ffiJTOR, MAIDS' 
 SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 KATHERINE STOKES 
 
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"■"[le "lotor maids' school days, 
 
 3 1924 006 799 443 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924006799443 
 
'YOU WIIX SIMPLY BE AN OUTCAST IN WEST HAVEN, AND I 
 ADVISE YOU TO THINK THE MATTER OVER." 
 
 —Page 54. 
 
THE MOTOR MAIDS' 
 SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 BY 
 
 KATHERINE STOKES 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HURST & COMPANY 
 
 PXJBLISHERS 1 
 
Copyright, 1911, 
 
 BY 
 
 HURST & COMPANY 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. "The Comet" 5 
 
 II. Friends in Need 24 
 
 III. The Musicians of Bremen ... 41 
 
 IV. Plots and Plans 52 
 
 V. The First Motor Picnic . . . . 6j 
 
 VI. The Box of Troubles 81 
 
 VII. The Fire 95 
 
 VIII. Nancy's Home . . , no 
 
 IX. At the Sign of the Blue Tea Pot . 128 
 
 X. Rumors at School 136 
 
 XI. Seven League Island 147 
 
 Kir. The Storm . . . .♦^ 166 
 
 XIII. tWheels Within Wheels . . . .179 
 
 XIV. The Hallowe'en House Party . . 193 
 XV. The Ghost Party 206 
 
 XVI. A Stray Ghost 217 
 
 3 
 
4 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVII. Mrs, Ruggles 228 
 
 XVIII. Fannie Alta 241 
 
 XIX. Mary Before Her Judges . . . .253 
 
 XX. Miss Campbell Wears Black • . . 262 
 
 XXI. The Missing Link 271 
 
 XXII. The Refugees 280 
 
 XXIII. Belle's Confession 291 
 
 XXIV. Out of the Mists ....... 303 
 
THE MOTOR MAIDS' 
 SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 "the comet." 
 
 "Girls, in about ten minutes you're going to 
 have the surprise of your lives," cried Nancy 
 Brown, joining a group of her friends at the 
 High School gate. 
 
 "What is it, Nancy ? Do tell us, please," cried 
 half a dozen voices at once. 
 
 "No, you must wait," answered Nancy. "If I 
 told you what it was, I wouldn't enjoy seeing your 
 faces when the thing happened." 
 
 "Nancy, you have always got some mystery on 
 foot," put in her most intimate friend, Elinor 
 Butler. "Is this one animal, vegetable, or min- 
 eral?" 
 
 "Fine or superfine?" 
 
 5 
 
is THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Can it speak?" 
 
 "Is it as large as a house?" 
 
 "Don't all talk at once," exclaimed Nancy. 
 "I'll tell you this much. It's animal and it's su- 
 perfine. And" — she wrinkled her brows — "and 
 it's mineral, too, I suppose." 
 
 "Superfine? At least it's a woman, then?" 
 cried all the girls in a chorus. 
 
 "Yes," laughed Nancy, who loved nothing bet- 
 ter than to excite the curiosity of her friends to 
 the utmost and then launch a genuine sensation 
 into their midst. 
 
 "Does the superfine animal wear the mineral ?" 
 demanded Elinor. 
 
 "No, she doesn't wear it. She's in it." 
 
 "In it? How strange," exclaimed another girl. 
 "Perhaps it's a lady oyster in her shell." 
 
 "There's no surprise in an oyster unless there's 
 a pearl in it, goosey," teased Nancy. "But here 
 it comes ! Here it comes !" she cried, clapping her 
 hands joyfully, while six pairs of eyes peered cu- 
 riously down the street, which, by gentle degrees, 
 became a country road. The trim sidewalks of 
 the little seaport town of West Haven became 
 
THE COMET 7 
 
 grassy paths and the pretty lawns broadened into 
 flat green meadows. 
 
 Far down the road a brilHant red object could 
 be seen approaching. It was enveloped in a cloud 
 of dust and it moved with great rapidity. 
 
 "Why, it's nothing but a red automobile," cried 
 Elinor, in disappointment. 
 
 "Yes," admitted Nancy, "it's an automobile, 
 but there's something unusual about it besides its 
 color." 
 
 "A girl is running it," announced Mary Price, 
 whose clear, dark eyes always seemed to be look- 
 ing into the distance. "A girl is running it, and 
 no one is with her, and " 
 
 But the motor car was now in full view. It 
 was a graceful little machine large enough to 
 hold five or six people comfortably, its body 
 painted a warm and pleasing shade of red, its 
 cushions upholstered in a slightly darker shade 
 which harmonized perfectly with the red of the 
 body. A young girl, sitting on the front seat, 
 was running the car as easily and steadily as an 
 experienced chauffeur. Making a graceful curve, 
 she turned into the driveway which led to the 
 
8 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 school grounds and presently drew up under a 
 large shed, where people were in the habit of 
 hitching their horses and vehicles on Field Day, 
 or when football was in season. 
 
 "Who is she?" demanded Nancy's school-mates 
 in a whisper. 
 
 "Why, she's Miss Helen Campbell's cousin, 
 Wilhelmina Campbell." 
 
 "Do you mean our old friend, Billie?" asked 
 Elinor. 
 
 "The same," said Nancy, in a low voice, for 
 Billie Campbell was now approaching within 
 hearing distance. "Her mother's dead and her 
 father's brought her here to live with Miss Camp- 
 bell while he builds a railroad in Russia, and she's 
 going to High School and she's in our class and 
 she's coming to and fro every day in her own 
 motor car." 
 
 Nancy was speaking as rapidly as a talking 
 machine going at full speed. 
 
 Billie, as her father had always called her, 
 might have guessed that she was the subject of all 
 this buzzing undertone of conversation among 
 the school girls; but she was too well accus- 
 
THE COMET 9 
 
 tomed to strange faces and new places to feel 
 stiff and shy now at the looks of curiosity which 
 were turned on her. On the contrary, the West 
 Haven girls themselves felt a little ill at ease and 
 countrified in the presence of this new sopho- 
 more, who, with her father, an engineer, had 
 lived in many countries and seen a great deal of 
 that mysterious outside world which sleepy, quiet 
 West Haven had never troubled itself much 
 about. 
 
 But Billie Campbell was not destined to renew 
 her acquaintance just then with these childhood 
 friends of hers. A slender, very pretty girl, beau- 
 tifully dressed, hurried out of the school building 
 and called: 
 
 "Oh, Miss Campbell, may I speak with you a 
 moment ?" 
 
 "We might have known it," cried Nancy 
 Brown savagely. "If Billie Campbell hadn't 
 owned a motor car. Belle Rogers would never 
 have given herself the trouble even to speak to 
 her." 
 
 You perhaps know what a dangerous quality 
 snobbishness is in a girl's school. A very little of 
 
10 IHE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 it is like a drop of strong poison in a pail of water. 
 It pollutes the whole pail. So it was at West 
 Haven High School. Belle Rogers, the prettiest 
 and richest girl in town, had picked out six more 
 or less wealthy and intimate friends in the sopho- 
 more class and constituted herself leader of what 
 they called "The Mystic Seven." These seven 
 girls held themselves aloof from the poorer girls 
 in the class and committed the unpardonable sin 
 of snubbing every girl outside their charmed cir- 
 cle. 
 
 Very bitter were the feelings of the other ten 
 sophomores against the "Mystic Seven," who re- 
 fused to mingle in the sports of the class and 
 kept themselves apart at recess, talking in low, 
 mysterious voices and laughing behind their 
 pocket handkerchiefs when the other girls strolled 
 by. 
 
 "They always make me feel shabbier than I 
 really am," Mary Price had once said. 
 
 And now the "Mystic Seven" had snatched up 
 this nice, athletic-looking, new sophomore, whom 
 many of them remembered as a bright, romping 
 little girl years before. 
 
THE COMET 11 
 
 "I suppose they'll have to call themselves 'The 
 Mystic Eight' now," said one of the girls, a lit- 
 tle bitterly. 
 
 "Can't we ask her to join the 'Blue Birds'?" 
 put in Elinor Butler, who was eligible in point of 
 wealth to enter the richer society, but had coldly 
 declined the honor and had formed a society her- 
 self, called the "Blue Birds." 
 
 "She couldn't belong to both clubs," said 
 Nancy, "and you may be sure she has accepted 
 the invitation of that little golden-haired, blue- 
 eyed Belle Rogers, who put on an extra soft 
 pedal even to call out her name." 
 
 "Well, Billie Campbell will probably never have 
 cause to know that Belle's tongue is sharper than 
 a serpent's tooth, so what*s the odds," observed 
 Mary Price philosophically. "We got on per- 
 fectly well before she came and I suppose we can 
 manage to support life pretty comfortably even 
 if she is a member of the 'Mystic Seven.' " 
 
 Her friends laughed, as they strolled by twos 
 and threes into the broad, arched entrance lead- 
 ing into the corridor of the building. Mary 
 Price often relieved their wounded feelings by 
 
12 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 ending discussions concerning the "Mystic Sev- 
 en" with a joke, although not one of them had 
 been cut more deeply than she herself by the 
 cruel speeches of Belle Rogers and her friends; 
 for, since the death of Captain Price, Mary Price 
 and her mother, as you will see later, had had a 
 hard struggle to make both ends meet. 
 
 In the meantime, Belle Rogers was using all 
 her arts on the unsuspecting Wilhelmina Camp- 
 bell. 
 
 "We have never met," she was saying, "but I 
 heard you were going to enter our class and I 
 wanted to be the first to welcome you." 
 
 "Thank you," said Billie, who had a boyish, 
 direct way of answering people. 
 
 "We wanted to know," went on Belle quickly, 
 "if you wouldn't become a member of our so- 
 ciety, the Mystic Seven. It is the most exclusive 
 and nicest society in the school; the seven nicest 
 girls in West Haven. We are all intimate friends, 
 you know." 
 
 Billie gazed with admiration into Belle's lovely, 
 childlike face. Her own hair was straight and 
 secretly she had always admired curls. Belle's 
 
THE COMET 13 
 
 pale golden hair curled about her low forehead 
 in soft ringlets. Her great china-blue eyes looked 
 appealingly into Billie's gray ones, and her rosy 
 lips, which were much too thin when her face 
 was in repose, parted with a winning smile. She 
 was dressed in blue a little darker than her eyes 
 and a small blue velvet toque was perched coquet- 
 tishly on top of her curls. 
 
 "She looks like a picture pasted inside of an 
 old trunk mamma used to have," said Billie to 
 herself. "I could almost believe she was a bisque 
 doll. I never saw anything like her." 
 
 "You will join us, won't you?" went on Belle 
 wistfully. 
 
 "I'm afraid I should be one too many and 
 make an unlucky number. Seven is supposed to 
 be lucky, isn't it?" 
 
 "Oh, we're not superstitious," laughed Belle. 
 "We can change the name to the 'Happy Eight,' 
 or something of that sort. We are looking for 
 nice girls, and as soon as I saw you I knew you 
 would be the one for us. We want to enlarge the 
 club." 
 
 "Dear me," said Billie thoughtfully, "in a class 
 
14 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 of seventeen girls are only seven nice enough to 
 be asked to join your club ?" 
 
 "Oh, they are nice enough," replied Belle. 
 "Elinor Butler is really quite nice, but they are 
 not just our sort, don't you know, and mamma 
 has always cautioned me to be very careful about 
 my companions." 
 
 "Elinor Butler ?" questioned BiUie. "She is my 
 old friend, and Nancy Brown and Mary Price? 
 Aren't any of them members ?" 
 
 Just then the gong for chapel boomed out in 
 the September stillness and Belle could only shake 
 her head for denial, as the two girls hurried into 
 the building. 
 
 "I don't think I could ever get on with that 
 blonde doll baby," thought Billie, as she followed 
 Belle into the chapel for morning prayer, which 
 always opened the day at West Haven High 
 School. 
 
 At recess the new sophomore was quite over- 
 whelmed by the attentions of the Mystic Seven. 
 They showed her the building and the grounds, 
 the class-locker rooms and the gymnasium, which 
 interested her most of all. And in return she 
 
THE COMET 15 
 
 showed them her motor car. But, somehow, she 
 did not quite like these stylish and rather over- 
 dressed young girls. Their conversation really 
 bored her and she was disappointed. 
 
 It had been her own suggestion to go to West 
 Haven High School when her father was sum- 
 moned abroad to build a railroad. 
 
 "I think it's high time I met some nice out- 
 door girls, papa," she had said. "I am afraid of 
 boarding school girls. They are so different 
 from you." 
 
 Her father had laughed joyfully over this 
 speech. 
 
 "I hope there's not much resemblance between 
 me and a boarding school girl, my little Billie," 
 he said, pinching her cheek. 
 
 And now the nice open-air girls whom she had 
 recalled with pleasure after a summer spent in 
 West Haven had not come near enough even to 
 greet her and she had been obliged to pair off 
 with seven fashion plates. 
 
 "It's perfectly maddening," she exclaimed to 
 herself, giving the turf on the campus a savage 
 little kick. "Nancy and Elinor actually avoid 
 
16 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 meeting my eyes as if I were some one unfit to 
 know. I wish I had consented to go to boarding 
 school, after all, instead of coniing to Cousin 
 Helen. I don't want to belong to a silly society 
 that does nothing but have afternoon teas. I 
 want to play basket ball and go on long tramps 
 with other girls and have picnics. I'm so disap- 
 pointed, I could weep aloud." 
 
 This was the picture Billie had drawn in her 
 mind of life at West Haven High School and 
 here she was an outcast from all the good times 
 and open air games of the class, simply because 
 not one of her old friends would come near her. 
 She long remembered that first day at school as 
 the loneliest and most wretched of her whole life. 
 
 Then the last gong sounded and everybody 
 went home except Billie, who had an appointment 
 with Miss Gray, the principal. After the inter- 
 view, in a rebellious and disconsolate humor, 
 homesick for her father and disappointed with 
 the whole world, she cranked up her red car and 
 whirled away toward the open country. 
 
 As she sped along the road she passed the 
 three friends of that summer of years ago, walk- 
 
THE COMET 17 
 
 ing briskly away from town. They did not even 
 look up as she whirled by and the lump in her 
 throat grew so big that it resolved itself into a 
 sob and two hot tears trickled down her cheeks. 
 
 "Perhaps they're going over to the woods; 
 just what I would have loved to have done," wept 
 the disappointed young girl, whose Hfe had been 
 a lonely one in spite of her father's devotion and 
 constant companionship. 
 
 She was still drying her eyes when she noticed 
 some distance ahead a man leap into the road and 
 wave his arms violently. Billie slowed down and 
 came to a stop ; for at the side of the road another 
 very ill-looking man was lying prone on his back 
 with closed eyes and slightly parted lips. 
 
 "What is it?" she asked. "Has your friend 
 been hurt ?" 
 
 "No, miss," answered the man who had 
 stopped her, "but he has walked fifteen miles to- 
 day and I am afraid he's about all in. I am try- 
 ing to get him to his house, but I can't carry 
 him and he can't take another step." 
 
 "Where is his house?" asked Billie. 
 
 "Are you familiar with these parts, miss ?" 
 
18 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "No," she answered. 
 
 "It's just up that lane about a mile. Only a 
 matter of five minutes to you." 
 
 "Can you get him into the car?" asked Billie, 
 noticing that this rather sinister looking stranger 
 had only one arm; also that his right eye was 
 out and there was a long scar across his upper 
 lip. 
 
 "Easily," he replied, and without another word 
 he expeditiously supported his friend to the mo- 
 tor car and lifted him into the back seat. 
 
 "Poor fellow," exclaimed Billie sympathetical- 
 ly. "It's well I happened along." 
 
 The sick man was indeed a wretched looking 
 object, with a thin, lantern-jawed face, hollow 
 feverish eyes and a sunken chest. Occasionally 
 he coughed behind his hands apologetically. 
 
 "Down the lane, did you say?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes, miss, you can just see the house. It's 
 the gray one up near the woods." 
 
 "I'll have him there in a few minutes," she an- 
 swered, putting on all speed. 
 
 The little machine flew along the hard sandy 
 road like a redbird on the wing. Billie occasion- 
 
THE COMET 19 
 
 ally glanced over her shoulder at the sick man 
 and each time her eyes met his, which seemed to 
 burn like coals of fire. She had not liked the 
 looks of the other man. His one remaining eye 
 was much too close to his hooked nose; but the 
 sick man appealed to her sympathies. Billie's 
 nature was not a suspicious one. She had en- 
 countered many people in her life, and it is only 
 people who have lived out of the world who are 
 apt to suspect strangers. 
 
 As she drew up the car in front of what ap- 
 peared to be a very old, long-deserted fisherman's 
 house and turned to see her passengers alight, 
 she found the one-eyed man bending over his 
 companion. 
 
 "He's fainted, miss," he said. "If you'll go 
 around back of the house to the old well and 
 draw up a pail of cold water, I guess we can re- 
 vive him. Just let down the pail by the wheel 
 at the side — ^you'll see the handle, — and then 
 get a glass or pitcher or something 'round there 
 in the shed." 
 
 As the man was apparently very busy loosen- 
 ing the neck-band of his friend's shirt, there 
 
20 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 seemed nothing else for Billie to do but to obey 
 his directions. In fact, her sympathies were so 
 deeply aroused that she was more than eager 
 to help. 
 
 She dashed around the corner in an instant, 
 rushed to the old well, and exerting her strength 
 turned the handle of the rusty wheel around and 
 around while the rattling chain lowered the moss- 
 covered bucket deeper and deeper until it struck 
 the water. Waiting only until the bucket was 
 filled, she began to raise it as rapidly as she could, 
 but her muscles were sorely tried by the stub- 
 bornness of the rusty wheel and the additional 
 weight of the water. 
 
 The thought of the exhausted man spurred her 
 on, however, and at length, flushed and perspir- 
 ing, she succeeded in drawing the bucket to a 
 little shelf where she left it while she searched 
 for a receptacle in which to carry the water. 
 She found no difficulty in pushing open a loosely- 
 hung door at the end of the shed, and, after grop- 
 ing around a moment or two in the semi-dark- 
 tiess, she discovered a battered tin pail. Hasten- 
 
THE COMET 21 
 
 ing back with it, she rinsed and filled it, and hur- 
 ried around to the front of the house. 
 
 As she turned the corner, she stopped short! 
 Where were the two men? Where was her ma- 
 chine? Where — was — her — machine? 
 
 Too dazed to move, Billie stood rooted to the 
 spot while the water trickled out of a hole in 
 the pail and made a little pool at her feet. 
 
 Suddenly she gasped, "They must be around 
 the other corner. They must be!" 
 
 But they were not! — and then Billie noticed 
 the tracks in the crushed grass that told the tale. 
 The motor car had been turned and driven away 
 up the lane! 
 
 Billie sank down on the step in front of the 
 old house almost too spent with her exertions 
 and her shock to think. 
 
 Then she flung down the pail and rushed up 
 the lane as though she would try to catch the 
 vanished car, — but she stopped as abruptly with 
 a half laugh. 
 
 "They may be miles and miles away by this 
 time, — they had time enough while I was fuss- 
 ing over that old well. And the chain made 
 
22 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 such a noise and the wheel creaked so, I never 
 heard another sound !" 
 
 Billie's eyes filled with indignant tears as she 
 began slowly to saunter back to the old house. 
 She felt somehow impelled to return to the scene 
 of her loss, perhaps to persuade herself that it 
 was really so. 
 
 As she neared the spot where she had last seen 
 her red car, she noticed a slip of paper blowing 
 lightly about. Idly she picked it up and glanced 
 over the words written upon it. Then she stood 
 still and caught her breath as she realized what 
 they meant. 
 
 "Stay here. Tell no one. Back soon." 
 
 That was the message that Billie read, and she 
 did not doubt for a moment that it was intended 
 for her. 
 
 "Yes, perhaps you will come back, and perhaps 
 you won't," she said half aloud. "Maybe you 
 think that I think that you have gone for a doc- 
 tor. But I don't. You are two mean, wicked 
 men to outwit a girl like that. I'll never see my 
 car again!" 
 
THE COMET 23 
 
 Just as Billie uttered this despairing cry, she 
 heard a distant hail, and then another. 
 
 "Who is coming now ?" she thought. "It's too 
 soon to expect my sick (?) passenger and his 
 
 one-eyed friend, and anyway I hear no car, 
 
 nor anything else, now," she added. "Maybe I 
 imagined it. Oh, I'd like to be a man for about 
 five minutes ! Then they wouldn't dare!" 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 frie;nds in need. 
 
 "There she goes," Nancy Brown had exclaimed 
 as "The Comet," BilHe's motor, whirled by; "too 
 proud even to ask her old friends to take a spin." 
 
 "Now, Nancy," protested Elinor, "don't be too 
 hard on her. Remember, she has not seen any 
 of us since we were children. Perhaps she's for- 
 gotten all about us. Besides, I've been thinking 
 that we ought to have done the first speaking. 
 She was starting right for, us when Belle Rogers 
 stopped her." 
 
 "Well, I tried twice to speak to her," said 
 Nancy, "and she wouldn't look at me. I am afraid 
 we shall never get a ride in that pretty motor 
 car, and the only one I was ever in was the 
 stationary automobile at the tintype place at the 
 County Fair." 
 
 The girls walked on silently for a few mo- 
 ments. The red motor car had turned a curve 
 
 34 
 
FEIENDS IN NEED 25 
 
 in the road and was out of sight and the place 
 seemed very lonely and still. The afternoon 
 shadows were beginning- to lengthen as the sun 
 moved slowly behind the pine woods, which 
 formed a dark background against the flat, green 
 meadows about West Haven. 
 
 "I can't imagine why we should be wasting 
 time about a friend who has forgotten us," ex- 
 claimed Mary Price, "when Elinor has brought 
 us out here to tell us some mysterious secret. 
 Don't you think it's about time to begin, Elinor ? 
 It's getting late and we've still a good ways to 
 
 go." 
 
 "I was just going to," answered her friend, 
 "but suppose we take the short cut across the 
 fields, and I'll tell you on the way. Two other 
 people are in the secret, Charlie Clay and Ben 
 Austen. They have promised to meet us at the 
 old house. Of course, the whole thing may be of 
 no importance." 
 
 "But what is it?" interrupted Nancy. "You 
 keep dodging around the bush." 
 
 "Now, Nancy," answered Elinor, who had a 
 calm, placid disposition and never hurried about 
 
26 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 anything, "don't put your most peculiar charac- 
 teristic off on me. You know very well that you 
 are the one who loves to keep a mystery until 
 we are all of us nearly bursting with curiosity." 
 
 "Don't quarrel, children," interrupted Mary. 
 "Remember that members of the Blue Bird So- 
 ciety are bound over not to quarrel." 
 
 "We aren't quarreling; we're just discussing. 
 But do go on, Elinor, I can't stand the suspense 
 much longer." 
 
 "What I am going to tell you," said Elinor, 
 "may be of the vastest importance or it may be 
 just nothing whatever. At any rate, I didn't 
 want to take any chances and it was simple 
 enough for us to meet the boys out here and see 
 for ourselves." 
 
 "See what, Elinor Butler?" ejaculated Nancy 
 impatiently. "You always begin at the last of 
 a story and tell backwards." 
 
 Elinor smiled provokingly. 
 
 "That's to see how much curiosity you can ac- 
 cumulate without exploding, Nancy, dear." 
 
 Nancy shut her lips tightly. She was deter- 
 mined now, at any cost, not to speak again until 
 
FEIENDS IN NEED 27 
 
 Elinor had really started on the story, but how 
 irritating Elinor could be at times ! 
 
 Mary was never disturbed over these little tiffs 
 of the two friends which were merely the ups and 
 downs of the endless conversation that flowed 
 between them. 
 
 "This is what happened then, Nancy darling," 
 continued Elinor, slipping an arm around her 
 friend's waist, while she locked her other arm 
 through Mary's. And the three girls hurried on, 
 too absorbed in their intimate talk to notice the 
 flash of a scarlet motor car through the high 
 bushes, which bordered both sides of Boulder 
 Lane, the name of the road which intercepted the 
 two meadows. 
 
 "I was coming across Court House Square late 
 yesterday afternoon after my music lesson. You 
 know I have begun to study with the new teacher, 
 Mme. Alta. Just as I came to the statue of 
 Thomas Jefferson, I heard some one call very 
 softly, or rather it was more like a hiss than a 
 call. I suppose I should have rushed off fright- 
 ened, but I am never afraid of people. It's only 
 spiders and snakes and bulls that make me shiver. 
 
28 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DATS 
 
 So, I didn't run away, but waited, and I discov- 
 ered that the hiss came from around the other 
 side of the statue and was not meant for me at 
 all. Even then I should have gone on if I hadn't 
 heard some one cry out. I couldn't understand 
 the language, but another voice said in English : 
 'There are only two boxes left. Take them to 
 the old house in Boulder Lane to-night and never 
 keep me waiting this long again.' Then the other 
 man said something and the English voice said: 
 'You can haul them to-morrow morning. It'll 
 be time enough when I get the signal to do the 
 rest.' I couldn't understand what the man an- 
 swered, but the English voice said : 'I'll kill the 
 whole crew of Butlers and anybody else who in- 
 terferes with me. I'm in a desperate humor and 
 I won't be bothered.' Fortunately they took the 
 walk that goes to the docks, because they would 
 certainly have seen me if they had come around 
 on the other side. But I saw them plainly when 
 they passed under the electric light. They looked 
 like seamen." 
 
 " 'Kill the whole crew of Butlers,' " repeated 
 Mary Price. "Does he mean that he is going to 
 
FEIENDS IN NEED 29 
 
 wipe your family oflf the face of the earth ? And 
 for what?" 
 
 "That is what I want to find out. It wouldn't 
 do any special harm to take a late afternoon stroll 
 in this direction, if the boys are with us. I didn't 
 want to say anything to father about it. He is so 
 busy, and you know how excitable he is. William 
 is exactly like father. Edward and mother and 
 I are the only calm, peaceful members of the fam- 
 ily, and mother's sick and Edward is at college. 
 Besides, you know, the man may not have meant 
 us. The county is full of Butlers, dozens of 
 them. Some of them claim kin and some do not. 
 They are the most quarrelsome, high-tempered 
 people in existence — that is, all except Edward 
 and me." 
 
 The other girls laughed. 
 
 "Not high-tempered, Elinor," said Nancy, "but 
 you have a sort of royal manner when you are 
 displeased that I imagine a queen might have 
 when one of her subjects is disobedient." 
 
 "What's that?" interrupted Mary. "I thought 
 I heard some one call." 
 
 The girls paused and listened. They were 
 
30 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 standing in a broad, flat meadow which seemed to 
 stretch out indefinitely in one direction like an 
 enormous pale-green billiard table; but in the 
 other direction, bordered by alder bushes, lay 
 Boulder Lane; so called because of an immense 
 gray boulder, which in some prehistoric upheaval 
 had been tossed here, and which resembled now 
 an old gray sentinel standing on perpetual guard. 
 
 "Why, there's the automobile," exclaimed 
 Nancy, after some minutes, following an occa- 
 sional flash of red through the bushes, as the 
 flying motor car sped on up the lane. 
 
 "1 wonder what she is doing up Boulder Lane ? 
 Exploring by herself, I suppose. It must be 
 lonely," observed Mary. 
 
 A fresh salt breeze had sprung up from the 
 ocean, bringing with it the chill of the oncoming 
 night. The three girls hastened their footsteps. 
 If they were late, the boys might not wait for 
 them. 
 
 "Boys are so unreliable," Mary had remarked. 
 
 "Not Ben Austen," said Elinor. "Father says 
 he is as trustworthy as the Bank of England. 
 But he's slow. He never likes to stop one thing 
 
FRIENDS IN NEED 31 
 
 until he finishes it, no matter what's waiting. He 
 and CharHe are building a boat somewhere down 
 the beach and they spend all their afternoons 
 at it, but they are sure to be there if they prom- 
 ised." 
 
 By this time the girls had reached the hedge. 
 It was certainly a lonesome place. The old house 
 which had been unoccupied for many years be- 
 cause its last occupant had committed suicide by 
 hanging himself from a beam, appeared in the 
 gathering dusk like a solitary gray ghost; 
 the front windows resembled two large sad eyes 
 gazing into space and the walls, streaked with 
 the tempests of many seasons, had the appearance 
 of a worn, tear-stained face. 
 
 "Dear me," whispered Nancy, "I had forgot- 
 ten what a weird old place this was. It might be 
 the entrance to a tomb." 
 
 "Halo-o-o!" called a boyish voice, and a tall, 
 overgrown lad appeared coming up the lane from 
 the direction of the beach, followed by a much 
 smaller youth, who was so absorbed with whit- 
 tling a little boat that he did not even look up 
 when the girls answered the call. 
 
32 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Don't make so much noise, Ben," said Elinor, 
 when they had climbed through the hedge and 
 congregated together in the lane. "This is just 
 an investigating party. We are not to take any 
 risks." 
 
 "There seems to be nobody around," replied 
 Ben. "We saw an automobile go past a little 
 while ago with two men in it and some big boxes 
 in the back. It was almost stuck in the sand. I 
 wonder it could get along at all. It looked like a 
 big, red lobster." 
 
 "Red ?" cried the girls in one voice. 
 
 "I never saw anything redder in my life," put 
 in Charlie. 
 
 "You must be mistaken about the men, then," 
 said Elinor decisively. "Because Billie Campbell 
 owns it and was running it herself a little while 
 ago." 
 
 "Well, we were not close enough to get a good 
 look, but Billie Campbell appeared to be two men 
 at that distance. But come along, girls. It is 
 getting late and we had better not lose any more 
 time. Now, what is it we are looking for ? But- 
 ler bundles and boxes ?" 
 
FRIENDS IN NEED 33 
 
 "I don't think they can be called Butler bun- 
 dles," replied Elinor, "since my family is to be 
 wiped out of existence if it interferes with the 
 bundles, whatever they are." 
 
 The boys and girls who were thoroughly en- 
 joying the fun and mystery of the expedition now 
 advanced on tiptoe to the ghostly looking house, 
 like a party of conspirators in a play. 
 
 "I feel like a pirate," whispered Nancy, gig- 
 gling. 
 
 Suddenly Ben, who was ahead of the others, 
 stopped and put his fingers to his lips. He beck- 
 oned to them to follow him around to the side of 
 the house. 
 
 "I heard something inside the house," he said, 
 in a low voice. "Wait here, girls, with Charlie 
 while I take a look." 
 
 He crept cautiously around to the front and 
 presently they heard him open the door and walk 
 boldly in. 
 
 "I'm going, too," said Charlie, unable to con- 
 tain his curiosity any longer, and the girls fol- 
 lowed him single-file into a low-studded, dusty 
 room, unfurnished except for one rickety chair. 
 
34 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 but behind that stood— Billie Campbell! And 
 facing BilHe in the dim light just inside the door 
 stood Ben, surprise written as plainly upon his 
 face as bravery, defiance, and apprehension were 
 mingled upon hers. 
 
 The girls were too amazed to speak at first. 
 
 "Billie Campbell!" cried Nancy, at last. "Did 
 two men frighten you and run away with your 
 automobile?" 
 
 Billie nodded. Somehow it was very difficult to 
 keep back her tears now that help had come ; but 
 she never had been a cry-baby even as a child and 
 now she choked down her sobs with all her 
 strength, for in the gathering dusk she had rec- 
 ognized the faces of her three childhood friends 
 who had refused to remember her that day at 
 school. 
 
 "Oh, but I'm glad to see you !" she exclaimed. 
 "After the men went off I noticed that the front 
 door was open and I came in a minute to see if 
 it really looked as though it were lived in now-a- 
 days as the man said. But it just looks deserted, 
 and it's dreadfully dusty except here in the cor- 
 
FEIENDS m NEED 35 
 
 ner and from here to the door, — just as though 
 something had been dragged across the floor." 
 
 The young girl had been talking excitedly, but 
 now she stopped abruptly and with a friendly look 
 and a gesture of intense relief she stretched her 
 arms over her head, as though with the relaxa- 
 tion of her muscles she could also free herself 
 from the sudden shock and dread that had bound 
 her. 
 
 She was tall for her age, fifteen, with a frank, 
 almost boyish face, fine gray eyes, and a rather 
 large mouth which curled up at the corners when 
 she smiled and showed two graduated rows of 
 strong white teeth. Her light brown hair was 
 parted in the middle and rolled on each side into 
 a thick, knobby plait in the back. 
 
 "She's not very strong on looks," thought 
 Nancy, who set great store on beauty herself, 
 "but she's got the nicest face I ever saw." 
 
 "How did it happen ?" asked Ben. 
 
 Then Billie told how the two men had duped 
 her and left her behind the deserted house, and 
 how she had found the message on the slip of 
 paper. 
 
S6 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Then the men are coming back?" cried Eli- 
 nor. 
 
 "Perhaps," replied Billie, "and we'd better 
 hurry away from here as fast as we can in case 
 they come. They may not intend to do me any 
 harm, but they are a very determined-looking 
 pair of characters, as papa says, and one of them 
 has a long pistol and a knife in his belt, for I 
 saw them." 
 
 "But what about the red motor?" demanded 
 Nancy, whose yearning to ride in the car had 
 somewhat biased her good judgment. 
 
 "I'll just have to lose it, I suppose," answered 
 Billie. 
 
 "I have a scheme," put in Charlie, who rarely 
 spoke without due deliberation, "Miss Campbell 
 is just about as tall as I am — she may be a little 
 shorter," he added, stretching himself to his full 
 height. 
 
 The others smiled secretly at this, for Billie 
 was at least an inch taller than Charlie, but they 
 knew that the most sensitive spot in his nature 
 was his height, since he was the oldest member of 
 the party and Ben overtopped him by nearly three 
 
FEIENDS IN NEED 37 
 
 inches. And Charlie had a sneaking suspicion 
 that he never would be tall enough. His bones 
 were small and his frame as slender and delicate 
 as a girl's. 
 
 "Suppose I put on your hat and veil and your 
 long coat," he continued, "and sit here on the 
 step waiting. It's getting darker all the time, 
 and so if the men come back they'll think it is 
 you; but if they thought somebody was onto them, 
 they would probably break their word and chase 
 off with the motor." 
 
 "I don't think that would be quite fair," said 
 Billie. "Suppose they found out you were a boy. 
 They might shoot you or something." 
 
 "But they won't find it out," answered Charlie. 
 "Hurry up. We have no time to lose." 
 
 "Yes, do," urged Ben. "It's much the best 
 way. We couldn't leave you for the thieves and 
 it's a pity to lose the car. Besides, the rest of us 
 will hide in the house and if anything happens, 
 we'll come to the rescue." 
 
 Billie removed her ulster without another 
 word. 
 
38 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "She's a dandy, sensible girl," thought Ben to 
 himself. 
 
 "You'd better take the skirt, too. If they saw 
 your trouser legs, it would be all off," said Billie, 
 as she unbuckled her belt and removed her gray 
 walking skirt, standing before them without any 
 embarrassment in a short, red silk petticoat. 
 
 "What about shoes?" observed Mary Price. 
 "Those Charhe is wearing are not much like 
 a girl's shoes." 
 
 "How about these pumps ? I wear No. fives," 
 said Billie, calmly kicking oif her slippers. 
 
 Charlie, good naturedly, unlaced his stout boy's 
 boots. 
 
 "I might be able to get my big toe into them," 
 he said. "Like Cinderella's step-sisters and the 
 little glass slipper." 
 
 "These aren't any Cinderella's," laughed Billie. 
 
 How nice these boys and girls did seem to her 
 and how fine it was to be with them, even in this 
 strange and dangerous situation! 
 
 Charlie could wear the slippers, however, al- 
 though they were somewhat narrow in the toe, 
 and presently he was fully dressed in a girl's 
 
FEIENDS IN NEED 39 
 
 suit, with his face almost concealed by a long 
 gray chiffon veil, twisted around Billie's gray felt 
 hat, trimmed with one red wing. 
 
 "Hurry, they're really coming," called Billie, 
 catching the familiar sound of a motor engine 
 in the distance. 
 
 "All right," said Ben, who had been hovering 
 around Charlie in pretended admiration of his 
 changed appearance. "Good luck, old boy!" he 
 added as he hastened after the girls up the nar- 
 row flight of stairs into the attic, which was per- 
 fectly dark and seemed a better place for hiding 
 than outside, where enough twilight still lingered 
 to make objects plainly visible. 
 
 "We are a good deal like 'The Musicians of 
 Bremen,' " observed Mary, in a low voice, as 
 they lay stretched face downward on the attic 
 floor. "Don't you remember that old fairy tale of 
 Grimm's ; when the robber came back to the house 
 in the wood he was bitten and kicked and 
 scratched and pecked by the dog and the donkey 
 and the cat and the rooster, and then they set 
 up such a braying and barking and crowing and 
 meowing that he ran away scared to death ?" 
 
40 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "If anything did happen, we might try the 
 howling part," said Billie. "I should think a 
 piercing shriek from a place like this would scare 
 a brave man " 
 
 "Sh-h, they're almost here," cautioned Ben. 
 "Don't move, any one. The floor will creak." 
 
 "I'm going to sneeze," hissed Nancy, in the 
 dark. 
 
 "Press your upper lip and don't dare do it," 
 whispered Elinor. 
 
 "Shut up, all of you," said Ben, as the motor 
 car drew up beside the hedge at one side of 
 the house. 
 
 "If there is any shrieking to be done," added 
 Mary, "I'll do it. I'm the best shrieker in the 
 sophomore class. I know how to do it in the top 
 of my head " 
 
 "Sh-h-h!" 
 
CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE MUSICIANS OF BREMEN. 
 
 Nancy could not keep from trembling slightly 
 as she heard the car panting at a little distance 
 and realized that perhaps a moment of real dan- 
 ger was near, in spite of their joking. Elinor, 
 too, felt very much like giving away to a few 
 tremors, but she reproached herself for such weak 
 behavior and held her body as rigid as a stone 
 image while she said sternly in her mind : 
 
 "My knees are not at all weak. It's only the 
 position I am lying in that makes them feel 
 queer." 
 
 A sound as though a heavy foot had been 
 placed on the step outside was heard and then a 
 voice which Billie recognized as that of the one- 
 eyed man said: 
 
 "Well, young lady, I suppose you have had 
 
 about enough of this ? We have kept our word, 
 
 41 
 
42 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 you see, which I judge you found on the paper, 
 as you are still here." 
 
 There was a short silence. Evidently Charlie 
 nodded assent to the supposition and the motion 
 gave full satisfaction, for the voice went on, 
 "Has any one been around, miss? You didn't 
 hear the sound of any voices, did you, while we 
 were gone? We saw some people in the field as 
 we left. Did they come this way? Speak up, 
 miss." 
 
 Not a heart on the attic floor but thumped as 
 the one-eyed man asked these questions. They 
 had never thought of Charlie's voice, which was 
 about as deep as a full grown man's ! 
 
 A perfectly death-like stillness reigned for a 
 moment. It was plain that Charlie was not go- 
 ing to trust his voice. 
 
 "Do not be frightened, Sefiorita," put in the 
 thin man. "You may speak without fear. Do 
 not weep. Perhaps she did see something. It 
 was not the ghost of the dead man who hanged 
 himself in here, was it?" he added in a low 
 voice. 
 
 "Hold your tongue," said the other man. 
 
THE MUSICIANS OP BEEMEN 43 
 
 "Speak up, young woman. Have you no voice 
 left ? You'll not have strength enough to run the 
 car if you go on like this." 
 
 A deep sob reached the ears of the listeners 
 overhead. 
 
 Then the alarming thought came to Ben : How 
 was Charlie to run the motor car in case the men 
 insisted on his leaving first ? Plainly, it was nec- 
 essary to get rid of these men somehow. Then 
 they would all make a dash, and he would crank 
 up while Billie jumped in and started the car. 
 
 "I'll have to hear the sound of your voice be- 
 fore I go," insisted the one-eyed man. "I want 
 to hear you give me your sacred word of honor to 
 keep this little loan of your car a secret. If we 
 find that you have told, and we'll know it if you 
 have, you and your family will regret it, that's 
 all. We know how to take our revenge, don't we, 
 Pedro? So speak up, young woman, and say the 
 words. I promise " 
 
 Another deep sob. 
 
 "Come, come. Hold up your head and let me 
 see your face. Say, Pedro, look here ; it doesn't 
 
44 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 seem quite the same as it did half an hour ago, 
 somehow. Strike a light!" 
 
 There was great but noiseless commotion in the 
 attic! What if the men should lift CharUe's 
 veil! 
 
 Since Mary had mentioned "The Musicians of 
 Bremen" an idea had been forming in Ben's mind 
 and he now hastily communicated it in a low 
 whisper to his neighbor who passed it quickly 
 down the line. 
 
 Just as the thin man outside exclaimed in a 
 high sharp tone, "Why, it's a boy!" Ben whis- 
 pered, "Ready!" 
 
 Immediately the attic was filled with a pande- 
 monium of noise, — the barking of a dog, cries, 
 and screams ! It was a truly terrifying combina- 
 tion, Mary's shrill shriek rising weirdly above 
 the other sounds as though from one in mortal 
 agony. 
 
 The two men outside were startled in spite of 
 themselves and dashed away on an uncontroll- 
 able impulse, the thin man shouting, "The ghost 
 of the dead man ! His evil spirit haunts us !" 
 
 "Good work, Ben," called Charlie softly, after 
 
THE MUSICIANS OP BREMEN 45 
 
 a moment. "Come out, quick! They've gone 
 around back of the house. You can come this 
 way, but hurry!" 
 
 The adventure had been so exciting and was 
 so quickly over that the girls hardly realized 
 where they were when they found themselves 
 in front of the house, standing in a half-be- 
 wildered group in the deepening twilight. 
 
 "Nobody shall take any more chances for my 
 motor car," whispered Billie. "You have all 
 risked your lives enough as it is, and I'm deeply 
 grateful. The men may be around there by the 
 machine, so let's make a break for the fields and 
 go straight home." 
 
 "No," replied Ben stoutly; "it would be best 
 for you girls to get away, but Charlie and I will 
 finish the job. Those fellows are cowards, any 
 way, and " 
 
 "But you can't run the car," said Billie, rap- 
 idly putting on her things, which Charlie had 
 discarded with a sigh of relief. "I'll have to stay. 
 The other girls must go, though." 
 
 The discussion, however, was ended by 
 Charlie, who had skipped off to reconnoiter and 
 
46 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 now appeared running at full speed around the 
 side of the house. 
 
 "Come on, let's all go," he said. "They've 
 gone, but they might come back." 
 
 Without a word, the others followed him and 
 jumped into the car, while Ben, who knew a little 
 about motors, began to crank up the machine. 
 Suddenly a voice spoke out of the darkness : 
 
 "This looks like a nice little party. Get out of 
 that car, every one of you, or I'll shoot," and 
 the sinister looking one-armed man, who ap- 
 peared to have sprung up from the earth, stood at 
 the side of the automobile with his pistol pointed 
 straight at Billie. "Did you imagine," he con- 
 tinued, "that a parcel of children could fool a 
 man like me ?" 
 
 There was no reply to the question. Mary and 
 Nancy were so limp with fear they could not 
 have lifted a little finger if there had been a dozen 
 pistols pointing at them. Elinor might have 
 slipped a ramrod down her back, so stiffly and 
 proudly did she hold herself in that fearful mo- 
 ment. Billie had turned white as a sheet, but she 
 still had strength enough left to make a move to 
 
THE MUSICIANS OF BEEMEN 47 
 
 get out when Ben, whose stubborn nature would 
 not even now give up the fight, raised his over- 
 grown, boyish figure from the ground where he 
 had been kneehng, and with a quick motion 
 pressed a piece of ghttering steel to the man's 
 forehead. 
 
 "Drop that pistol, or you're a dead man," he 
 said in the deepest chest tones he could produce. 
 His voice was still in the tenor stage. 
 
 Not even a gentleman of fortune who had lost 
 an eye and an arm in past dangerous adventures 
 could quite keep from shrinking at this extremely 
 unpleasant sensation produced by cold steel 
 against his face, and without a word of protest 
 he dropped the pistol in the road. 
 
 "Now, back ofif," said Ben, "and don't stop 
 until you get as far as that tree over there." 
 
 The man retreated, cursing under his breath, 
 and in another instant they were off in the dark. 
 
 "We forgot to pick up his pistol," exclaimed 
 Charlie, as three shots rang out in quick suc- 
 cession. 
 
 "But Ben has one," said Billie, feeling some- 
 
48 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 how that she had known these nice brave boys for 
 a long time, instead of three-quarters of an hour. 
 
 "That was only a monkey wrench," answered 
 Charlie, laughing. 
 
 And Billie was moved with admiration and re- 
 spect for the slow-speaking, quiet boy, who had 
 twice in so short a time outwitted two very dan- 
 gerous and experienced adventurers. 
 
 It was a splendid ride in the darkness. The 
 fresh salt air swept their faces and set their 
 blood to tingling with a new enjoyment. They 
 had just been through a most dangerous and ex- 
 citing experience, these young people, and Nancy 
 and Mary were not ashamed to admit that 
 they at least had been very much frightened. 
 But people who have lived always by the sea are 
 used to looking danger calmly in the face. 
 
 Half a mile beyond the quiet little harbor of 
 West Haven a lighthouse stood on a small, rocky 
 promontory, and from the shore on a calm day 
 could be seen rows of sharp-pointed rocks thrust 
 out of the water like great black teeth waiting to 
 devour any chance ship which might be blown 
 against them. In bad weather the water about 
 
THE MUSICIANS OF BREMEN 49 
 
 the Black Reefs, as they were called, was lashed 
 and churned into fury and sometimes after a 
 great storm groups of people might be seen hur- 
 rying up the cliff path to the life-saving station, 
 while out in the ocean, stuck fast to the teeth of 
 the Black Reefs was a pretty three-masted 
 schooner, perhaps, or a stained and scarred old 
 freight ship, looking very small and helpless in 
 its terrible plight. 
 
 Billie, herself, was the only person in the mo- 
 tor car who had not seen a shipwreck on the 
 Black Reefs. She had never even seen one of the 
 September storms when the sea rolled itself into 
 mountainous waves and dashed against the cliffs 
 of West Haven. 
 
 As they neared the town, Billie slowed down 
 the motor and turned to speak to her new friends. 
 
 "I can't even try to thank all of you for what 
 you have done for me, but I want to tell you that 
 I think you are the bravest, nicest boys and girls 
 in the whole world, and it was just to be with you 
 that I came back to West Haven to go to school. 
 I was very unhappy to-day because I was afraid 
 that Nancy and Mary and Elinor had forgotten 
 
50 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 me and the splendid times we had together one 
 summer when I was a little girl — —" 
 
 "Oh, Billie, we hadn't forgotten you," broke 
 in Nancy. "We thought when you joined Belle 
 Rogers' crowd that you " 
 
 "But I didn't join them," Billie interrupted, 
 laughing. "They kidnapped me and never let me 
 out of their sight the whole time. I had almost 
 made up my mind to write to papa to let me go 
 to boarding school, after all. I wanted to know 
 some real girls. I have never had a chance be- 
 fore, you know, and when I talked it over with 
 papa, we decided that all of you were the nicest 
 real girls we had ever known, and I just thought 
 I would spend the winter with Cousin Helen and 
 meet you again, while papa was in Russia." 
 
 The three girls blushed with pleasure at this 
 gratifying compliment. 
 
 "We were just as glad to see you, too, Billie," 
 said EHnor. "It was all a foolish mistake. But 
 we shall be friends now, and you must join the 
 Blue Birds. It's the Sophomore Club, and we 
 have lots of fun." 
 
 "Thank you, I'd love to," answered Billie, as 
 
THE MUSICIANS OF BEEMBN 51 
 
 gratefully and modestly as if she had been paid 
 the highest honor in the land. "I've been think- 
 ing," she added, "that we'd better keep all this 
 business about these men secret. You know 
 Cousin Helen; if she hears about it, we'll prob- 
 ably have to store the motor car. She'll never let 
 me out of her sight again." 
 
 "We'll keep it secret," cried the others in a 
 chorus. 
 
 So this very sensational adventure, which 
 would certainly have spread like wildfire through 
 the town of West Haven once it got out, re- 
 mained a profound secret. 
 
 Some good came of it, however, since it served 
 to unite four old friends. But we have not seen 
 the last of the mysterious individuals who bor- 
 rowed Billie's motor car. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PILOTS AND PI^ANS. 
 
 Belle Rogers was not always the bewitchingly 
 pretty, dimpling, smiling young girl who had en- 
 deavored to annex Billie. 
 
 And when she was not pretty, Belle's friends 
 liked to keep well out of her vicinity. At such 
 times two little white dents appeared on each 
 side of her nose. Her large, china blue eyes 
 were transformed into wells of steely gray and 
 the smiling, baby mouth became two narrow 
 white lips. All the color left her cheeks, and peo- 
 ple who did not know her would exclaim : 
 
 "How faded and ill she looks !" 
 
 When Belle looked like this she was unusually 
 quiet at first, but it was the quiet which comes be- 
 fore a tornado, and it was only when the storm 
 burst that those unfamiliar with her ways real- 
 ized that Belle had been very, very angry. 
 
 This is what happened on the day after the ex- 
 53 
 
PLOTS AND PLANS 53 
 
 citing experience in Boulder Lane, and all be- 
 cause Wilhelmina Campbell, true to her old 
 friends, the "Blue Birds," after being formally 
 invited, had positively declined to join the "Mys- 
 tic Seven." 
 
 "I am sorry," she said, trying her best to be 
 cordial, "but, you see, the others had first claim 
 on me because I have known them a long time and 
 I have already promised to become a Blue Bird." 
 
 "We asked you first," exclaimed Belle, in a 
 preternaturally quiet tone of voice. 
 
 "I don't see why that should make any differ- 
 ence," answered Billie, feeling very uncomforta- 
 ble. 
 
 "It makes a great deal of difference," an- 
 swered Belle, who was always gifted with a flow 
 of words in the moments of her greatest anger. 
 "You are probably not familiar with the ways of 
 schools and school societies. I understand you 
 have never been to school before." 
 
 "Oh, yes, I have. I went to school in Paris 
 for three months and to another in Dresden for 
 a whole winter." 
 
 "This is America," went on Belle, in a slow, 
 
54 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 even tone, taking no other notice of the inter- 
 ruption, "and if you decline the honor we have 
 paid you in the sophomore year, you will not only 
 be blackballed in our societies the other two years, 
 but you will not receive any invitations from me 
 and my friends to our parties now or ever, and 
 you will be obliged to associate with the com- 
 monest and most ordinary girls in West Haven. 
 The children of cooks " 
 
 "Mary Price," thought Billie. Mrs. Price had 
 a tea room. 
 
 "The daughters of seamen " 
 
 "Nancy !" said Billie out loud. Nancy's father 
 was a sea captain. 
 
 "Yes, Nancy Brown," continued Belle, grow- 
 ing angrier every moment. "You will simply be 
 an outcast in West Haven, and I advise you to 
 think the matter over well before you decide to 
 join that low, common crowd, for I assure you 
 it will be the last of you with us " 
 
 Billie was so aghast at the insolence of the 
 spoiled girl that she did not attempt to interrupt 
 the rush of words which seemed to flow from her 
 lips without any effort whatever. She was very 
 
PLOTS AND PLANS 55 
 
 angry herself, as a matter of fact, but with the 
 self-control she had learned from her father, she 
 determined to hold her peace until Belle had run 
 down, as she expressed it later to the other girls. 
 
 At last there came a pause, and Billie, who 
 had been sitting on the window ledge in the gym- 
 nasium swinging her feet and thinking of what 
 she was going to say when she was entirely pre- 
 pared to speak, slipped down to the floor and 
 stood before the enraged girl like a brave soldier 
 in the face of battle. 
 
 But this was all she said, for Billie was really 
 very much like a boy. 
 
 "I don't think it is any honor to join your club, 
 or go with you and your friends. I wouldn't give 
 up Mary and Nancy and Elinor for twenty Mys- 
 tic Sevens. I'd rather go to boarding school any 
 day, and that's about the worst fate that could 
 happen to me." 
 
 Then she turned on her heel and walked away, 
 leaving Belle in the grip of a tempest of sobs and 
 tears. Such rages are quite like the West Indian « 
 storms which sweep up the coast with a great 
 
56 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 blowing of wind and then, after a tremendous 
 roar of thunder, the downpour follows. 
 
 That night in her pretty chintz-hung bedroom 
 in the beautiful Rogers house, which was one of 
 the show places of West Haven, Belle Rogers 
 planned her revenge. Her temples were throb- 
 bing and her whole body ached with exhaustion. 
 Tempers are really quite as devastating to the 
 system as the West Indian tornadoes are to the 
 country over which they sweep. 
 
 "I'll get even with that rough tom-boy," she 
 said out loud. "I'll pay her back if it takes 
 all winter to do it. I'll make her sorry she ever 
 came to West Haven, and I'll make the others 
 pay, too. They'll see what it means to interfere 
 with me and my plans. Perhaps papa will give 
 me a motor car, only I'm afraid of the things, 
 and I never could run one. My hand's are much 
 too small and delicate to handle machinery." 
 
 "Belle, darling, do you feel any better ?" asked 
 Mrs. Rogers, anxiously, outside the door. 
 
 Belle made no reply. It was her custom to 
 
 ■ pretend to be asleep when she wished to be alone, 
 
 and she wished now to spend a long uninterrupted 
 
PLOTS AND PLANS 57 
 
 evening to herself, for her thoughts were very 
 busy. A plan had come into her head. It had 
 sprung up suddenly, full-grown, as if it had been 
 secretly hatching in the bottom of her mind for a 
 long time and now appeared a matured scheme. 
 
 Her blood tingled at the notion. It was such 
 an audacious, daring thing that the very thought 
 made her dizzy. 
 
 "I'll do it," she said at last, her mind made 
 up. "I'll do it, and I'll get only one person to 
 help me, because it will take two to work it. Now, 
 who shall that person be? It would be best to 
 ask a Blue Bird, but which one ?" 
 
 Her thoughts ran over the girls in the despised 
 society, but there was only one of the ten whom 
 she would quite dare to approach. The others 
 were fiercely loyal to each other. 
 
 This possible traitor was a new girl in West 
 Haven. Her name was Francesca Alta, but her 
 friends called her Fannie. She was the daugh- 
 ter of Mme. Alta, a music teacher lately estab- 
 lished in the town. Many of the girls were tak- 
 ing music lessons of Mme. Alta, and Belle, who 
 was one of her pupils, often had opportunities 
 
58 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 of speaking to the little dark-haired daughter, 
 although she had only nodded to her coldly so far. 
 
 "I will speak to her to-morrow," she exclaimed, 
 as she swallowed the sleeping powder her indul- 
 gent mother always gave her after one of these 
 violent headaches. 
 
 In the morning Belle had regained her baby 
 smile. The red had left her nose and was now in 
 its proper spots on her round, plump cheeks. 
 Once more her large blue eyes looked appeal- 
 ingly into the eyes of those she honored with her 
 glances. Belle never saw what she preferred to 
 ignore, and one of the most delightful sights of 
 that bright September morning was a red motor 
 car filled with pretty young girls, which whirled 
 into the High School grounds, making a bright 
 splash of scarlet against the old gray walls of the 
 building. 
 
 Belle did not see the "Comet" and its load, or 
 would not see it, but later, Billie, who never bore 
 malice, bowed a cheerful good morning to her 
 enemy, and, to the surprise of the others, re- 
 ceived a cordial bow in return. 
 
 "I am sorry I was cross to you yesterday, Miss 
 
PLOTS AND PLANS 59 
 
 Campbell. Will you forgive me?" Belle asked 
 her. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," answered the warm-hearted 
 young girl. "It's awfully nice of you to admit 
 it," and she secretly decided that the others were 
 rather hard on Belle Rogers, after all. 
 
 However, when the girls heard of the apology, 
 they were skeptical. 
 
 "It's the 'Comet' that won her over," observed 
 Nancy. 
 
 "I don't believe it," answered their new, in- 
 separable friend, who after two days' association 
 was as intimate with the three girls as if she 
 had known them always, so rapidly do young 
 girl intimacies grow. 
 
 "Something does seem to have happened to 
 her," said Mary Price. "Perhaps you gave her 
 such a dressing-down, Billie, that she's turned 
 over a new leaf. She would never have stooped 
 to talk to Fannie Alta before, but she is doing it 
 now, and look — will wonders never cease?" 
 
 The two girls were indeed in intimate con- 
 versation. They were walking arm in arm up 
 and down the campus, nibbling sandwiches. At 
 
60 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 West Haven High School the girls either 
 brought their luncheons with them to eat at re- 
 cess or bought sandwiches of that plucky, hard- 
 working little woman, Mrs. Price, Mary's mother, 
 who made the sandwiches and brought them to 
 the school herself in a big basket. 
 
 That is why Mary Price had exclaimed, "Will 
 wonders never cease?" She had recognized 
 the package of sandwiches in oil paper, which 
 Belle Rogers must have bought from her mother, 
 and which she was now sharing with dark, 
 shabby little Fannie Alta. 
 
 "She used to say she would rather starve than 
 eat one of mother's lettuce sandwiches," Mary 
 exclaimed, "but she appears even to have come to 
 that." 
 
 "If this is one of your mother's own, it's very 
 delicious," exclaimed Billie, gallantly turning the 
 conversation into other channels. After all, it 
 was just as well not to form the habit of discuss- 
 ing Belle too much. Her father had never ap- 
 proved of criticising people. 
 
 "It doesn't lead to anything but bilious head- 
 aches," he used to say. "Sick, bilious headaches 
 
PLOTS AND PLANS 61 
 
 and a very yellow complexion. Critical people al- 
 ways look like that, Billie, my girl." 
 
 Billie's complexion was clear and healthy. She 
 had never had a bilious headache in her life. But, 
 then, she was not given to picking flaws in other 
 people's characters. 
 
 However, the novelty of the richest and proud- 
 est girl in West Haven making friends with a 
 poor music teacher's daughter was soon to be 
 eclipsed by a much more sensational and mysteri- 
 ous incident. 
 
 That afternoon, after school, when the four 
 friends assembled in the carriage shed for their 
 usual spin home in Billie's motor car, they found 
 a note stuck conspicuously between the cushion 
 and the back of the seat. It was addressed in a 
 large angular hand to "Miss Wilhelmina Camp- 
 bell and her friends, both boys and girls, espe- 
 cially Miss Butler," and inside it read : 
 
 "Keep quiet about Boulder Lane. You are 
 watched and if you let a word slip out, the pun- 
 ishment will come quickly." 
 
 "How ridiculous," exclaimed Billie angrily, 
 when she had shown the note to the others. "I 
 
62 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 have a great mind to write papa all about it, only 
 it would worry him to death. It is only cowards 
 who write anonymous letters, anyhow." 
 
 But she did not write to her father, and the 
 other girls, too, were silent on the matter. 
 
 They wondered many times who had put the 
 note on the seat. Strangers were not unusual in 
 West Haven, where sailors and seamen often 
 came ashore, but the Girls' High School was at 
 the other end of town and visitors ashore seldom 
 strayed so far away from the shops and the little 
 theatre. 
 
 "I'd like to know what their grudge is against 
 the Butler family," Elinor had demanded, but no 
 one could answer the question, and she was still 
 determined not to disturb her highly excitable 
 father. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE FIRST MOTOR PICNIC. 
 
 One Saturday morning early in September 
 Miss Helen Campbell gave a breakfast party to 
 her four favorite Blue Birds. It was to be the 
 beginning of an eventful day for the young girls, 
 three of whom were to take their first long mo- 
 tor trip, and, furthermore, the motor party was 
 to end with a visit to Shell Island, where this 
 excited and happy company of young people 
 were to spend the night, motoring back to West 
 Haven next day. 
 
 Miss Campbell herself was excited. 
 
 "It's a novelty for me, my dears," she ex- 
 claimed, beaming on her guests from behind the 
 silver urn at the head of the breakfast table. 
 "I'm a very dull, lonesome old woman, and hav- 
 ing this nice child here with me is going to wake 
 me into life again. I shall never be able to give 
 you up, Wilhelmina. You had better write your 
 
 63 
 
64 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 father that you have been adopted by a very ob- 
 stinate old party, who believes that possession is 
 nine points of the law.' 
 
 "I'm quite willing to be possessed, Cousin 
 Helen," answered BiUie. "If I could only see 
 papa sometimes, I think I could say that I never 
 was so gloriously happy in all my life." 
 
 Miss Campbell smiled with pleasure and the 
 girls thought they had never seen her look more 
 beautiful. Her white hair glistened like a bank 
 of snow in the sunshine and her soft eyes were as 
 blue as patches of West Haven Bay on a clear, 
 still morning in summer. 
 
 There were times when the lonely spinster 
 looked faded and worn, and at such times she 
 used to shut herself up in her big gray stone 
 house on Cliff Street and refuse to see even her 
 most intimate friends. 
 
 "It's just one of my lonesome moods," she used 
 to say, "and I would not for worlds inflict myself 
 on innocent people when one is on me." 
 
 But Miss Campbell had not had a single attack 
 of loneliness since Billie had come to live with 
 her. The vigorous, active young girl had awak- 
 
THE FIRST MOTOR PICNIC 65 
 
 ened the entire household which had run on its 
 steady even course for so many years, and now 
 the place hardly recognized itself, filled with the 
 happy voices and gay laughter of Billie and her 
 friends. ,j 
 
 It was an unusual sight for the big mahogany 
 table in the dining room to be loaded with the 
 best cut glass and silver and adorned with deli- 
 cate lace doilies, which had belonged to Miss 
 Campbell's grandmother. These thing had been 
 laid away for many years. In the centre of the 
 table was a crystal vase filled with forget-me- 
 nots. 
 
 "They are the only flowers I could think of 
 which were the color of your blue birds," Miss 
 Campbell had explained. "Besides, they are my 
 favorite color. You know, I always wear blue 
 when I don't wear gray. Sometimes I wear 
 black " 
 
 "Black, Cousin Helen?" repeated Billie. "I 
 didn't know you ever wore anything so mourn- 
 ful." 
 
 "You shall never see me in it, child, if I can 
 
66 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 help it. But I have a black dress, only one, and 
 I do wear it at times in my bedroom." 
 
 Some thirty years before Miss Campbell, then 
 a young and beautiful girl, had come to West 
 Haven to live with her grandfather and there she 
 had lived ever since, except for an occasional 
 trip abroad. It was supposed that she had suf- 
 fered a great sorrow at some. time in her life, but 
 the real story had never been known. Captain 
 Campbell, her grandfather, had been a jovial, 
 pleasure loving old man, fond of company and 
 entertaining. He Hked to have his beautiful 
 granddaughter stand at his side and receive his 
 guests in a brocaded ball gown, with the famous 
 Campbell diamonds blazing in her hair and the 
 diamond and sapphire necklace around her throat. 
 
 But after General Campbell's death there were 
 no more balls and dinners in the big, old house. 
 The long parlors were seldom opened except to 
 be cleaned and aired, and Miss Campbell, now a 
 somewhat shrivelled pink and white little lady of 
 fifty-five, interested herself only in the charities 
 of West Haven. 
 
 "Yes, my dear children, this household and its 
 
THE FIEST MOTOR PICNIC 67 
 
 mistress have got into such a lethargy that it 
 is time they were waked up. We have been sunk 
 in so deep a rut, my old servants and I, that it 
 might have closed over our heads and the world 
 gone on just the same." 
 
 "Lots of poor families would have gone beg- 
 ging at Christmas, then. Miss Campbell," put in 
 Elinor. 
 
 "And what would all those poor old seamen 
 have done ?" went on Nancy. 
 
 "And the Blue Birds," added Mary Price. 
 "We should have had to use a corner of the 
 gymnasium at school for our most secret society 
 meetings." 
 
 Miss Campbell paid the rent of the Blue Bird 
 club rooms. 
 
 "And, pray, what should I have done ?" finished 
 Billie. "I should have been knocking around still 
 with papa, trying to get on with the queer people 
 who live in hotels, and never have had nice girls 
 to go with or a delightful home to stay in." 
 
 Miss Campbell blushed with pleasure. 
 
 "I have a great many surprises up my sleeve 
 for my little Motor Maids. I shall only tell yott 
 
68 THE MOTOE MAIBS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 one, though. What would you say to a Blue Bird 
 Thanksgiving ball ?" 
 
 I ""Oh, oh, oh ! How splendid !" cried the young 
 girls. 
 
 "Honk, honk!" went the motor horn at the 
 front entrance, which was a signal for breakfast 
 to come to an end and the party to be off. 
 
 A hamper of luncheon had been strapped be- 
 hind the car with the suit cases. Miss Campbell 
 sat between Elinor and Mary in the back, while 
 Nancy took the seat now understood to be hers 
 always, beside her friend Billie, in front. The 
 four Campbell servants, who had grown old in 
 their mistress's service, stood in a row on the 
 gravel walk to witness the strange sight of their 
 beloved "Miss Helen" sailing away in a red infer- 
 nal machine, her blue automobile veil streaming 
 out behind like a piece of flying cloud. 
 
 "Don't go too fast, BilKe," she exclaimed, as 
 they turned the corner of Cliff Street, and whirled 
 down the steep, rather slippery Main street of 
 West Haven. "Remember that you have got a 
 decrepit old woman in the back who has never 
 
THE FIRST MOTOE PICNIC 69 
 
 ridden behind anything faster than a pair of 
 ambling carriage horses in all her life." 
 
 "How about the five-thirty express, Cousin 
 Helen?" Billie called over her shoulder. 
 
 "A locomotive with an engineer is a very dif- 
 ferent thing from a young girl guiding a scar- 
 let comet," the little lady answered; but as they 
 left the street for the country road and Billie 
 gradually increased the speed. Miss Campbell 
 leaned back with a look of blissful enjoyment on 
 her face. 
 
 "It is one of the most exhilarating things I 
 have ever experienced," she confided to Elinor. 
 
 At noon they stopped for lunch. The road now 
 lay along a high cliff overlooking the ocean, 
 which on this calm September morning was as 
 serenely blue and still as a mill pond. White sails 
 dotted it here and there, and an occasional wave 
 rippled on the pebbly beach with a murmuring, 
 drowsy sound. 
 
 They had pulled up at the side of a little pine 
 grove just off the road and spread the lunch cloth 
 on a carpet of pine needles. 
 
 Then the delicious cakes and sandwiches which 
 
70 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Miss Campbell had ordered from Mrs. Price were 
 arranged in neat piles, while Elinor opened her 
 tea basket, a present from an aunt in Ireland, and 
 made tea for the company. 
 
 It was all very delightful and they were enjoy- 
 ing themselves thoroughly, when Billie and 
 Nancy, who were seated facing the others, re- 
 ceived a slight shock. A tall, slender woman, 
 dressed in black, with a long black chiffon veil 
 completely concealing her face, suddenly emerged 
 from behind a clump of dwarf oak and bay trees 
 at the far end of the grove and beckoned to them. 
 
 The two girls exchanged glances of amazement 
 and Nancy was about to say : "Why, look at that 
 woman!" when the woman, herself, put her fin- 
 ger to her lips and shook her head violently. 
 
 "I think she's crazy, Nancy," said Billie, in a 
 low voice, under cover of the conversation of the 
 others. "We had better not take any notice. It 
 would just alarm Cousin Helen and spoil the 
 day." 
 
 Nancy agreed with her, and the two girls were 
 about to suggest that they start on again, when 
 the woman began making the most extraordinary 
 
THE FIEST MOTOE PICNIC 71 
 
 motions of entreaty, imploring them with out- 
 stretched arms, beseeching them with every ges- 
 ture to come to her. And still the two girls hung 
 back. Then the woman raised the sleeve of her 
 loose black silk wrap and showed her arm bound 
 with a bloody handkerchief. 
 
 Nancy gasped at this. The sight of blood was 
 always sickening to her. But, seeing Billie's 
 meaning glance in Miss Campbell's direction, she 
 pretended that she had choked on her tea. 
 
 The other three were deep in a conversation. 
 Miss Campbell was describing a beautiful ball 
 she had once been to where she had danced with a 
 real prince, and they hardly noticed when Nancy 
 and Billie strolled over to the clump of bushes. 
 
 The woman, who had been waiting for them, 
 seized Billie's arm and in a low, rapid voice said : 
 
 "I see that you are both unusually nice girls 
 whom I can trust. I am in great trouble. You 
 will help me, will you not? It is very simple, 
 what I am going to ask you. You see, I have 
 been in a wreck." 
 
 "A motor wreck?" asked Billie. 
 
 "Yes, yes," replied the woman, not impatiently 
 
72 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 but as if she were very much pressed for time. 
 "The car rolled over the embankment. You will 
 see it below there. It happened just in the curve 
 of the road. There was no excuse except that we 
 were going too fast and the wheels did — what is 
 it you call it? Skidded? We saved ourselves, 
 all three, by jumping. Fortunately the back 
 wheels were caught in the sand and there was just 
 time to climb out as the car was overturned. The 
 others have left me. They will return at any mo- 
 ment now with another car. Hidden under the 
 seat of the wrecked car is a small box. I must 
 have it. I must indeed. I cannot get it myself. 
 I have sprained my knee, and can stand only 
 by supporting myself against this tree. Will you 
 get that box for me and place me in your debt 
 always, always ? You cannot understand how im- 
 portant it is for me to have it." 
 
 "Of course, we will," Billie assured her, "and 
 won't you let us help you over to our party, or 
 make you comfortable here with the cushions 
 until your friends come back?" 
 
 "No, no, no," replied the stranger. "I do not 
 
THE FIEST MOTOE PICNIC 73 
 
 wish to be seen if possible. I only beg you to 
 make haste. I will wait here." 
 
 As the woman grew more in earnest, her voice 
 seemed to deepen and vibrate like a musical in- 
 strument, and the girls almost forgot to listen to 
 her words under the spell of its wonderful tones ; 
 and when she threw back her veil, they still stood 
 rooted to the spot, for she was really quite the 
 most beautiful person they had either of them 
 ever seen. Her eyes and hair were dark, her 
 skin rather creamy in texture; there was a gen- 
 erous curve to her lips, a straight nose and full, 
 rounded chin. She smiled a little as she noticed 
 the admiration of the two girls, showing two 
 rows of white, even teeth. 
 
 "You will not refuse ?" she asked again. 
 
 And they helped her to sit down on the ground 
 and hurried out of the grove to the roadside. 
 There, sure enough, lying on its side in the sand, 
 some forty feet below the road, was the wrecked 
 motor car. 
 
 "Nancy, I would do anything for her," ob- 
 
74 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 served Billie, as they clambered down the em- 
 bankment. 
 
 "Isn't she perfect?" exclaimed Nancy. "And 
 still, Billie, I can't help beHeving that she's 
 slightly off in her upper story. She was so 
 queer. But a shock like that would be enough to 
 turn anybody delirious, jumping out of an auto- 
 mobile as it turned over an embankment." 
 
 "It'll all depend on whether we find the box. 
 If it is just a delirious dream, there won't be any 
 box and we will have had our climb for nothing." 
 
 They searched the upturned car and there was 
 nothing in it. The ground was strewn with 
 wreckage. Cushions and rugs were scattered 
 about in wild confusion. The girls searched the 
 place hurriedly all the way down to the foot of 
 the cliff. 
 
 "There is no need of wasting any more time, 
 Nancy, dear," said Rillie at last. "It's very evi- 
 dent to me that the beautiful lady was out of her 
 mind and we've been 'stung,' as the boys say. 
 Let's go back. Perhaps she will let us help her 
 get somewhere." 
 
 "Yes, I am afraid it's just a case of King 
 
Half buried in the sand was a small box of highly polished wood. 
 
THE FIEST MOTOE PICNIC 75 
 
 George's men marched up the hill and then 
 marched down again," said Nancy. 
 
 "And I got two grass stains when I fell down 
 just now," added Billie, looking ruefully at her 
 white serge skirt. 
 
 "My shoes are full of sand, and I've soiled my 
 white stockings," went on Nancy. "Look," she 
 cried suddenly ; "look, Billie, here it is right under 
 our noses. I suppose that little bay tree hid it 
 from us on our way down. I ask the beautiful 
 lady's pardon; but I still can't imagine why her 
 own friends couldn't have got it for her just as 
 well as we could." 
 
 Half buried in the sand was a small box of 
 highly polished wood, six or eight inches square. 
 Two broad bands of silver reinforced it at the 
 back and sides, and a little silver combination 
 lock took the place of the keyhole. In the middle 
 of the box was a small, round silver plate, on 
 which a coat of arms was engraved. 
 
 "This is the box, all right enough," said Billie, 
 examining it with much curiosity, "Now let's re- 
 turn it to that mysterious lovely person and go 
 on our ways, rejoicing." 
 
76 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 But they were not destined to get rid of the 
 box that day nor for many another day. Just as 
 they reached the top of the cHff they heard the 
 whirring of a motor engine. A car was just 
 starting from the grove. Two men were on the 
 front seat, while the owner of the box was lying 
 almost helplessly in the back seat, her veil thrown 
 back and her face white and drawn. There was 
 no top to the car and the girls could see her 
 plainly. They thought she must have fainted, 
 but when Nancy called: "Wait, please wait," 
 she raised herself quickly, put her finger to he<" 
 lips in token of silence and dropped a card into 
 the road. 
 
 The next instant the strange motor car was 
 lost to sight around the curve. Billie picked up 
 the card with some irritation. 
 
 "How silly," she exclaimed. "What are we to 
 do with this thing? Why couldn't she have 
 waited a minute?" 
 
 "Because she didn't want the men to know she 
 had the box, goosey," answered Nancy. "It's as 
 plain as the nose on your face. What does the 
 card say?" 
 
THE FIRST MOTOR PICNIC 77 
 
 It was a man's business card and read : 
 
 "Pierre Lafitte, Avocat, 
 Rue 21. Paris." 
 
 On the back of the card had been painfully 
 written with a pencil: 
 
 "I knew when you were gone so long that you 
 would be too late. If you are merciful and kind, 
 keep the box a secret from all the world. You 
 will not regret it. Send your name to this ad- 
 dress and you shall be relieved at once." 
 
 "Burdened with another secret," cried Billie, in 
 a resigned voice. "Where can we hide the 
 thing?" 
 
 "I'll sit on it for the time being," answered 
 Nancy, laughing. "There come the girls." 
 
 "What are you two infants up to?" called 
 Elinor, appearing just then at the edge of the 
 grove. "We thought you had gone in the other 
 direction and we've been looking everywhere for 
 you." 
 
 "We have — er " hesitated Billie, who never 
 
 could tell fibs. "What have we been doing, 
 Nancy?" 
 
78 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "We've been looking at a wreck. Don't you 
 want to see it ?" 
 
 "Nancy Brown," cried her friend Mary, put- 
 ting her hands on Nancy's shoulders and gazing 
 into her face, "you've got a secret. I can tell by 
 your expression. You are hiding something." 
 
 "I'm trying to hide it, but I find it rather dif- 
 ficult. I feel like a bantam hen sitting on a goose 
 
 "Let's push her oflf her goose egg," cried Eli- 
 nor, "and see what it really is." 
 
 "Help, Billie, help!" screamed Nancy, while 
 the four friends engaged in a school girl romp, 
 and Miss Campbell, who was dozing in the grove, 
 half opened her eyes and smiled. 
 
 "Is there anything more charming and sweeter 
 than the sound of children's voices out of doors?" 
 she said to herself. She could never get used 
 to the idea that Billie was not still the little eight- 
 year-old girl who had spent a summer in West 
 Haven seven years before. 
 
 In the meantime, the guardian of the box was 
 well defended by Billie until she began to laugh, 
 and when Nancy was taken with the giggles her 
 
THE FIRST MOTOR PICNIC 79 
 
 father used to say she was nothing but an aban- 
 doned lunatic. The place rang with the joyous 
 peals and the other girls were obliged to pause in 
 the struggle and join in. Then this foolishly 
 happy child rolled helplessly onto the ground, 
 upsetting the box. 
 
 But there came a sudden end to the laughter, 
 for the top of the box had sprung open and its 
 contents were scattered on the roadside. 
 
 The girls clasped their hands excitedly and 
 gazed at each other with wide-eyed amazement, 
 for at their feet glittered dozens of the most beau- 
 tiful jewels. There were a diamond and sap- 
 phire necklace, strings of pearls, earrings, rings, 
 and broaches. 
 
 "Great heavens, what have you girls been do- 
 ing?" exclaimed Mary. 
 
 "Nancy, you explain," answered Billie, grown 
 very grave, all of a sudden. "I'll gather these 
 things up and get them out of sight as quickly 
 as possible. I think my suit case is the safest 
 place for the time being, and we can take it into 
 the front of the car with us. Then we can discuss 
 later what we had better do." 
 
80 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DATS 
 
 While the girls listened to Nancy's strange 
 story of the beautiful injured woman, Billie col- 
 lected and replaced the jewels in the box with the 
 card, and packed it in the bottom of her suit case. 
 
 In another ten minutes the motor party was on 
 the road again, the younger members somewhat 
 sobered by the secret responsibility which had 
 been thrust upon them. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BOX OF TROUBLElS. 
 
 Shell Island is really only an island in name. 
 A narrow creek which fills and empties with the 
 incoming and outgoing tides divides it from the 
 mainland. A bridge spans this chasm over which 
 flows a constant stream of motor and driving par- 
 ties from all the villages and summer resorts up 
 and down the coast. 
 
 Just at sundown, as the "Comet" took the steep 
 road down the cliflf to the bridge, a big touring 
 car shot past. 
 
 "Oh, dear," exclaimed Nancy, "I did hope we 
 would leave all care behind when we came away, 
 and now I am perfectly certain that Belle Rogers 
 was sitting on the front seat of that automobile. 
 I suppose she'll be floating around the ballroom in 
 blue chiflfons this evening." 
 
 "Is she a care?" asked Billie, who had a placid 
 81 
 
82 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 and rather masculine way of forgetting all about 
 the people she didn't like. 
 
 "Oh, I don't mind her, only she always makes 
 me feel like a rag picker's daughter." 
 
 "I think she's over-dressed," put in Billie. "I 
 should feel utterly foolish with all that finery and 
 jewelry on me. When papa and I used to buy 
 my clothes, he would say : 'Suppose we stick to 
 plain white, daughter, and skip the furbelows. 
 We can't go very far wrong if we do that, and 
 if my little daughter begins to put on rufHes and 
 puffles and falals without anybody's advice but 
 mine, I'm afraid she might be taken for a walk- 
 ing fashion plate and some one will try to stand 
 her up in a shop window." 
 
 Nancy laughed. 
 
 "I think you have the prettiest dresses I ever 
 saw, Billie, but I am glad Miss Campbell has per- 
 suaded you to stop dressing so much like a boy.. 
 Lace collars are lots more becoming than those 
 stiff linen ones." 
 
 "They were chokers," answered Billie, good- 
 naturedly, as the car drew up at the steps of the 
 
THE BOX OP TROUBLES 83 
 
 hotel immediately behind the automobile which 
 had passed it on the road. 
 
 Belle and her party were waiting on the piazza, 
 the women in long pongee coats with the very lat- 
 est motor bonnets and veils. 
 
 "Those are her rich friends, the Jordannes," 
 whispered Nancy, in awed tones. "They used to 
 be just plain Jordan before they made so much 
 money." 
 
 "I think Jordan is a much nicer name. It has 
 such a fine Oriental sound, 'Where rolls the River 
 Jordan.' " 
 
 By this time several porters from the hotel had 
 stepped to the motor car door and assisted Miss 
 Campbell, somewhat stiff from the long ride, to 
 alight. The girls jumped nimbly out after her 
 and their luggage was unstrapped and piled on 
 the ground near the Jordanne luggage. But Billie 
 was careful to keep a firm hold on her own suit 
 case with its precious load. 
 
 "Let the man take your bag, dear," called Miss 
 Campbell. "You will strain your back carrying 
 that heavy thing." 
 
 There was nothing for Billie to do but resign 
 
84: THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 the suit case, although she tried to keep an eye 
 on it as they followed the porter through the 
 lobby to the elevator. Miss Campbell had tele- 
 graphed ahead for rooms. 
 
 As luck would have it, there was another ele- 
 vator for luggage, and the bag was temporarily 
 out of Billie's sight, but her mind was soon at 
 ease when she saw it stacked with the others in 
 the bedroom which she and Nancy were to share. 
 
 "While we dress for dinner," she observed, 
 "we'll have a talk about that jewelry. What on 
 earth are we going to do with it ?" 
 
 "Don't you think we'd better tell Miss Camp- 
 bell ?" suggested Elinor. 
 
 "I suppose it would be best, but Cousin Helen 
 does go off so about things, and I have a feeling 
 that if she knew it she wouldn't allow us to keep 
 our promise to our poor beautiful lady. She 
 would be sure to turn the box over to the police 
 or call in a lawyer or something. And if we 
 could only keep the box until we heard from the 
 man in Paris, at least, we should be keeping our 
 word about it." 
 
 Elinor and Mary were all for telling, but the 
 
THE BOX OP TKOUBLES 85 
 
 Other girls were still under the spell of the very 
 beautiful and distressed woman, and since it was 
 mostly their affair they concluded not to tell. 
 
 You must not blame Billie for this want of 
 frankness. Girls who have never had mothers 
 to talk to in the intimate way that only a mother 
 and daughter know, are apt to be reserved and 
 self-reliant. Billie would certainly have told her 
 father, but, then, he was in Russia. 
 
 Mary and Elinor, whose room adjoined the 
 other, had put on their kimonos and were lolling 
 on the beds, while Nancy with solicitous care was 
 removing her pretty muslin frock from the valise 
 and smoothing out the pink taffeta ribbons ten- 
 derly. 
 
 Billie knelt on the floor and opened her suit 
 case. 
 
 "Before I undress," she said decisively, "I'm 
 going to take this box straight down stairs and 
 give it to the clerk to put in the safe. Then we 
 can spend the evening with easy minds." 
 
 She flung back the top and sat down on the 
 floor with a gasp. 
 
86 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "In the name of all the powers, this is not my 
 suit case." 
 
 The girls gathered around her in great ex- 
 citement. 
 
 "It's exactly like mine," she went on, "but 
 there are no initials on it and mine has 'W.H.C 
 on the end." 
 
 "Girls," cried Nancy, flinging her bathrobe 
 around her with a tragic gesture, "the very last 
 person in the world we could wish to have Billie's 
 suit case is the very one who has it. She'll look 
 at everything in it; examine the underclothes to 
 see if they are hand-made and the stockings to see 
 if they are silk, and — she'll open the box of jewels 
 and read the card of the avocat from Paris and 
 
 "Who? Who?" interrupted the other three. 
 
 "Who but Belle Rogers," cried Nancy, flourish- 
 ing a towel in one hand and a hair brush in the 
 other. 
 
 "Yes, that's her costume," admitted Mary, 
 laughing. "Blue chiffon with a wreath of pink 
 roses for her hair." 
 
 She pulled up a corner of the pale blue gauzy 
 
THE BOX OF TROUBLES 87 
 
 material and pointed to a little pink wreath which 
 lay in the folds of the dress. 
 
 "There are her blue satin slippers, No. Two's, 
 absolutely not a size larger," said Elinor, point- 
 ing to the toe of a little slipper which showed at 
 one end of the suit case. 
 
 "This is what I get for losing the keys to 
 everything," groaned Billie. "Telephone for a 
 boy, quick, some one, while I fasten this thing 
 up. Perhaps she hasn't opened mine yet." 
 
 "Opened it!" echoed the others. "You don't 
 know her." 
 
 Presently a bell boy tapped at the door. 
 
 Billie gave him the suit case with full instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 "And hurry," she added. "If you are back 
 here in five minutes, you shall have an extra tip." 
 
 Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed. The other 
 girls were almost dressed, and Billie was begin- 
 ning to tap the floor nervously with an impatient 
 foot, when at last there was a tap at the door. 
 
 "Why didn't you come sooner?" demanded 
 Nancy and Billie in one voice. 
 
 "The young lady wouldn't let me. Miss." 
 
88 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "But what was she doing all that time?" 
 
 "I don't know, Miss. She simply told me to 
 wait outside. She was very angry, Miss, about 
 her bag." 
 
 "Angry, indeed," answered Billie, seizing her 
 own suit case. "At least no time was lost in 
 sending it to her. 
 
 The two girls opened the suit case with great 
 anxiety. The things in it were assuredly in 
 rather a rumpled condition. They had the ap- 
 pearance of having been unfolded and hastily 
 rolled up again in new folds. 
 
 Nothing could be told about the box of jewels. 
 They were all there apparently in a glittering 
 bunch with the card laid on top. 
 
 "Dear me, I'm sorry that combination lock 
 broke," exclaimed Billie. "I don't mind Belle 
 Rogers looking through my clothes if it gives 
 her any satisfaction, but I would just as soon she 
 hadn't looked into this box of jewels. And we 
 can't explain to her, because we mustn't seem to 
 know that she was capable of doing anything so 
 low and common as to go through my suit case. 
 
 She dressed herself hastily in a pretty white 
 
THE BOX OP TEOUBLBS 89 
 
 frock. Her smooth rolls of hair and trhn braid 
 did not need re-arranging, and she hurried down- 
 stairs to the desk with the troublesome box, which 
 she gave into the charge of the clerk. 
 
 "These are some really valuable things," she 
 said. "Will you put them in your safe?" 
 
 The clerk wrapped the box up neatly in heavy 
 brown paper, sealed it with red sealing wax, la- 
 belled it with her name and address and deposited 
 it in the safe. 
 
 "That's off my mind," she said, giving a sigh 
 of relief, just as the elevator door opened and 
 Miss Campbell appeared with the other girls. 
 
 "Cousin Helen, you're a dream," cried Billie, 
 taking her cousin's arm. "You are like a young 
 girl whose hair had gone and turned white in a 
 single night." 
 
 "Thank you, my dear, but you may be sure that 
 if anything happened which could make my hair 
 turn white in a night, it wouldn't leave me any 
 girlish looks. But why didn't you come to my 
 room and let me have a look at you? Are you 
 all exactly right and in place ? That's a sweet lit- 
 tle frock. I suppose you got it in Paris last sum- 
 
90 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 mer. You and your father are a pair of chil- 
 dren shopping together, I imagine. All my girls 
 look sweet," she added, not wishing to wound any 
 feelings by admiring one more than another. 
 "See this lovely dress my little Mary is wearing. 
 Could anything be more exquisitely made than 
 that ? Your mother is a wonderful woman, child. 
 There's nobody like her in West Haven." 
 
 At dinner there was another surprise for the 
 girls. This time it was an agreeable one: four 
 extra places at the table, and presently they were 
 joined by four West Haven boys, looking rather 
 embarrassed but quite happy as they shook hands 
 with the fairy godmother of the party, Billie's 
 Cousin Helen. 
 
 Two of the boys we have met before, Ben Aus- 
 ten and Charlie Clay. The other two were their 
 intimate friends and boon companions, Americus 
 Brown, Nancy's brother, known as "Merry 
 Brown," and Percival Algernon St. Clair, whose 
 mother's fancy had run riot in naming her only 
 child. He was called "Percy" by his friends for 
 short. 
 
 "Why, look who's here," exclaimed Nancy. 
 
THE BOX OF TEOUBLBS 91 
 
 "Percival Algernon St. Clair, why didn't you tell 
 us yesterday when you gave us soda water at the 
 drug store that you were coming on this trip, 
 too?" 
 
 "Because it was secret," answered Percy, who 
 was very blond and blushed easily. "Miss Camp- 
 bell wanted to surprise you." 
 
 "I thought it would be nice for my girls to have 
 some partners for the dance to-night," said Miss 
 Campbell. "I wanted to see some real dancing." 
 
 "If you want to see the real thing, then. Miss 
 Campbell," said Merry Brown, "if you want to 
 see the poetry of motion, you must see Ben 
 dance." 
 
 "Shut up, bow-legs," called Ben across the ta- 
 ble. "I've been learning for months. I took les- 
 sons last summer." 
 
 "Where?" demanded his friends, because at 
 the school dances, Ben's expression of misery 
 was well known when he towed an unfortunate 
 friend around the room. 
 
 "I know," said Percy, "it's all explained now. 
 That's what you were doing at the Dutch pic- 
 nics every week." 
 
92 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Well, they were pretty good teachers," replied 
 the imperturbable Ben. "They taught me that 
 guiding a girl in a dance was very much like 
 sailing a boat with a windmill for a sail. You 
 have to guide and twirl at the same time, and the 
 more speed you make in twirling the better your 
 dancing is." 
 
 Everybody laughed uproariously at this de- 
 scription. 
 
 "Ben Austen, I didn't expect to be treated like 
 a windmill sail boat when I promised to give you 
 my first dance," announced Elinor. 
 
 "It would be better than to be treated like a 
 stationary windmill and go turning around in 
 one place like the Germans dance," observed 
 Billie. 
 
 "You may all have your choice," said Ben. 
 "Stationary or progressive, it's all one to me, only 
 remember that you have each promised to do a 
 Dutch twirl with me." 
 
 The ballroom was already quite filled with dan- 
 cers and it seemed very bewildering and delight- 
 ful to the young girls, if it was only a summer 
 hotel with a piano and two violins and a flute for 
 
THE BOX OF TEOUBLES 93 
 
 an orchestra. Ben's Dutch whirl was so skill- 
 fully performed, because like everything else he 
 attempted he had mastered it perfectly, that the 
 girls found it rather exciting fun. 
 
 "It's a regular romp," cried Billie, who, with 
 glowing cheeks, dropped breathlessly into a chair 
 beside her Cousin Helen. 
 
 "Look," whispered Mary Price, who had been 
 dancing a quiet glide with Charlie Clay and had 
 had a chance to notice some of the other dancers. 
 
 For some reason both their young faces turned 
 suddenly very grave. Was it a strange, unex- 
 plained premonition that told them the most dan- 
 gerous enemy either was ever to have was danc- 
 ing past that moment, in floating pale blue chiffon 
 draperies ? 
 
 After the dance there was a merry supper 
 party with sandwiches and lemonade in the grill 
 room, and then the Motor Maids were glad 
 enough to get to their beds. 
 
 "What a relief it is, Nancy, dear, to have that 
 box of jewels in the safe," said Billie sleepily, as 
 her eyelids drooped and she settled herself un- 
 der the covers. 
 
94 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 But Nancy did not reply. She was sleeping 
 deeply. Billie, too, was soon oblivious of every- 
 thing in the world. 
 
 As the night wore on, Nancy dreamed that 
 she was dancing the Dutch twirl in a wonderful 
 blue gauze dress, but that the diamond necklace 
 she wore so weighed her down that she could not 
 breathe. 
 
 Billie also dreamed of the diamonds. They 
 were not around her neck, but in their box, which 
 had grown to the size of a trunk and pressed on 
 her chest so heavily thai she was suffocating. 
 
 Suddenly a great bell clanged out in the night. 
 
 Billie opened her eyes with difficulty. The 
 room was filled with smoke and down the cor- 
 ridor there came the cry of "Fire ! Fire !" 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FIRB. 
 
 A bell with a deep baying note rang out in the 
 darkness. 
 
 If you have ever heard a fire bell boom out in 
 the stillness, you will remember the terror which 
 clutched your heart at the first ominous peal. It 
 seemed to Billie, in going over it afterward, that 
 the boom of that big fire bell was like the last 
 trump on the day of judgment arousing the 
 spirits of the dead. 
 
 Then came the sound of voices. The corridors 
 were filled with hurrying footsteps. Somebody 
 ran down the hallway calling again: 
 
 "Fire! Fire!" 
 
 Billie jumped to the floor with a bound. Her 
 senses had returned at last. 
 
 "Nancy, Nancy !" she cried, shaking her friend 
 violently back to consciousness. "The hotel is on 
 
 95 
 
96 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 fire. Get into your dressing gown as quickly as 
 you can while I wake up the others." 
 
 As she switched on the light she saw that the 
 room was filled with smoke, and she knew the 
 fire must be in their wing of the hotel and that 
 there was no time to lose. 
 
 There is no better fire trap in the world than 
 a wooden hotel at the seaside. The salt from 
 the flying spray in winter storms has seasoned the 
 wood into splendid burning material, and the 
 breeze from the ocean fans the flames like a great 
 natural bellows. 
 
 As Billie waked the other girls Miss Campbell 
 came into the room, with a white, scared face. 
 But she was not excited. 
 
 "Get into your dressing gowns, girls," she said 
 quietly. "Don't lose a moment's time. The boys 
 are waiting for us outside." 
 
 Just then Ben Austen rattled on the door. 
 
 "Hurry," he called. "The elevators won't run 
 much longer and the stairs are burning. 
 
 Hardly two minutes had passed since the first 
 clang of the bell when Miss Campbell and the 
 girls joined the boys in the corridor. There had 
 
THE FIRE 97 
 
 not been time even to snatch up a hair-pin from 
 the bureau to catch tumbled locks together. But 
 nobody looked at any one else. The place was 
 crowded with hotel guests in exactly the same 
 condition and all the passages opening into the 
 main corridor of the hotel were emptying them- 
 selves of streams of people in every state of dis- 
 array. If it had been less serious, the girls 
 might have laughed at the numbers of terrified 
 and hysterical fat women, wrapping insufficient 
 dressing gowns and blankets about their large 
 forms as they pushed their way without cere- 
 mony toward the elevators. 
 
 But a big tongue of flame suddenly leapt up 
 the stairwell at the end of the hall. There was 
 a crackling sound and clouds of black smoke 
 poured into the corridor. 
 
 "We must get out of this," exclaimed Ben. 
 "The fire has reached this floor and unless we 
 knock a few people down, we'll never get to either 
 of those elevators." 
 
 "But where are the fire escapes?" demanded 
 Miss Campbell. 
 
98 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "At the end of the hall," answered Charlie, 
 "and we could never get past that burning pit." 
 
 The two elevators had been up and down sev- 
 eral times, packed with people. The smoke was 
 growing thicker each moment, and the next thing 
 Billie remembered was that Elinor had fainted 
 dead away, and that some one had screamed: 
 
 "The elevators have stopped running!" 
 
 In the stifling atmosphere she saw Ben and 
 Charlie lift Elinor and call to the others to fol- 
 low them into a bedroom. As she staggered 
 after them, a grotesque figure, screaming hys- 
 terically, fought through the crowd, almost 
 knocking Billie down. Even in that moment of 
 danger she recognized Belle Rogers, every lock 
 of whose golden hair was done up on red rub- 
 ber curlers, the ends of which stuck straight up 
 like scores of little devils' horns. 
 
 "Take me down ! Take me down !" Billie heard 
 her scream. "I will not die in this horrible way! 
 Sonicbody save me !" 
 
 Biilie touched her on the shoulder. 
 
 "Don't scream," she said. "It only makes 
 
THE FIRE 9» 
 
 things worse. The people who are left are going 
 to get down by the windows. Come with us." 
 
 Belle, who had been separated from her 
 friends, followed quietly enough. 
 
 In another moment the corridor was empty, 
 and the flames which had been fast eating their 
 way along the hall had reached the elevator 
 shafts. It had all happened in much less time 
 than it takes to tell, btlt in the brief instant when 
 Billie had paused to rescue Belle, she lost the 
 others. Once in a bedroom, where the air was 
 not so stifling, it was impossible to leave and rush 
 again into the atmosphere outside. 
 
 The two girls dashed into the nearest room and 
 closed the door, too stifled to notice that the oth- 
 ers, led by level-headed Ben and followed by the 
 crowd of people left standing by the elevator 
 shafts, had rushed into a front room at the end 
 of the hall. In the closets of this room and the 
 one adjoining, they found two fire ropes which this 
 old-fashioned hotel provided for its guests whose 
 rooms were not located near the fire escapes. 
 Those who were not able to slide down the ropes 
 were lowered in a chair, and the others, with a 
 
100 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 foot twisted around the rope and grasping a wet 
 towel to keep the palm of the hand from blis- 
 tering, slid down. In the darkness it was impos- 
 sible to recognize faces, and it was not until they 
 were all safe on the ground that they missed Billie 
 Campbell. 
 
 Then poor Miss Campbell, who had been ad- 
 mirably calm during the whole fearful experi- 
 ence, fainted away, and Elinor, now entirely re- 
 stored by the fresh air, was left to take care of 
 her. 
 
 Nancy and Mary followed the four boys to the 
 rescue. Tears were rolling down Nancy's cheeks 
 and Mary was as pale as death. Each girl had 
 her own peculiar way of showing how much she 
 had come to love their new friend, Billie. 
 
 In the meantime, Billie, herself, was looking 
 ruefully down into the darkness from the win- 
 dow of a room on the third floor and Belle was 
 indulging in a fit of real hysterics. 
 
 "How dare you bring me here ?" she screamed 
 hoarsely, stamping her foot. "I might have been 
 saved if you had let me alone, and here we are 
 
THE FIRE 101 
 
 trapped! I always hated you and now I detest 
 you with my whole soul." 
 
 "I thought the others were in here," said Billie 
 apologetically. 
 
 "Thought ! Thought !" screamed the wretched 
 girl. "You wanted me to die. You wanted me 
 to lose my beauty." 
 
 "You haven't any to lose just now," answered 
 Billie. "You look more like the Medusa of the 
 snaky locks " 
 
 "Oh, oh !" wept Belle, too angry to articulate. 
 
 "You may console yourself this much," went on 
 Billie. "If you die, I shall die with you, but I am 
 going to do my best to save you and myself, too." 
 
 "Help! Help!" screamed Belle from the win- 
 dow, not taking any notice. But her voice was 
 lost in the wild clamor which came up from be- 
 low. 
 
 Then she flung herself flat on the floor in an 
 agony of sobs. 
 
 "It's better to pray than to cry. Belle. Cry- 
 ing won't help and we are in a pretty warm place. 
 If you were only a sport, it might do a lot of 
 good." 
 
102 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Belle crawled to the window and leaned out. 
 T tie air in the room was becoming unbearable. 
 
 In the meantime, Billie's thoughts were work- 
 *ig rapidly. There were the sheets, but there 
 wasn't time to tear them into strips and knot the 
 strips together. Besides, she didn't believe they 
 would reach halfway to the ground. 
 
 "I am afraid we'll have to climb it," she said. 
 
 "Climb what?" 
 
 "Climb up the side of the shutter to the roof. 
 "iTiis is the top floor. The flames haven't reached 
 th(. roof yet." 
 
 "But what good will the roof do us ?" 
 
 "t don't know yet, but it's better than this. 
 Coma on." 
 
 "I tell you I can't climb. I never did such a 
 thing in my life." 
 
 "Ydu'U just have to begin then," said Billie 
 sternly. "Shall I go first, or would you rather 
 doit?" 
 
 "rtl go — no, you go." 
 
 "I'll help you," said Billie, hoisting herself to 
 the window ledge. "Now, don't look down. Just 
 imagine you are only a few feet from the ground 
 
THE FIEE 103 
 
 and that it's a very easy stunt. If you decide be- 
 forehand that you can't do it, why, of course, 
 you can't. But it will be much easier than staying 
 here to be burned alive in the next few minutes." 
 
 Delivering herself of this boyish but unim- 
 peachable logic, Billie kicked off her slippers and 
 swung herself onto the shutter. Just for one 
 brief instant a sickening nausea came over her as 
 she looked down into the darkness. 
 
 Then her fingers grasped the cornice of the 
 roof and, pulling herself up with her two arms, 
 as she had learned to do on the parallel bars in 
 the gymnasium — only in this instance the shut- 
 ter made a very uncertain elbow rest — she scram- 
 bled onto the roof. 
 
 "All right, Belle," she called. "It's much 
 easier than I thought. Take off your slippers and 
 come ahead, and don't forget to look up and not 
 down." 
 
 Belle obeyed in sullen silence. She was as de- 
 termined as Billie not to be burned alive, but her 
 luxurious and self-indulgent nature revolted 
 against this uncomfortable and dangerous method 
 of getting out of the difficulty. However, there 
 
104 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 was nothing else to do, so she swung out on the 
 shutter as BilHe had done, only this time Billie, 
 with all the strength in her body was holding the 
 shutter rigid. 
 
 As Belle clung on with her hands and her lit- 
 tle pink toes, which she had stuck into the in- 
 terstices of the shutter, she suddenly looked down. 
 Her grasp weakened and she gave a shriek so 
 piercing that Billie almost slipped headlong over 
 the side of the roof, but she grasped Belle's slack- 
 ening wrist. 
 
 "Take a breath," she said, in a trembling voice. 
 "You can do it, if you only make up your mind 
 to." 
 
 "I'll never, never forgive you," cried Belle, 
 "and if I live through to-night, I'll pay you back." 
 
 "All right," answered Billie calmly, seeing all 
 at once that anger appeared to give Belle new 
 strength, "only I advise you to get onto this roof 
 first." 
 
 Another moment and Belle had clambered over 
 the cornice and was stretched out breathless on 
 the roof. 
 
 "I would much rather have had a baby to look 
 
THE FIEE 105 
 
 after," thought BilHe, as she looked contemptu- 
 ously down at the other girl. 
 
 "We had better not lose any more time now, 
 Belle," she said aloud. "If you have got your 
 breath and your nerve back, come ahead." 
 
 Belle pulled herself wearily up and followed. 
 
 "My feet are all splinters," she complained, 
 "and my hands are torn and bleeding." 
 
 " 'Tis the voice of the lobster : I heard him de- 
 clare 
 
 'You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my 
 hair,' " 
 
 repeated Billie, half laughing and half sobbing 
 that this foolish verse should have flashed 
 through her brain at this strange time. 
 
 The two girls hurried along the roof toward 
 the front. It was plain that in the scramble to 
 save the lives of the hotel guests there had been 
 no time to save the building, and when the young 
 girls turned the corner of the roof and looked for 
 a moment across the broad expanse of ocean not 
 a hundred yards away it seemed to them that they 
 were alone in the whole world. 
 
106 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "What are we going to do now?" demanded 
 Belle. 
 
 "I don't know yet," answered Billie patiently. 
 
 The roof was hot under her feet and they could 
 hear the crackling of flames as they hastened 
 along the edge to the other side. 
 
 The rest of that fearful adventure seemed like 
 a dream to Billie afterwards. 
 
 As they turned the corner of the house a voice 
 called hoarsely: 
 
 "Who can tie a rope?" 
 
 Billie remembered to have replied vaguely and 
 politely that she could tie a rope. A man emerged 
 from behind the chimney with a long rope, but 
 she hardly noticed at the time that he had only 
 one arm. 
 
 "It may not be long enough," he said, "but tie 
 it and we'll take the risk. It's our only chance." 
 
 Billie knotted the rope around the chimney. 
 The man examined the knot carefully, pulled it 
 with his one hand, and then threw it over the side 
 of the house. 
 
 "I'll go first," said Belle quietly, and BilHe 
 looked at her with amazement. 
 
THE FIEE 107 
 
 "Humph!" said the man. "You are brave. 
 Can you do it?" 
 
 "Yes," answered Belle, "I can do anything. 
 Help me over the side." 
 
 "It's going to hurt," he observed, as he twisted 
 the rope around her foot and showed her how to 
 slide down. "It's going to take all the skin oflf 
 your hands and feet and maybe cut to the bone." 
 
 Belle made no reply to this cheerful predic- 
 tion. She had already started down the rope. 
 
 As Billie watched her disappear in the dark, 
 the man said abruptly : 
 
 "Did a number of girls and a white-haired 
 woman in a red automobile come here this even- 
 ing?" 
 
 Billie hesitated. 
 
 "I beHeve so," she said. 
 
 "Do you know so ?" asked the man insistently. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Did you see one of them leave a rosewood box 
 at the clerk's desk?" 
 
 Billie made a great effort to remember. Then, 
 suddenly, the case of jewels loomed up in her 
 mind. She had forgotten all about them. 
 
108 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Billie, Billie," called a voice from below. 
 
 "Yes," she answered, looking over the roof. 
 
 "She's here," shouted Ben, from the top of the 
 ladder, which reached only to the second story. 
 
 "All right," called the one-armed man on the 
 roof. "We have a rope here. We'll swing down 
 to the ladder." 
 
 The next thing Billie remembered she was sur- 
 rounded by a crowd of her friends at the foot of 
 the ladder. The girls were weeping and her 
 Cousin Helen was giving vent to hysterical ex- 
 pressions of relief and thankfulness. The wet 
 sand felt cool and soft to the parched soles of 
 her bare feet, and she tried to smile; but she 
 really had quite forgotten what it was all about. 
 Some one close by her groaned and sobbed alter- 
 nately, and a sickening feeling came over her 
 when she saw a girl stretched on a blanket almost 
 at her feet. The girl's hands were torn and 
 bleeding and her pale blue silk kiniono was cov- 
 ered with blood. Down one cheek was a long, 
 bloody mark and to complete her grotesque and 
 terrible aspect, at least a dozen little red rubber 
 devils' horns stood upright all over her head. 
 
THE FIEE 109 
 
 The next thing Billie remembered was hud- 
 dling into her own beloved red motor car with 
 the others, while some one took them somewhere, 
 and all the time in her ears she heard a man's 
 voice saying: 
 
 "Where is that box of jewels?" 
 
 And her own voice replied : 
 
 "Under the ruins of the Shell Island Hotel." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 nancy's home. 
 
 Nancy's home was a favorite meeting place of 
 the four friends. There was something very in- 
 viting about the old red brick house, with its low- 
 ceiled, cheerful rooms and deep-silled windows. 
 
 Nancy's family had been seafaring people for 
 many generations, and the place was filled with 
 curios from foreign countries: carved chests, 
 swords with curved blades, ivory elephants, funny 
 little cross-legged grinning gods, beautiful Japa- 
 nese vases and Oriental rugs. 
 
 In cool weather there seemed to be a perpetual 
 piece of old driftwood crackling on the hearth, 
 and there was nothing the girls enjoyed more 
 than sitting in a row on the floor in front of that 
 cheerful blaze while they drank tea from curious 
 Japanese cups and nibbled some of Mrs. Brown's 
 delicate cookies. 
 
 Nancy's father was the very picture of a sea 
 
 110 
 
NANCY'S HOME 111 
 
 captain, sunburned, ruddy, eyes very blue and 
 little side whiskers like an English Squire's. He 
 had a hundred stories to tell of the sea, and BilHe 
 could have listened to him all day without tiring. 
 Nancy's mother was a gay, cheerful little body 
 who kept her house polished like a ship's cabin, 
 and Nancy's brother. Merry, was the image of 
 his father. He felt the call of the sea, too, as 
 his father and grandfather had before him, but 
 he was not to be the captain of a merchant ship. 
 He intended to go to Annapolis. 
 
 Three weeks had passed since the great fire at 
 Shell Island, when, one Saturday afternoon, a 
 red motor car wound its way in and out of the 
 country vehicles on Main Street, stopped at the 
 express office, where the young mistress of the 
 car alighted for a moment, returning with a pack- 
 age, and then, with a reckless flourish, turned 
 into lower Clifif Street and presently stopped in 
 front of Nancy's house. 
 
 Billie entered without ceremony, so intimate 
 had she now become with the Brown household. 
 Concealing the package in her gray ulster, she 
 left it in the hall. Then, with the boyish freedom 
 
113 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 which seemed to characterize all her ways, pulling 
 off her gray hat and gloves, she marched into the 
 parlor. 
 
 Nancy was huddled up on the settle doing the 
 family darning, a Saturday task she loathed. 
 Elinor was playing softly on the square piano 
 between the front windows and Mary Price was 
 reading a book. 
 
 "I hope I don't disturb any one," said Billie, 
 laughing as she burst into the room. "Everybody 
 seems to be so busy here. I'm the only idle crea- 
 ture living to-day. Even Cousin Helen is at 
 work." 
 
 "I hope she is doing something more to her 
 taste than this," said Nancy mournfully. "I'd 
 rather dig for clams any day. Merry would wear 
 out a sock made of steel chains." 
 
 "Hark, a doleful voice from the tombs," cried 
 Merry, who always made it an excuse to hunt 
 for something in the parlor when Billie appeared. 
 
 "It's the truth," complained Nancy. "If you 
 would just keep still two minutes at a time, I 
 wouldn't have to give up my Saturdays slaving 
 for you." 
 
FANCY'S HOME 113 
 
 " 'When I hear the music play, I can't keep 
 right still,' " sang Merry, executing a double 
 shuffle on the floor to a jig tune Elinor had struck 
 up. 
 
 "You'll have to dance to a different tune when 
 you go to Annapolis," cried Nancy. "And who'll 
 do your darning there?" 
 
 "Don't borrow trouble, Nancy," answered her 
 brother. "Perform your daily task and cease to 
 murmur. You'll be a professional grumbler like 
 Belle Rogers if you keep on." 
 
 "Do you know that she and her whole family 
 are denouncing me as a sort of would-be mur- 
 derer ?" put in Billie. "All because I lost Ben and 
 the rest of you at the Shell Island fire and took 
 her into the wrong room." 
 
 "I heard that she was an early Christian mar- 
 tyr who had come near to being burned at the 
 stake," said Merry. 
 
 "Yes," continued Billie, "she tells how I en- 
 ticed her into the room, and then climbed up onto 
 the roof and left her, so that she had to follow 
 and she even blames me because she would slide 
 down the rope first and cut her hands so that she 
 
114 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 will never be able to play the piano. I am very- 
 sorry for that, because she liked music, but it was 
 her own fault." 
 
 "It's really making a sort of split-up in the 
 town," observed Elinor. "Mrs. Rogers and 
 mamma almost had words on the subject the other 
 day. As much as mamma will ever have words 
 with any one. Mrs. Rogers tried to tell her that 
 Belle was going one way and you made her go 
 another, and all mamma said was, 'My dear Julia, 
 I have heard the correct version of the story,' 
 and swept away." 
 
 "Exactly as you will do, Elinor, when you be- 
 gin to wear long dresses," said Nancy. 
 
 "Oh, she can sweep without a train," cried 
 Merry, giving a very good imitation of Elinor as 
 he made for the door with his baseball bat and 
 glove. 
 
 "Now, don't be silly, Americus Brown," called 
 Elinor after him. "Remember that you are to 
 be a soldier of the nation some day, and you'll 
 have to stop walking pigeon-toed, then, and keep 
 your bow-legs straight and stop grinning. It 
 will be very difficult, I fear." 
 
NANCY'S HOME 115 
 
 Merry shot a coffee bean at her with his thumb 
 and forefinger as he left the room. 
 
 "That boy will be the death of me," exclaimed 
 Nancy. "He reminds me of our sailor weather- 
 cock in the garden that waves his arms and legs 
 and turns every time there is the slightest 
 breeze." 
 
 "He's a nice boy," said Billie, who always took 
 Merry's side in the arguments. "But I am here 
 this morning, as the preacher says, to ask your 
 advice in a grave matter. Several grave matters, 
 in fact." 
 
 "Have you heard from Mr. Lafitte ?" demanded 
 the three girls in unison. 
 
 "No," said Billie, "and it's been nearly three 
 weeks since we sent my name and address. Per- 
 haps there hasn't been time, but I should think 
 they might have cabled, or something." 
 
 "It only postpones the evil day of telling them 
 the jewels were lost in the fire," observed Mary. 
 
 Billie disappeared in the hall for a moment and 
 returned with the package she had hidden in her 
 ulster. 
 
116 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "The jewels came back by express this morn- 
 ing," she said. 
 
 "For heaven's sake !" cried the others. 
 
 "I don't know whether to be glad or sorry," 
 said Billie. "I am sure Pandora's box didn't have 
 any more troubles locked inside of it than this one 
 has. What shall I do with it now?" 
 
 "Why don't you tell Miss Campbell all about 
 it?" suggested Elinor, for the second time. 
 
 "But, Elinor, it wouldn't be right," answered 
 Billie. "Didn't we give the woman our word of 
 honor, Nancy, that we would keep the box for 
 her until she sent for it, and tell no one? Even 
 you and Mary would not have known about it 
 if you hadn't attacked Nancy like two wild Co- 
 manche Indians and knocked the box open." 
 
 "Don't you think the woman was crazy, hon- 
 estly now ?" Elinor asked for the hundredth time. 
 This was an old argument between the girls. 
 
 "No, I don't," answered Billie emphatically. 
 
 "She was much too beautiful and fascinating to 
 be crazy," put in Nancy. 
 
 "They are the craziest of all sometimes," said 
 Elinor. 
 
NANCY'S HOME 117 
 
 "But to return to the jewels," interrupted 
 Mary, the peacemaker. "Did the hotel people 
 send them back?" 
 
 "No, that's the queerest thing of all, and that's 
 what I'm here for to tell you now. The hotel 
 people wrote me a letter which came this morn- 
 ing, saying that it was believed that the fire had 
 been started by thieves who robbed the safe and 
 that they, therefore, were not responsible for 
 things lost. 
 
 "In the same mail came another very nice let- 
 ter from a strange man named Johnston. He 
 said the night of the fire he saw a man who was 
 carrying this package faint dead away on the 
 bridge. He believes now the man was one of 
 the thieves. Anyway, he took him into his auto- 
 mobile and the thief must have come to and not 
 known where he was, because he escaped some- 
 how, probably to go back and look for the pack- 
 age, which Mr. Johnston has expressed to me." 
 
 "Well, of all the strange stories!" 
 
 "But the question is now, what to do with the 
 thing?" continued Billie. 
 
 If Billie had been a few years older, she would 
 
118 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DATS 
 
 probably have gone straight to Miss Campbell, 
 or to Miss Campbell's lawyer, Mr. Richard But- 
 ler, Elinor's uncle, for advice. The jewels would 
 then have been stored in the bank for safe-keep- 
 ing and proper means taken to find the owner. 
 But it seemed to her that having given her word 
 she must keep it, and hide the jewels herself in 
 some safe place until she heard from Mr. Lafitte. 
 After all, he might be on a journey somewhere, 
 and they could only wait patiently. 
 
 "Let's go and consult our guide, counsellor, 
 and friend," suggested Mary. 
 
 "Who ?" asked the other girls, in some doubt. 
 
 "Why, the motor car, of course. Isn't he the 
 cheerfullest, finest friend in the world; always 
 ready to give pleasure ; always smiling and ruddy, 
 and ready to come and go, stay still or move on — 
 bless him?" 
 
 "He is a dear," said Billie, pleased with this 
 extravagant praise of her beloved car. 
 
 The girls had come to consider "The Comet" 
 almost as a living thing, like a pet horse or a 
 favorite dog. They loved it as ardently as chil' 
 
NANCY'S HOME 119 
 
 dren love a pony which has borne them all on his 
 back at one time around the garden. 
 
 It was decided then to take a spin in the car 
 and the four friends were soon in their accus- 
 tomed places on the red leather seats. 
 
 The scarlet car, full of young girls, was no 
 longer an unusual sight in the town of West 
 Haven, and people had ceased now to turn and 
 stare at the "Motor Maids," as Captain Brown 
 had christened them one morning when they had 
 taken him for a drive in the automobile. 
 
 Through the town they sped and out to the 
 open road. The crisp autumn air nipped their 
 cheeks and brought the color to their faces. As 
 they passed Boulder Lane they looked curiously 
 at the fisherman's house in the distance. 
 
 "I am certain those men who took your car 
 were smugglers," announced Nancy. "Father 
 says there are lots of them.'/ 
 
 "Perhaps," said BiUie, "and I am certain of 
 another thing: that it was the same one-armed 
 man who was on the roof of the hotel the night 
 of the fire." 
 
120 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "But there are lots of one-armed men in the 
 world, child," replied Nancy. 
 
 "Perhaps, but there was something familiar 
 about him. And, besides, why did he ask me 
 those questions about the girls at the hotel in the 
 red automobile ?" 
 
 "And, 'curiser and curiser,' what did he want 
 with the box of jewels? And how did he know 
 we had them?" said Elinor. 
 
 "I really couldn't say," answered Nancy. "Ask 
 me something easier." 
 
 Seeing nothing ahead of them in the road, 
 Billie had let the car go full speed. It was what 
 they all loved, even Mary Price, who had grad- 
 ually got over a certain timidity she used to feel 
 when the car shot through the air like a sky- 
 rocket, and it was Mary Price now, grown un- 
 usually bold from familiarity with speeding, who 
 suddenly jumped up and cried in her high, sweet 
 voice : 
 
 "I've got it! I've got it!" 
 
 "Got what?" demanded the others. 
 
 "Why, a place to put the jewels in, of course. 
 Mother's safe." 
 
NAlSrCY'S HOME 131 
 
 "But would she like us to use her safe?" asked 
 Billie. 
 
 "She won't mind. I'll tell her it's something of 
 yours. She never uses it. We haven't anything 
 to keep in it now," Mary added simply. "Father 
 used it in his life time and Mother has just kept 
 it since because we are always expecting to make 
 lots of money, you know, and then we might need 
 it. I know the combination, and we can 
 go straight home and put them in. No one would 
 ever think of looking for jewels in our little 
 house, and they ought to be as safe there as any 
 place in the world." 
 
 "Mary, dear, you are a trump," exclaimed 
 Billie. "It's a perfect idea." 
 
 In another moment, they had faced about and 
 were on their way back to town. 
 
 "Dear old car," ejaculated Elinor, patting the 
 red leather tenderly. "Mary's right, we couldn't 
 get on without you. We consult you exactly as 
 the ancients consulted oracles. I think all your 
 cushions must be stuffed with good advice, in- 
 stead of horse hair, and your big all-seeing eye 
 is always on the lookout for danger " 
 
1S3 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DATS 
 
 "And his heart is true to his jolly crew," sang 
 Nancy. 
 
 "He is better than a horse," put in Mary, 'be- 
 cause he never gets tired." 
 
 "And when he's empty we fill him with gaso- 
 line, and he'll go ahead as fresh as ever," went 
 on Billie. 
 
 "And he always avoids broken glass and tacks 
 in the road," Elinor was saying, when "bang!" 
 went one of the rear tires with a report as loud 
 as a pistol shot. 
 
 The "jolly crew" could not restrain their ever- 
 ready laughter at this disconcerting behavior on 
 the part of "The Comet" just at the very mo- 
 ment when their boasts were loudest. 
 
 "Oh, well," said Billie apologetically, "it's time 
 we had a puncture. We've never had one yet. 
 We'll take him to the garage and have him mend- 
 ed properly." 
 
 "Chocolates, marshmellows, peanut brittle, and 
 other candies, fresh and dee-lishus!" called a 
 voice from behind the motor as they pulled into 
 the garage. 
 
 It was Percival Algernon St. Clair, wearing a 
 
NANCY'S HOME 123 
 
 most engaging smile on his rosy, good-natured 
 face, as he tipped his boyish cap at Nancy in par- 
 ticular in the most approved grown-up fashion. 
 
 "Have you any ice cream sodas, Percy- Algy?" 
 demanded Nancy impudently. 
 
 "I don't think the fountain's dry yet, Nancy, 
 and we'll have a party, if you say so. The gang 
 is close by. Shall I give the signal?" 
 
 "I have no objections," said Nancy, "if the 
 girls haven't." 
 
 "Why should we?" answered Billie. "Isn't 
 pineapple soda water my favorite beverage?" 
 
 Percy put two fingers to his lips and gave three 
 whistles, and, as if by magic, Ben Austen, Charlie 
 Clay, and Merry Brown emerged from the 
 shadow of a neighboring doorway. 
 
 In spite of his theatrical name, his girlish com- 
 plexion, and blond hair, Percy was a great favor- 
 ite with his friends. He had received a spoiling 
 from his doting and indulgent mother that would 
 have turned many another boy into a selfish, vain 
 egoist. But Percy had been saved from this 
 wretched fate partly by his own frank and en- 
 gaging disposition and partly by association with 
 
124 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 his three chums, Charlie, Ben, and Merry, whole- 
 some, manly boys, who had never been molly- 
 coddled in their lives. 
 
 "Will some one carry this parcel then ?" asked 
 BiUie, pulling the box of jewels from under the 
 seat, and tearing the wrapping paper off of a 
 corner as she did so. 
 
 "I will," said Merry promptly, taking charge 
 of the box. "Why, it's rather heavy," he ob- 
 served, weighing it in his hand. "It must be 
 full of gold nuggets." 
 
 Billie was silent. She was beginning to be a 
 little superstitious about that box, and she could 
 have wished that the punctured tire and the soda 
 water party, pleasant as was this last diversion, 
 had not interrupted their plan to store the box 
 in Mrs. Price's safe. 
 
 But Billie enjoyed being with girls and boys of 
 her own age so much that she soon forgot her 
 doubts and joined in the gay conversation of the 
 little company. 
 
 On Saturday afternoons a crowd of High 
 School boys and girls was always congregated 
 around the soda water fountain in the West 
 
NANCY'S HOME 125 
 
 Haven Pharmacy, as it was called, and the place 
 was filled with gay talk and laughter, when the 
 Motor Maids and their friends pushed their way 
 up to the marble counter, while Percy, who had 
 more pocket money in a week than some of the 
 others had in a year, paid for the checks. 
 
 As luck would have it, Billie and Americus 
 Brown had found places next to Belle Rogers, 
 who, very daintily and delicately, though with 
 some thoroughness, was consuming a maple-nut 
 sundae. 
 
 Merry pushed the box onto the counter while 
 he plunged into a glass of chocolate soda water 
 without even noticing that Belle had turned a 
 scornful glance, first at him and then at the much 
 soiled and travel-stained wrapper on the package. 
 Then, suddenly, something very particular' 
 claimed her attention. Mary Price, who was 
 standing around the curve of the counter, saw 
 the whole thing and reported it later to the girls. 
 Where Billie had torn the paper, the poHshed 
 rosewood surface of the box, with its silver 
 mounting, was plainly visible. Belle gave one 
 long, astonished stare of recognition. 
 
126 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "After we leave this package at Mary's, I in- 
 vite all of you to take a ride in the motor," Billie 
 was saying to Merry Brown. "Do you think 
 eight can sit where five are in the habit of sit- 
 ting?" 
 
 "One seat will be big enough for the mid- 
 gets," — a nickname given to Mary and Charlie, — 
 Merry answered. "One of us can sit on the floor 
 and the other four can squeeze onto the back seat. 
 The chauffeur is the only person who must have 
 plenty of room." 
 
 "Can't you move up and give us a Httle room ?" 
 interrupted Nancy, pushing her way between her 
 brother and his neighbor, while Percy stood pa- 
 tiently by with two glasses of soda water. 
 
 Without meaning it, she had jostled Belle 
 Rogers. The two girls turned and faced each 
 other. 
 
 "How do you do, Belle? Are you quite well 
 again ?" asked Nancy poHtely, but with a look in 
 her eyes which meant mischief. 
 
 Belle had not been back to school since the 
 fire. 
 
 "Miss Brown," said Belle, bowing stiffly. 
 
NANCY'S HOME . 127 
 
 "How well your hair stays in curl this foggy 
 weather, Belle," continued Nancy, in a high, 
 pleasant voice, which could be heard by all the 
 boys and girls at the counter. "You must put it 
 up almost every night now, don't you?" 
 
 "Nancy!" expostulated Billie, as Belle sailed 
 from the drug store, followed by several of her 
 loyal friends. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AT THE SIGN OP THE BIvUE TEA POT. 
 
 Billie was thankful when they had got the box 
 of jewels safely back into the motor car and 
 were on their way at last to Mary's home. 
 
 Mary and her mother lived in a pretty old 
 house facing the public square, and it was for- 
 tunate that Mrs. Price's old home was so located. 
 In order to support herself and her little daugh- 
 ter, the young widow had transformed the lower 
 floor into a tea room and shop. A little blue 
 board hung from the portico, which bore the in- 
 scription in old English script, "At Ye Signe of 
 Ye Blue Tea Pot." A large bulletin on the front 
 door announced that tea and sandwiches of all 
 varieties could be had within ; also that luncheons 
 were prepared for pleasure parties and journeys 
 md that numerous dainty and pretty articles, 
 made by hand, were there for sale. 
 
 The inscription might have stated further that 
 
 128 
 
AT THE SIGN OF THE BLUE TEA POT 129 
 
 the plucky mistress of the little shop was as dainty 
 and pretty as any of the articles for sale on the 
 counter. 
 
 As the soda water fountain was the Saturday 
 afternoon meeting place of the boys and girls of 
 West Haven, so the Sign of the Blue Tea Pot at- 
 tracted the older crowd. It had seemed a bold 
 undertaking for the widow to mortgage her home 
 and put all the money in the chintz hangings and 
 wicker furniture of those two charming tea 
 rooms. Her old friends, Mr. Butler and Captain 
 Brown, had strongly advised against it, but her 
 venture had been a success from the first, al- 
 though a mortgage still hung over the place like 
 a black cloud and small debts would accumulate 
 every time she got a little ahead. 
 ' When the red motor with its load of young 
 people drew up at the door of Mary's home, the 
 buzz of conversation from inside reached them 
 out in the street. 
 
 Mary's mother appeared for a moment in the 
 doorway, and smiled at them. 
 
 "She's as beautiful as an angel," thought Billie, 
 who never told how often she had yearned for a 
 real mother of her very own as other girls had. 
 
130 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Could any one else have looked so charming in 
 •a perfectly plain home-made gray chambray 
 dress, with a white muslin fichu, and little white 
 apron to set it off ? 
 
 "Won't you come in and have some tea and 
 cake, children?" Mrs. Price called to the young 
 people, while she put an arm around Mary and 
 shook hands with Billie, who had followed her 
 friend to the front door with the troublesome 
 box. 
 
 "No, thank you, Mrs. Price," replied BilHe, as 
 spokesman of the party. "I only came to ask a 
 favor," she added, in a lower voice. "Would you 
 let me keep this box in your safe for a while? I 
 
 have no place, I mean " Billie hesitated and 
 
 blushed. Of all things, she detested subterfuge, 
 and yet here she was making all sorts of lame ex- 
 cuses instead of saying frankly that she was 
 keeping the box for a friend. 
 
 "You mean the old safe upstairs?" asked Mrs. 
 Price, somewhat astonished. 
 
 "Yes, mother," put in Mary. "I told BilHe I 
 knew you wouldn't mind locking this box up for 
 her for a while." 
 
AT THE SIGN OF THE BLUE TEA POT 131 
 
 "Certainly, dear, you are welcome to hide any- 
 thing in it you like. Mary knows the combina- 
 tion better than I do. I always have to look it 
 up in one of Captain Price's old note books. I 
 am sorry you won't have some tea and cake, but 
 I suppose you are all off for a spin this afternoon. 
 It has done Mary more good than I can tell you, 
 your motor car. The child is always studying 
 so hard to hurry up and be a teacher and take 
 care of her old mother, so she says." 
 
 "Only a few years more. Mother, and you 
 shall never have to work again," said Mary. 
 "Some day I shall be the Principal of West 
 Haven High School, when Miss Gray gets too old 
 to work " 
 
 "What's this?" exclaimed Miss Gray herself, 
 at the door. She had been drinking tea inside 
 with some friends. "Who's going to lay me on 
 the shelf before my time?" 
 
 "Mary intends to step into your shoes. Miss 
 Gray," laughed Mrs. Price. "Look out for her. 
 She is a dangerous rival. She means to pay off 
 all our mortgages and things, and provide for 
 her mother's old age." 
 
133 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Miss Gray pinched Mary's cheek. 
 
 "Yes," insisted Mary stoutly, "all I want is 
 money, money, money." 
 
 The Principal patted the young girl's cheek 
 kindly. 
 
 "Don't be too mad about it, child. It won't buy 
 everything, you know." 
 
 It was only an idle speech of Mary's but you 
 all know how much meaning can sometimes be 
 given to words spoken thoughtlessly and the day 
 was to come when Mary was to regret very 
 deeply having used those words. 
 
 All this time Billie had been standing quietly 
 waiting for the moment when they could leave 
 the older people and consign the box to the iron 
 safe upstairs. 
 
 But before they could get away the tea room 
 began to empty itself. Billie's Cousin Helen ap- 
 peared in the doorway, with Mrs. Butler, looking 
 like Elinor grown middle-aged, the beautiful 
 aquiline nose slightly more pronounced, the blue 
 eyes a little faded, but the same erect carriage 
 which made her look an inch or more taller than 
 the other women. 
 
THE SIGN OF THE BLUE TEA POT 133 
 
 Mme. Alta, the music teacher, was there with 
 Miss Gray, She was a fierce looking, dark-haired 
 woman, her two upper teeth protruding over her 
 lower lip like the tusks of a walrus, giving her a 
 cruel animal expression. Mrs. Rogers, Belle's 
 mother, a small faded, intensely nervous little 
 woman, joined the group, followed by Percival 
 Algernon St. Clair's doting parent, "the Widow 
 St. Clair," as she was known, a charming, plump, 
 pretty woman, as good natured as she was com- 
 fortably- self-indulgent. 
 
 "Why, Wilhelmina, my darling, what is that 
 large package you are carrying?" demanded Miss 
 Campbell anxiously. "Has your papa sent you 
 a present?" 
 
 "Oh, no, just — just a package of things I was 
 going to leave here. We are going motoring for 
 a while. You don't mind, do you Cousin Helen ?" 
 
 "No, my child, as long as you don't go too fast. 
 But do put down that box. You will injure your- 
 self carrying it so long. Why don't you put it in 
 the motor? Why do you leave it here?" 
 
 "Oh, it isn't mine," said Billie. 
 
 Mrs. Price looked up at this. 
 
134 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "But I thought " she commenced, when 
 
 Mary pressed her hand. 
 
 "I mean I am keeping it for some one," went 
 on Billie lamely. 
 
 "My dear Miss Campbell," put in Miss Gray — 
 and Billie thanked her for the intervention — "it 
 is a Blue Bird secret, you may depend upon it. 
 You do not know school girls as well as I do." 
 
 "It ees a ver-ry eenter-resting looking pack- 
 age," here remarked Mme. Alta. "It appears to 
 be a ver-ry handsome box, as I can plainly see by 
 one corner-r which protrudes. You perhaps use 
 if for your club's segrets, eh?" 
 
 Billie turned the box guiltily around. She had 
 not noticed that the torn end was in view. 
 
 Mme. Alta looked at her unnecessarily hard, 
 Billie thought. She had never liked the strange 
 woman and had preferred not to take piano les- 
 sons of her, after one glance at those hard, cruel 
 eyes and the fierce, walrus teeth. 
 
 "I'm sure it contains much more beautiful and 
 interesting things than stupid secrets," exclaimed 
 good-natured, pretty Mrs. St. Clair, who dis- 
 liked to see anybody around her uncomfortable. 
 
AT THE SIGN OF THE BLUE TEA POT 135 
 
 and Billie looked very uncomfortable. "Now, 
 dear," she continued, giving Billie a little squeeze, 
 "do go and hide your box, if you like. It's not 
 fair to quiz young girls about their secrets, any 
 more than it is to quiz older people," and she 
 pushed Billie gently into the hall. Mary quickly 
 followed and the two girls ran upstairs, glad to 
 get away from the group of inquisitive ladies, 
 and infinitely relieved to consign the unlucky box 
 into the small safe in the hall closet. 
 
 "What a joy to be rid of the thing," exclaimed 
 Billie, as they shoved the box inside, turned the 
 combination lock, and fled downstairs. 
 
 "I feel as if we need a good dose of fresh air, 
 Mary, to revive us after that inquisition," she 
 added, as they hurried past the company of tea 
 drinkers, who still lingered chatting in the door- 
 way, and joined the others in the motor car. 
 
 "Percival, my son," called Mrs. St. Clair, 
 "don't lean out so far. You might fall and break 
 your nose. Oh, oh, my precious boy, they'll kill 
 him !" she shrieked, as Charlie and Merry seized 
 him by the arms and pretended to pitch him over- 
 board. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 RUMORS AT SCHOOL. 
 
 West Haven High School, Miss Gray, the 
 Principal, had often said, had all the merits of 
 a public and private school combined. It was 
 more thorough than a private school and the 
 teachers were more in touch with the pupils than 
 is usual at a public school. Miss Gray herself 
 was deeply interested in the welfare of her girls 
 and studied carefully the ability and temperament 
 of each one. 
 
 When, therefore, a strange and very terrible 
 complaint was made to her one morning about one 
 of her school girls, she was too shocked to rea- 
 son intelligently about it, and ended by dismissing 
 the complainants quietly from her private office 
 until sl'.f se:nt for them again. 
 
 Exactly what the complaint was no one knew 
 except those »ho had made it. It was kept a 
 careful secret. But in school rumors arise in 
 
 136 
 
EUMOES AT SCHOOL 137 
 
 the most subtle way. They are whispered about 
 behind doors at recess ; written on the margins of 
 text books in class and hastily rubbed out; 
 vaguely hinted at here and there until they spread 
 from room to room and class to class and grad- 
 ually the whole school is bursting with the news. 
 And the poor victim may all this time be entirely 
 unconscious that she is the very centre of a seeth- 
 ing, boiling pot of gossip. 
 
 This is how the present rumor started in West 
 Haven High School: 
 
 One afternoon when the last gong had sound- 
 ed the sophomore class gathered in the locker 
 room to put on their coats and hats. The lock- 
 ers were only so in name. There had never been 
 any keys to them, because there had never been 
 any need to keep belongings under lock and key 
 in West Haven High School, where most of the 
 pupils had known each other all their lives. 
 
 On this particular afternoon, every incident of 
 which our four friends will remember as long 
 as they live, Nancy was prinking at the glass, 
 as usual ; Elinor and Billie, with their beads bent 
 over an automobile map, were making plans for 
 
138 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 a motor trip, and Mary Price was studying her 
 Latin for the next day. It was that lingering, 
 lazy time after school is over, which all school 
 girls know. 
 
 Fannie Alta hurried into the room and flung 
 open the door of her locker, next to that of Belle 
 Rogers, who was at that moment engaged in 
 looking at herself in her own private mirror, 
 hung on the inside of her locker door. 
 
 "Oh, dear ! Oh, dear !" exclaimed Fannie Alta, 
 with a very excited and strange manner. "I 
 have lost something. Something which my 
 mamma gave me to keep for her. What shall I 
 do? What shall I do?" 
 
 "Why, what was it, Fannie?" asked the other 
 girls, gathering around her sympathetically. 
 "Let us help you find it." 
 
 "Oh, oh, it is terrible !" cried the young Span- 
 ish girl, wringing her hands and weeping in her 
 handkerchief alternately. "What shall I do? 
 What shall I do?" 
 
 "Was it money you lost?" asked Billie, in her 
 usual rather abrupt manner. 
 
 "Yes, yes ; how did you know?" 
 
EUMOES AT SCHOOL 139 
 
 "I didn't know, I guessed," answered Billie. 
 
 "Did you leave it in your locker?" some one 
 else asked. 
 
 "Yes, yes. I left it there at noon to-day. 
 Twenty dollars my mamma gave to me to keep 
 for her. Oh, is it not terrible? She will eat me 
 with her anger." 
 
 Billie could hardly keep the corners of her 
 mouth from curving with an irrepressible smile 
 when she remembered those two front tusks of 
 Mme. Alta's, which seemed to be uncovered, 
 ready for work at any moment. 
 
 "Are you sure it is not there still ?" asked Eli- 
 nor quietly. "I happened to look up when you 
 came into the room. You simply flung open your 
 locker door and then began to cry. Why don't 
 you look in your pockets before you decide that 
 you have lost the money?" 
 
 Fannie flashed an angry glance at Elinor. 
 
 "How did you know that I had not looked be- 
 fore ; that I have not looked twice, many times ?" 
 
 "I didn't," answered Elinor. "Have you?" 
 
 Fannie did not reply and from that moment she 
 and Elinor disliked each other intensely. 
 
140 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Then the girls began looking carefully about 
 the room. 
 
 "I feel as if I had it hidden about me," said 
 Nancy, giggling, as she helped in the search. 
 
 The others laughed, too, which somewhat re- 
 lieved the situation. Nothing is more uncom- 
 fortable than for money to be lost mysteriously 
 in a company of people. 
 
 "We do look as guilty as the forty thieves," 
 ejaculated Rosomond McLane, a fat, funny girl, 
 who was popular with the whole class. 
 
 No one was more active in the search than 
 Belle Rogers. She shook Fannie's text books 
 violently and scattered the papers about, to Fan- 
 nie's intense annoyance. She felt in Fannie's 
 pockets, examined the lining of her hat, and 
 made herself so officious and numerous that Fan- 
 nie herself exclaimed with much irritation : 
 
 "Please do not, Belle. You know it is not 
 there." 
 
 Only Elinor sat quietly on the window sill 
 watching the search, with just the faintest 
 shadow of scornful incredulity on her handsome 
 face. 
 
ETJMOKS AT SCHOOL 141 
 
 "Elinor Butler, do you believe I have been tell- 
 ing a falsehood?" Fannie finally exclaimed in ex- 
 asperation. 
 
 "What a little spitfire you are, Fannie," an- 
 swered Elinor. "Just because I don't choose to 
 grovel on the floor looking for your money. I 
 can help you quite as much by thinking, and I am 
 thinking very hard, I can assure you." 
 
 At last the search was abandoned. The pocket- 
 book containing the money could not be found, 
 and the young girls, swinging their book straps, 
 — ^bags were too childish for High School girls, — 
 strolled up the street in groups discussing the 
 strange disappearance of Fannie's twenty dol- 
 lars. 
 
 In the meantime, the Motor Maids, laughing 
 and talking together, tossed their books into the 
 red car and then climbed in themselves. Some- 
 how, Fannie's loss did not seem very real. Billie 
 had cranked up the machine and was about to 
 back out when Fannie's voice called from the 
 locker room : 
 
 "Wait! Stop!" 
 
143 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Well, you see we haven't gone yet," answered 
 Elinor severely. 
 
 "Elinor, you are so hard on Fannie Alta. I'm 
 sorry for her," said Mary. "Mother wouldn't 
 bite me if I lost twenty dollars, but I'd hate to 
 lose it just the same." 
 
 "I didn't mean to be hard on her," answered 
 Elinor, "but my instincts tell me not to trust 
 her." 
 
 , "When did they tell you, Elinor?" laughed 
 Billie. 
 
 Elinor's instincts were a great joke to her 
 three devoted friends. But the appearance of 
 Fannie running breathlessly, with Belle following 
 at a dignified pace, interrupted Elinor's invariable 
 reply to jests about her instincts: "You know 
 they are never wrong." 
 
 "What is the matter now, Fannie?" asked 
 Billie, who was standing in the front of her car, 
 her arms folded, like a captain on the hurricane 
 deck of his ship. 
 
 "Would you mind— — " Fannie stammered. "I 
 mean — I think I have a right to ask — I want you 
 to look in your pockets. I believe " she con- 
 
■Get out of the road," cried Billie, backing recklessly out of the 
 shed and whizzing out of the gate at full speed. 
 
ETJMOES AT SCHOOL 143 
 
 tinued, getting bolder every moment. "I am sure 
 that one of you will find my pocketbook " 
 
 Billie's frank, candid face flushed as scarlet as 
 her motor car, while the color left Elinor's cheeks 
 as white as death. Nancy gave a little fright- 
 ened giggle, and Mary Price neither flushed nor 
 turned white, but looked quietly on. 
 
 "Really, Fannie," spoke Elinor, "you are not 
 in the lawless South American country you came 
 from, whatever it is. You are among decent peo- 
 ple, not thieves, and perhaps you had better re- 
 member that hereafter. Start on, Billie," she 
 commanded, sitting as erect as a queen at her own 
 coronation. 
 
 "But I insist!" screamed Fannie. 
 
 "SKe has a right," put in Belle. 
 
 "Get out of the road," cried Billie, backing 
 recklessly out of the shed, turning with a wide, 
 flourishing curve and whizzing out of the gate 
 at full speed. 
 
 "Well, of all the insolence," cried Elinor. 
 "What does she mean and how does she dare 
 " her voice choked with indignation. 
 
144 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Don't you think it was Belle Rogers who put 
 her up to it out of revenge ?" suggested Mary. 
 
 "If it was, I can't see what she had to gain by 
 it," said Billie. "Elinor sailed into them and we 
 nearly sailed over them. It seems to me we had a 
 good deal the best of it." 
 
 Billie dropped the girls at their homes, as she 
 was in the habit of doing every afternoon after 
 school, and whirled up Cliff Street to the old 
 Campbell homestead. On the way she passed 
 Belle Rogers, who also lived in that fashionable 
 section, but she did not ask her to get in and 
 ride up the hill. Billie had a frank, open nature, 
 but with her whole soul she distrusted that pink 
 and white doll-baby face and those innocent 
 china blue eyes. 
 
 In the meantime Mary had taken off her rather 
 threadbare little jacket and hung it in the closet. 
 Her mother was resting on the couch. She looked 
 pale and tired that day, and Mary walked softly 
 so as not to disturb her. Slipping off her mit- 
 tens, she thrust them into her coat pocket. Her 
 fingers encountered something and she pulled out 
 a flat, foreign-looking pocketbook. Mary's face 
 
ETJMOES AT SCHOOL 145 
 
 turned white and she leaned against the wall of 
 the closet and closed her eyes. 
 
 "They must have put it in my pocket," she 
 whispered. "What shall I do?" 
 
 "Mary, dearest," called her mother. 
 
 "Yes, mother," she answered, quietly slipping 
 the purse into the pocket again. "I won't tell 
 her now," she thought. "She is worried enough 
 already." And when presently she kissed her 
 mother, no one could have told that the young 
 girl was more frightened than she had ever been 
 in all her lifetime. 
 
 The next morning Mary hurried to school 
 without waiting for Billie and her car. She had 
 something to study, she said. But Fannie was 
 there before her, waiting in the locker room. 
 Mary tried to calm her beating heart as she 
 looked steadily at the other girl. Then, with a 
 sudden resolution, she marched straight up to 
 Fannie, and thrust the pocketbook into her hand. 
 
 "You put this in my pocket," she said. "I 
 don't know what you have against me, or what 
 I ever did to you, but if you ever do it again. I 
 shall go straight to Miss Gray." 
 
146 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Fannie took the pocketbook without a word, 
 and after that a very different version of the 
 story got out. Finally it reached Miss Gray's 
 ears. 
 
 But the most serious thing of all was that 
 things began disappearing every day out of the 
 girls' lockers. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SEVEN IvEAGUE ISI^AND. 
 
 "Pile in any old way and make yourselves as 
 comfy as you can," said Billie, from the chauf- 
 feur's seat, while seven boys and girls packed 
 themselves into "The Comet" as tightly as sar- 
 dines in a box. 
 
 "Ben, I look to you to take good care of my 
 girls," called Miss Helen Campbell, from the 
 front door steps of her home. "And all of you 
 promise me three things: Don't go too fast; 
 don't stay too late, and don't go too far." 
 
 "We promise," came eight voices in a chorus. 
 
 "Good-by, Cousin Helen, dearest," called BilHe, 
 kissing her hand affectionately to the little lady 
 who was fast coming to fill an aching void in 
 Billie's heart. 
 
 "Good-by, Miss Campbell," called the others, 
 
 while she smiled and bowed and waved her hand- 
 
 147 
 
148 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 kerchief like a favorite actress before an enthusi- 
 astic audience. 
 
 What a difference the young people had made 
 in her life, she thought, as the carload of boys 
 and girls flashed down the street and the sound 
 of their talk and laughter, growing fainter and 
 fainter, floated back to her like a pleasant mem- 
 ory. 
 
 It was a real seaside October day. Nothing 
 could have been bluer than the bay, unless it was 
 the sky. A warm, dry land breeze swept over 
 the moors about West Haven. Wild asters and 
 golden rod colored the roadside, and the stillness 
 of Indian summer pervaded the whole country. 
 
 "There was no need of the top to-day," ob- 
 served Billie, looking up at the cloudless sky. "I 
 am glad we decided not to put it on. We might 
 as well have left the rugs and wraps behind, too. 
 They take up room and won't be used, I am cer- 
 tain." 
 
 "I hope not," answered Ben. "1 see only one 
 cloud on the horizon and that's no larger than a 
 man's hand ; but clouds do grow." 
 
 "Don't borrow trouble, Rain-in-the-Face," ex- 
 
SEVEN" LEAGUE ISLANE . 149 
 
 claimed Percy. "The last time you looked into 
 the future we had a fire." 
 
 "All right, dummy," answered his friend. "I 
 am not predicting anything. I only mentioned the 
 possibilities of a very small cloud. And the night 
 of the Shell Island fire I said what certainly 
 proved to be perfectly true — that the hotel was a 
 regular fire trap." 
 
 "Are you really a good weather prophet, Ben ?" 
 asked Billie anxiously. She did not like to have 
 her parties turn out disastrously. 
 
 "He — he's the poorest ever," cried Merry. 
 
 "Don't go on what he says, Billie," put in 
 Percy. "The last camping trip we went on, he 
 predicted fair weather and it rained for a week." 
 
 "Well, just to prove that I know what I'm 
 talking about," cried Ben, "I predict that it rains 
 before night." 
 
 This unpopular prophecy was greeted by hoots 
 of derision from the others. 
 
 "What makes you think so, Ben ?" asked Eli- 
 nor. "It's as clear as a bell now." 
 
 "Certain signs," he answered. 
 
 "Now, Ben Austen," ejaculated Nancy. "Don't 
 
150 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 go spoil our day before it's begun. You know 
 just as well as I do that it's Indian summer, and 
 it never rains in Indian summer." 
 
 "Never, Miss Nancy-Bell?" repeated Ben, 
 smiling. He minded as little being teased by his 
 friends as a big, good-natured dog minds the 
 antics of a lot of puppies. 
 
 "All right. Big Injun Ben," said Merry, "let 
 it rain before night. We've got a good many 
 hours to enjoy ourselves in and get home, too, be- 
 fore dark. We'll be at the ferry-boat landing in 
 an hour, and if we're lucky enough to catch the 
 boat, we'll reach Seven League Island by eleven 
 o'clock. That will give us plenty of time to eat 
 everything in sight, see Smugglers' Cave, and all 
 the other sights, and get home by seven o'clock." 
 
 "Of course, we can," replied Ben. "I was only 
 teasing Percival Algernon St. Clair, because he 
 hates the rain worse than poison. I never saw a 
 finer day in my life." 
 
 "Thank goodness!" exclaimed BilHe, in tones 
 of relief. She really had great faith in Ben's 
 judgment about most things. 
 Seven League Island, a rocky strip of land some 
 
SEVEN LEAGUE ISLAND 151 
 
 twenty-one miles long, was one of the most ro- 
 mantic places in the vicinity of West Haven. It 
 was three miles from the mainland and, during 
 the season when the summer resorts and camps 
 which clustered on its shores were open, several 
 ferry-boats carried passengers back and forth 
 from the mainland to the island. In winter the 
 place was almost deserted. The land was too 
 poor for farming and few people cared to remain 
 on that lonely, mournful island, where, in stormy 
 weather, the waves thundered through the caves 
 in the cliflfs, and the wind in the pine trees made 
 a mournful sound like the wail of a lost soul. 
 
 To-day, however, it was as serene and smiling 
 as the Islands of the Blest. The southwest wind 
 stirred the pine needles gently, making a pleas- 
 ant quiet song. The tiny waves, as they lapped 
 the sides of the ferry, gave out a "cloop, cloop" 
 sound that still water makes against the bow of 
 a canoe. 
 
 "What time does the last ferry go back. Cap- 
 tain?" asked Ben, of the old ferryman, whose 
 face was as weather beaten and seamed as the 
 hide of a hippopotamus. 
 
152 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Six, in good weather." 
 
 "What time in bad?" 
 
 "Depends on the weather," answered the old 
 man briefly. 
 
 "How many other ferry stations are there?" 
 asked Charhe. 
 
 "Three." 
 
 "Good," exclaimed happy-go-lucky Americus 
 Brown. "We'll take the one that's nearest when 
 the time comes to go back and ride before the 
 wind, and beat the rain and put old Ben out of 
 business as a weather prophet." 
 
 The ferryman said nothing, but his small eyes 
 twinkled with amusement. 
 
 They were the only passengers on the boat that 
 trip, and as the motor whirled up the hard-beaten 
 road from the ferry landing, they noticed that 
 the bungalows and summer cottages along the 
 shore were closed for the season. 
 
 "It's because it's so hard to get food," Percy 
 explained. He had once visited some friends 
 at Flag Point, the first settlement, and was to be 
 their guide this morning to the great cave, which 
 
SEVEN" LEAGUE ISLAND 153 
 
 had been used, it was said, in the days when 
 smugglers were common in the land. 
 
 The others were familiar only with the shore, 
 where they had come on bathing and fishing ex- 
 cursions, and the boys and girls were eager to 
 explore the rocky caverns, the fort, the little in- 
 lets, where pirates were supposed to have an- 
 chored their ships, and above all the smugglers' 
 cave, which Percy told them was a great vaulted 
 chamber in the rocks, with an entrance no broader 
 than a narrow door. 
 
 "Take the road going to the right," called 
 Percy, as Billie paused at the top of the cliff for 
 directions. "It's the best one for motoring and 
 it goes past the old rifle-pit where we can eat 
 lunch. We can leave the car there and climb 
 down to the caves afterwards." 
 
 "The Comet" turned obediently to the right 
 and shot down the interminable expanse of empty 
 white road, like a shooting star on the milky way. 
 
 Even Mary, who had been pale and silent all 
 morning, regained her spirits on that glorious 
 ride, when Merry, with head thrown back, began 
 to sing: 
 
154 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "The sailor's wife the sailor's star shall be, 
 Yo-ho, yo-ho-ho, yo-ho, yo-ho-ho!" 
 
 and she joined in the chorus with the others, hel 
 clear, sweet voice piping out like the notes of a 
 field lark in a chorus of birds. 
 
 At last Billie pulled up at the side of the road 
 under a cliff, on top of which was an old grass- 
 grown fort used during the Indian wars. 
 
 "This must be it," she said. "It's peaceful 
 enough looking now to make a good picnicing 
 ground, but I don't suppose it was much of a pic- 
 nic for the people who built it to shoot Indians 
 from." 
 
 "Nor much of a picnic for the Indians, either," 
 said Ben, helping Billie out while Charlie Clay 
 assisted the other girls to the ground and Percy 
 and Merry unstrapped the luncheon hamper. 
 
 "Let's eat up high," suggested Billie. "That is, 
 if you can carry the basket up that steep incline." 
 
 "The pack mules are here for that work," said 
 Ben, pointing to Merry and Percy. "Charlie, you 
 bring the rugs for the ladies to sit on and I'll 
 help the ladies." 
 
SEVEN LEAGUE ISLAND 155 
 
 "Will you listen to Nervy Nat," cried Percy, 
 as he obediently shouldered his end of the lunch- 
 eon hamper and followed Merry up the hill. 
 
 How they laughed and scrambled and shoved 
 as they clambered up the pebbly path. Once 
 Mary, with a shrill cry, slipped and stumbled 
 back on Nancy who fell against Charlie, who, in 
 his turn, tumbled against Ben, and that pillar of 
 strength, grasping a branch of a pine tree with 
 each hand, supported the whole human weight 
 without a tremor. 
 
 It was like picnicing in the tops of the trees, 
 when they finally spread the cloth in the grass- 
 grown enclosure of the fort, and beyond them 
 stretched the entire expanse of the ocean glim- 
 mering blue in the sunshine, with an occasional 
 ship outlined on the horizon. 
 
 "I hope the ginger ale is still cold," cried 
 Merry. 
 
 "And the mayonnaise hasn't melted," said 
 Nancy. 
 
 "What, nothing to eat but victuals and drink?" 
 exclaimed Percy. 
 
 When they had waded through the piles of 
 
156 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 sandwiches and pyramids of cake, and drained 
 the last drop of ginger ale, silent Charlie, who had 
 an enormous appetite, remarked : 
 
 "How hungry this piney-salty combination does 
 make a fellow !" 
 
 "Why, Charlie," said Billie, "don't say you are 
 still hungry. You remind me of the elephant in 
 Merry's song : 
 
 " 'The elephant ate all night, 
 
 The elephant ate all day. 
 
 And feed as they would, as much as they could, 
 
 The cry was still more hay.' " 
 
 CharHe pulled out his mouth organ and began 
 to play such a rollicking dance tune that the boys 
 and girls, almost before they knew it, were two- 
 stepping over the grass as madly as a lot of wild 
 young colts. Then Charlie, seizing Mary about 
 the waist and still playing vigorously on his 
 "harp," as it was called in that section, joined the 
 dancers himself. 
 
 If they had not all of them been so absorbed in 
 executing the Dutch twirl, or racing over the 
 ground like Cossack dancers on the Russian 
 Steppes, they would have been somewhat dis- 
 
SEVEN LEAGUE ISLAND 157 
 
 turbed to have seen a man peering down at them 
 from the top of a mound. He had crawled up the 
 steep incHne and was lying flat on his stomach in 
 the tall grass. His face is familiar enough to us 
 by now, for he had only one eye, but that one, like 
 the eye of the three mythological witches, gleamed 
 brilliantly and wickedly and nothing escaped its 
 range. He smiled as if he rather enjoyed watch- 
 ing the dancers, and especially his one wicked eye 
 followed the movements of Ben and Charlie and 
 Billie Campbell. Presently when the whirling 
 couples had tumbled breathlessly on the grass, 
 fanning themselves with their hats and Ben had 
 called out : "We'd better be getting along now," 
 the man slipped away as silently as a snake and 
 disappeared somewhere below. 
 
 "To the caves," cried Percy, as they gathered 
 up the rugs and cushions and hastened down the 
 cliff to the motor. 
 
 "I suppose it's safe to leave 'The Comet' here 
 without any one to look after him," Billie had ob- 
 served, and the others had agreed that it was. 
 
 "As safe as on any other desert island," Ben 
 had answered. 
 
158 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 It seemed impossible that anything could hap- 
 pen in that lonely, quiet place, which was like a 
 deserted paradise to the girls and boys that beau- 
 tiful afternoon. There was nothing about the lo- 
 cality or the weather to arouse uncomfortable 
 suspicions. The patch of sky, which was re- 
 vealed to them just overhead between the tall, 
 straight pine trees, was like a beautiful deep 
 blue canopy. Even the watchful Ben could not 
 have told that the cloud, so short a time ago no 
 larger than a man's hand, now stretched itself 
 across the horizon in a long, thick line of black. 
 
 "The caves are the most fun of all," said Percy, 
 leading the way to the cliffs overlooking the 
 ocean. "There are dozens of them, some little 
 and some very large. The lower ones fill up at 
 high tide, but the upper ones are safe enough." 
 
 The cliff was honeycombed with small rocky 
 chambers, and as they clambered, Indian file, 
 along the narrow path which nature had so 
 thoughtfully cut in the rocks they heard the 
 boom of the incoming tide thundering through 
 the caves on the beach. 
 
 "I suppose people could live in these little cav- 
 
SEVEN LEAGUE ISLAND 15» 
 
 erns," Percy continued, "if it wasn't so all-fired 
 lonely and inconvenient; but wait until you see 
 Smugglers' Cave. It has as many natural con- 
 veniences as a real house built by human beings." 
 
 "Here it is," he cried at last, to the others who 
 had run all the way down a steep embankment to 
 see this romantic place. 
 
 Certainly it might well have been a favorite 
 spot for smugglers and robbers on the high seas. 
 Too high for the tide to reach and still well hid- 
 den from above by a thick growth of scrubby 
 pine and oak trees, the cave was as secret and 
 safe a place as could be imagined. Rock-hewn 
 steps led up from the smooth pebbly beach 
 below and the curve of the coast made a charm- 
 ing little haven for ships and a natural landing 
 place for small boats. The eight friends stood in 
 a row on the beach. 
 
 "This is called 'Pirates' Cove,' you know," went 
 on Percy. "They say the pirates used to anchor 
 their ships in this little haven and come ashore 
 and have pirate tea parties on the beach." 
 
 "Here comes a sea rover now," called Merry, 
 
160 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 scanning the entrance to the harbor where a 
 ship could be seen outlined against the blue. 
 
 "Oh, she isn't coming this way, Old Tar," an- 
 swered Percy. "It's too late in the season, for 
 yachts and ships rarely come in here unless there 
 is a storm. There's nothing to come for and it 
 takes them out of their course." 
 
 "She's headed this way," continued Merry, not 
 taking any notice of Percy's interruption, while 
 he scanned the ship with his far-seeing sailor's 
 eyes. "She's a brigantine, and she's making for 
 this cove." 
 
 "Oh, well, what of it?" put in Billie. "Per- 
 haps she is coming here for the rest cure. But 
 she doesn't interest me half as much as Smug- 
 glers' Cave. Let's not waste any more time 
 here," and she ran up the steps, followed by the 
 others. 
 
 The entrance to the cave had been as cleverly 
 concealed as if nature had conspired with the 
 outlaws to provide them with a safe hiding place 
 for their contraband goods. The steps appeared 
 to lead to nothing more than a blank wall, but, 
 following Percy around the edge of an enormous 
 
SEVEN LEAGUE ISLAND 161 
 
 rock which, in ages past must have slipped its 
 fastenings above, they presently came to a nar- 
 row opening between the rock and the side of the 
 cave, just large enough for a man to go through. 
 
 "The smugglers must have had to do up their 
 bales of silk pretty flat to get them through 
 here," said Ben, measuring the opening with his 
 handkerchief, as he stooped to keep from bump- 
 ing his head on the top. 
 
 "How beautiful ! How wonderful !" cried the 
 four girls, when their eyes had become used to the 
 change from the brilliant sunlight outside to the 
 semi-twilight of the great vaulted chamber where 
 they now found themselves. 
 
 "Now, I'll show you what a jim-dandy archi- 
 tect nature is," said Percy. "Here's the bath- 
 room. No hot water, of course, but a perfectly 
 good tub and cold water always on tap." 
 
 He pointed out a natural basin, probably worn 
 in the rocks by the constant dripping of water 
 from a spring that trickled down the wall of the 
 cave. 
 
 "Here's the bedroom, that nice, comfortable 
 shelf over there. Here's your easy chair," he 
 
162 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 -continued, showing them a curious formation of 
 rocks really resembling a big armchair with a 
 high back. 
 
 "It's a rocky chair and not a rocking chair," 
 observed Charlie, taking a seat and rising quite 
 suddenly. "Nature is as mischievous as a little 
 boy if she is a good architect. Look at this," 
 and he pointed to a very sharp, almost needle- 
 like, piece of stone in one corner of the seat. 
 
 The others laughed gayly as they hurried after 
 Percy and a hundred reverberating echoes 
 startled them into silence. 
 
 "And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have saved 
 the most interesting sight for the last. You are 
 about to see the store-room of the smugglers." 
 He led the way down two steps into another 
 chamber. 
 
 "By Jove!" he cried suddenly and stopped 
 short. 
 
 "What is it?" exclaimed the others, peering 
 over his shoulder into the darkness. 
 
 "Don't you see?" he said, in a low voice. 
 ■"They are still using it for a store-room." 
 
 They blinked their eyes with amazement, when 
 
SEVEN LEAGUE ISLAND 163 
 
 presently there loomed up in the shadows a pile 
 of long, flat packing boxes. 
 
 Ben lit a candle, which he had thoughtfully 
 brought along in his coat pocket, and they exam- 
 ined the boxes, which crowded one entire end of 
 the smugglers' store-room. 
 
 "Will you look at this?" he called. "Elinor, 
 you are in this." 
 
 Ben held the candle high and pointed to a 
 sign on the nearest box, which read : "Automobile 
 SuppHes — Butler Brothers — ^West Haven " 
 
 "Why," cried Elinor, "you surely don't sup- 
 pose Uncle Tom and Uncle Richard could be 
 storing their goods here, do you?" 
 
 No one answered her for a moment. Their 
 thoughts were busy searching for an explanation 
 to this strange discovery. 
 
 "Elinor," said Mary presently, "don't you re- 
 member what those men who borrowed Billie's 
 automobile said about killing every Butler in the 
 county who interfered?" 
 
 "Yes," said Elinor, in a frightened voice, "but 
 what could these boxes have to do with it?" 
 
 "They may have a great deal," said Ben, 
 
IG'i THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Those men are probably smuggling youi 
 uncles' auto supplies out of the country. The 
 boxes are smuggled up to this cave by degrees, I 
 suppose, and then loaded on some ship when they 
 have got enough to make it worth while. And, if 
 it's the same man we had dealings with that 
 night, he is a pretty desperate kind of an in- 
 dividual." 
 
 "I don't want any more fights," exclaimed 
 Billie. "Both of those men carried pistols and 
 knives ; I suppose all first-class smugglers do, but 
 I don't propose that my party is going to be 
 ruined by any bloodshed. It is getting late, and 
 we had better be going." 
 
 They quite agreed with Billie, although the 
 boys would have liked to linger in the Smug- 
 glers' Cave for a while. 
 
 The outer air seemed very warm and oppres- 
 sive after the cold damp atmosphere of the cave. 
 They blinked their eyes and shivered as they hur- 
 ried along the path which led to the road and in 
 the change from dark to light they did not at 
 first notice that the sun was hidden by a great 
 cloud, as black as ink, which stretched from hori- 
 
SEVEN LEAGUE ISLAND 165 
 
 zon to horizon. A hot, heavy wind stirred the 
 pine needles and that sense of impending trou- 
 ble which always comes before a great storm so- 
 bered the spirits of the boys and girls. 
 
 Nobody spoke of the cloud. It seemed to be 
 a question of honor with them not to mention it, 
 but they hurried on silently, and in a few minutes 
 reached the automobile. 
 
 With a sigh of relief, the four girls were about 
 to jump in, while Ben cranked up, when suddenly 
 Nancy gave a little, pent-up scream. 
 
 "Look !" she cried, pointing to a piece of paper 
 stuck on the cushion of the back seat. 
 
 This message was printed with a lead pencil 
 on the paper : 
 
 "He laughs best who laughs last." 
 
 "It was that man," said Billie, examining the 
 tires ruefully, each one of which had been slashed 
 with a sharp knife. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE STORM. 
 
 "BilHe, can you put on new tires?" demanded 
 Ben, somewhat anxiously, making a mental de- 
 termination to learn all about the mechanism of 
 motor cars before he went on another motor trip. 
 
 The others stood back rather helplessly. Merry, 
 especially, felt stupid and uncomfortable in hav- 
 ing to stand aside and let a girl do all the work. 
 
 "Of course, I can," replied Billie, trying to 
 speak cheerfully, as a low cannonading of thun- 
 der rumbled in the distance. "I have done it 
 dozens of times, only it will take time, of course. 
 The tools are under the seat. Hustle up, every- 
 body. Charlie, you get the new tires. Ben, you 
 help me." 
 
 In a few moments Ben and Billie were kneel- 
 ing on the ground adjusting the tire of the first 
 wheel, while Charlie and Merry were engaged 
 in examining the extra tires, which the motor 
 
 166 
 
THE STOEM 167 
 
 carried in case of accident, and Percy made him- 
 self as useful as possible, unpacking all the wraps, 
 Billie's oilskin coat and cap and the rubber 
 blankets. 
 
 "Billie," announced Charlie, "there are only 
 three good tires here. The fourth has a punc- 
 ture. It's only a small one, but " 
 
 "I know," interrupted Billie, looking extremely 
 worried. "It was an imperfect one. I may be 
 able to patch it." 
 
 Then Charlie and Merry held a whispered con- 
 ference and disappeared around the bluff. 
 
 "What's up?" asked Ben, looking over his 
 shoulder at their retreating figures. 
 
 But nobody could answer the question. The 
 girls were getting into their ulsters and Percy 
 was arranging the rubber blankets and rugs in 
 the car. 
 
 "What a confoundedly low, mean trick of that 
 fellow to do this," he kept saying to himself, keep- 
 ing one eye on the black clouds piling up and the 
 other on Billie and Ben. He figured that it 
 would take an hour and a half at least to get all 
 four tires on and, he thought, Billie would be a 
 
168 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 pretty smart girl to do it that quickly. It was 
 half-past three o'clock. 
 
 "What about that ferry," he said to himself. 
 
 At last they were pumping up the third tire. It 
 seemed an age to those who were idly looking on. 
 The girls sat in a row on the side of the road, 
 their hands folded patiently in their laps, while 
 Percy paced up and down, watching the top of 
 the bluff uneasily. 
 
 "Where are Charlie and Merry?" he said at 
 last, unable to conceal his anxiety any longer. 
 
 "Idiots," exclaimed Nancy. "Haven't we 
 enough to worry us ?" 
 
 While she spoke there came a blinding flash of 
 lightning and a clap of thunder seemed to split 
 the heavens in two. 
 
 Nancy hid her face on Elinor's shoulder. 
 Billie and Ben kept on working steadily. They 
 had reached the fourth tire now and Billie had 
 managed to patch the punctured place just as 
 the first great drops of rain began to fall. 
 
 "Where are those boys?" Ben called over his 
 shoulder, not stopping to look up. 
 
THE STOEM 169 
 
 "I'll call them," said Percy, and running to the 
 top of the cliff he began to halloo and whistle. 
 
 It had grown suddenly so dark that they 
 thought the sun must have set an hour earlier 
 than usual. A cold wind sprang up and whizzed 
 through the pines with a sound that made them 
 shiver. 
 
 "Hurrah, it's done !" cried Billie triumphantly, 
 just as a driving wall of rain struck her in the 
 face. "Get in, girls, quick," she shouted, as she 
 slipped on her oil skins. "Boys, where are you? 
 Crank up, Ben." 
 
 Suddenly, in the midst of the din and racket of 
 the storm, came a wild halloo. Charlie and Merry 
 appeared, running down the road toward the mo- 
 tor car, and six men were following them, shout- 
 ing and gesticulating. 
 
 "Get in as fast as you can," commanded Ben, 
 and the girls will never forget the terror of that 
 moment as they tumbled into the car. 
 
 The booming of the sea in the caves, the can- 
 nonading of the thunder, the sharp whistle of the 
 wind in the tops of the trees, and the shouts of 
 the men! But in the midst of it all came the 
 
170 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 kindly, cheering whir of the motor engine. Billie 
 could have kissed the faithful "Comet" on his 
 broad, good-natured forehead for his loyalty at 
 this moment, when they most needed him. As 
 Charlie and Merry leaped onto the step, she threw 
 in the clutch, and they were off just as the first 
 man reached the car, brandishing a long knife 
 and yelling hoarsely. 
 
 The boys climbed over into the back, too tired 
 to speak. Merry had a black eye and Charlie had 
 a bloody nose. 
 
 "Billie, the next ferry is Payne's," called Percy. 
 "It's about a mile from here. Go straight ahead." 
 
 And Billie, sticking to her wheel like a good 
 pilot, ducked her head and guided the flying mo- 
 tor along the slippery road. 
 
 They seemed hardly to have taken breath be- 
 fore they reached Payne's landing and found it 
 empty and deserted of every human being who 
 had ever ventured into that lonely place. 
 
 "We'll have to try for the next ferry landing 
 then," said Percy, dejectedly. "It's back toward 
 Flag Point." 
 
 Without a word, Billie turned the car, and put- 
 
THE STOEM 171 
 
 ting on all speed they whizzed through the rain. 
 At that moment she had only one prayer in her 
 heart: to pilot her friends safely through the 
 storm and get them to the ferry landing. There 
 was no sign of any of their pursuers as they 
 passed the fort. When at last they reached the 
 second summer encampment they breathed a sigh 
 of relief. The ferry boat was docked at the land- 
 ing and a man stood under the shed, his hands in 
 his pockets. 
 
 Billie drew up at the entrance. 
 
 "Captain, will you take us on ?" called Ben. He 
 always called boatmen and conductors captain. He 
 found it pleased them, but this man did not reply 
 and still stood with his back turned looking out 
 on the now angry strip of water betv/een Seven 
 League Island and the mainland. 
 
 Ben shouted and they all shouted together, but 
 the man was as unmoved as a wooden statue. 
 
 "He's deaf," said Billie. "Get out and shake 
 him." 
 
 Ben jumped out and shook the man's shoulder, 
 who, with a strange guttural sound, turned slowly 
 around. 
 
172 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "And dumb," exclaimed Ben, indicating with 
 violent motions first the automobile and then the 
 ferry-boat. 
 
 The deaf mute shook his head and pointed in 
 the direction of Flag Point. They offered him 
 money, tried persuasion, threats, prayers, which 
 he could not hear, and finally ended by dashing 
 off toward the last ferry. 
 
 "It's our only chance," said Ben, "but we'll 
 get over in that if we have to use force." 
 
 Meantime, the island, lashed by the storm, 
 looked bleak and cold, and they wondered they 
 could ever have admired it at all. Crouched un- 
 der the rubber covers, they shivered with chill, 
 while Billie, on the front seat, Ben and Percy 
 beside her always on the lookout, with clinched 
 teeth and hands gripped to the wheel, guided 
 them through the hurricane. It seemed to her 
 they must be riding on the very wings of the 
 wind, and the speedometer announced fifty miles 
 an hour. 
 
 As they dashed through the straggling little 
 street of that forlorn village of Flag Point, the 
 few indifferent natives who braved the winters 
 
THE STOKM 173 
 
 on the island looked out of their windows in won- 
 der. It seemed to them that a streak of red light- 
 ning- had flashed through the storm. 
 
 "Cheer up, all of you, our troubles are over," 
 called Ben. "The ferry-boat's at the landing." 
 
 The old boat seemed like a haven of rest when 
 they pulled into the shelter of its alley for wagons 
 and motor cars. 
 
 "Captain, why didn't you tell us that this was 
 the only ferry running?" demanded Ben of the 
 wrinkled old man. 
 
 "Because I don't never answer questions that 
 ain't first been put to me," replied the laconic 
 boatman. 
 
 "Don't scold him," said Billie, wiping streams 
 of water from her face. "Any one who is obliged 
 to live in a God-forsaken, wretched place like 
 Seven League Island couldn't be supposed to have 
 any human interest. I imagine they all get to be 
 like their own flinty rocks, hard, sharp, and 
 ugly." 
 
 "Well, bloody nose and blacky eye," put in 
 Percy, "it's about time for you to give an ac- 
 count of yourselves." 
 
174 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Yes," said the others, who had been so 
 stunned by the fast ride through the storm and 
 the race for the ferry that they had almost for- 
 gotten what had happened. 
 
 "When we found," began Merry, "that one of 
 the tires had a puncture, CharHe and I thought 
 we might as well make that low, scoundrelly thief 
 who slashed the tires pay back with one of those 
 he had stolen from Mr. Butler. So we chased 
 over to Smugglers' Cave, but it took longer than 
 we had expected, because we had taken the wrong 
 path and had to crawl around a precipice and 
 jump over crags like two mountain goats." 
 
 "Don't forget to tell that your pirate brigan- 
 tine was anchored out in the harbor," put in 
 Charlie. "We supposed it was lying up to get 
 out of the storm, but we had another think com- 
 mg 
 
 "Yes, I guess you will all listen to me, next 
 time," went on Merry. "That was the most pi- 
 ratical-looking band of fellows with their knives 
 and their red handkerchiefs as I ever saw in a 
 story book. Well, we did get to the cave at last 
 and found it as empty as it was before. CharHe 
 
THE STOEM 175 
 
 had a chisel in his pocket. You know, he is the 
 human tool box, and with that and a piece of 
 stone we managed to loosen some of the boards. 
 But there wasn't a tire or anything else connected 
 with an automobile inside the box. You'll never 
 guess what the boxes were filled with. Some- 
 thing about as foreign to a motor car, except in 
 sound, when a tire bursts, as a caterpillar." 
 
 "You don't mean guns?" demanded Ben. 
 
 "We certainly do. Rifles by the dozens packed 
 in all the boxes we had time to open." 
 
 "We were chumps," interrupted Charlie. "If 
 we had stopped sooner, I never would have had 
 this bloody nose." 
 
 "Well, haven't I got a black eye?" demanded 
 his friend. 
 
 "What happened? What happened?" cried 
 Percy impatiently. 
 
 "While we were tinkering with the boxes, we 
 heard the sharpest, loudest whistle I ever heard in 
 my life, and we both lit out and ran. I was in 
 front and just as I got to the mouth of the cave, 
 a one-eyed, one-armed ruffian leapt out at me. 
 His one arm was as strong as most men's two, 
 
176 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 but he couldn't beat Charlie and me together, al- 
 though he gave me this little souvenir and he 
 planted his fist on Charlie's nose. While we were 
 fighting, a boat from the ship with six sailors in 
 it landed below. They came tearing up the steps 
 like a lot of bloodhounds, and Charlie and I had 
 a run for our lives. Didn't we, midget?" 
 
 Charlie acknowledged the fact gravely. There 
 was no denying that the two boys had been in a 
 very dangerous situation. 
 
 "We were ready just in the nick of time, too," 
 said Billie. "If Ben hadn't cranked up, we'd 
 have had those men on us in another minute." 
 
 It was good to be on land again, even though it 
 wasn't dry land, and the ride home, safe and 
 swift, was blissful after the dangers and excite- 
 ment of that thrilling picnic. 
 
 It seemed that Seven League Island must have 
 been the very centre of the hurricane and that 
 West Haven had only been visited with a heavy 
 shower. Miss Campbell, therefore, was spared 
 any great anxiety. 
 
 But, oh, the joy of drawing up to the cheer- 
 ful blaze of the wood fire, while eight youthful 
 
THE STOEM 177 
 
 adventurers related a somewhat softened version 
 of the events of the day ! Then the supper that 
 followed, in Miss Campbell's big, old-fashioned 
 dining room, with fried chicken and hot biscuits 
 and omelette as light as a feather, and strawberry- 
 jam that took the prize at the county fair ! 
 
 But best of all was what Merry did at the 
 last, when, notwithstanding his stiff joints and 
 bandaged eye, he rose from his seat and cried: 
 
 "Hip, hip, hurrah! Three cheers for BilHe, 
 the pluckiest chauffeur that ever ran a motor 
 car." 
 
 And all the rest joined in, even Miss Camp- 
 bell, who clapped her hands and cried : 
 
 "Three cheers for my dear, dear Billie." 
 
 Then Billie cried: 
 
 "Three cheers for Ben because he never said 
 T told you so,' about the rain." 
 
 That very night, before he went to his own 
 home, Ben called at Mr. Richard Butler's house 
 and told him the story of the bogus automobile 
 supplies marked with the name of Butler Broth- 
 ers. 
 
 There was a great telegraphing and telephon- 
 
178 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 ing by long distance. The Butler Brothers were 
 very excited and angry, just as their niece had 
 predicted they would be. Detectives were en- 
 gaged and other ships warned to keep a sharp 
 lookout, but nothing was heard of the pirate brig- 
 antine. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WHEEI.S WITHIN WHEEI^S. 
 
 Never since she had been Principal of West 
 Haven High School had Miss Gray been so up- 
 set as she was now. For the first time a scandal 
 was connected with her beloved institution. 
 Every day there was a new complaint. 
 
 "Miss Gray, I only left my ring on the wash- 
 stand a minute, while I was washing my hands, 
 and when I looked for it, it was gone," said one 
 girl. 
 
 "But who was in the washroom, Julia ?" asked 
 the Principal wearily. She was disgusted and 
 angry with this troublesome situation. 
 
 "Oh, all the girls. Miss Gray, but nobody saw 
 any one take it." 
 
 Small purses containing lunch money were 
 emptied of their contents and put ba^k into jacket 
 pockets. Some of the teachers lost money and 
 Miss Gray herself was robbed of ten dollars, the 
 
 179 
 
180 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 wages of the old janitor, which she had placed 
 under a paper weight on the desk, in her own 
 private office. 
 
 The whole school had gone distracted, but the 
 pilferer was too clever to be caught. 
 
 Twice Miss Gray had summoned Mary Price to 
 her office, but, after looking gravely into the 
 young girl's serious eyes, she kissed her and 
 sent her off on some improvised errand. 
 
 "I shall wait a few days," the Principal said. 
 "After all, there may be some mistake." 
 
 And it was then that she determined to try an 
 experiment. 
 
 One bleak autumn afternoon a thick, wet mist 
 rolled in from the ocean and enveloped the town 
 of West Haven so densely that it seemed like 
 a city floating on a bank of cloud. Only the dim 
 outline of objects twenty yards away could be 
 seen and the muffled call of the fog horn at the 
 lighthouse on the Black Reefs sounded its dismal 
 warning through the mist. 
 
 Billie and Mary were hurrying arm in arm 
 down the street in earnest conversation. Not- 
 
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS 181 
 
 withstanding it was after school hours, they were 
 going toward the High School. 
 
 "Do you think we can get it, Mary?" Billie was 
 saying. 
 
 "Oh, yes, the janitor always leaves the door to 
 the basement corridor open until evening for Miss 
 Gray and the teachers who sometimes stay late." 
 
 "It was stupid of me to have left that hor- 
 rid old algebra, but you know I always forget 
 the things I don't like. If Miss Finch hadn't 
 called me down so thoroughly this morning about 
 my average in mathematics, I would just let the 
 lesson for to-morrow go, or if Miss Finch were 
 only Miss Allbright, or Miss anybody else but 
 just a stern, animated mathematical cube." 
 
 "She's all right if you know your lessons," said 
 Mary, smiling. "It's only the ones who don't 
 study hard enough to suit her who call her a 
 human arithmetic." 
 
 The door to the corridor was open, as Mary 
 had predicted, and the girls entered, their foot- 
 steps resounding with a hollow echo through the 
 empty place. 
 
 " 'I feel like one who treads alone some ban- 
 
182 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 quet hall deserted,' " quoted Billie. "Could any- 
 thing be more ghostly than a deserted school ?" 
 
 "It's not deserted," said Nancy. "I heard 
 voices somewhere, I am certain of it, just as you 
 opened the door." 
 
 They paused and listened for a moment, but 
 the place was as still as a tomb. A dim gas-light 
 burned in the long corridor, on each side of 
 which were the arched entrances to the locker 
 rooms of the various classes, wash rooms and 
 Miss Gray's own private office. 
 
 "It reminds me of the catacombs in this light," 
 whispered Billie. "I'm almost afraid of the 
 sound of my own voice." 
 
 The girls slipped silently down the passage to 
 the stairway leading to the class rooms. At her 
 desk in the sophomore study room on the third 
 floor BiUie found her algebra. As she gathered 
 together some of her scattered papers in the not 
 over tidy interior of the little one-seated desk 
 form, and searched for a certain favorite stubby 
 pencil which she claimed brought her good luck 
 with her problems, Mary at her own desk gave a 
 cry of dismay and sat down limply. 
 
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS ' 183 
 
 "What was it, a mouse ?" asked Billie, her voice 
 sounding quite loud in the empty room. 
 
 "Oh, Billie, Billie, no, it was not a mouse. It 
 was fifty dollars," cried Mary. "I found it just 
 now in my desk." 
 
 "Fifty dollars ?" echoed Billie, slipping her al- 
 gebra into her pocket and hurrying over to her 
 friend's desk. "Are you playing a trick on me, 
 Mary?" 
 
 "Listen, Billie," said Mary. "I'm going to tell 
 you something. I believe I am the victim of 
 some kind of conspiracy. You know of course 
 about all of the things that have been stolen from 
 school lately?" 
 
 "Yes, but I haven't had any losses myself; so 
 I haven't talked about it much to the others." 
 
 "Of course you had no idea that I was sup- 
 posed to be the thief," Mary went on, with a sort 
 of dry sob in her voice that was more heart-break- 
 ing to Billie than real weeping would have been. 
 
 Mary told her the story of Fannie Alta and the 
 twenty dollars. 
 
 "I didn't tell it before," she continued, "because 
 
184 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 I was so ashamed somehow, I couldn't bear for 
 any one to know it." 
 
 Billie's heart swelled with indignation. 
 
 "The little wretch," she exclaimed, "you should 
 have gone straight to Miss Gray about it, Mary." 
 
 "I know it, and I am sorry now I didn't, but I 
 thought she wouldn't dare do it again, and she 
 hasn't, but things are disappearing all the time, 
 and I believe she has told it around school that 
 I took the twenty dollars and all the other things. 
 Nobody has said anything, of course, but I can't 
 help feeling that they are all whispering about 
 me whenever my back is turned." 
 
 "You poor, blessed child, exclaimed her 
 friend. "And all this time you have been keep- 
 ing it secret and suffering in silence." 
 
 Mary nodded her head. 
 
 "And the worst of it is, Miss Gray suspects 
 me too. But she is not going to say anything 
 until she is sure. I thought of talking to her 
 about it, but it would look as if I had a guilty 
 conscience to complain before I am accused." 
 
 "How dare any one suspect you of stealing," 
 cried Billie, putting her arms around her friend 
 
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS 185 
 
 and kissing her warmly. "Would Miss Gray or 
 any one else be so stupid as to take the word of 
 Fannie Alta before yours?" 
 
 "But nobody has said anything that I know 
 of," groaned poor Mary. "It's all in the air. 
 That is why I don't know what to do. Suppose 
 after all I was mistaken and they didn't suspect 
 me. Suppose I took this money to Miss Gray 
 and suppose she would think that I had taken all 
 the other things and was just returning this be- 
 cause I had lost my nerve and suppose — sup- 
 pose " 
 
 "But, Mary," remonstrated Billie, "why sup- 
 pose anything at all so awful? Why not suppose 
 that Miss Gray will listen to you and believe every 
 word you say. You are perfectly innocent and 
 nothing on earth can make you guilty. Of 
 course Fannie Alta must have left the money in 
 your desk, though where she got so much is a 
 mystery to me." 
 
 "But I tell you I am frightened, Billie. Such 
 wretched things do happen and innocent people 
 often suffer for guilty ones." 
 
 "Nonsense, Mary, you must not lose your 
 
186 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 nerve in this way. Take the money and go 
 straight to Miss Gray with it now. I will go 
 with you." 
 
 The two girls gathered their things together 
 silently. Mary put the roll of money in her 
 jacket pocket and they made for the door. It was 
 almost dark now and the rows of empty desks 
 down the big room were like kneeling phantoms 
 in the half light. 
 
 "Did you hear anything?" whispered Mary as 
 they reached the door. 
 
 "I heard a step," answered Billie in a low 
 voice. "It was probably the janitor." 
 
 With a mutual impulse they clasped hands and 
 a wave of fear swept over them when they found 
 that the door would not open. 
 
 "It must have stuck," whispered Mary. "Try 
 it again." 
 
 But the door was locked fast. 
 
 "There is only one way for you to get back 
 the key to the door, young ladies," said a voice 
 so near to them that they both jumped back as 
 if they had been struck in the face. 
 
 The person who had spoken had been standing 
 
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS 187 
 
 flat against the wall at the side of the door. He 
 emerged from the shadows, as quietly as a 
 shadow itself, and in the twilight his long, lank 
 figure seemed almost to be floating in space. The 
 small black mask which covered his face and his 
 whole appearance reminded Billie of a gruesome 
 picture she had once seen called "The Black 
 Masque." 
 
 "You have a small sum of money there," he 
 went on, "which you evidently do not wish to 
 keep and which I would be pleased to have and 
 can use at once. By a strange coincidence, I hap- 
 pened to overhear your conversation, you see, and 
 as the money appears to belong to nobody and 
 is exactly the sum I require I must have it." 
 
 Mary tried to speak, but her lips refused to 
 form the words, and she had no voice left. There 
 was a sound in Billie's ears like the pounding of 
 surf on the beach and she felt quite dizzy. 
 
 "This is fright," she found herself saying, as 
 a wave of homesickness for her father swept over 
 her. 
 
 "Oh, papa, papa," she whispered. 
 
 The man had seized Mary's two hands in one 
 
188 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 of his with a grip of steel, while with the other 
 he felt in her jacket pocket, took the roll of 
 money, pushed Billie roughly from the door, and 
 with a laugh pulled back the bolt ; there had been 
 no key after all. The next instant he had slipped 
 downstairs as softly as a cat and was gone. 
 
 The girls followed after him like two sleep 
 walkers. 
 
 "We've been robbed, Billie," moaned Mary, 
 giving her dry sob. "The fifty dollars is gone. 
 What shall we do now ?" 
 
 Billie did not reply. She wanted to get out of 
 that dark stuffy school building, and breathe in 
 some fresh air before she dared trust her voice. 
 It was good to feel the wet fog again in their 
 faces as they hurried up the street. 
 
 "Why not still tell Miss Gray, Mary?" asked 
 Billie at last, but already there was a feeling of 
 doubt in her heart. It was certainly a very un- 
 likely sounding story, a robber in the school room. 
 
 Suddenly a figure loomed up in the mist. It 
 was Miss Gray herself. 
 
 "You are out late, girls," she said as she hur- 
 ried past, and for some reason they both had an 
 
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS ISa 
 
 uncomfortable feeling of having done something; 
 wrong. 
 
 Miss Gray hastened into the school building- 
 just as the janitor appeared to lock up. 
 
 "Jennings," she said, "switch on the light in 
 the sophomore study room. I shall only be there 
 a moment." 
 
 The janitor shuffled after her and turned on 
 the light while Miss Gray opened Mary's desk. 
 She sighed deeply and shook her head. 
 
 "She must have got here before me," she 
 thought. "It was cruel to tempt the child at 
 such a time as this when her mother is in great 
 need of money. I felt so sure she would bring 
 it straight to me and that was the only test I re- 
 quired. Oh, dear, what a crooked world this is. 
 I am out fifty dollars. But how will the poor- 
 child ever explain all this money to her mother? 
 She must have saved a good deal out of her pil- 
 fering " 
 
 Miss Gray's disconnected train of thought did 
 not bring her any comfort, as she slowly de- 
 scended the three flights of steps into the base- 
 ment and plunged into the mist again. 
 
190 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "At least I shall wait a day or two," she con- 
 tinued. "The child may think better of it. She 
 might have stopped me this evening, though. 
 At all events I deserve to lose the money. It 
 was a silly, stupid impulsv*;, but I was so sure — 
 so very sure " 
 
 The mist had grown so thick now that the 
 Principal walked very sIoAvly, keeping close to the 
 fence in order to guide herself to the corner 
 •where she must turn to go to her own home. A 
 ^oice reached her through the fog. Someone 
 was coming up from behind. 
 
 "I have procured fifty, Sefior, a curious lucky 
 stroke, and from a schoolroom, too — would you 
 have believed " the voice broke off in a laugh. 
 
 "Be careful " said another voice, and two 
 
 figures passed Miss Gray in the fog and were 
 swallowed up again immediately. 
 
 "Is it possible," she exclaimed, "robbers in 
 West Haven High School ? What does it mean ? 
 And I have been blaming that innocent child. 
 What an imbecile I have been!" 
 
 Her last resolution before sleep came to her 
 that night was to notify the town police in the 
 
WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS 191 
 
 morning and hire a detective to stay about the 
 High School day and night. 
 
 Imagine the surprise of the bewildered Prin- 
 cipal, when, next morning bright and early, Mary 
 Price, after a timid knock on the office door, came 
 hesitatingly into the room. 
 
 "Miss Gray," she said, "I found this money 
 yesterday afternoon in my desk. I don't know 
 how it came there nor whose it is. But it would 
 be better for you to take charge of it until the 
 owner asks for it." 
 
 Mary spoke quickly, as if she had learned the 
 little speech carefully by heart. There was a 
 strange expression on Miss Gray's face as she 
 took ten crisp new five-dollar bills from the young 
 girl's outstretched hand. 
 
 "This is not even the same money," she 
 thought, forgetting to answer Mary in her 
 amazement. "Am I losing my senses or is the 
 child a deep dyed villain ?" 
 
 Mary flushed scarlet under the Principal's 
 steady gaze, but she did not lower her eyes, and 
 there was not a sign of guilt in the expression of 
 the sad little face. 
 
3.92 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Very well, dear," Miss Gray said at last. 
 
 Mary, as she closed the door behind her, was 
 more mystified than Miss Gray. 
 
 "I should think she would have shown a little 
 surprise," she said. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 the hallowe'en house party. 
 
 "My Dear Miss Campbell: 
 
 Do you think your nice young charge would 
 be bored by a visit to our lonely old home in the 
 country? Percival has set his heart on giving 
 a Hallowe'en house party for some of his par- 
 ticular friends, and I find Wilhelmina's name the 
 very first on the list. I shall promise to look 
 after her in every way exactly as if she were my 
 own child, guard her from draughts, see that she 
 has plenty of covering on her bed and that she 
 wears her overshoes if the ground is damp. 
 
 My boy would be quite inconsolable, and I 
 should too, my dear friend, if she is not to be 
 among our guests. I cannot offer many induce- 
 ments except the pleasure which young people 
 always bring to a house, but I candidly believe 
 that Percival would give up the idea if she should 
 not be able to come. 
 
 Most cordially yours, 
 
 Antoinette Juliana St. Clair. 
 
 193 
 
194 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Miss Campbell smiled as she handed the note 
 to Billie one morning at the breakfast table. The 
 two fanciful names of the good-natured, cordial 
 widow always amused her. 
 
 "The lonely old home in the country," so mod- 
 estly referred to, was one of the finest places in 
 the county, and nothing was more coveted by 
 the young people in West Haven than an invi- 
 tation to one of Percival's house parties, where 
 ■everything that the widow and her son could de- 
 vise was done for the amusement of the guests. 
 
 "Of course you must go, dear. I wouldn't 
 have you miss it for worlds. The change will 
 do you good. I have been troubled about you 
 lately, my child, and if this invitation had not 
 come, I was going to insist on your seeing the 
 doctor. I don't think your liver has been behav- 
 ing itself. You have been so out of sorts. But 
 perhaps a little amusement will be better for 
 you than a calomel pill." 
 
 "Oh, I am quite well, Cousin Helen," ex- 
 claimed Billie. "It's mathematics, I suppose, that 
 affects my liver." 
 
 But Billie was more eager than she would ad- 
 
THE HALLOWE'EN HOUSE PAETY 195 
 
 mit to accept Mrs. St. Clair's invitation. The 
 truth is, the young girl's conscience had not been 
 easy lately. She felt that she had done some- 
 thing which would have grieved and displeased 
 her father and she could not be perfectly happy 
 until she had confessed her sins and been for- 
 given. 
 
 You perhaps have guessed already that the ten 
 new five-dollar bills which Mary Price had con- 
 signed to Miss Gray's care the morning after the 
 robbery in the school room, was Billie's money. 
 
 "You shall take it, Mary," she insisted. 
 "Aren't we exactly the same as sisters? I don't 
 want the money, and I know papa would be glad 
 if he knew." 
 
 Billie had finally agreed with Mary that it 
 would only make matters more complicated to 
 tell Miss Gray that fifty dollars some one had 
 placed in Mary's desk, no doubt to tempt or catch 
 her, as in the case of the twenty dollars, had 
 been stolen by a robber almost immediately. 
 
 Older and wiser people would have told Billie 
 that this was a very poor piece of advice, and 
 the deed was no sooner accomplished than the two 
 
196 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DATS 
 
 girls themselves realized that they had made a 
 mistake. Miss Gray's manner to Mary was cold 
 and formal and the situation was not in the least 
 relieved. The unhappy girl had hoped that the 
 principal would speak to her again about the 
 money, but the subject was never mentioned. 
 
 "It was all my fault, Mary. I advised you and 
 forced you to do it. It was not exactly dishonest, 
 but it wasn't sincere, and I am beginning to 
 think Miss Gray is suspicious of me, too." 
 
 Another thing had happened which made Billie 
 uncomfortably and extremely ill at ease in her 
 mind. Burglars had broken into Mrs. Price's 
 home, but they had only succeeded in giving Mary 
 and her mother a great fright, and had taken 
 nothing. 
 
 In her heart Billie knew what the robbers really 
 wanted. It was the box of jewels locked up in 
 Mrs. Price's safe. 
 
 "I have done wrong," she kept saying to her- 
 self. "Papa always said that my heart ruled my 
 head and that I had no judgment. I should 
 never have burdened Mary and Mrs. Price with 
 that wretched box. I am almost superstitious 
 
THE HALLOWE'EN HOUSE PAETY 197 
 
 about it, because it brings so much bad luck on 
 people. After the house party, I shall take it 
 away." 
 
 As a matter of fact, everything was postponed 
 until after the house party, and the world for 
 eight young people seemed to stand still. The 
 English nation could not look forward with 
 greater eagerness to the Coronation than our 
 four Motor Maids and their friends to Percy's 
 Hallowe'en house party. It was only a part of 
 the good fortune which always followed Percy 
 that Hallowe'en that year fell on Friday, and that 
 the weather was perfect. 
 
 They were to have three evenings of fun and 
 frolic with the Hallowe'en ball on Friday night. 
 
 In the joy of anticipation and preparation, 
 Billie and Mary lost sight of their troubles. 
 Nancy was bubbling over with delight and Elinor 
 forgot her usual sense of dignity and gave an 
 indecorous exhibition of happiness by doing a 
 Dutch twirl all by herself. 
 
 "Of course, we shall all go in 'The Comet,' " 
 announced Billie. "It will be lots more fun than 
 driving behind those poky old carriage horses 
 
198 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 that bring Percy and Mrs. St. Clair in to church 
 every Sunday." 
 
 "Of course," echoed the others. 
 
 There was, indeed, only one flaw in their hap- 
 piness. Mrs. St. Clair, who was intimate with 
 the Rogers family, had insisted on inviting Belle 
 Rogers. 
 
 "Who cares ?" exclaimed Billie. "She can't in- 
 terfere with our good time and we certainly won't 
 interfere with hers." 
 
 The St. Clair place was eight miles outside of 
 West Haven on the main road. A long avenue 
 bordered with immense pine trees led up to the 
 commodious, comfortable old house which seemed 
 to reflect from its shining windows the cheerful 
 and hospitable character of its mistress. 
 
 And when the red motor pulled up in front of 
 "Pine L,odge," as the place was called, there was 
 the mistress herself smiling in the doorway, mak- 
 ing the most delightful picture of welcome Billie 
 had ever seen. 
 
 "Think of going to a real house party at last," 
 exclaimed Billie, with a sigh of pleasure. 
 
 Percival rushed down to help them out; two 
 
THE HALLOWE'EN HOUSE PARTY 199 
 
 colored men servants carried in their luggage, 
 and presently they found themselves standing be- 
 fore a glowing fire in the hall, which was quite 
 big enough and broad enough to be a room it- 
 self. 
 
 "It is sweet of you to come out and cheer up 
 two lonely country people, my dears," Mrs. St. 
 Clair was saying, as she kissed them all around 
 twice. "You are really the nicest children. You 
 must promise to tell me whatever you want, or 
 if you are not warm enough. You know how 
 draughty country houses are. Or if you are the 
 least hungry or your beds are not comfortable or 
 the water isn't hot enough for your baths, or 
 you wish any particular thing to eat " 
 
 "Dear me," laughed BilHe, looking around her, 
 "you make us feel like four visiting princesses, 
 Mrs. St. Clair. I am sure we could never want 
 for anything in this cheerful, lovely house." 
 
 "Now, Mrs. St. Clair," put in Elinor, "we all 
 know perfectly well that all the chairs at Pine 
 Lodge are easy and the beds are famous for 
 being the most comfortable in the county." 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair blushed with pleasure. Next to 
 
200 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 saying nice things to people herself, she loved to 
 have them say nice things to her. 
 
 "Percival, my darling, where are the others?" 
 she demanded presently. "Isn't Belle coming and 
 what is the name of that little foreign girl she 
 asked to bring with her ?" 
 
 Percy grinned at his friends good naturedly, 
 when Merry seized a cushion from one of the 
 long settees and began to rock it on his knees, 
 and Charlie gave a silent imitation of a baby's 
 face in the act of crying. But he was used to 
 these endearing names his mother heaped upon 
 him, and he only replied : 
 
 "Give them time, mother ; give them time. Re- 
 member they didn't ride on a comet the same as 
 this dashing company did. The foreign girl is 
 Fannie Alta." 
 
 "So it was, and it was sweet and thoughtful of 
 Belle to want to bring her along. She described 
 the poor little thing as being lonely and strange 
 in West Haven." 
 
 The girls exchanged astonished glances at this 
 piece of news. Was it possible that Belle Rogers 
 
THE HALLOWE'EN HOUSE PAETY 301 
 
 and the crafty little Spanish girl whom they in- 
 stinctively distrusted were so intimate as this? 
 
 "Here comes Roly Poly McLane," cried Percy, 
 laughing, as he peered through a side light of 
 the front door. "She's as jolly and fat as a 
 clown elephant in the circus." 
 
 "Percy, my love," remonstrated his mother, 
 which slight show of disapproval was about as 
 near as she ever got in her life to scolding him. 
 
 The boys raced down the hall to help Roso- 
 mond McLane out of the high trap in which she 
 had driven over to Pine Lodge from her home a 
 few miles away. 
 
 "Wait, Roly Poly, until Percy gets a derrick. 
 It's the only safe way to unload heavy bales," 
 cried Merry. 
 
 "Roly Poly," said Percy, bowing politely, 
 "these three noble friends have volunteered with 
 me to help you get out. I offered to do it alone, 
 but mother was afraid my young life would be 
 crushed out of me, if anything should happen, 
 you know, and " 
 
 "Percival, my darling!" cried Mrs. St. Clair. 
 
 "Help me, indeed," exclaimed Rosomond, witK 
 
303 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 a jolly laugh that always started an echo of 
 other jolly laughs. "Get out of my way all of 
 you," and she gave a flying leap from the trap 
 and bounced as she hit the ground like a rubber 
 ball. 
 
 "My dear Rosomond," cried the widow, run- 
 ning down the steps to meet her, "don't take any 
 notice of these foolish boys. You wouldn't seem 
 the same dear, delightful Rosomond if you 
 weighed a pound less." 
 
 "Oh, I don't mind them, Mrs. St. Clair. I'm 
 used to it, you know. Father always calls me 
 'Baby Elephant' and 'Jumbo,' and the girls at 
 school call me 'Roly Poly,' and Uncle Jim calls me 
 'Fatty.' " 
 
 Several more boys appeared just then and the 
 company followed Mrs. St. Clair into what she 
 called the sitting room, a gay apartment with 
 chintz curtains at the windows and chintz cov- 
 ered cushions in the deep wicker chairs. Here 
 they had tea and chocolate and hot-buttered 
 toast. 
 
 "You must eat plenty of food, you know," 
 Percy's mother had admonished them, "because I 
 
THE HALLOWE'EN HOUSE PAETY 203' 
 
 warn you that you will need all your strength to 
 put up with the fearful ordeals Percy has planned 
 for to-night " 
 
 "Mother," broke in Percy, "you mustn't tell. 
 You will spoil all the fun." 
 
 "I'm not telling, dear. I'm only warning. But 
 you know those things that jump at you from be- 
 hind " 
 
 "Stop her quick, somebody," cried her son, pre- 
 tending to gag her mouth with a napkin. 
 
 It was all very gay and the room buzzed with 
 talk and laughter when the door opened and a 
 servant admitted Belle Rogers and Fannie Alta. 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair greeted the new visitors as hos- 
 pitably as she had the others. She even kissed 
 Fannie's dark, foreign little face and called her 
 "dear" and drew the girl down beside her on the 
 sofa. 
 
 "I want you to feel perfectly at home," she 
 said. "It was so good of you to have come with 
 Belle." 
 
 She was really the most delightful, beaming, 
 good-natured creature imaginable, but all her ef- 
 forts could not disguise the change which seemed 
 
204 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 suddenly to have taken place in the behavior of 
 the others. 
 
 Somehow the laughter was less free, the talk 
 less gay and jolly than it had been, and presently 
 our four particular Motor Maids were glad for 
 an excuse to go away with Percy and see the 
 conservatories, while Belle and Fannie drank 
 their tea with Mrs. St. Clair. 
 
 After that it was time to dress for dinner. A 
 neat little maid had unpacked their bags and laid 
 their best party dresses on the beds. They were 
 very simple dresses indeed, and Nancy, at least, 
 thought of floating blue chiffon draperies with a 
 slight sigh of regret. 
 
 "Do you know, girls," said Billie, as she tied 
 a pink bow around Nancy's bunch of curls, "I 
 think we should all take lessons in cheerfulness 
 from Mrs. St. Clair. She's so happy because she 
 always sees the best side of everything. Just 
 see how nice she is to Belle and Fannie Alta, for 
 instance." 
 
 "With this beautiful house and all her money 
 and such a nice, good-natured pink-cheeked boy 
 
THE HALLOWE'EN HOUSE PAETY 205 
 
 for a son, I think I could even admire Belle 
 Rogers and Fannie Alta," observed Mary. 
 
 Then Billie remembered that Mary and her 
 mother were always troubled about money, and 
 that Mrs. Price was the gentlest, sweetest woman 
 she had ever known. She wondered if Mrs. St. 
 Clair could ever be ruffled by disappointment and 
 bad luck, or if everything were not exactly as it 
 should be, if she would be the same placid, good- 
 natured soul. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TH^ GHOST PARTY. 
 
 "1 don't see how you can play any gruesome 
 Hallowe'en tricks in this house, Mrs. St. Clair," 
 said Billie later at the dinner table. "It's the 
 abode of cheerfulness. Look at this dining room, 
 for instance. A skull and crossbones wouldn't 
 even look dismal against this white wainscoting 
 and these pale yellow walls." 
 
 "She's trying to pump you, mother," put in 
 Percy. "Now don't tell her anything." 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair smiled archly. How pretty she 
 looked, Billie thought, in her pink crepe dress, 
 with a beautiful collar of pearls around her 
 throat. Nothing would induce the widow to 
 wear black, and, after a year or two of mourn- 
 ing, she had gone back to colors and cheerful- 
 ness. 
 
 "He has got some big surprises for you, my 
 dear. I'll only tell you this much. It will be 
 
 206 
 
THE GHOST PAETY 207 
 
 quite as ghastly as you could possibly desire, and 
 I hope nobody is wearing any clothes that will 
 matter. Your dress, Miss Alta, I am afraid will 
 spot if you do all the things Percy is planning 
 for this evening. What a lovely frock, by the 
 way. I think I have never seen a more beautiful 
 dress for a young girl." 
 
 All eyes were fastened on Fannie's dress, and 
 there was general surprise among the girls to 
 see that Fannie. was wearing an exquisite gown 
 of pale blue satin with an over-dress of blue 
 gauze, edged with narrow silver fringe. In her 
 hair was a wreath of pink roses. 
 
 She was quite unembarrassed under the scru- 
 tiny of all these people, and smiled complacently 
 at Mrs. St. Clair. 
 
 Nobody had taken much notice of Belle until 
 now. They had supposed she had kept so un- 
 usually quiet because she was not in her own 
 "set," as she loved to call her coterie of seven. 
 But to those who were familiar with her, it was 
 plain that something had happened. She did not 
 seem herself. Her eyes had a strange gray look 
 to them. Two little white dents appeared on 
 
208 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 either side of her nose and her lips were shrunk 
 into pale, narrow Hnes. But that was not all. 
 Were they dreaming or was this the first of 
 Percy's Hallowe'en jokes ? The beautiful, proud 
 Belle was wearing a faded yellow muslin. 
 
 She had tried to cover her shoulders with a lit- 
 tle blue scarf, but it was impossible to deceive 
 the sharp eyes of her schoolmates. 
 
 "Nobody's clothes will be hurt, Mother," put 
 in Percy, feeling somehow that a cloud had fallen 
 on the company, although he did not know enough 
 about girls' clothes to take in this remarkable 
 change in Belle's appearance. "Remember that 
 this is a ghost party." 
 
 "What is a ghost party?" demanded Fannie, 
 suddenly becoming animated from the admira- 
 tion she felt she had attracted. 
 
 "Everybody wears a sheet and pillow-case," 
 answered Percy, "and, for one thing, not a ves- 
 tige of dress shows." 
 
 A look of triumph came into Belle's eyes at this 
 and the two dents began to disappear. 
 
 "I hear the other people coming, so we had bet- 
 
THE GHOST PAETY 209 
 
 ter get into our costumes if you are entirely 
 through." 
 
 "Come up to my room, girls. Percy will take 
 care of the boys. Marie and I are commissioned 
 to dress you up. I am obeying orders, you see," 
 said Mrs. St. Clair. 
 
 "And remember that you are supposed to be 
 disguised," called Percy. "Don't give yourself 
 away by giggling, Miss Nancy-Bell." 
 
 "I'm sure I shan't want to giggle if I'm dressed 
 as a ghost," answered Nancy, following the 
 others up the steps. 
 
 Half an hour later a company of spectres in- 
 vaded the halls and drawing room of Pine Lodge. 
 There were silent ghosts and giggling ghosts, 
 and a roly-poly ghost, who bumped against a thin 
 ghost and knocked him flat and the thin ghost 
 cried out : 
 
 "Oh, shades of departed Jumbo, don't sit on 
 me!" 
 
 Then all the ghosts laughed and one ghost 
 danced a jig that had the shadow of a resem- 
 blance to the Fishers' Horn Pipe. 
 
 Presently there was a long and mournful 
 
310 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 trumpet call from up in the very top of the 
 house and a portly ghost who seemed to be hold- 
 ing up a train under her white cotton shroud 
 said: 
 
 "Now, my dear spirits, we are all to go up, if 
 you will be good enough to follow me," and the 
 whole troop of ghosts began moving in a spectral 
 body up the front staircase. 
 
 There was a second long-drawn-out and de- 
 spairing trump, and the phantom beckoned them 
 to hurry up, with her plump, pretty hand, and re- 
 marked : 
 
 "My darling Percival is so impatient." 
 
 Up the next staircase they trooped and finally 
 up a narrow flight, at the top of which hung a 
 black curtain with cabalistic signs painted on it 
 in bright red. 
 
 Once past the curtain and there was a gasp of 
 surprise and wonder. The great attic of Pine 
 Lodge, which stretched over the entire house, 
 had been transformed into a spirit dance hall. 
 From the ceiling hung pumpkin jack-o-lanterns 
 of every size. Plates of salt and alcohol were 
 burning about the room, giving a ghastly green- 
 
THE GHOST PAETY 211 
 
 ish look to the picture. An old witch dressed in 
 black, with a long broomstick, was stationed by a 
 cauldron of melted lead, placed on a charcoal 
 stove. 
 
 Repeating a cabalistic verse with incredible ra- 
 pidity, which sounded something like : 
 
 "Burra, burra pie, cat's eye, devil fry, 
 Singer, .dinger, singer dinger, blood!" 
 
 the black witch dropped a spoonful of the lead 
 into a bowl of water. 
 
 "Here is your fortune," she said, in a sing- 
 song voice to the nearest ghost. 
 
 "The lead has taken the shape of a letter. It 
 brings news to you. It comes from over the 
 water on a ship. The letter is about something 
 round " 
 
 "Money is round," put in a tall ghost, stand- 
 ing near. "So are rings and necklaces— — " 
 
 "There is trouble ahead," went on the witch. 
 "There is trouble before the letter ever reaches 
 land." 
 
 The ghost who was listening moved away 
 quickly. 
 
212 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Of course, it was just a coincidence," she said 
 to herself, "but I wonder who the person was who 
 said that about rings and necklaces. Oh, dear! 
 Oh, dear ! I wish I had never taken that box in 
 charge." 
 
 In another part of the room a red witch was 
 engaged in launching little fortune sail boats, 
 made of English walnuts, on a troubled sea in a 
 tub. 
 
 There were four other witches about the attic 
 telling fortunes with cards and in other ways, 
 two gray ones, a white one, and a green one, and 
 there was an enormous gray cat with electric 
 eyes and a tail four feet long that curled up over 
 its back. At last from behind a curtain came the 
 strains of weird music, and the witches and the 
 gray cat danced a quadrille, the witches riding on 
 their broomsticks in a circle, leaping over the cat 
 as they advanced down the middle and finally end- 
 ing with a romp when all the ghosts joined in and 
 danced together. 
 
 After a while the ghosts removed their sheets 
 and pillow-cases and became human beings once 
 more, and the side shows, as Percy called them. 
 
THE GHOST PAKTY 313 
 
 began. Every girl at the party bobbed for an 
 apple, except Belle Rogers, who declined em- 
 phatically. But those who remembered the red 
 rubber curlers understood her reasons for not 
 wishing to wet her aureole of golden hair. 
 
 Fannie Alta plunged her face and neck into the 
 tub with a reckless laugh, and spotted her pretty 
 dress without a quiver of regret. 
 
 Nancy, in a little room hung in black in a re- 
 mote corner of the attic, held a lighted candle 
 over her head, while she looked fearfully in the 
 glass and combed her hair. For just a breathing 
 space a boy's fair, ruddy face passed across the 
 mirror and disappeared. 
 
 With a little shriek, Nancy looked quickly over 
 her shoulder, but she was entirely alone. 
 
 Billie went rather later than the others to try 
 her fortune in the mirror room. She had lin- 
 gered along with a laughing, teasing circle 
 around the apple plungers, and, seeing Nancy 
 come out of the mirror room alone, she strolled 
 over there. Nancy explained what she was to 
 do, and left her alone to her fate. 
 
214 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Did you see any one, Nancy?" laughed Billie 
 incredulously. 
 
 "Yes," she whispered mysteriously, " I did; 
 but I wasn't frightened because " 
 
 "Because what ?" demanded BiUie, pinching her 
 friend's round cheek. 
 
 "Because — it wasn't a person who would 
 frighten any one," answered Nancy, with a laugh, 
 as she tripped away to the next side show, from 
 whence issued suppressed screams and howls 
 which were explained when she pulled the cur- 
 tain and a skeleton jumped at her. 
 
 In the meantime, Billie had gone into the mir- 
 ror room alone. She stood looking gravely at 
 herself in the glass, while she ran a comb through 
 her smooth locks with one hand and held a candle 
 with the other. She seemed to have waited a 
 good while for the apparition which was sup- 
 posed to appear to show its face. 
 
 "I suppose this booth isn't in working order 
 any longer," she thought, as she laid down the 
 comb, when suddenly from the deep shadows re- 
 flected in the glass she made out the outline of a 
 face. 
 
THE GHOST PAETY 215 
 
 Billie smiled. She had been prepared to recog- 
 nize one of her friends, but the smile faded from 
 her lips; she put down the candle quickly and 
 faced about. The black curtain forming the wall 
 of the little room was still quivering, but no one 
 was there. 
 
 She ran out hurriedly and looked about her. 
 All the boys and girls were dancing the barn 
 dance, and the attic had become very cheerful and 
 gay it seemed to her in the brief moment in which 
 she had tried her fortune in the mirror room. 
 
 "It was just a foolish, nervous notion," she 
 said to herself, turning to meet Merry Brown, 
 who was looking for her to be his partner in the 
 dance. "But that beaked nose and that wicked 
 eye so close to it," her thoughts continued. 
 "Could I have been mistaken ?" 
 
 "Are there any strangers here to-night?" she 
 asked Merry, as they danced down the room to- 
 gether. 
 
 "Not a single stranger," he replied. "Only 
 the High School crowd." 
 
 When the dance was over, they filed in a long, 
 laughing procession down the three flights of 
 
216 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 steps to supper, and there was nothing spectral or 
 gruesome about the gay party which gathered 
 around Mrs. St. Clair's long table. Billie tried to 
 talk and sing with the others and laugh at Roly 
 Poly McLane and Percy, who recited an absurd 
 dialogue they had prepared beforehand in which 
 Roly Poly took the part of a fat, old man and 
 Percy a thin old woman. But all the time she 
 kept asking herself : 
 
 "Did I see him, or was it just my imagina- 
 tion?" 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A STRAY GHOST. 
 
 When the front door closed after the depart- 
 ing merry-makers and the sound of the last 
 wheels died away down the avenue, the guests of 
 the house party filed slowly up to bed. Mrs. St. 
 Clair, at the head of the stairs, kissed each of 
 the girls good-night and shook hands with the 
 boys. And, as a final token of their regard, be- 
 fore turning in, the boys trooped from door to 
 door, singing, "Good-night, ladies," with Charlie 
 accompanying on his mouth organ. 
 
 And now the house was still, and our four 
 friends in their bathrobes were seated on the 
 hearth rug around the wood fire in one of the bed- 
 rooms, talking in whispers, as girls will do after 
 a party. 
 
 "Do you suppose Belle Rogers has been con- 
 verted, or reformed, or something?" observed 
 Nancy. "What else could have induced her to be 
 
 317 
 
218 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 so unselfish as to wear Fannie's old dress and let 
 Fannie wear her best one?" 
 
 "It's the mystery of the age," said Elinor. 
 "And how different she seemed, too. How quiet 
 and meek. Perhaps, after all, it was her clothes 
 that made her haughty. Who could be anything 
 but lowly in a faded yellow muslin ?" 
 
 "She was angry at first," put in Mary. "I 
 saw the danger signals at dinner. But I really 
 believe she had as good a time as any of us after- 
 wards. Perhaps she realized that without the 
 blue satin, she was just on a par with the rest of 
 us, and she forgot to be conscious." 
 
 "And how different Fannie was under the in- 
 fluence of the blue satin," continued Elinor. 
 "She talked and laughed quite loudly, and she 
 was really rude to Belle several times. Girls, if 
 we ever have blue satins, will they change our 
 dispositions " 
 
 A tap at the door interrupted -the conversation, 
 and Mrs. St. Clair, in a long lavender dressing 
 gown, tripped into the room. 
 
 "I hope our talking hasn't disturbed you, Mrs. 
 St. Clair," said Billie. 
 
A STEAY GHOST 219 
 
 "No, no, dear, I am glad you were talking, be- 
 cause I had hoped to find some one of you still 
 awake. I have come to ask a great favor. Will 
 one of you, or all of you, go with me up in the 
 attic for a few minutes? I should have asked 
 one of the servants, but their lights are all out. 
 I suppose they are sound asleep. Percy is asleep, 
 too. I have just come from his room. He is 
 tired out. You can't think how hard he has 
 worked in the last few days." 
 
 "Let me go with you, Mrs. St. Clair," put in 
 Elinor. 
 
 "Let us all go," suggested Billie. 
 
 "Very well, dear. The more of you the better. 
 To tell the truth, I am a little worried. It's 
 nothing, of course; I am sure to find it, but I 
 should like to take a look before I go to bed." 
 
 "Have you lost something, Mrs. St. Clair?" 
 asked Mary. 
 
 "Yes, I have lost my pearl necklace. I really 
 never missed it until a few moments ago. I have 
 looked downstairs everywhere, but I feel sure 
 that I dropped it in the attic when I was dancing 
 that ridiciulous twirling waltz with Ben. It 
 
220 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 serves me right for trying to be a young girl 
 when I am really such an old lady." 
 
 "You are really the youngest of us all," pro- 
 tested the four young girls, following her on 
 tiptoe up the stairs into the attic. 
 
 All the members of the searching party were 
 sure that the necklace would be found at once 
 somewhere on the attic floor, or in the folds of 
 the sheet or the pillow-case Mrs. St. Clair had 
 been wearing. Yet Billie and Mary had good 
 reason to know that robbers were at large in the 
 village of West Haven, and the memory of the 
 face Billie had seen in the mirror suddenly be- 
 came painfully distinct. 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair ht a few gas jets in the attic 
 and the great place seemed ghastly enough in 
 the half light with the grotesque jack-o-lanterns 
 grinning at them from above ; the black-curtained 
 side shows and an occasional sheet and pillow- 
 case made a weird picture. 
 
 They searched the floor carefully, looked into 
 the booths with candles, shook out sheets and 
 pillow-cases, but there was no sign of the missing 
 necklace. 
 
A STRAY GHOST 221 
 
 "If it had only been something else," said Mrs. 
 St. Clair. "I should rather have lost almost any- 
 thing in the world than my pearl necklace. It 
 was a wedding present from Percival's father 
 and I valued it more than all my other jewelry 
 together. I don't see how I could have dropped 
 it so carelessly. When we went down to supper 
 I threw a scarf around my shoulders and that 
 is probably why I never noticed that my pearls 
 were gone. You were standing near me, Mary, 
 and Belle and her friend were there, too. You 
 don't remember to have noticed the necklace at 
 that time, do you? One of you helped me on with 
 my scarf." 
 
 Mary shook her head. 
 
 "I must ask Belle and Miss Alta to-morrow. It 
 is so important to know whether I lost the neck- 
 lace up here or below." 
 
 "Perhaps you dropped it on the steps," sug- 
 gested one of the girls. 
 
 "If I did, it must have been trod on by many 
 pairs of feet, then. Oh, dear, I am so sorry. 
 Only this evening I said to myself, I must have 
 
223 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 the clasp to the necklace repaired. I had intended 
 to take it to town next week to the jeweller's. 
 
 "But I must not keep you up any longer. You 
 were dear children to come up with me. Now 
 go to bed and don't think of it any more. I 
 should not have been so selfish. You are all dead 
 tired, I know, for I am myself." 
 
 They turned and trooped downstairs again, 
 and with softly spoken good-nights separated at 
 their bedroom doors. 
 
 Billie and Mary were the last to enter the room 
 they shared. They had stopped for a drink of 
 ice water from a big glass pitcher, which had 
 been placed with a tray of tumblers on a table 
 at the far end of the hall. They were drinking 
 their water silently, each absorbed in her own 
 thoughts, when suddenly Mary grasped BilHe's 
 hand and whispered: 
 
 "Look! On the steps!" 
 
 But Billie was looking with all her eyes before 
 Mary had spoken. 
 
 A figure was gliding down the steps wrapped 
 in a sheet. The stray ghost had evidently seen 
 the girls at the same moment they had caught 
 
A STEAY GHOST 223 
 
 sight of it, for it finished the flight almost with 
 a bound, and with a swift run disappeared 
 through a door leading to a passage back of the 
 steps, with Billie and Mary running behind. But 
 the sheeted figure was too swift for them, and 
 they heard one of the doors in the passage open 
 and close softly just as they reached the entrance. 
 
 "It was this door," said Mary. 
 
 "Or this one," said Billie, pointing to the door 
 of the room next the one Mary had chosen as the 
 door the phantom had disappeared through. 
 
 "We'll settle it," said Billie. "I'll knock on this 
 one and you knock on that one." 
 
 "They are the small single rooms that Belle and 
 Fannie and Roly Poly have," whispered Mary, 
 as she tapped on a door. 
 
 There was no answer and she went in. It was 
 Belle's room and she was sleeping deeply. Mary 
 smiled as she noticed that Belle now wore a night 
 cap over the rubber curlers. Her cheek was pil- 
 lowed on her hand and her breath came softly and 
 regularly. 
 
 No answer came to Billie's tap, either, and 
 when she turned the knob she found that the door 
 
224: THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 was locked. She tapped again and rattled the 
 knob. 
 
 "Who is there?" came a sleepy voice. 
 
 "Open the door," called Billie. 
 
 "Tell me who you are first." 
 
 "Billie Campbell." 
 
 Presently the door was thrown open and Fan- 
 tiie, with her dark hair standing out all over her 
 head in a dishevelled mass, peered into the hall. 
 
 "What is the matter?" she asked. "The house 
 is not on fire ?" 
 
 "No, but Mary and I were in the hall and we 
 saw some one come down from the attic and go 
 into one of these rooms, and we thought we had 
 better wake you up." 
 
 "They could not have come in here," said Fan- 
 nie. "My door was locked." 
 
 Billie looked at her curiously. 
 
 "What a little actress you are," she thought. 
 
 "It doesn't matter, only Mrs. St. Clair had 
 lost something, and we were afraid a thief might 
 'he in the house. You know there have been sev- 
 eral robberies lately in West Haven." 
 
 Fannie gave her a long and scornful stare. 
 
A STRAY GHOST 235 
 
 "At the High School, you mean ?" 
 
 "Particularly at the High School," replied 
 Billie gently. Somehow, she felt a sort of con- 
 temptuous pity for this unfortunate little crea- 
 ture who had been taught, perhaps by poverty, 
 to stoop to so much villainy. 
 
 "What's all this racket about?" demanded 
 Rosomond McLane, opening her door which was 
 the third one along the passage and thrusting out 
 her merry, round face. 
 
 "You didn't hear anything did you?" asked 
 Billie. "Mary and I thought we saw some one in 
 a ghost dress come down this passage and go into 
 one of these doors." 
 
 "Good heavens ! I am terrified out of my wits, 
 I would rather it would be a burglar than a ghost. 
 Did you really see something ?" 
 
 "Forget it," said Billie. "Go back to bed and 
 lock your cioor. It was just a shadow, I sup- 
 pose." 
 
 Fannie had already locked her own door and 
 the girls retreated to their room, somewhat crest- 
 fallen, feeling very much like two fighters who 
 had been worsted in battle." 
 
326 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 When they had crawled into bed and settled 
 themselves" under the covers, Billie gave a deep 
 sigh and whispered: 
 
 "Mary, dear, which one do you think it was?" 
 
 "There is only one thing that would make me 
 think it was Belle," replied Mary. "If she had 
 really been asleep, she would have waked and 
 come out to find what was the matter. She is 
 the most deadly curious soul alive." 
 
 "That's very slight evidence, Mary. She 
 might have been specially tired to-night. Now, 
 I believe it was Fannie. She had such a wild, 
 dishevelled look and her door was locked. She 
 is such a creeping, crawling Httle thing. Besides, 
 I don't believe Belle would have had the courage 
 to go up in the attic alone." 
 
 "BiUie," observed Mary, after a short silence, 
 'T don't know what it is all about, but some- 
 thing is going on around us. I believe that you 
 and I, in some way, are mixed up in some kind of 
 conspiracy. The box of jewels is in it and Fan- 
 nie and Belle are in it. It's like seeing a lot of 
 figures moving about through a thick curtain. 
 You know they are there, but you don't know 
 
A STEAY GHOST 227 
 
 what they are all doing. I'm frightened, Billie, 
 very frightened." 
 
 Mary gave that dry sob which* was just as 
 painful as crying and much worse to hear. 
 
 Billie put her arms around her friend and tried 
 to comfort her. 
 
 "Don't be scdred, Mary, dear. It will all come 
 right. I have made up my mind to one thing. 
 That is, I will not leave that unlucky box at your 
 mother's house any longer. We shall have to 
 find some new place to keep it." 
 
 Presently the two girls' dropped off to slumber, 
 and of all the sleepers in the big house, only one 
 person heard the clock in the hall strike the pass- 
 ing hours. She tossed and tumbled on her bed 
 like a boat on a restless sea, and moaned to her- 
 self. Her lace-frilled night cap had slipped, and 
 one red rubber horn pointed upward, like an ac- 
 cusing finger. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MRS. RUGGLES. 
 
 Breakfast was late next morning, and there 
 were some heavy eyes at the pretty table. Belle 
 was pale and nervous, and Mary, too, wore an 
 anxious look on her face. Even the plump and 
 jovial Mrs. St. Clair was not quite herself. Her 
 eyes had a puzzled, absent-minded expression, as 
 if she were trying to remember something that 
 had almost faded out of her memory. But she 
 forced herself to smile and talk with her young 
 guests, and only the Motor Maids really noticed 
 her abstraction. 
 
 "What do you intend to do to-day, Percival, 
 dearest?" she asked her son. 
 
 "Don't you remember, mother, that Billie is to 
 take some of us and the side-seated wagon the 
 others over to Mrs. Ruggles ? I wrote her to ex- 
 pect us by two this afternoon, and we'll be hungry 
 enough by then to eat everything in sight." 
 
 238 
 
MES. ErGGLES 229 
 
 "Who is Mrs. Ruggles ?" asked Billie, who was 
 not yet familiar with various picturesque and in- 
 teresting characters Hving around West Haven. 
 
 "Wait until you see her," repHed Mrs. St. Clair. 
 "She is a queer old woman, but she has a great 
 many friends and you can't help liking her, 
 and her food — dear me, you never imagined such 
 meals as she can get up." 
 
 "Now, don't go and give things away, mother," 
 remonstrated Percy. "The others have all met 
 Mrs. Ruggles, but Billie hasn't and neither has 
 Miss Alta, and we might as well give them a lit- 
 tle surprise." 
 
 "It seems to me that West Haven is full of 
 surprises," observed Billie. "Papa and I used to 
 wander about the world together like two vaga- 
 bonds, but in all that time we never had so many 
 adventures and excitements as I have had here." 
 
 "Well, there won't be any excitement about 
 this trip," said Percy. "It's just a ride across the 
 country to the shore, one grand, large meal, and 
 then home again in time for another feed, and 
 you'll all be ready for bed." 
 
 It was arranged for those who were to drive 
 
230 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 to start well ahead of the others in the "handi- 
 cap race," as Percy called it, in order to get to 
 Mrs. Ruggles' at the same time. The Motor 
 Maids went in "The Comet" with their particu- 
 lar friends, which was tacitly agreed upon, and 
 Roly Poly McLane drove with Belle and Fannie 
 and three boys in the St. Clair trim-looking depot 
 wagon. They were not even to take the same 
 road as the motor car, but were to go by a short 
 cut over a road too sandy for automobiles. 
 
 - Mrs. St. Clair, who was not to be in the party, 
 inspected each girl with motherly interest before 
 the start. She appeared to have an endless store 
 of wraps, ulsters, sweaters and fur coats, veils 
 and scarfs, which she bundled on her guests 
 without the slightest regard for sex or size. 
 
 "Young people never know how to keep warm," 
 she said. "Especially girls. They always think 
 warm clothing is unbecoming, when really noth- 
 ing is more unbecoming than purple noses and 
 blue lips. Percival, my darling, don't you think 
 you'll need your ear muffs?" 
 
 "No, mother," answered her son firmly, "not 
 on the first of November." 
 
MES. RUGGLES 231 
 
 "Oh, I implore you, my son; I entreat you," 
 cried the importunate woman, and Percy, with 
 admirable patience permitted her to slip them on 
 his ears, though he promptly removed them when 
 the motor car had turned into the road and he 
 could no longer see his mother waving her 
 handkerchief. 
 
 "I must look remarkably like Dr. Cook," he 
 said, laughing, as he removed some of the lay- 
 ers of wraps and scarfs his mother had loaded 
 him with. 
 
 "The Comet" was in splendid trim that morn- 
 ing. 
 
 "He gets cranky and unmanageable -exactly 
 like a human being," Billie had often said about 
 him, but to-day he appeared almost to take hu- 
 man enjoyment in the long stretch of hard-beaten 
 road and the crisp autumn air. 
 
 "Does this mysterious Mrs. Ruggles live in a 
 palace or a hut?" asked Billie, after a while, her 
 curiosity increasing as the salty breeze straight 
 from the ocean reminded her that they were ap- 
 proaching the coast. 
 
 "It's a little of both," replied Percy. 
 
232 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "She's a queen, herself, Mrs. Ruggles is," put 
 in Ben. 
 
 "I believe she thinks she is one, really," said 
 Elinor. "If she doesn't like a person, she almost 
 says, 'Oflf with his head.' " 
 
 "But I thought you said she was a cook ?" 
 
 "She is," answered Merry. "She's a queenly 
 cook and a cookly queen." 
 
 "You are all a lot of crack-brained, foolish 
 people," exclaimed Billie, exasperated. "I feel 
 as if 'The Comet' couldn't take me fast enough 
 to satisfy my curiosity about Mrs. Ruggles." 
 
 She put on the third speed and the red motor 
 took to the course like a young race horse as he 
 rounds the curve toward home. It was a long 
 and rather chilly ride before they reached the 
 abode of Mrs. Ruggles. The young people found 
 themselves buttoning their wraps around them 
 quite gratefully and snuggling down in the car. 
 
 "Here we are," said Percy, at last. 
 
 Billie stopped the car and examined with much 
 curiosity a quaint old house, rather tumbled down 
 at second glance, but with an air of comfort about 
 it that no amount of disrepair could overcome. 
 
MBS. EUGGLES 833 
 
 Smoke was pouring out of the middle chimney 
 and the reflection on the small window panes in- 
 dicated that there was a roaring fire in the front 
 room. 
 
 What the place looked like on the inside was 
 nothing more nor less than an old Spanish inn. 
 Billie did not know this because she had never 
 seen one, but the room reminded her vaguely of 
 something very romantic and picturesque, and 
 what was most curious about the place was that 
 the outside seemed to have no connection what- 
 ever with the inside. They were not even re- 
 lated to each other by distant kinship. Outside 
 were the dignified gray walls and gabled win- 
 dows of an old seashore house. The inside ap- 
 peared to be one very large room. The uneven 
 floor was paved with red tile and in a big stone 
 fireplace at one end burned an enormous fire of 
 driftwood. From the blackened rafters hung 
 garlands of red peppers, bunches of herbs and 
 strings of onions and garlic. Shining copper ves- 
 sels were ranged on shelves and around two sides 
 of the room ran a gallery with steps leading up 
 from one end. 
 
234 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Am I in a dream," cried Billie. "I feel as if 
 I had been transported somewhere suddenly." 
 
 "Isn't it fascinating?" said Elinor. "The old 
 house has been in Mrs. Ruggles' family for two , 
 hundred years. It used to be a sort of sailors* 
 inn, and there are many stories connected with 
 it. But here she comes herself. She's just as 
 wonderful as her house." 
 
 Mrs. Ruggles was certainly a remarkable fig- 
 ure. She was very tall, one of the tallest women 
 Billie had ever seen, with coal black hair, shiny 
 dark eyes, rather too close together, a beaked 
 eagle nose, and a very determined mouth, with a 
 slightly humorous curve to the lips, which soft- 
 ened her somewhat stern face. 
 
 She wore a most outlandish dress for that part 
 of the world, of striped red and black cotton, but 
 she was scrupulously clean, and the coarse cotton 
 kerchief tied around her neck was as white as 
 snow. Her stockings also were white, and she 
 wore men's low shoes of enormous size, even for 
 a woman of her height. 
 
 The boys and girls all shook hands with her 
 as if she were an old friend. She called them 
 
MES. EUGGLES 235 
 
 by their first names and when she was introduced 
 to Bilhe she gave her a long, keen look that 
 seemed to read the young girl's most hidden and 
 secret thoughts. She walked with an erect car- 
 riage and majestic tread, and Billie had a feel- 
 ing that she had been introduced to a personage. 
 
 "She's a great old girl," said Merry Brown, 
 when Mrs. Ruggles had disappeared into the 
 back regions of the house to finish cooking the 
 dinner. "She can sail a boat as well as anybody 
 along this coast. She fishes, digs for clams, 
 catches lobsters in traps, and does all the things 
 the fishermen around here do and more, too, be- 
 cause she is the jim dandiest cook in the county." 
 
 "Hasn't she any husband or family?" asked 
 Billie. 
 
 "She was married twice. Ruggles, the second 
 husband, was an Irishman. He was a fine fellow, 
 a sea captain, but he died long ago. Her children 
 are floating about the country somewhere." 
 
 "What was her name before she married. 
 Nothing like Ruggles, I am sure." 
 
 "No, it was Sabater. Mrs. Ruggles' father 
 was captain of a schooner which carried freight 
 
336 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 up and down the coast. They say her grand- 
 father was a great old fighter and came near 
 being hanged as a spy by both sides in the Revo- 
 lution." 
 
 It was all very interesting, and Billie was still 
 asking questions of the others when the carriage 
 arrived with the rest of the party. 
 
 "Why, where is Fannie?" they demanded, 
 noticing her absence from the depot wagon. 
 
 "She complained of a headache and went 
 home," answered Belle. "We met one of your 
 vehicles on the road, Percy, coming from town, 
 and she got in and drove back." 
 
 "Too bad," answered Percy. "But she's very 
 sensible if she doesn't feel well. It's a long drive 
 and fairly chilly when it gets late." 
 
 Fannie was not much missed, however, from 
 the jolly party which now gathered around the 
 crackling wood fire. Presently the inn-keeper, 
 fish-woman, queen, whatever she was, led the 
 girls up the narrow flight of stairs at one end of 
 the room to the balcony, on which opened a row 
 of little bedrooms, like ship cabins. She was a 
 very silent, busy woman, and she did not linger 
 
MRS. EUGGLES 237 
 
 while they smoothed their rumpled locks and 
 washed the dust from their faces. 
 
 Billie, who also was not one to linger at the 
 dressing table, went out on the gallery and stood 
 looking down into the picturesque room. The 
 place fascinated her and she strolled along, peep- 
 ing into the other small rooms, where, no doubt, 
 Mrs. Ruggles' father and grandfather had put 
 up many a seafaring guest in years gone by. 
 
 At the other end of the gallery were more 
 rooms, and she could not resist the temptation to 
 glance into them while she waited for the other 
 girls. Two of the doors were open, one into a 
 large empty room and one into a scantily fur- 
 nished bedroom. The next door was half closed. 
 Should she look in ? Billie hesitated. It was very 
 impolite of her, but she knew that old Mrs. Rug- 
 gles lived alone, and there could be no one to 
 intrude on. She pushed the door gently and 
 looked in, then retreated quickly. The room was 
 not empty, after all. In the immense, old-fash- 
 ioned bed so high that it was necessary to stand 
 on a foot stool at one side in order to plunge into 
 it, lay a woman. Billie thought she was asleep at 
 
238 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 first. Her eyes were closed and her long black 
 hair was spread back of her on the pillow like a 
 dusky mantel. The young girl stood transfixed 
 on the threshold. Then the woman opened her 
 eyes and looked straight into Billie's. 
 
 "1 beg your pardon," said Billie politely, and 
 backed away, her heart beating so fast that she 
 almost choked for breath. 
 
 The others were just going downstairs, chat- 
 ting and laughing together, even Belle Rogers, 
 who seemed, somehow, softened and quite dif- 
 ferent. There was no chance to tell about the 
 strange woman just then, and Billie kept her 
 knowledge to herself. But the large dark eyes 
 haunted her memory and she could not forget 
 the face, of which she had caught only a fleeting 
 glance. 
 
 Then came the dinner. Mrs. Ruggles did not 
 wait on the guests. The dishes were placed on 
 the table and they helped themselves, while Merry 
 and Percy, with napkins over their arms, like 
 well-trained butlers, removed one set of plates 
 and brought on another. 
 
 Perhaps these young people, who were not 
 
MRS. EUGGLBS 239 
 
 epicures by any means, did not realize how de- 
 licious Mrs. Ruggles' dinner really was. But an 
 older and more experienced person would have 
 appreciated some of those delightful concoctions 
 of rice and pimentoes, soup thick and rich, fowls 
 done to a turn, and a dish of corn meal and 
 chopped meat and tomatoes, like a Mexican to- 
 male. But they enjoyed it and the pudding that 
 followed and the cups of strong black coffee. 
 
 It was a merry meal, too, with jokes and songs 
 and much laughter. Mrs. Ruggles moved pon- 
 derously about the room or sat silently by the 
 fire. Occasionally her face lit up with a delight- 
 ful smile, and she would turn and beam approv- 
 ingly at Percy or Merry or Roly Poly McLane, 
 who were the chief fun-makers. 
 
 After dinner Billie seized an opportunity to 
 speak to the strange woman. 
 
 "We had a splendid dinner, Mrs. Ruggles," she 
 said. "I should think you would have lots of 
 people stopping here in this delightful place." 
 
 "The Inn is closed now," she answered. "I 
 don't rent my rooms any more." 
 
 "And you have no guests at all ?" asked Billie. 
 
240 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Mrs. Ruggles looked at her for so long that 
 Billie felt desperately uncomfortable. 
 
 "No," she answered shortly, and began clear- 
 ing off the table with a scowl that reminded Billie 
 of some one somewhere. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 FANNIE ALTA. 
 
 In the meantime, Mrs. St. Clair, left to the 
 quiet seclusion of her own home, became forth- 
 with a very determined and resolute character. 
 
 First she summoned to her aid the old colored 
 butler, who had been with her many years, and 
 together they searched every part of the house 
 where she had been the night before. They went 
 over the attic thoroughly and satisfied themselves 
 that the lost pearl necklace could not have been 
 dropped there. They hunted through the down- 
 stairs rooms, shook out the sofa cushions, looked 
 under the rugs and behind curtains. There was 
 not a crack nor cranny of the rooms she had 
 lately frequented that Mrs. St. Clair and old 
 Randolph did not scour. 
 
 Like many another easy-going, amiable soul, 
 Mrs. St. Clair, when roused to action, was ca- 
 pable of the most surprising, almost fierce de- 
 
 241 
 
243 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 termination, and when Fannie Alta returned, 
 pleading the excuse of a headache, she hardly 
 recognized in the white intense face, the rosy, 
 dimpled countenance of the widow. 
 
 Fannie retired to her room, but when Mrs. St. 
 Clair went to the telephone in the upper hall, 
 she crept to the door, opened it a crack, and over- 
 heard snatches of this conversation: 
 
 "Do you happen to have a good detective? 
 That's fortunate. The famous Mr. Bangs home 
 on his vacation ? Has a motor cycle ? Very well, 
 he ought to get here in an hour. Tell him to 
 hurry. Thank you. Good-by." 
 
 A tray of luncheon was brought to Fannie, but 
 she ate very little. She sat in her room thinking 
 hard. Then, with a sudden resolution, she 
 jumped up and began to move about. First she 
 packed her valise. Then, tying her handkerchief 
 about her head, she put on a very woe-begone ex- 
 pression and left the room. Mrs. St. Clair was 
 in the living room, a maid told her, and Fannie 
 found her pacing nervously up and down the 
 bright, chintz-hung place. 
 
 "I am afraid you are not feeling so well. Miss 
 
FANNIE ALTA 243 
 
 Alta," the widow said politely, but with just a 
 shade of coldness in her tone. 
 
 "I am much worse," answered Fannie. "I feel 
 quite ill. I wish to return to my mamma. May 
 I be driven home ?" 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair hesitated and a very strange 
 expression came into her face. 
 
 "You may go in a few hours, Miss Alta. 
 There is no one to take you just now. Randolph 
 is needed here and the other men are off working 
 on the place. Perhaps you had better lie down 
 in your room until I can arrange to send you 
 back. Did you try the aromatic spirits of am- 
 monia ?" 
 
 "If no one can take me," said the Spanish girl 
 irritably, not taking any notice of the question, 
 "I shall walk." 
 
 "But I thought you were ill?" 
 
 "I am, but the walk will help my head." 
 
 "No, I cannot permit it," said Mrs. St. Clair 
 firmly. "Go to your room and in another hour 
 you will be sent home." 
 
 Fannie started to reply, but she checked herself 
 and left the room. Mrs. St. Clair, stripped of 
 
244 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 her smiles and good-natured pleasantries, was 
 not a person to be disobeyed, and Fannie was 
 quick to recognize that fact. 
 
 She had hardly reached the second floor, when 
 she heard the whirring sound of a motor cycle, 
 followed almost immediately by a quick ring of 
 the bell. Fannie leaned far over the banisters, 
 and when she turned to go to her room, after a 
 small, dapper-looking man had been admitted, she 
 was somewhat embarrassed to find Mrs. St. 
 Clair's maid looking at her with an expression of 
 extreme amazement. 
 
 Fannie hurried to her room and for the next 
 fifteen minutes stood irresolutely first on one foot, 
 then on the other. Finally, with an air of de- 
 termination, she opened her satchel. 
 
 In the sitting room downstairs Mrs. St. Clair 
 and Mr. Bangs were in close conference. 
 
 "I do not really know the girl, Mr. Bangs. She 
 is a Cuban or a South American, or something. 
 Her name is Alta and she was brought here by 
 my son's guest. It is impossible for me to ac- 
 cuse a visitor in my own house of stealing the 
 most valued and handsomest possession I have 
 
FANNIE ALTA 245 
 
 in the world. She is a queer little creature and 
 looks sly and unreliable to me. But, of course, 
 that is not really evidence. What I have been 
 racking my brain all night and morning to re- 
 call is whether it was not she who, when she 
 helped me off with my ghost dress last night, 
 fumbled at my neck a moment. 
 
 "It amounts to this, Mr. Bangs," the widow 
 continued after a pause, "I can't get over the 
 impression that she has stolen my necklace. The 
 other children here I have known all their lives. 
 My servants have been with me for years, and 
 she is the one suspicious person in the house. 
 Now, what I want you to do is to help me to 
 find out the whole thing without arousing her 
 suspicions. If she is the thief, she may return 
 the necklace, and be sent back to town before the 
 others arrive, and it will be easy enough to make 
 excuses. You are a very able man, Mr. Bangs, 
 and I know that you are only home for a rest, 
 " but I do so need your help. Now, what do you 
 advise ?" 
 
 "Have you looked among her things yet?" 
 asked the detective. 
 
246 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "No, because the conviction only came to me 
 after she returned. I did have suspicions, I will 
 admit, but I put them aside. When she came 
 back I saw that she was uneasy and anxious, and 
 only a few moments ago she asked to be sent 
 home." 
 
 "H-m," mused the detective. "Suppose," he 
 continued, "that you call her down and let me 
 talk to her as if I needed her assistance, she being 
 the only member of the party available." 
 
 The advice was acted upon, and presently Fan- 
 nie, still with the handkerchief swathing her fore- 
 head, looking very nervous and pale, entered the 
 room. 
 
 "Miss Alta," began the widow kindly, "I am 
 sorry to have disturbed you when you were ill, 
 but we are in great trouble and we thought per- 
 haps you might help us. Did you know that last 
 night I lost my beautiful pearl necklace, the most 
 precious thing I have in the world?" 
 
 Fannie showed great surprise. 
 
 "Did it not come unclasped and slip ?" she sug- 
 gested. 
 
FANNIE ALTA 247 
 
 "I have reason to believe that it did not slip 
 from my neck, because we have searched the 
 place thoroughly. It mUst have been taken. I 
 talked it all over with the other girls last night 
 and they helped me look for it, but now I need 
 some one else, and in their absence I have sent 
 for you. Mr. Bangs, who is a detective, has come 
 down to lend me his aid, and we thought we 
 might take you into the conspiracy with us." 
 
 The widow paused for breath. 
 
 Fannie sat down and folded her hands nerv- 
 ously. 
 
 "I do not see how I can help," she said, after 
 a pause. 
 
 "Possibly you cannot," put in Mr. Bangs, "but 
 Mrs. St. Clair thought you might have noticed 
 something unusual, and being a guest were too 
 polite to speak of it. For instance, were you 
 standing near Mrs. St. Clair when she removed 
 the sheet and pillow case?" 
 
 "Yes," said Fannie, "there were several of us 
 in the party." 
 
 "Did you notice who unpinned tlie sheet for 
 Mrs. St. Clair?" 
 
248 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Fannie paused a long- time without replying. 
 
 "It was not you who did it?" 
 
 The young girl compressed her lips and looked 
 the detective squarely in the eye. 
 
 "The girl who unpinned the sheet was Mary 
 Price," she replied, "and since you are determined 
 to question me, I will tell you." 
 
 She drew a deep breath, looked first at the 
 detective, then at Mrs. St. Clair, and proceeded: 
 
 "I did notice that she removed the sheet from 
 your shoulders and her actions were very strange. 
 But, knowing what I did, I was not surprised, and 
 I am not surprised to hear now that you have lost 
 something valuable, Mrs. St. Clair," she went on, 
 more and more glibly, as she saw she was gaining 
 the interest of the other two. 
 
 "What were Miss Price's actions?" asked the 
 detective, taking Fannie's statements in the order 
 she had made them. 
 
 Fannie frowned. 
 
 "Oh, I do not know. She was strange. She 
 behaved strangely and she went away at once." 
 
 "You mean she left the room ?" 
 
FANNIE ALTA 349 
 
 "I cannot say. I saw her no more until sup- 
 per." 
 
 "Where were you?" 
 
 "Oh, I was about, dancing, playing, laughing 
 with the others," replied Fannie carelessly. 
 
 "You said a moment ago you knew something 
 about Miss Price. Will you tell us what it is?" 
 
 "Ah, but I hesitate. It is unkind to spread so 
 terrible a story." 
 
 "We will treat it confidentially," said the de- 
 tective drily. 
 
 "A great many people know it already," went 
 on Fannie. "The whole school knows it, in fact. 
 Miss Gray, the principal, and some of the teach- 
 ers, who have lost money and articles. I, myself, 
 have good reason to know it." 
 
 "What is it that you know?" asked the de- 
 tective. 
 
 "That Mary Price is a thief. She has been 
 stealing all the autumn from the other girls and 
 the teachers at the High School." 
 
 "Oh, impossible! I will not beHeve it," cried 
 Mrs. St. Clair. "Dear, sweet, quiet Mary. 
 There must be some mistake. Miss Alta. You 
 
250 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 should be more careful how you spread such dan- 
 gerous gossip. Mary Price and her mother 
 have many devoted friends in West Haven." 
 
 "You may ask Miss Gray, then. She will tell 
 you," said Fannie stifHy. 
 
 "Just to verify your statement. Miss Alta, I 
 will telephone Miss Gray this instant," exclaimed 
 the widow angrily, leaving the room and hasten- 
 ing upstairs to the telephone. 
 
 While she was gone, and she was away some 
 time, the detective began to question Fannie. He 
 was a very experienced man in his profession and 
 he pressed her so skillfully that several times she 
 tripped in her answers and finally grew excited. 
 
 "I tell you it is true," she cried. "She not only 
 is a thief, but she has a confederate. Billie Camp- 
 bell is her assistant. Perhaps you think I took the 
 necklace," she burst out at last. "You have the 
 right to search among my things. I had no way 
 to know that suspicion rested on me. If I took 
 the necklace, it will still be among my things." 
 
 "Don't get excited, Miss Alta, nobody has ac- 
 cused you of anything. We simply needed your 
 
FANNIE ALTA 251 
 
 valuable evidence. Why do you say Miss Camp- 
 bell is a confederate to the thieving?" 
 
 Fannie had gone farther than she intended, 
 however, and she refused to give any more in- 
 formation. But the detective saw that when she 
 was angry and frightened, she would talk, and 
 after a pause, he said: 
 
 "You perhaps know that you are the only per- 
 son in the household on whom suspicion might 
 rest." 
 
 "I don't see why I should be suspected," she 
 exclaimed hotly, "when Mary Price is already 
 known to be a thief " 
 
 "Perhaps you have a grudge against Miss 
 Price?" 
 
 "I have not," she cried, stamping her foot. 
 
 "Did no one ever suspect you of taking the 
 things at the High School? You know that often 
 happens — one girl is blamed for another's " 
 
 Fannie flew into a passion. 
 
 "I tell you Billie Campbell and Mary Price are 
 thieves. They have a whole box of valuable 
 things they have stolen, stored away in Mrs. 
 Price's safe." 
 
2.52 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "What sort of things?" 
 
 "Jewelry," burst out Fannie, then stopped and 
 bit her Up. "But I may be mistaken about that," 
 she added, trying to speak calmly. 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair hurried into the room with the 
 necklace in her hand. 
 
 "Where did you find it?" asked Mr. Bangs. 
 
 "I found it," she began, then paused. "It was 
 found," she added. "You may go. Miss Alta. 
 Thank you very much. And if you care to go 
 back to town, Randolph will drive you in at 
 once." 
 
 When Fannie had left the room, the widow 
 beat her hands together, and the tears rolled down 
 her cheeks. 
 
 "I found it in Mary Price's bag," she said. 
 "And Miss Gray tells me that it is true. Mary 
 has been suspected of stealing all autumn." 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 MARY bejfore; h^r judges. 
 
 It was late when the young people returned 
 from Mrs. Ruggles'. They were in gay spirits 
 and Mrs. St. Clair could hear them talking and 
 laughing in the hall, first the motorists and then 
 the ones who had driven. She did not go down to 
 meet them and they scattered to their rooms t<S) 
 wash their faces and smooth their wind-blown 
 locks. There was no time to dress for supper. 
 
 "I don't see how I can face them," she said to 
 herself. "I'm so unhappy, and I'm afraid they 
 will notice that I have been crying." 
 
 But she bathed her temples in cold water, put 
 on a cheery-colored silk dress, and went down- 
 stairs when the gong sounded for supper. Down 
 trooped the boys and girls with sparkling eyes 
 and glowing cheeks. The sound of their happy 
 laughter reached her below and she pressed her 
 
 253 
 
254 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 hand to her heart and sighed deeply. Then her 
 expression hardened: 
 
 "Little wretch," she exclaimed. "She should 
 be well punished, and she shall be, too." 
 
 " 'Soup of the evening, beautiful soup,' " sang' 
 Merry, dancing a jig in the hall : 
 
 " 'Beautiful soup so rich and green, 
 
 Waiting in a hot tureen !' " 
 " 'Who for such dainties would not stoop? 
 Soup of the evening, beautiful soup,' " 
 
 continued Rosomond, seizing Merry's hands and 
 whirling with him up and down the hall until they 
 both fell in a laughing heap on the floor. 
 
 "Oh, we have had such a good time," cried 
 Billie and Mary together, taking each a hand of 
 Mrs. St. Clair. 
 
 "It has been such glorious fun," went on Billie, 
 "and we are just as hungry for supper as if we 
 hadn't eaten enough food to feed a regiment this 
 afternoon." 
 
 "And such fine food, too, Mrs. St. Clair," said 
 Mary. "I think it was the most delightful party 
 I have ever been to." 
 
MAEY BEFOEE HER JUDGES 255 
 
 "I am glad you were so happy," replied Mrs. 
 St. Clair, making an effort to smile and succeed- 
 ing very poorly. 
 
 Mary, who was as sensitive to changes in man- 
 ner as an aeolian harp is to the slightest breeze, 
 looked at her hostess quickly and noticed the red 
 rims on her eyelids. 
 
 "Aren't you feeling well, dear Mrs. St. Clair ?" 
 she asked gently. 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair put her hands on the girl's 
 shoulders and looked into the clear dark eyes. 
 
 "I am quite well, Mary. A little upset over 
 something that happened to-day. That is all." 
 
 "You mean the pearl necklace?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I am so sorry. I wish we could have found 
 it for you." 
 
 "It has been found, Mary," said the widow, 
 turning her head away so as not to see Mary's 
 face. 
 
 "Oh, you did find it? I am so glad. Where 
 was it?" 
 
 "Supper is served, Mrs. St. Clair," said Ran- 
 
:S56 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 •dolph, opening the door to the dining room, 
 ■where the others were already waiting. 
 
 *'We will talk about where it was found later," 
 she said to Mary, who gave her a puzzled look, 
 as she followed into the room. 
 
 When supper was over, the boys and girls 
 scattered about the various rooms. Roly Poly 
 and Nancy got up charades. Billie curled up in 
 a big easy chair by the fire. She had got most 
 of the wind in her face and she was very sleepy. 
 No one noticed, therefore, when Mrs. St. Clair, 
 drawing Mary's hand through her arm, led her 
 out of the room. 
 
 "I want to see you upstairs, Mary," she said. 
 "Will you come to my little private sitting room ? 
 There is something I wish to talk with you 
 about." 
 
 Mary was still wondering what in the world 
 could be wanted of her, when Mrs. St. Clair drew 
 her into a pretty little pink boudoir at the end of 
 the hall. The door to the next room had been 
 left open, but Mary did not notice a small, dap- 
 per man sitting there in a high-backed cretonne 
 chair. 
 
MAEY BEFOEB HER JUDGES 257 
 
 The pearl necklace was lying on a table in the 
 boudoir. Mrs. St. Clair picked it up and held it 
 out to Mary. 
 
 "Did you ever see it closely before, Mary?" 
 she asked. 
 
 "No, I never did," answered the girl, with en- 
 thusiam. "How beautiful it is. No wonder you 
 were so unhappy. But where did you find it?" 
 
 "That is just why I brought you in here, 
 Mary. I wanted to ask you if you could guess 
 where the necklace had been found at last." 
 
 Mary suddenly became very grave. She was 
 beginning to notice now that Mrs. St. Clair was 
 in an unusually serious frame of mind and that 
 something must have happened concerning the 
 necklace which the others had not heard. 
 
 "I don't understand," she said, after a pause, 
 •*Why should I guess?" 
 
 "Is it possible, Mary," exclaimed the widow, 
 "that even after you were told I had found the 
 necklace you were not just a little frightened, a 
 little uneasy? Didn't you suspect when I asked 
 you to come up here with me that I was going to 
 speak to you about the necklace?" 
 
258 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Mary looked at her in wonder for a few min- 
 utes. Then a light dawned on her. 
 
 "It's Fannie Alta again," she said, in a low 
 voice. "She must have put the necklace among 
 some of my things." 
 
 "Then you do know where I found the neck- 
 lace?" cried the widow triumphantly. 
 
 "I can guess," said Mary. "You found it in 
 my suit case. It's the second time she's done 
 something like that." 
 
 "Mary, Mary — don't blame it on any one else. 
 I did find the necklace in your valise " 
 
 Mary stood up. Her eyes were blazing and 
 her small slender frame was shaken with emo- 
 tion. 
 
 "Do you mean to insinuate that I stole your 
 pearl necklace?" she cried. 
 
 Her words rang out in a high, clear tone that 
 made the small man in the next room stir un- 
 easily. 
 
 "How else did the necklace get into your bag, 
 Mary?" 
 
 "Fannie Alta put it there. She put twenty dol- 
 lars into my pocket not long ago and tried to ac- 
 
' Do you mean to insinuate that I stole your pearl necklace ? ' 
 
MAEY BEFOEE HEE JUDGES 359 
 
 cuse me of taking that, and when I gave it back 
 to her she hadn't a word to say." 
 
 "But, Mary, Fannie is not your only accuser. 
 Miss Gray tells me that you have been suspected 
 of many thefts since school opened." 
 
 "Oh, oh !" cried Mary. "How dare she? How 
 dare any one ? What have I done that these peo- 
 ple should try to make me out a thief? Oh, 
 mother, mother!" 
 
 "That is just why I brought you up here to- 
 night, Mary. On account of your sweet, lovely 
 mother. I want you to make me a promise in 
 return for what I am going to do for you. I 
 promise not to push this matter any farther. It 
 shall never reach your mother's ears. She will 
 be spared all distress and misery, if you promise 
 me never again, as long as you live, to steal. It 
 was not nice of you, Mary, staying here as my 
 guest to steal from me. Will you make me that 
 promise ?" 
 
 Mary did not reply. She sat down and clasped 
 her hands in her lap. Once or twice her throat 
 quivered with the little sob, which so went to 
 Billie's heart. She pressed her hands together 
 
360 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 and closed her eyes for a moment. Her face was 
 so pale that Mrs. St. Clair thought she was going 
 to faint, but her lips were moving. 
 
 "Oh, God, help me," she prayed softly. "Tell 
 me what to say." 
 
 Presently her agitation ceased altogether. She 
 opened her eyes and looked calmly at the widow. 
 
 "No, I will not promise you that, Mrs. St. 
 Clair, because I have never stolen anything in 
 my life. I would prefer that my mother should 
 know about this. I don't wish to keep it from 
 her. She would never believe me guilty, no mat- 
 ter what the evidence was against me, even if I 
 had to go to jail. You say you found the neck- 
 •lace in my bag? How did you happen to look 
 for it there?" 
 
 "You see, I believed that Fannie Alta had taken 
 it, and when we brought her into the living room 
 and urged her to tell what she knew, she accused 
 you. I would not believe it, however, until I had 
 called up Miss Gray. It was only after that that 
 I looked in your bag." 
 
 Mary stood up. 
 
 "I know that things look very black for me, 
 
MAEY BBFOEE HER JUDGES 361 
 
 Mrs. St. Clair. I don't understand why, but 
 there is a conspiracy in the High School. It 
 seems to have formed around Billie and me in 
 particular. But there is something else, too. 
 Something is going on in West Haven — some- 
 thing too big for us to understand. Billie and 
 I are in it, and Fannie Alta is in it, and some- 
 times I think even Belle Rogers is, too. I don't 
 know what it all means, or why it should have 
 anything to do with making me a thief, but I am 
 not a thief, and I did not put the necklace in my 
 bag. Good-night. I will not see you again. As 
 soon as morning comes, Billie and I will go back 
 in the motor. I know she will take me if I ask 
 her." 
 
 Mary walked quietly out of the room. 
 
 "That's a girl of fine spirit," thought Mr. 
 Bangs. "The case is certainly interesting enough 
 to keep me here another week." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MISS CAMPBEI.L WEARS BLACK. 
 
 Mary went straight to her room that night 
 and packed her bag. When BilHe came up a lit- 
 tle later she found her kneeling beside her bed, 
 her face hidden in her hands. It seemed to the 
 unhappy young girl in her misery and danger 
 that no human power could aid her. 
 
 When Billie heard the story, she was so angry 
 with Mrs. St. Clair and Miss Gray and Fannie 
 Alta that she took an imaginary aim and pitched 
 both shoes across the room with all her force. 
 
 "Oh, my dear, my dear," she cried, throwing 
 her arms about her friend's neck with affection- 
 ate fervor, "you have at least one devoted friend 
 who will stand by you through everything." 
 
 Mary was touched by Billie's devotion and by 
 and by the two girls dropped off to sleep in spite 
 of their troubled hearts. 
 
 But they were up and dressed before any one 
 
 262 
 
MISS CAMPBELL WEAES BLACK 363 
 
 except the servants was stirring in the house. 
 Randolph, greatly amazed, and imploring the 
 young ladies to wait and take at least a cup of 
 coffee, led the way to the carriage house where 
 the motor had been left. 
 
 "Tell Mrs. St. Clair," said Billie, "that I was 
 called home early and will write to her." 
 
 No one knew but the colored servant, and he 
 did not understand, that Mary and Billie had re- 
 fused to eat anything in a house where one of 
 them had been called a thief. 
 
 "Mary, tell your mother the whole story," said 
 Billie, as she dropped her friend at "The Sign of 
 the Blue Tea Pot." "Tell her not to be uneasy. 
 Your friends know you are innocent and it is 
 all obliged to come out right." 
 
 Then she dashed around the Square, turned up 
 CHff Street, and stopped at the home of Miss 
 Helen Campbell. 
 
 "No, I haven't had breakfast," she said to the 
 old man servant, who opened the door. "I'll eat 
 with Cousin Helen if she hasn't breakfasted." 
 
 "Miss Campbell will not eat any breakfast this 
 morning, Miss Billie," replied the butler. 
 
264 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Is she ill?" 
 
 "No, Miss," the old man lowered his voice, 
 "but she's wearing her black dress." 
 
 Billie frowned. 
 
 "Is it an anniversary ?" she asked. 
 
 "No, Miss. That's just the queer part. It 
 ain't the anniversary. We know when that comes 
 now. But something's happened." 
 
 "Nothing to do with papa?" she asked anx- 
 iously. 
 
 "No, no, Miss." 
 
 "I'll have some breakfast, then," she said. "I'm 
 very hungry from the ride in town." 
 
 BiUie ate a hurried but hearty meal alone. 
 
 "I never can do anything when I'm empty," 
 she often said, and instinctively she felt that 
 trouble of some sort was brewing. 
 
 After breakfast she tapped on her cousin's 
 door. 
 
 "Come in," came the tremulous answer, and 
 Billie entered a darkened room. 
 
 Miss Campbell, looking faded and pale and 
 wearing a black crepe dress, was sitting alone at 
 the far end of her apartment. Her hands were 
 
MISS CAMPBELL WEAKS BLACK 265 
 
 crossed on her breast like a mediaeval saint's, and 
 she looked the very picture of hopeless misery. 
 
 "Dear Cousin Helen, what has happened?" 
 cried Billie, running to the little lady and kneel- 
 ing beside her chair. "Is it something very terri- 
 ble?" 
 
 Miss Campbell put her arm around the girl's 
 neck and two tears slipped down her faded 
 cheeks. 
 
 "BilHe, Billie, why have you deceived me so?" 
 she exclaimed. "How could you have done this 
 terrible thing? Oh, my dear, my dear, I have 
 been so unhappy, and Mrs. Price, too. We have 
 wept together." 
 
 "What in the world?" cried Billie. 
 
 "The jewels, my dear. The box of wonderful 
 jewels that you have kept. How could you have 
 done such a thing? I know many young girls 
 who would have been tempted by them. But not 
 you, my dear, dear BilHe. And Mary, too. Oh, 
 Sieavens, I am so unhappy !" 
 
 Miss Campbell was so shaken by her sobs and 
 weeping that Billie was obliged to wipe her eyes 
 with her own handkerchief. 
 
266 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DATS 
 
 "But, dearest Cousin," she said at last. "We 
 haven't done anything dishonest, or that we 
 might be ashamed of. How did you find out 
 about the box and who told you such a slander 
 about us?" 
 
 After being bolstered up with aromatic nerve 
 drops and eau de cologne, Miss Campbell was able 
 to speak coherently. 
 
 "Yesterday a man came here to see me. He 
 sent up his name and the message that he wished 
 to speak to me about something in regard to you, 
 so I had him shown in. And then, my child, he 
 told me such a story. How his motor car had 
 been wrecked on the very day we went to Shell 
 Island and a box of jewels belonging to his wife 
 had fallen in the sand. He had good reason to 
 know, he said, that you had found the jewels and, 
 instead of trying to find the owner or answering 
 advertisements and notes, had kept them all this 
 time in Mrs. Price's safe. He gave me a list of 
 the jewels and an exact description. I went at 
 once to Mrs. Price. We found the combina- 
 tion, opened the safe, and got out the box. There 
 they were, just as he had described them. Oh, 
 
MISS CAMPBELL WEARS BLACK 267 
 
 my dear, what mortification! What will your 
 father say?" 
 
 "Did you give him the jewels?" exclaimed 
 Billie, without waiting to make explanations until 
 this important point was settled. 
 
 "The man was very insistent. He has threat- 
 ened to arrest you and Mary and even Mrs. 
 Price. Think of that! For harboring stolen 
 goods." 
 
 "Did you give them to him?" cried Billie, im- 
 patiently. 
 
 "No, Mrs. Price refused to let him have them 
 until she had seen you and Mary. For my part, I 
 should have given them to the man and let him go. 
 We had a terrible scene with him, but Mrs. Price 
 was firm. She said it would do no harm for him 
 to wait until she had seen you and she would not 
 allow him to take them." 
 
 "Thank heavens for that," burst out Billie. 
 "Then the box is in Mrs. Price's safe?" 
 
 "No, I had it brought here for safe-keeping. 
 The man was so angry he made threats and I 
 thought it would be better to get it away from 
 Mrs. Price's at least." 
 
268 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "What was the man's name?" 
 
 "Lafitte. He wrote it on a piece of paper." 
 
 "Lafitte?" echoed Billie. "What did he look 
 like?" 
 
 "I cannot really recall, my dear. I was so 
 agitated. But I think there was something 
 wrong about one eye." 
 
 "He had only one eye," Billie almost shrieked 
 in her excitement. 
 
 "I believe so, and only one arm. But you will 
 see him. He will be back this morning." 
 
 "Cousin Helen, he will never come back. He 
 is a thief and a robber and a smuggler. He is 
 everything that is wicked and bad. I don't know 
 how he found out that we had the jewels, but he 
 has been hot on our track ever since. I will tell 
 you the real story of the jewels and then you 
 will see what an injustice you have done us." 
 
 When BiUie had finished the strange tale. Miss 
 Campbell looked at her with a peculiar expres- 
 sion. 
 
 "It's a very remarkable story, my dear. And 
 if I did not know you as well as I do, I could 
 almost think you had imagined it. And I was 
 
MISS CAMPBELL WEAES BLACK 269 
 
 there all the time. You should have confided in 
 me. The woman was insane, I suppose." 
 
 "She was not," insisted Billie. "She was per- 
 fectly sane and very beautiful. The man who 
 calls himself 'Lafitte' is not the right person, and 
 he shall not have the jewels until I hear from 
 her or from the right Lafitte. You may be sure 
 he will not dare have me or any one else arrested. 
 We know too much about him already." 
 
 "But what are we to do with the things, child ? 
 They have brought nothing but trouble on you 
 since you have had them." 
 
 "Suppose you put them in your safety box at 
 the bank for a few days. There is something 
 much more important than this at stake now. 
 Mary has been accused of being a thief by Mrs. 
 St. Clair and Miss Gray. It is a terrible thing. 
 Mrs. St. Clair wouldn't listen to reason." 
 
 Billie related to her cousin what had happened 
 the day before and the chain of events which 
 led up to it. 
 
 "Oh, poor dear Mrs. Price! My unfortunate 
 friend. What shall we do, Billie?" exclaimed 
 the sympathetic little woman. 
 
270 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "I don't know yet, Cousin Helen. The whole 
 thing is too much for me, but I have a scheme. 
 Are there any detectives in West Haven ?" 
 
 "Call up the police station," her cousin sug- 
 gested, and presently Billie's voice could be heard 
 in the hall : 
 
 "Have you a good detective? Bangs, you say. 
 Send him to Miss Campbell's please; upper Cliff 
 Street, and the sooner the better, Good-by." 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE MISSING LINK. 
 
 Mr. Bangs made three calls on that memorable 
 Monday. The first was to Billie, as you already 
 surmise. If he recognized the strong undercur- 
 rent which connected the strange adventures of 
 the Motor Maids during the past two months, he 
 said nothing, but listened gravely to the young 
 girl's account of the happenings in Boulder Lane, 
 the box of jewels, the cases of rifles at Seven 
 League Island, and so on through the events 
 which have been told in this history. 
 
 When Billie had finished, she paused and 
 waited for the detective to speak, but he sat si- 
 lently twirling his thumbs and looking down at 
 the floor with half-closed eyes. 
 
 Billie was slightly irritated. 
 
 "I have sent for you, Mr. Bangs," she contin- 
 ued with some dignity," because, while I am cer- 
 tain of two things, I'm not at all sure of the 
 
 371 
 
272 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 third. The first is that Fannie Alta has some 
 very good reason for trying to prove that Mary 
 is a thief. The second is that this smuggler who 
 has been trying to steal the jewels has something 
 to do with it." 
 
 "And what is the third, Miss Campbell?" asked 
 the detective, smiling, without looking up. 
 
 "That is what I want you to tell me," exclaimed 
 Billie restlessly. "There is a third. It is the 
 missing link. And it is what I wanted you to 
 find out for me. I have thought and thought and 
 puzzled and puzzled, but I can't make it out. I 
 believe with all my soul that there is some wicked 
 force back of the whole thing." 
 
 Mr. Bangs raised his eyes at last and looked 
 at the young girl with evident admiration. 
 
 "You are taking the first step toward making 
 a good detective. Miss Campbell," he said. "You 
 have expressed it in three words. It is the miss- 
 ing link we need to get at in this business and it 
 is what I must find." 
 
 Billie flushed with pleasure at this professional 
 praise. She had never had occasion to play the 
 
THE MISSING LINK 273 
 
 part of detective before. But devotion and loy- 
 alty to her friend had sharpened her wits. 
 
 "Now, why ?" asked the detective. "Isn't Miss 
 Alta the missing link?" 
 
 "That is the strangest part of the whole busi- 
 ness. She is a piece of the link, I think, but then 
 she has nothing against Mary and me. There 
 would be no object to what she has done unless 
 she had." 
 
 "You did not know that she accused you of 
 being the confederate of your friend or that she 
 knew that you had the box of jewels hidden in 
 the safe?" 
 
 "What?"cried Billie, with amazement. "But 
 how did she know " she began. 
 
 "Yes, how?" 
 
 Billie sat looking down at her hands. She was 
 not thinking of those slender, strong fingers, 
 which appeared to clasp each other with a 
 friendly grip. Her thoughts were busy going 
 back over the past few weeks. 
 
 "I think I've found the missing link," she said 
 at last, with a serious look in her eyes, as she 
 turned toward the detective. "Belle Rogers is 
 
374 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 the missing link. I can't understand why I 
 haven't thought of it before, but it seemed so in- 
 credible." 
 
 "Miss Campbell," put in Mr. Bangs severely, 
 "I am afraid you are not such a good detective, 
 after all. You have left out one of the most im- 
 portant things. You did not tell me that some 
 one besides your three friends knew about the 
 jewels." 
 
 Billie had omitted the story of the confusion of 
 the two suit cases at Shell Island. She had really 
 quite forgotten it and Mr. Bangs chuckled with 
 amusement when he heard how Belle had opened 
 and examined all the contents of another girl's 
 suit case out of pure curiosity. 
 
 "Then she must have read the name on the 
 card, too," he said presently. 
 
 "I suppose so." 
 
 "Now, tell me, Miss Campbell, what is the 
 grudge which this yoimg lady perhaps has 
 against you and your friends?" 
 
 "Oh, it's only a silly schoolgirl affair," replied 
 Billie. "I am ashamed to tell you, because it 
 seems so utterly trivial in comparison to other 
 
THE MISSING LINK 375 
 
 things. She was angry because I wouldn't join 
 her club and because we saw her the night o£ the 
 fire with her hair up in rubber curlers." 
 
 The detective laughed outright. 
 
 "That's a woman's reason for taking revenge," 
 he said. 
 
 "And she was angry again because I took her 
 into the wrong room, when the hotel was burn- 
 ing and we had to escape over the roof." 
 
 "Humph!" exclaimed the detective. "Insult 
 piled onto injury, eh? So this Miss Rogers is a 
 very vindictive character?" 
 
 Billie hesitated. It went against her straight- 
 forward, honest nature to malign even Belle 
 Rogers. 
 
 "She has been spoiled all her life," she said, 
 "and you know how spoiled children must have 
 their own way. That is all. She was angry be- 
 cause she planned to make me a member of her 
 club and queen it over me as she does over the 
 others, and I disappointed her. Her mother and 
 friends have taken good care always that she 
 should never be disappointed and she just didn't 
 know what the feeling was, I suppose." 
 
276 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "She must be quite a remarkably spoiled young 
 woman to go to such lengths for such a trivial 
 oflfence. But we sometimes get in deeper than 
 we intend, you know." 
 
 The detective ^'ose to go. 
 
 "Good day, Miss Campbell," he said, giving her 
 hand quite a warm grip, considering what a quiet, 
 cold individual he had seemed at first. "You will 
 hear from me again, soon. I had not intended to 
 work when I came down here. You know I am 
 a West Haven boy. My father was old Bill 
 Bangs, the jailer. You probably have heard of 
 him. He was a famous character in his day. I 
 came home to rest and see my people, but when a 
 detective scents a good case he is not apt to let 
 it slip by, even on a holiday." 
 
 "And you think this is a good case?" 
 
 "It's a corking one," he replied, as he closed the 
 door after him. 
 
 Billie and Mary did not go to school that fa- 
 mous Monday. Billie had no mind to face the 
 curious looks she felt certain would be turned 
 * upon her by the other girls, because news travels 
 quickly in any school. Mary was lying on her 
 
THE MISSING LINK 277 
 
 mother's bed with a throbbing sick headache. All 
 day Mrs. Price sat beside her daughter and held 
 her hand. At intervals she bathed her temples 
 with eau de cologne and whispered: 
 
 "My dearest, it will come out all right. Mother 
 loves you and believes in you and so does Billie. 
 Don't sob like that for my sake, my little girl." 
 
 Belle Rogers also stayed at home that Monday. 
 Mr. Bangs discovered this fact on his second 
 visit of the day when he was closeted for an hour 
 or more with Miss Gray and Mrs. St. Clair in the 
 principal's private office. 
 
 After a tiresome interview with these two well 
 meaning but mistaken ladies, in which he said lit- 
 tle and they said much, he left the High School 
 with a sigh of relief. 
 
 Presently he found himself in the fashionable 
 district of West Haven. It was the second time 
 he had climbed the street that day, but he was a 
 calm little person, not easily heated by emotion 
 or exercise, and when he rang the bell at the 
 Rogers home, there was just the suspicion of a 
 smile on his face. He sent up his card for Miss 
 
278 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 Rogers and word was brought back that Miss 
 Rogers was ill and not to be seen. Then, with 
 a pencil, he wrote across the face of the card, 
 "Lafitte— Paris." 
 
 In three minutes the swish of skirts down the 
 steps announced that some one was coming. 
 
 "I hope it's not the mother," he said to him- 
 self. 
 
 But it was Belle, very pale, with violet circles 
 around her eyes and a nervous quivering about 
 the lips. 
 
 When Mr. Bangs left the Rogers house after 
 spending three-quarters of an hour with Belle, 
 he remarked as he strolled down the gravel drive- 
 way to the street : 
 
 "It will have to be an out and out confession 
 from one or the other. If this one doesn't give 
 it, the Alta girl must. I shall pay my respects 
 to Mme. Alta this evening." 
 
 He had hardly passed through the great iron 
 gateway leading into the street, when Belle, 
 wearing a heavy veil and a long ulster, hurried 
 after him. She carried a music roll under her 
 
THE MISSING LINK 279 
 
 arm, although she was not taking lessons, since 
 she had been injured in the fire, but it was under- 
 stood by the servant who opened the door for her 
 that she was going to see Mme. Alta. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE REFUGEES. 
 
 A ship had sailed into the Httle harbor of West 
 Haven on Monday morning. She carried a load 
 of lumber from down the coast and after show- 
 ing her clearance papers and discharging her 
 cargo with all due formality, she hoisted sails 
 again and moved around the curve of the harbor 
 into a deep inlet, where she rested at gjichor in 
 a position just opposite Boulder Lane. 
 
 Darkness fell very early that Monday after- 
 noon as those who were not in their homes will 
 remember. 
 
 Mr. Bangs will recall the inky blackness of the 
 lowering sky, as he came out of the telegraph 
 office, where he had wired to his chief to send 
 down another man, and turned his steps toward 
 the rooms occupied by Mme. Alta. 
 
 Our Motor Maids have not forgotten how they 
 sped back to town after a swift ride in their be- 
 
 280 
 
THE EEFUGEES 281 
 
 loved "Comet," in the late afternoon, when they 
 discussed the situation long and earnestly. 
 
 Three figures turned into Boulder Lane as the 
 motor car flashed past, but the girls were too in- 
 tent on their conversation to notice them. The 
 first, who was a tall, stout woman, walked 
 stoically along with the tread of a grenadier. She 
 carried a large suit case with one hand and an 
 enormous bundle with the other. Her two upper 
 teeth protruding over her lower lip gave her that 
 strange animal look which Billie had disliked so 
 much. For it was Mme. Alta, as you have no 
 doubt guessed, trudging up Boulder Lane. Her 
 daughter, Francesca, walked behind. She also 
 carried a suit case and a bundle. Occasionally 
 she flashed a look of hatred back to the lights of 
 West Haven, which place she had never loved. 
 
 Can this be Belle Rogers who brings up the 
 procession, staggering under a heavy satchel and 
 moaning and weeping as she stvimbles along ? 
 
 "I am glad I left word that I had gone out 
 to spend the night," she said to herself. "At 
 least, they won't know it for a while, and it will 
 be too late then." 
 
1882 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 It was a long walk before they reached the 
 end of Boulder Lane and found themselves on the 
 beach of the little cove. The lights of the ship 
 made a rippling, cheerful track on the water, but 
 Belle shivered when she saw the black hull out- 
 lined in the darkness. 
 
 Several men were waiting for them near a 
 boat, which had been moored on the beach, and 
 presently the three women climbed in; their lug- 
 gage was piled at one end and they were rowed 
 away in the darkness. Two wagons came lum- 
 bering up the beach, and half the night, Belle, 
 who was tossing feverishly in her stuffy berth, 
 trying to stifle her sobs, heard the sailors loading 
 a cargo, while the boats plied back and forth from 
 the shore to the ship. 
 
 There was no wind that night and an ominous 
 silence seemed to brood over the sea. At last in 
 the stillness. Belle slept. Toward morning she 
 was awakened by the sound of a voice. A man 
 in a small boat just below her porthole was call- 
 ing up to some one on deck. 
 
 "Hello, Captain, it's Ruiz. I'm coming aboard. 
 We must sail by dawn. They've got word about 
 
THE EEPUGEES 283 
 
 US. If that girl has turned traitor, she shall pay 
 for it." 
 
 Belle could not hear the captain's reply, but he 
 must have made some objection to sailing that 
 morning, for the man named Ruiz answered : 
 
 "Storm or no storm, I'm master here, and I 
 say we sail at once." 
 
 And sail they did without more argument. She 
 could hear the sailors running about the ship. 
 The masts creaked and groaned. Chains rattled. 
 Presently the boat was in motion, and from her 
 porthole she saw the familiar shores glide past 
 her. 
 
 We cannot help pitying poor Belle in her mis- 
 ery and distress. She dragged herself from her 
 berth — Fannie was still sleeping soundly — and 
 put on her clothes. For the first time, she became 
 aware of a sustained and ever-increasing sound. 
 What she had mistaken in the beginning for the 
 eternal noise of the waters, she recognized now 
 as the wind. As she cast one long regretful look 
 back to the shores of West Haven, which she 
 had never really loved until now, the hurricane 
 burst upon them with a roar like a thousand an- 
 
284 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 gry beasts. The ship went scurrying through the 
 harbor entrance in the teeth of the gale. 
 
 Belle hurried upstairs to the deck, pulling on 
 her ulster as she ran. Not a vestige of curl had 
 the wet air left in her light gold hair; but for 
 the first time in her life, since she had been old 
 enough to remember, she had forgotten that she 
 had any hair and she did not even stop to push 
 back the damp, uneven locks from her eyes. 
 
 The boat had cleared the Black Reefs and was 
 making for the open sea, when suddenly the 
 demon wind played a trick on the captain of the 
 little schooner and changed its tack. Down went 
 the mainmast with a great crash. Through the 
 shrieking of the wind, Belle could hear the curses 
 and cries of the sailors and the yells of the cap- 
 tain. Mme. Alta appeared, looking more than 
 ever like a walrus, in her greasy old black dress- 
 ing gown. Fannie ran up behind her, making a 
 great outcry. 
 
 The hurricane seemed to lift the ship in its 
 arms and carry it along. Then, with a hideous 
 grinding noise, the vessel stood perfectly still. 
 
 Some one screamer! r 
 
THE REFUGEES 285 
 
 "We're on the rocks !" 
 
 And Belle knew without being told that they 
 had tossed onto the Black Reefs. 
 
 "Wake up, Billie," cried Nancy, shaking her 
 friend's shoulder violently. "Get up and dress. 
 We are all waiting below." 
 
 "What's happened?" asked BilHe, sitting up in 
 bed and rubbing her eyes. 
 
 "A ship is wrecked on the Black Reefs." 
 
 Billie leaped from her bed and began to dress 
 hurriedly. 
 
 "It must be a fearful sight," she exclaimed, as 
 she pulled on her clothes. "The poor sailors, will 
 they be saved?" 
 
 "I haven't heard," answered Nancy, "but the 
 whole town is rushing up the Cliff Road." 
 
 "Tell Ben to get 'The Comet.' He can run it as 
 well as I can now." 
 
 "He has," answered Nancy, with the privilege 
 of friendship. "I made him get it while I routed 
 you out." 
 
 In another five minutes "The Comet," with its 
 load of boys and girls, — only Mary and Percy 
 
386 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 were missing, — was climbing Cliff Road in a 
 driving hurricane of wind. 
 
 A straggling line of people hurried along the 
 path toward the Life-Saving Station. 
 
 "Is that it?" demanded Billie breathlessly, 
 when the car had come to a standstill opposite 
 the light house. 
 
 "Yes," replied Merry, looking through the 
 glasses. "She doesn't look much larger than a 
 fishing smack from this distance, but she's really 
 a pretty big schooner and she's in a bad fix, too. 
 She has stuck right on the Serpent's Fang, Ben. 
 You remember that old fisherman showed it to us 
 last summer when we were sailing? It's a 
 pointed rock that sticks up higher than the others 
 and it looked to be a pretty fierce proposition to 
 me." 
 
 "The life-boat is being launched!" exclaimed 
 Elinor. 
 
 They clutched each other in their excitement, 
 while a boat, with six brave life-savers in it, 
 leapt onto the crest of a big wave, only to be 
 hurled back again. 
 
THE EEFUGEES 387 
 
 "They'll have to use the gun," put in Charlie. 
 "They'll never make it in this sea." 
 
 "What do you mean?" shouted Billie. It was 
 almost impossible to be heard now above the noise 
 of the wind. 
 
 But before any one could shout back an ex- 
 planation, her attention was claimed by a man in 
 a long, thick ulster, buttoned to his chin, and a 
 vizored cap pulled well over his eyes. He had 
 come to the front of the motor car and, bowing 
 to Billie politely, he stood on tiptoe and beckoned 
 to her to lean down. 
 
 "You'll be surprised to hear that you have 
 friends on that ship," he said in her ear, and she 
 recognized Mr. Bangs. 
 
 "Friends ?" she repeated, in amazement. 
 
 "Wait and see," he replied, as he moved away 
 to join another man, who was leaning against a 
 tree smoking a cigar. 
 
 "Look!" cried some one, and just as Billie 
 shifted her gaze from the ship to the beach she 
 saw a long black line shoot out over the water 
 and light on the deck of the ship. It was very 
 confusing then, what happened. There was a 
 
288 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 great deal of shouting on shore and scurrying of 
 sailors on the ship. Presently there seemed to 
 be a double line of rope stretching out to the 
 wreck. 
 
 After a long pause, Billie saw, creeping along 
 one of the lines of rope, swaying and swing- 
 ing almost to sea level, an object which appeared 
 to be shaped like a pair of clumsy trouser legs 
 with the head and shoulders of a human being 
 above. 
 
 "It's a woman," cried Nancy, jumping up and 
 down in her excitement, as she looked through 
 the glasses. "It's— it's " 
 
 "It's Mme. Alta," exclaimed BilHe, as the 
 woman was lifted onto the beach. 
 
 No one could explain why the music teacher 
 should be found on a wrecked schooner, but Mr. 
 Bangs and Billie exchanged meaning glances as 
 Mme. Alta was supported into the Life-Saving 
 Station. 
 
 The next time the buoy was drawn into shore 
 it carried Fannie Alta, a shivering, wretched lit- 
 tle figure, who followed her mother silently into 
 the life-savers' house. 
 
THE EEFUGEES 289 
 
 "Who can the third one be?" said BiUie out 
 loud, although she was speaking to herself. "Can 
 it be " 
 
 She jumped out of the car and ran down the 
 path to the beach, followed by her three chums. 
 As she passed Mr. Bangs, he caught her by the 
 arm and said in her ear : 
 
 "The missing link." 
 
 No one but Billie and Mr. Bangs recognized 
 Belle Rogers in the miserable object which now 
 crawled out of the breeches buoy. Her face was 
 blue and pinched with cold. Her damp hair hung 
 in her eyes, and she moaned and sobbed most 
 pitifully. 
 
 When she saw Billie, she flung her wet arms 
 around the young girl's neck. 
 
 "Oh, forgive me ! Forgive me \" she wept. 
 
 A crowd of people gathered around them. 
 
 Billie patted her on the shoulder. 
 
 "I do forgive you," she whispered, "and if you 
 would rather not go into the station, we will take 
 you home in 'The Comet.' " 
 
 "Any place but home," sobbed Belle, as Ben 
 
290 THE MOTOB MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 threw his ulster around her shivering shoulders 
 and Nancy wrapped a scarf about her head. 
 
 The others had now recognized the poor girl, 
 and with a generous impulse they tried to shield 
 her from the gaze of the villagers. 
 
 "Will you go to Cousin Helen's, then?" asked 
 Belle, as they half carried her up the steep path. 
 
 "Yes," she answered, and in another ten min- 
 utes the miserable refugee was being tenderly 
 ministered to at Billie's home by three of the most 
 detested members of the Blue Bird Society. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 bklIvE's confession. 
 
 Belle, looking still very unlike herself, lay in 
 Billie's little brass bed, propped up on pillows. 
 
 "How can you and Miss Campbell be so kind 
 to me," she was saying, "when you know how 
 wicked I have been?" 
 
 "But you are sorry and that means everything," 
 answered Billie, who was sitting on the side of 
 the bed, feeding her hot beef tea. 
 
 "When are the others coming?" asked the in- 
 valid. 
 
 "They have come. I was just going to tell you 
 after you had finished the tea. Shall I call 
 them?" 
 
 Belle nodded, and presently Miss Gray and 
 Mary Price came into the room. 
 
 The Principal took the sick girl's hand kindly. 
 
 "Speak out from the heart. Belle," she said, 
 291 
 
392 THE MOTOK MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "and don't be afraid. You will be much happier 
 when you get it off your mind." 
 
 "1 promise to, Miss Gray," replied Belle 
 meekly, gazing miserably at Mary, who looked 
 pale and ill. 
 
 Miss Gray sat in a judicial looking arm-chair ; 
 Mary, with closed eyes, lay on a lounge near the 
 fire, and Billie seated herself on the foot of the 
 bed. 
 
 "I suppose," began Belle, "it would be almost 
 impossible for you to believe that a well brought 
 up girl of decent family could be as wicked as 
 I have been. When I finally realized what I had 
 done I thought I would rather run away to South 
 America with those terrible people than stay here 
 and bear the shame of it all. But I thank heav- 
 ens for the storm. The ship was not sailing for 
 any good purpose. I feel sure of that. 
 
 "To begin at the beginning, perhaps you didn't 
 know how angry I was when you joined the Blue 
 Birds, Billie? I hope I shall never be angry 
 again. I was ill from it and I lay on my bed all 
 afternoon planning a revenge on all the Blue 
 Birds, but you, especially. I think I must have 
 
BELLE'S CONFESSION 293 
 
 been insane with rage and mortification. I 
 wanted to humiliate you, because I thought you 
 had humiliated me before the whole school. I 
 thought of dozens of ways of doing it, but the 
 only plan that seemed good enough was to 
 prove " 
 
 She paused and bit her lip. 
 
 "To prove that you were — a — thief." 
 
 There was a long silence. Nothing could be 
 heard but the ticking of the little French clock on 
 the mantel. Miss Gray had started and flushed 
 crimson. She was only just now realizing what 
 this confession must mean to the two girls. 
 
 "I asked Fannie Alta to help me because she 
 was the only outsider in the class, but I never 
 dreamed that she was a real thief, herself. She 
 found out what it was I wanted her to do al- 
 most before I had half breathed it to myself, only 
 she was afraid of Billie and put it on Mary. It 
 was my twenty dollars she used, but we found 
 the scheme didn't work. Anyhow, she told it all 
 over school and went so much farther than I had 
 intended that I soon found myself too deeply in- 
 volved to get out. She and her mother owned 
 
294 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 me, body and soul. I had to take Fannie with 
 me everywhere I went, even to Mrs. St. Clair's. 
 I had to give her my clothes, and explain to 
 mamma that she was my best friend. Her mother 
 made me carry letters and messages back and 
 forth. Once I had to go by myself all the way 
 to Boulder Lane after dusk and meet a horrible 
 creature who had only one eye and one arm. 
 He gave me a letter for Mme. Alta. Another 
 time I was to meet one of them, a man who 
 helped him, up in the Sophomore class room of 
 the High School. I didn't go, because there was 
 such a mist." 
 
 Billie and Mary exchanged glances. 
 
 "He was the man who robbed us of the fi'ty 
 dollars," said Billie. 
 
 "Then whose fifty dollars was it I got?" de- 
 manded Miss Gray. 
 
 "My monthly allowance," replied Billie. 
 
 "Foolish, fooHsh girls," said the Principal. 
 "But it was my own fault. I blame no one else, 
 and perhaps I wouldn't have believed the story 
 just at that time." 
 
 "Then," continued Belle, "the most dreadful 
 
BELLE'S CONFESSION 295 
 
 thing of all happened. These people were always 
 in need of money. Everything they had seemed 
 to go to some object. The one-eyed man, who 
 was Fannie's stepfather, was to get some high 
 position in South America. She used to tell me 
 what she was going to do when he was made Vice 
 President, or something. When we went to the 
 St. Clair's, Fannie was almost unbearable. She 
 made me give her my dress and I had to wear 
 hers, and she insulted me at every turn. But I 
 didn't find out until after the party that her step- 
 father had been there dressed as a ghost. He 
 wanted to rob Mrs. St. Clair. It was Fannie who 
 took the necklace. She was to go back later and 
 give it to him, so that if her bag was searched 
 the next morning, when the necklace was missed, 
 it wouldn't be found. But she made me go back 
 instead, after every one else was asleep, I sup- 
 posed. It was terrible, when I found myself 
 alone in the attic, with the necklace hidden. under 
 my wrapper. No one was there. The man must 
 have been frightened and run away. Then I 
 heard all of you come and I threw a sheet over me 
 and hid in a far corner." 
 
296 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "It was you, then?" exclaimed Billie. 
 
 "Yes, and when I met you and Mary I had 
 the necklace with me and I didn't think I had 
 strength enough to get to my room. When we 
 got home from Mrs. Ruggles' next day and I 
 found Fannie had been sent to town, I knew 
 something had happened. I thought perhaps she 
 might have taken the necklace with her, but the 
 next morning, when you and Mary left before 
 breakfast, I was certain that one of you had been 
 accused. 
 
 "You never can understand how I suffered. 
 And yet it was what I had planned when I was 
 so angry. Late Monday afternoon Mr. Bangs, a 
 detective, came to see me. He wrote across his 
 card 'Pierre Lafitte,' and I was convinced then 
 that he knew everything." 
 
 "You did tell Fannie about the card that was 
 in the box of jewels, then?" 
 
 Belle hung her head. 
 
 "Yes," she said, at last. "In the very begin- 
 ning, before I had learned to loathe her and my- 
 self so, I told it to Fannie. 
 
 "After Mr. Bangs had left," she went on, "I 
 
BELLE'S CONFESSION 297 
 
 hurried as fast as I could to Mme. Alta's lodg- 
 ings and told her that everything had been dis- 
 covered. The husband came in while I was there 
 and ordered her to leave at once. The ship was 
 in the harbor, he said. I was ordered to go, too, 
 and it really did seem best. I felt I should be dis- 
 graced if I stayed and I was too miserable to 
 reason much, anyway. They were glad to go. 
 They hated it here, and they were afraid to leave 
 me, I suppose, for fear I would tell. Ever since 
 they were almost caught in Smugglers' Cave, 
 they have been very careful. 
 
 'T have made a great many people suffer," 
 Belle went on, "Mary and Billie and Mrs. Price 
 and Mrs. St. Clair, and I have suffered, too, per- 
 haps more than any of you. But I have learned a 
 great deal. I never knew before what a wicked, 
 spoiled girl I was. Mamma and papa never de- 
 nied me anything in my life. I have been in- 
 dulged and petted until I have been nothing but a 
 bundle of selfishness. When the ship was wrecked 
 and we thought we were going to sink any minute 
 the scales dropped entirely from my eyes and I 
 saw myself as I really was. I knelt on the deck 
 
298 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 and prayed and prayed for forgiveness until they 
 came and told me it was my turn to be taken to 
 shore. 
 
 "You will forgive me, won't you Mary ? I will 
 do everything I can to make up for the trouble 
 and unhappiness I have caused you." 
 
 Belle stretched out her arms toward Mary and 
 tears flowed down her cheeks and splashed on the 
 coverlid. 
 
 Miss Gray wiped her eyes and Billie's face 
 worked convulsively for a moment and she 
 choked back a lump which would rise in her 
 throat on occasions. 
 
 Mary came over and took Belle's hands. 
 
 "Of course I forgive you, Belle," she said, kiss- 
 ing the repentant girl on the lips. 
 
 "But I must ask your forgiveness, too, Mary," 
 cried Miss Gray. "I feel I am not fit to be the 
 principal of the High School to have so mis- 
 judged you. It was only the strange way you 
 acted about the fifty dollars which made me credit 
 for a moment the stories that were told." 
 
 When peace was entirely restored. Miss Gray 
 took her departure. She did not return to the 
 
BELLE'S CONFESSION 299 
 
 High School, but hurried to the Hvery stable, 
 where she ordered a carriage and had herself 
 driven straight to Mrs. St. Clair's. 
 
 As Belle will not again appear in this story, 
 you will perhaps be interested to know how sin- 
 cere her reformation really was. Her mother 
 and father scarcely recognized the pale, quiet girl 
 who returned to them in another day. Her en- 
 tire nature had been shaken by the experience, 
 and for some time she was dazed and silent. But 
 no one ever saw her angry again, and as if she 
 wished to give some visible sign of her repen- 
 tance, the red rubber curlers were thrown away 
 and from that time she has worn her hair 
 straight. 
 
 There was no evidence against Mme. Alta or 
 Fannie, except what Belle Rogers could furnish, 
 and they were finally allowed to go free. But 
 they were not permitted to remain in quiet West 
 Haven, where suspicious characters were not wel- 
 comed. 
 
 The police cared little for the music teacher 
 and her daughter. The prize they looked for 
 was Ruiz, the famous filibuster and desperado 
 
300 THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 who had smuggled hundreds of rifles into Ven- 
 ezuela and had robbed and pillaged and even 
 killed, but had never been caught. 
 
 Detective Bangs, standing on the shore, the 
 day of the shipwreck, scanned eagerly the face 
 of each sailor as he was drawn ashore. But Ruiz 
 was not among them. It was supposed that he 
 preferred death to arrest ; for he remained on the 
 sinking ship. But the sturdy little vessel clung 
 desperately to the Serpent's Fang until after sun- 
 set, and there are some who believe that Ruiz 
 swam ashore with his one arm, which was as 
 strong as iron, and is still at large somewhere 
 working mischief and misfortune. 
 
 On the day after the departure of Mme. Alta 
 and Fannie, Miss Gray called a meeting of the 
 Faculty and pupils of West Haven High School. 
 Mary Price was there and so was BilHe, and in 
 the gallery sat Mrs. Price between Mrs. St. Clair 
 and Miss Campbell. 
 
 "I called this meeting," said Miss Gray, "be- 
 cause I wanted to make an announcement to all 
 of you at once, since the subject of the announce- 
 
BELLE'S CONFESSION 301 
 
 ment concerns us all. We have recently had a 
 very clever thief in our midst. She has robbed 
 many of you and has brought unjust suspicion 
 on some innocent persons by spreading reports. 
 This girl has been dismissed from the school and 
 from West Haven. She will never trouble us 
 again. 
 
 "Some of us have suffered deeply for the last 
 few weeks on account of this disgrace and scan- 
 dal in the school, and I don't mind confessing that 
 I have been one of those persons. I know that 
 you will all rejoice with me that the affair is con- 
 cluded. 
 
 "I want to say further, that at a specially called 
 meeting, the Board of Education has consented 
 to add a new post to the school force. This posi- 
 tion, which is that of private and confidential 
 secretary to the principal and has a salary at- 
 tached, is to be filled by Miss Mary Price. I hope 
 you will all congratulate me on my good fortune 
 in obtaining so competent and reliable an assist- 
 ant." 
 
 There was wild applause when this announce- 
 
303 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 ment was made and Mary, smiling and happy, 
 with her three devoted friends about her, was 
 obliged to rise and bow her blushing acknowledg- 
 ments to her schoolmates. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 OUT OP THE MISTS. 
 
 The Motor Maids were gathered in Mrs. 
 Brown's sunny parlor around a cheerful drift- 
 wood fire. You may easily guess it was Satur- 
 day morning, because Nancy was darning stock- 
 ings, Elinor was at the piano, Mary was reading, 
 while Billie lay flat on her back on the hearth rug, 
 her hands crossed under her head, thinking 
 deeply. 
 
 "I wish people were not so careless of their 
 diamond necklaces and things," she observed, ad- 
 dressing the ceiling with some irritation. 
 "Throwing them around in motor cars, giving 
 them to the first person who comes along, and 
 not caring to have them returned! It's a nui- 
 sance " 
 
 Suddenly the door was thrown violently open 
 and Merry appeared. 
 
 303 
 
304 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Mrs. Ruggles," he announced, making a low 
 bow. 
 
 Nancy did not take the trouble to turn around. 
 Elinor went on playing and Mary reading. It 
 was only one of Merry's jokes, they thought. But 
 Billie jumped up in amazement ; for there actually 
 stood Mrs. Ruggles in the flesh — very much in 
 the flesh, in fact. She was dressed in decent 
 black and wore a black bonnet, and Billie could 
 not decide whether she resembled a queen dis- 
 guised as a fish-wife or a fish-wife dressed as a 
 lady. 
 
 "Why, it is Mrs. Ruggles," cried Nancy, glanc- 
 ing over her shoulder. "Merry plays so many 
 jokes that we can never tell when he is in earnest 
 and when he isn't. Do come in, Mrs. Ruggles. 
 What brings you up to town so early ?" 
 
 Mrs. Ruggles, who was slow of speech, did not 
 reply at first. She moved into the room with the 
 step of a grenadier and stood before Billie. 
 
 "Are you Miss Wilhelmina Campbell?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "She is the same," put in Merry, "but she'll 
 answer to the name of Billie." 
 
OUT OF THE MISTS 305 
 
 Billie nodded and smiled. She was really too 
 much engaged in admiring Mrs. Ruggles to reply 
 to her question. 
 
 Nancy pushed up an arm-chair. 
 
 "Please sit down, Mrs. Ruggles, and perhaps 
 you will have a cookie or a cup of tea." 
 
 "No, Miss Nancy, I am not hungry and I 
 couldn't eat anyway, until I finished what I have 
 to say." 
 
 "That's right, Mrs. Ruggles. Get it off your 
 system. Are you going to scold Billie?" cried 
 Merry. 
 
 "No, my boy. I'm going to thank her. She's 
 a fine young lady. I have just seen Miss Camp- 
 bell and she has told me." 
 
 "Told you what?" asked Billie. 
 
 "Told me that you have kept the box of jewels 
 as you promised." 
 
 "But " began Billie, a dozen thoughts 
 
 flashing through her mind at once in tumultuous 
 confusion. 
 
 She saw again the face of the sick woman at 
 Mrs. Ruggles', her long hair spread over the 
 pillow like a mantel of black and the troubled 
 
306 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 dark eyes which gazed into hers for one brief 
 moment. 
 
 "Then that was the automobile lady I saw in 
 your bedroom?" she burst out. 
 
 "Yes," replied the old woman. "That was my 
 daughter, Maria." 
 
 "Is Maria home again?" asked Elinor. 
 
 "I thought she had married a South Amer- 
 ican," said Nancy. 
 
 "Maria is now a singer," said Mrs. Ruggles 
 proudly. "She has sung in Buenos Ayres and 
 Paris, not in this country. Her husband was 
 from Venezuela. He was very rich and he gave 
 her many jewels. He loved her dearly for a few 
 years, until he began to like something else bet- 
 ter." 
 
 The old woman paused. It was extremely dif- 
 ficult for her to speak at such great length when 
 she was so unaccustomed to talking at all. 
 
 "My daughter is very beautiful and very 
 clever. She will be a great singer. He was jeal- 
 ous of her singing. He wished to be great, too, 
 and he became a politician. Gradually he spent 
 all of his money in making trouble for the gov- 
 
OUT OF THE MISTS 307 
 
 eminent of his country. He wished to bring 
 about a war and make himself a ruler. My son, 
 my daughter's step brother, pushed him on. He 
 was a bad boy, my only son. It is better that he 
 should be dead. He was always in the thick of 
 the fight. He couldn't keep away. His arm was 
 shot off ; his eye put out. But nothing could stop 
 him." 
 
 "Was Ruiz really your son, John, who went 
 away to sea so many years ago?" interrupted 
 Nancy. 
 
 Mrs. Ruggles nodded. 
 
 "What happened next, Mrs. Ruggles?" de- 
 manded Billie. 
 
 "The next thing was that my Maria could not 
 stand the life any longer. She came back to 
 America with her jewels. They were all that was 
 left of her husband's fortune and those he wanted 
 so much that he threatened her many times. If 
 he had wished to use them for a good purpose and 
 not for rifles to kill innocent people, Maria would 
 have given them gladly. But he was too clever 
 for her, that man. He followed on a fast steamer 
 and caught up with her before she could get to 
 
308 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 me. He forced her to go with him in an auto- 
 mobile down the Shell Island road to meet John, 
 my poor son, who was to take the jewels and sell 
 them. Maria always carried her jewelry in a 
 secret pocket inside of her skirt, but she had put 
 it in a box that day and wrapped the box in her 
 coat. Her husband did not know this. He 
 thought she had it in the usual place. "When 
 they were upset going around a curve in the road 
 my Maria was very seriously injured. She is 
 still very lame. Her husband went away to get 
 another car and you know the rest. 
 
 "When they found out in a few hours that she 
 did not have the jewels they were very angry. 
 She told them the truth : that she had given them 
 to a young lady she had met, and asked her to 
 take care of them. Although she did not have the 
 name or address of this young lady, she knew 
 they would be safe." 
 
 "And Mr. Lafitte?" began Billie. 
 
 "He is an old friend, a lawyer who lives in 
 Paris. She happened to have his card in her 
 pocket. But he had just started to America and 
 the letter she wrote, and your letter, came back 
 
OUT OF THE MISTS 309 
 
 here. That is how I happened to get your name 
 at last, Miss Wilhelmina. Mr. Lafitte was with 
 my daughter yesterday." 
 
 "And what became of your son-in-law, Mrs. 
 Ruggles?" asked Elinor. 
 
 "He died some weeks ago," replied Mrs. Rug- 
 gles. "He was accidentally shot with one of his 
 own rifles, which exploded and killed him. My 
 son had his body sent to us and we laid him to 
 rest in the -old Sabater burying ground, where 
 all my family is buried. It is better that he 
 should have died. He only made trouble while he 
 lived, not only for poor Maria, but for his coun- 
 try, where many have been killed with the rifles 
 he has smuggled in. He was a good man until he 
 got in with those revolutionists. And my poor 
 son, my poor John, how much sorrow he has 
 
 brought us " 
 
 , Billie wondered if Mrs. Ruggles really knew 
 the extent of her poor son's evil career. Per- 
 haps she did, for the old woman's face twitched 
 nervously for a moment and she covered her eyes 
 with her hand, as if she wished to hide her un- 
 happiness from the young girls. 
 
310 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 "Maria and I are going away for a long time," 
 she went on at last, with a rather shaky voice. "I 
 will close the Inn. It is hard for me to leave 
 home in my old age, but Maria wishes it, and it 
 is better for me to be with her. Good-by and 
 thank you," she said simply, rising and taking 
 Billie's hand. 
 
 Billie stood on tiptoe and put her arms around 
 Mrs. Ruggles' neck. 
 
 "Good-by, Mrs. Ruggles," she said. "I hope 
 that your troubles are all over now and you and 
 your daughter will be happy together." 
 
 The old woman wiped her eyes. She could not 
 speak when she said good-by to the other girls, 
 but silently handed Billie a little package and 
 hurried away. 
 
 The package, when unwrapped, proved to be 
 a small box containing a pretty gold filigree neck- 
 lace. Written on a card inside was this mes- 
 sage: 
 
 "With my love and gratitude. This is a sim- 
 ple little necklace my father brought me once 
 from a voyage to the East. I am fond of it and 
 
OUT OF THE MISTS 311 
 
 that is why I send it to you. Will you wear it 
 sometimes and think of me? I shall never forget 
 your kindness and loyalty. 
 
 "Maria Ruggles Cortina." 
 
 And now we have reached the end of our tale. 
 Those troublous first months of Billie Campbell's 
 early school days in West Haven are changed into 
 happy, quiet times, with plenty of study and 
 plenty of play. All doubts and mysteries are 
 cleared up, and the Motor Maids, wholesome, nice 
 girls, are none the worse for their adventures. 
 
 It is in their beloved "Comet" that we see them 
 last, flashing down Main Street toward the open 
 country. 
 
 Billie, like the good pilot she is, is seated at the 
 wheel, her fine gray eyes ever on the lookout. 
 Nancy is bubbling over with laughter and gaiety. 
 Elinor, on the back seat, holds herself as proudly 
 as a queen, and little Mary, with a grave smile on 
 her face, looks out across the fields, her clear 
 eyes, deep as pools, holding and reflecting, as ever, 
 the beauty from without intensified by the purity 
 of the spirit within. 
 
313 THE MOTOE MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 The friendship of these four school girls was 
 of the quality that outlives a single season and 
 many adventures. It held them together, in fact, 
 so closely that they often found themselves plan- 
 ning for an indefinite future of partnership and 
 mutual pleasures. That they realized their an- 
 ticipations to some extent at least is assured, 
 for the next volume of this series, "The Motor 
 Maids by Palm and Pine," is a further account 
 of their good times together. 
 
 i:he end. 
 
BOY AVIAT0R5' SERIES 
 
 By Captain Wilbur Lawton 
 
 Absolutely Modern Stories for Boys 
 Clotb Bound Price, 50c per TOlntne 
 
 The Boy Aviators in Nicaragua 
 
 Or, Uagusd With Insurgents 
 
 The latinching of this Twentieth Century series marks 
 the inauguration of a new era in boys' books — the 
 "wonders of modern science" epoch. Frank and Harry 
 Chester, the Boy Aviators, are the heroes of this excit- 
 ing, red-blooded tale of adventure by air and land in 
 the turbulent Central American republic. The two 
 brothers with their $10,000 prize aeroplane, the Golden 
 Eagle, rescue a chum from death in the clutches of the 
 Nicaraguans, discover a lost treasure valley of the an< 
 cient Toltec race, and in so doing almost lose their own 
 lives in the Abyss of the White Serpents, and have many 
 other exciting experiences, including being blown far 
 out to sea in their air-skimmer in a tropical storm. It 
 would be unfair to divulge the part that wireless plays 
 in rescuing them from their predicament. In a brand 
 new field of fiction for boys the Chester brothers and 
 their aeroplane seem destined to fill a top-notch place. 
 These books are technically correct, wholesomely thrill- 
 ing and geared up to third speed. 
 
 Sold by Booksellers E'verywliere 
 
 HVRSX & CO. Publisbers MBW YORK 
 
BOY AVIATORS' SERIES 
 
 By Captain Wilbur Lawton 
 
 Absolutely Modeni Stories for Boys 
 Clotb Bound n-lce, 50c per volume 
 
 The Boy Aviators on Sooret Senrioe 
 
 Or, Worfchig With WlralMs 
 
 In this live-wire narrative of peril and adventure, 
 laid in the Everglades of Florida, the spunky Chester 
 Boys and their interesting chums, including Ben Stubbs, 
 the maroon, encounter exciting experiences on Uncle 
 Sam's service in a novel field. One must read this 
 vivid, enthralling story of incident, hardship and pluck 
 to get an idea of the almost limitless possibilities of 
 the two greatest inventions of modern times — the aero- 
 plane and wireless telegraphy. While gripping and 
 holding the reader's breathless attention from the open- 
 ing words to the finish, this swift-moving story is at 
 the same time instructive and uplifting. As those 
 readers who have already made friends with Frank and 
 Harry Chester and their "bunch" know, there are few 
 di£Sculties, no matter how insurmountable they may 
 seem at first blush, that these up-to-date gritty youths 
 cannot overcome with flying colors. A dean-cut, real 
 boys' book of high voltage. 
 
 Sold by BoolESellers Sveryvvbere 
 H17RST & CO. PubUsbers ?I£W VORK