CHAPTER XXII
STORMBOUND AT TANGLEWOOD
Dorothy dropped the letter in her lap. She was awed, surprised,distressed. Then, Miss Brooks did not take the ring? And why should thewoman detective do such a thing?
For an instant only that thought occupied her. The next she pitied MissDearing.
"Poor woman!" she sighed to herself. "After all, perhaps she is really avictim of circumstances. And what a letter! If I only could help her--seeher before Christmas."
A smile, unbidden, stole across Dorothy's face as she pictured all thetasks she had undertaken to accomplish "before Christmas."
"Luckily there are a few days left," she concluded "One can crowd a greatmany things into two real, living days."
She hurried upstairs to read the letter again in seclusion. The positivetone of sorrow in the missive touched her heart. There certainly did seemmany things to do, but here was plainly an emergency case. If she couldmanage to go to the city, obtain Miss Dearing's address from the store, goto see her, and then stop at Dalton on her way back--"
"I ought to be able to do that," she told herself. "And it would be such ajoy to take away all Tavia's worry before Christmas Day."
Then came the recollection that she really knew nothing to tell SquireTravers--she really did not know what Tavia's trouble was. All the girl'sconversation on that point amounted to nothing more than inferences, vagueand uncertain.
"I am positive Tavia thinks I know all about it," concluded Dorothy, "andI have just a mind to ask her outright. It would be so much easier thanbeating about the bush this way."
"Doro! Doro!" screamed Roger at her door. "Come on! Get ready! We're goingout--for another--Christmas tree! Out to ghost park."
"I--can't!" called back his sister, but the next moment Nat was besideher.
"Come on," he ordered, "get on your togs. We've got to get a hospitaltree. The ladies insist it shall be handpicked, and we've got to go toTanglewood Park."
"But do I really have to go?" begged Dorothy. "It's cold to ride, and Iwanted to--?"
"Put pink bows on red slippers! Oh, chuck it, Doro! I perfectly hate thesmell of Christmas. Tom and Roland are going, and so is Tavia."
He made a queer face as he said this--one of those indescribable boyillustrations quite beyond interpretation.
"Is she?" asked Dorothy, not knowing anything better to say.
"And Tom and Roland, I repeat. We are going to duck the kiddies. Too coldfor little boys."
"Oh, then I shan't go," declared Dorothy. "We've been promising Joe andRoger so long."
"But they don't want to go," insisted Nat. "Sammy Blake is launching hisiceboat."
"Oh, I suppose that is a superior attraction even to ghosts," saidDorothy, laughing, "But why do we have to get a tree from the park?Couldn't we buy one?"
"Just like a girl. We couldn't possibly buy trees last week, because--theywould not be hand-picked. This week why can't we buy them and--hang thehandpicked," he finished. "Now, do you understand, little girl, that thetree is to be in the near-infant ward in the hospital?"
"Oh, I suppose there's no use arguing," decided Dorothy. "I may as wellgive in."
"May better. Hurry along, now. We're to have a buffet lunch, and get gonedirectly after. It's time to eat now," and he glanced at his watch.
Certainly the morning had passed--and the afternoon would no doubt beequally short. Dorothy hurried to get her warm wraps, called to Tavia, andwas at the lunch-table before Nat had returned from the garage, whence hebrought the Fire Bird.
"If you do not get caught in a snowstorm this time," commented Major Dale,"I will begin to lose faith in my prophetic bones. They ache for heavysnow."
"Put it off until to-morrow, Uncle Frank," advised Nat. "Then we may getthe runners out."
"No, it's not that long off," insisted the major, cringing perceptiblyunder the aches and pains for the coming storm. "I shouldn't wonder but itreached us by sundown."
Ned was much better, able to sit near the window and wave to the departingones.
Tavia looked almost happy. Somehow, since she determined to "stick toDorothy," much of her apparent trouble seemed to have disappeared. She wasbrighter than she had been for days, and even Nat threw off the restrainthe had shown toward her lately. At The Elms they picked up Tom, withRoland's regrets, and with a dangerous-looking hatchet in hand--to bagthe game with.
"Roland had another dinner date," he explained. "I'm glad I'm nothandsome."
"But the ax?" asked Nat
"For the little tree, you know," replied Tom. "I've tried to catchChristmas trees before."
"Well, we are pretty well loaded up," added Nat, producing from his pocketa revolver.
"Oh!" screamed Tavia; "for goodness' sake is this a murderous plot?I--want--my--mamma--"
"There, there, little girl, don't cry," simpered Tom. "A gun is a finething in a jungle--"
"Where ghosts scream," added Dorothy.
"And buggies ride bugs," put in Nat, shifting the lever for more speed."Well, it's up to us to get there first, and then we may shoot up thewhole woods if we like. The girls may--may sit under a shady tree."
The deep gloom of an approaching storm made this proposal sound quiteridiculous, and Dorothy declared she would prefer sitting in the Fire Birdat a safe distance from the shooting. Tavia threatened to crawl under theseat, and even vowed she would leave the car at once if the hatchet andrevolver were not at once put away--"out of her sight!"
"Well, I have made up my brilliant mind," said Nat, "that if thatscreaming thing is in the woods I am going to get it dead or alive," andhe put up the pistol for the time being.
Talk of the play, and of Ned's condition, occupied much of the remainingtime consumed in the run to the woods, and when the tall chestnut trees ofTanglewood Park finally faced the strip of road the Fire Bird wascovering, snowflakes were beginning to fall. And so fiercely did the windsblow, that presently Nat had all he could do to manage the machine.
"No jollying about this," he made out to say, "I guess it's to the castlefor ours, whether we want to hunt ghosts or owls."
"Oh, will we really have to go in that dreadful place?" wailed Tavia. "Ithink I would as soon die of freezing as die--"
"Of scaring," interrupted Tom, laughing. "Well, there is no immediatecause for alarm in either direction," he went on, "but I think it will bea good idea to get out of this gale as quickly as possible."
It surely was a gale now, and the wind seemed so solidified with thebiting specks of snow, that Dorothy and Tavia were quite satisfied tobury their frost-bitten faces deep in the fur of muffs and scarfs, whilethe young men turned up their overcoat collars and turned down the flapsof the heavy auto caps, none too heavy, however, to keep out thediscomforts of the newly arrived blizzard.
Straight for the drive to the castle Nat directed the machine, and by thetime the old broken-down steps of the once spacious porch were reached,even Tavia was glad to jump out of the Fire Bird and get her breath in asecluded part of the old balcony.
"Whew!" whistled Tom. "This is something worth while for Christmas! Inever saw a storm develop any faster than this."
"Looks bad," commented Nat anxiously, for an automobile in a snowstorm isnot to be depended upon, "Hope it quits long enough for us to dash backhome."
"Well, we can't try it now, at any rate," replied Tom. "What do you say toexploring?" and he went to the great, old oak door. "Open! Well, that'sluck," and as he spoke he pushed back the portal, although it seemed aboutto fall, rather than swing on the rusty hinges.
The door opened, but no one attempted to enter the house. Nat looked ingingerly, but the girls drew back to the shadow of a post, fearingevidently some response to the intrusion.
"Oh, come on," suggested Tom. "Nobody's in here, and it's better, a goodsight, than being out in the storm."
Nat followed Tom's lead, and soon both young men had disappeared withinthe old mansion.
The girls waited almost breathless--there was something
so uncanny aboutthe place. But presently boyish shouts and merry calls from within assuredthem that no trouble had been encountered, and it was Dorothy who proposedthat they follow and seek refuge from the winds, that found the girls'ears and noses, in spite of the shelter of the old porch and theprotection of furs and wraps.
"Come on," suggested Dorothy. "Everything must be all right or the boyswould not be so jolly. I'm just dying to get indoors--anywhere."
"But the screaming ghost," Tavia reminded her. "And the travelinglamp-post. I feel kind of scary--"
But Dorothy had poked her head in, and now stepped within the old hallway,so that there was nothing left for Tavia to do but to follow.
"Here we are!" called Tom in that queer tone of voice peculiar to emptyhouses.
"And look at the gorgeousness," announced Nat. "Ever see finer wood, orbetter mantels? Why, I'll bet this was a regular castle, all right. Not sobad now."
The young men were racing about from room to room, but the girls were notso keen on investigating. Dorothy did walk through the great long parlorsand admire the handsome Italian marble mantels, and the library withinlaid floor was also explored, but Tavia kept as near as possible to thefront door--ready to run, she explained.
"Why, there's nothing to be afraid of," said Dorothy, now quite at ease."The boys are in the very top of the house, over in the tower, and I amsure if there was anything to fear, they would have discovered it by thistime."
"But the cellar," objected Tavia, who was really never as much frightenedas she pretended to be, for she had a way of "looking for trouble," as Natexpressed it.
"When they come down I'll ask them to do the cellar," offered Dorothy,with a laugh. "Then will you make yourself comfortable?"
Tavia sighed. "Oh, it's so spooky," she insisted. "I feel as if things aregetting ready to spring at us from every corner. And did you ever see somany corners in one place in all your life?"
"Oh, come up and see the gallery room," called Nat from the top of thestair-well. "If we don't bring the boys out here and have some doings!This is the swellest kind of a place. Come on up, girls. Nary a ghost nora ghostie in the diggings."
Tom was singing snatches of songs, and Nat would join in when he came to a"joining," so that the old house fairly rang with the echo of young voicesand merry laughter.
Ghost! What ghost could stand that? Tom Scott and Nat White singing coonsongs!
"Listen!" called Dorothy. "Tavia wants you to go down cellar to makesure," she called to the boys.
"Oh, all right," agreed Tom. "We'll do the coal-bin and the wine cellar.Now, if we only could chance upon an old bottle of home-made grape juice!"
He slid down the baluster rail in spite of Dorothy's protest, for thefloor below was of mosaics, and the rail might not be safe. But Tom landedwithout accident, and presently was looking for a passageway to thecellar.
With some difficulty the way was finally discovered, and Tom almosttumbled down the dark passage as the door, first obstinate, suddenly gaveway to his pressure.
It was dark in the cellar--too dark for even Tom's comfort, but aftermaking a series of queer calls, and also supplying the answers, hereturned to the first floor, "intact," as Dorothy announced.
But Tom whispered something to Nat--when the girls were not near enough toobserve him.
"Things down there!" he said. "I could even smell them, and they did notseem musty, either. Besides, look at everything. Nothing cut up ordamaged, like an old, deserted place. Some one may hang out here."
"The ghost," admitted Nat. "Let's see what it looks like outdoors."
Nat put his hand on the pocket, from which his diminutive revolver couldbe seen to be outlined, and when the front door was opened a gust of windand snow forced him, as well as Tom, back into shelter.
"Rough," commented Tom, "and almost dark."
"Fierce!" exclaimed Nat in pardonable disgust. "How in the world are we toget back?"
"Oh, can't we go now?" came from Dorothy. "It seems to be getting worse,and if we don't get out of here before dark--"
"Oh, let us go!" pleaded Tavia. "I am just scared to death. This sort ofthing is all right for a page or two, but when it gets into a serial--"
"Not very interesting after the first glance, I'll admit," replied Tom;"but the nearest house must be half a mile away."
"Suppose we run the machine into the shed and start off to walk?"suggested Nat, now rather uncomfortable because of Tom's hint about thecellar. "It will be better for the girls, at any rate. There's a farmhouseat the turn into Glendale."
It did not take long for the party to follow out this proposal, and inspite of the wind and snow the four young people started bravely off, Natsupporting Dorothy, while Tom put his strong arm about the uncertainTavia--uncertain because she not only slipped continually, but threatenedto do so in between the actual occurrences.
"Awful!" called back Nat, who was somewhat in advance.
"And can't see even the path," yelled Tom, "This snow must have fallen allin one piece."
"If it only would not get dark so quickly," Tavia sobbed, for, indeed, thegirl was almost crying--the matter had become very serious--darkness,snowdrifts and wilderness.
"Wait!" called Tom, feeling that Tavia might not be so alarmed if all werecloser together.
Nat and Dorothy stood until the others came up.
Then all four trudged on again. However, could they cover a half mile atthat rate?
"We ought to have brought an auto lamp," said Nat.
No sooner had he uttered the words than he slipped, Dorothy fell with him,Tom and Tavia tumbled, full drive, after them, and all were plunged into ahole deep enough to terrify the girls and even to alarm the boys.
"Well," exclaimed Tom, as quickly as he could get speech, "that hole wascovered up with a light blanket."
Tavia and Dorothy succeeded in getting to their feet almost as promptly asdid the boys, but the shock and the heavy snow had now almost exhaustedboth.
"Oh," sighed Dorothy, "I don't see how we can ever walk a half mile inthis?"
"Nor I," answered Nat "We've got to turn back. We can have shelter, atleast, in the castle, and there's likely to be some food in the machine.Norah always pokes a bundle in for a trip like this."
Weary, depressed and bitterly cold, they made their way back to the oldmansion. Many a slip marked the way, and many a stifled cry escaped fromthe girls in spite of their determination to be brave.
Nat hurried to the Fire Bird, and was not disappointed in his quest, forhe brought back to the waiting ones a bundle of such food as thethoughtful Norah made a practice of slipping into the car when the youngfolks went for a long run.
"Well, that's lucky," commented Tom. "And let us get right at it. Nothingbetter to ward off cold than a good feed."
"Where?" asked Tavia, referring to the place to eat, not to the locationof a possible cold.
Nat brought the machine lamps and placed one on either corner of thebroad, low mantel in the dining-room. It was not difficult to know thisroom from the others, for frescoed mottoes, still clear enough to be madeout, invited all strangers, as well as those who roofed therein, to "eat,drink and be merry," and otherwise.
"We must imagine ourselves a jolly hunting party," said Dorothy, "justbrought in from a sudden storm. The young lord has invited us, of course."
"An awful stretch," remarked Nat. "I would not be particular about thelord's age if he would only make good just about now."
"And are we really here--for--the night?" gasped Tavia, swallowing amorsel of the sandwich Nat handed her.
"Oh, we may get out," answered Tom, none too hopefully. "But if we don'twe must make the best of it. It's too bad for you girls, though."
"Yes," added Nat, his tone following Tom's in its unmistaken note ofregret. "I was a fool not to listen to Uncle Frank's knee."
The joke brought forth a very feeble laugh, but even that was better thanthe groans Tavia had been indulging in. Perhaps an hour passed while ourfriends were trying
to "make the best of it," and then, after putting bythe remnants of the lunch for future use, the boys fairly exhaustedthemselves doing "stunts" calculated to amuse the girls and make themforget the terrors around them.
"Now, I'll just tell you," declared Nat. "There's a sort of couch undereach of those posts in the parlor. Tavia take one and Dorothy the other,Tom and I will stand guard. You may as well rest, even if you cannotsleep, for even in the morning it's going to be heavy traveling."
At first the girls declared they, too, would stand guard, but when Tomadded his reasoning to that of Nat's and the tired ones realised that ifthey had to walk through the snow in the morning they surely would haveto rest their weary muscles, they finally consented to "stretch out" onthe low seat that marked the archway from parlor to parlor.