CHAPTER XXIV
NAN IS FRIGHTENED
Nan played tennis with Walter the next day, and what is more, she beathim, four out of six. She declared later that it must have been eitherpure luck, or the fact that Walter was so dazed with surprise at findingthat it was possible for a girl to beat him that he had given her twosets before he had recovered from the shock.
Be that as it may, the fact remained that Nan had to work her hardest towrest a set from him after that, and felt very lucky if she managed towin one out of three.
On the other hand, Walter had to work his hardest to keep Nan frommaking a "fool" of him and winning everything. Consequently hisadmiration for the girl from Tillbury rose at least ten points.
The other girls were interested in the game also, although of the three,Grace was by far the best player. Lazy Bess much preferred reading amagazine on the immense piazza of the hotel to chasing a ball around inthe hot sun.
There were so many wonderful things to occupy their attention that aweek flew by before they knew it. Almost without sensing it, the girlshad drifted into the routine of gay activities that prevailed at theresort.
There was usually a brisk walk before breakfast. That is, there was forNan, Rhoda, Grace and Walter. Bess was often too tired after the gaietyof the day before to get up before breakfast to take anything souninteresting as a walk.
Then came breakfast, an event in itself, for the food was delicious,especially to such ravenous appetites as the girls and Walter broughtback to it, and the beautiful dining-room of the hotel was a treat tothe eye.
After breakfast the majority of the guests sallied forth to the delightsof motoring or sailing or tennis, while the others either lingered onthe porch or sauntered over to the golf links to play a game of golf,or, if anglers, went out on a fishing excursion.
The golf course was between the two hotels, so that the players not onlyfurnished amusement for themselves but for all those who cared to watchthem.
Later in the morning, somewhere between eleven o'clock and noon, was thehour for bathing. Then all who cared to go in the water made a dash forthe ocean, and had a cool, invigorating plunge before luncheon. This wasthe hour that Nan liked best of all.
Later in the afternoon, one could either go over to the cocoanut grovefor afternoon tea and a dance or two or take what was in many cases amuch-needed rest.
At night the girls loved to have dinner in the Garden Grill, for theplace itself was a romantic dream of beauty with its palm trees andboxes of shrubs. And the music--the music carried them far away from thepresent on golden wings of melody and made them forget that there wasanything sordid or unpleasant in all the world.
Perhaps the evening was the time that most of the Palm Beach visitorslived for. Then came the chance to display beautiful gowns and flashingjewels of fabulous worth.
There was a glamor about the lights and music and gowns and jewels thatquite went to wealth-loving Bess's head, and even made steady Rhoda'sheart beat faster and eyes shine brighter.
As for Nan and Grace--they were just in their element, and showed it.
Of course they met Linda Riggs occasionally. It would have beenimpossible for them not to have done so. But as the disagreeable girlcontinued consistently to ignore them, the chums just as consistentlyadopted the same attitude.
They met several other girls of about their own age, and two of thesegirls had their brothers with them, and these youths had two chumsalong--so none of the girls wanted for partners when it came to dancingor playing tennis. In fact, sometimes they had "more partners than werereally needed," as Bess put it.
"But you are not going to complain because you have enough partners, areyou?" queried Grace.
"Oh, no, indeed," cried Bess. "I am glad there are more boys here.Imagine Walter having to take care of all of us."
One day all of them went for a horseback ride. This put Rhoda in herelement, and, seated on a fine, spirited steed, the girl from Rose Ranchgave as fine an exhibition of horsemanship as had been seen at PalmBeach for a long time.
"Your chum rides like a regular western girl," said one of the boyspresent, to Nan.
"And that is just what she is," answered Nan. "And one of the best girlsin the world besides."
"I don't doubt it. I wish I could ride half as well."
"Maybe Rhoda will give you lessons."
"No such luck, I'm afraid," said the boy. "But I'll ask her anyway," andhe did, with the result that he and Rhoda went out half a dozen times,and the girl from Rose Ranch taught him many of her best riding tricks.
"He's a splendid fellow, Will Halliday is," said Rhoda to Nan. "He likesoutdoor life--and that's the best there is."
"Does he come from out West?"
"The middle West--Iowa."
"You are making a good rider of him, Rhoda."
"Well, I like somebody who takes a real interest in a horse," answeredthe girl from Rose Ranch.
One night in the ballroom, Rhoda espied Linda across the room and withher was a girl who looked familiar. She called Nan's attention to thefact.
"Why, yes," said Nan with a puzzled frown. "It looks like--why, Rhoda,it is----"
"Cora Courtney!" finished Rhoda in a "what-will-happen next" tone ofvoice.
"Let's go over and make sure," said Nan, and they started to skirt thefloor, hugging the wall to escape the dancers, for the floor was alreadycrowded with them. But when they reached the spot where Linda and hercompanion had been, the latter were gone, and, try as they would, thegirls could not find them.
"It seems awfully strange," said Nan as they disappointedly found theirway back to their seats, "that if the girl was really Cora we haven'tseen her before."
They told Bess and Grace about it later, and they agreed that theincident looked queer, to say the least. However, they had so manythings to think about in the days that followed, that Linda slippedentirely from their minds.
One morning the girls decided to forego their usual game of tennis andtake an early dip instead. Nan had complained of an ache in the musclesof her right arm, and as the trouble almost undoubtedly came fromoverstrain, Walter had insisted that she take "a day off."
The weather had seemed uncomfortably warm at the hotel, but when theyreached the beach the girls were surprised to find that they feltchilly.
"Goodness!" said Bess with a shiver, "I think I will let you girls go inand I'll stay here. Experience has taught me that the beautiful greenocean about these parts isn't always as balmy and warm as it's reportedto be."
"No, you don't," said Nan decidedly. "You know very well it spoils allthe fun if one of us backs out. Come on, Rhoda, you take the other arm.One--two--three--go!" and Bess was hurried, half laughing and half angryand wholly protesting, down to the water's edge and promptly duckedunder a foam-tipped, hungry, man-eating wave.
She came out on the other side and struck out manfully, puffing andsteaming like a young whale.
The girls watched her laughingly for a minute, then plunged in afterher.
"My, the water is cold," sputtered Grace, as the girls struck outabreast with long, beautifully even strokes. "Poor Bess! I don't knowbut what she had the right idea after all."
The hour being so early, the girls had that particular portion of OldMan Ocean almost to themselves. There were a few early bathers, however,and among these was a man with a long, thin face and a mouth that wasset in a hard, straight line.
Nan, doing the crawl with her head under water, came up directly infront of this unpleasant-looking person and was so startled andsurprised in consequence that she almost forgot to keep herself afloat.
Her paralysis remained only a moment, however, and in a flash of timeshe was swimming back toward her companions.
As for the man, having given Nan a careful look, he suddenly made a dashfor the shore and one of the bathhouses.
"I reckon this is my chance," he said, as he got into his clothing withall speed. "I'll do the trick while she is in bathing."
Nan was al
most out of breath when she reached her chums.
"Listen to me!" she gasped. "I've got to get up to the hotel--and atonce!"
"Nan Sherwood, is it serious this time, or is this only another of yourattacks?" asked Bess impatiently. "Here you are the one who dragged usinto the water at this early hour, and now you want to spoil all the funby breaking up the party. For goodness' sake, listen to reason," shewailed, as Nan, with a determined shake of her red-capped head, startedin toward shore.
"Haven't time," she flung back.
"You can at least tell us what the matter is," called Grace, asreluctant as Bess to cut short the fun.
"Haven't time," Nan repeated, half way in to shore now.
Bess and Grace paddled the water and looked at each other helplessly.
"Don't you think we had better go, too?" asked Rhoda uncertainly.
"No, I don't," was Bess's cross answer. "Nan's acting awfully funnythese days, anyway. I think she has another secret."
As for Nan, she did not wait to see whether the girls were following heror not, but ran posthaste to her bathhouse, where she exchanged herbathing suit for more formal attire. Then she hurried on to the hotel.
She had not seen this man since his arrival at Palm Beach, and thesudden appearance of his face so close to hers in the water had startledher horribly. Her first thought had been of the documents in hersuitcase and her one desire to get to them as soon as possible.
"Oh, what a fool I was not to give those papers to Mr. Mason, or havethem placed in the hotel safe," she scolded to herself. She calledherself several kinds of a goose as she ran down the quiet corridor toher room. As she stood before the door a slight noise within sent herheart suddenly into her mouth, and she hesitated before turning theknob.
Then, with desperate courage, she flung the door wide and stepped intothe room. Before her bed a tall, thin man was standing, and on the bedwas a bag, her bag, partly open, with the contents showing!
In a moment her fear changed to flaming indignation, and she sprangforward, flinging herself before the bag and pushing the man away fromher with furious, impotent little fists.
"You little imp!" the fellow snarled, catching her wrists and holdingthem in an iron grip. "You just dare make a noise, and I'll show youwho's boss. You little----"
"Nan! Oh, Nan, what's the matter?"
The voice held a frightened note, and its owner was evidently runningalong the corridor toward Nan's open door. The man said something underhis breath, released Nan's wrists, and darted toward the window.
Nan, conscious of a stabbing pain in her wrists, followed him, but notin time to stop his flight. She saw him disappear down the fire escapeand then, with a little stifled sob, turned back into the room and foundherself face to face with her startled chums.
"Nan! you look like a ghost," cried Bess, flinging an arm about thegirl and drawing her to the bed.
"We thought we heard a man's voice," added Rhoda, staring withfascinated eyes from Nan to the half-opened bag on the bed.
Grace was plainly frightened. "Nan! was that man here?"
"Yes," said Nan faintly. "He was here and he--oh, girls, it wasdreadful! I can't talk about it." And she broke down with a sob andburied her head on Bess's shoulder.