He pushed Nan from him with such force that she stumbled and fell. (See page 216)He pushed Nan from him with such force that she stumbled and fell. (See page216)
A familiar shout roused Nan, and she sat up, pushing the hair back from her face, and instinctively straightened her dress. She picked up her hat, which had fallen off when she fell, and she pushed this down over her soft hair as she stumbled to her feet.
She answered the familiar hail, and in another moment she saw Walter running toward her, looking very anxious and upset. But when the youth saw her face he stood still, staring at her stupidly.
"Why, Nan!" he cried, "what is it? You—why, you've been crying!"
"W-with rage," said Nan, a sob rising in her throat. "It's those men, Walter. They searched me! Oh, I'll never get over it—never!"
This time she broke down completely and Walter ran to her, putting a protecting arm about her, glancing about him at the same time as if he hoped to see the men who had frightened her and wreak vengeance then and there.
"Searched you! Who?" he demanded; then, beforeshe could speak, he added as though answering his own question: "It was those men, Nan. You told me. Where are they? Quick! Which way did they go?"
But Nan only shook her head and clung to him a little as though she found comfort in his being there.
"You couldn't catch them—they have had too much of a start," she said. Then, with a shudder of remembrance, she drew herself from Walter's grasp and looked at him wildly. "Walter!" she cried. "There are all our bags in the auto—Mrs. Bragley's papers—and those—those—beasts around loose! Oh—oh——" Before she had finished she had started toward the road on a run with Walter in close pursuit.
They met the rest of the anxious party on the way, but nothing less than an earthquake could have stopped Nan then. She waved to them and Walter shouted something unintelligible as he raced past, and they had nothing else to do but to follow the young lunatics—for that is what they called them.
When Mr. and Mrs. Mason and the girls arrived at the spot where they had left their car they found Walter and Nan sitting on the running board and Nan holding something in her hand which she waved wildly at them.
"They're safe! They're safe!" she called, asRhoda, Grace and Bess ran up to her and then stopped short at the disheveled picture she made.
"Why, Nan Sherwood!" began Bess, amazed, "what——"
"Why, Nan, you've been crying!" exclaimed Rhoda, running forward and putting a protecting arm about her friend.
"You needn't remind me of it," said Nan with a hysterical little sob. "I may start again."
"But, Nan dear, something very dreadful must have happened to make you cry so," said Mrs. Mason gravely. "We have been worried about you."
Nan told them all about it, with little catches of her breath in between, while her listeners grew more and more agitated and Bess wanted to hire a dozen detectives immediately and give chase.
"So they gave you forty-eight hours, did they?" asked Mr. Mason, his mouth tightening in a grim line. "Well, I'll give them just twenty-four hours before they land in jail. Come on, let us get back to the town. I want to set some wheels in motion."
"But let us look for the rascals ourselves first," pleaded Walter. "They may not have run off as far as you think."
"Well, it won't do any harm to take a look around," said Mr. Mason.
He and his son went back into the orange grove and there spent the best part of half an hour tryingto get some trace of Nan's assailants. They found some footprints and followed these, but presently the marks were lost in crossing a brook.
Some men working in the far end of the orange grove came up and wanted to know what was the matter.
"You ought to get some bloodhounds on their trail," said one when they had told their story. "Nothing like them dogs to trail a man."
"We haven't any bloodhounds and we haven't any time to get them," replied Mr. Mason.
"We might offer a reward for their capture," suggested Walter.
"We'll do that—if the authorities cannot aid us," said his father.
"Those rascals ought to be hung, Dad."
"I wouldn't say hung, Walter. But they ought to be severely punished. I fear they have scared Nan so she will not enjoy her visit to Florida."
"You had better take those papers, Dad."
"I think so myself. I can't understand why Nan kept them."
"Oh, some of the other girls thought she'd be afraid to keep them, and she wanted to show them that she wasn't afraid. But now I guess she had better give them up."
The search was continued for a while longer and then father and son returned to the others. Then all set out for town.
The girls plied Nan with questions on the way back, but she was too worn out with her terrible experience to answer them. The reaction was upon her, and all she wanted to do was crawl off in a corner somewhere and think things out.
They found the only hotel in Sunny Slopes, and, under Mr. Mason's expert management, were soon comfortably installed in a suite of rooms on the second floor.
"You must rest a bit, Nan," said Mrs. Mason kindly. "If you don't you may get sick."
"Oh, I can't rest," declared the girl.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Mason made her lie down, and presently Nan dropped off into a troubled doze. In the meanwhile Mr. Mason, followed by Walter, had raced off to interview the authorities.
When Nan opened her eyes she found the other girls impatiently waiting to speak to her.
"Goodness! I thought you were going to sleep forever," said Bess, as she saw with relief that Nan's eyes were open. Rhoda, who had been moving around in the other room, came to the door and peeped in.
"And here we've been waiting all this time to tell you the news," said Grace plaintively.
"News! What news?" asked Nan, still heavy with sleep.
"Who do you suppose is here?" asked Bess, then went on eagerly without waiting for an answer."It's Linda, Nan. And she has Cora Courtney with her. We met them in the hall just now."
"I don't think Linda would have spoken to us, and I'm sure we weren't going to," Grace took up the story, "but Cora stopped, and so Linda really had to. I imagine they are none too friendly from the way they acted to each other."
"It's strange we haven't seen Cora but once before if she has been with Linda all the time," Bess added excitedly, for this new development had evidently quite driven Nan's trouble from her mind. "We've seen Linda innumerable times."
"Probably Linda has been making more of a lady's maid of Cora than usual," said Nan, putting a hand to her forehead, which was beginning to throb dully. "And lady's maids aren't very often seen with their mistresses, you know."
"But what I can't understand," said Rhoda thoughtfully from the doorway, "is why they didn't stay at Palm Beach. I should like to know what they are doing here."
"Following me, probably," said Nan, sitting up in bed with a wry little laugh. "People seem to be getting in the habit!"
Nan dressed a little while after that and went downstairs for dinner, although her head was still aching painfully.
The attack in the orange grove and the rascals' threat to Nan had now thoroughly aroused Mr.Mason, and he had been out all afternoon while Nan slept, making inquiries and setting wheels in motion.
For the short time he had been at work on the case he had made really remarkable strides. He had found out first of all, through an attorney in Sunny Slopes, that Mrs. Bragley's papers were perfectly legal and that she owned a sixth interest in the orange grove, which was worth a little over thirty thousand dollars. This gave the widow five thousand dollars—a veritable fortune to the poor woman.
"I'll write to her to-night," Nan declared, even forgetting the ache in her head in her pleasure at the good news. "Mr. Mason, I think you are wonderful!"
"No, I'm not, my dear," Mr. Mason denied grimly. "If I had been I should have landed those rascals who attacked you and that crooked Pacomb who employed them in jail before to-night."
"Pacomb!" repeated Nan breathlessly, while the others looked interested. "Jacob Pacomb. Why, he's the man I told you about who sold the property to Mrs. Bragley."
"You said he was crooked, Dad," said Walter with interest. "How do you know?"
"I've made inquiries," said Mr. Mason significantly. "And I've found out that people out here don't think very much of Mr. Jacob Pacomb and his business methods. I haven't the slightest doubtin the world," he added earnestly, "but what Pacomb has been behind all these attempts to get the papers from you, Nan."
"Can't you arrest him?" Grace asked breathlessly. "Of course you can!"
"I can as soon as I prove that he's a thief," her father answered.
Bess, Grace and Rhoda slept well that night, for they were tired out with excitement, but Nan scarcely closed her eyes. Again and again the incidents of the day came vividly back to her and she would start up nervously at the slightest sound.
When morning came she was white and big-eyed, and the girls were shocked when they saw her.
"For goodness' sake, Nan Sherwood," Bess scolded, all the time hovering anxiously over her, "I always said that that old woman's horrible papers would be the death of you, and from the way you look this morning I guess I'm a good prophet. Here we come to Florida for a good time, and look what we get!"
"You do look all worn out, honey," said Rhoda, putting an arm about her chum. "Come down on the porch for a little while in the sunshine. It will do you good."
"I'm all right," protested Nan. "I just have a little headache, that's all."
"And no wonder, after all those old papers have made you go through," grumbled Bess, as she followedthe girls out into the hall. "I'm only surprised that we are not all dead by this time."
"Now all that we need to make us completely happy," chuckled Nan, recovering a little of her old spirits, "is to meet dear Linda. She always has such a pleasant effect upon people."
"Oh, we'll meet her all right, don't worry," said Bess gloomily. "She always turns up when she is least wanted."
After breakfast, Walter, shocked and worried as were all the rest over Nan's appearance, suggested that he take her and the other girls, if they wanted to go, for a little ride in the automobile.
Bess refused on the ground that she had to write some letters, but the other three said they would go. Mr. Mason had taken charge of Mrs. Bragley's papers, so that there was that much less for Nan to worry about. She was thankful for this, as she rather listlessly climbed into the back seat with Grace and Rhoda.
"Let's go, Walter," she said, as she sank back luxuriously into her corner. "And I don't very much care if we never get back."
Meanwhile, Bess was having an adventure all by herself. She went up to her room after the girls left and dutifully wrote two letters, one to her father and one to her mother.
Then, having had enough of duty for the present, she yawned and stretched and wondered whenWalter and the girls were coming back—or whether they intended to stay all day.
Then an impish sprite of mischief whispered in her ear and her eyes danced merrily. On that chance meeting with Cora and Linda in the hall Cora had told her and Grace that they were staying in a suite of rooms on the third floor, and had asked them to come to see her and Linda.
And now, to while away the time till the girls' return, Bess proposed to take advantage of Cora's invitation and call upon her—and Linda.
She slipped along the hall, ran up the stairs to save waiting for the elevator, and finally found the door, the number of which Cora had given her some time before.
She heard voices raised in altercation within, and paused before knocking. Then she heard Nan's name spoken in Linda's unpleasant tones, and, quite unintentionally, she stood a moment playing eavesdropper.
"I tell you, she is a thief!" Linda was saying, in a voice that showed she was in one of her frequent rages. "Nan Sherwood has been acting funny ever since she came to Palm Beach, and that's why I've followed her here to see what she is up to."
"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Cora shot back, and Bess was curiously reminded of the turning worm. "I don't believe Nan Sherwood is any thief. I think she's a mighty nice girl. And every time Ithink of the mean trick you played on her, and how you nearly wrecked the school as well——"
Bess drew in a sharp breath and immediately came to her senses. She knocked loudly on the door, but the raised voices of the girls within drowned the sound.
Linda had turned on Cora in a fury.
"You take that back," she shrilled. "If you dare tell anybody about my wrecking that steam plant——"
But Bess, unable to contain herself another moment, tried the knob, felt the door yield, and burst in upon the astonished girls.
"Oh!" she cried triumphantly, "I knew I couldn't be wrong! It was you, Linda, after all!"
It was lucky for Bess that Linda's father happened in at that moment, for Linda, in her rage at thus being found out, looked as though she would like to tear her enemy limb from limb.
As for Cora, she gave one horrified look at Bess, burst into tears, and fled from the room.
Mr. Riggs, who was not at all the pompous, conceited man that the girls at Lakeview Hall had come to think him, looked after Cora for a moment in surprise, then turned smilingly back to the two girls and asked Linda to introduce him to her friend.
For one electric moment it looked as though Linda were about to refuse. Then what little common sense she had coming to her rescue, she sullenly did as she was bid and Mr. Riggs began to ask a few casual questions of Bess about how she liked Florida, if she had been there before, and other questions, which Bess answered mechanically. Her eyes were upon Linda as she stood at a window with her back to the room, her fingers beating a nervous tattoo on the windowsill.
At last Bess managed to break away and was starting toward the door when she was surprised to find that Linda was following her.
The girl stopped her at the door, and Bess thought she had never seen any one as subdued and beaten as Linda looked at that moment.
"Please, Bess," she begged, lowering her voice so that her father would not hear, "don't tell on me! No one at Lakeview Hall knows that I—I did that. And no one will unless you tell them. Please, Bess!"
"N-no, I won't tell," said Bess hesitantly. "If was a horrible thing for you to do, Linda, and Dr. Beulah ought to know. But I—I'm not a tattle-tale."
Then she fled down the hall, down the stairs, and into her room again.
She told the story to the girls and Walter that night, and they listened in amazement.
"Well!" said Grace. "And to think that Cora would be the one to give Linda away."
"I don't know about promising not to tell Doctor Beulah," said Nan thoughtfully. "It seems to me she ought to know——"
"Well, you tell her then," suggested Rhoda.
"Oh, I couldn't!" Nan flashed back indignantly, and Rhoda laughed at her.
"You see!" she said.
"Well," sighed Grace, "it's of no use to worryabout it now, anyway. We can't do a thing till we get back to Lakeview Hall."
When Mr. Mason came in that night they questioned him eagerly, but he had no real news to tell them. He had been able to prove nothing definite against Jacob Pacomb, and as yet had found no trace of the men who had so frightened Nan.
And Nan, away down in her heart, was still frightened, there could be no doubt of that. The man had threatened her, had given her forty-eight hours to turn over the papers, and more than twenty-four hours of that time had already passed! If they did not succeed in tracing the scoundrels and handing them over to justice in the next twenty-four hours, what might not happen!
Both Rhoda and Grace shared her uneasiness, and lazy Bess grumbled mightily at the loss of sleep consequent upon it. There is no doubt but what the girls would have rested a great deal easier that night had they known that a house detective, well paid for his services, kept watch outside Nan's door till dawn crept in at the windows.
"I wish both of the men were in Greenland," grumbled Bess.
"Yes, and without anything to eat or drink and freezing to death," added Rhoda.
"I can't understand why the authorities can't catch them," put in Grace. "They have a very good description of them."
"Maybe they have left Florida," said Nan.
"Oh, if only they have," cried Bess. "But I am afraid there is no such luck."
It was a weary-eyed quartette of girls that made its way down to the dining-room that morning, and breakfast was eaten in gloomy silence.
Walter eyed the girls with a mixture of humor and sympathy, and once he turned to his father with a grin.
"I say, Dad," he chuckled, "if something isn't done to-day about this business, I'm afraid the girls will be dead by night. They look half gone already."
After breakfast they wandered into the lobby of the hotel to see if there was any mail for them. Nan had not heard from Papa Sherwood or Momsey for almost a week, and she was beginning to feel neglected indeed. If only she could have them with her now, to advise and help her in this predicament!
"Here's a letter for you, Nan," Grace interrupted her rather unhappy thoughts. "And here's another, with a Lakeview postmark. Must be from one of the girls at school. One for you, too, Rhoda. Looks like Procrastination's handwriting."
Just then Bess made a funny little sound, half gasp and half exclamation, and they turned to her. Bess's face was white and her hand shook as she grasped Nan's arm.
"Look at those men!" she whispered, and thoughit was only a whisper it went through Nan like a knife. "Over there—crossing the lobby! Nan! Oh, what are you doing? Don't, Nan, he may shoot you! Nan!"
But Nan was already running across the lobby, unmindful of staring eyes, all her fear turned to anger at these men who dared appear in public after the cowardly attack they had made upon her. She darted in front of them and blocked their way, her eyes blazing and her body tense.
The short, fat man started at sight of her and drew back. But black rage darkened his companion's face and he made a gesture as though to push Nan out of the way. He might have done it, too, and made his escape easily, for the curious people who had gathered in the lobby seemed paralyzed with amazement, had not Rhoda suddenly appeared at her chum's side, a little flame of white-hot indignation.
"Don't dare touch her!" she cried fiercely. "You've done enough—you—you——"
"Here, here, what's this?" asked an authoritative voice, and a big burly man, an assistant manager of the hotel, pushed his way through the gathering crowd.
"These girls are crazy," cried the tall man, turning furiously upon the newcomer, while his fat companion took out an immense silk handkerchief and nervously wiped his forehead. "If you don'tget them out of the way and lock them up, I'll sue your place——"
"Officer, arrest those men!"
Clear and startling, the voice rang out above the confusion, and the two men, without waiting to see who their new enemy was, made a dash for the open door, which was still only defended by Nan and Rhoda.
But the hotel man was quicker than they. He sprang before them and pushed them back into the crowd, which opened to admit them and closed around them again, making escape utterly impossible.
For a moment, Nan and Rhoda, left outside of the circle around the men, could see nothing of what happened. But presently Mr. Mason—it was he who, coming suddenly upon the scene in the lobby, had demanded the arrest of the men—pushed his way through the crowd and beckoned to Nan. She went with him, and Rhoda followed close behind. Grace and Bess had already pushed their way into the crowd.
The house detective, who had been in consultation with Mr. Mason when the thing happened, had taken the two men into custody. The tall, thin scoundrel, who had appeared in Nan's dreams for many restless nights, stood there sullenly, glowering around fiercely at the curious faces while his companion used his handkerchief more vehemently andseemed to be growing more nervous with every minute that passed.
"Can you swear that these are the men who attacked you in an orange grove near here yesterday and demanded of you certain papers which were not in your possession?" the detective gravely asked of Nan.
"Yes, sir," answered the girl eagerly. Walter had slipped up beside her and was holding her hand in a comforting grip, but she did not know it.
"Can you also testify that they have attempted to obtain possession of these papers at various other occasions during the last two or three weeks?" the man went on, and this time Nan only nodded.
"Well," said the detective, turning grimly to his prisoners, while the crowd, not having the slightest idea what the commotion was about, but with a keen love of the dramatic, edged closer, "I reckon the little lady's testimony is sufficient to send you two up for quite a little vacation."
"Wait a minute, officer," whined the fat man, in spite of his companion's attempt to stop him. "You want Jacob Pacomb. He's the man who got us into this mess."
"So you've turned stool pigeon, too, as well as crook?" drawled the detective, while Nan and Mr. Mason exchanged a triumphant look. "Yes, I reckon we do want Jacob Pacomb, too. We've been wanting him for a long while. But since this is thefirst chance we've had to get the goods on him, we won't waste any time doing it. Will one of you gentlemen call up the police station?"
Mr. Mason nodded, and the crowd opened to make way for him.
But at the mention of the police station, the fat man broke down completely and, evidently nursing some false hope that by telling all he knew he might get off easy himself, he babbled unceasingly until the police patrol drew up before the door. His companion stood off by himself, with apparently no interest whatever in the proceedings.
"Fine," said the detective, rising and patting the short man on the back as two policemen made their way into the lobby and saluted him. "Now you can tell the rest of your story to the judge. Will you come with us, sir?" he asked, turning to Mr. Mason as the policeman took the men in charge. "We may need your testimony to round up Jacob Pacomb."
Mr. Mason nodded, but paused for a moment on his way to the door to speak to Nan.
"Everything's fine," he said, beaming down upon her. "We'll get this Pacomb where we want him, and then your troubles—and Mrs. Bragley's—will be over, Nan. Tell you all about it when I get back."
Nan smiled back at him, and then as the crowd, its curiosity satisfied, began to disperse, she sank down into one of the comfortable chairs and lookedweakly up at her excited chums. Then for the first time she noticed Walter—and the fact that he was holding her hand.
"Where did you get it?" she asked.
"What?"
"My hand?"
Walter chuckled and answered slyly:
"I took it when you weren't looking."
She smiled at him weakly—but it was rather a satisfying smile.
"Oh, I'm so excited," said Grace, looking from Walter to Nan. "Just think, Nan! Everything happened just like a story."
"Well, I must say," said Bess emphatically, "that for my part I'm glad it's over. I may be able to sleep to-night without expecting to be stabbed in the back."
"Goodness! they weren't after you," said Nan practically. "I was the—the——" she paused for a word and Walter obligingly supplied it.
"Goat?" he asked.
"Goat," she agreed with a smile.
"Oh, but you were wonderful, Nan," said Grace worshipfully. "I never would have had the courage to face those men the way you did."
"But if it hadn't been for Rhoda, they might have got away even then," said Nan generously, and Rhoda flushed with pleasure.
"I'm glad if I helped at all," the girl from Rose Ranch said modestly.
It was not till the girls were alone in their roomthat they remembered the unopened morning mail. Nan had been holding her letters tight in her hand through all the excitement. They opened them without much interest, for even letters could hardly hope to compete with the excitement of this morning.
One of Nan's letters was from Momsey, and she put it away with a tender smile, for she always saved the best till the last. Then she opened the other letter, which was from Laura Polk, and immediately her indifference changed to interest.
In the letter, which Nan read aloud, Laura recounted excitedly to Nan how Dr. Prescott had found that Linda was responsible for the wrecking of the steam plant and that Linda's father would undoubtedly be asked to pay the bill for repairs.
"Does she say how they found out?" questioned Bess quickly.
"One of the servants saw Linda down there with some rope. She was taken sick and went home for a while, and did not know anything about the trouble at the school. But she is well now and ready to go back to her work, and in talking to Doctor Beulah the story came out."
"I'm mighty glad Doctor Beulah knows," said Bess. "I don't suppose any of us could have told on Linda, but she deserved to be found out—the horrid thing."
"I don't suppose Linda can help her disposition,"said Grace mildly. "I heard mother say once that she was her own worst enemy."
"I suppose she is," said Rhoda skeptically. "But that doesn't make us like her any better!"
Then Nan put down Laura's letter and turned to Momsey's. It was a long, long letter, and she read it over twice.
"Dear Momsey!" she murmured to herself. "How much I will have to tell you when I see you again!"
A few hours later Mr. Mason came back with the news that Jacob Pacomb had been arrested for the crooked swindler that he was.
It seemed that at the time he had sold the property to Mrs. Bragley's husband, Pacomb had made five other grants, and, now that the property had proved more valuable than he had hoped for, he was trying underhand means to recover it.
The men who had made life miserable for Nan for the last few weeks and had almost wrecked Bess's temper and who were now gracing twin cells in prison, were simply agents of Pacomb's.
"So now everything is settled happily," Mr. Mason finished. "We can go back to Palm Beach whenever the spirit moves us."
The spirit did not move them for several days, however, for Sunny Slopes was a pretty place and the surrounding country beautiful. Also Nan had telegraphed the joyful news to Mrs. Bragley and,since she had given the address of the hotel where they were staying, she was eager to receive a letter in answer from the widow before they went back to the Royal Poinciana.
"Although I do hope she writes soon," she had confided to Walter. "For I am really getting homesick for Palm Beach again."
The girls went to see Linda the day after Nan received Laura's letter, but found that she and Cora had left without leaving word of any kind for any of them.
"Poor Cora!" Bess said, as they made their way down to the street. "I guess she hasn't had any easy time of it since she let the cat out of the bag to me about Linda."
At last the expected letter came from Mrs. Bragley, and the girls gathered around Nan eagerly as she read it aloud. One had only to read the first line to tell that the old woman was overjoyed at her good fortune. The letter fairly overflowed with gratitude to Nan for what she had done.
"It has lifted a weight from my shoulders, my dear, such as you will never know," the letter finished. "At least I hope and pray that you may not. And if the time ever comes when you need help, don't be afraid to come to a lonely old woman, who will be proud and happy to pay back a little of the debt she owes you."
"It has lifted a weight from my shoulders, my dear, such as you will never know," the letter finished. "At least I hope and pray that you may not. And if the time ever comes when you need help, don't be afraid to come to a lonely old woman, who will be proud and happy to pay back a little of the debt she owes you."
"That's worth every disagreeable thing we went through, isn't it, girls?" Nan asked, looking up at them with shining eyes. "Isn't it wonderful to be able to make somebody just a little bit happier because they have met you?"
"Maybe that's why we are all so happy," said Bess gaily, flinging her arms about her chum. "Because we have you, Nan Sherwood."
"Now with Nan's villains and Linda off our minds," drawled Rhoda, sinking lazily down into the depths of a big chair, "we ought to be able to enjoy ourselves."
"Will we!" cried Grace softly. "Just you watch us!"
The next morning they started back for Palm Beach. Walter asked Nan to ride with him, and she surprised herself as much as him by accepting the invitation.
She was feeling joyously care-free and venturesome this morning, and it was wonderful to be beside Walter in the car with the sweet wind rushing by and the country unfolding in tropical luxuriance at every turn.
"Oh, Walter, aren't you glad you're alive?" she asked of the youth at her side.
Walter's eyes were happy as he turned to her.
"You said it," he answered fervently.
Just then Bess, in the car ahead, looked back at them. Was it only Nan's imagination again or didthe look seem to say, more plainly than any words could have done:
"Nan Sherwood, what did I tell you?"
But Nan just then did not care what Bess thought. She was very happy and that being so she meant to enjoy herself thoroughly during the remainder of her stay in Florida.
And now, with many good times still in store for them at Palm Beach, we will say good-bye to Nan Sherwood and her chums.
THE END