "We won't let him die--the poor kid! Here, +mother, you hold his head and we'll lay him down on the seat. Let his head +and shoulders lie right in your lap." + +"Oh, Laura! Do come!" cried the woman. + +"I can't, Mrs. Sweet!" returned Laura, sobbing. "I've got to stay and watch +my pot boil. Do be quick, Purt!" + +She stepped out of the car. Purt slammed the tonneau door and leaped to the +steering wheel. In a moment the self-starter sputtered, and then the car +wheels began to roll. + +Mrs. Sweet was actually forced to do something that she had never done +before--personally help somebody in trouble. Perhaps the experience would +do her good, Laura thought. + +In tears the latter returned to the corner. The fire was brightly blazing +underneath her swinging pot. There was already quite a collection of coins +and a few bills in the bottom of the receptacle. But although Laura stuck +to the post of duty, her heart was no longer in the ceremonies of Ember +Night. She wished heartily that she had never suggested the entertainment, +even if it did benefit the Red Cross. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT + + +It did really prove to be one of the most successful forms of money-raising +for the Red Cross that had been attempted in Centerport. And later they +tried Ember Night in Lumberport and Keyport. + +Laura Belding was not proud of her success, however, for poor Short and +Long had been badly burned. Fortunately his face was only blackened, and +the doctors decided that he had not inhaled any of the scorching flame. + +Laura and Purt had wrapped him in the blanket so quickly that the fire was +smothered almost at once. Yet there were bad burns on his arms and +body--burns that would leave ineffaceable scars. + +The girls of Central High had two interests now to take them to the +hospital. The stranger who did not know his name and Short and Long both +came in for a lot of attention. + +The latter had never known before how popular with his schoolmates he was. +Fruit, flowers, candy and the nicest confections from the Hill kitchens +found their way in profusion to Billy's bedside. + +After a day or two the doctors let him see whoever came, and he could talk +all right. It made him forget the smart of his burns. + +Of course his sister Alice came frequently, and she had to bring Tommy, the +irrepressible, along. Tommy was more interested in the good things to eat +at his brother's bedside, however, than he was in Billy's bodily condition. + +There was so much jelly, and blanc-mange, and other goodies that the +invalid could not possibly consume all. Tommy sat and ate, and ate, until +the nurse said: + +"Tommy, don't you know that you are distending your stomach with all those +sweets? It is not good for you." + +When Tommy learned that "distending" meant that his stomach was being +stretched, he was delighted. + +"Gimme some more, Allie," he begged his sister. "Please do, Allie dear. I +want to stwetch my 'tomach. It's never been big 'nough to hold all I want +to eat." + +The interest of Laura and her close friends in the strange man with the +broken leg did not lag. He talked freely with his visitors; but mostly +about Alaska and his adventures in the gold mines. + +As near as he could guess, he must have come out of the mines with his +"pile," as he expressed it, almost ten years before. + +"What under the canopy I have been doing since, I don't know. But if I've +got down to two thousand dollars capital, I must have been having an +awfully good time spending money; for I know I had a poke full of gold dust +when I struck the coast and went over to Sitka." + +"More likely he was robbed," said Chet. + +"He looks about as much like a miner as Pa Belding," Laura declared. + +There was too much going on just then, however, for Mother Wit to try out +the thought that had come to her mind regarding this man. All these +interests had to be sidetracked for school and lessons. And just at this +time recitations seemed to be particularly hard. With rehearsals for the +play, and all, mere knowledge was very difficult to acquire. + +"I know I'm not half prepared in physics," wailed Nellie Agnew, as she and +other juniors trooped into school one day, two weeks before Christmas. + +"And I," said Jess Morse, "know about as much regarding this political +economy as I do about sweeping up the Milky Way with a star brush." + +"How poetic!" cried Laura, laughing. "I wonder if we all are as well +prepared?" + +"They expect too much of us," declared Dora Lockwood. + +"Much too much!" echoed her sister. + +"I wonder," said Laura, "if we don't expect too much of the teachers?" + +In the physics recitation Nellie Agnew, as she prophesied, came to grief. + +Miss Carrington seemed to have an uncanny knowledge of whom to call on at +such times. She seemed aware that Nellie had not prepared her lesson +properly. It might be that the wary teacher read her pupils' faces. +Nellie's was so woebegone that it was scarcely possible to overlook the +fact that she probably felt her shortcomings in the task at hand. + +Miss Carrington called on the doctor's daughter almost the first one in +physics. To say "unprepared!" to Miss Carrington was to bring upon one's +head the shattered vials of her wrath. There was no excuse for not trying, +that strict instructor considered. + +So Nellie tried. She stumbled along in her first answer "like a blind man +in a blind alley," so Jess Morse declared. It was pitiful, and all the +class sympathized. The gentle Nellie was led to make the most ridiculous +statements by the silky-voiced teacher. + +"And you are a physician's daughter!" Miss Carrington burst out at last. +"For shame!" + +"If I were Nell," said Dora Lockwood to her twin, "I'd cut pills altogether +after this. I'd rather take math with Mr. Sharp himself." + +Miss Grace G. Carrington was never content to let a pupil fail and sit +down. She nagged and browbeat poor Nellie until the girl lost her nerve and +began to cry. By that time the other girls were all angry and upset, and +that physics recitation was bound to go badly. + +When Jess was called on she rose with blazing cheeks and angry eyes to face +their tormentor. Miss Carrington saw antagonism writ large upon Jess +Morse's face. + +"I presume, Miss Morse, you think I cannot puzzle you?" said Miss +Carrington in her very nastiest way. + +"You can doubtless puzzle me," said Jess sharply. "But you cannot make me +cry, Miss Carrington." + +"Sit down!" ejaculated the angry teacher. "That goes for a demerit." + +"And it is about as fair as your demerits usually are," cried Jess. + +"Two, Miss Morse," said the teacher. "One more and you will not act in that +play next week." + +"If I'd been born dumb," sighed Jess afterward, "it would have been money +in my pocket. I almost had to bite the tip of my tongue off to keep from +saying something more." + +"And so ruin the whole play?" said Laura softly. + +"Huh! I guess Hester Grimes will do that," declared Jess. "She moves about +the stage like an automaton. She is going to get us a big laugh, but in the +wrong place. Now, you see." + +The girls rehearsed every afternoon, and the athletic work was neglected. +Mrs. Case excused those who were engaged in producing the play. "The Rose +Garden" was not such an easily acted play as they had at first supposed. +Mr. Mann was patient with them; but in Hester Grimes' case he could not +help the feeling of annoyance that took possession of him. + +Hester Grimes took offence so easily. + +"Every rehearsal I look for her to cut up rusty," Jess cried. "And somebody +has got to play the part of the dark lady! It is not a part that can be cut +out of the cast, although it is not a speaking part." + +Hester had begun to complain, too, because she had no lines. She considered +that she was being deprived of her rights, and was of less importance than +the other girls, because she was dumb on the stage. + +"Why! even Bobby Hargrew," she complained, "with her silly sailor part, has +lines to repeat, besides that sailor's hornpipe in the first act. Of +course, you girls would wish the least important part onto me." + +"What nonsense, Hester!" cried Jess. "If you really understood the play and +the significance of your part, you would not say such a thing. And do, do +be less like a wooden image." + +"Humph! I guess I know my part, Jess Morse," snapped Hester. "It doesn't +matter at all what I do on the stage." + +"What did I tell you?" groaned Bobby. "'Double! Double!' and-so-forth. +There is trouble brewing. If we all had measles or chicken-pox, and so +couldn't give the play, we'd be in luck, I verily believe." + +"Oh, don't, Bobby!" begged Dora Lockwood. "You are so reckless." + +"Just the same, I feel it in my bones that Hester is going to kick over the +traces," said Bobby grimly. + +"If only Margit Salgo had been allowed to have the part," groaned Dorothy. + +"It's Gee Gee's fault if the play is a failure," snapped Bobby. + +Never had the disagreeable teacher at Central High been so little liked as +at this time. They blamed Miss Carrington more than they did Hester. + +As the party of troubled girls left the school-house on this particular +afternoon, Lily Pendleton ran after them. + +"What do you think has happened?" she cried. + +"It's something bad, of course," groaned Nellie Agnew. + +"Who is hurt?" asked Laura. + +"It isn't that," said Lily. "But poor Purt Sweet!" + +"Now what has he done?" asked Jess. + +"It is what they say he has done, not what he really has done," wailed +Lily. "The police have been to his house. And what do you think?" + +"I bet his mother's had a fit!" exclaimed Bobby, in an undertone. + +"The police accuse Purt of running down that man on Market Street the other +Saturday night," said Lily warmly. "And Purt doesn't know anything more +about it than a baby! Isn't it awful, girls?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WHERE WAS PURT? + + +The police examination of Purt Sweet was no light matter. Two of +Centerport's detective force had been working on the case ever since the +stranger had been knocked down on Market Street, and, like Chet Belding and +his friends, the detectives finally had come to the conclusion that +Prettyman Sweet's automobile was the only Perriton car in the city that had +not been in storage on that night. + +The detectives' visit to the Sweet residence, and Purt's later call upon +the Chief of Police at his command, were dreadfully shocking to the boy's +mother. Purt had to reassure her and insist that he was not going to be +arrested and sent to jail at once; so he had not much time to be frightened +himself. Indeed, he came out in rather good colors on this particular +occasion. + +The boy's father had long since died. Purt had been indulged by his mother +to a ridiculous degree, and as a usual thing Purt's conversation and his +activities were ridiculed by his schoolmates. + +"This disgrace will kill me, Prettyman!" wailed Mrs. Sweet. + +"Where does the disgrace come in," pleaded poor Purt, "when I haven't +really done anything?" + +"But they say you have!" + +"I can't help what they say." + +"You were out that evening with the car. I remember it very well," his +mother declared. + +"What of it? I wasn't on Market Street the whole evening," grumbled the +boy. + +"Where were you then?" she demanded. + +It seemed as though everybody else asked Purt Sweet that question, from the +Chief of Police down; and it was the one question the boy would not answer. + +He grew red, and sputtered, and begged the question, every time anybody +sought to discover just where he was with the automobile on that Saturday +evening after dinner. Even when Chief Donovan threatened him with arrest, +Purt said: + +"If I should tell you it wouldn't do any good. It would not relieve me of +suspicion and would maybe only make trouble for other people. I was out +with our car, and that is all there is to it. But I did not run that man +down. I was not on Market Street." + +He stuck to this. And his honest manner impressed the head of the police +force. Besides, Mrs. Sweet was very wealthy, and if Purt was arrested she +would immediately bail him and would engage the best counsel in the county +to defend her son. It is one thing to accuse a person of a fault. As Chief +Donovan very well knew, it is an entirely different matter to prove such +accusation. + +The news of Purt's trouble was not long in getting to Short and Long in the +hospital. Chet and Lance really thought the smaller boy would express some +satisfaction over Purt's trouble. But to their surprise Billy took up +cudgels for the dandy as soon as he was told that the police suspected him +of the offense. + +"What's the matter with you, Short?" demanded the big fellow. "You've been +sure Purt was guilty all the time." + +"I don't care!" declared Billy. "He's one of us fellows, isn't he?" + +"Admitted he goes to Central High," Chet said. + +"But he isn't one of our gang," Lance added. + +"I don't care! The police are always too fresh," said Billy, who had reason +for believing that the Centerport police sometimes made serious mistakes. +Billy had had his own experience, as related in "The Girls of Central High +on Lake Luna." + +"Then you don't believe Purt did it?" demanded Lance. + +"No, I don't. I was mistaken," declared Short and Long. "Purt's all right" + +"Wow! Wow!" murmured Chet. + +"See how he brought me here in his car when I was hurt. And look at the +stuff Purt's given me while I've been here," said Billy excitedly. "He'd +never have hurt that man and run away without seeing what he'd done. No, +sir!" + +"Crackey, Billy!" said Chet, "you've turned square around." + +"I know I have. And I ought to be ashamed of myself for ever distrusting +Purt," said the invalid vigorously. + +"Then why won't Purt tell where he was?" demanded Lance doubtfully. + +"I don't care where he was," said Billy. "If he says he didn't hit the man, +he didn't. That's all. And we've got to prove it, boys." + +"Some job you suggest," said Chet slowly. "It looks to me as though Pretty +Sweet was in a bad hole, and no mistake." + +Even the most charitable of his schoolmates took this view of Purt Sweet's +trouble. His denial of guilt did not establish the fact of his innocence. +His inability, or refusal, to explain where he was at the time of the +accident on Market Street in front of Mr. Belding's jewelry store made the +situation very difficult indeed. + +"If he could only put forward an alibi," Lance Darby said, when the Hill +crowd of Central High boys and girls discussed the matter. + +"But he won't say a word!" cried Nellie. "I believe he is innocent." + +"Then why doesn't he tell where he was at the time?" demanded Laura +sternly. + +"Is he scared to tell the truth?" asked Jess. + +"I don't think he is," Chet observed thoughtfully. "Somehow he acts +differently from usual." + +"You're right," Bobby declared, with frank approval of one of whom she had +never approved before. "I believe there's a big change in old Purt." + +"Well, it's strange," Laura remarked. "He never showed such obstinacy +before." + +"He's never shown any particular courage before, either," said her brother. +"That's what gets me!" + +"Where does the courage come in?" demanded Lance. + +"I believe Chet is right," Jess said. "Purt is trying to shield somebody." + +"From what?" and "Who?" were the chorused demands. + +"I don't know," Jess told them. "There is somebody else mixed up in this +trouble. It stands to reason Purt would not be so obstinate if he had +nothing to hide. And we are pretty much of the opinion--all of us--that he +really did not run that man down. Therefore, if he is not shielding some +other person, what is he about?" + +"I've asked him frankly," Chet said, "and all I could get out of him was +that he 'couldn't tell.' No sense to that," growled the big fellow. + +It seemed that Purt Sweet had pretty well succeeded in puzzling his friends +as well as the police. The latter were evidently waiting to get something +provable on poor Purt. Then a warrant would be issued for his arrest. + +By this time the stranger who had been the start of all the trouble and +mystery--the man from Alaska, as the hospital force called him--was able to +be up and wheeled in a chair, although his leg was not yet out of plaster. + +Billy Long heard of this, and he grew very anxious to see the man whose +accident was the beginning of Purt's trouble. Billy had quickly become a +favorite with both the nurses and doctors of the Centerport Hospital. He +was brave in bearing pain, and he was as generous as he could be with the +goodies and fruit and flowers that were brought to him. He divided these +with the other patients in his ward, and cheered his mates with his lively +chatter. + +At first, however, there had been an hour or so every other day when a +screen was placed about Billy's bed and the doctor and nurse had a very bad +time, indeed, dressing the dreadful burns the boy had sustained. + +Short and Long could not help screaming at times, and when he did not +really scream the others in the ward could hear his half-stifled moans and +sobs. These experiences were hard to bear. + +When the dressings were over and his courage was restored the screen was +removed from about Billy's cot and he would grin ruefully enough at his +nearer neighbors. + +"I'm an awful baby. Too tender-hearted--that's me all over," he said once. +"I never could stand seeing anybody hurt--and I can see just what they are +doing to me all the time!" + +Billy knew that the man from Alaska was being wheeled up and down the +corridor, and he begged so hard to speak with him that the nurse went out +and asked the orderly to wheel the chair in to Billy's cot. + +"So you are the brave boy I've heard about, are you?" said the stranger, +smiling at the bandaged boy from Central High. + +"I know how brave you've heard me," said Billy soberly. "I do a lot of +hollering when they are plastering me up." + +The man laughed and said: "Just the same I am glad to know you. My name +seems to have got away from me for the time being. My mind's slipped a cog, +as you might say. What do they call you, son?" + +Billy told him his name. "And," he added, "I was right there in front of +Chet Belding's father's jewelry store when that automobile knocked you +down." + +"You don't mean it?" + +"Yes, sir. I saw the machine. It was a Perriton car all right. It might +even have been Pretty Sweet's car. But it wasn't Pretty Sweet driving it, I +am sure." + +The boy's earnestness caught the man's full attention. "I guess this Sweet +boy they tell about is a friend of yours, son?" he said. + +"He is a friend all right, all right," said Billy Long. "And I never knew +it till right here when I got hurt. Purt--that's what we call him--is a +good fellow. And I am sure he wouldn't do such a thing as to knock you down +and then run away without finding out if he had hurt you." + +"I don't know how that may be," said the man seriously. "But whoever it was +that ran me down did me a bad turn. I can't find my name--or who I am--or +where I belong. I tell you what it is, Billy Long, that is a serious +condition for anybody to be in." + +"I guess that's so," admitted the boy. "And you got your leg broken, too, +in two places." + +"I don't mind much about the broken leg," said the man who had lost his +name. "What I am sore about, Billy Long, is not having any name to use. +It--it is awfully embarrassing." + +"Yes, sir, I guess it is." + +"So, you see, I don't feel very kindly toward this Sweet boy, if he was the +one who knocked me down." + +"Oh, but I'm sure he isn't the one." + +"Why are you so sure?" + +"Because he wouldn't be so mean about it, and lie, and all, if he had done +it. You see, a boy who has been so nice to me as he has, couldn't really be +so mean as all that to anybody else." + +"Not conclusive," said the man. "You only make a statement. You don't offer +proof." + +"But I--Well!" ejaculated Billy, "I'd do most anything to make you see that +Purt _couldn't_ be guilty of knocking you down." + +"I'll tell you," said the man without a name, smiling again, "I haven't any +particular hard feelings against your friend. Or I wouldn't have if I could +get my name and memory back. So you find out some way of helping me recover +my memory--you and your young friends, Billy Long--and I'll forgive the +Sweet boy, whether he hurt me or not" + +"Suppose the cops arrest him?" asked Billy worriedly. + +"I'll do all I can to keep them from annoying Sweet if you boys and girls +can find out who I am and where I belong," declared the man, laughing +somewhat ruefully. + +And Billy shook hands on that To his mind the task was not impossible. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +LAURA LISTENS + + +Laura Belding had evolved an idea regarding "Mr. Nemo of Nowhere," as Bobby +dubbed the stranger at the hospital. In fact, she had two ideas which were +entwined in her thought. But up to this point she had found no time to work +out either. + +She had taken nobody into her confidence; for Mother Wit was not one to +"tell all she knew in a minute." On both points Laura desired to consider +her way with caution. + +She went shopping with her mother to several stores on Market Street one +afternoon, skipping the rehearsal of "The Rose Garden" for this purpose. +The Christmas crowds were greater than she had ever seen them before. But +the enthusiasm for the Red Cross drive had by no means faltered in spite of +the season. + +Ember Night had gathered nearly five thousand dollars for the cause. Laura +treasured a very nicely worded letter of appreciation from the mayor's +secretary, thanking the Central High girl for her suggestion, which had +proved so efficacious in money-raising. Laura was not exhibiting this +letter to very many people, but she was secretly proud of it. + +In every store she entered Laura saw a Red Cross booth, while collectors +with padlocked boxes were weaving in and out among the shoppers. + +"Give Again! Warranted Not to Hurt You!" was the slogan. Wearing a Red +Cross button did not absolve one from being solicited. + +And she saw that the people were giving with a smile. Centerport was still +enthusiastic over the drive. Laura seriously considered what she and her +Central High girl friends were trying to do for the fund. Would the play be +a success? If they only gave one performance and the audience was not +enthusiastic enough to warrant a second, and then a third, she would +consider that they had failed. + +All of a sudden, while she was thinking of this very serious fact, Laura +came face to face with Janet Steele. + +"You are just the girl I wished most to see, Janet!" cried the Central High +girl. + +"I always want to see you, Laura Belding," declared the Red Cross girl, who +was evidently off duty and homeward bound. + +"Thank you, dear," Laura said. "You must prove that. I want you to do me a +favor." + +"What can I possibly do for you?" laughed Janet. "Hurry and tell me." + +"You may not be so willing after you hear what it is." + +"You doubt my willingness to prove my friendship?" demanded Janet soberly. + +"Not a bit of it! But, listen here." She told Janet swiftly what she +desired, and from the sparkle in her eyes and the rising flush in her face +it was easily seen that Laura had not asked a favor that Janet would not +willingly give. + +"Oh, but my dear!" she cried, "I shall have to ask mother." + +"I presume you will," said Laura, smiling. "Shall I go along with you and +see what she says?" + +"Can you?" + +"I have done all my mother's errands--look at these bundles," said Laura. +"We might as well have this matter settled at once. Your mother won't mind +my coming in this way, will she?" + +"You may come in any way you wish, and any time you wish, my dear," said +Janet warmly. "Mother very much approves of you." + +"It is sweet of you to say so," returned the girl of Central High. "I shall +be quite sure she approves of me if she lets you do what I want in this +case, Janet," and she laughed again as they turned off the busy main street +into a quieter one. + +The invalid was at the long window, and beckoned to Laura to come in before +she saw that that was the visitor's intention. + +"I cannot begin to tell you how delighted we are to have you girls call," +Mrs. Steele said, when she had greeted both her daughter and Laura with a +kiss. "It would be so nice if Janet could go to school; then she might +bring home a crowd of young folks every afternoon," and the invalid +laughed. + +"But, you see, Miss Belding, I am so trying in the morning. It does seem +that it is all Aunt Jinny and Janet can do to get me out of my bed, and +dressed, and fed, and seated here on my throne for the day." + +"It seems too bad that the weather is not so you can go out," Laura said. + +"Oh, I almost never go out," Mrs. Steele replied. "Though I tell Janet that +when spring comes, if we can only get the agent to repair that porch, she +can wheel me back and forth on it in my chair." + +"Better than that, dear Mrs. Steele," Laura promised, "we will come with +our car and take you for a ride all over Centerport, and along the Lakeside +Drive. It is beautiful in the spring." + +"How nice of you!" cried the invalid. "But that, of course, depends upon +whether we are in Centerport when the pleasant weather comes," said Mrs. +Steele sadly. + +"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Laura, "do you mean that you think of going away?" + +"Now, Mother!" murmured Janet, as though the thought was repugnant to her, +too. + +"How can we tell?" cried the invalid, just a little excitedly. "You know, +Janet, if we should hear of your uncle----" + +"Oh, Mother!" sighed the girl, "I do wish you would give up hope of Uncle +Jack's ever turning up again." + +"Don't talk that way," said her mother sharply. "You do not know Jack as I +do. He was only my half brother, but the very nicest boy who ever lived. +Why, he gave up all his share of the income from my father's estate to me, +and went off to the wilds to seek his own fortune. + +"How was he to know that some of the investments poor father made would +turn out badly, and that our income would be reduced to a mere pittance? +For I tell you, Miss Belding," added the invalid less vehemently, "that we +have almost nothing, divided by three, to live on. That is, an income for +one must support us three. Aunt Jinny is one of us, you know." + +"Now, Mother!" begged Janet "Sha'n't I get tea for us?" + +"Of course! What am I thinking of?" returned her mother. "Tell Aunt Jinny +to make it in the flowered teapot I fancy the flowered teapot to-day--and +the blue-striped cups and saucers. + +"Do you know, Miss Belding, what the complete delight of wealth is? It is +an ability to see variety about one in the home. You need not use the same +old cups and saucers every day! If I were rich I would have the furniture +changed in my room every few days. Sameness is my _bete noire_." + +"It must be very hard for you, shut in so much," said Laura quietly. + +"And poor Janet is shut in a good deal of the time with me, and suffers +because of my crotchets. Ah, if we could only find Jack Weld--my half +brother, you know, Miss Belding. He went away to make his fortune, and I +believe he made it. He has probably settled down somewhere, in good health +and with plenty, and without an idea as to our situation. He never was a +letter writer. And he had every reason to suppose that we were well fixed +for life. Then, we have moved about so much----" + +Janet came back with the tea things. Mrs. Steele left the subject of her +brother, and Laura found opportunity of broaching the matter on which she +had come. What she wished Janet to do pleased the latter's mother +immensely. She was, in fact, delighted. + +"How nice of you to suggest it, Miss Belding," said Mrs. Steele. "I know +Janet will be glad to do it. Will you not, Janet?" + +"I--I'll try," said her daughter, flushed and excited at the prospect +Laura's suggestion opened before her. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TWO THINGS ABOUT HESTER + + +Scarcely was Bobby Hargrew of a happier disposition and of more volatile +temperament than the Lockwood twins. Dora and Dorothy, while still chubby +denizens of the nursery, saw that the world was bound to be full of fun for +them if they attacked it in the right spirit. + +Dora and Dorothy's mother had died when they were very small, and the twins +had been left to the mercy of relatives and servants, some of whom did not +understand the needs of the growing girls as their mother would have done. +Much of this is told in "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna." + +Almost as soon as the twins could stagger about in infant explorations of +the house and grounds, they were wont to exchange the red and blue ribbons +tied on their dimpled wrists by their nurse to tell them apart. For never +were two creatures so entirely alike as Dora and Dorothy Lockwood. + +And they had grown to maidenhood with, seemingly, the same features, the +same voices, the same tastes, and with an unbounded love for and confidence +in each other. As they always dressed alike nobody could be sure which was +Dora and which Dorothy. + +Now that they were well along in high school, the twins had been put on +their honor not to recite for each other or to help each other in any +unfair way. There really was a very close tie between them--almost an +uncanny chord of harmony. Indeed, if one was punished the other wept! + +The teachers of Central High were fond of the twins--all save Miss +Carrington. Her attitude of considering the pupils her deadly enemies +extended to the happy-go-lucky sisters. She did not believe there was such +a thing as "school-girl honor." That is why she had such a hard time with +her pupils. + +In the play the girls of Central High were rehearsing, Dora and Dorothy +played two distinct characters. Makeup and costume made this possible. But +at the first dress rehearsal the twins pretty nearly broke up the scene in +which they both appeared on the stage, by reciting each other's parts. + +Dora was an old, old woman--a village witch with a cane--while Dorothy was +a frisky young matron from the city. When they met by the rustic well in +the rose garden, haunted by that "dark lady" who was giving Mr. Mann so +much trouble, Dora uttered the sprightly lines of her blooming sister, +while the latter mouthed the old hag's prophecies. + +It was ridiculous, of course, and the girls could not go on with the +rehearsal for some minutes because of their laughter. But Mr. Mann was not +so well pleased. Dora and Dorothy promised not to do it again. + +"If I'd done anything like that, you'd all have jumped on me," Hester +Grimes declared with a sniff. "It wouldn't have been considered funny at +all." + +"And it wouldn't have been," murmured Jess to Laura. + +"There is one thing about you, Hessie," said Bobby, in her most honeyed +tone, "that 'precludes,' as Gee Gee would say, your doing such a thing." + +"What's that, Miss Smarty?" + +"You are not twins," declared Bobby, with gravity. "So you could not very +well play that trick." + +"Oh, my!" murmured Nellie, "what would we do if Hester were twins?" + +"Don't mention it!" begged Jess. "The thought is terrifying." + +But there proved to be a second thing about Hester which came out +prominently within the week. This was something that not many of the girls +of Central High had suspected before the moment of revelation. + +The first performance of "The Rose Garden" was set for Friday night. There +would follow a matinee and evening performance on Saturday--provided, of +course, the first performance encouraged the managers to go on with the +production. + +"It all depends," sighed Jess, bearing a deal of the responsibility for the +success of the piece on her young shoulders. "If we are punk, then nobody +will come back to see the show a second time, or advise other folks to see +it. And if we don't make a heap of money for the Red Cross, after all the +advertising we've had, what will folks think of us?" + +They were really all worried by the fear of failure. All but Hester. She +did not appear to care. And it did seem as though every time she rehearsed +she made the "dark lady" of the rose garden more wooden and impossible than +before. + +At length Mr. Mann had given her up as hopeless. It seemed impossible to +make Hester act like a human being even, let alone like a graceful lady. + +"So you see, now that he lets me alone, I do very well," asserted Hester, +with vast assurance and a characteristic toss of her head. "I knew I was +right all the time. Now, finally, Mr. Mann admits it." + +When she said this to Lily, even Lily had her doubts. When Bobby heard her +say it, she fairly hooted her scorn. + +Of course, Hester instantly flew into a rage with Bobby. This was only two +days before the fateful Friday and before recitations in the morning. The +girls had gathered in the main lower corridor of Central High. The bell for +classes had not yet rung. + +"I'll show you how smart you are, Clara Hargrew!" Hester almost screamed. +"I've a good mind to slap you!" + +"That might make me smart, Hess," drawled the smaller girl coolly. "But it +would not change the facts in the case at all. You are spoiling the whole +play--the most effective scenes in it, too--by your obstinacy. Mr. Mann has +given you up as a bad egg, that's all. If the play is a failure, it will be +your fault." + +And for once Laura Belding did not interfere to stop Bobby's tart tongue. +Perhaps the bell for assembly rang too quickly for Mother Wit to interfere. +At any rate, before Hester could make any rejoinder, they were hurrying in +to their seats. + +But the big girl was in a towering rage. She was fairly pale, she was so +angry. Her teeth were clenched. Her eyes sparkled wrathfully. She was in no +mood to face Miss Grace G. Harrington, who chanced to have the juniors +before her for mediaeval history during the first period on this Wednesday +morning. + +Naturally, with the first performance of the play but two days away, those +girls who were to act in it could not give their undivided attention to +recitations. But Miss Carrington had determined to make no concessions. + +She was firmly convinced that Central High should support no such farcical +production as "The Rose Garden." Anything classical--especially if it were +beyond the acting ability of the girls--would have pleased the obstinate +woman. + +"Something," as Nellie said, "in which we would all be draped in Greek +style, in sheets, and wear sandals and flesh colored hose, covered from +neck to instep, and with long speeches in blank verse to mouth. That is the +sort of a performance to satisfy Miss Carrington." + +"Amen!" agreed Bobby. + +"Wait till she sees Bobby's knickers," chuckled Dora Lockwood. "You know +Gee Gee always looks as though she wanted to put on blinders when she comes +into the girls' gym." + +Of course, these remarks were not passed in history class. But Dora was +somehow inattentive just the same on this morning. She sat on one side of +Hester Grimes and Dorothy on the other. The angry girl between the twins +looked like a vengeful high priestess of Trouble--and Trouble appeared. + +Miss Carrington asked Dora a direct question, speaking her name as she +always did, and glaring at the twin in question near-sightedly, in an +endeavor to see the girl's lips move when she answered. She was sure of +Dora's seat; but, of course, she could not be sure whether Dora or Dorothy +was sitting in it. Her refusal to accept the fact that the twins were on +their honor kept Miss Carrington in doubt. + +"Relate some incident, with date, in the life of Saladin, Dora," the +teacher commanded. + +Dora hesitated. This was a "jump question," as the pupils called it. Miss +Carrington, as she frequently did, had gone back several lessons for this +query, and Dora was hazy about Saladin. + +"Come, Dora!" ejaculated the teacher harshly. "Have you no answer?" + +Dorothy leaned forward to look across Hester's desk at her sister. She was +anxious that Dora should not fail. She would have imparted, could she have +done so, her knowledge of Saladin to her twin. But there was only nervous +anxiety in her look and manner. + +The moment Dora's lips opened and she began her reply, Hester turned +sharply and stared at Dorothy. It was a despicable trick--a mean and +contemptible attempt to get the twins into trouble. And Hester did it +deliberately. + +She knew that Miss Carrington was much more near-sighted than she was +willing to acknowledge. Seeing Hester look at Dorothy caused the teacher to +believe that Dorothy was answering for her sister. + +"Stop!" commanded Miss Carrington, rising quickly from her seat on the +platform. + +Dora, who had begun very well at last, halted in her answer and looked +surprised. Miss Carrington was glaring now at Dorothy. + +"How dare you, Dorothy Lockwood?" she demanded, her face quite red with +anger. "There is no trusting any of you girls. Cheat!" + +There was a sudden intake of breath all over the room. Some of the girls +looked positively horror-stricken. For the teacher to use such an +expression shocked Laura, and Jess, and Nellie for an instant, as though +the word had been addressed to them personally. + +"Oh!" gasped Jess. + +The. teacher flashed her a glance. "Silence, Miss Morse!" + +Dorothy had risen slowly to her feet. "What--what do you mean, Miss +Carrington?" she whispered. "Do you say I--I have _cheated?"_ + +"Cheat!" repeated the teacher, with an index finger pointing Dorothy down. +"I saw you. I heard you. You started to answer for your sister." + +"I did not!" cried the accused girl. + +"She certainly did not, Miss Carrington!" repeated Dora, rising likewise. + +"Silence!" exclaimed Miss Carrington. "I would not believe either of you. +You are both disgracing your classmates and Central High." + +A sibilant hiss rose in the back of the room. The girls were more angry at +this outburst of the teacher than all of them dared show. + +Dorothy burst into a fit of weeping. She covered her face with her hands +and ran out of the room. Dora, defying Miss Carrington, muttered: + +"Ugly, mean thing!" + +Then she ran after her sister. The room was in tense excitement. Miss +Carrington saw suddenly that she positively had nobody on her side. She +began to question the girls immediately surrounding the twins' seats. + +"You saw her answer for her sister, Miss Morse?" + +"I did not," declared Jess icily. + +"Were you not looking at Dorothy, Laura?" asked the teacher. + +"No, Miss Carrington. I was looking at Dora." + +"And Dora answered!" cried the usually gentle and retiring Nellie Agnew. + +"Why----Miss Grimes!" exclaimed the disturbed teacher. "You know that +Dorothy was answering for her sister?" + +"Oh, no, Miss Carrington," denied Hester. + +"But you looked at her?" + +"Yes." + +"What for?" snapped the teacher. + +"Why," drawled Hester, "that pin Dorothy wears in her blouse was on crooked +and it attracted my attention." + +That was the second thing about Hester Grimes. She was not alone a dunce +when it came to acting, she was a prevaricator as well. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AND A THIRD THING + + +What might have happened following this explosion of bad temper and +ill-feeling, had Mr. Sharp himself not entered the room, nobody will ever +know. Miss Carrington had been led into a most unjust and unkind criticism +of the Lockwood twins. She had been deliberately led into it by Hester +Grimes. She knew Hester had done this. + +The other girls knew it, too; and they all, the young folks, believed that +the teacher had been most cruel and unfair. + +Mr. Sharp could not have failed to appreciate the fact that there was a +tense feeling in the room that never arose from an ordinary recitation in +mediaeval history. But he smilingly overlooked anything of the kind. + +"Pardon me, Miss Carrington--and you, young ladies," he said, bowing and +smiling. "I have been in the senior classes, and now I am here to make the +same statement I made there, and that I shall make to the sophomores later. +May I speak to your class, Miss Carrington?" + +Miss Carrington could not find her voice, but she bowed her permission for +the principal to go on. + +"Several of you young ladies," said Mr. Sharp, "are to take part in the +play on Friday evening. Your work, in school, I fear, is being scamped a +bit. Do the best you can; give your interest and attention as well as you +may to the recitations. + +"But I wish to announce that, until after this week, we teachers will +excuse such failures as you may make in your work; only, of course, all +faults will have to be made up after the holidays. We want you to give the +play in a way to bring honor upon the school as a whole. + +"I have enjoyed your last two rehearsals, and feel confident that, with a +few raw spots smoothed over, you will produce 'The Rose Garden' in a way to +please your friends and satisfy your critics. The faculty as a whole feel +as I do about it. Go in and win!" + +The little speech cleared the atmosphere of the class-room immediately. It +did not please Miss Carrington, of course; but the girls felt that they +could even forgive her after what Mr. Sharp had said. + +Dora and Dorothy Lockwood had been insulted and maligned. They did not +appear again at that recitation. + +"But do you think old Gee Gee would say that she was wrong, and beg their +pardon?" demanded Bobby, at recess. "Not on your life!" + +"I don't know that a teacher in her situation could publicly acknowledge +she was utterly in the wrong," Laura observed thoughtfully. + +"I would like to know why not?" demanded Jess Morse. + +"Why, you see, the fault really lies upon the conscience of one of us +girls," said Laura, looking significantly at Hester. + +The latter turned furiously, as though she had been waiting for and +expecting just this criticism. But surely she had not expected it from this +source. All the girls were amazed to hear Laura speak so harshly. + +"Oh, Laura!" murmured Jess. "Now you have done it! She's going to blow up!" + +"And she'll leave us flat on the play business," groaned Bobby. + +Hester came across the reception room to Laura with flashing eyes and her +face mottled with rage. + +"What is that you say, Laura Belding?" she demanded. + +"I will repeat it," said Laura firmly. "The whole trouble is on your +conscience. You deliberately led Miss Carrington astray." + +"Oh! I did, did I?" + +"You most certainly did. Miss Carrington was both cruel to Dora and Dorothy +and unfair. But you knew her failing, and you led her to believe that +Dorothy was answering the question she put to Dora. No wonder Miss +Carrington was angered." + +"Is that so?" sneered Hester. "And who are you, to tell me when I'm wrong?" + +"Somebody has to tell you, Hester," said Jess sweetly, for she was bound to +take up cudgels for her chum. + +"And you can mind your business, too, Jess Morse!" snarled Hester. + +"Dear, dear!" Nellie begged. "Let us not quarrel." + +Yet for once Mother Wit seemed determined upon making trouble. Usually +acting as peacemaker, the girls around her were amazed to hear her say: + +"You are quite in the wrong, Hester. And you know it. You should beg Miss +Carrington's pardon; and you should ask pardon of all of us, as well as of +Dora and Dorothy, for disgracing the class." + +"What do you mean?" screamed Hester Grimes. "Do you suppose I would tell +old Gee Gee that it was my fault?" + +"You deliberately prevaricated--to her and to us," said Laura calmly. + +"Call me a story-teller, do you?" cried the butcher's daughter. "How dare +you! I'll get even with you, Laura Belding!" + +"It is the truth," Laura said, slowly and firmly. + +"I'll fix you for this, Laura Belding!" pursued Hester, trembling with +rage. She turned to sweep them all with her angry glance. "I'll fix you +all! I won't have anything to do with any of you out of school--so there! +And I won't act in your hateful old play!" + +She ran out of the room as she said this and left the girls--at least, most +of them--in a state of blank despair. The bell rang for the next session +before anybody could speak. + +Laura seemed quite calm and unruffled. The others got through their +recitations as best they could until lunch hour. Jess and Bobby caught up +with Laura on the street when the latter went out for her customary walk. + +"Oh, Laura! What shall we do?" almost wept Jess. "Only two days! Nobody can +learn that part--not even as good as Hester knew it--before Friday night." + +At that moment Chet Belding appeared from around the corner. He was red and +almost breathless--in a high state of excitement, and no mistake. + +"What do you think, girls?" he cried, "We got a line on Purt Sweet's +automobile and why he has been hiding about where it was that Saturday +night the man from Alaska was hurt." + +"What is it? Tell us?" asked Laura. + +"I met Dan Smith. He goes to the East High, you know, and he lives across +the street from the Grimes' place. You know?" + +"Hester Grimes?" cried Jess. + +"Yes. Your dear friend. Well, Dan was up all night that night with a raging +toothache. He said the Grimes' had a party. Purt was there with his car. +Dan knows the car was taken away from the house and was gone more than an +hour that evening, and that Purt did not go with the car. + +"See? He's shielding somebody--the poor fish!" added Chet. "That is what +Short and Long has been saying. Now, what do you know about that?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT + + +The news Chet had divulged was so exciting that the girls quite forgot for +the time being the wreck that Hester Grimes seemed to have made of the +forthcoming performance of "The Rose Garden." + +Their chattering tongues mentioned Hester more than once, however, as they +discussed Chet's news. Whether Purt Sweet's car had run down the man from +Alaska or not, what did Hester know about it? + +"Can it be possible that Purt is shielding Hester in this matter?" Laura +queried gravely. + +"Oh, it couldn't be! She wasn't in that car that knocked down Mr. Nemo of +Nowhere," Bobby declared emphatically; + +"He has always favored Hester and Lil," Jess + +"Pooh!" again put in the irrepressible. "That's only because Pretty Sweet +thinks there is nothing in this world so good or great as money; and both +the Grimes and the Pendleton families have got oodles of it." + +"I don't know about that," Chet said quite as thoughtfully as his sister. +"It may not be their folks' money that attracts Purt to those two girls." + +"What then?" demanded Bobby. + +"They flatter him. He can lap that up like our cat laps cream." + +"That is true," agreed Jess Morse. + +"Certainly we don't flatter, him," Bobby said bluntly. + +"It may be that we have never given Purt a fair deal," Laura observed. +"Hester and Lil do not make fun of him." + +"And is he paying Hester back by shouldering something for her?" Jess +asked. + +"Oh, she never was in that car when it was taken away from where Purt had +it parked before the Grimes' house," Chet hastened to declare with +assurance. "I got all the facts from Dan Smith. He'd swear to them." + +"Let us hear the particulars," begged Laura. + +"Why, Dan says he was up at his window on the third floor of their house +watching the lights in the Grimes' house. It was a big party. Dancing on +the lower floor, and a crowd of folks. He saw two men--or maybe boys--run +out of the side door and down to the gate, as though they were sneaking +away from some of the others, you know." + +"Well?" his sister responded. "Go on." + +"Dan didn't know the fellows. Fact was, he couldn't see their faces very +well, and so he could not be sure of their identity in any case." + +"The street is pretty wide there, it's a fact," murmured Bobby. + +"Those two fellows looked back as though they expected to be spied upon. +But they went to the car, found it was all right (Purt had the radiator +blanketed) and got in. The starter worked, and she got into action as slick +as a whistle, Dan said. He thought it was all right or he would have raised +the window and halloaed at 'em. There were no girls with them. The two +fellows went off alone in the car." + +"There were two men in the car that struck Mr. Nemo of Nowhere," murmured +Bobby. + +"Purt appeared, Dan says, after a little while and looked for the car. He +got quite excited. Asked everybody that came along if they had seen it. He +was in a stew for fair. And while he was running up and down, popping off +like an engine exhaust, back came the car with only one of the fellows in +it." + +"Ha! The mystery deepens," said Jess, in mock tragic tones. "What became of +the other villain?" + +"You answer that question," grinned Chet. "You asked it!" + +"But what happened then?" asked Laura interestedly. + +"There was a row between Purt and the fellow who brought back the car. Purt +pointed to the mudguard on the off side, as though it had been bent, or +scraped in some way----" + +"That's what struck the man as he fell on Market Street," interrupted Bobby +with confidence. "I saw it hit him." + +"It was blood on the guard," said Laura. + +"Oh, my!" gasped Jess. "Do you suppose so?" + +"Like enough," Chet agreed. "But it was too far away for Dan to see. And +finally Purt drove off without returning to the house with the other +fellow." + +"But who was he?" Jess asked. + +"Who?" + +"The fellow Purt quarreled with for taking the car." + +"Give it up," said Chet, shaking his head. + +"And what became of the other man?" Laura queried. + +"There were two in the car when it hit the man from Alaska," Jess declared. + +"Gee!" ejaculated Bobby. "There's the nine-ten express west" + +"Who----What do you mean, young one?" demanded Chet. + +"'Young one' yourself!" snapped Clara Hargrew, immediately on her dignity. +"There are no medals on you for age, Chet Belding." + +"Or whiskers, either," laughed Laura, slyly eyeing her brother, for she was +aware that he had a safety razor hidden away in his bureau drawer. + +"Come, come!" said Jess, "What about this nine-ten express Bobby spoke of?" + +"Why," said the younger girl, "I noticed Mr. Belding's clock--the big +chronometer in the show window--as we came out of the store that Saturday +evening. It was just nine o'clock when we stood there and saw Mr. Nemo of +Nowhere run down by the car. Anybody driving that car could have made the +railroad station just about in time for the ten minutes' past nine +express--the Cannon Ball, don't they call it?" + +"That is the train," admitted Laura. "But why----" + +"Just wait a minute. Give me time," advised Bobby. "That car that did the +damage was headed for the station." + +"True," murmured Jess. "At least, it was going in that direction." + +"And when Purt's car came back to the Grimes' house after those two fellows +Dan Smith saw run away with it, there was only one person in the car. The +second individual had been dropped." + +"At the station!" exclaimed Chet, catching the idea. "That is why they +stole Purt's car." + +"I declare," Laura said. "Your idea sounds very reasonable, Bobby." + +"Bobby is right there with the brainworks," said Chet, with admiration. + +"Oh," said Bobby, "I'm not altogether 'non compos mend-us,' as the fellow +said." + +Chet was very serious, after all. "I tell you what," he blurted out, "if +Purt won't help himself with the police, maybe we can get him out of the +muss in spite of all." + +"Why does he want to act the donkey?" demanded Jess. + +"Are you sure he is?" asked Laura thoughtfully. + +"I tell you," said the excited Chet, "we can find out who had to leave +Hester Grimes' party to catch that express. It ought to be a good lead. +What do you think, Laura?" + +"I am wondering," said Mother Wit, "if we have always been fair to +Prettyman Sweet? Of course, he is silly in some ways, and dresses +ridiculously, and is not much of a sport. But if he is keeping still about +this matter so as not to make trouble for Hester, or any of her folks, +there is something fine in his action, don't you think?" + +"Well--yes," admitted Jess. "It would seem so." + +"I never thought of poor Purt as a chivalrous knight," said Bobby. + +"Maybe Laura is right," remarked Chet, rather grudgingly. + +"He is much more of a gentleman, perhaps, than we have given him credit for +being," Laura concluded. "I hope it is proved so in the end." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE LAST REHEARSAL + + +That afternoon, when the girls gathered for rehearsal, Hester, nor anybody +else, appeared to play "the dark lady of the roses." Mr. Mann made no +comment upon this fact, but he looked very serious, indeed. + +The play was acted from the first entrance to the final curtain. The other +characters had to speak of, and even to, the important and missing +character, and it was plain to all as the play progressed that the absence +of "the dark lady" was going to be a fatal hindrance to the success of the +piece. + +Even Lily Pendleton, Hester's last lingering friend, showed a good deal of +spleen at Hester's action. + +"I never will forgive Hessie," Lily said, almost in tears. And the other +girls had to urge her over and over again to be sure and come herself on +Thursday for the last dress rehearsal. + +"If the piece is wrecked, let us be castaways together," begged Jess. +"Don't anybody else fail. Promise, girls!" + +They promised sadly. Mr. Mann had hurried away as soon as the last words +were said. + +"Too disgusted to even speak to us," Nellie said sadly. "I am real sorry +for him, girls. He has tried so hard." + +"He deserves a leather medal," said Bobby emphatically. + +"And what do we deserve?" demanded one of the twins. + +"I know what Hester Grimes deserves," said Bobby darkly. + +It was not likely, however, that Hester Grimes would get her deserts. They +were all agreed on that point, if on no other. + +That Wednesday afternoon when the girls separated it was with drooping +spirits--all but Laura Belding, at least. Perhaps it was because she always +had so many irons in the fire that trouble seemed to roll off her young +shoulders like rainwater off a duck's feathers. + +At least, when she started for the street car that took her to the hospital +before she went home, she was cheerful of countenance and smiling. She +carried that same cheerfulness into the hospital itself and to Billy Long's +ward. + +The active Billy was, as he himself expressed it, "fed up" on the hospital +by now. He was grateful for what they had done for him there and the way in +which they treated him in every way, but confinement was beginning to wear +on his spirits. + +"Gee, Laura Belding!" ejaculated the young patient, seizing her hand with +both his own when she appeared, "a sight of you is just a stop-station this +side of eternity. Have they changed the hours? Aren't they twice as long as +they used to be?" + +"No, indeed, my poor boy," Laura said. "There are only sixty minutes in +each. I wish I could shorten the time for you." + +"Take it from me," growled Short and Long, having hard work to keep back +the tears, "this being in bed is the bunk. Don't let anybody tell you +different." + +But Laura caught his attention the next moment with Purt Sweet's trouble. +What Chet had found out from Dan Smith, Hester Grimes' neighbor, interested +the quick mind of Billy Long immensely. + +"Gee! I knew it must be something like that. Sure! Purt is shielding +somebody for Hester. That's it!" + +"Have you no idea who it can be? The man who drove the car, I mean, or the +one who possibly took the nine-ten express out of town that night? Hester +has no brothers----" + +"Say!" exclaimed Billy, "there is somebody who will know. If Purt was there +at the party, so was Lil Pendleton." + +"Lily!" exclaimed Laura. "I never thought of her." + +"And if she is likely to be sore on Hester now, as you say you all are," +Billy continued, "she won't be for shielding Hester or any of her friends +or relatives. Let me tell you that!" + +"I believe she must have been at the party. Hester invites her to +everything of the kind she has; although she seldom invites any of the +other girls of Central High." + +"Go to it!" urged the patient "Ask Lil Pendleton. I'd like to have Purt +cleared of this. I told that man from Alaska so. But, gee, Laura! I wish we +could find some way of giving him the right steer." + +"You mean you would like to help him find his name and identity?" + +"Yep. He says sometimes he feels that he is just going to remember--then it +all dissipates in his mind like a cloud. He's bad off, he is!" + +"I am going to see him now. I have an idea, Billy." + +"You're always full of ideas, Laura," the boy said admiringly. "I've been +raking my poor nut back and forth and crossways, without getting a glimmer +of an idea how to help him. He says if we can show him how to find his +memory, he'll do all he can for Purt," Billy added wistfully. + +"You are very anxious to help Prettyman Sweet, aren't you, Billy?" +suggested the girl of Central High as she rose to go. + +"You bet I am." + +"Why? You boys never thought much of him before, you know." + +Billy flushed, but he stuck to his guns. "I tell you," he said, "we never +gave Purt a fair deal, I guess. He's all right. He isn't like Chet, or +Lance, or Reddy Butts, or the rest of the fellows, but there's good parts +to Purt." + +"You think he has proved himself a better fellow than you thought before?" + +"You bet!" said Billy vigorously. "He's been mighty nice to me; and I +always was playing jokes on him, and--Aw! when a fellow lies like I do in +bed and has so much time to think, he gets on to himself," added the boy +gruffly. "Sending dead fish to other fellows isn't such a smart joke after +all." + +"I am going to see your friend, the Alaskan miner, now," the girl said, +squeezing the boy's hand understandingly. + +"If you find out some way of jogging his memory, I'd like to be in on it," +Billy cried. + +"You shall," promised Laura, as she tripped away. + +By this time Laura was so well known at the hospital that nobody stopped +her from going to the unknown man's private room where he was now +established with his particular nurse. He hailed the girl's appearance +almost as gladly as Billy Long had done. + +"Your bright young faces make you high-school girls--and the boys, of +course--as welcome as can be," he said. "I'd like to do something when I +get out of this hospital in return for all your kindness to me. But if I +can't get a grip on what and who I am----" + +"I have thought of a way by which we may help you to that," interjected +Laura. "You know, you must have been doing something all these years since +you won your fortune in Alaska." + +"Surely! But what became of my wealth? That is a hard question." + +"Perhaps we can help you find out what you have been doing. Then you will +gradually remember it all. Have you those bank-notes they say you carried +in your pocket when you were brought in?" + +"Why, they are in the hospital safe. I haven't had to use much of my money +yet," he said, puzzled. + +"I want to look at that money--all of it," said Laura. "It is too late +to-night, but to-morrow afternoon I will come with my brother, and I wish +you would have those bank-notes here. I have an idea." + +"I'll do just as you say, Miss Laura," said the man. "But I don't +understand----" + +"You will," she told him, laughing, as she hurried away. + +There was, therefore, much puzzlement of mind in several quarters that +night--and Laura Belding was partly at fault. She retained all her usual +placidity, and even on the morrow, when she went to school and found the +other girls so very despondent about the play, she refused to join in their +prophecies of ill. + +This was the day of the last rehearsal. Mr. Mann had told them that he +wished the actors to rest between this dress rehearsal and the first public +performance of "The Rose Garden" on the following evening. + +"I just know it will be a dreadful fizzle," wailed Jess, before Mr. Mann +called the rise of the curtain. + +Everything was in readiness, however, for a perfect rehearsal. The curtain +was properly manipulated and the scene shifters, the light man, and all the +other helpers were at their stations, as well as the orchestra in the pit. + +The girls had been excused from studies at one o'clock--of course, greatly +to Miss Carrington's disapproval. Since her "run-in" with the Lockwood +twins, as Bobby inelegantly called it, the teacher had been less exacting, +although quite as stern-looking as ever. + +Dora and Dorothy, being cheerful souls, had recovered from their excitement +over the incident in history class, and were so much interested in their +parts in the play now that they forgot all about Gee Gee's ill treatment. + +Indeed, when the curtain was rung up every girl in the piece was in a state +of excitement. Although they felt that the failure of the part of "the dark +lady of the roses" would utterly ruin some of the best lines and most +telling points in the play, they were all ready to act their own parts with +vigor and a real appreciation of what those parts meant. + +Bobby, as the sailor lad, came on with a rolling gait that would have done +credit to any "garby" in the Navy. Jess, as the swashbuckling hero, +swaggered about the stage in a delightful burlesque of such a character, as +the author intended the part to be played. + +Then the lights were lowered for the evening glow and "Adrian" turned to +point out the "dark lady"--that mysterious figure supposed to haunt the +rose garden and for weal or woe influence the hero's house and his affairs. + +Jess recited her lines roundly, pointing the while to the garden along the +shadowy paths of which the dark lady of the roses was supposed to wander. +With incredible amazement--a shock that was more real than Jess could +possibly have expressed in any feigned surprise--she beheld the dark lady +as the book read, moving quietly across the garden, gracefully swaying as +she lightly trod the fictitious sod, stooping to pluck and then kissing the +rose, and finally disappearing into the wings with a flash of brilliant +eyes and the revelation of a charming countenance for the audience. + +It was lucky that this signaled the curtain's fall on the first act, or +Jess Morse would have spoiled her own good work by the expression of her +amazement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MR. NEMO, OF NOWHERE + + +"Who is it?" + +"Can it be Margit Salgo?" + +"How very, very wonderful!" + +These were some of the ejaculations of the girls behind the scenes. + +At just the right moment the figure of the dark lady had glided from the +dressing-rooms to the wings and gone on at the cue. Her acting gave just +the needed touch to the pretty scene. Her appearance had been most +charming. And, above all, the surprise had been "such a relief!" + +"I'm so glad Hester got mad with us and refused to act," sighed Bessie +Yeager. "Whoever this girl is, she is fine." + +"Is it a professional Mr. Mann has engaged?" somebody wanted to know. + +"Laura Belding! Laura Belding!" cried Dora. "What do you know about it?" + +"I warrant Laura knows all about it," said Jess, recovered from her +amazement. "It is just like Mother Wit to have saved us. And I believe I +recognize that very charming Lady Mystery--do I not?" + +"Isn't she splendid?" cried Laura, enthusiastically, "I knew she could do +it. And Mr. Mann has been giving her an hour's training every day for a +week." + +"Goodness!" drawled Lily Pendleton, "how did you know Hester would cut up +so mean?" + +"Doesn't she always do something to queer us if she can?" snapped Bobby. +"Laura, you are a wonder!" + +"It is Janet Steele," declared Jess. "Of course! I should have thought of +her myself. She is all right--just the one we needed." + +And it took some courage on Jess' part for her to say this, for she knew +that Chet Belding had expressed very warm admiration indeed of Janet +Steele. + +The rehearsal went off splendidly after that. Everybody was encouraged. The +rotund little Mr. Mann beamed--"more than ever like a cherub," Bobby +declared. They came to the final curtain with tremendous applause from the +back benches where some of the faculty sat in the dark. + +"And I do believe," said Nellie Agnew, in almost a scared voice, "that Gee +Gee applauded! Can it be possible, girls? Do you suppose that for once she +gives us credit for knowing a little something?" + +"If she applauded, her hands slipped by mistake!" grumbled Bobby. "You know +very well that nothing would change Gee Gee's opinion. Not even an +earthquake." + +It was late when the rehearsal was over, and Laura knew that Chet would be +waiting outside with their car. She hurried Jess and Bobby, and even Janet, +into their outer wraps as quickly as possible. + +"For you might as well go along with us, Janet," Laura said to the new girl +"We're going to the hospital first, but we'll drop you at your home coming +back." + +Just what they were to do at the hospital nobody knew save Laura and Chet, +and they refused to explain. When they arrived at the institution they went +directly to the private room now occupied by Mr. Nemo of Nowhere. + +Billy Long, up in a chair for the first time, was present to greet the +girls of Central High. And the man from Alaska seemed particularly glad to +see them. + +"Here is the money, Miss Laura," he said, producing a packet of crisp +bank-notes. "I'd give it all to know just who I am. I seem to be right on +the verge of discovering it to-day; yet something balks me." + +"Oh, look at all that money!" crowed Billy, as Laura accepted the bills, +while Chet, with the help of the interested nurse, arranged the bed-table +and gave the man a pad and a fountain pen. + +The head surgeon, who had taken a great interest in the case and with whom +Laura had already conferred, tiptoed into the room and stood to look on. + +"You bankers," said Laura, laughing, and speaking to the patient, "are +always so much better off than ordinary folks. You pass out any old kind of +money to your customers; but you never see a banker with anything but new +bank-notes in his pocket." + +The man listened to her sharply. A sudden quickened interest appeared in +his countenance. The others heard Mother Wit's speech with growing +excitement. + +"See," said the girl of Central High, extracting one of the bank-notes from +the packet "Here is another bill on the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, +Ohio. Did you notice that? Doesn't it sound familiar to you?" + +She repeated the name of the bank and its locality slowly. "You have more +bills of that same bank. But none like the one you gave Chet when you +bought that lavalliere for 'the nice little girl' you told him you expected +to give it to." + +The man stared at her. He seemed enthralled by what she said. Laura +proceeded in her quiet way: + +"Just write this name, please: 'Bedford Knox.' Thanks. Now write it again. +He is cashier of your bank in Osage, Ohio." + +Jess barely stifled a cry with her handkerchief. But everybody else was +silent, watching the man laboriously writing the name as requested by +Laura. + +It was a disappointment. No doubt of that The man did not write the name as +though he were familiar with it at all. But Laura was still smiling when he +looked up at her, almost childishly, for further directions. + +"Now try this other, please," said the girl firmly. "Two men always sign +bank-notes to make them legal tender. The cashier and the president The +president of the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, Ohio, is----" + +She hesitated. The man poised his pen over the paper expectantly. Said +Laura, briskly: + +"Write 'Peyton J. Weld.'" + +At her words Janet Steele uttered a startled exclamation. The man did not +notice this. He wrote the name as Laura requested. Chet, looking over his +shoulder and with one of the Osage bank-notes in his hand for comparison, +watched the signature dashed off in almost perfect imitation of that upon +the bank-note. + +"You guessed it, Mother Wit!" the big boy cried. "Write it again, Mr. Weld. +That is your name as sure as you live!" + +The surgeon stepped quickly to the bedside and his sharp eyes darted from +the bank-note in the boy's hand to the signature his patient had written. +The man looked wonderingly about the room, his puzzled gaze drifting from +one to another of his visitors until it finally fastened upon the pale +countenance of Janet Steele. + +Catching his eye, the girl stepped forward impulsively, her hands clasped. + +"Uncle Jack!" she breathed. + +"You--you look quite like your mother used to, my dear," the man in bed +said in rather a strange voice. + +The surgeon eased him back upon the pillows, and at a nod the nurse sent +the visitors out of the room. In the corridor they all stood amazed, +staring at Janet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IT IS ALL ROUNDED UP + + +"Of course," Lily Pendleton confessed, "I was at Hester's party," + +"And Purt Sweet was there?" queried Laura earnestly. + +"Mr. Sweet certainly was present, too," said the other girl. "You girls +need not be so jealous if we are the only two from Central High that got +invited," + +"You can have my share and welcome," said Bobby. + +"And mine, too," confessed Jess. + +"These interrogations are not inspired by jealousy," laughed Mother Wit. + +It was on Friday as the girls gathered for recitations that this +conversation occurred. Lily Pendleton was inclined to object to having her +intimacy with Hester Grimes inquired into. + +"Do you remember what night that party was held, Lily?" asked Laura. + +"Why, no. On a Saturday night, I believe." + +"Quite so. And on a particular Saturday night," said Laura. + +"You said it!" murmured Bobby. + +"I don't know what you mean!" cried Lily Pendleton. + +"But you will before I get through with you," said Laura. "Now, listen! You +know about that man who had his leg broken on Market Street?" + +"The one the police say Purt ran down with his car?" + +"The same." + +"Of course I do," Lily cried. "And Purt is as innocent as you are!" + +"Granted," said Laura. "Therefore you will help us explain the mystery, and +so relieve Purt Sweet of suspicion. For he refuses to say anything himself +to the police." + +"Why--why----What do I know about it?" demanded Lily. + +"Do you know that the party was held the very Saturday night the man was +hurt?" + +"No! Was it?" + +"It was. And Purt had his car up there at the Grimes' house." + +"Did he? I didn't know. He went away early, I believe." + +"And earlier still a couple of boys, or men, borrowed Purt's car without +his knowing it--until afterward," Laura declared earnestly. "One of those +fellows had to catch a train." + +"Why, that was Hester's cousin, Jeff Rounds! He lives at Norridge. Don't +you know?" + +"Who was the other fellow?" asked Laura sharply. + +"Why--I----Oh! it must have been Tom Langley. He lives next door to +Hester. Do you know," said Lily, preening a little, "I think Tom is kind of +sweet on Hessie." + +"Good night!" moaned Bobby. "What is the matter with him? Is he blind?" + +"He must have had very bad eyesight or he would not have run down that poor +Mr. Weld on Market Street!" exclaimed Jess tartly. + +"What do you mean?" gasped Lily. "Tom Langley has gone away for the winter +anyway. He went suddenly----" + +"Right after that party, I bet a cooky," cried Bobby. + +"Well--ye-es," admitted Lily. + +"Scared!" exclaimed Jess. + +"The coward!" cried Laura. + +"And left poor Purt to face the music," Bobby observed. "Well, old Purt is +better than we ever gave him credit for. Now we'll make him square himself +with the police." + +It was Mr. Nemo of Nowhere, now Mr. Peyton J. Weld, who had the most to do +with settling the police end of Purt Sweet's trouble. It was some weeks +before he could do this, for the shock of his mental recovery racked the +man greatly. For some days the surgeon would not let the young folk see +their friend whose mind had been so twisted. + +"I don't know but we did more harm than good, Laura," Chet Belding said +anxiously, when they discussed Mr. Weld's condition. + +"I don't believe so," his sister said. "At any rate, we revealed him as +Janet's Uncle Jack, and the discovery has done Mrs. Steele a world of good +already." + +That the man who, for a time, had forgotten who he was and had forgotten a +number of years of his life, finally recovered completely, can safely be +stated. His very first outing from the hospital was in Purt Sweet's car, +and the boy drove him first of all to the office of the Chief of Police. + +Purt had refused utterly to make trouble for either Hester Grimes' cousin +Jeff or for Tom Langley. Mr. Weld assured the Chief of Police that, +although it was Purt's car that had struck him down on the icy street, Purt +had not been in the car at the time. + +Nor did the boy of Central High have anything to do with the accident. His +car had been borrowed without permission by "parties unknown," as far as +Mr. Weld was concerned, and to this day the police of Centerport are rather +hazy as to just who it was that stole Purt Sweet's car and committed the +assault. + +"And I feel sort of hazy myself," Jess Morse said, when they were all +talking it over at one time. "Mostly hazy about this Man from Nowhere. How +did he so suddenly become Janet Steele's Uncle Jack?" + +"And his name 'Peyton'?" added Nellie Agnew. + +"Why, his middle name was John--they always called him by it at home," +explained Laura Belding. "And, of course, Janet and her mother knew nothing +about the name written on those Osage bank bills. I didn't suspect the +relationship myself. + +"But I began to be quite sure that he must have had something to do with +the bank for which those bills were issued. And it seemed probable that, as +he had so much money with him when he landed in Centerport, that he must be +somebody in Osage of wealth and prominence. I wrote secretly to the +postmaster at Osage and learned that the president of the Drovers' Levee +Bank had gone East on a vacation--presumably to hunt up some relatives that +he had not seen for some time." + +"Sly Mother Wit!" cried Jess. + +"Not such a wonderful thing to do," laughed Laura. + +"Not half so wonderful," put in the irrepressible Bobby Hargrew, "as it +seemed to the countryman who came to town and stood gazing up at the tall +steeple of the cathedral. As he gazed the bell began to toll The hick +stopped a passer-by and said: + +"'Tell me, why does the bell ring at this time of day?' + +"The other man studied the hick for a moment and then said: 'That's easy. +There's somebody pulling on the rope.'" + +"Well," said Nellie, when the laugh had subsided, "I guess Janet and her +mother are glad our Laura had such a bright idea." + +"Of course! They are going back to Osage with Mr. Weld when he has fully +recovered. And so we shall lose an awfully nice girl friend," Laura +declared. + +"Gee!" sighed Chet. "And such a pretty girl!" + +Jess said not a word. + + * * * * * + +Of course, all twisted threads must be straightened out at the end of the +story; but our tale really ends with the performance of "The Rose Garden." +That on Friday night was most enthusiastically received by the friends and +parents of the girls of Central High. + +It was a worthy production, and the girls deserved all the applause they +received. It encouraged them to give two further performances, and +altogether the three netted a large sum for the Red Cross. The play, in +fact, was the means of raising more money for the fund than any other +single method used for that object in Centerport. + +The city "went over the top" in its quota of both memberships and funds, +and that before Christmas. The girls of Central High could rest on their +laurels over the holidays, knowing that they had done well. + +"But wait till Gee Gee gets after us after New Year's," prophesied Bobby. + +"Don't be so pessimistic," said Jess. "Maybe she won't." + +"Why won't she?" demanded Dora Lockwood. + +"Nothing will change her," sighed Dora's twin. + +"Say!" gasped Bobby, stricken with a sudden thought, "maybe she'll get the +pip, or something, and not be able to teach. That is our only hope!" + +"Suppose we turn over a new leaf, as Miss Carrington won't," suggested +Laura in her placid way. + +"What's that?" demanded Bobby suspiciously. + +"Suppose we agree not to annoy her any more than we can help for the rest +of the school year?" + +"There! Isn't that just like you, Laura Belding?" demanded Jess. +"Suggesting the impossible." + +This was said in the wings of the school stage during the last performance +of "The Rose Garden." The curtain went up on the last act and the girls +became quiet They watched Janet Steele, as the dark lady of the roses, move +again across the stage. She was very graceful and very pretty. The boys out +front applauded her enthusiastically. + +Laura pinched Jess's arm. "Janet certainly has made a hit," she whispered. + +"Well," admitted Jess, "she deserves their applause. And she just about +saved our play, Laura. There is no getting around that." + + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High Aiding the +Red Cross, by Gertrude W. Morrison + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS AIDING THE RED CROSS *** + +This file should be named 7gred10.txt or 7gred10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7gred11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7gred10a.txt + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross + Or Amateur Theatricals for a Worthy Cause + +Author: Gertrude W. Morrison + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8137] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS AIDING THE RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross + +OR + +AMATEUR THEATRICALS FOR A WORTHY CAUSE + +BY + +GERTRUDE W. MORRISON + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER +I THE ODDEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED +II THE RED CROSS GIRL +III ODD! +IV THE MYSTERY MAN +V SAND IN THE GEARS +VI THE BANK-NOTE +VII SOMETHING EXCITING +VIII THE FOREFRONT OF TROUBLE +IX THE ICE CARNIVAL +X BUT WHO IS HE? +XI A REHEARSAL +XII BUBBLE, BUBBLE +XIII MOTHER WIT HAS AN IDEA +XIV CHAINS ON HIS WHEELS +XV PIE AND POETRY +XVI EMBER NIGHT +XVII A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT +XVIII WHERE WAS PURT? +XIX LAURA LISTENS +XX TWO THINGS ABOUT HESTER +XXI AND A THIRD THING +XXII THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT +XXIII THE LAST REHEARSAL +XXIV MR. NEMO, OF NOWHERE +XXV IT IS ALL ROUNDED UP + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE ODDEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED + + +"Well, if that isn't the oddest thing that ever happened!" murmured Laura +Belding, sitting straight up on the stool before the high desk in her +father's glass-enclosed office, from which elevation she could look down +the long aisles of his jewelry store and out into Market Street, +Centerport's main business thoroughfare. + +But Laura was not looking down the vista of the electrically lighted shop +and into the icy street. Instead, she gave her attention to that which lay +right under her eyes upon the desk top. She looked first at the neat +figures she had written upon the page of the day ledger, after carefully +proving them, and thence at the packet of bills and piles of coin on the +desk at her right hand. + +"It is the oddest thing that ever happened," she affirmed, as though in +answer to her own first declaration. + +It was Saturday evening, and it was always Laura's duty to straighten out +her father's books for him on that day, for although she was a high school +girl, she was usually so well prepared in her studies that she could give +the books proper attention weekly. Laura had taken a course in bookkeeping +and she was quite familiar with the business of keeping a simple set of +books like these. + +She never let the day ledger and the cash get far apart. It was her custom +to strike a balance weekly, and this she was doing at this time. Or she was +trying to! But there seemed to be something entirely wrong with the cash +itself. + +She knew that the figures on the ledger were correct. She had asked her +father, and even Chet, her brother, who was helping in the store this +evening, if either of them had taken out any cash without setting the sum +down in the proper record. + +"It is an even fifty dollars--neither more nor less," she had told them, +with a puzzled little frown corrugating her pretty forehead. + +They had both denied any such act--Chet, of course, vigorously. + +"What kind of hardware are you trying to hang on me, Mother Wit?" he +demanded of his sister. "I know Christmas will soon be on top of us, and a +fellow needs all the money there is in the world to buy even one girl a +decent present. But I assure you I haven't taken to nicking papa's cash +drawer." + +"I don't know but mother is right," Laura sighed. "Your language is +becoming something to listen to with fear and trembling. And I am not +accusing you, Chetwood. I'm only asking you!" + +"And I'm only answering you--emphatically," chuckled her brother. + +"It is no laughing matter when you cannot find fifty dollars," she told +him. + +"You'd better stir your wits a little, then, Sis," he advised. "You know +Jess and Lance will be along soon and we were all going shopping together, +and skating afterward. Lance and I want to practice our grapevine whirl." + +But being advised to hurry did not help. For half an hour since Chet had +last spoken the girl had sat in a web of mystery that fairly made her head +spin! Her ledger figures were proved over and over again. But the cash! +Then once more she bent to her task. + +The piles of coin were all right she finally decided. She counted them over +and over again, and they came to the same penny exactly. So she pushed the +coin aside. + +Then she slowly and carefully counted again the bank-notes, turning them +one by one face down from left to right. The amount, added to the sum of +the coins, was equal to the figures on the ledger. Then she did what she +had already done ten or a dozen times. She recounted the bills, turning +them from right to left. + +She was fifty dollars short! + +Christmas was approaching, and the Belding jewelry store was, of course, +rather busier than at other seasons. That was why Chet Belding was helping +out behind the counters. Out there, he kept a closer watch on the front +door than Laura, with her financial trouble, could. + +Suddenly he darted down the long room to welcome a group of young people +who pushed open the jewelry-store door. They burst in with a hail of merry +voices and a clatter of tongues that drowned every other sound in the store +for a minute, although there were but four of them. + +"Easy! Easy!" begged Mr. Belding, who was giving his attention to a +customer near the front of the store. "Take your friends back to Laura's +coop, Chetwood." + +Hushed for the moment, the party drifted back toward Laura's desk. The +young girl was still too deeply engaged with the ledger and cash to look up +at first. + +"What is the matter, Mother Wit?" demanded the taller of the two girls who +had just come in--a most attractive-looking maiden, whom Chet had at once +taken on his arm. + +"Engine trouble," chuckled Laura's brother. "The old thing just won't +budge! Isn't that it, Laura?" + +The tall youth--dark and delightfully romantic-looking, any girl would have +told you--went around into the little office and looked over Laura's +shoulder. + +"What's gone wrong, Laura?" he asked, with sympathy in his voice and +manner. + +"You want to get a move on, Mother Wit!" cried the youngest girl of the +troop, saucy looking, and with ruddy cheeks and flyaway curls. This was +Clara Hargrew, whom her friends called Bobby, and whose father kept the big +grocery store just a block away from the Belding jewelry store. "Everybody +will have picked over the presents in all the stores and got the best of +everything before we get there." + +"That's right," said the last member of the group; and this was a short and +sturdy boy who had the same mischievous twinkle in his eye that Bobby +Hargrew displayed. + +His name was Long, and because he was short, everybody at Central High +(save the teachers, of course) called him "Short and Long." He and Bobby +Hargrew were what hopeless grown folk called "a team!" When they were not +hatching up some ridiculous trick together, they were separately in +mischief. + +"But you say Short and Long has done some of his Christmas shopping +already," Jess Morse, the tall visitor, said. "Just think, Laura! He has +sent Purt Sweet his annual present." + +"So soon?" said Laura Belding, but with her mind scarcely on what her +friends were saying. "And Thanksgiving is only just passed!" + +"I thought I'd better be early," said Short and Long, with solemn +countenance. "I wrote 'Not to be opened till Christmas' upon the package." + +Bobby and Jess and Lance burst into giggles. "Let's have the joke!" +demanded Chet. "What did you send the poor fish, Short?" + +"You guessed it! You guessed it, Chet Belding!" cried Bobby. "Aren't you a +clever lad?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Laura, now becoming more seriously interested. + +"Why," Jess Morse said, "he got a codfish down at the market and wrapped it +up in a lot of paper and put it in a long, beautifully decorated Christmas +box. If Purt Sweet keeps that box without opening it until Christmas, I am +afraid the Board of Health will be making inquiries about the Sweet +premises." + +"You scamp!" exclaimed Laura sternly, to Short and Long. + +"He's all right!" declared Bobby warmly. "You know just how mean and stingy +Purt Sweet is--and his mother has more money than anybody else in +Centerport. Last Christmas, d'you know what Purt did?" + +"Something silly, of course," Laura said. + +"I don't know what you call silly. I call it mean," declared the smaller +girl. "Purt got it noised abroad that he was going to give a present to +every fellow in his class--didn't he, Short?" + +"That's what he did," said Billy Long, taking up the story. "And the day +before Christmas he got us all over to his house and offered each of us a +drink of ice-water! And some of the kids had been foolish enough to buy him +things--and give 'em to him ahead of time, too!" + +"Serves you right for being so piggish," commented Chet. + +"It was a mean trick," agreed Laura, "for some of the boys in Purt's grade +are much younger than he is. But this idea of giving Christmas presents +because you expect something in return----" + +"Is pretty small potatoes," finished Lance Darby, the dark youth. "But +what's the matter here, Laura?" he added. "I've counted these bills and +they are just exactly right by those figures you have set down there." + +"You turned them from left to right as you counted, Lance," cried Laura. + +"Sure! I counted the face of each bill," was the answer. + +"Now count them the other way!" exclaimed Laura in despair. + +Her friends gathered around while Laura did this. Even Chet gave some +attention to his sister's trouble now. From right to left the packet of +bank-notes came to fifty dollars less than the sum accredited to them on +the ledger. + +"Well, what do you know about that?" breathed Lance. + +"That's the strangest thing!" declared Jess Morse. + +"Why," said Bobby of the quick mind, "must be some of the bills are not +printed right." + +"Nonsense!" ejaculated Chet. + +"Who ever heard of such a thing as a banknote being printed wrong unless it +was a counterfeit?" demanded Laura. + +Mr. Belding, having finished with his customer, came back to the little +office and heard this. "I am quite sure we have taken in no counterfeits-- +eh, Chet?" he said, smiling. + +"And there's only one big bill--this hundred," said Chet, who had taken the +package of bills and was flirting them through his fingers. "I took that in +myself when I sold that lavallière to the man I told you about, Father. You +remember? He was a stranger, and he said he wanted to give it to a young +girl. I------" + +"Let's see that bill, Chet!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew suddenly. + +Chet slipped the hundred-dollar note out of the packet and handed it to the +grocer's daughter. But she immediately cried: + +"I want to see the hundred-dollar bill, Chet. Not this one." + +"Why, that's the hundred------" + +"This is a fifty," interrupted Bobby. "Can't you see?" + +She displayed the face of a fifty-dollar bank-note to their wondering eyes. +Their exclamations drowned Mr. Belding's voice, and he had to speak twice +before Bobby heard him. + +"Turn it over!" + +The grocer's daughter did so. The other side of the bill was the face of a +hundred-dollar bank-note! At this there certainly was a hullabaloo in and +around the office. Mr. Belding could scarcely make himself heard again. He +was annoyed. + +"What is the matter with that bank-note? Whether it is counterfeit or not, +you took it in over the counter, Chetwood," he said coldly. + +"This very day," admitted his oldest son. + +"Then, my boy, it is up to you," said the jeweler grimly. + +"What----Just what do you mean?" asked Chet, somewhat troubled by his +father's sternness. + +"In a jewelry store," said Mr. Belding seriously, "as I have often told +you, a clerk must keep his eyes open. You admit taking in this bill. If the +Treasury Department says it is worth only fifty dollars, I shall expect you +to make good the other fifty." + +The young people stared at each other in awed silence as the jeweler turned +away. They could feel how annoyed he was. + +"Gee!" gasped Chet, "if I'm nicked fifty dollars, how shall I ever be able +to buy Christmas presents, or even give anything for the Red Cross drive?" + +"Oh, I'm sorry, Chet!" Jess Morse murmured. + +"Looks as if hard times had camped on your trail, old boy," declared Lance. + +"But maybe it is a hundred-dollar bill," Laura said. + +"It's tough," Short and Long muttered. + +"Try to pass it on somebody else," chuckled Bobby, who was not very +sympathetic at that moment. + +"Got it all locked up, Laura?" Jess asked. "Well, let us go then. You can't +make that bill right by looking at it, Chet." + +"I--I wish I could get hold of the man who passed it on me," murmured the +big fellow. + +"Would you know him again?" Lance asked. + +"Sure," returned his chum, getting his own coat and hat while his sister +put on her outdoor clothing. "All ready? We're going, Pa." + +"Remember what I said about that bill, Chetwood," Mr. Belding admonished +him. "You will learn after this, I guess, to look at both sides of a +hundred-dollar bill--or any other--when it is offered to you." + +"Aw, it's a good hundred, I bet," grumbled Chet. + +"If it is, I'll add an extra fifty to my Red Cross subscription," rejoined +his father with some tartness. + +"Well, that's something!" Bobby Hargrew said quickly. "We want to boost the +fund all we can. And what do you think?" + +"My brain has stopped functioning entirely since I got so bothered by that +bank-note," declared Laura Belding, shaking her head. "I can't think." + +"Mr. Sharp and the rest of the faculty have agreed that we shall give a +show for the Red Cross," declared Bobby, with enthusiasm. "Just what we +wanted them to do!" + +"Oh, joy!" cried Jess, clasping her hands in delight. + +"Miss Josephine Morse, leading lady, impressarioess, and so forth," laughed +Lance Darby, "will surely be in on the theatricals." + +"Maybe they will let you write the play, Jess," said Chet admiringly. + +They reached the door and stepped into the street. There had been rain and +a freeze. The sidewalks, as well as the highway itself, were slippery. +Bobby suddenly screamed: + +"See there! Oh! He'll be killed!" + +A rapidly-driven automobile turned the corner by the Belding store. A man +was crossing Market Street, coming toward the group of young people. + +The careless driver had not put on his chains. The car skidded. The next +instant the pedestrian was knocked down, and at least one wheel ran over +his prostrate body. + +Instead of stopping, the car went into high speed and dashed up the street +and was quickly out of sight. The young people ran to the prostrate man. +Nobody for the moment thought of the automobile driver who was responsible +for the affair. + +The victim had blood on his face from a cut high up on his crown. He was +unconscious. It was Chet Belding who stood up and spoke, first of all. + +"I thought so! I thought so!" he gasped. "Do you know who this is?" + +"Who?" asked Jess, clinging to his arm as the crowd gathered. + +"This is the man who passed that phony hundred-dollar bill on me. The very +one!" + +"Is he dead?" whispered Bobby Hargrew, looking under Chefs elbow down at +the crimson-streaked face of the unfortunate man. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE RED CROSS GIRL + + +Market street was well lighted, but it was not well policed. That last fact +could not be denied, or the recklessly driven automobile that had knocked +down the stranger would never have got away so easily. People from both +sides of the street and from the stores near by ran to the spot; but no +policeman appeared until long after the automobile was out of sight. + +The exciting statement that Chet Belding had made so interested and +surprised his friends that for a few moments they gave the victim of the +injury little of their attention. Meanwhile a figure glided into the group +and knelt beside the injured man who lay upon the ice-covered street. It +was a girl, not older than Laura and Jess, but one who was dressed in the +veil and cloak of the Red Cross. + +She was not the only Red Cross worker on Market Street that Saturday +evening, for the drive for the big Red Cross fund had begun, and many +workers were collecting. This girl, however seemed to have a practical +knowledge of first-aid work. She drew forth a small case, wiped the blood +away from the man's face with cotton, and then began to bandage the wound +as his head rested against her knee. + +"Somebody send for the ambulance," she commanded, in a clear and pleasant +voice. "I think he has a fractured leg, and he may be hurt otherwise." + +Her request brought the three girls of Central High to their senses. Bobby +darted away to telephone to the hospital from her father's store. The older +girls offered the Red Cross worker their aid. + +For a year and a half the girls of Central High had been interested in the +Girls' Branch League athletics; and with their training under Mrs. Case, +the athletic instructor, they had all learned something about first-aid +work. + +The girls of Centerport had changed in character without a doubt since the +three high schools of the city had become interested so deeply in girls' +athletics. With the high schools of Keyport and Lumberport, an association +of league units had been formed, and the girls of the five educational +institutions were rivals to a proper degree in many games and sports. + +How all this had begun and how Laura Belding by her individual efforts had +made possible the Central High's beautiful gymnasium and athletic field, is +told in the first volume of this series, entitled: "The Girls of Central +High; Or, Rivals for All Honors." This story served to introduce this party +of young people who have met in the jewelry store, as well as a number of +other characters, to the reader. + +In "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna; Or, The Crew That Won," the +enthusiasm in sports among the girls of the five high schools reaches a +high point. + +As the three cities in the league are all situated upon the beautiful lake +named above, aquatic games hold a high place in the estimation of the rival +associations in the league. Fun and sports fill this second volume. + +"The Girls of Central High at Basket Ball; Or, The Great Gymnasium +Mystery," the third book, tells of several very exciting games in which the +basket-ball team of Central High takes part, and the reader learns, as +well, a good deal more about the individual characters of the girls +themselves and of some very exciting adventures they have. + +"The Girls of Central High on the Stage; Or, The Play That Took the Prize," +the fourth volume in the series, is really Jess Morse's story, although +Laura and their other close friends have much to do in the book and take +part in the play which Jess wrote, and which was acted in the school +auditorium. It was proved that Jess Morse had considerable talent for play +writing, and the professional production of her school play aided the girl +and her mother over a most trying financial experience. + +The fifth volume, "The Girls of Central High on Track and Field; Or, The +Champions of the School League," is an all around athletic story in which +rivalries for place in school athletics, excitement and interest of plot, +and stories of character building are woven into a tale calculated to hold +the attention of any reader interested in high school doings. + +During the summer previous to the opening of the present story in the +series, these friends spent a most enjoyable time camping on Acorn Island, +and the sixth tale, "The Girls of Central High in Camp; Or, The Old +Professor's Secret," is as full of mystery, adventure, and fun as it can +be. Since the end of the long vacation the Girls of Central High, as well +as the boys who are their friends, had settled down to hard work both in +studies and athletics. Ice had come early this year and already Lake Luna +was frozen near the shore and most of the steamboat traffic between the +lake cities had ceased. + +The great pre-holiday Red Cross drive had now enthralled the girls of +Central High, as well as the bulk of Centerport's population. Everybody +wanted to put the city "over the top" with more than its quota subscribed +to the fund. + +In the first place, the boys' and girls' athletic associations of Central +High were planning an Ice Carnival to raise funds for the cause, and it was +because of that exhibition that Chet Belding and Lance Darby wished to get +down to the ice that evening and try their own particular turn, after the +shopping expedition that also had been planned. + +As it happened, however, neither the shopping nor the skating was done on +this particular Saturday night. + +As Bobby Hargrew ran to telephone to the hospital, Short and Long had +grabbed the wrists of his two older and taller boy friends and led them out +of the crowd in a very mysterious way. + +"Did you get a good look at that car?" he whispered to Chet and Lance. + +"Of course I didn't," said the latter. "It went up the street like the +wind. Didn't it, Chet?" + +"That rascal was going some when he turned the corner of Rapidan Street. I +wonder he did not skid again and smash his car to pieces against the +hydrant. Served him right if he had," Chet said. + +"There were no chains on his wheels," said Short and Long, in the same +mysterious way. + +"You said it," agreed Lance. "What then?" + +"There are not many cars in Centerport right now without chains on. The +streets have been icy for more than twenty-four hours." + +"Your statement is irrefutable," said Chet, grinning. + +"Get it off your chest, Short and Long," begged Lance. "What do you mean?" + +"I mean," said the earnest lad, "that I know a car that was out this +afternoon without chains, and it was a seven-seater Perriton car--just as +this one that knocked down Chet's friend was." + +"It was a Perriton, I believe," murmured Lance. + +But Chetwood Belding said: "I don't know whether that poor fellow is a +friend of mine or not. If I have to give Pa fifty dollars--Whew!" + +"But the car?" urged Lance Darby. "Who has a Perriton car, Short and Long?" + +"And without chains?" added Chet, waking up to the main topic. + +"Come along, fellows," said the younger lad. "I won't tell you. But I'll +take you to where you can see the car I mean. If it still is without chains +on the wheels, and has just been used--Well, we can talk about it then!" + +"All right," said Chet. "We can't do any good here. Here comes the +ambulance. That poor fellow is going to be in the hospital for some time, I +bet." + +There was such a crowd around the spot where the victim of the accident lay +that the boys could not see the Central High girls, save Bobby Hargrew, who +came running back from her father's store just as the clanging of the +ambulance gong warned the crowd that the hospital had responded in its +usual prompt fashion. + +The boys hailed the smaller girl and told her they were off to hunt for the +car that had knocked down the victim. Then the three hurried away. + +Meanwhile, in the center of the crowd Laura Belding and Jess Morse had been +aiding the girl in the Red Cross uniform as best they could to care for the +man who was hurt. The latter had not opened his eyes when the ambulance +worked its way into the crowd and halted beside the three girls on their +knees in the street. + +"What have you there?" asked the young doctor, who swung himself off the +rear of the truck. + +Laura and Jess told him. The third girl, the one who had done the most for +the unfortunate man, did not at first say a word. + +The driver brought the rolled stretcher and blanket. He laid it down beside +the victim. When the doctor had finished his brief notes he helped his aid +lift the man to the stretcher. They picked it up and shoved it carefully +into the ambulance. + +"I know you, Miss Belding," said the doctor. "And this is Miss Morse, isn't +it? Do you mind giving me your name and address?" he asked the third girl. + +Was there a moment's hesitation on the part of the Red Cross girl? Laura +thought there was; yet almost instantly the stranger replied: + +"My name is Janet Steele." + +"Ah! Your address?" repeated the doctor. + +This time there was no doubt that the girl flushed, and more than a few +seconds passed before she made answer: + +"Thirty-seven Whiffle Street." + +At the same moment somebody exclaimed: "Here comes Fatty Morehead, the cop. +Better late than never," and a general laugh went up from the crowd. + +Jess seized Laura's wrist, exclaiming: "Oh, Laura! he will want to take +down our names and addresses, too. Let's get away." + +The Red Cross girl uttered an ejaculation of chagrin. She began pushing her +way out of the press, and in an opposite direction from that in which the +portly policeman was coming. + +Jess whispered swiftly in Laura's ear: "Come on! Let's follow her! I'm +awfully interested in that Red Cross girl, Laura!" + +"Why should you be?" asked her chum. "Although she looks like a nice girl, +I never saw her before." + +"Neither did I," said Jess. "But did you hear the address she gave? That is +the poor end of Whiffle Street, as you very well know, and mother and I +used to live right across the street from that house. I did not know +anybody lived in the old Eaton place. It has been empty for a long, long +time." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ODD! + + +Bobby Hargrew met Laura and Jess on the edge of the crowd, for she had been +unable to worm herself into the middle of it again, and told them swiftly +of the boys' departure to hunt for the car that had done the damage. + +"And that's just like the boys!" exclaimed Jess Morse, with some +exasperation. "To run away and desert us!" + +"I don't know but I'm glad," said Laura. "I don't feel much like shopping +after seeing that poor man hurt." + +"Or skating, either," complained Jess. + +Presently the three overtook the strange girl. Bobby, whom Chet had said +was "just as friendly with strangers as a pup with a waggy tail," +immediately got into conversation with her. + +"Say! was he hurt badly?" she asked. + +"I think his right leg was broken," the Red Cross girl replied. "And his +head was badly hurt. Your friends, here, could see that." + +"He bled dreadfully," sighed Laura. "But you had the bandage on so nicely +that the doctor did not even disturb it, my dear." + +"Thank you," said the Red Cross girl. She hesitated on the corner of the +side street. "I fear I must leave you here. I am going home." + +"Oh," cried Jess, who was enormously curious, "we can go your way just as +well as not, Miss Steele! We live at the other end of Whiffle Street--up on +the hill, you know." + +"All but me," put in Bobby. "But I can run right through Laura's yard to my +house." + +She indicated Laura as she spoke. The Red Cross girl looked at Mother Wit +with some expectancy. Jess came to the rescue. + +"Let's get acquainted," she said. "Why not? We'll never meet again under +more thrilling circumstances," and she laughed. "This is Miss Laura +Belding, Miss Steele. On your other hand is Miss Hargrew--Miss Clara +Hargrew. I am Josephine Morse. I used to live across the street from the +old Eaton place where you live now." + +"You are a stranger in town, are you not?" Laura asked, taking the new +girl's hand. + +"Yes, Miss Belding. We have only been here four weeks. But I have worked in +the Red Cross before--and one must do something, you know." + +"Do something!" burst forth Bobby. "If you went to Central High and had Gee +Gee for one of your teachers, you'd have plenty to do." + +"We are all three Central High girls," said Laura gently. "Have you +finished school, Miss Steele?" + +"I have not been able to attend school regularly for two years," admitted +the new girl. "I am afraid," and she smiled apologetically, "that you are +all much further advanced in your education than I am. You see, my mother +is an invalid and I must give her a great deal of my time. It does not +interfere, however, with my doing a little for the Red Cross." + +"I am sorry your mother is ill," said Laura. + +"We were advised to come up here for her sake," said Janet Steele hastily. +"We have been living in a coast town. The doctors thought an inland +climate--a drier climate--would be beneficial." + +"I hope it will prove so," said Laura. + +"It seems a shame you can't get out with the other girls," Jess added. + +"And come to school and let Gee Gee get after you," joined in Bobby grimly. + +"Is she such a very strict disciplinarian?" asked Miss Steele, smiling down +at the irrepressible one as they walked through the side street toward +Whiffle. + +"She's the limit," declared Bobby. + +"Oh," said Laura mildly, "I think Miss Carrington is nowhere near so strict +as she used to be. Margit Salgo really has made her quite human, you know." + +"Say!" grumbled Bobby, "she can hand out demerits just as easy as ever. And +she had her sense of humor extracted years ago." + +"Has that fault cropped up lately, my dear?" asked Laura, laughing. "It +must be so. What happened, Bobby?" + +The younger girl, who was a sophomore, whereas Laura and Jess were juniors, +came directly under Miss Carrington's attention in several classes. Bobby +was forever getting into trouble with the strict teacher. + +"Why, look, now," said Bobby, warmly, "just what happened yesterday! +English class. You know, that's nuts for Gee Gee. I was bothered enough, I +can tell you, trying to correct a paper she had handed back to me, and she +kept right on talking and asking questions, and the recitation period was +almost ended. I didn't want to hang around there to correct that paper--" + +"You know very well you should have taken it home to correct," Laura put +in. + +"Oh, don't tell me that! I take so much extra work home as it is, that +Father Tom Hargrew asks me if I don't do anything at all in school. And, +anyway, I didn't think Gee Gee saw me. But, of course, she did." + +"And then what?" Jess asked. + +"Why, she shot a question at me, and I didn't get it at first. 'Miss +Hargrew! Pay attention!' she went on. Of course, that brought me up +standing. 'What is a pseudonym?' she wanted to know. How silly! You know +the trouble we've been having with that car Father Tom bought. 'I don't +know what it is, Miss Carrington,' I told her. 'But if it is something that +belongs to an automobile, father will have to buy a new one pretty soon, +I'm sure.'" + +"And she docked you for that!" exclaimed Jess, as though wildly amazed. +"How cruel!" + +"Really, I am afraid we are sometimes cruel to our dear teachers," laughed +Laura. "But if they are too serious they are such a temptation to us witty +ones." + +"Now, don't be sarcastic, Mother Wit," said Jess, shaking her chum a little +by the elbow. "You know very well you enjoy nagging the teachers a bit +yourself, now and then. And Professor Dimp!" + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" gasped Bobby suddenly. "Did you hear the latest about Old +Dimple?" + +"Now, girls," said Laura, quite sternly, "I refuse to hear of Professor +Dimp being made a goose of." + +"Gander, dear! Gander!" exclaimed Jess, _sotto voce_. + +"He's an old dear," declared Laura, quite as earnestly. "We found that out, +I am sure, when we went camping on Acorn Island last summer." + +"True! True!" admitted her chum. + +"Oh, nobody wants to hurt the old fellow," chuckled Bobby. "But one day +this week there was a bunch of the boys down at the post-office, and +Professor Dimp came in to mail a letter. You know he is always reading on +the street when he walks; never sees anybody, and goes stumbling about +blindly with a book under his nose. He got into the revolving door and +Short and Long declares Old Dimple went around ten times before he knew +enough to come out--and then he was on the street again and had failed to +mail the letter." + +"Oh, Bobby!" cried Jess, while Miss Steele was quite convulsed by the +statement. + +"He's so absent-minded," said Laura sympathetically. "Why didn't Short and +Long tell him he was in the revolving door?" + +"Humph!" chuckled Bobby, "I guess Short thought the old fellow needed the +exercise." + +Just then the girls came to the corner of Whiffle Street The street was +narrow and crooked in an elbow here. The houses were mostly small, and were +out of repair. It was, indeed, the poor end of Whiffle Street. On the hill +end were some of the best residences in Centerport. + +"There's the Eaton place across the street," said Jess briskly. "I see +there is a light, Miss Steele." + +"That is mother's room on the first floor--right off the piazza. You know, +we could not begin to use all the house," the girl added frankly. "There +are only mother and I and Aunt Jinny." + +"Oh! Your aunt?" asked Jess. + +"She is mother's old nurse. She has come with us--to help do the housework, +you know," Miss Steele said frankly, yet again flushing a little. "I--I +guess I have never lived just as you girls do. We have moved around a great +deal. I have got such education as I have by fits and starts, you see. I +suppose you three girls have a perfectly delightful time at your Central +High?" + +"Especially when Gee Gee gets after us with a sharp stick," grumbled Bobby. + +"Don't mind Bobby," said Laura, laughing. "She is dreadfully slangy, and +sometimes quite impossible. We do have fine times at Central High. +Especially in our games and athletic work." + +"Miss Steele must be sure and come to our Ice Carnival next week," said +Jess. + +"'Ice Carnival'?" cried the Red Cross girl. "And I just love to skate!" + +There came a sudden tapping on the window of the lighted room in the old +Eaton house. The girls had crossed the street and were standing at the +gate. Janet Steele wheeled quickly and waved her hand. A sitting figure was +dimly outlined at the long, French window. + +"Oh!" Janet said. "Mother wants us to come in. She doesn't see many +people--and she enjoys young folk. Won't you come in? It will be a pleasure +for us both." + +Jess and Bobby looked at Laura. They allowed Mother Wit to decide the +question, and she was but a few seconds in doing so. + +"Why, of course! It's not late," she said. "We shall stay but a minute this +time, Miss Steele." + +"Call me Janet," whispered the Red Cross girl, squeezing Laura's arm as +they went through the sagging gate. + +The quartette climbed the steep steps to the piazza. That the Eaton house +was in bad repair was proved by the broken boards in steps and piazza floor +and the dilapidated condition of the railing. Even the lock of the front +door was broken. Janet turned the knob and ushered them into the dimly-lit +hall. + +This was neatly if sparsely furnished. And everything seemed scrupulously +clean. Their young hostess opened the door into her mother's room, which +was that originally intended for the parlor. + +The eager and curious girls of Central High saw first of all the figure of +the woman in the wheel chair by the window. She had pulled down the shade +now and dropped the curtains into place. The whole room was warm and well +lighted. There was a gas chandelier lighted to the full and an open grate +heaped with red coals. There was a good rug, comfortable chairs, and a +canopied bed set in a corner. A tea-table with furnishings was drawn up +near the fireplace. If one was obliged to spend one's time in a single +room, this apartment seemed amply furnished for such a condition. + +Mrs. Steele herself was no wan and hopeless-looking invalid. She was as +buxom as Janet, and Janet was as well built a girl, even, as Laura Belding. +The invalid had shrunken none in body or limbs. She owned, too, a very +attractive smile, and she held out both hands to greet her young visitors. + +"I am delighted!" she said in a strong, quick voice, which matched her +smile and bright glance perfectly. "Why, Janey, you may go out every +evening, if you will only bring back with you such a bevy of fresh, sweet +faces. Introduce me--do!" + +The introductions were made amid considerable gaiety. Mother Wit took the +lead in telling Mrs. Steele who they were. Later Janet related the accident +on Market Street, which had led to her acquaintance with the three girls of +Central High. + +Laura's keen eyes were not alone fixed upon Mrs. Steele while they talked. +She took into consideration everything in the house. There was no mark of +poverty; yet the Steeles lived in a house in a poor neighborhood and one +that was positively out of repair, and they occupied only a small part of +it. + +When the three girls came out again and Janet had gone in and closed the +door, Laura was in a brown study. + +"Wake up, Mother Wit!" commanded Jess. "What do you think of the Steeles-- +and all?" + +All Laura Belding could say in comment, was: + +"Odd!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MYSTERY MAN + + +The three boys who had set off to find the car that had knocked down the +stranger on the icy street were as mysterious the next day as they could +be. At least, so their girl friends declared. + +Being Sunday, there was no general gathering of the Central High girls and +boys, but Laura, naturally, saw her brother early. He was coming from his +shower in bathrobe and slippers when Laura looked out of her own door. + +"What sort of fox-and-goose chase did Short and Long take you and Lance +away on?" she demanded. + +"Oh, I don't know that he was altogether foolish," said Chet doubtfully. + +"Then did you really find some trace of the car?" cried Laura, eagerly. + +"Well, we found a car. Yes." + +"'Goodness to gracious!' as poor Lizzie Bean says. You are +noncommunicative, Chetwood Belding. What do you mean--you found a car?" + +"Laura," said her brother, "I don't know--nor does Lance, or Short and +Long--whether the fellow we suspect had anything to do with that accident +or not." + +"Oh!" + +"And we don't want to get him in wrong." + +"Who is it?" demanded his sister, bluntly. + +"No. We won't tell anybody who it is we suspect until we make further +investigations." + +"I declare, you are as mysterious as a regular detective! And suppose the +police do make inquiries?" + +"They will, of course," + +"And what will you boys tell them?" + +"Pooh!" returned Chet, going on to his room to dress, "they won't ask us +because they don't know we know anything about it" + +"I guess you don't know much!" shouted Laura after him before he closed his +door. + +It was the same when Jess Morse met Lance Darby on the way to Sunday +School. + +"Ho, Launcelot!" she cried. "Tell us all the news--that is a good child. +Who was that awful person who ran down the man last night? I hear from Dr. +Agnew that they had to patch the poor victim up a good deal at the +hospital. Did you boys find the guilty party?" + +"I don't know that we did," said Darby. "You see, nobody seemed to see the +license number of the automobile." + +"But didn't Short and Long have suspicions?" + +"Well, what are suspicions?" demanded the boy. "We all agreed to say +nothing about it unless we have proof. And we haven't any proof--as yet." + +"Why, I believe you are 'holding out' on your friends, Lance," declared +Jess, in surprise. "For shame!" + +"Aw, ask Chet--if you must know!" exclaimed Lance, hurrying away. + +As it chanced it was Bobby Hargrew who attempted to play inquisitor with +Short and Long, meeting the boy with the youngest Long, Tommy, on the +slippery hill of Nugent Street Tommy was so bundled up in a "Teddy Bear" +costume that he could scarcely trudge along, and he held tightly to his +brother's hand. + +"For goodness' sake!" exclaimed Bobby, when she saw Tommy slipping all over +the icy sidewalk, "what is the matter with that boy?" + +"He hasn't got his sea-legs on," grinned Short and Long. + +"You mean to tell me he is nearly five years old and can walk no better +than _that?_" exclaimed Bobby teasingly. "Why, we have a little dog at home +that isn't even a year old yet, and he can ran right over this ice. He can +walk twice as good as Tommy does." + +"Hoh!" exclaimed that youngster defensively. "That dog's got twice as many +legs as I have." + +"Right you are, Kid!" chuckled his brother. "He got you there, Clara." + +"And did you boys get that man who ran the poor fellow down on Market +Street last night?" demanded Bobby, with interest. "Did you have him +arrested?" + +"No. What do you suppose? We're not going around snitching to the police," +growled Short and Long. + +"But if that man at the hospital is seriously hurt----" + +"Oh, we're not sure it's the right car," said the boy, and evidently did +not wish to talk about it. + +"Billy Long!" exclaimed the girl. "Are you boys trying to defend the guilty +person?" + +"Aw----" + +"Suppose that man at the hospital dies?" + +"Pshaw! He wasn't hurt as bad as all that." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because I've been to the hospital to find out He's got a broken leg and a +broken head----" + +"Is he conscious yet?" demanded Bobby Hargrew quickly. + +"No-o. They say he doesn't know anybody--and nobody knows who he is." + +"Now you see!" cried the girl "Maybe he will die! And you boys will let the +man who did it get away." + +"Oh, he won't get away," grumbled Short and Long. "We know where to find +him when we want to." + +"You'd better let the police know where to find him," said Bobby tartly. + +"You're not the police, Bobby Hargrew!" returned Short and Long, grinning +and going on with Tommy. + +The girls, of course, got together and compared notes and decided that the +boys were "real mean, so now!" To pay Chet and Lance and Billy Long for +being so secretive about the person they suspected of having caused the +injury to the stranger Saturday evening, the three girls went alone that +Sunday afternoon to the hospital to inquire after the injured man. + +And there they met Janet Steele again. The Red Cross girl had been making +inquiries, too, about the same case. + +"It really is a very serious matter," Janet said to her new friends. "The +man who knocked him down should be found. Although the doctors think he has +no internal injuries after all, there is a compound fracture which will +keep him in bed for a long time, and in addition he seems unable to give +any satisfactory explanation of who he is or where he comes from." + +"Goodness!" exclaimed Jess Morse. "Do you mean he has lost his mind?" + +"Merely mislaid it," said Janet with a smile. "Or, at least, he cannot +remember his name and address." + +"Didn't he have any papers about him that explain those points?" asked +Laura. + +"That seems to be odd, too," said Janet "No. Not a mark on his clothing, +either. But he was plentifully supplied with money, and all the bills were +brand new." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Laura. "That reminds me. That funny bill he passed on Chet +was brand new, too. I wonder if all his money is queer?" + +"What do you mean?" asked Janet, wonderingly. "Is the man a criminal, do +you think?" + +Laura and Jess explained about the peculiarly printed bill, which had given +the first named so much trouble in making up her father's accounts the +evening before. + +"But that may be all explained in time," said Janet. + +"All right," grumbled Bobby Hargrew. "But suppose poor Chet has to lose +fifty dollars?" + +"Father is going to take the bill to the bank to-morrow to see if they can +explain the mystery," Laura said. + +"But that will not explain the mystery of the stranger." said Jess. "Why, +he is a regular 'man of mystery,' isn't he?" + +"Humph!" said Bobby. "And so is the fellow the boys think ran him down. He +is a man of mystery as well." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SAND IN THE GEARS + + +Since the whole school had taken such a tremendous interest in "the +profession" at the time Central High blossomed forth in Jess Morse's play, +the M.O.R.s had given several playlets, and Mrs. Case, the physical +instructor, had staged folk dances and tableaux in the big hall. + +For the Red Cross the association of girls connected with the Girls Branch +Athletic League that had carried forward these smaller affairs, had +determined to stage "a real play." Nellie Agnew, the doctor's daughter, and +secretary of the club, had sent to a publisher for copies of plays that +could be put on by amateurs, and interest in the affair waxed high already. + +The principal point of decision was the identity of the play they were to +produce. Mr. Sharp and the other members of the school faculty had agreed +to let the girls act, and the big hall, or auditorium, could be used for +the production. At noon on Monday the girls interested in the performance +met in the principals office to decide upon the play. + +"And of course," grumbled Bobby Hargrew to the Lockwood twins, Dora and +Dorothy, "all the teachers have got to come and interfere. We can't do a +sol-i-ta-ry thing without Gee Gee, or Miss Black, or some of them, poking +their noses into it." + +"You can't say that Professor Dimp pokes his nose into our affairs," +laughed Dora. + +"No, indeed," said her twin. "Outside of his Latin and physics he doesn't +seem to have a single idea." + +"Doesn't he?" scoffed Bobby. "The boys say he's gone into the dressmaking +business, or something." + +"What is that?" asked Dora, smiling. "What do they mean?" + +"Why, the professor's niece is living with him now. He is not much used to +having a woman in his sitting-room, I guess. She sits and sews with him in +the evening while he reads or corrects our futile work," said Bobby, +grinning. + +"The other night Ellie Lingard--that's his niece--lost her scissors and she +said they hunted all over the room for them. The next morning in one of the +physics classes the professor opened his book, and there were the lost +scissors, which he had tucked into it for a bookmark while he helped Ellie +Lingard hunt for her lost property." + +"Oh, oh!" laughed the twins. + +"The worst of it was," continued Bobby, with an elfish grin, "Old Dimple +grabbed them up and said right out loud: 'Oh, here they are, Ellie!' The +boys just hooted, and poor Old Dimp was as mad as a hatter." + +"The poor old man," said Dorothy commiseratingly. + +It was a fact that, although Professor Dimp did not interfere in this play +business, most of the other teachers desired to have their opinions +considered. The girls would not have minded Mr. Sharp. Indeed, they courted +his advice. But when Miss Grace Gee Carrington stood up to speak, some of +them audibly groaned. + +Miss Carrington was Mr. Sharp's assistant and almost in complete control of +the girls of the school. At least, the girls came in contact with her much +more than they did with Mr. Sharp himself. + +She was a very stiff and precise woman, with an acrid temper and a sharp +tongue. She had been teaching unruly girls for so many years that she was +to a degree quite soured upon the world--especially that world of school +which she had so much to do with. + +Of late, however, Miss Carrington had become interested "quite in a human +way," her girls said, in a person who had first appeared to the ken of the +girls of Central High as a Gypsy girl. Margit Salgo's father, a Hungarian +Gypsy musician, had married Miss Carrington's sister, much against the +desire of Miss Grace Gee Carrington herself. When the orphaned Margit found +her way to Centerport she made such an impression upon her aunt's heart +that the latter finally took the girl into her own home and adopted her as +"Margaret Carrington." + +That, however, could not change Miss Carrington's nature. She was severe +and (in the opinion of fly-away Bobby Hargrew) she was much inclined to +interfere in the girls' affairs. On this occasion the girls were not +disappointed when Miss Carrington "said her little say." + +"I approve of any acceptable attempt to raise funds for such a worthy +object as this we have in mind," said Miss Carrington. "An exhibition which +will interest the school in general and our parents and friends likewise, +meets, I am sure, with the approval of us all. Some of our young ladies, I +feel quite sure, show some talent for playing, and much interest therein. +Without meaning to pun, I would add that I wish they showed as great talent +for work as for play." + +"She could not help giving us that dig, if she were to be martyred for it," +Nellie Agnew whispered to Laura. + +"Sh! She'll see your lips move," warned Dora Lockwood, on the other side of +the doctor's daughter. "I believe she has learned lip reading." + +Miss Carrington went on quite calmly: "The first consideration, however, it +seems to me, is the selection of the play. I should not wish to see the +standard of Central High lowered by the acting of a play that would cater +only to the amusement-loving crowd. It should be educational. We should +achieve in a small way what the Greek players tried to teach--a love of +beauty, of form, of some great truth that can be inculcated in this way on +the public mind." + +"But, Miss Carrington!" cried Bess Yeager, one of the seniors, almost +interrupting the staid teacher, "we want to make money for the Red Cross. +We could not get a room full with a Greek play." + +"I beg Miss Yeager's pardon," said Miss Carrington stiffly. "We have our +standard of education to uphold first of all." + +"I hope you will excuse me, Miss Carrington," said Laura, likewise rising +to object. "Our first object is to give the people something that will +amuse them so that they will crowd the auditorium. Otherwise our object +will not have been achieved. This is a purely money-making scheme," added +the jeweler's daughter with her low, sweet laugh. + +"I am amazed to hear you say so!" exclaimed the instructor, quick for +argument at any time. "Have you young ladies no higher desire than to make +the rabble laugh?" + +"I want you to know," muttered Jess Morse, "that my mother is coming, and +she isn't 'rabble.'" + +Perhaps it was fortunate that Miss Carrington did not hear this comment. +But she could not fail to hear some of the others made by the girls. There +was earnest protest in all parts of the room. Mr. Sharp brought them to +order. + +"Miss Carrington has, under ordinary circumstances, made an excellent +point, and I want you all to notice it," said the principal. "We are an +educational institution here on the hill. If we were giving a class play, +or anything like that, I should vote for Miss Carrington's idea. At such a +time something primarily educational should be in order. + +"But as I understand it, you young ladies are going to act for the benefit +of the Red Cross fund, and what will benefit that fund the most is the +drawing together of a well-paying crowd to see you act. + +"I am afraid we shall have to set aside our own desires, Miss Carrington," +he continued, smiling at his assistant. "We must let the actors choose +their own play--as long as it is a proper one--and abide for once by the +decision of those of our friends who wish to be amused rather than +educated." + +"He's half backing her up!" complained Dora. + +"Well, he has to pour oil on the troubled waters," whispered Laura. + +"Huh!" grumbled Bobby Hargrew. "But Gee Gee is determined to throw sand in +the gears, not oil on the waters. She always does." + +Really, Miss Carrington seemed in an interfering mood that day. Nellie had +a collection of plays from which they were supposed to choose that very +session the one to be acted. There was but brief time to learn the parts +and the acting directions. But Mr. Mann, who had directed them in other +plays, said he thought he would be able to whip the girls into shape for a +performance in two weeks. Although they were amateurs, they had all had +some experience. + +When the girls themselves got a chance to talk it was shown that their +desires were all for a parlor comedy with bright lines, some farcical turns +to the plot, but a play of sufficient weight to gain the approval of +sober-minded people. It was, however, far from being classic. + +"Such a play is preposterous!" ejaculated Miss Carrington, breaking out +again. "Don't you think so yourself, Mr. Sharp?" + +The principal had the book in his hand and was skimming through some of the +dialogue. If the truth was told he was on a broad grin. + +"I don't know about that, Miss Carrington. It--it is really very funny." + +"'Funny!'" gasped his assistant, with all the emphasis she dared show in +the presence of the principal. "As though to make fun should be our +target!" + +"What would you like to have us play?" asked Bobby, daringly. "Julius +Caesar? If we do, I want to play old Julius. He dies in the first act. The +rest of us would be killed lingeringly by the audience, I know, before the +last." + +"Miss Hargrew!" snapped the teacher. Then she remembered that this was not +a recitation and she could not easily punish the girl. She shook her head +and looked offended during the remainder of the discussion. + +"But you know very well," snapped Lily Pendleton, a rather overdressed +girl, as they all crowded out of the schoolhouse after the meeting, "that +Gee Gee will do her wickedest to spoil it all." + +"Oh, no!" cried Laura. "Not when it is for the Red Cross!" + +"It wouldn't matter what the object was," said Jess morosely. "She always +does try to crab the game." + +"Goodness, Josephine!" gasped her chum, "you are positively as slangy as +Chet." + +"I guess I catch it from him," admitted Jess Morse. "And she is a crab!" + +"Now girls!" called Nellie, a regular Martha for trouble at the present +moment. "Now girls, remember the 'sides' will be here day after tomorrow, +and Mr. Mann will look us over and give out the parts that afternoon in the +small hall. Nobody must be absent. We want this show to be the biggest +success that ever was." + +"It won't be if Gee Gee can help it," growled Bobby Hargrew, shaking her +curls. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE BANK-NOTE + + +"There's one sure thing about it," Lance Darby said to Laura when she told +him of the way in which Miss Carrington had tried to interfere with the +girls' choice of the play, "she cannot butt into the Ice Carnival +arrangements. Nobody but your Mrs. Case and our Mr. Haskins has anything to +say about the Carnival Committee's arrangements." + +"Oh! Indeed?" laughed Laura. "There you are mistaken about the far-reaching +influence of our Miss Carrington." + +"What do you mean?" + +"You forget that our share of the Carnival is under the jurisdiction of the +Girls Branch League, and in the constitution and by-laws of that +association it is stated that none of us girls can take part in any +exhibition without the consent of our teachers, and without, indeed, having +a certain standing in all branches of study. Miss Carrington can get her +word in right there." + +"Wow, wow! That's so, I presume," admitted Lance. + +"But we have gone so far now," said Laura complacently, "that I don't think +even Bobby will be refused permission to join in the festivities--and Bobby +is a splendid little skater, Lance." + +"Bobby is all right," agreed the youth. "But here comes old Chet--and his +face is as long as the moral law. He is still worried about that fifty +dollars he may have to dig down into his jeans for--if your father sticks +to what he said he'd do." + +Chetwood had a cheerful word, however, despite his serious aspect. + +"Have you seen the ice, Lance?" he demanded, brightening up. + +"Not to-day, old boy." + +"It's scrumptious--just!" exclaimed the big fellow. "They have been shaving +it, and have got it all roped off." + +"Better have somebody watch it, too, or the kids from downtown will get in +there and cut it all up. Just like 'em," growled Lance. + +"Don't fret. Old Godey is on guard. Trust him to keep the kids off the +track," said Chet. "Is father at home, Laura?" + +"He's just come in," said his sister. "Has he found out about that +bank-note yet?" + +"That is what I wanted to know," said the worried Chet. "I've been over to +the hospital this afternoon--before I went down to the lake shore. That, +chap who was hurt is off his nanny----" + +"Chet! Don't let mother hear you," begged Laura, yet laughing. + +"I wouldn't want the mater to be shocked," admitted Chet. "But that is +exactly what is the trouble with that man who gave me the phony bill. The +doctor told me the crack he got on the head had injured his brain." + +"The poor man!" sighed his sister. + +"What about 'poor me'?" demanded Chet indignantly. "And they say he carried +a roll of brand new bills big enough to choke a cow! The doctor says he +thinks the money is good, too. But he passed that hundred-dollar note on +me----" + +"If it is a hundred," interjected Lance. + +"Now you said a forkful," grumbled Chet, shaking his head. "Let's go in and +see what father has to say about it. He was going to see Mr. Monroe at the +First National. They say Mr. Monroe knows all about money--knew the fellow +who invented it, personally, I guess." + +The young folks found Mr. Belding in the library, and he welcomed them with +his customary smile when the three came in. + +"The bank-note?" he repeated. "I left it for Mr. Monroe to look at. He was +out of town. But he will tell me when he returns--if he knows about it. It +is a curious thing. And I hope it will teach you a lesson, Chetwood." + +"Sure!" grumbled Chet, "Of course, there is nothing so important in this +world as learning lessons. Little thing about me being nicked fifty dollars +isn't considered." + +His father laughed at his rueful countenance. "Well, Son, I can't offer you +much sympathy. Perhaps the Treasury Department will make it right. And how +about that man who gave it to you? He can't get far with a broken leg." + +"He's gone far enough already," declared Chet. "They say he has lost his +memory." + +"What's that?" cried Mr. Belding. + +"Looks fishy, doesn't it?" said Lance. "Lots of folks who owe money lose +their memories." + +"No," said Chet, shaking his head. "This chap really got a hard bang on the +head, and the doctors say he may never remember who he is." + +"Lost his identity?" demanded Mr. Belding. + +"Completely. At least, he doesn't know his name or where he came from. He +remembers a part of his life, they say, for he seems to think he has been +in Alaska. Asked the nurse, in fact, how long Sitka had had such a hospital +as this. Thought he was in Sitka, you see." + +"Why, isn't it strange?" Laura said. "The poor fellow!" + +"He's not poor, I tell you," said the literal Chet. + +"He's got a lot of money. But not a card, or a mark about him--not even on +his clothes--to tell who he is." + +"How about his hat?" questioned Lance. "And his suit? The labels, I mean." + +"The hat was brand new," said Chet, "and was bought right here in +Centerport. Oh, the hospital folks have been trying through the police to +find out something about him. Nothing doing, they say." + +"Why," said Mr. Belding thoughtfully, "there must be some way of +discovering who the unfortunate is, even if he cannot remember himself." + +"Who do you mean, Pa, by 'the unfortunate'?" demanded his son. "I should +think I was the unfortunate. Especially if that bank-note is phony." + +"But you did not get a broken leg--and a broken head--out of it," his +father said dryly. + +"That's all right," muttered Chet "But I am likely to have a broken +pocketbook, all right all right!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SOMETHING EXCITING + + +Mr. Belding was not unmindful of his son's anxiety regarding the odd +bank-note that Chet had taken over the counter in the jewelry store. +Besides, Laura sat herself upon the arm of his big Morris chair after +dinner that Monday evening, and said: + +"You know, dear Pa, Chet is a pretty good boy. And fifty dollars is much +more money than he can afford to lose--all in one bunch." + +"Indeed?" said her father indignantly. "And how about me? With my expensive +family, do you think I can afford to lose fifty dollars? And the boy is +careless." + +"I deny it," said Laura briskly. + +"Chet! not careless?" + +"Only thoughtless." + +"What is the difference?" + +"Academic, or moral?" demanded Mother Wit, looking at him slyly. + +"Oh, well, it doesn't pay to split hairs with you," declared her father, +pinching a warm cheek until it was rosier than ever. "But what's the big +idea, as Chet himself would say?" + +"Why, now, Pa Belding----" + +"Out with it! What do you want me to do?" + +"I--I thought if you'd make Chet pay only half of the fifty dollars, that +perhaps you lost----" + +"Well?" he growled, in apparent indignation still. + +"Why, I would pay the other twenty-five!" burst out Laura hurriedly. "Only +you must promise not to tell Chet." + +"What do you mean? To pay half his fine?" + +"Well, you don't need to halloo so about it, Pa dear," she pouted. + +"I wouldn't let you!" + +"Oh, yes you would. You know it is going to be awfully hard on Chet to take +that money out of the bank to pay you." + +"There, there!" said Mr. Belding gruffly. "We won't talk about it--yet. +Perhaps we'll find the bank-note is all right." + +But he said afterward to his wife that evening: "What are we going to do +with such children, Mother? You can't punish one without hurting the other +right to the quick." + +"We have been blessed in our children, Henry," said Mrs. Belding proudly. +"And--really--Chet should not be too much blamed." + +"There, there!" exclaimed her husband in a disgusted tone of voice. "You're +every whit as bad as Laura." + +Mr. Monroe did not return to the bank for several days; and meanwhile other +important and interesting things were happening. The three boys who seemed +to have secret knowledge about the accident on Market Street refused to +answer the questions of their girl friends as to the identity of the car +that had run the victim down. + +"You are just the meanest boys!" flared out Bobby Hargrew, as they all +trooped down to Lake Luna to take almost the last look at the roped-off +arena before the carnival would twinkle its lights that evening at six +o'clock. + +"I don't know, Bobby," drawled Chet. "I believe we really could be meaner +if we tried." + +"No you couldn't!" snapped Clara Hargrew with finality. + +"Oh, girls!" gasped Laura suddenly, "tell me what this is coming up the +hill? Or am I seeing something that you folks don't?" + +"Gee!" exclaimed the slangy Bobby, forgetting her indignation with Chet and +the other boys. "Is it? Can it be?" + +"Pretty Sweet!" ejaculated Jess, beginning to laugh. "And he is in his +forest green hunting suit. _I_ call it his 'Robin Ridinghood' suit." + +"It just matches him, all right," said Lance. "He's verdant green and so is +the suit. And look how he is carrying that gun, will you?" + +The gun was in its case, but the boy in question was carrying the shotgun +in a most awkward manner. Without a doubt he was half afraid of it. + +"And I bet he hasn't had a charge in it all the time he's been out. Who did +he go with?" asked Chet. + +"Some of the East Siders. They cater to him a lot, and you know," said +Lance, with disgust, "tight as Purt is with money, if you flatter him you +can pull his leg." + +"Dear me!" murmured Laura, "it is not in your province to use such slang, +Lance. Leave that to Chet and Bobby." + +"Hey, Pretty!" Chet shouted to the very dandified lad, as he crossed the +street toward them. "What luck, old top?" + +Although when they had first seen him, Prettyman Sweet was undoubtedly +footsore, he began to strut now and pride "fairly exuded from his +countenance," as Jess whispered to her chum. + +"Did you get any cottontails?" demanded Lance. + +"Oh, a few--a few, muh boy," declared Pretty Sweet airily. + +Then they saw that he had a game bag slung over his shoulder in true +sportsman style. + +"I did not suppose you would go out to shoot the poor, innocent little +rabbits, Mr. Sweet," said Laura, with sober face but dancing eyes. "They +have never done you any harm." + +"I bet a real bad rabbit would make Purt run," muttered Bobby. + +"Oh, Miss Belding!" said the school dandy. "You know I'm awf'ly keen on +sport--awf'ly keen, doncher know. I just _have_ to get a day now and then +in the woods, when game is in season." + +"He's as keen on it as the two Irishmen were, who went hunting for the +first time," broke in Bobby. "When they sighted a bird sitting on a bush +Meehan took very careful aim and prepared to fire. Said his friend, +grabbing him by the arm: + +"'Don't fire, Meehan! Shure an' yez haven't loaded yer gun.' + +"'That's as it may be, me lad,' retorted Meehan, 'but fire I must. The +bur-rd won't wait!'" + +Prettyman Sweet was used to being laughed at, yet he flushed at the gibe. + +"Never mind," he said. "I bring home the game, just the same." + +"You 'bring home the bacon,' in other words," said Chet, approaching him. +"Let's see the bunnies?" + +Nothing loath, the overdressed boy opened the bag and displayed his +plunder. He brought two big hares out of the bag by their ears and held +them up with pride. + +"Bet they were trapped," said Bobby in an undertone. + +"They were not trapped!" cried Purt Sweet sharply. "See! That is where one +was shot! And there is the other--see?" + +"Jinks!" said Lance. "Both through the head. _You_ never did it, Purt?" + +"I did so!" cried the huntsman angrily. "I shot them both." + +Chet was looking them over closely. He shook his head. + +"They have been shot all right," he said. "And you shot them over there on +Cavern Island?" + +"I can prove it," said Purt haughtily. + +"That's all right," said Chet thoughtfully. "You may have shot them--and on +Cavern Island. But whose rabbits were they before you bought them?" + +"What? I--Oh!" + +Bobby and Jess began to giggle. Chet grinned as he added: + +"Those are Belgian hares, not rabbits, Pretty. Somebody has put something +over on you. Belgian hares don't run wild in the woods of Cavern Island-- +that is sure." + +"Bet he shot them hanging up on a fence," snapped Short and Long, who thus +far had said never a word to Prettyman Sweet. + +"And I know the market to-day is full of Belgian hares," chuckled Chet. +"Oh, Purt! you never could pull off anything like that on us in a hundred +years." + +"I don't care--I--I--" + +The angry Purt snatched up his game bag and marched away. + +"That he's been caught in the trick puts a crimp in him," chuckled Chet +Belding. + +"And that isn't all that ought to happen to him," muttered Short and Long, +who seemed to have become suddenly very bitter against the dandified Sweet. + +"Can it, Billy, can it," advised Lance. "Give a calf rope enough and he +will hang himself." + +"And maybe that fellow ought to be hung," was Short and Long's further +comment. + +"Why, Billy!" exclaimed Laura, "what ever do you mean?" + +"Yes, Short and Long," said Jess. "Why the 'orrid hobservation about poor +Purt?" + +Perhaps Billy Long would have blurted out something, had not another +incident taken place which so excited all the young people that they forgot +Purt Sweet and his foibles. + +The group had reached Lakeside Avenue, which overlooked many shore estates +and some private docks. This was the residential end of Centerport, and the +vicinity in summer was lovely. Now the outlook on Lake Luna's sparkling +surface--frozen in a sheen of ice to the shore of Cavern Island in the +middle of the lake--was wonderfully attractive. + +At the foot of Nugent Street, which they now reached, the girls and boys +from Central High heard suddenly a great shouting and peals of laughter +from up the hill. Some snow still lay on the side of Nugent Street; and the +hill was a glare of ice. Down the steep descent were coming three or four +heavy sleds loaded with young folks. Many of them were girls and boys of +Central High. + +"Some coasting!" exclaimed Chet. "I had no idea it was so good. We ought to +get our bob out, Lance." + +"Oh, see, Laura!" murmured Jess. "There comes Janet Steele. She must have +been canvassing for Red Cross members away over here. I wish we had time to +do some of that work." + +The Red Cross girl appeared from around a turn in the avenue, and the +instant she spied her new friends she waved her gloved hand. + +"Is that the girl who gave first-aid to the man on Market Street Saturday +night?" asked Chet. + +"Some little queen, isn't she?" rejoined Lance, with twinkling eyes. + +"Oh," said Laura placidly, "you needn't think that you can get us girls +jealous about Janet Steele. She is an awfully sweet girl." + +"And she isn't little at all," put in Jess, tossing her head. "She is as +husky as Eve Sitz." + +Before they could say more, or further hail the Red Cross girl, there was a +crash and terrific rattling around the turn of the avenue. The next instant +a horse appeared, madly galloping along the roadway, and drawing the +shattered remains of a grocery wagon after him. + +The maddened beast would, so it seemed, cross the foot of Nugent Street +just as the bobsleds shot down to that point. Across the avenue was a steep +bank against which the sleds were easily halted. But they could not be +stopped before they crossed Lakeside Avenue! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FOREFRONT OF TROUBLE + + +The three boys drew Laura and her girl friends into the gateway of a +residence that faced the lake. The Red Cross girl was on the other side of +Nugent Street, and the runaway horse was coming along the avenue behind +her. + +Chet would have leaped away to her assistance had not Jess grabbed him by +the arm and screamed. The sleds were almost at the crossing, and surely +Chet Belding would have been knocked down. + +Janet Steele proved to be perfectly able to look out for herself. And on +this occasion she could even do more than that. + +She whirled and saw the horse coming with the wrecked wagon. She could not +see up the hill of Nugent Street, for the corner house barred her vision in +that direction. But without doubt she had heard the eager shouts of the +coasters and understood what was ahead of them. + +The runaway would cross the foot of the hill just in time, perhaps, to +collide with one or more of the bobsleds. + +Almost opposite the foot of Nugent Street and right beside the steep bank +against which the coasters had been wont to stop their sleds, was a narrow +lane pitching toward the lakeshore. This lane was near Janet Steele. + +Chet saw it and realized how the horse might be turned. But the boy was too +far away. Even as he shook off Jess Morse's frenzied hold on his arm, the +runaway was upon Janet Steele. + +The latter had whipped off the Red Cross veil she wore. Seizing it by both +extremes she allowed the veil to float out on the brisk winter breeze, +darting with it into the street. + +The runaway's glaring eyes caught sight of the flapping folds of the veil, +and he swerved, his hoofs sliding on the slippery drive. The eyes of a +horse magnify objects tremendously, and the girl's figure and her flowing +veil probably looked to the frightened animal like some awful and +threatening bogey. + +Scrambling and snorting, he swerved to the side of the road, saw the open +lane, and the next moment thundered into it, the broken wagon skidding +across the lane and smashing into a gatepost. + +It was at the same instant that the head sled came sweeping down Nugent +Street, crossed the avenue, and stood almost on end against the bank, +stopping abruptly in the snow bank. + +The other sleds poured down and stopped; but none had been in so much +danger as that first one. Laura and Chet and their friends started on the +run for the spot--and for Janet Steele. + +"Oh! _Oh! OH!_" shrieked in crescendo one girl who had ridden on the first +bobsled. "We might have been killed!" + +Some of the boys ran after the horse. The rest of the young people +surrounded Janet Steele. + +"How brave you were," murmured Jess Morse admiringly. + +"You've got a head on you, sure enough!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew, while the +Red Cross girl, blushing and with downcast eyes, began hastily to adjust +her veil again. + +"Oh, it was nothing," murmured Janet. + +"Tell it to Lily. Here comes Lily Pendleton," said Jess, smiling again. +"She won't think it was nothing." + +The girl who had shrieked so loudly came up quickly to the group of Central +High girls. + +"Did you turn that horse?" she demanded of Janet Steele. "You are a regular +duck! We might have all been killed! I never will ride down a hill with +Freddy Brubach again! There should have been somebody down here to signal +that we were coming!" + +"Guess the horse would not have paid much attention to signals, Lil," +laughed Laura. + +"Only the kind that Miss Steele waved," added Bobby. + +"Is that your name?" Lily Pendleton asked the Red Cross girl. "I'm awfully +glad to know you." + +"And much gladder that she was right on the job here when the horse came +along, aren't you, Lil?" chuckled Bobby. + +"She ought to have a medal," declared one of the other girls. + +"Let's write to Mr. Carnegie about her," proposed Jess, but good-naturedly, +and hugged Janet now that she had rearranged her veil. + +"Oh, dear me!" gasped Janet Steele, "please don't make so much over so +little. I shall almost be sorry that I turned the horse into the lane. And +it was a little thing. I am not afraid of horses." + +"A mere medal is nothing to Miss Steele, I bet," said Bobby, the emphatic. +"I expect she has a trunk full of 'em. Like the German army officer who had +his chest covered with iron crosses and medals and the like. Somebody asked +him how he came to get them all. + +"'Vell,' he said, pointing to the biggest and shiniest medal, 'I got dot py +meestake; undt dey gif me de odders pecause I got dot one!'" + +"Oh, you and your jokes, Bobby!" said Lily Pendleton, with some scorn. +"This was a serious business. And there is another very serious matter, +girls, that I have to call to your attention," she added, turning to Laura +and Jess. + +"What has gone wrong? Nothing about the play, I hope!" cried Jess. + +"It is worse, because it is right at hand," said Lily, shaking her head. +"What do you suppose Miss Carrington has done?" + +"Oh, Gee Gee!" groaned Bobby, in despair. "I knew she would break out in a +fresh spot." + +"Do tell us what it is," begged Jess Morse. + +"It is about Hessie," said Lily. + +"Hester Grimes?" demanded Laura, with a rather grim expression. "What has +happened to her now?" + +"Why!" cried Lily, rather sharply, "you speak as though Hessie was always +getting into trouble." + +"You cannot deny but that she has frequently made a _faux pas,_ as it +were," said Jess, smiling. + +"And what she does wrong," added Laura, with some bitterness, "usually +affects the rest of us." + +"She did not do a thing wrong!" cried Lily stormily. "You girls are just +too mean!" + +"Oh, come on, Lil," said Bobby. "Tell us the worst. We're prepared for +murder, even." + +"You are very rude, Clara Hargrew," declared Lily Pendleton. "Hessie is not +to blame. She failed in rhetoric, and when Miss Carrington tried to put a +lot of home work on her she refused to take it." + +"What?" gasped Jess. + +"Oh! She did refuse, did she?" snapped Bobby. "And a fat lot that would +help her!" + +"Well, I don't care!" cried Lily. "Gee Gee is just as mean----" + +"Granted!" agreed Bobby, with emphasis. "But tell us how much Hessie has +been set back?" + +"Of course Miss Carrington has punished her if she was impudent," said +Laura decidedly. + +"She has punished us all!" cried Lily. "She refuses to allow Hessie to +skate to-night. She's out of it." + +"Out of the carnival?" cried several of her listeners in chorus. + +"And Hester," cried Bobby, "is in the Dress Parade. What did I tell you? +Gee Gee was just hoping to queer us." + +"It is Hester Grimes who has queered us," Laura said, much more sternly +than she usually spoke. "And we were all warned to be so careful!" + +"Now, don't blame Hessie!" cried Hester's chum angrily. + +"I'd like to know who we are to blame, then?" demanded Jess Morse, with +disgust, "Knowing that Gee Gee is what she is, why couldn't Hester keep her +own temper?" + +"Well! I just guess--" + +But after all it was Mother Wit who, though greatly offended, became +peacemaker. + +"There, there!" she said. "Enough is done already. We shall miss Hester. +But we mustn't get angry with each other and therefore spoil the whole +Dress Parade. That masquerade should be the most spectacular number on the +program." + +"But who will take Grimes' place?" demanded Bobby. + +Laura stood beside Janet Steele, whose eyes were wide open, her cheeks +glowing, and even her lips ajar with excitement. Laura had a very keen +mind, and already she had apprehended that Janet was more deeply interested +in this discussion, and the subject of it, than a stranger naturally would +be. She turned now to stare into the Red Cross girl's face. + +"Oh, Miss Steele!" she said, "didn't you tell us that you loved to skate?" + +"Ye-es," admitted Janet. + +"And she's as big as Hessie Grimes!" exclaimed Jess on the other side, and +catching her chum's idea. + +"Would you take Hester's part in the masquerade?" asked Laura pointblank. + +"But she doesn't belong to Central High!" wailed Lily Pendleton. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Jess. "What does it matter? This is all for a show. +It is no competition with other members of the League." + +"Right-o, Jess!" crowed Bobby Hargrew. + +"We-ell!" murmured Lily doubtfully. + +"Come, Miss Steele--Janet," said Laura, pleadingly. "I know you can help +us. Hester, being the biggest girl, was to lead in certain figures on the +ice. You could easily learn them. And you can wear her costume, I know." + +"Why--I----" + +"You don't know anything of the kind, Laura Belding," snapped Lily, +interrupting Janet. "I don't believe Hessie would let any other girl wear +her masquerade suit." + +"Sure she wouldn't!" exclaimed Bobby, with disgust. "She'll crab the whole +game if she can. Hester Grimes always was a nuisance." + +But Laura suddenly clapped her hands in real joy. "Oh, no!" she cried. "We +won't ask Janet to wear any other girl's costume. I know what would be +fine." + +"Let's hear it, Laura dear," said Jess, eagerly. "Of course, you would have +a bright idea. You always do." + +"Why," said the pleased Laura, "if Janet will come and skate with us, she +need only wear the very cloak and veil she has on now. What could be more +fitting for a leader of our costume parade? The whole carnival is for the +Red Cross, and with a Red Cross girl to lead the procession, and Chet in +his Uncle Sam suit to lead the boys--Why! it will be the best ever." + +"Hooray!" shouted Bobby, wild with enthusiasm. + +"It is splendid!" agreed Jess. + +Everybody in hearing agreed, save, perhaps, Lily Pendleton. Laura turned to +Janet again and clasped her gloved hands over the new girl's arm. + +"Will you, dear? Will you help us out?" she asked. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ICE CARNIVAL + + +"Oh, Miss Laura! Do you really mean it?" murmured Janet Steele, her full +pink cheeks actually becoming white she was so much in earnest. + +"Of course we mean it," Jess Morse said practically. "And glad to have +you." + +"I don't know--" + +Janet looked for a moment at the sulky-faced Lily Pendleton. Jess +immediately pulled that young girl forward. + +"Why, Lil isn't half as bad as she sounds," declared Jess, laughing. "This +is our very particular friend, Janet Steele, Lil. You've got to treat her +nicely. If you don't," she added sharply, "you'll never get a chance to go +camping with us girls again as you did last summer. You and your Hester +Grimes can go off somewhere by yourselves." + +Really, Lily Pendleton had improved a good deal since the time Jess +mentioned, and the latter's blunt speech brought her to a better mind at +once. + +"Well, of course," she said, offering Janet her hand, "I did not mean it +just that way. You know how cranky Hessie is when she does get mad. But +Laura has suggested a perfectly splendid idea. Miss Steele as a Red Cross +girl and Chet as Uncle Sam will be fine to lead the grand march on skates." + +So it was decided, and they hurried Janet down to the girls' boathouse, +which had a warm, cozy clubroom at one end where Mr. Godey, the watchman, +stayed, and where, at this time of year, he was often busy sharpening +skates. Laura found a pair of skates for the Red Cross girl, and for an +hour the latter practiced with the girls of Central High the steps and +figures of the masquerade parade, which Laura and her friends already had +worked out to perfection. + +"Don't worry a bit about to-night, Janet," Laura told her, when they all +hurried away from the lakeshore about dusk. "We'll push you through the +figures. Jess and I will be on either side of you, except when we pair off +with the boys. And then you will be with my brother Chet. And if he isn't +nice to you he'll hear from me!" she added with vigor. + +"Oh, but Laura!" whispered Jess Morse, as they separated from Janet, "Chet +mustn't be too nice to her. For Janet Steele is an awfully pretty girl." + +"Now, dear!" exclaimed her laughing chum, "don't develop incipient +jealousy." + +With only two hours before them in which to do a hundred things, the girls +were as busy as bees for the remainder of the afternoon. That Hester Grimes +had been forbidden to take part in the carnival by Gee Gee troubled the +girls of Central High less than they might have been troubled had it been +almost any other of their number that the strict teacher had demerited. +For, to tell the truth, Hester Grimes was not well loved. + +The daughter and much-indulged only child of a wealthy butcher, Hester had +in the beginning expected to be catered to by her schoolmates. With such +rather shallow schoolmates as Lily Pendleton, Hester was successful. Lily +toadied to her, to use Bobby Hargrew's expression; nor was Lily alone in +this. + +Upon those whom Hester considered her friends she spent her pocket money +lavishly. She was not a pretty girl, but was a tremendously healthy +one--strong, well developed, and tomboyish in her activities. Yet she +lacked magnetism and the popularity that little Bobby Hargrew, for +instance, attained by the exercise of the very same traits Hester +possessed. + +Hester antagonized almost everybody--teachers and students alike. Even +placid, peace-loving Mother Wit, found Hester incompatible. And because +Laura Belding was a natural leader and was very popular in the school, +Hester disliked her and showed in every way possible that she would not +follow in Laura's train. Yet there had been a time when Hester had felt +under obligation to Laura. + +Laura was secretly glad to see Lily Pendleton weaned slowly away from the +butcher's daughter. The last summer had started Lily in the right +direction, and although the overdressed girl had still some weaknesses of +character to overcome, she had greatly improved, as this incident of the +afternoon revealed. + +Lily was not alone in complaining about Miss Carrington's harshness, +however. It was the principal topic of conversation when the girls gathered +in the boathouse rooms to prepare for the races and the features that were +to precede the principal attraction of the carnival--the masquerade grand +march. + +"Sh! She's right here now," whispered Bobby Hargrew sepulchrally, coming +into the dressing-room. "She's on watch at the door." + +"Who?" asked Jess Morse. + +"Not Hester?" cried Lily. "She told me she wouldn't come down here!" + +"Gee Gee," shot back Bobby, with pursed lips. "She is going to be sure that +Hester doesn't appear." + +"Mean thing!" Nellie Agnew said. And when the doctor's gentle daughter made +such a statement she had to be fully aroused. "She thinks she has spoiled +the whole act!" + +"I believe you," Bessie Yeager said. "I wonder if Miss Carrington really +sleeps at night?" + +"Why not, Bess?" cried Dora Lockwood. + +"I think she lies awake thinking up mean things to do to us." + +"Oh, oh!" murmured Nellie. + +"I bet you!" exclaimed the slangy Bobby. + +"Careful, girls. If she hears you!" warned Laura. + +"Then you would be 'perspicuous au grautin,' as the fellow said," chuckled +Bobby. "There! the whistle has sounded." + +"The fête has begun," sighed Jess. "I do hope everything will go off +right." + +"The boys are taking in money all right," Laura said with satisfaction. "I +believe we shall make a thousand dollars for the Red Cross." + +"I hope so," said her chum. "Come on, girls! It's first the fancy skating +before the ice arena is all cut up." + +The effort to make the Ice Carnival of the Central High a success was aided +by a perfect evening and perfect ice. The latter had been shaved and +smoothed over every gnarly place. There was not a single crack in which a +skate could be caught to throw the wearer. The arena roped off from the +spectators was as smooth as a ballroom floor. + +It was about two acres in extent. Around three sides of the roped-off space +there was a roped-off alley with boards laid upon the ice upon which the +spectators could stand. Uprights held the strings of colored lights which +were supplied with electricity from the city lighting company; for this was +not the first exhibition of the kind that had been staged upon Lake Luna. + +Around the alley allotted to the audience, each member of which had to pay +a half dollar for a ticket, was a guarded space so that those who did not +pay entrance fee could not get near enough to enjoy the spectacle. + +The short-distance races, following the figure skating, were all within the +oval of the principal arena. Then the ropes were taken down at one end and +the long-distance races came off, a mile track having been marked with +staffs upon the ice, staffs which now held the clusters of colored +lanterns. + +For two hours the company was so well amused that few were driven away by +the cold--and it was an intensely cold night The ringing of the skates on +the almost adamantine ice revealed the fact that Jack Frost had a tight +clutch on the waters of Lake Luna. + +"I wish my mother could have seen this," Janet Steele murmured to Laura +Belding. "I think it is like fairyland." + +"Isn't it pretty? Now comes the torchlight procession. The boys arranged +this their own selves. See if it isn't pretty!" + +The short end of the oval had been closed again after the long-distance +races, and now there dashed into the arena from the boys' lane to the +dressing-rooms a long line of figures in dominos, each bearing a colored +light. They were the boys that could skate the best--the most sure-footed. + +Back and forth, around and around, in and out and across! The swift +movement of the figures was well nigh bewildering; while the intermingling +of colored lights, their weaving in and out, made a brilliant pattern that +brought applause again and again from the spectators. + +Then the boys divided, taking stations some distance apart, and the torches +were tossed from hand to hand, as Indian clubs are tossed in gymnasium +exercises. The effect was spectacular and seemed a much more difficult +exercise than it really was. + +Meanwhile the girls selected for the masquerade were dressing in the +boathouse. Their masquerade costumes were as diverse and elaborate as +though it were a ball they were attending. There was no dress as simple as +Janet Steele's Red Cross uniform; yet with her glowing face and sparkling +eyes and white teeth there were few more effective figures in the party. + +She had proved herself to be a fine and strong skater. Laura and Jess, who +sponsored her, were delighted with the new girl's appearance on the ice. +She had learned, too, her part quite perfectly. When the girls first came +out and the boys darted back to get into their fancy costumes, the summary +of the figures the girls wove on the ice were already known to Janet. She +fulfilled her part. + +Then returned the boys, "all rigged out," Bobby said, and the masquerade +parade began. The crowd standing about the arena cheered and shouted. It +really was a most attractive grand march, and there chanced, better still, +to be no accident. Smoothly the young people wended their way about the +ice, their skates ringing, their supple bodies swaying in time to the +music, led by those two masks of Uncle Sam and the Red Cross girl. + +"It is lovely," Mrs. Belding said to her husband. "What a fine skater our +Chetwood is, Henry. And it is so near Christmas! I hope that bank-note will +turn out to be a good one so that he will not lose the money," she finished +wistfully. + +"There, there!" said the jeweler. "I'll go to see Monroe to-morrow. He's at +home again." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BUT WHO IS HE? + + +"Well, Mr. Monroe," the jeweler said, when he was ushered into the banker's +office the following forenoon by the bank watchman, "I presume that bill is +a counterfeit of some kind?" + +"My dear Belding," said the banker, who was a portly and jolly man, who +shook a good deal when he chuckled, and who shook now, "I thought you were +old enough, and experienced enough, to discover the counterfeit from the +real." + +"My son took the bill in over the counter," said the jeweler, rather +chagrined. + +"But haven't you examined it?" said Mr. Monroe, taking the strange +bank-note from a drawer of his desk. + +"Well--yes," was the admission, made grudgingly. + +"And are you not yet assured?" + +"Neither one way nor the other," frankly confessed the jeweler. "It was +taken by Chet for a hundred-dollar bill. And it is that on one side!" + +"It certainly looks to be," chuckled Mr. Monroe. + +"But who ever heard of such a thing?" demanded the exasperated customer of +the bank. "A hundred printed on one side and a fifty on the other! The +printers of bank-notes do not make such mistakes." + +"Hold on! Nobody is infallible in this world--not even a bank-note +printer," said the banker, reaching into another drawer and bringing forth +a large indexed scrapbook. + +"Here's a case that happened some years ago. I am a scrapbook fiend, +Belding," chuckled Mr. Monroe. "There were once two bills issued for a +Kansas bank just like this one you have brought to me. Only this note that +we have here was printed for the Drovers' Levee Bank of Osage, Ohio, as you +can easily see. This note went through that bank, was signed by Bedford +Knox, cashier, and Peyton J. Weld, president, as you can see, and its +peculiar printing was not discovered. + +"Ah, here we have it!" added Mr. Monroe, fluttering the stiff leaves of the +scrapbook and finally coming to the article in question. "Listen here: 'It +was found on communication with Washington that a record was held there of +the bill, and the department was anxious to recall it. With another bill it +had been printed for a bank in Kansas, and the mistake had been made by the +printer who had turned the sheet upside down in printing the reverse side. +The first plate bore the obverse of a fifty-dollar bill at the top and of a +hundred-dollar bill at the bottom, while the other plate held the reverse +of both sides. By turning the sheet around for the reverse printing, the +fifty-dollar impression had been made on the back of the hundred-dollar +bill.' + +"Do you see, now?" laughed the banker. "Quite an easy and simple mistake, +and one that might often be made, only the printers are very careful men." + +Oddly enough, Mr. Belding, although relieved by the probability that the +Department at Washington would make the strange bill right for him, was +suddenly attracted by another fact. + +"I wonder," he said, "if that man came from Osage, Ohio?" + +"What man? The one who passed the bank-note on your son?" + +"Yes. You know, he was injured and is now in the hospital." + +"I don't know. Go on." + +Mr. Belding related the story of the accident and the unfortunate mental +condition of the injured man. "They tell me all the money he had with him +was new money--fresh from the Treasury." + +"He probably did not make it himself," chuckled the jolly banker. "Poor +chap! Don't the doctors think he will recover his memory?" + +"That I cannot say," the jeweler said, rising. "Then you think I may +relieve Chet's mind?" + +"Oh, yes. I will give you another hundred for this bill, if you want me to. +I will send this to Washington, where they probably already have a record +of it. Bills of this denomination are printed by twos, and the other has +probably turned up--as in the case of the Kansas bank-note." + +Aside from the satisfaction this interview of his father's with Mr. Monroe +accorded Chet Belding, further interest on the part of all the young people +was aroused in the case of the injured stranger. Oddly enough, when Laura +and Jess went to the hospital to inquire about the man, they found Janet +Steele, the Red Cross girl, there on the same errand. + +Since the Ice Carnival, that had proved such a money-making affair for the +Red Cross, the Central High girls had considered Janet almost one of +themselves. Although nobody seemed to know who or what the Steeles were, +and they certainly lived very oddly in the old house at the lower end of +Whiffle Street, Janet was so likable, and her invalid mother was evidently +so much of a gentlewoman, that Laura and her chum had vouched for Janet and +declared her to be "all right." + +The matron of the hospital was the person whom the girls interviewed on +this occasion. Mrs. Langworth had some interest in each patient besides the +doctor's professional concern. She was sympathetic. + +"We do not know what to call him," she explained. "He laughs rather grimly +about it and tells us to call him 'John.' But that, I am sure, is not his +name. He merely wishes us to have a 'handle' for him. And you cannot tell +me," added the matron, shaking her head, "that he is one of those rough +miners right out of Alaska!" + +"Does he say he is?" asked Janet, with increased interest. + +"He remembers of being in Alaska, he says. He was coming out, he tells us, +when something happened to him. And that is the last he can remember. He +believes he 'made his pile,' as he expresses it. Oh, he uses mining +expressions, and may have lived roughly and in the open, as miners do, at +some time in his life. But not recently, I am sure." + +"And not a thing about him to identify him?" asked Laura. + +"Not a thing. Plenty of money. Not much jewelry----" + +"Oh! The lavallière my brother sold him!" cried Laura. "He said it was for +'a nice little girl he knew.' It was only a ten dollar one--one of those +French novelties, you know, that we sell so many of at this time of year." + +"He had that in an envelope in his pocket," said Mrs. Langworth. + +"Then he had not made the presentation of it to 'the nice little girl,'" +murmured Laura. thoughtfully. + +"It almost proves he is a stranger in town, does it not?" asked Jess. "He +bought the chain in the morning, and he was not hurt until evening. Do you +know if he had any lodging in Centerport?" + +"The police have searched the hotels, I believe," said the matron, "and +described the poor fellow to the clerks and managers. Nobody seems to know +him." + +"Do--do you suppose we might see him?" Laura asked hesitatingly. + +"Oh, Laura! Would you want to?" Jess murmured. + +"Why not?" said the matron, smiling. "Not just now, perhaps. But the next +time you come--in the afternoon, of course. He will be glad to see young +faces, I have no doubt I will speak to Dr. Agnew when he comes in," for +Nellie's father was of importance at the Centerport Hospital. + +"But who is he, do you suppose?" Jess Morse demanded, when the three girls +left the hospital and walked uptown again. "He can't be any person who has +friends in Centerport, or they would look him up." + +"That seems to be sure enough," admitted her chum. Then: "Shall we walk +along with Janet?" + +"Of course," said Jess. "Are you going home, Miss Steele?" + +"Yes," said the girl in the Red Cross uniform. "I have been on duty at the +Central Chapter; but mother expects me now." + +"How is your mother, dear?" asked Laura, with sympathy. + +"She is as well as can be expected," said Janet gravely. "If she had +nothing to worry her mind she would be better in health," and she sighed. + +Janet did not explain what this worry was, and even Jess, blunt-spoken as +she often was, could not ask pointblank what serious trouble Mrs. Steele +had on her mind. + +Again the Central High girls went in to see the invalid upon Janet's +invitation. They found Bobby Hargrew there before them. Harum-scarum as +Bobby was, nobody could accuse her of lack of sympathy; and she had already +learned that her fun and frolic pleased the invalid. Bobby did not mind +playing the jester for her friends. + +Of course, the strange man at the hospital was the pivot on which the +conversation turned. + +"Were you there, too, to inquire about him?" asked Mrs. Steele of Janet. + +Laura noticed a certain wistfulness in the invalid's tone and look; but she +did not understand it. Merely, Mother Wit noted and pigeonholed the remark. +Janet said practically: + +"I can't help feeling an interest in him, as I helped him that evening he +was hurt." + +"But have they learned nothing about him?" + +"Only that the hundred-dollar bill he gave Chet is probably all right," +laughed Jess Morse. + +"They say he had a big money roll," said Bobby. + +"Not a poor man, of course," Laura agreed. + +"And Mrs. Langworth says she is sure he has been in Alaska," Jess added. + +Laura noted the swift glance that passed between the invalid and her +daughter. + +"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Steele, "you did not tell me that" + +"No," said Janet, shaking her head, "But lots of men go to Alaska, Mamma." + +"Ye-es," admitted Mrs. Steele. + +"And come back with plenty of money," put in Bobby, smiling. "This poor +man's money doesn't help him much, does it? He doesn't seem to have any +friends here in Centerport. He is just as much a stranger as the man they +tell about who came back to his old home town after a great many years and +found a lot of changes. As he rode uptown his taxicab stopped to let a +funeral go by. + +"'Who's dead?' asked the returned wanderer of the taxicab driver. + +"'Dan Jones,' said the driver. + +"'Not Dan Jones that kept the hotel!' cried the man. 'Why, I knew him well. +Can it be possible that Dan is dead?' + +"'I reckon he's dead, Mister,' said the chauffeur, as the hearse went by. +'What d'you think they're doin'--rehearsin' with him?'" + +"How very lonely the poor man must feel," said Mrs. Steele, after laughing +at Bobby's story. + +"We're going in to see him the next time," Jess said. + +Mrs. Steele looked again swiftly at her daughter. "You will see him, too, +won't you, Janet?" she murmured. + +Her daughter seemed not to like the idea; but Jess said quickly: + +"We will take Janet with us, Mrs. Steele. And Bobby, too. If Mrs. Langworth +approves, I mean. 'The more the merrier.' Really, I'm awfully interested in +him myself." + +Laura, said nothing; but she wondered why the invalid showed so much +interest in the injured man. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A REHEARSAL + + +The copies of the play chosen for production by the girls of the Central +High Players Club had arrived, and Mr. Mann, who was to direct the +production, called the members of the club together in the small hall which +was just off Mr. Sharp's office. + +"And thank goodness!" murmured Bobby Hargrew, "Gee Gee cannot break into +this session. What do you suppose she has suggested?" + +"Mercy! how do you expect us to guess the vagaries of the Carrington mind?" +returned Lily Pendleton. "Something foolish, I'll be bound." + +"Sh! Remember Mr. Mann is an instructor, too," said Nellie Agnew. + +"That is all right, Doctress," giggled Lily. "Mr. Mann is a good fellow and +will not peach." + +"Tell us the awful truth, Bobby," drawled Jess. "What is Gee Gee's latest?" + +"I understand," said the younger girl, "that she has been to Mr. Sharp and +begged him to exercise his authority and make us act 'Pyramus and Thisbe' +instead of 'The Rose Garden.'" + +"Goodness! That old thing?" flung out Dora Lockwood. + +"There is a burlesque on 'Pyramus and Thisbe' that we might give," chuckled +Jess. "And it's all in doggerel. Let's!" + +"Reckless ones! Would you spoil all our chances?" demanded Laura. + +"Aw--well----" + +"Remember, we are working for a worthy cause," Dorothy Lockwood mouthed, in +imitation of the scorned Miss Carrington. + +"You are right, Dory," Laura said soberly. "The Red Cross is worth +suffering for." + +"Right-o, my dear girl," declared Jess Morse with conviction. "Let us put +aside Gee Gee and listen to what Mr. Mann has to say." + +They had already talked over the characters of the play. None of them was +beyond the capabilities of the girls of Central High. But what delighted +some of them was that there were boys' parts--and girls would fill them! + +Of course, Bobby Hargrew had been cast for one of the male parts. Bobby's +father had always said she should have been a boy, and was wont to call her +"my eldest son." She had assumed mannish ways--sometimes when the +assumption was not particularly in good taste. + +"But Short and Long," she growled in her very "basest" voice, "says I can't +walk like a boy. Says anybody will know I'm a girl. I have a mind to get my +hair cut short" + +"Don't you dare, Clara Hargrew!" Laura commanded. "You'd be sorry +afterward--and so would your father." + +Bobby would never do anything to hurt "Father Tom," as she always called +Mr. Hargrew, so her enthusiasm for this suggested prank subsided. But she +growled: + +"Anyway, it's a sailor suit I am going to wear, and I guess I can walk like +a sailor, just as well as Short and Long." + +"Better," declared Nellie soothingly. "And then, those wide-legged trousers +sailors wear are quite modest." + +At this all the girls laughed. Knickers in their gymnasium and field work +had become second nature to them. + +"But think of me," cried Jess, "in what Chet calls 'the soup to nuts!' +Really the dress-suit of mankind is awfully silly, after all." + +"And uncomfortable!" declared Dora. + +"Attention, young ladies!" exclaimed Mr. Mann at that moment. + +He was a rotund, beaming little man, with vast enthusiasm and the +patience--so Nellie declared--of an angel. + +"Not a full-sized angel," Bobby had denied seriously. "He is more the size +of a cherub--one of those you see pictured leaning their elbows on clouds." + +But, of course, neither of the girls made this comment within Mr. Mann's +hearing. + +The final decisions regarding the choice of parts were now made. The copies +of the play were distributed. Mr. Mann even read aloud the first two acts, +instructing and advising as he went along, so that the girls could gain +some general idea of what was expected of them. + +Before they were finished another point came up. There was a single +character in the play that had not been accorded to any girl. It was not a +speaking part; but it was an important part, for the other characters +talked about it, and the silent character was supposed to appear on several +occasions in "The Rose Garden." + +"We need a tall, dark girl," said Mr. Mann. "One who walks particularly +well and who win not be overlooked by the audience even when she merely +crosses the stage. Who----?" + +"Margit Salgo!" exclaimed Jess, who had every bit of the new play and its +needs very close to her heart. + +"Of course!" cried Laura and the Lockwood twins. "Margit is just the one," +Mother Wit added. + +"Oh!" said Mr. Mann at last. "You mean Margaret Carrington?" + +"And she walks like a queen," sighed Lily Pendleton. "I wish I could learn +to walk as she does." + +"You know what Mrs. Case says," put in Bobby, in an undertone. "She says +your feet, Lil, have been bound like a Chinese woman's of the old regime." + +"Oh, you!" + +"Margit went barefoot and lived in the open for years," said Laura. + +"She was 'near to Nature's heart,'" laughed Jess. "Of course, she never +tried to squeeze a number six foot into narrow twos." + +"Never mind the size of her feet," said Mr. Mann good-naturedly. "If she +can take the part, she will be just the one for it I remember that Miss +Carrington's niece does have a queenly walk. And that is just what we need. +But do you think we can get her?" + +"She has never joined our club," said Jess thoughtfully. + +"I am not sure that she has ever been invited," Laura said. "But she is +always busy----" + +"Gee Gee pretty near works her to death," growled Bobby. "I shouldn't +wonder if Margit flew the coop some day." + +"I am not sure, Miss Hargrew," said Mr. Mann, without a smile, "that I +ought not to take you to task for your language. It really is inexcusable." + +"Oh, dear me, Mr. Mann, don't you begin!" begged the culprit "If I am +academic in school in my speech, let me be relieved out of sessions, I +pray." + +"But about Margit Salgo?" queried Laura. "Do you suppose she will be able +to help us? I know she will be willing to, if we ask her." + +"Gee Gee will object, you bet," growled Bobby under her breath. + +That was not to be known, however, without asking. Laura said she would +speak to Margaret about it, while Mr. Mann intimated that he would mention +to Miss Carrington, the elder, that her niece was almost necessary to the +success of the play. + +Margit Salgo was not so straightly kept by Miss Carrington as she was +engaged from morning to night in her studies. Having been utterly neglected +as far as mental development went for several years, the half-gypsy girl +was much behind others of her age at Central High. + +Miss Grace Gee Carrington was pushing her protégé on as fast as possible. +She was not yet in the classes of those, girls of her age whom she knew at +Central High; but she was fast forging ahead and she took much pride in her +own advancement. + +Therefore she did not see Miss Carrington's sternness as Bobby, for +instance, saw it. She found her aunt kind and considerate, if very firm. +And the girl who had been half wild when Laura Belding first found her, as +has been related in "The Girls of Central High on Track and Field," was +settling into a very sedate and industrious young woman. + +What girl, however, does not love to "dress up and act?" Margit Salgo was +delighted when Laura explained their need to her. + +"Just as sure as auntie will let me, I'll act," declared the dark beauty, +flushing brilliantly and her black eyes aflame with interest. "You are a +dear, Laura Belding, to think of me," and she hugged Mother Wit heartily. + +Two days passed, and then came the first rehearsal. This, of course, could +be little more than a reading of the parts before Mr. Mann, with the latter +to advise them as to elocution and stage business. But Bobby declared she +had been practicing walking like a boy and had succeeded in copying Short +and Long almost exactly. + +"Why me?" demanded Billy sharply, whose usual sweet temper seemed to have +become dreadfully soured of late. + +"Well, why not?" demanded Bobby. "Should I copy Pretty Sweet's strut?" + +"Aw--him!" snorted Billy Long, turning away in vexation. + +"Now, tell me," said the quick-minded Bobby Hargrew to Laura and Jess, with +whom she chanced to be walking at the moment, "why it is that Billy has +taken such a violent dislike to poor Purt of late? Why, he doesn't feel +kindly enough toward him to send him another dead fish!" + +They were going to the rehearsal, which was in the small hall of the +school. Of course, there was a sight of bustle and talking. Every girl was +greatly excited over her part. Some were "sure they couldn't do it," while +there were those who "could not possibly remember cues." + +"And I know I shall laugh just at the wrong place," said Lily Pendleton. "I +always do." + +"If you do," growled Bobby, "I'll do something to you that will make you +feel far from laughing, I assure you." + +"How savagely you talk!" sighed Nellie Agnew. "That boy's part you are to +fill is already affecting you, Clara." + +"'Sailor Bob' is going to be terrifically rough, I suppose," Jess said, +laughing. + +Mr. Mann called them to order, and the girls finally rustled into seats and +prepared to go through "The Rose Garden" for the first time. Everybody knew +her first speeches, and as Mr. Mann accentuated the cues and advised about +the business the girls did very well during the first act. + +But with the opening of the second act there was a halt. Here was where +"the dark lady" should come in. Her first appearance marked a flourishing +period by Jess, who strode about the stage as the hero of the piece. + +"And Margit's not here!" cried Dora Lockwood. "Shouldn't she be, Mr. Mann? +Really, her entrance gives me my cue, not Adrian's speech." + +Adrian was Jess Morse. She nodded her head vigorously. "Of course, Margit +ought to be here to rehearse with us." + +"I am afraid," said Mr. Mann, with pursed lips, "that we shall have to give +up the idea of having Miss Carrington--the younger--for the part." + +"Oh, oh, oh!" chorused some of the girls. "Can't Margit play?" + +"Isn't that just like Gee Gee?" demanded Bobby furiously. + +"She wanted to, I am sure," Laura said. "It is not Margit's fault." + +"Of course it isn't," snapped Jess. "That old--" + +Fortunately she got no farther. The door opened at that instant and Miss +Grace Gee Carrington entered. She was a very tall woman with grayish hair, +eyeglasses, and a sallow complexion. Her dignity of carriage and stern +manner were quite overpowering. + +"Young ladies!" she said sharply, having come into the room and closed the +door, "I have a word to say. I told Mr. Mann I would come here and explain +why my niece cannot take part in any such foolish and inconsequential +exhibition as this that you have determined on." + +She glared around, and the girls' faces assumed various expressions of +disturbance. Some, even, were frightened, for Miss Carrington had always +reigned by power of fear. + +"I would not allow Margaret to lower herself by appearing in such a play. I +disapprove greatly of girls taking boys' parts. The object of the play +itself is merely to amuse. There is nothing worth while or educational +about it." + +Again silence, and the girls only glanced fearfully at each other. + +"I have a proposition to make to you," said the stern teacher. "It is not +too late to change your plans. I have Mr. Sharp's permission to make the +suggestion. He will agree to your changing the play and will +be--er--satisfied, I am sure, if you accept my advice and put on the play +which I first suggested. This is an old Greek play with real value to it We +gave it once in my own college days, and it truly made a sensation. I +should be quite willing for Margaret to appear in that play, and I should, +in fact, be willing to give Mr. Mann the benefit of my own experience in +rehearsing the piece." + +Mr. Mann actually looked frightened. The stern instructor overpowered him +exactly as she did many of the girls. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BUBBLE, BUBBLE + + +"Toot! Toot! Toot-te-toot! Back water!" muttered Bobby Hargrew. "Wouldn't I +cut a shine acting in a Greek play? Oh, my!" + +Her imprudence--and impudence--was fortunately drowned by the general +murmur of objection that went up from the girls of the club. That Miss +Carrington's suggestion met with general objection was so plain that even +the stern woman herself must have realized it. + +"Of course," she said, really "cattish," "you girls would prefer something +silly." + +"Perhaps, Miss Carrington," said Laura with more boldness than most of her +mates possessed, "we prefer something more simple. 'The Rose Garden' does +not call for more than we can give to it. I am afraid the play you suggest +would take too much study." + +"Ha!" snapped the tall teacher. Then she went on: "I want you all to +understand that your recitations must be up to the average while you put in +your time on such a mediocre performance as this you are determined upon. +Of course, if the play was of an educational nature we might relax our +school rules a little--" + +"Oh! Oh! Bribery!" whispered Jess to Nellie. + +"It seems," Mr. Mann finally found voice to say, "that the desire of the +young ladies is for the piece selected. It is too late, as Miss Belding +says, to make a change now." + +"Then Margaret cannot act!" exclaimed Miss Carrington, and, turning +angrily, she left the hall in a way that had she been one of the girls, it +would have been said, "She flounced out." + +The rehearsal continued; but most of the girls were in a sober state of +mind. There was a general desire among them to stand high in all their +studies. They had learned when first they entered upon the athletic +contests and exercises of the Girls Branch League that they must keep up in +studies and in deportment or they could not get into the good times of the +League. + +It was so with the secret society, the M. O. R.'s, and likewise in this +acting club. "Fun" was merely a reward for good work in school. Not alone +was Miss Carrington stiff on this point, the principal and the rest of the +faculty were quite as determined that no outside adventures or activities +should lower the standard of the girls of Central High. + +At the present time the members of the club had a serious fact to +contemplate. A girl to fill the part of the "dark lady" in the garden must +be found. As it was not a speaking part, the person filling the character +must more particularly look as she was described in the play. + +"We want a type," said Mr. Mann. "Tall, graceful, brunette, and with +queenly carriage. You must find her before the next rehearsal. I must have +plenty of time to train her, for her appearance is of grave importance--as +you young ladies can yourselves see." + +"Oh, dear me!" groaned Nellie Agnew, when the rehearsal was finished. "And +Margit Salgo would have been just the one!" + +"And the poor girl certainly would have enjoyed being one of us," Laura +said. + +"Take it from me," said Bobby gruffly, "she's just the meanest--" + +"Margit?" cried Jess. + +"Gee Gee! I'm good and disgusted with her." + +But Bobby, for once in her life, was very circumspect during recitations +that week. She felt that Gee Gee was watching for a chance to demerit her, +and the girl did not intend to give the teacher occasion for doing so. + +"For once I am going to be so good, and have my lessons so perfect, that +she cannot find fault." + +"But trust Miss Carrington to find fault if she felt like it!" grumbled the +girl a day or so later. + +"Miss Hargrew, do not stride so. And keep your elbows in. Why! you walk +like a grenadier. And don't sprawl in your seat that way. Are you not a +lady?" + +Ah, but it was hard for saucy Bobby to keep her tongue back of her teeth! + +"Have you lost your tongue?" nagged Miss Carrington. + +Bobby's eyes flashed a reply. But her lips "ran o'er with honey," as Jess +Morse quoted, _sotto voce_. + +"No, Miss Carrington. I am merely holding it," said the girl softly. + +Miss Carrington flushed. She knew she was unfair; and Bobby's unexpected +reply pilloried the teacher before the whole class. There was a bustle in +the room and a not-entirely-smothered snicker. + +Had there been any way of punishing the girl Miss Carrington would +certainly have done it. She was neither just nor merciful, but she was +exact. She could see no crevice in Bobby's armor. The incident had to pass, +and the girl remained unpunished. + +However, it did seem as though Miss Carrington were more watchful each day +of the girls who belonged to the Players Club. She was evidently expecting +those who had parts to learn to show some falling off in recitation, or the +like. Her sharp tongue lashed those who faltered unmercifully. The girls +began to show the strain. They became nervous. + +"I really feel as though I must scream sometimes!" said Nellie Agnew, +almost in tears, one afternoon as the particular chums of Central High left +the building for home. "I know my lessons just as well as ever, but Gee Gee +has got me so worked up that I expect to fail every time I come up to +recite to her." + +"She is too old to teach, anyway," snapped Jess. "My mother says so. She +ought to have been put on the shelf by the Board of Education long ago." + +"Oh, oh!" gasped Dora Lockwood. "What bliss if she were!" + +"She is not so awfully old," said Laura thoughtfully. + +"But she is awful!" sniffed Jess. + +"She acts like a spoiled child," Nellie said. "If she cannot have her own +way in everything she gets mad and becomes disagreeable." + +This was pretty strong language from the doctor's daughter. At the moment +Bobby Hargrew appeared, whistling, and with her hands in her coat pockets. +She was evidently practicing her manly stride. But she did not grin when +she saw the juniors approaching. Instead, in a most dolorous voice she sang +out, quoting the witches' chant: + + "'Double, double; toil and trouble; + Fire burn and cauldron bubble.' + +"Everything's stewing, girls, and it is bound to be some brew. Do you know +the latest?" + +"Couldn't guess," said Jess Morse. "But it is something bad, I warrant." + +"Everything's going wrong, girls!" wailed Nellie. + +"I just saw Mr. Mann and Lil. Couldn't help overhearing what she was giving +him. What do you suppose she wants to do?" + +"Play the lead instead of Laura," snapped Jess. + +"That would not be so strange," Dora Lockwood observed. "Would it, +Dorothy?" + +"Not at all. Lil Pendleton--" + +"Wait a minute," proposed Laura Belding. "Let us hear her crime before we +sentence her to death." + +"That's right," agreed Bobby. "Oh, she surely has put her foot in it! She +told Mr. Mann that Hessie is just the girl to act 'the dark lady' in our +play. What do you know about that?" + +"Ow! Ow! That hurts!" squealed Dora. + +"She never _did_?" gasped her twin. + +"Hope to die!" exclaimed Bobby recklessly. "That is exactly the game she is +trying to work." + +"Hester Grimes! Of all persons!" groaned Nellie. + +"Lil hasn't said a word about it to me," Jess Morse declared. + +"No, she is going to get Mr. Mann himself to propose Hester--" + +"But Hessie isn't a member of the club!" cried Nellie. + +"We have set a precedent there," said Laura thoughtfully. "We took Janet +Steele into the ice carnival, and she was not a member of the school." + +"That was an entirely different thing!" snapped Jess. + +"Why, Hester Grimes is no more fit to play that part than I am fit for the +professional stage!" Nellie Agnew said. "What can Lil mean?" + +"I bet a cooky," Bobby growled, "that Hester put Lil up to it. You know, +Hess is crazy to get her finger into every pie; but she would never come +straight out and ask to join our club." + +"She'd be blackballed," said Dora tartly. + +"I believe she would," agreed her twin. + +Bobby chuckled. "There would be two black beans against her, and no +mistake." + +"What did you say to Lil, Clara?" demanded Laura thoughtfully. + +"Not a word." + +"How was that?" Jess asked. "You didn't have a sudden attack of lockjaw, +did you?" + +"Don't fret, Jess," said Bobby sharply. "I know when to keep my mouth shut +on occasion. I came right away from there to find you girls. Something must +be done about it." + +"Oh, dear me!" groaned Nellie. "If Margit Salgo had only been allowed to +take the part!" + +"What did I tell you?" almost snarled Bobby. "Gee Gee has managed to queer +the whole business. This play is going to be a failure." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MOTHER WIT HAS AN IDEA + + +The ice carnival had been such a success in a spectacular as well as a +monetary way that many of the friends of the Central High girls and boys +declared they would like to have it repeated. More than a thousand +dollars--to be exact, one thousand and twenty dollars--had been made for +the Red Cross. + +Centerport was doing its very best to gather its quota for the great +institution that was doing so much good in the world. Janet Steele +confessed to Laura that she had gained more than one hundred dollar +memberships, and that nearly all of these had given something in addition +to their membership fee. + +"I wish we girls could help," said Laura wistfully. + +"And you having done so much already!" cried Janet. "Why, you've already +done more than your share! And doing a play, too!" + +"I am afraid the play will not be a great success," Mother Wit sighed, but +more to herself than to the other girl. + +Those who wished to repeat the ice carnival success had to give the idea +up, for before the end of the week there swept down over the North Woods +and across frozen Lake Luna such a blizzard as the surrounding country had +not seen for several years. The street cars stopped running, traffic of all +sorts was tied up, and even the electricity for lighting purposes was put +out of commission for twenty-four hours. + +Of course, it did not keep many of the girls and boys of Central High at +home. Snow piled up in the streets did not daunt them at all. But when the +amateur actors undertook to rehearse they had to do so by the light of +candles and kerosene lamps. + +The rehearsal did not go very well, either. The girls were "snippy" to each +other--at least, Jess said they were, and Bobby declared she was one of the +very "snippiest--so there!" + +"Girls! Girls!" begged Laura, "when there are so many other people to +fight, let us not fight each other. 'Little birds should in their nests +agree,' and so forth." + +"Oh, poodle soup!" ejaculated Bobby, under her breath. "Don't anybody dare +spring old saws and sayings on me in my present mood." + +"I believe you'd bite, Bobby," whispered Nellie Agnew. + +A cry went up for Lily Pendleton, and then it was found that she was not +present. + +"The only girl who is made of either sugar or salt," declared Josephine +Morse. "Of course, the snow would keep her away!" + +"But where is her friend, Miss Grimes?" asked Mr. Mann, rather tartly. "I +shall have my work cut out for me in training her, I fear." + +"You will, indeed," moaned Laura. + +"Now, Mr. Mann!" cried Bobby boldly, "you are not really going to let that +Hester Grimes act in this play, are you? She is perfectly horrid!" + +"Miss Hargrew," was the somewhat sharp answer, "I hope you will not let +personal dislikes enter into this play. It does not matter who or what Miss +Grimes may be, if she can take the part--" + +"But she'll never be able to do it in the world!" + +"That is to be seen," said Mr. Mann firmly. "Remember, we are working for +the benefit of the Red Cross." + +"Hear! Hear!" murmured Laura. "Perhaps Hester will do very well." + +"And perhaps she won't!" snapped Bobby. + +"Why, she can't possibly _act!"_ Jess Morse said hopelessly. + +"You will let me be the judge of that, Miss Morse, if you please," said Mr. +Mann, speaking rather tartly. + +"Mercy, everybody to-day is as crisp as pie-crust--no two ways about it!" +whispered Bobby to Jess. + +The girls plowed home through the deep snow, most of them in no mood for +amusement. Even Laura Belding had a long face when she entered the house. + +"How was the funeral?" asked Chet, who was buried in one of the deep +library chairs with a book. + +"What?" she asked before she caught his meaning. + +"You must have buried somebody by the way you look," declared her brother. + +"Don't nag, Chettie," sighed his sister. "We are having terrible times." + +"I judged so," Chet said dryly. "Don't you always have sich when you girls +go in for acting?" + +"Now--" + +"I am sympathetic, Laura--I swear I am!" her brother cried, putting up his +hands for pardon. "Don't shoot. But of course things always will go wrong. +Who is it--Bobby? Or Jess? Or Lil?" + +"It is Hester Grimes." + +"Wow!" exclaimed Chet. "I didn't know she was in it at all." + +Laura told him of the emergency that had arisen and how Hester Grimes +seemed certain to be drawn into the affair. + +"Why, that big chunk can't act," said Chet quite impolitely. "She looks +enough like her father to put on his apron and stand behind one of his +butcher blocks." + +"Oh, that is awful!" Laura objected. "But I know she will spoil our play." + +"Humph! Why didn't you, Laura, suggest somebody else for the part, as long +as Margit couldn't take it?" + +"I didn't know of anybody." + +"I thought they called you 'Mother Wit,'" scoffed Chet. "You're not even a +little bit bright." + +"No, I guess you are right. I have lost all my brightness," sighed Laura. +"It has been rubbed off." + +"Then you admit it was merely plate," laughed Chet. "But say! why didn't +you think of the girl who helped you out before?" + +"Who? What girl?" + +"That Red Cross girl. What's her name?" + +"Janet Steele!" + +"That's the one. Some pippin," said Chet with enthusiasm. I saw her this +afternoon and helped her plow home--" + +"Chetwood Belding! Wait till Jess Morse hears about it." + +"Aw--" + +"Jess will spark, old boy; you see if she doesn't" + +"Jess is the best girl in the world; and she's got too much sense to object +to my helping another girl home through the snow." + +"All right," chuckled Laura, in a much more cheerful mood. "But don't make +the mistake of praising Janet to Jess. That is where the crime comes in." + +"Oh! Well, I won't," her brother declared thoughtfully. + +"And where did you beau Janet from?" Laura asked. + +"The hospital." + +"Were you there to see that poor man?" + +"Rich man, you mean," grinned her brother. "I took him some books and a lot +of papers. He is able to sit up and read." + +"But he doesn't know who he is?" + +"He declares his name is John _Something_, and that he ought to be in +Alaska right now. Says the last he knew he was in Sitka. Something happened +to him there. Whatever it was, his brain must have been affected at that +time. For he cannot remember anything about the first part of his life." + +"But, Chetwood!" exclaimed Laura earnestly, "that man is not a miner. He is +not tanned. His hands are not rough. He was as well groomed, the matron +says, as any gentleman who ever was brought to the Centerport Hospital." + +"But he was in Alaska. You should hear him tell about it." + +"He has lived two lives, then," said Laura thoughtfully. + +"And must be beginning his third now," put in Chet. "What do you know about +that? And him with a roll of more than two thousand dollars--every bill +brand-new." + +"Oh, Chet!" + +"Well, what is it?" her brother asked, looking curiously into Laura's +suddenly glowing face. + +"Does he know he has so much money?" + +"Why, yes. I've been telling him to-day all about that funny bill he passed +on me. He says he is glad he has so fat a purse, as he will be obliged to +remain in bed long with that leg in a cast." + +"But, Chet! has he got the money himself?" + +"It is in the hospital safe." + +"I wonder! I wonder!" the girl murmured. + +"What is it now?" asked Chet + +"I wonder if any other bills in his roll are like that hundred-fifty note +father swapped with Mr. Monroe for you." + +"Huh?" ejaculated her brother, quite puzzled. + +"It was on the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, Ohio. I wrote it down, and +the names of the cashier and president of the bank. Do find out, Chet, if +there are any more of those new bills issued by that bank in his roll." + +"What for?" demanded Chet. + +That Laura would not tell him, only made him promise to do as she asked. +Mother Wit had an idea; but she would not explain it to anybody yet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +CHAINS ON HIS WHEELS + + +"How came you to meet Janet?" asked Laura Belding, remembering what her +brother had first told her about the Red Cross girl. + +"She was coming my way, of course." + +"Coming your way?" Laura repeated, her eyebrows raised questioningly. "Oh! +I see! You met her at the hospital." + +"You said a forkful," declared the slangy youth. + +"Dear me, Chet," Laura observed soberly. "I think your slang is becoming +atrocious. So Janet was down there!" + +"She had been calling on our friend with the broken leg, too," said Chet. + +"She does seem interested in him, doesn't she?" Laura said thoughtfully. "I +wonder why?" + +"Because her mother's half-brother went to Alaska years ago and they never +heard of him again," said Chet. "She told me." + +"Oh!" + +"Nothing wonderful about that," the brother declared. + +"It is interesting." + +"To them, I suppose," said Chet "But why don't you ask Miss Steele to join +you girls in the play you are getting up?" + +"I never thought of it," confessed Laura. + +"Your thought-works are out of kilter, Sis," declared Chet, laughing again. +"I'd certainly play Miss Steele off against the menace of Hester Grimes." + +There was something besides mere sound in Chet Belding's advice, and his +sister appreciated the fact. But she did not go bluntly to the other girls +and suggest the Red Cross girl for the part of "the dark lady." She +realized that, if the new girl could act, she would amply fill the part in +the play. But Hester was supposed to have it now, and the very next day Mr. +Mann gave that candidate an hour's training in the part Hester was supposed +to fill. + +When they all came together for rehearsal again the second day, Hester +Grimes was present and she showed the effect of Mr. Mann's personal help. +Yet her work was so stiffly done, and she was so awkward, that it seemed to +most of the girls that she was bound to hurt and hinder rather than help in +the production. + +"She'd put a crimp in anything," declared Bobby Hargrew, as the Hill girls +went home that afternoon. + +The streets in this residential section had been pretty well cleared of +snow, and people had their automobiles out once more. + +"Say, Jess!" exclaimed Bobby. + +"Say it," urged Josephine Morse. "I promise not to bite you." + +"If Hester plays that part, what are they going to do with her hands and +feet?" asked the unkind Bobby. + +"Oh, hush!" exclaimed Laura. + +"Well, when she's supposed to pick the rose and hold it up to the light, +and kiss it, her hand is going to look like a full-grown lobster--and just +as red." + +"Girls, we must not!" begged Laura. "Somebody will surely tell Hester what +we say, and then--" + +"She'll refuse to play," said Jess. + +"Oh, fine, _fine_!" murmured one of the Lockwood twins. + +"If we get her mad it will do no good," Nellie Agnew said. "Maybe then she +will insist on being 'the dark lady.'" + +The boys were on the corner of Nugent Street waiting for the girls to come +along. + +"How goes the battle, Laura?" asked Lance Darby. "Have you learned your +part yet?" + +"I thought I had," sighed Laura. "But when I come to take cues and try to +remember the business of the piece, I forget my lines." + +"This being leading lady is pretty tough on Mother Wit," laughed Chet. + +"Oh, my!" exclaimed Bobby Hargrew suddenly. "Here comes Pretty Sweet in his +car. Why! he's got Lil with him. I thought that was all over." + +They gaily hailed the driver of the automobile and his companion as the +vehicle passed. Short and Long, with gloomy face, watched the car out of +sight. + +"Well," he growled, "he's got nonskid-chains on his wheels to-day, all +right" + +"Chains on his wheels, Billy?" asked Bobby. "What do you mean? Doesn't he +always have them on in winter?" + +"Humph! He forgot 'em once, anyway." + +"Hey, Billy!" exclaimed Chet Belding, "you are skidding yourself, aren't +you?" + +"Aw----" + +"Least said soonest mended," added Lance, likewise giving the smaller boy a +quick, stern look. + +"Oh, I see!" muttered Bobby, searching the flushed face of Short and Long. +"Say, Billy----" + +But Short and Long started on a quick trot for home, and left his friends +to stare after him. It was Bobby who did most of the staring, however. She +said to Jess and Laura, after they had parted from the other boys: + +"What do you know about that boy? I'm just wise to him. I believe I know +what is the matter with Short and Long." + +"Do you mean," asked Laura, "what makes him act so to Purt?" + +"You have guessed my meaning, Mother Wit." + +"What is the trouble between them?" demanded Jess. "Although Billy never +was much in love with Purt Sweet." + +"Don't you two girls remember the Saturday night that man was hurt on +Market Street?" + +"I should say I do remember it!" Laura agreed. "He is in the hospital yet, +and he doesn't know who he is or where he came from." + +"Oh, it's nothing to do with his identity," Bobby hastened to say. "It is +about the car that ran him down. You know the police never have found the +guilty driver." + +"Goodness!" gasped Jess. "You surely don't mean----" + +"I mean that the car had no chains on its rear wheels. That is all that was +noticed about it Nobody got the number. But I heard Short and Long say he +knew somebody who had been driving a car that day without chains. And the +boys left us, didn't they, to look up the car?" + +"What has that to do with Purt Sweet?" demanded Laura. + +"Why, you heard what Billy just said about him and his chains!" cried +Bobby. "'He's got nonskid-chains on his wheels to-day, all right.' Didn't +you hear him? And he's had a grouch against Pretty Sweet ever since the +time--about--that the man was hurt." + +"Oh, Purt wouldn't have done such a thing. He might have run the man down; +but he would never have run off and left him in the street!" + +"I don't know," Jess said. "He'd be frightened half to death, of course, if +he did knock the man down." + +"I do not believe Prettyman Sweet is heartless," declared Laura warmly. +"The boys are making a mistake. I'm going to tell Chet so." + +But when she took her brother to task about this matter she could not get +Chet to admit a thing. He refused to say anything illuminating about the +car that had run down the stranger at the hospital, or if the boys +suspected anybody in particular. + +"If we think we know anything, I can't tell you," Chet declared "Billy? +Why, he's always sore at Purt Sweet. You can't tell anything by him!" + +Just the same it was evident that the boys were hiding much from their girl +chums; and, of course, that being the case, the girls were made all the +more curious. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +PIE AND POETRY + + +Laura's sleeves were rolled up to her plump elbows and she had an +enveloping apron on that covered her dress from neck to toe. There was +flour on her arms, on one cheek, and even on the tip of her nose. + +Out-of-doors old Boreas, Jess said, held sway. Shutters flapped, the +branches of the hard maple creaked against the clapboarded ell of the +house, and there was an occasional throaty rattle in the chimney that made +one think that the Spirit of the Wind was dying there. + +"You certainly are poetic," drawled Bobby, who had come into the Beldings' +big kitchen, too, and was comfortably seated on the end of the table at +which Laura had been rolling out piecrust. + +"Now, if that crust is only crisp!" murmured Mother Wit. + +"If it isn't," chuckled Chet, stamping the snow off his shoes, "we'll make +you eat it all." + +"I'm willing to take the contract of eating it, sight unseen, if Laura made +the pie," interjected Lance Darby, opening the door suddenly. + +"Come in! Come in!" cried Jess. "Want to freeze us all?" + +"You would better not be so reckless, Lance," Laura said, smiling. "These +are mock cherry pies; and I never do know whether I get sugar enough in +them until they are done. Some cranberries are sourer than others, you +know." + +"M-m! Ah!" sighed Chet ecstatically. "If there is one thing I like----" + +Lance began to sing-song: + + "'There was a young woman named Hooker, + Who wasn't so much of a looker; + But she could build a pie + That would knock out your eye! + So along came a fellow and took 'er!'" + +"Oh! Oh! We're all running to poetry," groaned Chet. "This will never do." + +"'Poetry,' indeed!" scoffed Jess Morse. "I want to know how Lance dares +trespass upon Bobby's domain of limericks?" + +"And I wish to know," Laura added haughtily, "how he dares intimate that I +am not 'a good looker'?" + +"'_Peccavi!_"' groaned Lance. "I have sinned! But, anyway, Bobby is off the +limerick business. Aren't you, Bobby?" + +"She hasn't sprung a good one for an age," declared Chet. + +"A shortage," sighed Laura. + +"Gee Gee says the lowest form of wit is the pun, and the most execrable +form of rhyme is the limerick," declared Jess soberly. + +"Just for that," snapped Bobby, "I'll give you a bunch of them. Only these +must be written down to be appreciated." + +She produced a long slip of paper from her pocket, uncrumpled it, and began +to read: + + "'There was a fine lady named Cholmondely, + In person and manner so colmondely + That the people in town + From noble to clown + Did nothing but gaze at her, dolmondely.' + +Now, isn't that refined and beautiful?" + +"It is--not!" said Chet. "That is only a play upon pronunciation." + +"Carping critics!" exclaimed Lance. "Go ahead, Bobby. Let's hear the +others." + +As Bobby had been saving them up for just such an opportunity as this, she +proceeded to read: + + "'There lived in the City of Worcester + A lively political borcester, + Who would sit on his gate + When his own candidate + Was passing, and crow like a rorcester!" + +"Help! Help!" moaned Chet, falling into the cook's rocking chair and making +it creak tremendously. + +"Don't break up the furniture," his sister advised him, as she took a peep +at the pies in the oven. + +"'Pies and poetry'!" exclaimed Jess. "Go ahead, Bobby. Relieve your +constitution of those sad, sad doggerels." + +Nothing loath, the younger girl, and with twinkling eyes, sing-songed the +following: + + "'There was a young sailor of Gloucester, + Who had a sweetheart, but he loucest'er. + She bade him good-day, + So some people say, + Because he too frequently boucest'er.' + +Take notice all you 'bossy' youths." + +"Isn't English the funny language?" demanded Chet, sitting up again. "And +spelling! My! Do you wonder foreigners find English so difficult? Here's +one that I found in an almanac at the drug store," and he fished out a +clipping and read it to them: + + "'A lady once purchased some myrrh + Of a druggist who said unto hyrrh: + "For a dose, my dear Miss, + Put a few drops of this + In a glass with some water, and styrrh."'" + +"Do, do stop!" begged Laura. + +"I promise not to offend again," said Lance. "Besides, I hope to taste some +of the pie, and a pie-taster should not be a poetaster." + +"Oh! Oh! Awful!" Jess cried. + +"I've run out of limericks myself," confessed Chet. + +"But one more!" Bobby hastened to say. Then dramatically she mouthed, with +her black eyes fastened on Chet: + + "'Said Chetwood to young Short and Long, + "Just list to my warning in song: + If you know of the crime, + For both reason and rhyme + Betray it--and so ring the gong!"'" + +The other girls burst out laughing at the expression on the boys' faces. +Chet and Lance looked much disturbed, and Chet finally scowled upon the +teasing Bobby and shook his head. + +"What do you know about that?" whispered Lance to his chum. + +"You are altogether too smart, Bobby," declared Chet. "What do you mean?" + +"We know you and Short and Long are trying to hide something from us," said +Jess quickly. + +"You might as well tell us all about it," Laura put in quietly. "What has +Billy really got against Purt Sweet?" + +"I don't admit he has anything against Purt," said Chet quickly. + +"Nothing but suspicion," muttered Lance, likewise shaking his head. + +"Then there is something in it?" Laura said quickly. "Can it be possible +that Purt Sweet would do such an awful thing and not really betray himself +before this?" + +"There you've said it, Laura!" cried Lance. "That is what I tell both Chet +and Billy. If Pretty was guilty, he would be scared so that he would never +dare go out again in his car." + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Bobby with dancing eyes. "Then my rhyme is a true bill?" + +"Aw, Lance would have to give it away!" growled Chet. + +"Boys are as clannish as they can be!" said Jess severely. "We are just as +much interested as you are, Chet. What made Billy believe Pretty Sweet ran +the man down?" + +"Oh, well," sighed Chet, "we might as well give in to you girls, I +suppose." + +"Besides," laughed his sister, "the pies are almost done, and both you and +Lance will want to sample them." + +"Go on. Tell 'em, Chet," said Lance. + +"Why, Billy had been riding that day in the Sweets' car. You know Purt is +too lazy to breathe sometimes, and he wouldn't get out his chains and put +'em on. Billy knew that the chains were not on at dinner time that evening, +for he passed the Sweet place and saw the car standing outside the garage +with the radiator blanketed. + +"Well, the only thing we were sure of about the car that ran that man +down--the Alaskan miner, you know--was that the rear wheels had no chains +on them, and that it was a Perriton car like Purt's." + +"Yes, it was a Perriton," said his sister. + +"So we fellows hiked up there to Sweets'. Purt was out with the car. He +came home in about an hour, and he was still skidding over the ice. We +tried to get out of him where he had been, but he wouldn't tell. We had to +almost muzzle Billy, or he would have accused him right there and then. And +Billy has been savage over it ever since." + +"Really then," said Laura, "there is nothing sure about it." + +"Well, it is sure the car was a Perriton. And since then we have found out +that Purt's is the only Perriton in town that isn't out of commission for +the winter. You can talk as you please about it: If the police only knew +what we know, sure thing Purt would be neck-deep in trouble right now!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +EMBER NIGHT + + +The three girls of Central High and their boy friends had not come together +on this stormy Saturday morning merely to feast on "pie and poetry." + +The ice carnival had made them so much money that Laura and her friends +desired to try something else besides the play which was now in rehearsal. +They wanted to "keep the ball rolling," increasing the collections for the +Red Cross from day to day. + +Fairs and bazaars were being held; special collectors like Janet Steele +were going about the city; noonday meetings were inaugurated in downtown +churches and halls; a dozen new and old ways of raising money were being +tried. + +And so Mother Wit had evolved what she called "Ember Night," and the young +people who helped carry the thing through were delighted with the idea. To +tell the truth, the idea had been suggested to Laura Belding during the big +storm when the lighting plant of the city was put out of order for one +night. + +She and her friends laid the plans for the novel fête on this Saturday +after Laura's pie baking and after they had discussed the possibility of +Prettyman Sweet being the guilty person whose car had run down the strange +man now at the Centerport Hospital. + +They put pies and poetry, and even Purt Sweet, aside, to discuss Laura's +idea. Each member of the informal committee meeting in the Beldings' +kitchen was given his or her part to do. + +Laura herself was to see Colonel Swayne, who was the president of the Light +and Power Company and who was likewise Mother Wit's very good friend. Jess +agreed to interview the local chief of the Salvation Army. Chet would see +the Chief of Police to get his permission. Each one had his or her work cut +put. + +"Every cat must catch mice," said Mother Wit. + +Plans for Ember Night were swiftly made, and it was arranged to hold the +fête the next Tuesday evening, providing the weather was clear. Jess, whose +mother held a position on the Centerport _Clarion_, wrote a piece about +this street carnival for the Sunday paper, and the idea was popular with +nearly every one. + +Exchange Place was the heart of the city--a wide square on which fronted +the city hall, the court house, the railroad station, and several other of +the more important buildings of the place. + +In the center of the square a Red Cross booth was built and trimmed with +Christmas greens, which had just come into market. Members of the several +city chapters appeared in uniform to take part in the fête. There was a +platform for speakers, and a bandstand, and before eight o'clock on Tuesday +evening a great crowd had assembled to take part in the exercises. + +That one of the Central High school girls had suggested and really planned +the affair, made it all the more popular. + +"What won't Laura Belding think of next?" asked those who knew her. + +But Laura did not put herself forward in the affair. She presided over one +of the red pots borrowed from the Salvation Army that were slung from their +tripods at each intersecting corner of the streets radiating from Exchange +Place, and for a half mile on all sides of the square. + +Under each pot was a bundle of resinous and oil-soaked wood that would burn +brightly for an hour. At the booth in Exchange Place fuel for a much larger +bonfire was laid. + +The crowd gathered more densely as nine o'clock drew near. The mayor +himself stepped upon the speaker's platform. The police had roped off lanes +through the crowd from the Red Cross booth to the nearest corners. + +Janet Steele came late and she chanced to pass Laura's corner, which was in +sight of the speaker's stand and the booth. She halted to speak with Laura +a moment. + +"Isn't it just fine?" she said. "I wish mother could see this crowd." + +"I imagine you would like to have her see lots of things," returned Laura. +"Our friend at the hospital, for instance." + +"Who--who do you mean?" gasped Janet, evidently disturbed. + +"The man who was hurt, I mean." + +"Oh! He is quite interesting," said the other girl and slipped away. +Laura's suggestion had seemingly startled her. + +The band played, and then the mayor stepped forward to make his speech. At +just this moment a motor car moved quietly in beside the curb near which +Laura Belding stood guarding her red pot. Somebody called her name in a low +tone, and Laura turned to greet Prettyman Sweet's mother with a smile. + +Mrs. Sweet was alone in the tonneau of her car, which Purt himself was +driving. The school exquisite, who was so often the butt of the boys' +jokes, but was just now an object of suspicion, admired Laura Belding +immensely. He got out of the car to come and stand with her on the corner. + +"Got your nonskid-chains on, Purt?" asked Laura. + +"On the rear wheels? Surely," said Sweet, eyeing the girl in some surprise, +because of her question. + +"My dear Laura!" cried Mrs. Sweet "Won't you come and talk to me while we +are waiting?" + +"Can't now, Mrs. Sweet. I am on duty," laughed Laura. + +They could not hear what the mayor said, for they were two blocks away. But +they had an excellent view of the stand and the Red Cross booth, and the +crowd that pressed close to the police ropes. + +Suddenly the mayor threw up his hand in command, and almost instantly--as +though he had himself switched off the light--all the street lamps in the +business section of Centerport went out The arc light over the spot where +Laura stood blinked, glowed for a moment, and then subsided. Mrs. Sweet +cried out in alarm. + +"This is all right," Laura called to her. "Now watch." + +The mayor, in the half-darkness, stepped down from the platform and threw +into the heart of the big bonfire the combustibles that set it off. The +flames leaped up, spreading rapidly. The crowd cheered as eight boys, +dressed in the knee-length dominos they had worn on the night of the ice +carnival, dashed into the ring with resinous torches. They thrust the +torches into the flames and the instant the torches were alight, they +wheeled and dashed away through the lanes the police had kept open. + +The red flames dancing before the Red Cross booth, and the sparking, +flaming torches which the boys swung above their heads as they ran through +the crowd to the various corners where the red pots hung, made an inspiring +picture in the unwonted gloom of the streets. + +"See how the Red Cross spreads!" cried Laura. "There's Nellie's fire +going." + +They could see the spark of new fire under the pot a block away. A short +figure with flaming torch was approaching Laura's corner at high speed. + +"Here comes Short and Long, I do believe," drawled Prettyman Sweet. + +"My pot will soon be boiling," laughed Laura. "What are you going to throw +in, Purt? And you, Mrs. Sweet? Give all you can--and as often as you can." + +"Oh, I'll start you off, Laura," declared Purt, pulling out a handful of +coins that rang the next moment in the bottom of the iron pot. + +"Here's my purse, Prettyman!" called his mother, leaning from the car. "You +put in my offering." + +The few bystanders around Laura's corner began laughingly to contribute +before the torch reached the spot. But Short and Long arrived the next +moment. He stooped, thrust the blazing torch into the middle of the fuel +under Laura's pot, and wheeled to run to his next comer. + +The flames crackled, springing up ravenously. The boy's cotton gown flapped +across the fire and before he could leap away the flames had seized upon +the domino! + +"Oh, Billy!" shrieked Laura Belding. "You are on fire!" + +The short boy leaped away; but he could not leave the flames behind him. He +threw down the torch and tried to tear off the domino. In a moment he was a +pillar of flame! + +"A blanket! A robe! Quick, Purt!" cried Laura, and started toward the +victim of the accident, bare-handed. + +For once Purt Sweet did as he was told, and did it quickly. He ran with the +robe from the front seat of the automobile. Laura grabbed one end and +together they wrapped their schoolmate in the heavy folds. + +Short and Long was cast to the street and they rolled him in the blanket. +The fire was smothered, but what injury had it done to the boy? + +He was unconscious; for in falling he had struck his head, and the wound +was bleeding. Mrs. Sweet was crying and wringing her hands. + +"Oh, it's awful! Purt! Purt! Take me home!" she sobbed. + +"No, Purt!" exclaimed Laura. "Take him to the hospital" + +"Of course we will," gasped the youth. "Help me lift him, Laura. Oh, the +poor kid!" + +Only the few people near by had seen the accident. Not even a policeman +came. Laura and Purt staggered to the car with the wrapped-up body of the +smaller lad. His face was horribly blackened, but that might be nothing but +smoke. Just how badly Billy Long was injured they could not guess. + +Mrs. Sweet shrank back into the corner of the tonneau seat and begged Laura +to get in with the injured boy. + +"I can't! I can't touch him!" wailed the woman. "It's awful! Suppose he +should be dead?" + +"He's not dead," declared Purt. "We won't let him die--the poor kid! Here, +mother, you hold his head and we'll lay him down on the seat. Let his head +and shoulders lie right in your lap." + +"Oh, Laura! Do come!" cried the woman. + +"I can't, Mrs. Sweet!" returned Laura, sobbing. "I've got to stay and watch +my pot boil. Do be quick, Purt!" + +She stepped out of the car. Purt slammed the tonneau door and leaped to the +steering wheel. In a moment the self-starter sputtered, and then the car +wheels began to roll. + +Mrs. Sweet was actually forced to do something that she had never done +before--personally help somebody in trouble. Perhaps the experience would +do her good, Laura thought. + +In tears the latter returned to the corner. The fire was brightly blazing +underneath her swinging pot. There was already quite a collection of coins +and a few bills in the bottom of the receptacle. But although Laura stuck +to the post of duty, her heart was no longer in the ceremonies of Ember +Night. She wished heartily that she had never suggested the entertainment, +even if it did benefit the Red Cross. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT + + +It did really prove to be one of the most successful forms of money-raising +for the Red Cross that had been attempted in Centerport. And later they +tried Ember Night in Lumberport and Keyport. + +Laura Belding was not proud of her success, however, for poor Short and +Long had been badly burned. Fortunately his face was only blackened, and +the doctors decided that he had not inhaled any of the scorching flame. + +Laura and Purt had wrapped him in the blanket so quickly that the fire was +smothered almost at once. Yet there were bad burns on his arms and +body--burns that would leave ineffaceable scars. + +The girls of Central High had two interests now to take them to the +hospital. The stranger who did not know his name and Short and Long both +came in for a lot of attention. + +The latter had never known before how popular with his schoolmates he was. +Fruit, flowers, candy and the nicest confections from the Hill kitchens +found their way in profusion to Billy's bedside. + +After a day or two the doctors let him see whoever came, and he could talk +all right. It made him forget the smart of his burns. + +Of course his sister Alice came frequently, and she had to bring Tommy, the +irrepressible, along. Tommy was more interested in the good things to eat +at his brother's bedside, however, than he was in Billy's bodily condition. + +There was so much jelly, and blanc-mange, and other goodies that the +invalid could not possibly consume all. Tommy sat and ate, and ate, until +the nurse said: + +"Tommy, don't you know that you are distending your stomach with all those +sweets? It is not good for you." + +When Tommy learned that "distending" meant that his stomach was being +stretched, he was delighted. + +"Gimme some more, Allie," he begged his sister. "Please do, Allie dear. I +want to stwetch my 'tomach. It's never been big 'nough to hold all I want +to eat." + +The interest of Laura and her close friends in the strange man with the +broken leg did not lag. He talked freely with his visitors; but mostly +about Alaska and his adventures in the gold mines. + +As near as he could guess, he must have come out of the mines with his +"pile," as he expressed it, almost ten years before. + +"What under the canopy I have been doing since, I don't know. But if I've +got down to two thousand dollars capital, I must have been having an +awfully good time spending money; for I know I had a poke full of gold dust +when I struck the coast and went over to Sitka." + +"More likely he was robbed," said Chet. + +"He looks about as much like a miner as Pa Belding," Laura declared. + +There was too much going on just then, however, for Mother Wit to try out +the thought that had come to her mind regarding this man. All these +interests had to be sidetracked for school and lessons. And just at this +time recitations seemed to be particularly hard. With rehearsals for the +play, and all, mere knowledge was very difficult to acquire. + +"I know I'm not half prepared in physics," wailed Nellie Agnew, as she and +other juniors trooped into school one day, two weeks before Christmas. + +"And I," said Jess Morse, "know about as much regarding this political +economy as I do about sweeping up the Milky Way with a star brush." + +"How poetic!" cried Laura, laughing. "I wonder if we all are as well +prepared?" + +"They expect too much of us," declared Dora Lockwood. + +"Much too much!" echoed her sister. + +"I wonder," said Laura, "if we don't expect too much of the teachers?" + +In the physics recitation Nellie Agnew, as she prophesied, came to grief. + +Miss Carrington seemed to have an uncanny knowledge of whom to call on at +such times. She seemed aware that Nellie had not prepared her lesson +properly. It might be that the wary teacher read her pupils' faces. +Nellie's was so woebegone that it was scarcely possible to overlook the +fact that she probably felt her shortcomings in the task at hand. + +Miss Carrington called on the doctor's daughter almost the first one in +physics. To say "unprepared!" to Miss Carrington was to bring upon one's +head the shattered vials of her wrath. There was no excuse for not trying, +that strict instructor considered. + +So Nellie tried. She stumbled along in her first answer "like a blind man +in a blind alley," so Jess Morse declared. It was pitiful, and all the +class sympathized. The gentle Nellie was led to make the most ridiculous +statements by the silky-voiced teacher. + +"And you are a physician's daughter!" Miss Carrington burst out at last. +"For shame!" + +"If I were Nell," said Dora Lockwood to her twin, "I'd cut pills altogether +after this. I'd rather take math with Mr. Sharp himself." + +Miss Grace G. Carrington was never content to let a pupil fail and sit +down. She nagged and browbeat poor Nellie until the girl lost her nerve and +began to cry. By that time the other girls were all angry and upset, and +that physics recitation was bound to go badly. + +When Jess was called on she rose with blazing cheeks and angry eyes to face +their tormentor. Miss Carrington saw antagonism writ large upon Jess +Morse's face. + +"I presume, Miss Morse, you think I cannot puzzle you?" said Miss +Carrington in her very nastiest way. + +"You can doubtless puzzle me," said Jess sharply. "But you cannot make me +cry, Miss Carrington." + +"Sit down!" ejaculated the angry teacher. "That goes for a demerit." + +"And it is about as fair as your demerits usually are," cried Jess. + +"Two, Miss Morse," said the teacher. "One more and you will not act in that +play next week." + +"If I'd been born dumb," sighed Jess afterward, "it would have been money +in my pocket. I almost had to bite the tip of my tongue off to keep from +saying something more." + +"And so ruin the whole play?" said Laura softly. + +"Huh! I guess Hester Grimes will do that," declared Jess. "She moves about +the stage like an automaton. She is going to get us a big laugh, but in the +wrong place. Now, you see." + +The girls rehearsed every afternoon, and the athletic work was neglected. +Mrs. Case excused those who were engaged in producing the play. "The Rose +Garden" was not such an easily acted play as they had at first supposed. +Mr. Mann was patient with them; but in Hester Grimes' case he could not +help the feeling of annoyance that took possession of him. + +Hester Grimes took offence so easily. + +"Every rehearsal I look for her to cut up rusty," Jess cried. "And somebody +has got to play the part of the dark lady! It is not a part that can be cut +out of the cast, although it is not a speaking part." + +Hester had begun to complain, too, because she had no lines. She considered +that she was being deprived of her rights, and was of less importance than +the other girls, because she was dumb on the stage. + +"Why! even Bobby Hargrew," she complained, "with her silly sailor part, has +lines to repeat, besides that sailor's hornpipe in the first act. Of +course, you girls would wish the least important part onto me." + +"What nonsense, Hester!" cried Jess. "If you really understood the play and +the significance of your part, you would not say such a thing. And do, do +be less like a wooden image." + +"Humph! I guess I know my part, Jess Morse," snapped Hester. "It doesn't +matter at all what I do on the stage." + +"What did I tell you?" groaned Bobby. "'Double! Double!' and-so-forth. +There is trouble brewing. If we all had measles or chicken-pox, and so +couldn't give the play, we'd be in luck, I verily believe." + +"Oh, don't, Bobby!" begged Dora Lockwood. "You are so reckless." + +"Just the same, I feel it in my bones that Hester is going to kick over the +traces," said Bobby grimly. + +"If only Margit Salgo had been allowed to have the part," groaned Dorothy. + +"It's Gee Gee's fault if the play is a failure," snapped Bobby. + +Never had the disagreeable teacher at Central High been so little liked as +at this time. They blamed Miss Carrington more than they did Hester. + +As the party of troubled girls left the school-house on this particular +afternoon, Lily Pendleton ran after them. + +"What do you think has happened?" she cried. + +"It's something bad, of course," groaned Nellie Agnew. + +"Who is hurt?" asked Laura. + +"It isn't that," said Lily. "But poor Purt Sweet!" + +"Now what has he done?" asked Jess. + +"It is what they say he has done, not what he really has done," wailed +Lily. "The police have been to his house. And what do you think?" + +"I bet his mother's had a fit!" exclaimed Bobby, in an undertone. + +"The police accuse Purt of running down that man on Market Street the other +Saturday night," said Lily warmly. "And Purt doesn't know anything more +about it than a baby! Isn't it awful, girls?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +WHERE WAS PURT? + + +The police examination of Purt Sweet was no light matter. Two of +Centerport's detective force had been working on the case ever since the +stranger had been knocked down on Market Street, and, like Chet Belding and +his friends, the detectives finally had come to the conclusion that +Prettyman Sweet's automobile was the only Perriton car in the city that had +not been in storage on that night. + +The detectives' visit to the Sweet residence, and Purt's later call upon +the Chief of Police at his command, were dreadfully shocking to the boy's +mother. Purt had to reassure her and insist that he was not going to be +arrested and sent to jail at once; so he had not much time to be frightened +himself. Indeed, he came out in rather good colors on this particular +occasion. + +The boy's father had long since died. Purt had been indulged by his mother +to a ridiculous degree, and as a usual thing Purt's conversation and his +activities were ridiculed by his schoolmates. + +"This disgrace will kill me, Prettyman!" wailed Mrs. Sweet. + +"Where does the disgrace come in," pleaded poor Purt, "when I haven't +really done anything?" + +"But they say you have!" + +"I can't help what they say." + +"You were out that evening with the car. I remember it very well," his +mother declared. + +"What of it? I wasn't on Market Street the whole evening," grumbled the +boy. + +"Where were you then?" she demanded. + +It seemed as though everybody else asked Purt Sweet that question, from the +Chief of Police down; and it was the one question the boy would not answer. + +He grew red, and sputtered, and begged the question, every time anybody +sought to discover just where he was with the automobile on that Saturday +evening after dinner. Even when Chief Donovan threatened him with arrest, +Purt said: + +"If I should tell you it wouldn't do any good. It would not relieve me of +suspicion and would maybe only make trouble for other people. I was out +with our car, and that is all there is to it. But I did not run that man +down. I was not on Market Street." + +He stuck to this. And his honest manner impressed the head of the police +force. Besides, Mrs. Sweet was very wealthy, and if Purt was arrested she +would immediately bail him and would engage the best counsel in the county +to defend her son. It is one thing to accuse a person of a fault. As Chief +Donovan very well knew, it is an entirely different matter to prove such +accusation. + +The news of Purt's trouble was not long in getting to Short and Long in the +hospital. Chet and Lance really thought the smaller boy would express some +satisfaction over Purt's trouble. But to their surprise Billy took up +cudgels for the dandy as soon as he was told that the police suspected him +of the offense. + +"What's the matter with you, Short?" demanded the big fellow. "You've been +sure Purt was guilty all the time." + +"I don't care!" declared Billy. "He's one of us fellows, isn't he?" + +"Admitted he goes to Central High," Chet said. + +"But he isn't one of our gang," Lance added. + +"I don't care! The police are always too fresh," said Billy, who had reason +for believing that the Centerport police sometimes made serious mistakes. +Billy had had his own experience, as related in "The Girls of Central High +on Lake Luna." + +"Then you don't believe Purt did it?" demanded Lance. + +"No, I don't. I was mistaken," declared Short and Long. "Purt's all right" + +"Wow! Wow!" murmured Chet. + +"See how he brought me here in his car when I was hurt. And look at the +stuff Purt's given me while I've been here," said Billy excitedly. "He'd +never have hurt that man and run away without seeing what he'd done. No, +sir!" + +"Crackey, Billy!" said Chet, "you've turned square around." + +"I know I have. And I ought to be ashamed of myself for ever distrusting +Purt," said the invalid vigorously. + +"Then why won't Purt tell where he was?" demanded Lance doubtfully. + +"I don't care where he was," said Billy. "If he says he didn't hit the man, +he didn't. That's all. And we've got to prove it, boys." + +"Some job you suggest," said Chet slowly. "It looks to me as though Pretty +Sweet was in a bad hole, and no mistake." + +Even the most charitable of his schoolmates took this view of Purt Sweet's +trouble. His denial of guilt did not establish the fact of his innocence. +His inability, or refusal, to explain where he was at the time of the +accident on Market Street in front of Mr. Belding's jewelry store made the +situation very difficult indeed. + +"If he could only put forward an alibi," Lance Darby said, when the Hill +crowd of Central High boys and girls discussed the matter. + +"But he won't say a word!" cried Nellie. "I believe he is innocent." + +"Then why doesn't he tell where he was at the time?" demanded Laura +sternly. + +"Is he scared to tell the truth?" asked Jess. + +"I don't think he is," Chet observed thoughtfully. "Somehow he acts +differently from usual." + +"You're right," Bobby declared, with frank approval of one of whom she had +never approved before. "I believe there's a big change in old Purt." + +"Well, it's strange," Laura remarked. "He never showed such obstinacy +before." + +"He's never shown any particular courage before, either," said her brother. +"That's what gets me!" + +"Where does the courage come in?" demanded Lance. + +"I believe Chet is right," Jess said. "Purt is trying to shield somebody." + +"From what?" and "Who?" were the chorused demands. + +"I don't know," Jess told them. "There is somebody else mixed up in this +trouble. It stands to reason Purt would not be so obstinate if he had +nothing to hide. And we are pretty much of the opinion--all of us--that he +really did not run that man down. Therefore, if he is not shielding some +other person, what is he about?" + +"I've asked him frankly," Chet said, "and all I could get out of him was +that he 'couldn't tell.' No sense to that," growled the big fellow. + +It seemed that Purt Sweet had pretty well succeeded in puzzling his friends +as well as the police. The latter were evidently waiting to get something +provable on poor Purt. Then a warrant would be issued for his arrest. + +By this time the stranger who had been the start of all the trouble and +mystery--the man from Alaska, as the hospital force called him--was able to +be up and wheeled in a chair, although his leg was not yet out of plaster. + +Billy Long heard of this, and he grew very anxious to see the man whose +accident was the beginning of Purt's trouble. Billy had quickly become a +favorite with both the nurses and doctors of the Centerport Hospital. He +was brave in bearing pain, and he was as generous as he could be with the +goodies and fruit and flowers that were brought to him. He divided these +with the other patients in his ward, and cheered his mates with his lively +chatter. + +At first, however, there had been an hour or so every other day when a +screen was placed about Billy's bed and the doctor and nurse had a very bad +time, indeed, dressing the dreadful burns the boy had sustained. + +Short and Long could not help screaming at times, and when he did not +really scream the others in the ward could hear his half-stifled moans and +sobs. These experiences were hard to bear. + +When the dressings were over and his courage was restored the screen was +removed from about Billy's cot and he would grin ruefully enough at his +nearer neighbors. + +"I'm an awful baby. Too tender-hearted--that's me all over," he said once. +"I never could stand seeing anybody hurt--and I can see just what they are +doing to me all the time!" + +Billy knew that the man from Alaska was being wheeled up and down the +corridor, and he begged so hard to speak with him that the nurse went out +and asked the orderly to wheel the chair in to Billy's cot. + +"So you are the brave boy I've heard about, are you?" said the stranger, +smiling at the bandaged boy from Central High. + +"I know how brave you've heard me," said Billy soberly. "I do a lot of +hollering when they are plastering me up." + +The man laughed and said: "Just the same I am glad to know you. My name +seems to have got away from me for the time being. My mind's slipped a cog, +as you might say. What do they call you, son?" + +Billy told him his name. "And," he added, "I was right there in front of +Chet Belding's father's jewelry store when that automobile knocked you +down." + +"You don't mean it?" + +"Yes, sir. I saw the machine. It was a Perriton car all right. It might +even have been Pretty Sweet's car. But it wasn't Pretty Sweet driving it, I +am sure." + +The boy's earnestness caught the man's full attention. "I guess this Sweet +boy they tell about is a friend of yours, son?" he said. + +"He is a friend all right, all right," said Billy Long. "And I never knew +it till right here when I got hurt. Purt--that's what we call him--is a +good fellow. And I am sure he wouldn't do such a thing as to knock you down +and then run away without finding out if he had hurt you." + +"I don't know how that may be," said the man seriously. "But whoever it was +that ran me down did me a bad turn. I can't find my name--or who I am--or +where I belong. I tell you what it is, Billy Long, that is a serious +condition for anybody to be in." + +"I guess that's so," admitted the boy. "And you got your leg broken, too, +in two places." + +"I don't mind much about the broken leg," said the man who had lost his +name. "What I am sore about, Billy Long, is not having any name to use. +It--it is awfully embarrassing." + +"Yes, sir, I guess it is." + +"So, you see, I don't feel very kindly toward this Sweet boy, if he was the +one who knocked me down." + +"Oh, but I'm sure he isn't the one." + +"Why are you so sure?" + +"Because he wouldn't be so mean about it, and lie, and all, if he had done +it. You see, a boy who has been so nice to me as he has, couldn't really be +so mean as all that to anybody else." + +"Not conclusive," said the man. "You only make a statement. You don't offer +proof." + +"But I--Well!" ejaculated Billy, "I'd do most anything to make you see that +Purt _couldn't_ be guilty of knocking you down." + +"I'll tell you," said the man without a name, smiling again, "I haven't any +particular hard feelings against your friend. Or I wouldn't have if I could +get my name and memory back. So you find out some way of helping me recover +my memory--you and your young friends, Billy Long--and I'll forgive the +Sweet boy, whether he hurt me or not" + +"Suppose the cops arrest him?" asked Billy worriedly. + +"I'll do all I can to keep them from annoying Sweet if you boys and girls +can find out who I am and where I belong," declared the man, laughing +somewhat ruefully. + +And Billy shook hands on that To his mind the task was not impossible. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +LAURA LISTENS + + +Laura Belding had evolved an idea regarding "Mr. Nemo of Nowhere," as Bobby +dubbed the stranger at the hospital. In fact, she had two ideas which were +entwined in her thought. But up to this point she had found no time to work +out either. + +She had taken nobody into her confidence; for Mother Wit was not one to +"tell all she knew in a minute." On both points Laura desired to consider +her way with caution. + +She went shopping with her mother to several stores on Market Street one +afternoon, skipping the rehearsal of "The Rose Garden" for this purpose. +The Christmas crowds were greater than she had ever seen them before. But +the enthusiasm for the Red Cross drive had by no means faltered in spite of +the season. + +Ember Night had gathered nearly five thousand dollars for the cause. Laura +treasured a very nicely worded letter of appreciation from the mayor's +secretary, thanking the Central High girl for her suggestion, which had +proved so efficacious in money-raising. Laura was not exhibiting this +letter to very many people, but she was secretly proud of it. + +In every store she entered Laura saw a Red Cross booth, while collectors +with padlocked boxes were weaving in and out among the shoppers. + +"Give Again! Warranted Not to Hurt You!" was the slogan. Wearing a Red +Cross button did not absolve one from being solicited. + +And she saw that the people were giving with a smile. Centerport was still +enthusiastic over the drive. Laura seriously considered what she and her +Central High girl friends were trying to do for the fund. Would the play be +a success? If they only gave one performance and the audience was not +enthusiastic enough to warrant a second, and then a third, she would +consider that they had failed. + +All of a sudden, while she was thinking of this very serious fact, Laura +came face to face with Janet Steele. + +"You are just the girl I wished most to see, Janet!" cried the Central High +girl. + +"I always want to see you, Laura Belding," declared the Red Cross girl, who +was evidently off duty and homeward bound. + +"Thank you, dear," Laura said. "You must prove that. I want you to do me a +favor." + +"What can I possibly do for you?" laughed Janet. "Hurry and tell me." + +"You may not be so willing after you hear what it is." + +"You doubt my willingness to prove my friendship?" demanded Janet soberly. + +"Not a bit of it! But, listen here." She told Janet swiftly what she +desired, and from the sparkle in her eyes and the rising flush in her face +it was easily seen that Laura had not asked a favor that Janet would not +willingly give. + +"Oh, but my dear!" she cried, "I shall have to ask mother." + +"I presume you will," said Laura, smiling. "Shall I go along with you and +see what she says?" + +"Can you?" + +"I have done all my mother's errands--look at these bundles," said Laura. +"We might as well have this matter settled at once. Your mother won't mind +my coming in this way, will she?" + +"You may come in any way you wish, and any time you wish, my dear," said +Janet warmly. "Mother very much approves of you." + +"It is sweet of you to say so," returned the girl of Central High. "I shall +be quite sure she approves of me if she lets you do what I want in this +case, Janet," and she laughed again as they turned off the busy main street +into a quieter one. + +The invalid was at the long window, and beckoned to Laura to come in before +she saw that that was the visitor's intention. + +"I cannot begin to tell you how delighted we are to have you girls call," +Mrs. Steele said, when she had greeted both her daughter and Laura with a +kiss. "It would be so nice if Janet could go to school; then she might +bring home a crowd of young folks every afternoon," and the invalid +laughed. + +"But, you see, Miss Belding, I am so trying in the morning. It does seem +that it is all Aunt Jinny and Janet can do to get me out of my bed, and +dressed, and fed, and seated here on my throne for the day." + +"It seems too bad that the weather is not so you can go out," Laura said. + +"Oh, I almost never go out," Mrs. Steele replied. "Though I tell Janet that +when spring comes, if we can only get the agent to repair that porch, she +can wheel me back and forth on it in my chair." + +"Better than that, dear Mrs. Steele," Laura promised, "we will come with +our car and take you for a ride all over Centerport, and along the Lakeside +Drive. It is beautiful in the spring." + +"How nice of you!" cried the invalid. "But that, of course, depends upon +whether we are in Centerport when the pleasant weather comes," said Mrs. +Steele sadly. + +"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Laura, "do you mean that you think of going away?" + +"Now, Mother!" murmured Janet, as though the thought was repugnant to her, +too. + +"How can we tell?" cried the invalid, just a little excitedly. "You know, +Janet, if we should hear of your uncle----" + +"Oh, Mother!" sighed the girl, "I do wish you would give up hope of Uncle +Jack's ever turning up again." + +"Don't talk that way," said her mother sharply. "You do not know Jack as I +do. He was only my half brother, but the very nicest boy who ever lived. +Why, he gave up all his share of the income from my father's estate to me, +and went off to the wilds to seek his own fortune. + +"How was he to know that some of the investments poor father made would +turn out badly, and that our income would be reduced to a mere pittance? +For I tell you, Miss Belding," added the invalid less vehemently, "that we +have almost nothing, divided by three, to live on. That is, an income for +one must support us three. Aunt Jinny is one of us, you know." + +"Now, Mother!" begged Janet "Sha'n't I get tea for us?" + +"Of course! What am I thinking of?" returned her mother. "Tell Aunt Jinny +to make it in the flowered teapot I fancy the flowered teapot to-day--and +the blue-striped cups and saucers. + +"Do you know, Miss Belding, what the complete delight of wealth is? It is +an ability to see variety about one in the home. You need not use the same +old cups and saucers every day! If I were rich I would have the furniture +changed in my room every few days. Sameness is my _bête noire_." + +"It must be very hard for you, shut in so much," said Laura quietly. + +"And poor Janet is shut in a good deal of the time with me, and suffers +because of my crotchets. Ah, if we could only find Jack Weld--my half +brother, you know, Miss Belding. He went away to make his fortune, and I +believe he made it. He has probably settled down somewhere, in good health +and with plenty, and without an idea as to our situation. He never was a +letter writer. And he had every reason to suppose that we were well fixed +for life. Then, we have moved about so much----" + +Janet came back with the tea things. Mrs. Steele left the subject of her +brother, and Laura found opportunity of broaching the matter on which she +had come. What she wished Janet to do pleased the latter's mother +immensely. She was, in fact, delighted. + +"How nice of you to suggest it, Miss Belding," said Mrs. Steele. "I know +Janet will be glad to do it. Will you not, Janet?" + +"I--I'll try," said her daughter, flushed and excited at the prospect +Laura's suggestion opened before her. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TWO THINGS ABOUT HESTER + + +Scarcely was Bobby Hargrew of a happier disposition and of more volatile +temperament than the Lockwood twins. Dora and Dorothy, while still chubby +denizens of the nursery, saw that the world was bound to be full of fun for +them if they attacked it in the right spirit. + +Dora and Dorothy's mother had died when they were very small, and the twins +had been left to the mercy of relatives and servants, some of whom did not +understand the needs of the growing girls as their mother would have done. +Much of this is told in "The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna." + +Almost as soon as the twins could stagger about in infant explorations of +the house and grounds, they were wont to exchange the red and blue ribbons +tied on their dimpled wrists by their nurse to tell them apart. For never +were two creatures so entirely alike as Dora and Dorothy Lockwood. + +And they had grown to maidenhood with, seemingly, the same features, the +same voices, the same tastes, and with an unbounded love for and confidence +in each other. As they always dressed alike nobody could be sure which was +Dora and which Dorothy. + +Now that they were well along in high school, the twins had been put on +their honor not to recite for each other or to help each other in any +unfair way. There really was a very close tie between them--almost an +uncanny chord of harmony. Indeed, if one was punished the other wept! + +The teachers of Central High were fond of the twins--all save Miss +Carrington. Her attitude of considering the pupils her deadly enemies +extended to the happy-go-lucky sisters. She did not believe there was such +a thing as "school-girl honor." That is why she had such a hard time with +her pupils. + +In the play the girls of Central High were rehearsing, Dora and Dorothy +played two distinct characters. Makeup and costume made this possible. But +at the first dress rehearsal the twins pretty nearly broke up the scene in +which they both appeared on the stage, by reciting each other's parts. + +Dora was an old, old woman--a village witch with a cane--while Dorothy was +a frisky young matron from the city. When they met by the rustic well in +the rose garden, haunted by that "dark lady" who was giving Mr. Mann so +much trouble, Dora uttered the sprightly lines of her blooming sister, +while the latter mouthed the old hag's prophecies. + +It was ridiculous, of course, and the girls could not go on with the +rehearsal for some minutes because of their laughter. But Mr. Mann was not +so well pleased. Dora and Dorothy promised not to do it again. + +"If I'd done anything like that, you'd all have jumped on me," Hester +Grimes declared with a sniff. "It wouldn't have been considered funny at +all." + +"And it wouldn't have been," murmured Jess to Laura. + +"There is one thing about you, Hessie," said Bobby, in her most honeyed +tone, "that 'precludes,' as Gee Gee would say, your doing such a thing." + +"What's that, Miss Smarty?" + +"You are not twins," declared Bobby, with gravity. "So you could not very +well play that trick." + +"Oh, my!" murmured Nellie, "what would we do if Hester were twins?" + +"Don't mention it!" begged Jess. "The thought is terrifying." + +But there proved to be a second thing about Hester which came out +prominently within the week. This was something that not many of the girls +of Central High had suspected before the moment of revelation. + +The first performance of "The Rose Garden" was set for Friday night. There +would follow a matinee and evening performance on Saturday--provided, of +course, the first performance encouraged the managers to go on with the +production. + +"It all depends," sighed Jess, bearing a deal of the responsibility for the +success of the piece on her young shoulders. "If we are punk, then nobody +will come back to see the show a second time, or advise other folks to see +it. And if we don't make a heap of money for the Red Cross, after all the +advertising we've had, what will folks think of us?" + +They were really all worried by the fear of failure. All but Hester. She +did not appear to care. And it did seem as though every time she rehearsed +she made the "dark lady" of the rose garden more wooden and impossible than +before. + +At length Mr. Mann had given her up as hopeless. It seemed impossible to +make Hester act like a human being even, let alone like a graceful lady. + +"So you see, now that he lets me alone, I do very well," asserted Hester, +with vast assurance and a characteristic toss of her head. "I knew I was +right all the time. Now, finally, Mr. Mann admits it." + +When she said this to Lily, even Lily had her doubts. When Bobby heard her +say it, she fairly hooted her scorn. + +Of course, Hester instantly flew into a rage with Bobby. This was only two +days before the fateful Friday and before recitations in the morning. The +girls had gathered in the main lower corridor of Central High. The bell for +classes had not yet rung. + +"I'll show you how smart you are, Clara Hargrew!" Hester almost screamed. +"I've a good mind to slap you!" + +"That might make me smart, Hess," drawled the smaller girl coolly. "But it +would not change the facts in the case at all. You are spoiling the whole +play--the most effective scenes in it, too--by your obstinacy. Mr. Mann has +given you up as a bad egg, that's all. If the play is a failure, it will be +your fault." + +And for once Laura Belding did not interfere to stop Bobby's tart tongue. +Perhaps the bell for assembly rang too quickly for Mother Wit to interfere. +At any rate, before Hester could make any rejoinder, they were hurrying in +to their seats. + +But the big girl was in a towering rage. She was fairly pale, she was so +angry. Her teeth were clenched. Her eyes sparkled wrathfully. She was in no +mood to face Miss Grace G. Harrington, who chanced to have the juniors +before her for mediæval history during the first period on this Wednesday +morning. + +Naturally, with the first performance of the play but two days away, those +girls who were to act in it could not give their undivided attention to +recitations. But Miss Carrington had determined to make no concessions. + +She was firmly convinced that Central High should support no such farcical +production as "The Rose Garden." Anything classical--especially if it were +beyond the acting ability of the girls--would have pleased the obstinate +woman. + +"Something," as Nellie said, "in which we would all be draped in Greek +style, in sheets, and wear sandals and flesh colored hose, covered from +neck to instep, and with long speeches in blank verse to mouth. That is the +sort of a performance to satisfy Miss Carrington." + +"Amen!" agreed Bobby. + +"Wait till she sees Bobby's knickers," chuckled Dora Lockwood. "You know +Gee Gee always looks as though she wanted to put on blinders when she comes +into the girls' gym." + +Of course, these remarks were not passed in history class. But Dora was +somehow inattentive just the same on this morning. She sat on one side of +Hester Grimes and Dorothy on the other. The angry girl between the twins +looked like a vengeful high priestess of Trouble--and Trouble appeared. + +Miss Carrington asked Dora a direct question, speaking her name as she +always did, and glaring at the twin in question near-sightedly, in an +endeavor to see the girl's lips move when she answered. She was sure of +Dora's seat; but, of course, she could not be sure whether Dora or Dorothy +was sitting in it. Her refusal to accept the fact that the twins were on +their honor kept Miss Carrington in doubt. + +"Relate some incident, with date, in the life of Saladin, Dora," the +teacher commanded. + +Dora hesitated. This was a "jump question," as the pupils called it. Miss +Carrington, as she frequently did, had gone back several lessons for this +query, and Dora was hazy about Saladin. + +"Come, Dora!" ejaculated the teacher harshly. "Have you no answer?" + +Dorothy leaned forward to look across Hester's desk at her sister. She was +anxious that Dora should not fail. She would have imparted, could she have +done so, her knowledge of Saladin to her twin. But there was only nervous +anxiety in her look and manner. + +The moment Dora's lips opened and she began her reply, Hester turned +sharply and stared at Dorothy. It was a despicable trick--a mean and +contemptible attempt to get the twins into trouble. And Hester did it +deliberately. + +She knew that Miss Carrington was much more near-sighted than she was +willing to acknowledge. Seeing Hester look at Dorothy caused the teacher to +believe that Dorothy was answering for her sister. + +"Stop!" commanded Miss Carrington, rising quickly from her seat on the +platform. + +Dora, who had begun very well at last, halted in her answer and looked +surprised. Miss Carrington was glaring now at Dorothy. + +"How dare you, Dorothy Lockwood?" she demanded, her face quite red with +anger. "There is no trusting any of you girls. Cheat!" + +There was a sudden intake of breath all over the room. Some of the girls +looked positively horror-stricken. For the teacher to use such an +expression shocked Laura, and Jess, and Nellie for an instant, as though +the word had been addressed to them personally. + +"Oh!" gasped Jess. + +The. teacher flashed her a glance. "Silence, Miss Morse!" + +Dorothy had risen slowly to her feet. "What--what do you mean, Miss +Carrington?" she whispered. "Do you say I--I have _cheated?"_ + +"Cheat!" repeated the teacher, with an index finger pointing Dorothy down. +"I saw you. I heard you. You started to answer for your sister." + +"I did not!" cried the accused girl. + +"She certainly did not, Miss Carrington!" repeated Dora, rising likewise. + +"Silence!" exclaimed Miss Carrington. "I would not believe either of you. +You are both disgracing your classmates and Central High." + +A sibilant hiss rose in the back of the room. The girls were more angry at +this outburst of the teacher than all of them dared show. + +Dorothy burst into a fit of weeping. She covered her face with her hands +and ran out of the room. Dora, defying Miss Carrington, muttered: + +"Ugly, mean thing!" + +Then she ran after her sister. The room was in tense excitement. Miss +Carrington saw suddenly that she positively had nobody on her side. She +began to question the girls immediately surrounding the twins' seats. + +"You saw her answer for her sister, Miss Morse?" + +"I did not," declared Jess icily. + +"Were you not looking at Dorothy, Laura?" asked the teacher. + +"No, Miss Carrington. I was looking at Dora." + +"And Dora answered!" cried the usually gentle and retiring Nellie Agnew. + +"Why----Miss Grimes!" exclaimed the disturbed teacher. "You know that +Dorothy was answering for her sister?" + +"Oh, no, Miss Carrington," denied Hester. + +"But you looked at her?" + +"Yes." + +"What for?" snapped the teacher. + +"Why," drawled Hester, "that pin Dorothy wears in her blouse was on crooked +and it attracted my attention." + +That was the second thing about Hester Grimes. She was not alone a dunce +when it came to acting, she was a prevaricator as well. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AND A THIRD THING + + +What might have happened following this explosion of bad temper and +ill-feeling, had Mr. Sharp himself not entered the room, nobody will ever +know. Miss Carrington had been led into a most unjust and unkind criticism +of the Lockwood twins. She had been deliberately led into it by Hester +Grimes. She knew Hester had done this. + +The other girls knew it, too; and they all, the young folks, believed that +the teacher had been most cruel and unfair. + +Mr. Sharp could not have failed to appreciate the fact that there was a +tense feeling in the room that never arose from an ordinary recitation in +mediæval history. But he smilingly overlooked anything of the kind. + +"Pardon me, Miss Carrington--and you, young ladies," he said, bowing and +smiling. "I have been in the senior classes, and now I am here to make the +same statement I made there, and that I shall make to the sophomores later. +May I speak to your class, Miss Carrington?" + +Miss Carrington could not find her voice, but she bowed her permission for +the principal to go on. + +"Several of you young ladies," said Mr. Sharp, "are to take part in the +play on Friday evening. Your work, in school, I fear, is being scamped a +bit. Do the best you can; give your interest and attention as well as you +may to the recitations. + +"But I wish to announce that, until after this week, we teachers will +excuse such failures as you may make in your work; only, of course, all +faults will have to be made up after the holidays. We want you to give the +play in a way to bring honor upon the school as a whole. + +"I have enjoyed your last two rehearsals, and feel confident that, with a +few raw spots smoothed over, you will produce 'The Rose Garden' in a way to +please your friends and satisfy your critics. The faculty as a whole feel +as I do about it. Go in and win!" + +The little speech cleared the atmosphere of the class-room immediately. It +did not please Miss Carrington, of course; but the girls felt that they +could even forgive her after what Mr. Sharp had said. + +Dora and Dorothy Lockwood had been insulted and maligned. They did not +appear again at that recitation. + +"But do you think old Gee Gee would say that she was wrong, and beg their +pardon?" demanded Bobby, at recess. "Not on your life!" + +"I don't know that a teacher in her situation could publicly acknowledge +she was utterly in the wrong," Laura observed thoughtfully. + +"I would like to know why not?" demanded Jess Morse. + +"Why, you see, the fault really lies upon the conscience of one of us +girls," said Laura, looking significantly at Hester. + +The latter turned furiously, as though she had been waiting for and +expecting just this criticism. But surely she had not expected it from this +source. All the girls were amazed to hear Laura speak so harshly. + +"Oh, Laura!" murmured Jess. "Now you have done it! She's going to blow up!" + +"And she'll leave us flat on the play business," groaned Bobby. + +Hester came across the reception room to Laura with flashing eyes and her +face mottled with rage. + +"What is that you say, Laura Belding?" she demanded. + +"I will repeat it," said Laura firmly. "The whole trouble is on your +conscience. You deliberately led Miss Carrington astray." + +"Oh! I did, did I?" + +"You most certainly did. Miss Carrington was both cruel to Dora and Dorothy +and unfair. But you knew her failing, and you led her to believe that +Dorothy was answering the question she put to Dora. No wonder Miss +Carrington was angered." + +"Is that so?" sneered Hester. "And who are you, to tell me when I'm wrong?" + +"Somebody has to tell you, Hester," said Jess sweetly, for she was bound to +take up cudgels for her chum. + +"And you can mind your business, too, Jess Morse!" snarled Hester. + +"Dear, dear!" Nellie begged. "Let us not quarrel." + +Yet for once Mother Wit seemed determined upon making trouble. Usually +acting as peacemaker, the girls around her were amazed to hear her say: + +"You are quite in the wrong, Hester. And you know it. You should beg Miss +Carrington's pardon; and you should ask pardon of all of us, as well as of +Dora and Dorothy, for disgracing the class." + +"What do you mean?" screamed Hester Grimes. "Do you suppose I would tell +old Gee Gee that it was my fault?" + +"You deliberately prevaricated--to her and to us," said Laura calmly. + +"Call me a story-teller, do you?" cried the butcher's daughter. "How dare +you! I'll get even with you, Laura Belding!" + +"It is the truth," Laura said, slowly and firmly. + +"I'll fix you for this, Laura Belding!" pursued Hester, trembling with +rage. She turned to sweep them all with her angry glance. "I'll fix you +all! I won't have anything to do with any of you out of school--so there! +And I won't act in your hateful old play!" + +She ran out of the room as she said this and left the girls--at least, most +of them--in a state of blank despair. The bell rang for the next session +before anybody could speak. + +Laura seemed quite calm and unruffled. The others got through their +recitations as best they could until lunch hour. Jess and Bobby caught up +with Laura on the street when the latter went out for her customary walk. + +"Oh, Laura! What shall we do?" almost wept Jess. "Only two days! Nobody can +learn that part--not even as good as Hester knew it--before Friday night." + +At that moment Chet Belding appeared from around the corner. He was red and +almost breathless--in a high state of excitement, and no mistake. + +"What do you think, girls?" he cried, "We got a line on Purt Sweet's +automobile and why he has been hiding about where it was that Saturday +night the man from Alaska was hurt." + +"What is it? Tell us?" asked Laura. + +"I met Dan Smith. He goes to the East High, you know, and he lives across +the street from the Grimes' place. You know?" + +"Hester Grimes?" cried Jess. + +"Yes. Your dear friend. Well, Dan was up all night that night with a raging +toothache. He said the Grimes' had a party. Purt was there with his car. +Dan knows the car was taken away from the house and was gone more than an +hour that evening, and that Purt did not go with the car. + +"See? He's shielding somebody--the poor fish!" added Chet. "That is what +Short and Long has been saying. Now, what do you know about that?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST PURT + + +The news Chet had divulged was so exciting that the girls quite forgot for +the time being the wreck that Hester Grimes seemed to have made of the +forthcoming performance of "The Rose Garden." + +Their chattering tongues mentioned Hester more than once, however, as they +discussed Chet's news. Whether Purt Sweet's car had run down the man from +Alaska or not, what did Hester know about it? + +"Can it be possible that Purt is shielding Hester in this matter?" Laura +queried gravely. + +"Oh, it couldn't be! She wasn't in that car that knocked down Mr. Nemo of +Nowhere," Bobby declared emphatically; + +"He has always favored Hester and Lil," Jess + +"Pooh!" again put in the irrepressible. "That's only because Pretty Sweet +thinks there is nothing in this world so good or great as money; and both +the Grimes and the Pendleton families have got oodles of it." + +"I don't know about that," Chet said quite as thoughtfully as his sister. +"It may not be their folks' money that attracts Purt to those two girls." + +"What then?" demanded Bobby. + +"They flatter him. He can lap that up like our cat laps cream." + +"That is true," agreed Jess Morse. + +"Certainly we don't flatter, him," Bobby said bluntly. + +"It may be that we have never given Purt a fair deal," Laura observed. +"Hester and Lil do not make fun of him." + +"And is he paying Hester back by shouldering something for her?" Jess +asked. + +"Oh, she never was in that car when it was taken away from where Purt had +it parked before the Grimes' house," Chet hastened to declare with +assurance. "I got all the facts from Dan Smith. He'd swear to them." + +"Let us hear the particulars," begged Laura. + +"Why, Dan says he was up at his window on the third floor of their house +watching the lights in the Grimes' house. It was a big party. Dancing on +the lower floor, and a crowd of folks. He saw two men--or maybe boys--run +out of the side door and down to the gate, as though they were sneaking +away from some of the others, you know." + +"Well?" his sister responded. "Go on." + +"Dan didn't know the fellows. Fact was, he couldn't see their faces very +well, and so he could not be sure of their identity in any case." + +"The street is pretty wide there, it's a fact," murmured Bobby. + +"Those two fellows looked back as though they expected to be spied upon. +But they went to the car, found it was all right (Purt had the radiator +blanketed) and got in. The starter worked, and she got into action as slick +as a whistle, Dan said. He thought it was all right or he would have raised +the window and halloaed at 'em. There were no girls with them. The two +fellows went off alone in the car." + +"There were two men in the car that struck Mr. Nemo of Nowhere," murmured +Bobby. + +"Purt appeared, Dan says, after a little while and looked for the car. He +got quite excited. Asked everybody that came along if they had seen it. He +was in a stew for fair. And while he was running up and down, popping off +like an engine exhaust, back came the car with only one of the fellows in +it." + +"Ha! The mystery deepens," said Jess, in mock tragic tones. "What became of +the other villain?" + +"You answer that question," grinned Chet. "You asked it!" + +"But what happened then?" asked Laura interestedly. + +"There was a row between Purt and the fellow who brought back the car. Purt +pointed to the mudguard on the off side, as though it had been bent, or +scraped in some way----" + +"That's what struck the man as he fell on Market Street," interrupted Bobby +with confidence. "I saw it hit him." + +"It was blood on the guard," said Laura. + +"Oh, my!" gasped Jess. "Do you suppose so?" + +"Like enough," Chet agreed. "But it was too far away for Dan to see. And +finally Purt drove off without returning to the house with the other +fellow." + +"But who was he?" Jess asked. + +"Who?" + +"The fellow Purt quarreled with for taking the car." + +"Give it up," said Chet, shaking his head. + +"And what became of the other man?" Laura queried. + +"There were two in the car when it hit the man from Alaska," Jess declared. + +"Gee!" ejaculated Bobby. "There's the nine-ten express west" + +"Who----What do you mean, young one?" demanded Chet. + +"'Young one' yourself!" snapped Clara Hargrew, immediately on her dignity. +"There are no medals on you for age, Chet Belding." + +"Or whiskers, either," laughed Laura, slyly eyeing her brother, for she was +aware that he had a safety razor hidden away in his bureau drawer. + +"Come, come!" said Jess, "What about this nine-ten express Bobby spoke of?" + +"Why," said the younger girl, "I noticed Mr. Belding's clock--the big +chronometer in the show window--as we came out of the store that Saturday +evening. It was just nine o'clock when we stood there and saw Mr. Nemo of +Nowhere run down by the car. Anybody driving that car could have made the +railroad station just about in time for the ten minutes' past nine +express--the Cannon Ball, don't they call it?" + +"That is the train," admitted Laura. "But why----" + +"Just wait a minute. Give me time," advised Bobby. "That car that did the +damage was headed for the station." + +"True," murmured Jess. "At least, it was going in that direction." + +"And when Purt's car came back to the Grimes' house after those two fellows +Dan Smith saw run away with it, there was only one person in the car. The +second individual had been dropped." + +"At the station!" exclaimed Chet, catching the idea. "That is why they +stole Purt's car." + +"I declare," Laura said. "Your idea sounds very reasonable, Bobby." + +"Bobby is right there with the brainworks," said Chet, with admiration. + +"Oh," said Bobby, "I'm not altogether 'non compos mend-us,' as the fellow +said." + +Chet was very serious, after all. "I tell you what," he blurted out, "if +Purt won't help himself with the police, maybe we can get him out of the +muss in spite of all." + +"Why does he want to act the donkey?" demanded Jess. + +"Are you sure he is?" asked Laura thoughtfully. + +"I tell you," said the excited Chet, "we can find out who had to leave +Hester Grimes' party to catch that express. It ought to be a good lead. +What do you think, Laura?" + +"I am wondering," said Mother Wit, "if we have always been fair to +Prettyman Sweet? Of course, he is silly in some ways, and dresses +ridiculously, and is not much of a sport. But if he is keeping still about +this matter so as not to make trouble for Hester, or any of her folks, +there is something fine in his action, don't you think?" + +"Well--yes," admitted Jess. "It would seem so." + +"I never thought of poor Purt as a chivalrous knight," said Bobby. + +"Maybe Laura is right," remarked Chet, rather grudgingly. + +"He is much more of a gentleman, perhaps, than we have given him credit for +being," Laura concluded. "I hope it is proved so in the end." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE LAST REHEARSAL + + +That afternoon, when the girls gathered for rehearsal, Hester, nor anybody +else, appeared to play "the dark lady of the roses." Mr. Mann made no +comment upon this fact, but he looked very serious, indeed. + +The play was acted from the first entrance to the final curtain. The other +characters had to speak of, and even to, the important and missing +character, and it was plain to all as the play progressed that the absence +of "the dark lady" was going to be a fatal hindrance to the success of the +piece. + +Even Lily Pendleton, Hester's last lingering friend, showed a good deal of +spleen at Hester's action. + +"I never will forgive Hessie," Lily said, almost in tears. And the other +girls had to urge her over and over again to be sure and come herself on +Thursday for the last dress rehearsal. + +"If the piece is wrecked, let us be castaways together," begged Jess. +"Don't anybody else fail. Promise, girls!" + +They promised sadly. Mr. Mann had hurried away as soon as the last words +were said. + +"Too disgusted to even speak to us," Nellie said sadly. "I am real sorry +for him, girls. He has tried so hard." + +"He deserves a leather medal," said Bobby emphatically. + +"And what do we deserve?" demanded one of the twins. + +"I know what Hester Grimes deserves," said Bobby darkly. + +It was not likely, however, that Hester Grimes would get her deserts. They +were all agreed on that point, if on no other. + +That Wednesday afternoon when the girls separated it was with drooping +spirits--all but Laura Belding, at least. Perhaps it was because she always +had so many irons in the fire that trouble seemed to roll off her young +shoulders like rainwater off a duck's feathers. + +At least, when she started for the street car that took her to the hospital +before she went home, she was cheerful of countenance and smiling. She +carried that same cheerfulness into the hospital itself and to Billy Long's +ward. + +The active Billy was, as he himself expressed it, "fed up" on the hospital +by now. He was grateful for what they had done for him there and the way in +which they treated him in every way, but confinement was beginning to wear +on his spirits. + +"Gee, Laura Belding!" ejaculated the young patient, seizing her hand with +both his own when she appeared, "a sight of you is just a stop-station this +side of eternity. Have they changed the hours? Aren't they twice as long as +they used to be?" + +"No, indeed, my poor boy," Laura said. "There are only sixty minutes in +each. I wish I could shorten the time for you." + +"Take it from me," growled Short and Long, having hard work to keep back +the tears, "this being in bed is the bunk. Don't let anybody tell you +different." + +But Laura caught his attention the next moment with Purt Sweet's trouble. +What Chet had found out from Dan Smith, Hester Grimes' neighbor, interested +the quick mind of Billy Long immensely. + +"Gee! I knew it must be something like that. Sure! Purt is shielding +somebody for Hester. That's it!" + +"Have you no idea who it can be? The man who drove the car, I mean, or the +one who possibly took the nine-ten express out of town that night? Hester +has no brothers----" + +"Say!" exclaimed Billy, "there is somebody who will know. If Purt was there +at the party, so was Lil Pendleton." + +"Lily!" exclaimed Laura. "I never thought of her." + +"And if she is likely to be sore on Hester now, as you say you all are," +Billy continued, "she won't be for shielding Hester or any of her friends +or relatives. Let me tell you that!" + +"I believe she must have been at the party. Hester invites her to +everything of the kind she has; although she seldom invites any of the +other girls of Central High." + +"Go to it!" urged the patient "Ask Lil Pendleton. I'd like to have Purt +cleared of this. I told that man from Alaska so. But, gee, Laura! I wish we +could find some way of giving him the right steer." + +"You mean you would like to help him find his name and identity?" + +"Yep. He says sometimes he feels that he is just going to remember--then it +all dissipates in his mind like a cloud. He's bad off, he is!" + +"I am going to see him now. I have an idea, Billy." + +"You're always full of ideas, Laura," the boy said admiringly. "I've been +raking my poor nut back and forth and crossways, without getting a glimmer +of an idea how to help him. He says if we can show him how to find his +memory, he'll do all he can for Purt," Billy added wistfully. + +"You are very anxious to help Prettyman Sweet, aren't you, Billy?" +suggested the girl of Central High as she rose to go. + +"You bet I am." + +"Why? You boys never thought much of him before, you know." + +Billy flushed, but he stuck to his guns. "I tell you," he said, "we never +gave Purt a fair deal, I guess. He's all right. He isn't like Chet, or +Lance, or Reddy Butts, or the rest of the fellows, but there's good parts +to Purt." + +"You think he has proved himself a better fellow than you thought before?" + +"You bet!" said Billy vigorously. "He's been mighty nice to me; and I +always was playing jokes on him, and--Aw! when a fellow lies like I do in +bed and has so much time to think, he gets on to himself," added the boy +gruffly. "Sending dead fish to other fellows isn't such a smart joke after +all." + +"I am going to see your friend, the Alaskan miner, now," the girl said, +squeezing the boy's hand understandingly. + +"If you find out some way of jogging his memory, I'd like to be in on it," +Billy cried. + +"You shall," promised Laura, as she tripped away. + +By this time Laura was so well known at the hospital that nobody stopped +her from going to the unknown man's private room where he was now +established with his particular nurse. He hailed the girl's appearance +almost as gladly as Billy Long had done. + +"Your bright young faces make you high-school girls--and the boys, of +course--as welcome as can be," he said. "I'd like to do something when I +get out of this hospital in return for all your kindness to me. But if I +can't get a grip on what and who I am----" + +"I have thought of a way by which we may help you to that," interjected +Laura. "You know, you must have been doing something all these years since +you won your fortune in Alaska." + +"Surely! But what became of my wealth? That is a hard question." + +"Perhaps we can help you find out what you have been doing. Then you will +gradually remember it all. Have you those bank-notes they say you carried +in your pocket when you were brought in?" + +"Why, they are in the hospital safe. I haven't had to use much of my money +yet," he said, puzzled. + +"I want to look at that money--all of it," said Laura. "It is too late +to-night, but to-morrow afternoon I will come with my brother, and I wish +you would have those bank-notes here. I have an idea." + +"I'll do just as you say, Miss Laura," said the man. "But I don't +understand----" + +"You will," she told him, laughing, as she hurried away. + +There was, therefore, much puzzlement of mind in several quarters that +night--and Laura Belding was partly at fault. She retained all her usual +placidity, and even on the morrow, when she went to school and found the +other girls so very despondent about the play, she refused to join in their +prophecies of ill. + +This was the day of the last rehearsal. Mr. Mann had told them that he +wished the actors to rest between this dress rehearsal and the first public +performance of "The Rose Garden" on the following evening. + +"I just know it will be a dreadful fizzle," wailed Jess, before Mr. Mann +called the rise of the curtain. + +Everything was in readiness, however, for a perfect rehearsal. The curtain +was properly manipulated and the scene shifters, the light man, and all the +other helpers were at their stations, as well as the orchestra in the pit. + +The girls had been excused from studies at one o'clock--of course, greatly +to Miss Carrington's disapproval. Since her "run-in" with the Lockwood +twins, as Bobby inelegantly called it, the teacher had been less exacting, +although quite as stern-looking as ever. + +Dora and Dorothy, being cheerful souls, had recovered from their excitement +over the incident in history class, and were so much interested in their +parts in the play now that they forgot all about Gee Gee's ill treatment. + +Indeed, when the curtain was rung up every girl in the piece was in a state +of excitement. Although they felt that the failure of the part of "the dark +lady of the roses" would utterly ruin some of the best lines and most +telling points in the play, they were all ready to act their own parts with +vigor and a real appreciation of what those parts meant. + +Bobby, as the sailor lad, came on with a rolling gait that would have done +credit to any "garby" in the Navy. Jess, as the swashbuckling hero, +swaggered about the stage in a delightful burlesque of such a character, as +the author intended the part to be played. + +Then the lights were lowered for the evening glow and "Adrian" turned to +point out the "dark lady"--that mysterious figure supposed to haunt the +rose garden and for weal or woe influence the hero's house and his affairs. + +Jess recited her lines roundly, pointing the while to the garden along the +shadowy paths of which the dark lady of the roses was supposed to wander. +With incredible amazement--a shock that was more real than Jess could +possibly have expressed in any feigned surprise--she beheld the dark lady +as the book read, moving quietly across the garden, gracefully swaying as +she lightly trod the fictitious sod, stooping to pluck and then kissing the +rose, and finally disappearing into the wings with a flash of brilliant +eyes and the revelation of a charming countenance for the audience. + +It was lucky that this signaled the curtain's fall on the first act, or +Jess Morse would have spoiled her own good work by the expression of her +amazement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MR. NEMO, OF NOWHERE + + +"Who is it?" + +"Can it be Margit Salgo?" + +"How very, very wonderful!" + +These were some of the ejaculations of the girls behind the scenes. + +At just the right moment the figure of the dark lady had glided from the +dressing-rooms to the wings and gone on at the cue. Her acting gave just +the needed touch to the pretty scene. Her appearance had been most +charming. And, above all, the surprise had been "such a relief!" + +"I'm so glad Hester got mad with us and refused to act," sighed Bessie +Yeager. "Whoever this girl is, she is fine." + +"Is it a professional Mr. Mann has engaged?" somebody wanted to know. + +"Laura Belding! Laura Belding!" cried Dora. "What do you know about it?" + +"I warrant Laura knows all about it," said Jess, recovered from her +amazement. "It is just like Mother Wit to have saved us. And I believe I +recognize that very charming Lady Mystery--do I not?" + +"Isn't she splendid?" cried Laura, enthusiastically, "I knew she could do +it. And Mr. Mann has been giving her an hour's training every day for a +week." + +"Goodness!" drawled Lily Pendleton, "how did you know Hester would cut up +so mean?" + +"Doesn't she always do something to queer us if she can?" snapped Bobby. +"Laura, you are a wonder!" + +"It is Janet Steele," declared Jess. "Of course! I should have thought of +her myself. She is all right--just the one we needed." + +And it took some courage on Jess' part for her to say this, for she knew +that Chet Belding had expressed very warm admiration indeed of Janet +Steele. + +The rehearsal went off splendidly after that. Everybody was encouraged. The +rotund little Mr. Mann beamed--"more than ever like a cherub," Bobby +declared. They came to the final curtain with tremendous applause from the +back benches where some of the faculty sat in the dark. + +"And I do believe," said Nellie Agnew, in almost a scared voice, "that Gee +Gee applauded! Can it be possible, girls? Do you suppose that for once she +gives us credit for knowing a little something?" + +"If she applauded, her hands slipped by mistake!" grumbled Bobby. "You know +very well that nothing would change Gee Gee's opinion. Not even an +earthquake." + +It was late when the rehearsal was over, and Laura knew that Chet would be +waiting outside with their car. She hurried Jess and Bobby, and even Janet, +into their outer wraps as quickly as possible. + +"For you might as well go along with us, Janet," Laura said to the new girl +"We're going to the hospital first, but we'll drop you at your home coming +back." + +Just what they were to do at the hospital nobody knew save Laura and Chet, +and they refused to explain. When they arrived at the institution they went +directly to the private room now occupied by Mr. Nemo of Nowhere. + +Billy Long, up in a chair for the first time, was present to greet the +girls of Central High. And the man from Alaska seemed particularly glad to +see them. + +"Here is the money, Miss Laura," he said, producing a packet of crisp +bank-notes. "I'd give it all to know just who I am. I seem to be right on +the verge of discovering it to-day; yet something balks me." + +"Oh, look at all that money!" crowed Billy, as Laura accepted the bills, +while Chet, with the help of the interested nurse, arranged the bed-table +and gave the man a pad and a fountain pen. + +The head surgeon, who had taken a great interest in the case and with whom +Laura had already conferred, tiptoed into the room and stood to look on. + +"You bankers," said Laura, laughing, and speaking to the patient, "are +always so much better off than ordinary folks. You pass out any old kind of +money to your customers; but you never see a banker with anything but new +bank-notes in his pocket." + +The man listened to her sharply. A sudden quickened interest appeared in +his countenance. The others heard Mother Wit's speech with growing +excitement. + +"See," said the girl of Central High, extracting one of the bank-notes from +the packet "Here is another bill on the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, +Ohio. Did you notice that? Doesn't it sound familiar to you?" + +She repeated the name of the bank and its locality slowly. "You have more +bills of that same bank. But none like the one you gave Chet when you +bought that lavallière for 'the nice little girl' you told him you expected +to give it to." + +The man stared at her. He seemed enthralled by what she said. Laura +proceeded in her quiet way: + +"Just write this name, please: 'Bedford Knox.' Thanks. Now write it again. +He is cashier of your bank in Osage, Ohio." + +Jess barely stifled a cry with her handkerchief. But everybody else was +silent, watching the man laboriously writing the name as requested by +Laura. + +It was a disappointment. No doubt of that The man did not write the name as +though he were familiar with it at all. But Laura was still smiling when he +looked up at her, almost childishly, for further directions. + +"Now try this other, please," said the girl firmly. "Two men always sign +bank-notes to make them legal tender. The cashier and the president The +president of the Drovers' Levee Bank, of Osage, Ohio, is----" + +She hesitated. The man poised his pen over the paper expectantly. Said +Laura, briskly: + +"Write 'Peyton J. Weld.'" + +At her words Janet Steele uttered a startled exclamation. The man did not +notice this. He wrote the name as Laura requested. Chet, looking over his +shoulder and with one of the Osage bank-notes in his hand for comparison, +watched the signature dashed off in almost perfect imitation of that upon +the bank-note. + +"You guessed it, Mother Wit!" the big boy cried. "Write it again, Mr. Weld. +That is your name as sure as you live!" + +The surgeon stepped quickly to the bedside and his sharp eyes darted from +the bank-note in the boy's hand to the signature his patient had written. +The man looked wonderingly about the room, his puzzled gaze drifting from +one to another of his visitors until it finally fastened upon the pale +countenance of Janet Steele. + +Catching his eye, the girl stepped forward impulsively, her hands clasped. + +"Uncle Jack!" she breathed. + +"You--you look quite like your mother used to, my dear," the man in bed +said in rather a strange voice. + +The surgeon eased him back upon the pillows, and at a nod the nurse sent +the visitors out of the room. In the corridor they all stood amazed, +staring at Janet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +IT IS ALL ROUNDED UP + + +"Of course," Lily Pendleton confessed, "I was at Hester's party," + +"And Purt Sweet was there?" queried Laura earnestly. + +"Mr. Sweet certainly was present, too," said the other girl. "You girls +need not be so jealous if we are the only two from Central High that got +invited," + +"You can have my share and welcome," said Bobby. + +"And mine, too," confessed Jess. + +"These interrogations are not inspired by jealousy," laughed Mother Wit. + +It was on Friday as the girls gathered for recitations that this +conversation occurred. Lily Pendleton was inclined to object to having her +intimacy with Hester Grimes inquired into. + +"Do you remember what night that party was held, Lily?" asked Laura. + +"Why, no. On a Saturday night, I believe." + +"Quite so. And on a particular Saturday night," said Laura. + +"You said it!" murmured Bobby. + +"I don't know what you mean!" cried Lily Pendleton. + +"But you will before I get through with you," said Laura. "Now, listen! You +know about that man who had his leg broken on Market Street?" + +"The one the police say Purt ran down with his car?" + +"The same." + +"Of course I do," Lily cried. "And Purt is as innocent as you are!" + +"Granted," said Laura. "Therefore you will help us explain the mystery, and +so relieve Purt Sweet of suspicion. For he refuses to say anything himself +to the police." + +"Why--why----What do I know about it?" demanded Lily. + +"Do you know that the party was held the very Saturday night the man was +hurt?" + +"No! Was it?" + +"It was. And Purt had his car up there at the Grimes' house." + +"Did he? I didn't know. He went away early, I believe." + +"And earlier still a couple of boys, or men, borrowed Purt's car without +his knowing it--until afterward," Laura declared earnestly. "One of those +fellows had to catch a train." + +"Why, that was Hester's cousin, Jeff Rounds! He lives at Norridge. Don't +you know?" + +"Who was the other fellow?" asked Laura sharply. + +"Why--I----Oh! it must have been Tom Langley. He lives next door to +Hester. Do you know," said Lily, preening a little, "I think Tom is kind of +sweet on Hessie." + +"Good night!" moaned Bobby. "What is the matter with him? Is he blind?" + +"He must have had very bad eyesight or he would not have run down that poor +Mr. Weld on Market Street!" exclaimed Jess tartly. + +"What do you mean?" gasped Lily. "Tom Langley has gone away for the winter +anyway. He went suddenly----" + +"Right after that party, I bet a cooky," cried Bobby. + +"Well--ye-es," admitted Lily. + +"Scared!" exclaimed Jess. + +"The coward!" cried Laura. + +"And left poor Purt to face the music," Bobby observed. "Well, old Purt is +better than we ever gave him credit for. Now we'll make him square himself +with the police." + +It was Mr. Nemo of Nowhere, now Mr. Peyton J. Weld, who had the most to do +with settling the police end of Purt Sweet's trouble. It was some weeks +before he could do this, for the shock of his mental recovery racked the +man greatly. For some days the surgeon would not let the young folk see +their friend whose mind had been so twisted. + +"I don't know but we did more harm than good, Laura," Chet Belding said +anxiously, when they discussed Mr. Weld's condition. + +"I don't believe so," his sister said. "At any rate, we revealed him as +Janet's Uncle Jack, and the discovery has done Mrs. Steele a world of good +already." + +That the man who, for a time, had forgotten who he was and had forgotten a +number of years of his life, finally recovered completely, can safely be +stated. His very first outing from the hospital was in Purt Sweet's car, +and the boy drove him first of all to the office of the Chief of Police. + +Purt had refused utterly to make trouble for either Hester Grimes' cousin +Jeff or for Tom Langley. Mr. Weld assured the Chief of Police that, +although it was Purt's car that had struck him down on the icy street, Purt +had not been in the car at the time. + +Nor did the boy of Central High have anything to do with the accident. His +car had been borrowed without permission by "parties unknown," as far as +Mr. Weld was concerned, and to this day the police of Centerport are rather +hazy as to just who it was that stole Purt Sweet's car and committed the +assault. + +"And I feel sort of hazy myself," Jess Morse said, when they were all +talking it over at one time. "Mostly hazy about this Man from Nowhere. How +did he so suddenly become Janet Steele's Uncle Jack?" + +"And his name 'Peyton'?" added Nellie Agnew. + +"Why, his middle name was John--they always called him by it at home," +explained Laura Belding. "And, of course, Janet and her mother knew nothing +about the name written on those Osage bank bills. I didn't suspect the +relationship myself. + +"But I began to be quite sure that he must have had something to do with +the bank for which those bills were issued. And it seemed probable that, as +he had so much money with him when he landed in Centerport, that he must be +somebody in Osage of wealth and prominence. I wrote secretly to the +postmaster at Osage and learned that the president of the Drovers' Levee +Bank had gone East on a vacation--presumably to hunt up some relatives that +he had not seen for some time." + +"Sly Mother Wit!" cried Jess. + +"Not such a wonderful thing to do," laughed Laura. + +"Not half so wonderful," put in the irrepressible Bobby Hargrew, "as it +seemed to the countryman who came to town and stood gazing up at the tall +steeple of the cathedral. As he gazed the bell began to toll The hick +stopped a passer-by and said: + +"'Tell me, why does the bell ring at this time of day?' + +"The other man studied the hick for a moment and then said: 'That's easy. +There's somebody pulling on the rope.'" + +"Well," said Nellie, when the laugh had subsided, "I guess Janet and her +mother are glad our Laura had such a bright idea." + +"Of course! They are going back to Osage with Mr. Weld when he has fully +recovered. And so we shall lose an awfully nice girl friend," Laura +declared. + +"Gee!" sighed Chet. "And such a pretty girl!" + +Jess said not a word. + + * * * * * + +Of course, all twisted threads must be straightened out at the end of the +story; but our tale really ends with the performance of "The Rose Garden." +That on Friday night was most enthusiastically received by the friends and +parents of the girls of Central High. + +It was a worthy production, and the girls deserved all the applause they +received. It encouraged them to give two further performances, and +altogether the three netted a large sum for the Red Cross. The play, in +fact, was the means of raising more money for the fund than any other +single method used for that object in Centerport. + +The city "went over the top" in its quota of both memberships and funds, +and that before Christmas. The girls of Central High could rest on their +laurels over the holidays, knowing that they had done well. + +"But wait till Gee Gee gets after us after New Year's," prophesied Bobby. + +"Don't be so pessimistic," said Jess. "Maybe she won't." + +"Why won't she?" demanded Dora Lockwood. + +"Nothing will change her," sighed Dora's twin. + +"Say!" gasped Bobby, stricken with a sudden thought, "maybe she'll get the +pip, or something, and not be able to teach. That is our only hope!" + +"Suppose we turn over a new leaf, as Miss Carrington won't," suggested +Laura in her placid way. + +"What's that?" demanded Bobby suspiciously. + +"Suppose we agree not to annoy her any more than we can help for the rest +of the school year?" + +"There! Isn't that just like you, Laura Belding?" demanded Jess. +"Suggesting the impossible." + +This was said in the wings of the school stage during the last performance +of "The Rose Garden." The curtain went up on the last act and the girls +became quiet They watched Janet Steele, as the dark lady of the roses, move +again across the stage. She was very graceful and very pretty. The boys out +front applauded her enthusiastically. + +Laura pinched Jess's arm. "Janet certainly has made a hit," she whispered. + +"Well," admitted Jess, "she deserves their applause. And she just about +saved our play, Laura. There is no getting around that." + + +THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls of Central High Aiding the +Red Cross, by Gertrude W. Morrison + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GIRLS AIDING THE RED CROSS *** + +This file should be named 8gred10.txt or 8gred10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8gred11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8gred10a.txt + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Joshua Hutchinson, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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