CHAPTER XVI.
A MATTER OF SPECULATION.
Old Hucks, still smiling, but dreadfully nervous over the discovery ofJoe, and Mr. Merrick's sudden activity in the boy's behalf, speedilyharnessed Daniel and induced the reluctant steed to amble down the pathto the cabin. Leaning on Uncle John's arm, the invalid walked to thebuggy and was assisted to mount to the seat beside Thomas. Then awaythey started, and, although Dan obeyed Hucks more willingly than anyother driver, the Major and Uncle John walked 'cross-lots and reachedthe hotel a good fifteen minutes in advance of the equipage.
The Millville Hotel depended almost entirely for patronage upon thecommercial travelers who visited the place periodically to sell goods tothe merchants, and these did not come too often, because trade was neververy energetic and orders never very large. Bob West boarded at thehotel, and so did Ned Long, a "farm hand," who did sundry odd jobs foranyone who needed him, and helped pay his "keep" by working for Mrs.Kebble when not otherwise engaged.
Mrs. Kebble was the landlady, and a famous cook. Kate Kebble, aslatternly girl of sixteen, helped her mother do the work and waited onthe table. Chet Kebble, the landlord, was a silent old man, withbilly-goat whiskers and one stray eye, which, being constructed ofglass, usually assumed a slanting gaze and refused to follow thedirection of its fellow. Chet minded the billiard-room, which was mostlypatronized Saturday nights, and did a meager business in fire insurance;but he was "so eternal lazy an' shifless," as Mrs. Kebble sharplyasserted, that he was considered more a "hanger-on" of the establishmentthan its recognized head.
The little rooms of the hotel were plainly furnished but maintained withexceptional neatness.
The one in the east corner of the second floor met with the approval ofUncle John and the Major, and was promptly engaged. It was cheerful andsunny, with outlooks on the lake and the village, and contained a loungeas well as the bed.
When the invalid arrived, he was assisted to this apartment andinstalled as its permanent occupant.
"Any baggage?" asked Mr. Merrick.
"There's a small trunk lying at the Junction," said Joe; "but itcontains little of importance."
"Well, make yourself at home, my boy, and get well at your leisure,"remarked Uncle John. "Mrs. Kebble has promised to look after you, andthe Major and I will stop in now and then and see how you progress."
Then he went out, engaged Nick Thorne to go to the Junction for theboy's trunk, and selected several things at the store that he thoughtmight be useful to the invalid. Afterward he marched home again besidethe Major, feeling very well pleased with his morning's work.
When the girls reached home late in the afternoon, they were thrown intoa state of great excitement by the news, briefly related by their uncle,that Joseph Wegg had returned to Millville "considerably smashed" by anautomobile accident, and was now stopping at the village hotelfor repairs.
They refrained from making remarks upon the incident until they werealone, when the secret council of three decided to make Joe Wegg'sacquaintance as soon as possible, to discover what light the young manmight be able to throw upon the great mystery.
"Do you know, girls," said Louise, impressively, "it almost seems as iffate had sent Joe Wegg here to be an instrument in the detection of themurderer and robber of his poor father."
"If Joe knew about it, why didn't he track the villain down himself?"inquired Patsy.
"Perhaps he hasn't suspected the truth," said Beth. "Often those who areclosely concerned with such tragedies do not observe the evidences ofcrime as clearly as outsiders."
"Where did you get that information?" demanded Patsy.
"From one of Anna Doyle Oppenheim's detective stories," answered Beth,seriously. "I've been reading up on such things, lately."
"Detective stories," said Louise, reflectively, "are only useful inteaching us to observe the evidences of crime. This case, for example,is so intricate and unusual that only by careful thought, and followingeach thread of evidence to its end, can we hope to bring the criminalto justice."
"That seems to me conceited," observed Miss Doyle, composedly."Detective stories don't have to stick to facts; or, rather, they canmake the facts to be whatever they please. So I don't consider them asuseful as they are ornamental. And this isn't a novel, girls; it'smostly suspicion and slander."
"You don't seem able to be in earnest about anything," objected Beth,turning a little red.
"But I try to be." said Patricia.
"We are straying from the subject now under discussion," remarkedLouise. "I must say that I feel greatly encouraged by the suddenappearance of the Wegg boy. He may know something of his father's formerassociates that will enable us to determine the object of the murder andwho accomplished it."
"Captain Wegg was killed over three years ago," suggested Miss Doyle,recovering easily from her rebuff. "By this time the murderer may havedied or moved to Madagascar."
"He is probably living within our reach, never suspecting that justiceis about to overtake him," asserted Louise. "We must certainly go tocall upon this Wegg boy, and draw from him such information as we can. Iam almost certain that the end is in sight."
"We haven't any positive proof at all, yet," observed Patsy, musingly.
"We have plenty of circumstantial evidence," returned Beth. "There isonly one way to explain the facts we have already learned, and thetheory we have built up will be a hard one to overthrow. The flight ofCaptain Wegg to this place, his unhappy wife, the great trouble that oldNora has hinted at, the--"
"The great trouble ought to come first," declared Louise. "It is thefoundation upon which rest all the mysterious occurrences following, andonce we have learned what the great trouble was, the rest will beplain sailing."
"I agree with you," said Beth; "and perhaps Joseph Wegg will be able totell us what the trouble was that ruined the lives of his parents, aswell as of Old Hucks and his wife, and caused them all to flee here tohide themselves."
It was not until the following morning that the Major found anopportunity to give the confederates a solemn wink to indicate he hadnews to confide to them. They gathered eagerly on the lawn, and he toldthem of the finding of Joe Wegg in the isolated cabin, and how oldThomas and Nora, loving the boy as well as if he had been their ownchild, had sacrificed everything to assist him in his extremity.
"So ye see, my avenging angels, that ye run off the track in the Hucksmatter," he added, smiling at their bewildered faces.
Patsy was delighted at this refutation of the slanderous suspicions thatThomas was a miser and his smiling face a mask to hide his innatevillainy. The other girls were somewhat depressed by the overthrow ofone of their pet theories, and reluctantly admitted that if Hucks hadbeen the robber of his master and old Will Thompson, he would not havestriven so eagerly to get enough money to send to Joe Wegg. But theypointed out that the old servant was surely hiding his knowledge ofCaptain Wegg's past, and could not be induced to clear up that portionof the mystery which he had full knowledge of. So, while he might bepersonally innocent of the murder or robbery, both Beth and Louise wereconfident he was attempting to shield the real criminal.
"But who is the real criminal?" inquired Patsy.
"Let us consider," answer Louise, with the calm, businesslike tone sheadopted in these matters. "There is the strolling physician, whom wecall the Unknown Avenger, for one. A second suspect is the man McNutt,whose nature is so perverted that he would stick at nothing. The thirdsuspicious individual is Mr. Bob West."
"Oh, Louise! Mr. West is so respectable, and so prosperous," exclaimedPatsy.
"It's a far jump from McNutt to West," added Beth.
"Leaving out Hucks," continued Louise, her eyes sparkling with thedelightful excitement of maintaining her theories against odds, "hereare three people who might have been concerned in the robbery or murder.Two of them are under our hands; perhaps Joseph Wegg may be able to tellus where to find the third."
They pleaded so hard with the Major to take them to call upon thein
jured youth that very day, that the old gentleman consented, and,without telling Uncle John of their plans, they drove to Millville inthe afternoon and alighted at the hotel.
The Major went first to the boy's room, and found him not only verycomfortable, but bright and cheerful in mood.
"At this rate, sir," he said, smilingly, "I shall be able to dischargemy guardian in quick time. I'm twice the man I was yesterday."
"I've brought some young ladies to call upon you," announced the Major."Will you see them?"
Joe flushed at first, remembering his plastered skull and maimedcondition. But he could not well refuse to receive his callers, whom heguessed to be the three girls Old Hucks had praised to him so highly.
"It will give me great pleasure, sir," he replied.
An invalid is usually of interest to women, so it is no wonder that thethree young ladies were at once attracted by the bright-faced boy, whoreclined upon his couch before the vine-covered windows. They thought ofEthel, too, and did not marvel that the girl grieved over the loss ofthis friend of her childhood.
Joe had to recount the adventure with the automobile, which led to hisinjuries, and afterward give an account of his life at the hospital.That led, naturally, to the timely assistance rendered him by thefaithful Thomas, so that Louise was able to broach the subject nearesther heart.
"We have been greatly interested in your old servants--whom we acquiredwith the farm, it seems--and all of us admire their simplicity andsincerity," she began.
"Nora is a dear," added Beth.
"And Thomas is so cheerful that his smile is enough to vanquish anyattack of the blues," said Patsy.
"The Hucks are the right sort, and no mistake," declared the Major,taking his cue from the others.
This praise evidently delighted the boy. They could have found no moredirect way to win his confidence.
"Nora was my mother's maid from the time she was a mere girl," said he;"and Thomas sailed with my father many years before I was born."
They were a little surprised to hear him speak so frankly. But Louisedecided to take advantage of the opening afforded her.
"Nora has told us that some great trouble came to them years ago--atrouble that also affected your own parents. But they do not wish totalk about it to us."
His face clouded.
"No, indeed," said he. "Their loving old hearts have never recoveredfrom the blow. Would you like to know their history? It is a sad story,and pitiful; but I am sure you would understand and appreciate my oldfriends better after hearing it."
Their hearts fairly jumped with joy. Would they like to hear the story?Was it not this very clue which they had been blindly groping for toenable them to solve the mystery of the Wegg crime? The boy marked theirinterest, and began his story at once, while the hearts of the threegirls sang-gladly: "At last--at last!"