The attic was something of a disappointment, for it was very clean and tidy. A number of boxes lined the walls, but each was plainly labeled as to its contents. Flashing the lantern about, the girls saw that they contained blankets, woolens, old clothing, and numerous other articles.
“Nothing very exciting here,” Kitty said. “It isn’t any fun poking into boxes when they’re all labeled. I wish the Misses Gates weren’t such good housekeepers.”
Doris had found the croquet set and, with Kitty’s help, dragged it out into the light.
“We may as well take it down into the yard and have a game,” she suggested.
“I suppose so,” Kitty agreed. “I’d hoped we might stumble upon something interesting here, but I guess there’s no chance of it. You know, Doris, I’ve read about folks finding false bottom trunks and things like that in their attics.”
“I guess it happens only in stories. Anyway, I don’t see any trunk here. If there’s an attic above the right wing, I’ll bet it’s more interesting than this one.”
Locking the attic door, the girls took the croquet set down to the front lawn and set up the arches. They played three games, Doris going down in ignoble defeat.
“Croquet isn’t my game,” she laughed. “I’d rather wield a tennis racquet than a mallet.”
Soon tiring of the sport they amused themselves by throwing a rubber ball to Wags who would pick it up in his mouth and return it to them.
Presently Iris and Azalea brought their sewing and came out to sit in the swing. They watched the girls for a time and then Iris called to them.
“Perhaps you would like to hear the rest of the story we were telling you the other day?” she asked.
“Yes, indeed,” Doris declared.
“I’m afraid we’re only boring you,” Azalea murmured. “We have no desire to inflict our troubles upon you.”
“Oh, but you aren’t,” Doris assured her. “We’re both very much interested.”
Leaving Wags to his own devices, the girls sat down in the swing beside the Misses Gates.
“You go on with the story,” Azalea murmured.
Iris did not begin at once but sat for some minutes gazing away. At last, with a sigh, she forced herself to take up the broken threads.
“For thirty-two years after John Trent left, we heard no word from him,” she said sadly. “Often we wondered what might have become of him. At first we thought perhaps he would write to one of us—at least to tell us that he was sorry for everything that had happened.”
“And he didn’t?” Doris asked.
“No, to this day our only message has been through his son. You may imagine our joy when Ronald came to see us here at the mansion. He resembles his mother more than his father, it seems, so we did not recognize him.”
Kitty and Doris exchanged odd glances but Iris did not notice.
“Ronald told us that his father was dead,” she continued in a low voice. “His wife had died before him, so Ronald was his heir. Before John passed away, he begged Ronald to return to Rumson and find the lovely Misses Gates. Those were his very words! ‘Do all in your power to make them happy,’ he said.”
Here Iris paused to wipe her eyes.
“It was very dear of him to think of us at the last,” Azalea said softly, “and very kind of his son to come this far with the message. He remembered us in a material way, too.”
“Yes,” Iris went on bravely. “It seems, that after John left Rumson he accumulated a large fortune. He willed three-quarters of the estate to his son—which was as it should be—and the remaining quarter to Azalea and myself, to be divided equally.”
“How considerate,” Doris murmured.
“Yes,” Iris agreed, “and just at this time the money will come in handy. You see, since Father died the estate has dwindled. We have this property, of course, but very little ready money.”
“Unfortunately, we shall not be able to get our inheritance for some time,” Azalea explained. “There are certain legal complications which I do not entirely understand. There seems to have been some tangle about identifying poor John’s body at the time of his death and the estate is tied up.”
“Of course we shall get the money in the end,” Iris declared, “but right now there are a number of attorney’s fees to be met. Ronald is entirely without funds, so it was natural that he should come to us.”
“You gave him money?” Doris asked, although she thought she knew the answer.
“Yes, we loaned him what we had, but our funds are running low,” Azalea told her. “It isn’t as if we were actually giving him the money, for in the end every one will be rich.”
“Ronald says he will pay us back when the estate is settled,” Iris added.
Doris and Kitty were so taken by surprise that for a minute they could think of nothing to say. The twins looked at each other in an embarrassed way, and it was evident that they scarcely knew how to go on.
“Unless we can raise money to meet the necessary attorney’s fees, we will lose our inheritance,” Azalea said. “We have nothing of value we can sell except this mansion, and we are too old to leave it after having lived here all these years.
“Ronald has been so impatient at our reluctance to do anything. Dear boy! One scarcely can blame him, for his fortune, too, is at stake, and he does not understand how low our funds are.” Iris hesitated as she finished lamely, “And so, after hours of debate, we decided that for the sake of your own uncle, Doris, we would ask you for money.”
“Of course you understand we intend to will everything to you at our death,” Azalea added hastily. “It will be your own uncle’s money, so it will be entirely a family affair.”
“That is why you invited me here?” Doris stammered.
“Yes,” Iris told her. “You will help us, won’t you?”
Doris did not know what to reply; in fact, the request left her a trifle dazed. She remembered that Marshmallow had jokingly told her the Misses Gates might ask for money, but she had not considered the matter seriously. She actually had believed that she was being invited to Locked Gates for the purpose of being informed of an inheritance of her own! What a blow to her hopes!
“I really don’t know what to say,” she murmured. “I must confess I have no idea how much money of my own I actually have.”
“Of course this has all been very sudden,” Iris said tactfully. “We can’t expect you to decide upon the instant, but after thinking it over, if you decide you can spare the money, we shall be eternally grateful.”
“Yes,” continued Azalea, taking up the subject. Her sister sank back in the big, old-fashioned rocker, like one in need of rest. “We realize the importance of not neglecting this business a day longer. You will consider it soon, won’t you, Doris, dear?”
She, too, now leaned back in her chair with something of a sigh of relief, making Doris aware of the fact that her assistance was expected and counted upon by her hostesses, who could from now on assume that she would lift their burden permanently.
Just then Cora, without any warning of her approach, entered the room, carrying a number of letters and several newspapers. She glanced at the faces of the thoughtful group, as though she were to be asked to remain, should her advice or assistance be required. However, they were so absorbed in what they had been discussing that they did not notice Cora’s being there, and, receiving no word of encouragement to remain, even for a moment, she bustled out of the door.
Wags bounded into the room, and came straight up to Doris, attempting to jump into her lap and to lick her hands and face caressingly.
Doris was glad of the interruption, for this gave her an opportunity to get up from her chair and shake the playful puppy off her lap.
As soon as she gracefully could do so, Doris excused herself and went to her room. She wished to be alone that she might think over what the twins had told her.
“Can it be that I have made a mistake about Ronald Trent?” she asked herself.
After all, she had heard him say only that he was having trouble securing money from the two sisters. But why, if his motives were honest, was he in league with Cora and Henry Sully?
Doris admitted that the problem was too weighty for her to solve at once.
CHAPTER XIV
A VALUABLE FIND
Doris found herself unable to reach any decision concerning the loan which the Gates twins had asked her to make, and the following morning she was still thinking of the matter. Azalea and Iris tactfully avoided mentioning the subject at the breakfast table but she knew that it was foremost in their minds.
Any day Ronald Trent might return and when he came, he would expect the money. Doris disliked the man and had no desire to help him, but she felt sorry for the Misses Gates and wished that she could aid them in obtaining their inheritance. If only she knew that Ronald was acting honestly and in good faith!
After the morning work had been done, Azalea and Iris joined the girls on the lawn. Conversation was rather labored and it was obvious to Doris that the twins were under a strain.
“I am sorry we told you our troubles,” Iris said after a time. “It has ruined your visit, and you undoubtedly think that our sole reason for inviting you here was to ask for money.”
“Oh, no,” Doris assured her hastily. “I have enjoyed every minute here at Locked Gates. And I truly want to help you. I was thinking—”
She did not continue for just at that moment she caught the faint hum of an airplane engine. Scrambling up from the grass, and shading her eyes with her hand, she gazed eagerly skyward trying to locate the sound.
“I’m sure I heard an airplane, but I can’t see it. The sun is so bright!”
“Must have been your imagination,” Kitty teased. “Dave was here only the other day.”
“It is an airplane!” Doris cried excitedly. “And it’s coming this way! Oh, I hope it’s Dave.”
The Misses Gates laid down their sewing and watched the approaching plane with interest. Doris and Kitty were highly elated when they distinguished the red stars on the wings.
“Wonder if he’s going to drop another note?” Kitty murmured. “Aren’t you the lucky girl to have a flying Romeo?”
For once, Doris was not annoyed by her chum’s teasing. She was far too interested in watching the plane to even listen closely to what Kitty was saying.
They waved frantically as the plane approached. Two young men were in the cockpit, Dave and another pilot, and they both returned the greeting.
The plane circled over the mansion several times and Dave indicated that he intended to drop a message. They saw something white flutter from his hand.
The weighted note struck a nearby rhododendron bush, but, before the girls could reach it, Wags scooted ahead of them, thinking that it was a variation of his favorite game of “fetch the ball.”
“Wags!” Doris cried.
The little brown dog turned to regard her with surprise, and that gave the girls an opportunity to catch up with him. But before they could lay restraining hands upon him, he made another bolt for the rhododendron bush.
As Wags snapped up the bit of paper in his mouth, Doris and Kitty made a flying leap toward him. In the mad scramble the girls lost their balance and at the same moment clutched at the rhododendron branches for support. To their horror, their combined weight uprooted the bush and it suddenly gave way from the soft earth, sending them sprawling backwards.
Still clutching part of the bush they picked themselves up and looked to see what had become of Wags. He was standing not three yards away regarding them with saucy little eyes which seemed to say: “If you want this old paper just try to get it!”
They tried to coax him nearer, but he would not come, and as soon as they started toward him he would dart away, only to pause whenever they showed signs of giving up the chase. At last they managed to drive him into a corner and there, with considerable impatience, extracted the note from between his teeth.
Returning to the Misses Gates they humbly apologized for having broken the rhododendron bush, but the ladies had thoroughly enjoyed the wild chase and assured them that it was of no consequence.
“We had been planning to have that bush dug out,” Azalea laughed, “but you girls saved us the bother.”
“I think it very romantic to have a love letter delivered by airplane,” Iris declared.
Doris blushed.
“Oh, it isn’t a love letter,” she returned as she ripped open the envelope. “Dave isn’t a bit silly.”
Perhaps because she wished to prove her statement, she read the note aloud:
“If you and Kitty are free tomorrow and the Misses Gates have no objection, I shall drop in and take you for an airplane ride. Say about one o’clock, then we can have the entire afternoon. Dave.”
“Oh!” Kitty cried in delight. “I’ve always wanted to ride in a plane.”
“So have I,” Doris agreed enthusiastically. She glanced hopefully at Azalea and Iris. “May we go?”
“Why, certainly,” Azalea declared. “But aren’t you a little afraid?”
“Not with Dave,” Doris returned proudly. “Every one says he is a reliable pilot and I know he wouldn’t offer to take us if he didn’t know it would be safe.”
The girls had been so excited over the note that they had failed to keep track of Wags. Turning, they were amused to see him pawing energetically near the uprooted rhododendron bush. Dirt was flying in every direction.
“What’s that little rascal after now?” Doris laughed.
“Probably a bone.”
“I’ll go see.”
She crossed the garden just as Wags picked up something in his mouth.
“Here, Wags, bring it here!” Doris commanded.
Wags hesitated, debating whether or not to obey, and then came forward, dropping his offering at his mistress’s feet.
“What in the world!” Doris exclaimed.
She picked up the curious object. It was a tiny box, water soaked and badly stained, and bore evidence that it had been buried for some time. Yet, for all its disfigurement, Doris saw that it was a jewel box.
“Kitty!” she cried. “Come here!”
Her chum already was flying toward her.
“Look what the dog dug up!” Doris exclaimed in excitement. “It’s a jewel box!”
“Well, don’t stand there staring at it,” Kitty chided. “Open it quick!”
Doris lifted the lid and gave a little cry of wonder. She scarcely could believe her own eyes.
There, nestled in a cushion of faded blue silk, lay a beautiful ruby ring! Doris saw at a glance that it was a genuine stone, and valuable.
“A ring!” Kitty gasped. “Where did it come from?”
“Under that rhododendron bush. It must have been there for ages. See how old the case is.”
“What a perfectly gorgeous stone!” Kitty said, her eyes shining with admiration. “Some one must have lost it, don’t you think?”
“But it was buried,” Doris reminded her. “If we hadn’t uprooted that rhododendron bush, we’d never have discovered it.”
The excited comments of the girls had brought the Misses Gates hurrying across the yard. They too exclaimed in admiration as they saw the ring.
“Where did you get it?” Azalea asked tensely.
“I took it away from Wags,” Doris informed her. “It must have been buried under that bush.”
“But why was it put there?” Iris murmured. “I can’t understand it.”
“I thought perhaps it might have been a family jewel,” Doris suggested.
“Oh, no,” Azalea protested. “I never saw the ring before in my life.”
“Isn’t there any clue as to the identity of the owner?” Kitty questioned.
“There doesn’t seem to be,” Doris responded.
She lifted the ring from the tiny case and as she did so, noticed for the first time a scrap of paper, yellowed with age.
She read the name on it at a glance and a startled expression came into her eyes.
“It says ‘John,’” she said in a strained voice.
“John!”
Echoing the name, Azalea began to tremble. Iris’s face had gone chalk white.
Doris had turned the paper over and was reading something upon the back. The twins scarcely heard her.
“To my beloved sweetheart,” the note said, “the one I have chosen to be my wife. This ring is a sign of my decision. Please wear it always.”
“He did choose,” Doris declared tensely.
Azalea and Iris stood as motionless as statues.
“But which one?” Azalea murmured.
Doris looked again at the message. It was so old and yellow that it was difficult to make out the writing, but unquestionably neither of the twins had been mentioned by name. Her silence communicated this to the others.
“If only we had known—” Iris murmured brokenly. “What a difference it might have made. That fatal night when Father—”
She choked and could not go on.
“It’s the most beautiful ring I ever saw,” Kitty declared.
She restrained her enthusiasm, noting that it seemed to pain the Misses Gates.
“Of course it belongs to you,” Doris said quietly, “even though your names aren’t mentioned.” She extended the ring toward the two ladies.
Iris straightened proudly and Azalea turned coldly away.
“It doesn’t belong to me,” she said tartly.
“I won’t touch it!” Iris declared indignantly.
“But it must belong to one of you,” Doris insisted. “What shall we do with it?”
Azalea was already walking rapidly toward the house. Iris, as pale as a ghost and looking as though she were about to cry, likewise turned away.
“I don’t care what you do with it,” she said. “I’ll never touch it as long as I live!”
Doris and Kitty, left in possession of the ring, stared at it rather blankly.
“Well, of all things!” Kitty exclaimed. “Do you think they’ll change their minds?”
“I’m afraid not. This note and the ring have opened up old wounds. Now they’ll always be tortured by thinking of what might have been.”
Being hampered by no sentimental attachments themselves, the girls each tried on the ring. It was too large for Kitty but it fit Doris’s third finger.
“The setting is certainly old fashioned,” Kitty commented, “but can’t you imagine how gorgeous it would look in a modern one! I think the Misses Gates are foolish not to want it.”
“The question is, what shall we do with it? We can’t very well wear it around in front of them. They’re so sensitive. And the ring doesn’t belong to us.”
“It doesn’t belong to any one,” Kitty declared. “The poor thing is an orphan! Until some one turns in a claim, though, let’s pretend it’s ours. This will probably be the nearest we’ll ever come to owning a ruby ring!”
She pirouetted around the room gaily, like a ballet dancer doing a special number, flashing the ring upon her finger.
“Careful, young lady,” admonished her chum. “Since it doesn’t fit you, you may fling it away in your ballet performance, never more to see the romantic jewel.”
She stopped her twirling and gazed at the sparkling gem upon her finger.
“It must be a perfect stone,” surmised Kitty, as she glanced admiringly at the jewel which caught the lights in its rich, deep tones.
“And more than that, think of the romance and the tragedy hidden away in its very heart,” and Doris glanced thoughtfully in the direction of the Locked Gates that appeared even more forbidding and austere since this new connection with them had been established.
A moment of silence followed, and Doris thought suddenly of her friend Dave, and wondered what he would think of the token and the story it symbolized.
CHAPTER XV
QUESTIONABLE CHARACTERS
The Misses Gates did not appear at luncheon but kept to their individual rooms. Azalea sent word by Cora that she was ill with a headache and preferred to be alone; Iris offered no excuse. Kitty and Doris knew that they were still upset over the finding of the ruby ring.
“I almost wish Wags hadn’t dug it up,” Doris remarked dolefully. “It’s making the poor ladies feel so unhappy.”
The girls ate a rather forlorn meal in the big dining room. Cora waited on them in a more slipshod manner than usual and took no pains to conceal her dislike. Shortly after luncheon, they saw her leave the premises by the back gate.
“I’ll venture the Misses Gates don’t know she’s leaving,” Doris commented. “Cora thinks they’ll not find out she’s gone.”
The mansion seemed very quiet and desolate to the girls, and they found it difficult to settle down to reading.
“Why not see something of the town ourselves?” Doris suggested by way of a question. “We’re in for a dull time here this afternoon if we don’t bestir ourselves. Anyway, I must send Dave a message telling him we’ll go with him tomorrow.”
“Suits me fine,” Kitty agreed, putting aside her book. “But what shall we do about the ring? We can’t very well take it with us. We might be robbed.”
At a loss to know what to do with the ruby, Doris had carried it around in her pocket, but now she removed the tiny case and studied it in perplexity.
“I wish the Gates sisters would accept it,” she murmured. “I’m scared to death we’ll lose it.”
“They won’t take it,” Kitty returned, “and you know it will pain them to bring up the subject again.”
“We can’t wear the ring, that’s certain, for it isn’t ours. We’ll have to hide it somewhere.”
“But where?”
“How about our bedroom?”
“You know Cora goes snooping around there. She might find it.”
“I know!” Doris exclaimed. “We’ll hide it under the mattress. No one would ever think of looking there!”
“Great!” her chum approved. “Let’s do it now, while the coast is clear.”
They hurried upstairs and, closing the bedroom door, secreted the tiny jewel case beneath the mattress, taking care to rearrange the covers.
“Now we can forget about it,” Kitty declared.
However, both girls knew that as long as the ruby ring remained in their possession, they could not forget its existence. It was certain to give them many uneasy moments.
Satisfied that for the time being the jewel was safe, they left the mansion by the back gate.
Locked Gates was located at the edge of Rumson but it was only a short walk to the main part of the little city. The girls stopped first at the post office where they dispatched an air mail letter to Dave.
Then, as time rested heavily upon them, they dropped in at a corner drug store for an ice cream soda. Doris bought a few things she needed, and they continued down the street with no particular destination in view.
Not being acquainted with the town, they unwittingly turned down a street which led them toward the poorer section. They had gone a considerable distance before they realized their error.
“Let’s turn back,” Doris suggested. “I don’t like the appearance of this street. There are so many pool halls and gambling places.”
Abruptly they retraced their steps but, before they had gone far, Doris caught her chum by the sleeve.
“Look!” she commanded. “Isn’t that Henry Sully just ahead of us?”
“It is!” Kitty agreed. “We’ll meet him face to face!”
The man was walking toward the girls, but his head was lowered and he had not seen them. While he was still at least a hundred yards away, he turned into an old tumbledown building which opened off the street.
As Kitty and Doris passed the place a few minutes later, they surveyed it rather curiously and were not surprised to see that it was probably a gambling house.
“So that’s the way he spends his time!” Doris commented. “I guess he knew the Misses Gates were in their rooms and that he would have a good chance to slip away with no questions asked.”
“Did you notice the way he walked, Dory?”
“Yes, I did. His head was down—sort of flopping all around. And he walked with such a precise step as though he were trying not to stagger.”
“I’ll bet he’s had about one drink too many.”
“Probably six would be more like it. Do you suppose the Misses Gates know he drinks?”
“Oh, I’m sure they don’t. You know how strict they are about such things.”
“I think it’s time they find out about their help, then. I don’t see how they can be so blind.”
They continued down the street and presently had forgotten about Henry Sully. The town was soon explored and they were thinking of returning to the mansion when Kitty suggested that they attend a moving picture show.
“All right,” Doris agreed, “if we can find anything good.”
They had noticed a number of theaters near the post office and turned that way.
“We’re coming to one now,” Kitty observed a few minutes later. “Can you make out the sign?”
“Oh, we don’t want to go there,” Doris said hastily. “It’s one of those cheap places that cater to folks with perverted tastes.”
They were about to pass on without a glance at the advertisements when they noticed a familiar figure. Of one accord they paused and pretended to be looking at the window display of a candy shop adjoining the theater.
“It’s Cora Sully!” Kitty whispered to her chum. “She’s buying a ticket.”
Without glancing in their direction, the woman entered the moving picture house.
“Aren’t they a pair!” Doris exclaimed in disgust. “Henry half drunk in a gambling place and Cora here at this cheap movie! I don’t see how Azalea and Iris can tolerate them—they are so refined themselves.”
“Either they don’t know about it, or they must have some very special reason for keeping them. Didn’t they say Cora was the daughter of their former dressmaker?”
“Yes, perhaps they keep the couple out of sheer sentiment. I’m sure if I were in their place I’d send Cora and Henry away in a hurry.”
Farther on down the street the girls found a picture house which satisfied them and they purchased tickets. The show lasted for two hours and when they left the theater, it was nearly supper time.
“We must be getting back to the mansion,” Doris declared. “Before we go, though, I have a notion I ought to put in a telephone call to the bank at Chilton and find out how much money I have there. I’d ask Uncle Ward but he’s still out of town campaigning for that Fresh Air Fund.”
“Then you’ve decided to loan the Misses Gates the money they want?”
“Oh, I haven’t decided anything. I don’t know what to do! I thought if I found out exactly how much money I have, it might be easier to decide.”
“It won’t take very long to put the call through,” Kitty urged. “Why don’t you?”
Doris consulted her wrist watch.
“The bank is closed by this time, but I am sure there will be some one there who can tell me what I want to know. We’ll try it, anyway.”
They turned in at the next drug store and, after a brief wait, Doris was connected with her party. After a few minutes she received the information she sought and came back to Kitty, who was waiting outside the booth.
“Did you find out?” she demanded.
Doris nodded. Her eyes were shining.
“Why, Kit, I have a lot of money. From what Uncle Ward told me the other day I thought I was almost poverty stricken.”
“How much?”
“Nearly six thousand dollars. Five thousand nine hundred and forty-three, to be exact.”
“Why, you’re rich, Dory!” Kitty exclaimed in awe.
“Hardly that, but I’ll have enough to last me for a long time.”
Both girls, blissfully ignorant of how much it cost to live, considered Doris’s little hoard a miniature fortune.
“When I have so much, it seems a shame not to make a small loan to Iris and Azalea,” Doris said thoughtfully.
“They promised you’d get it all back,” Kitty encouraged. “In the end you’ll come into the Trent inheritance.”
“There’s only one drawback.”
“What’s that?”
“Cousin Ronald is to handle the money.” Doris sighed as one who was burdened with great business responsibilities. “Oh, dear, I wish I liked him better. If I could entirely trust him, I’d offer the money in a minute!”
CHAPTER XVI
A PLEASANT ADVENTURE
The next morning when Doris and Kitty came downstairs for breakfast, they were relieved to see that the Misses Gates were there ahead of them. However, they noticed at once that for the first time since their arrival at the mansion, the two ladies were dressed differently.
“That means they’ve been quarrelling,” Doris told herself.
Iris and Azalea spoke pleasantly to the girls but their faces were wan and strained. They avoided speaking to each other and scarcely glanced at one another. Kitty and Doris, distressed at the situation, were very glad that they had accepted Dave’s invitation to go for a ride in his plane. It would be a relief to get away from the mansion. The place was beginning to get on their nerves.
Azalea and Iris ate very little, making the girls feel somewhat guilty concerning their own hearty appetites. All mention of the ruby ring was carefully avoided, but the subject was uppermost in the minds of the four. Conversation languished and the Misses Gates obviously were relieved when breakfast was finished.
During the night Doris had tried to make up her mind what was the best thing to do in regard to the loan which the Misses Gates had requested, but she had been unable to reach a decision. Now, as she saw how very unhappy the two ladies were and how strained was the relationship between them, she wished that she might do something to help the situation before she and Kitty left on their outing.
“I’ll lend them the money,” she thought. “Perhaps the news will cheer them a bit.”
Accordingly, as they were leaving the dining room, she turned to Azalea and Iris.
“Yesterday when Kitty and I were in Rumson, I telephoned my bank,” she told them, “and I found that I have more money in my account than I had anticipated. So I’ve been thinking it over and have decided to let you have some of it.”
“Oh!” Azalea exclaimed, her face lighting up. “How very kind of you.”
“You’re sure you can spare the money?” Iris asked.
“The bookkeeper said that I had six thousand dollars,” Doris admitted, “so I can let you have only five hundred. If that will be of any help—”
“Indeed it will,” Azalea declared. “I cannot tell you how grateful we are.”
“And Ronald will appreciate it, too,” Iris added. “It means so much to us just at this time. Of course, in the end you will get it all back.”
“I am glad to do what I can to help,” Doris told them.
Already she was pleased to see that the tension between Iris and Azalea was somewhat relaxed. She hoped that before the day was over they would have forgotten their foolish quarrel.
As Dave had stated that he would call for the girls about one o’clock, they began to watch for him soon after luncheon. As the airport was some distance from the mansion, they expected him to come for them in a car, and accordingly kept close watch of the road.
Presently an automobile drove up, and Doris and Kitty, thinking it must be Dave, snatched up their wraps and started for the gate. Halfway down the path they saw they had made a mistake. Ronald Trent was getting out of his roadster.
“Hello, girlies,” he greeted with a sickening smile as he opened the gate. “Coming to meet me, eh?”
“No, we weren’t,” Doris returned. “We are waiting for a friend of ours.”
“We’re going for an airplane ride,” Kitty added.
“High fliers, eh?” Ronald smirked, and then laughed loudly at his own inane joke.
Doris and Kitty did not even smile. They wished that he would go on into the house and leave them alone.
“Who is that flying sweetheart of yours?” he teased.
“He isn’t a sweetheart and you don’t know him,” Doris replied somewhat coldly. “Come on, Kitty.”
They started to walk to the gate but the man called them back.
“Just a minute. Aren’t you forgetting something?”
The girls paused and looked at him in surprise. Ronald came over to Doris and leaned unpleasantly close.
“Haven’t you forgotten to give Cousin Ronald a goodbye kiss?”
Indignantly, Doris recoiled.
“I’m not in the habit of kissing strangers!” she snapped. “That remark was entirely uncalled for!”
“Come now, don’t be bashful,” Ronald cajoled.
He edged nearer and caught her by the hand. Doris jerked away and faced him with blazing eyes.
“Don’t you dare touch me!”
Undoubtedly, Ronald would have pressed his unwelcome attentions, but just at that instant an automobile drove up to the gate.
“Oh, well, we’ll save it until the next time,” he said with a shrug.
Chuckling gleefully to himself, he went on up the path toward the house.
“Oh, how I hate that man!” Doris muttered in an undertone to her chum. “I wanted to slap his face!”
“I wish you had!”
They said no more, for turning toward the gate they saw that Dave had arrived. Eagerly he sprang from the taxicab and came to meet them. Noticing Doris’s flushed and angry face he asked what was the matter.
“Oh, it was that horrid cousin of mine,” she told him. “He tried to get fresh.”
“He did?” Dave demanded sharply. “Say, I’ll just go after him and tell him a thing or two!”
Doris placed a restraining hand on his sleeve.
“No, you mustn’t do that. Iris and Azalea would never forgive us for creating a scene. I don’t doubt but that it’s just his way.”
“Well, he’d better change it if he doesn’t want to get into trouble with me!”
With a scowl directed at the back of the retreating Cousin Ronald, Dave opened the gate for the girls and helped them into the taxi.
“I thought perhaps you wouldn’t entirely trust me as a pilot,” he declared as they were speeding rapidly toward the airfield, “so I brought along an expert. There isn’t a better pilot to be had than Don Everts. He’s waiting for us at the field.”
“You know we’d trust you,” Doris protested quickly.
Dave grinned.
“Well, anyway, I thought it would give me a better chance to talk with you girls.”
A few minutes later the cab turned in at the flying field and came to a standstill near a row of hangars. Dave helped the girls to alight and paid the driver.
“This way,” he directed, leading them toward a monoplane at the far end of the runway.
Quickly he introduced Don Everts, the pilot, a lean chap in helmet and dungarees. The girls found him very quiet and self-contained, but liked him at once.
They took their places in the cockpit and Dave smiled at them reassuringly. The pilot carefully examined the controls and then nodded to the mechanic who stood waiting to swing the propeller.
“Switch off?”
“Switch off!” the pilot confirmed tersely.
“Contact?”
“Contact!”
The mechanic gave the propeller a mighty swing and the engine began to roar. To Doris and Kitty it was all very thrilling.
“All set?” Dave questioned after the engine had warmed up.
Kitty and Doris nodded grimly.
The monoplane had headed into the wind, and as Don Everts opened the throttle, it moved rapidly across the field. The girls held their breath, but almost before they were aware of it, the plane had taken to the air and leveled off.
It no longer seemed to Kitty and Doris that they were traveling swiftly, for the plane appeared to be almost stationary in the sky.
“Not going very fast, are we?” Doris asked Dave.
“Ninety-eight miles per!” he shouted back.
Glancing down, the girls saw the earth pass slowly in review before them. They made out a few buildings but it was difficult to believe that the miniature structures comprised the town of Rumson.
The day was an ideal one for flying, with very few clouds visible. That the girls might enjoy the novelty of their ride to the utmost, the pilot presently zoomed up above a small bank of mist and permitted them to look down upon the fleece-like floor.
For Doris and Kitty, who were having the thrill of their lives, the time passed all too swiftly. When Dave told them that they had been in the air nearly two hours they were amazed.
“I haven’t had so much fun in ages,” Doris declared enthusiastically, after they had landed safely at the air field.
“I’ll take you up again,” Dave promised, “and now that I know you won’t be afraid, I’ll pilot you myself some time. I should have my license in a little while.”