CHAPTER VIITEA IN THE COCOANUT GROVE
CHAPTER VII
TEA IN THE COCOANUT GROVE
Their beloved red automobile, companion in so many adventures and faithful friend in time of need, did not accompany the “Automobile Girls” to Palm Beach. But Mr. Stuart engaged another larger motor car with a chauffeur to run it, as soon as he arrived at the famous southern resort. He preferred Ruth to have a chauffeur at her command in case she needed him.
There was room in the new automobile for ten persons, and Mr. Stuart, Miss Sallie, the four “Automobile Girls,” the Countess Sophia and Madame de Villiers seated themselves in its cavernous depths. Then the car spun out along the famous Shell Road, lined on each side with the tall, delicate yucca plants. A fragrant southern breeze fanned the faces of the happy party. The sunlight was dazzling, the sky a deep blue. All about were masses of tropical vegetation that glittered in the sunshine.
“This place is truly heavenly,” exclaimed the Countess Sophia von Stolberg. She leanedback in the automobile and closed her eyes. “How could one help being happy, surrounded by all this beauty? I am indeed very happy to-day. Are you not happy, Cousine?” she murmured, taking Madame de Villiers’s hand and looking at her with a tender, loving expression. The older woman’s stern face softened.
“Very happy, my dear,” she declared. “This is not a place to remember one’s troubles.”
The countess’s face clouded at the word “troubles.” She began to say something in German, but checked herself. She was far too well-bred to speak any language but English before her new friends.
“Yes; this is a small sized heaven,” agreed Bab. “A kind of oasis in a desert, for over there are the Everglades.”
“And what are the Everglades?” inquired the countess.
“The guide-book says they are trackless jungle,” explained Bab. “They are full of wild animals; wild cats, and panthers, and deer. They have poisonous snakes in them, too. Very few white men ever venture in the Everglades, but the Indians have trails through them. They often kill deer in the jungle and sell them at the hotel.”
“It would not be pleasant to be lost in such a place,” suggested Mollie. She was thinkingof her own experience when she was lost in the forest in the Berkshire Hills.
“And it would not be easy to find you in the Everglades either, little sister,” rejoined Bab. “So please beware! Never go into the Everglades alone.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” laughed Mollie. “Being lost once was enough for me.”
“If you ever do disappear, Mademoiselle Mollie, the secret society will never rest until it finds you. We must be very faithful to each other, dear fellow members?” laughed the countess.
“I am sure we agree to that,” declared Ruth.
Walking along the road ahead of them, Barbara espied two figures.
“Do you know,” she demanded, “I believe those two people just in front of us are Maud Warren and her count.”
It really was Maud loitering along the road accompanied by the count.
“Stop our car, Robert,” ordered Miss Sallie.
Maud explained that her motor car had broken down some distance up the road. She and the count had decided to walk on. They hoped to be picked up by friends.
“Do you mean you were out motoring alone with the Count de Sonde?” inquired Miss Stuart severely.
“Why not?” answered Maud, looking insolently at Miss Sallie.
“Ah it is in this free America that one needs no chaperons,” said Madame de Villiers innocently, but with a gleam of mischief in her eyes.
Maud made no reply. Two angry spots glowed in her cheeks.
The countess now made up her mind to intercede. She did not wish Maud to fly into a rage.
“I have had a visit from your friends, the ‘Automobile Girls’, Miss Warren,” she said graciously. “Perhaps you will join them when they come to see me again.”
Maud favored the countess with a chilly stare.
Could it be that Mrs. De Lancey Smythe had been whispering tales about the countess in Maud’s ears? And had this stupid girl believed what she had heard? Ruth felt her heart thump with the embarrassment of the situation. What was Maud going to say? Strangely enough Madame de Villiers’ face held the same look of fear that Ruth’s did. Why should Madame de Villiers look frightened instead of angry?
But Maud never uttered the insult her lips were trying to frame. Spoiled and undisciplined child that she was, when she turned her sneering face toward the countess the words suddenly failed her. For the first time Maudfelt that money, after all, counted for little. There was something about this plainly dressed woman that suddenly made her feel mean and ashamed. Maud looked deep into the countess’s beautiful eyes, then answered with unaccustomed meekness. “Thank you so much. I should like to come to see you.”
In the meantime naughty Mollie was taking a slight revenge upon the count.
“You are quite athletic, are you not?” she asked him innocently, her baby blue eyes fastened on his.
“I, athletic?” exclaimed the little count in surprise. “Not very, Mademoiselle. Why do you ask?”
“Because you run so well,” Mollie answered, with a far-away look.
“You refer to this morning, I perceive, Mademoiselle,” expostulated the count. “I do not swim; therefore I ran for help. But there was no danger. Your sister was never in deep water. Yet it was a most effective scene. Doubtless the young lady will enjoy being a heroine.”
Mollie flushed. “Barbara would have been in danger if Marian had not helped to pull her and the child out of the water. And, by the way, Marian does not swim either.”
“Ah, Mademoiselle Marian? I saw herlater,” laughed the count. “How droll was her appearance and that of your sister also.”
Mollie heartily disgusted with the little count turned her back on him.
“Get into the motor car, both of you,” ordered Miss Sallie firmly.
A few minutes later their automobile reached the entrance to the cocoanut grove.
“Papa, let us stop here and have tea?” asked Ruth.
“A good idea, Ruth,” agreed Mr. Stuart, giving the chauffeur the order.
“I am very sorry,” interrupted the countess. “But I fear I cannot stop this afternoon.”
“Oh, please do, Countess!” urged Ruth and her friends. Even Maud’s voice was heard to join in the general chorus.
The countess hesitated. She looked at Madame de Villiers with questioning eyes. It was evident that the young countess also yearned for the pleasure of drinking tea under the cocoanut trees. Madame de Villiers shrugged her shoulders. She said something softly, so that no one else could hear. The countess dropped her white chiffon veil down over her face.
“After all, I cannot resist your invitation, Mr. Stuart,” the young woman agreed. “But may I ask you not to stay long?”
Presently Mr. Stuart’s party was seated around a large, rustic table in the beautiful cocoanut grove. Hundreds of other people, clad in white and light clothes, were seated at other tables. In the distance a band played. During the intermissions the listeners could hear the twittering and singing of multitudes of birds, which also sojourn for the winter at Palm Beach.
The countess was the object of many glances from the people near her, although she had not lifted the heavy chiffon veil from her face. She was a woman of rarely beautiful presence. There was something regal in the set of her small head on her graceful shoulders. Her gown and hat were extremely plain and she wore no jewels; but an atmosphere surrounded the lovely countess like an aura of sunlight, Ruth thought. She was very gentle and sweet, though there was something about her that suggested she could be equally stern if the situation required it. Ruth hoped never to incur her displeasure.
When tea was served the countess was obliged to throw back her veil.
Madame de Villiers looked at her disapprovingly. Then the old woman cast hurried glances about her, but was apparently satisfied.
As for the young countess, she took in a deepbreath of the warm, soft air laden with the scent of the orange blossoms. She let her eyes wander over the grove and smiled as a burst of music floated across to her.
“I am fascinated, enchanted!” she exclaimed. “Mr. Stuart, I thank you for the pleasure of this afternoon.”
There was always a slight formality in the young countess’s manner which kept people at a distance.
“Do not thank me, Countess,” protested Mr. Stuart. “You and Madame de Villiers are conferring an honor upon us.”
“Madame de Villiers and I are two lonely women,” continued the countess. “We have not seen the beauties of this place, except from our piazza. How exquisite this grove is! Truly, it is like paradise.”
Again the young woman’s gaze swept the tea garden. Suddenly her face turned white. She bit her lips, and sat as if turned to stone. Her eyes were fastened on a group of three men at a nearby table. Madame de Villiers had not noticed them. The men had not yet noticed the Stuart’s guests.
The countess dropped her veil quickly. Ruth and Mollie, sitting on each side of the countess, were the only members of the party who felt that something had happened, and they werewise enough to be absolutely silent. Only the girls’ eyes followed the direction of the countess’s. They, too, saw the three men, one of whom they recognized as Mr. Duval. The other two were strangers, foreign-looking men with waxed mustaches and light hair.
All at once Mollie felt her hand seized convulsively under cover of the table. But the little girl was not prepared for the special mark of confidence that the countess was now to bestow on her. As Mollie held the countess’s hand in her own, she felt a tap, tap in the centre of her palm. Like a flash Mollie remembered. The countess had given her the danger signal they had agreed upon the day before. Mollie looked quickly over at Maud Warren. She presumed the signal indicated that there was something the matter with Maud. But Maud was sitting quietly between Barbara and Grace Carter.
Then what could the countess mean? Could she be jesting? Mollie did not think so. Through the meshes of her white veil the face of the countess looked out very white and grave.
Mollie’s heart was beating fast. What could she say? What must she do? Of one thing she now felt sure. The beautiful Countess Sophia von Stolberg was threatened withtrouble. She should have all the aid that the “Automobile Girls” could give.
“I understand,” Mollie now whispered back to her in a low voice. “What shall I do?”
“I must leave the tea garden at once,” replied the countess quietly. “But I do not wish to be observed. Madame de Villiers must go with me, but I do not wish the party to break up. That would make us conspicuous.”
“Ruth and I will go with you. Don’t be worried; we will go quietly. Wait, I must speak to her.”
“Ruth,” Mollie spoke softly to her friend. “The countess wishes to go home without disturbing any one else. Shall we slip out with her, and see her home?”
“Why, of course,” answered Ruth politely, although she was somewhat mystified.
They were about to arise quietly from the table when they were interrupted. A waiter handed a note to Mr. Stuart. Mr. Stuart read it. His face turned very red.
Now, if there was one thing in particular that Robert Stuart loathed it was an anonymous letter. The message he had just received was not signed, and it read:
“Beware of the countess. She is an impostor.”
Mr. Stuart crushed the paper in his hand.
“Mr. Stuart,” said the low voice of the countess, just at this moment, “forgive my leaving so soon. But I must go at once. Mollie and Ruth are coming with me.” As the countess rose from her chair she glanced hastily at the three men at the table near them. These men had also risen. But they were not looking at the countess.
The young woman started hurriedly toward the gate. Madame de Villiers quickly followed her. So did Ruth, Mollie and Mr. Stuart.
“Please wait here until we come back for you,” Ruth said to her aunt.
Monsieur Duval had now crossed the space intervening between the two tables. He had seated himself next to Miss Sallie. The other two foreigners were moving toward the gate.
Ruth hurried on. She gave her order to the chauffeur. The man was soon cranking up the machine. The four women had taken their seats in the motor car. At this moment one of the strangers approached Mr. Stuart. The other took off his hat and bowed low to the countess. He spoke to her in German, but her reply was given in English. It was very plain. “I do not know you,” she said.
The man spoke again. This time his manner was insolent. Madame de Villiers’s face grew dark with rage.
“Hurry!” called Ruth to her chauffeur. Mr. Stuart sprang into the automobile.
The machine sped on leaving the two strangers standing alone in the road.
“Do not worry, Cousine,” the countess murmured in the course of their ride. “The man who spoke to me made a mistake. You will frighten our friends if you are so angry.”
Madame de Villiers said nothing. But there was fire in her small shining black eyes. Her beaked nose looked as though it might peck at the next offender.
Mr. Stuart and the two girls left the countess and her companion at their villa. The two women were now composed. Indeed, the countess made Ruth and Mollie promise that the “Automobile Girls” would come to see her again the next day.
Mollie and Ruth could not help puzzling over the countess as they rode back to the cocoanut grove. Mr. Stuart kept his own counsel.
“I am certain there is some mystery about the countess,” Ruth avowed. “But, whatever the mystery is, the ‘Automobile Girls’ are on her side!”