As they were driving slowly back toward the mansion, Doris thought of Ronald Trent, and frowned. For the last few hours she had been having so much fun that she had not once considered the problem which troubled her, but now she decided to mention the matter to Dave. Perhaps he could offer helpful advice. Accordingly, she told him of the proposition which the Misses Gates had made.
Dave listened quietly until she had finished.
“It may be all right,” he said, “but it sounds sort of queer to me. I don’t like that fellow Trent.”
“He’s my cousin, Dave.”
“Better not own him!”
“Well, I haven’t exactly,” Doris admitted. “It’s hard to believe he really is a relative of mine.”
“I suppose he’ll be at the mansion when we get back,” Kitty sighed.
“And he’ll want his answer about the loan. Oh, dear, I don’t know what to do. I think I’ll have Jake bring it to the mansion.”
“Not a bad idea,” Dave approved.
“And I’ll come along to chaperone him,” Marshmallow interposed. “He wouldn’t know what to do with so many ladies. He’ll need me to help him handle the situation masterfully.”
“Do come,” Doris urged.
“Just leave it to me,” ejaculated Marshmallow, throwing out his chest manfully, and displaying the cords of muscles in his upper arm, rolling up his sleeve playfully. “How’s that?”
“Say, Marshmallow, you’ve got a good opinion of yourself, haven’t you? Especially after eating all those sandwiches. My, but wouldn’t I hate to get into a fight with you!” and Dave jokingly jostled him as though to test his skill as a fighter.
“Lay off me, Dave! Who do you think I am, Jack Dempsey?” So saying, Marshmallow pretended to be very much frightened.
“Only a friendly fight, old boy. But anyway, girls, you see you have two champions who will stand by you to the death, to the bitter end, if need be, ‘’til death us do part.’” And with that closing bit of assurance they struck an attitude of utter devotion, entwining their arms about each other.
“You silly boys,” giggled Kitty, “perhaps we will need you, so keep in fighting trim until such a time might arise.”
“At your service, fair ladies,” said Marshmallow solemnly, taking off his hat, and making a sweeping bow before them.
“Jake can be your second,” suggested Doris.
And so it was arranged in regard to bringing the much-desired loan.
Dave and Marshmallow left the girls at the mansion gate, but as it was growing late declined an invitation to go inside. Doris and Kitty watched them drive away and then reluctantly walked up the path toward the house.
“Ronald’s car isn’t here,” Doris observed in relief, “so if he came today, he must have left before we returned. At least I won’t be bothered about that loan until tomorrow, and I can give him a definite answer then.”
Kitty agreed with her friend that there was no further need of troubling their minds about Ronald Trent and the loan, at least not tonight, so they slowly sauntered up the pathway toward the old mansion.
“I don’t like to speak of it, but Ronald will be here directly after breakfast and I am afraid he expects a definite answer about the loan. We dislike to rush you but the dear boy is so impatient and—”
Azalea allowed her words to trail off and smiled apologetically at Doris, who sat opposite her at the breakfast table. Iris looked down at her plate to hide her embarrassment. Both ladies were very proud and found it difficult to bring up the subject of money.
“If only we had something of our own that we could sell, we wouldn’t think of asking you for this favor,” Iris murmured.
Doris had been awaiting an opportunity to bring up the subject of the paper which Cora and Henry Sully had mentioned. The housekeeper had returned to the kitchen and she decided to risk being overheard.
“Of course you don’t want to mortgage your house,” she declared. “What a pity you haven’t any land or stock of any kind.”
Azalea laughed.
“As it happens, we have some oil company bonds but they aren’t worth anything. Iris and I were very gullible to buy them. Millions have been lost in the oil fields but we didn’t realize it until too late.”
“Oil bonds, did you say?” Doris demanded eagerly.
Iris nodded.
“Yes, we lost several thousand dollars.”
“And you still have the certificates?”
Iris did not reply, for just at that moment Cora Sully appeared to remove the dishes and the Misses Gates made it a point never to discuss personal affairs or business before their servants. Upon leaving the dining room Doris started to bring up the subject again but before she could do so, Ronald Trent was announced.
He appeared less affable than usual and lost no time in bringing up the matter of the loan. The Misses Gates looked doubtfully at Doris.
“I have already sent for the money,” she told them. “It should be here tomorrow or the next day.”
“Sent?” Ronald asked blankly. “You didn’t get the bank draft the way I told you to?”
“Why, no,” Doris returned innocently. “I thought it would be so much easier to have Jake bring the money.”
“And who is Jake?” the man questioned suspiciously.
“Oh, he works for my uncle.”
Ronald Trent seemed to relax at this, but it was evident to both Kitty and Doris that he was far from pleased at the way the matter had been handled.
“Well, all right,” he said grumpily, “but he’d better get here with the money tomorrow.”
“Why Ronald!” Azalea reproved gently. “I think it’s lovely of Doris to offer her money, and we mustn’t seem ungrateful.”
“Humph! It’s just a straight business deal. She knows she’ll get every cent of it back and with interest! Come on, if you’re going with me! I can’t wait around much longer!”
Azalea and Iris looked a trifle crushed at this abrupt statement, but they hurried away to get their coats and hats.
“We must leave you alone for awhile,” Azalea said apologetically to the girls. “We have a little business to attend to at the bank.”
“Come on, let’s get going!” Ronald urged. In the doorway he turned back toward Doris. “Don’t fail to let that fellow Jake know he’s to bring the money tomorrow. Understand?”
“I think so,” Doris returned dryly.
After the three had left the mansion, she and Kitty took stock of affairs. They were amazed that the Misses Gates had gone with Ronald, for it was only on very rare occasions that they ever set foot beyond the high hedge which surrounded Locked Gates.
“They’re under that man’s influence entirely,” Kitty declared.
Doris nodded soberly.
“And he’s getting more sure of himself every minute. Why, he spoke positively mean to them.”
“I wonder why they went to the bank?”
“Most likely to give him more money, though from what they said, I’m sure they’re practically destitute. Oh, it’s a shame!”
“What can we do, Doris?”
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling things are about to reach a climax. Let’s go for a walk and perhaps we can think of some way to show Ronald up in his true light.”
As the girls went to their room for their hats, they met Cora and Henry just starting up the stairway with broom, dustpan and mop. Since it was an unusual sight to see the two working together unless the Misses Gates were at hand to watch them, Kitty and Doris could not hide their surprise.
“Thought we’d do some housecleanin’,” Cora murmured, though the girls had asked for no explanation. “Thinkin’ of going out, were you?”
“Why, yes,” Doris replied. “We’re going for a walk.”
They found their hats and left the house. However, they had walked but a short distance when Doris stopped short.
“Kit, I have an idea!”
“Spill it!”
“We’ll never have a better opportunity than this to visit that little crippled girl on the attic floor. The twins are away and the Sullys are cleaning the wing on the other side of the house.”
“Do we dare?”
“Why not? After all, it’s no crime to visit a little girl. I feel dreadfully sorry for her, and then I’d like to ask her a few questions, too.”
“All right,” Kitty agreed.
Returning to the mansion, they quietly entered by the side door and stole softly up the stairway. They could hear Henry and Cora cleaning the rooms occupied by the Misses Gates. The doors were closed so they knew they had not been seen. Turning into their own wing they moved noiselessly down the hall until they came to the stairway leading to the third floor. Glancing back to make certain they were not being observed, they crept up the stairs and paused before the Sully suite.
Hesitating an instant, they pushed open the door and stepped into the sitting room. As they moved over toward the bedroom, they heard some one crying and knew that it was Etta.
Doris and Kitty quietly opened the door and entered. At first the girl on the bed did not hear them, but as they took a step toward her, she turned her head.
The girls were shocked at her appearance. She was not an ugly child, but her face was pinched and drawn. The hands which rested above the soiled comforter were thin and scrawny. Her hair did not look as though it had been combed that day.
The girls did not know just what to do or say, so stunned were they upon seeing this strange little creature gazing so pitifully and wonderingly at them. She was not frightened, but she was very much amazed. Why, these girls were among the few persons she had seen in all her years of seclusion.
Her great eyes looked out upon them—pleading, tragic, wounded eyes, like those of a timid, shy young animal. The girls held their breath!
“I never expected this,” awesomely whispered Kitty.
“How dreadful!” responded Doris.
A hush fell over the two young girls.
The old mansion itself furnished the background and what a melodramatic setting! The mighty Locked Gates, surrounded by the weird trees that sighed and moaned in the night as they swayed and tossed restlessly as though exhausted from their unceasing vigil!
The vivacious chums from Barry Manor were suddenly confronted with a side of life which they were unable to understand. Could this child be the neglected daughter of Cora and Henry Sully?
As Kitty and Doris advanced to the bedside, Etta stared at them in astonishment. Shut up in one room for nearly twenty years she had never seen any one her own age. Only Azalea and Iris had ever visited her and so she had come to think of a world peopled only by adults. Her parents, Henry and Cora Sully, had never taken the trouble to educate her and the only lessons she had ever received were taken from the Bible passages which the Misses Gates read aloud. Though in actual age she was older than either Doris or Kitty, mentally she remained a child. Now, as she viewed the girls and noticed their white dresses, it seemed to her that surely she must be gazing upon two angels.
Too moved for words, an expression of awe and rapture came over her face; she stretched out her thin hand toward Doris.
The two girls took a step nearer toward the bed. The coverlet of the quaint patch-work pattern was faded from many washings and the muslin was yellowed. A twisted, knotted handkerchief had dropped carelessly on a narrow strip of well-worn rag carpet. The whole picture was a far cry from anything that the two girls from boarding school had ever seen or expected to find at Locked Gates.
The poor, unfortunate girl was gowned in an old-fashioned, high-necked night-dress. A bit of yellowed crocheting finished the neck-line, no doubt the work of her grandmother, the dressmaker, who had been the seamstress for the Gates family.
“How do you do?” said Doris, smiling sweetly in an effort to be friendly at once.
“We are visiting here,” added Kitty, also making an effort to be cheerful and to put the cripple at ease with her most charming manner.
“It is a lovely sunny day, my dear. Let me raise the shade so that the light can come in and cheer up the room.” Doris raised the curtain which crinkled and creaked as the sunlight streamed into the bedroom in the attic.
“Now you can see the fleecy clouds,” chirped Doris, “and pretend you are floating and resting, honey, on one of those billowy boats up there in that deep, blue sea.”
Kitty laughed in a silvery, tinkling tone.
“I believe we could almost see Barry Manor today, the air is so clear and there is no sign of haze or fog to obstruct one’s view. I should have brought my field-glasses with me, Dory, and then we could see our Alma Mater, maybe!”
Doris could not restrain a laugh, so impossible did it appear to her that one could see miles and miles, even though the air were clear as crystal.
A smile, a bit wavering and uncertain, flickered about the crippled girl’s mouth, as she listened to these two young girls, dressed in white, smiling happily, and the sunlight touching their hair with gold.
“Won’t you talk to us, dear?” asked Kitty, moving closer toward the bedside.
“Yes, dearie,” urged Doris. “Tell us about yourself. We want to be your friends, and we want to make you happy.”
“You must be an angel,” she whispered in a tense voice. “Can you make me well? Can you give me new limbs?”
Gently Doris stroked the little hand and pushed the tangled hair from her face.
“We aren’t angels,” she said kindly. “We’re just girls and very human ones at that.”
“Girls?” Etta echoed blankly.
The word had no significance to her. All her life she had been shut away having been associated entirely with her parents and the Misses Gates. Her bed was not even by the window. Consequently, she had never been able to look down upon the street where children played.
“Don’t you get lonesome here all by yourself?” Doris asked the girl.
Etta nodded.
“Sometimes it seems as though I can’t stand it.”
“Perhaps we can arrange to take you downstairs some afternoon,” suggested Kitty hopefully.
“But I cannot walk!” Tears came into the sad eyes of Etta.
“Oh, don’t cry, dearie,” soothed Doris. “We easily could manage to take you down.”
“It would be fun, Etta.”
“And we have the cutest little dog we found. We call him Wags because he is so good-natured and wags his tail so much.”
Etta’s tears were gone, almost instantly, as this new world of cheer was opened to her by the girls.
“We’ll be your guardian angels. Would you be willing to have us come and help while away the lonesome hours?”
There was no time for further questions, for suddenly Doris and Kitty heard footsteps on the stairway.
Some one was coming!
“We’ll be caught!” Kitty whispered, starting quickly toward the door.
Doris caught her by the hand.
“We can’t make it! We must hide!”
Frantically, the girls looked about the room. They felt that they were trapped.
“The closet,” Doris hissed.
As they moved on tiptoe toward it, Etta held out her hands toward them.
“Don’t go away,” she begged, almost tearfully.
“Sh!” Doris warned. “Just be patient and your ‘angels’ will come back to see you again.”
With that she closed the door of the closet and the two girls crouched against the wall.
“She’ll be almost certain to give us away,” Kitty whispered fearfully. “What a mess we’re in now! Fancy trying to explain our way out of it!”
Scarcely daring to breathe naturally lest they be discovered, Doris and Kitty crouched in the dark closet. In their haste to hide they had left the door a trifle ajar and though this added to the risk of being detected, it was too late to close it tightly.
Already they could hear some one in the outer sitting room and a moment later the bedroom door was thrown open. Henry Sully came in. He seemed strangely excited and was out of breath from hurrying up the stairs so rapidly.
Peeping out through the crack of the door, the girls saw that he was carrying two long, fat envelopes in his hand.
Rushing across the room, with scarcely a glance directed at Etta, Henry pulled a heavy suitcase from under the bed. Opening it, he placed the two envelopes carefully in the bottom and folded clothing over them.
“Thought we never would find ’em,” the girls heard him mutter.
As he bent over to fasten the suitcase again, Etta plucked at his coat sleeve to attract his attention.
“Father,” she murmured, “I just saw two beautiful angels. They came here to see me.”
Inside the closet, Kitty and Doris gripped each others’ hands nervously. They feared that Etta was about to expose them. What Henry would do if he found them hiding there, they dared not think.
However, the man paid scant attention to what the crippled girl was saying. Impatiently he jerked away from her.
“Stop that silly prattling,” he commanded. “I’m sick of it!”
The girls were shocked at this cruel speech, but what followed left them even more stunned.
“You might as well know it now as later,” Henry told Etta viciously. “We’re tired of looking after you night and day. All you’re good for is to eat and make up fancy fairy tales about angels and the like. This is a hard world and it’s time you learned its ways. Cora and I are going to git out of here pretty soon and, when we do, you can shift for yourself!”
Etta stared at her father as though unable to comprehend what he had said. Then as it slowly dawned upon her that she was to be left to a cruel fate, a shudder convulsed her body. With a frightened cry, she caught Henry by the arm.
“Oh, don’t leave me alone,” she begged piteously. “Don’t leave me to die!”
“Let go!” Henry snarled, pushing her back upon the bed as she endeavored to sit up. “I tell you we’re through with you and it won’t do any good to be squawking about it!”
Shoving the suitcase under the bed with his foot, he turned toward the door. Etta stretched out her thin little arms and entreated him to come back. Henry laughed harshly and slammed the door shut.
Etta became almost hysterical in her grief. She wailed and sobbed and beat upon the pillow with her puny fists, but, if Henry heard, he was not in the least affected. Doris and Kitty could hear him hurrying down the stairs to the second floor.
Satisfied that the coast was clear, they quickly came out of their hiding place. Filled with compassion for Etta, they rushed to her bedside. As the girl saw them, she tried to stifle her sobs.
“There, dear,” Doris tried to comfort her, “don’t cry. We’ll see that no harm comes to you.”
“You won’t let my father go away and leave me?”
“Not unless you want him to,” Doris assured her gently. Under her breath she said to Kitty: “It would almost be better for her if he did leave.”
“She couldn’t have any worse care,” Kitty agreed.
As soon as they had quieted Etta and had made her more comfortable against the pillows, the girls cast an appraising glance about the room. The scene which they had just witnessed made them wonder anew what mischief Henry and Cora Sully were plotting.
“They are planning to get away from here,” Doris said to her chum in a low voice. “That suitcase under the bed was packed.”
“And everything has been taken from the closet,” Kitty added. “There’s Cora’s suitcase back of that couch.”
“It’s packed, too. That means they intend to leave soon. Kitty, we’ll have to keep our wits about us now. And the first thing to do is to get away from this room, before we’re caught.”
The girls had talked so rapidly and in such a low tone that Etta had not heard them, but now as she sensed that they were about to leave, she began to sob again. Doris dropped down on the bed and took her hand.
“You mustn’t cry,” she declared. “We’re only going away for a little while.”
“You’ll come back tomorrow?”
“Yes, and you must be careful not to say anything about having seen us. If you do, we may not be able to come.”
“I won’t tell,” Etta promised solemnly.
Hastily saying goodbye, the girls slipped out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the second floor. As they entered their own room they could hear Cora and Henry Sully moving about on the floor below.
“They certainly finished their housecleaning quickly enough,” Kitty observed.
Doris took care to close the door and then, dropping down on the bed beside her chum, regarded her soberly.
“It’s my candid opinion that was only an excuse, Kit. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were hunting for something in the Misses Gates’s rooms.”
“But what?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. Say! You don’t suppose it could have been those two envelopes he put in his suitcase?”
“It might have been.”
“Why didn’t we look in the suitcase when we were there? If Cora and Henry are stealing, we ought to know it!”
“We wouldn’t have discovered much if we had looked,” Kitty declared. “I noticed those envelopes were sealed.”
“Yes, that’s so. We really haven’t any excuse for opening sealed envelopes. If we did, it would be just our luck that whatever it was belonged to Henry after all.”
“He was up to some mischief today, Dory. You remember how guilty he looked when we met him on the stairs. And he’s the laziest man alive. It isn’t likely he’d start out to clean house unless he had been told to do it.”
“No, he was hunting for something, all right. I wonder if it could have been—”
She did not finish, for Kitty caught her by the hand and dragged her from the bed.
“The ruby ring!” she exclaimed. “Maybe that was what they were after!”
Anxiously she felt under the mattress and when her hand failed to touch the box, began to paw frantically at the blankets to get them out of the way.
“Here, don’t tear that bed to pieces,” Doris scolded. “Let me find the ring.”
She ran her hand under the mattress and to Kitty’s intense relief, brought forth the tiny box.
“I wish the Misses Gates had taken their ring,” she sighed. “I’ve lost five pounds since we started looking after it.”
“The ring is the least of my troubles just now,” Doris told her. “I’m convinced that Henry and Cora are involved in a plot against the Misses Gates, but just what it is I haven’t been able to fathom.”
“Hadn’t we better tell the ladies everything?”
“We’re in rather a delicate position, Kit. The Sullys are trusted servants and Azalea and Iris might believe them before they would us.”
“Then what are we going to do?”
“Let’s keep close watch of Cora and Henry and wait for them to show their hand. If they try to get away, we can expose them, and then if they’re caught red-handed, the Gates sisters will have to believe us.”
“That’s probably the best way,” Kitty agreed. Replacing the ring under the mattress, they went downstairs. They were just in time to see Ronald Trent driving away from the mansion after depositing the old ladies at their door.
Entering the living room, Azalea and Iris sank down into the nearest chairs without bothering to remove their hats. They appeared agitated and exhausted but offered no explanation for their condition. Doris and Kitty guessed that Ronald had wheedled money from them and perhaps had abused them for not giving him more.
“Ronald is coming back tomorrow,” Iris said presently, speaking to Doris. “You are quite sure your messenger will be here with the money?”
“Why, yes, I feel sure Jake will come. I sent word several days ago.”
“I am so glad,” Iris murmured in relief. “Ronald is leaving tomorrow and we must have the money ready for him or lose the inheritance.”
“I see,” murmured Doris thoughtfully.
“We probably won’t have his company much longer, then,” surmised Kitty, winking coyly at Doris.
Azalea stroked her forehead as if perplexed and perhaps a bit worried.
“I never dreamed that money need cause us such concern. We cannot afford to lose this inheritance now. I have so much faith in the son of John Trent. I want him to go away happy and satisfied that we have not failed him.”
Doris pricked up her ears at this bit of information. So Ronald was leaving, too! It seemed that affairs certainly were destined to come to a climax on the following day. How glad she was that she had asked Jake to come. If only he did not fail her!
On the following morning Doris and Kitty arose earlier than usual. They wandered about the grounds until time for breakfast, but when they were called to the dining room by Cora, the Misses Gates had not put in their appearance.
“You may as well sit down,” the housekeeper told them. “Things are getting cold and I’m in a hurry to get around this morning.”
“Really, we’d prefer to wait,” Doris told her. “It’s so unusual for the Misses Gates to be late. We’re usually the guilty ones.”
They were about to go outside again when they heard some one coming down the stairs. It was Azalea and the girls saw at once that she was dreadfully agitated. Iris came after her and she, too, was excited.
“Some one has been tampering with our things!” Azalea cried. “We have separate desks in our rooms. A few minutes ago when I went to get a check book from the pigeon hole, I found that everything had been rifled!”
“My desk is the same way,” Iris declared angrily.
“Was anything taken?” Doris questioned quietly.
“Yes, several important papers.”
Doris and Kitty, not greatly surprised at this news, glanced significantly at each other. The twins, observing them, regarded the girls rather sharply.
“Was any one here yesterday while we were gone?” Azalea questioned Cora who had remained in the room.
“No, ma’am. There wasn’t any one in that wing all day—except of course the young ladies.”
“What do you mean?” Doris demanded. “We never set foot in that part of the house.”
The housekeeper merely stared at them in feigned astonishment and shrugged her shoulders.
“I can’t understand who would want the papers,” Iris said quietly, but she looked queerly at Doris and Kitty. “Of course, the bonds may be more valuable than we thought.”
“In all the time I’ve been at the mansion nothing like this ever happened,” Cora murmured.
Kitty and Doris cast irritated glances at the housekeeper. They realized all too well that she was trying to build up an alibi for herself by calling attention to her past service.
“Perhaps it would clear up matters if you girls would tell the housekeeper what you were doing yesterday,” Azalea suggested in her gentle voice.
“Why—we weren’t doing much—of anything,” Kitty stammered.
The question embarrassed her. She could not very well tell the Misses Gates that she and Doris had taken it into their heads to explore every nook and cranny of the old mansion. It would appear to the ladies that they had abused their hospitality.
“We were in our room part of the time,” Doris said.
“And where were you the rest of it?” Cora demanded harshly.
“We weren’t in the left wing at any rate!” Doris retorted, with growing indignation.
Azalea and Iris, greatly disturbed, looked uncertainly from one to the other. They did not know what to say or how to handle the difficult situation.
“I’ll call Henry in,” Cora announced. “He can tell you where these girls were yesterday!”
She stepped to the door and called to her husband who was in the garden. He came readily and, as the girls had expected, corroborated Cora’s story.
“Right after you ladies went to the bank they said they were going for a walk,” he told the twins. “They started out but as soon as they thought they had thrown us off the track they stole back into the house. My wife and I heard them go into the left wing and knowin’ they had no business there we sort of listened. They went into your room, Miss Azalea, and closed the door. Later we heard ’em in the room adjoining.”
“Can this be true?” Azalea asked the girls, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion.
“No, of course it isn’t,” Doris returned.
“What isn’t true?” a loud voice demanded, and they all turned to see Ronald Trent standing in the doorway.
To the embarrassment of the girls he was quickly told of the accusation against them. They knew they could expect no help from him.
“There, there,” he said, masterfully throwing an arm around the shoulders of each of the ladies. “Don’t take on so about it. I’ll straighten this matter out in a minute for you. Just leave everything to me.”
“Oh, Ronald,” Iris murmured gratefully.
“We’re in such a muddle,” Azalea added, “and we don’t want to falsely accuse any one.”
“Of course not. Just let me handle this in my own way. Now, Cora and Henry are old servants, aren’t they?”
“Cora is the daughter of our former dressmaker,” Azalea explained. “She and her husband have been with us several years now.”
“Years! And how long have you known Doris Force and her friend?”
“Why, we never met them until a few days ago,” Iris answered reluctantly.
Ronald nodded in grim satisfaction.
“There you are!”
“You accuse your own cousin—” Iris began, but Ronald interrupted her.
“Yes, my first duty is to you and to Miss Azalea. I will not protect my own relatives at your expense!”
Goaded beyond endurance, Doris faced Ronald Trent defiantly.
“Call me no cousin of yours!” she cried. “I believe you’re nothing but a bluff!”
The man’s face went white with anger and for an instant Doris thought he meant to strike her. Instead he laughed harshly.
“Don’t say such things!” Azalea commanded sternly. “Ronald is the son of our dear friend, John Trent.”
“Let him prove it,” Doris cried.
“Young lady,” Ronald told her angrily. “The burden of proof is upon you. Prove that you didn’t take those papers!”
“All right, I will!” Doris announced with sudden decision. “I’ll tell you where the papers are!” At her words, Cora and Henry Sully recoiled a step, but the Misses Gates did not observe their guilty action.
“Tell us!” Azalea commanded.
“Yes,” Ronald echoed, but with less force. “Spin your fairy tale.”
Doris faced the three conspirators defiantly. She pointed an accusing finger at Henry.
“The papers are in his suitcase!”
“You lie!” Henry snarled.
“It’s the truth and you know it,” Kitty confirmed. “We can prove it!”
“How do you know the papers are in Henry’s suitcase?” Iris questioned doubtfully.
“Because we saw them there yesterday,” Doris declared.
“Ah, then you admit you were snooping around?” Ronald demanded triumphantly.
“We weren’t snooping,” Doris retorted indignantly. “We had a very good reason for going to the Sullys’ suite, and as it turns out, it was fortunate for the Misses Gates that we did.”
“You went to the Sully suite yesterday?” Azalea, gasped.
“Yes, we heard Etta crying and sobbing. We didn’t know what was wrong—”
“You saw Etta?” Iris asked.
She dropped weakly into a chair and for a moment looked as though she might faint.
“We thought no one in the world knew about her,” she said very low. “For her sake we have kept Cora and Henry here during all these years. What will the neighbors think if they learn it?”
“They shall never hear it from us,” Doris replied, “but we are unwilling to permit the Sullys to desert her.”
“You’re crazy!” Henry shouted. “We wouldn’t think of leaving her!”
“Then why are your suitcases packed?” Doris demanded.
Henry could not answer, and Ronald, seeing that the man was throwing suspicion upon himself, stepped again into the breach.
“All this talk is getting us nowhere,” he said. “Obviously, the girls took the papers from the desks and are only trying to save themselves.” He turned to the Misses Gates and a false note came into his voice. “Of course, I realize that you ladies regret this exceedingly and no doubt feel sorry for them. Under the circumstances I suggest that the matter be dropped without placing charges against them.”
“The matter will not be dropped!” Doris cried. “We’ll sift it to the bottom right now.”
“And the easiest way is to look in Henry’s suitcase,” Kitty added. “You’ll find the papers there!”
A less clever man than Ronald Trent would have lost his temper, for well he knew that he was treading upon dangerous ground. Realizing that the Misses Gates would judge him as much by his manner as by his words, he faced the girls with the calm and dignity of a judge.
“You are only trying to shield yourselves,” he told them sternly. “Your entire story has been a series of lies!”
“Stop!” cried Doris, throwing back her lovely head and looking her accuser straight in the eye. Kitty thought never had she seen her chum quite so beautiful, so courageously poised for one so inexperienced.
“I speak the truth!”
“I speak the truth,” Doris insisted indignantly, “and furthermore, Ronald Trent, I am convinced that you are nothing but an impostor. You are plotting with Henry and Cora Sully to swindle these people—out of everything!”
“Doris!” Iris remonstrated.
“She’s lost her mind!” Cora exclaimed.
Thoroughly aroused at the false accusations made against herself and her chum, Doris could not have remained quiet had she wished. However, she forced herself to speak calmly.
“You shall not have a cent of my money when Jake arrives with it,” she told Ronald.
“We shall see,” he returned, glaring back at her. “You have already lent the money to the Misses Gates and they have promised it to me. Haven’t you?”
Azalea and Iris, pale with excitement, nodded their heads miserably.
“We’ve given you nearly every cent we have of our own,” Iris admitted, “and we did promise you Doris’s money. We trusted you—and now these dreadful accusations.”
“What can you expect when you bring strangers into the house?”
“But we needed Doris’s help so much, Ronald,” Azalea protested, “and she isn’t the same as a stranger.”
“You are willing to accept her word against mine?”
“Oh, Ronald, please don’t take that attitude,” Iris pleaded. “We want to believe you both, but surely something is wrong.”
Ronald laughed shortly.
“I told you once I’d straighten out everything. Just send these intruders on their way.”
Azalea and Iris exchanged uneasy glances. They did not know what to do. For the sake of John Trent, the man they loved, they felt they could not be disloyal to his son, and yet they were reluctant to ask Doris and Kitty to leave, particularly as they had been given a special invitation to visit their home. The girls had told a very straightforward story, but on the other hand Cora and Henry were old servants.
“I don’t know what to do,” Iris murmured.
“There’s only one thing to do and that’s to send these girls packing,” Ronald told her firmly. “Let me handle this for you.”
“But we want those important papers back,” Azalea protested. “Tell us where they are.”
“How should I know?” Ronald demanded harshly. “These girls have probably hid them somewhere!”
“You know that isn’t true!” Doris snapped. “We’ve told you where you’ll find the papers, but apparently you’re afraid to look!”
Ronald scowled. He had been trying to induce the Misses Gates to send Doris and Kitty away before they thought of bringing up again the subject of the lost property. He realized that the girls had it in their power to place him in an extremely awkward position. He hoped to bluff his way through by appealing to the sympathies of the two ladies.
Cora and Henry paled as Doris reminded Azalea and Iris of the suitcase. The housekeeper trembled and clung to her husband for support.
“Just look at them,” Ronald declared. “They’re crushed at the accusation against their good names. Here they have served long and faithfully and now these girls try to brand them as thieves!”
“Oh, Ronald, we aren’t branding any one,” Iris said at the point of tears. “We only want to get at the truth.”