CHAPTER XXII CAPTURED BY TWO GIRLS
Dorothy pored over the blue print for a long time. She was growing sonervous that all the little white lines on the paper began dancing aboutand grinning at her, and Mr. Akerson's voice and Tavia's in the otherroom became louder and louder. Every footstep as the clerks returned, oneby one, from lunch, set her heart palpitating, and she clenched her handsnervously. She feared that Mr. Akerson would in some way evade them,disappear before Ned and the boys could arrive!
Tavia seemed so calm and self-possessed and examined the books socritically that Dorothy marveled at her! Surely Tavia could notunderstand so complicated a thing as a ledger! Off in the distance, atthe end of the suite, Dorothy suddenly saw a familiar brown head, andbehind a shaggy white head, and then a pair of great, braid shoulders,and in back of them a modish bonnet framing the dignified face of AuntWinnie!
"Dorothy," she called, running forward. "Here they are!"
Dorothy's interest in the prints ceased instantly, and she sprang afterTavia.
Mr. Akerson's face blanched and he withdrew to his private office.
All the clerks returned discreetly to their work, typewriters clickingmerrily, as the family filed down through the offices and into Mr.Akerson's private room. He faced them all until he met the clear eyes ofMrs. White, then he shifted uneasily and requested Bob, who came in last,to close the door.
"What's it all about, Dorothy?" asked Bob in clear, cool tones, as helooked with rather a contemptuous glance at the agent. "Has someone beenannoying you?" and he seemed to swell up his splendid muscles under hiscoat-sleeves--muscles that had been hardened by a healthy, activeout-of-door life in camp.
"If there has," continued Bob, as he looked for a place in thepaper-littered office to place his hat, "if there has, I'd just like tohave a little talk with them--outside," and the lad nodded significantlytoward the hall.
"Oh, Bob!" began Dorothy. "You mustn't--that is--Oh, I'm sure it's all amistake," she said, hastily.
"That's more like it," said Mr. Akerson, and he seemed to smile inrelief. Somehow he looked rather apprehensively at Bob, Tavia thought.She, herself, was admiring the lad's manliness.
"But you telephoned," Bob continued. "We were quite alarmed over it. Yousaid----"
"Young ladies aren't always responsible for what they say over the'phone," put in Mr. Akerson, with what he meant to be a genial smile atBob. "I fancy--er--we men of the world realize that. If Miss Dale has anycomplaint to make----" he paused suggestively.
"Oh, I don't know what to do!" cried Dorothy. "There certainly seems tobe some need of a complaint, and yet----"
"Doro, dear, have you been trying to straighten out my business for me?"demanded Mrs. White, with a gracious smile.
"Aunt Winne--I don't exactly know. Tavia here, she----"
"We're trying the straightening-out process," put in Tavia. "We had juststarted after being locked----"
"Careful!" warned the agent. "I cautioned you about libel, you remember,and that snapping shut of the lock on the door was an error, I tell you."
"Never mind about that part," broke in Tavia. "Tell us about the businessend of it. About the rents, why they have fallen off, and all the rest."
"Have you really been going over the books with him, Dorothy?" asked Mrs.White, in wonder.
"Allow me to tell about matters," interrupted Akerson. "I think Iunderstand it better."
"You ought to," murmured Tavia.
"I will listen to you, Mr. Akerson," said Mrs. White, gravely. "You mayproceed."
"As I have just been saying to Miss Dale," he went on, pointing to theledgers on his desks, "this matter can be explained in two minutes, ifyou will just glance over these entries."
He pushed the books toward Aunt Winnie.
"Don't look at them, Aunt Winnie," cried Dorothy. "The entries are false!We have his own words to prove his wrong-doing! His statements to Taviaand Miss Mingle's word to us are different."
And by a peculiar net of circumstances, which invariably occur when onethread tightens about a guilty man, Miss Mingle at that moment walkedinto the room! She had come to demand justice from the man who had servedremoval notice upon herself and her sister, Mrs. Bergham. She held thenotice in her hand. Major Dale took it, and tearing it in small pieces,placed it in a waste paper basket.
"He admitted to me, quite freely," protested Tavia, "that every tenant inthe house paid eighty or one hundred dollars for his or her apartment!"
Miss Mingle at first could not grasp the meaning of it, but as Dorothyquickly explained that her aunt was the owner of the apartment, it dawnedon Miss Mingle just how, after all, the guilty are punished, even thoughthe road to justice be a long and crooked one.
"You never spent a penny on that place," growled Mr. Akerson, "I spent agood pile of my own money, just to fix it up after my own ideas of astudio apartment."
"I spent more than half of my income of thirty-five dollars per monthfrom each apartment, for constant repairs, and when I discussed with you,as you well know, the advisability of advancing the rents a few dollarsto cover the outlay, you discouraged it, said it was impossible in thatsection of the city to ask more than thirty-five dollars," said Mrs.White sternly.
"What these books really show," said Dorothy, "is the enormous amountthat is due Aunt Winnie from Mr. Akerson!"
"The tenants are so dissatisfied," explained Miss Mingle, "the constantincreases in the rent were so unreasonable! The porter in the house, sowe have found, was in league with Mr. Akerson, and kept him informed ofeverything that happened."
"That's how," said Tavia, with a hysterical laugh, "he knew whom it waswe called on at the Court Apartments!"
"Easy there," said Bob to Tavia, "don't start laughing that way, oryou'll break down, and I'll have to take care of you."
"It's been so awful, Bob," said Tavia, his name slipping naturally fromher lips. "We tried to carry it through all alone!"
"Just as soon as you're left to yourselves," he said with a smile, "youbegin to get into all sorts of trouble!"
"There is only one thing to say," declared Major Dale, advancing towardMr. Akerson. "Nat will figure up what you owe to Mrs. White, you will sitdown and write out a check for the amount, and that will close furthertransactions with you!"
Mr. Akerson fingered his check book, and made one last effort to explain:
"Miss Mingle is influenced by her sister, who has hallucinations," but hecould say no more, for Major Dale and Bob came toward him threateningly.
"Miss Mingle teaches my daughter in school, and we will hear nothing fromyou about her family," said Major Dale, decidedly.
"I demand justice!" cried Mr. Akerson, jumping from his seat.
"I call this justice," calmly answered the major.
"I shall not be coerced into signing a check and handing it to Mrs.White. I'll take this matter to the proper authorities," the agent fumed,as he walked rapidly to and fro. "It's an injustice. I tell you I'minnocent."
"Then prove your innocence!" answered Major Dale.
The ladies were beginning to show signs of the nervous strain. MissMingle and Tavia were almost in hysterics, while Dorothy clung to Mrs.White's arm.
"You do not understand the laws in this State," declared Mr. Akerson."There is no charge against me. I defy you to prove one!"
"Very well, we will summon one who understands the laws, and decide thematter at once," said Major Dale; "meanwhile, you ladies leave thesedisagreeable surroundings."
"After all," said Miss Mingle, as they left the office building, "wewon't have the awful bother of moving; will we, dear Mrs. White?" Hervoice was full of pleading.
"No, indeed, and as soon as everything is settled, we must try to find anhonest agent to care for the place. I am convinced that Mr. Akerson isnot honest, in spite of all he said," said Mrs. White.
"My poor sister!" sighed Miss Mingle. "She almost collapsed at the merethought of having to leave that apartm
ent."
"Never mind," consoled Mrs. White, "everything will be all right now. Andyou dear girls, how you ever had the courage to face that situation allalone, I cannot understand!"
"Oh, it was nothing!" said Tavia, really believing, since the worst partof it was over, that it had been nothing at all.
"I almost imagine we enjoyed it!" Dorothy exclaimed.
"Oh, nonsense," said Mrs. White, "you are both so nervous, you look asthough another week's rest would be needed. You are pale, both of you."
"Well, I don't feel one bit pale," said Tavia, "Still I think I'll liedown, when we get home."
"So will I, but I'm not tired," declared Dorothy.
"They are too young; too high spirited," said Mrs. White to Miss Mingle,as they parted; "they won't admit the awful strain they have been underall day."
An hour later, when the boys and Major Dale returned to the apartment,all was quiet, and they tiptoed about for fear of awakening the girls.Aunt Winnie was waiting for them.
"It's all settled," whispered Major Dale. "We have Akerson under bonds toappear in three days to pay back all money due you."
"And to think that Dorothy and Tavia unraveled the mystery!" sighed AuntWinnie.
"Hurrah!" said the boys, in a whisper. "Hurrah for the girls!"
Which brought the girls into the room.