CHAPTER XIX
PAUL AND HAZEL
Meanwhile, at another bed of sickness sat a girl pale and wan fromnights and days of anxiety. Hazel Hastings had left the motor girls'tour and hurried to her sick brother with more apprehension stirringher heart than the report of his actual condition warranted. Paul hadalways been subject to peculiar spells--shocks they were termed--butHazel knew what collapse meant, or what it might mean, unless--
Brother and sister were to each other what the whole world might be toothers. Paul had kept up well under the strain of the hold-up, butwhen suspicion was pointed at him he collapsed.
Who could be at the back of the defaming scheme to spread the report?Who could have dared to say that he was in league with whoever tookthose papers from the mailbag?
"Are you better, Paul?" murmured the girl. "You had a lovely sleep."
"Oh, yes," he sighed. "I feel almost good. If only my head would stopthrobbing. What time is it?"
"Almost noon, dear, and Clip will soon be here."
"Will she fetch the morning papers? I must see how the thing is goingon. They were to go to court this morning."
"Now you must not think of that, you know, Paul," commanded the girlgently. "If you are to grow strong enough to go and take your own partyou will have to leave the others alone. There is nothing new, or Ishould have told you."
"But Mr. Robinson called--I heard you talking to him last night."
"Yes, you did, dear. But he came to inquire for you. He is veryanxious about you."
Hazel Hastings went to the dresser and slipped under the cover a pieceof yellow paper. Paul was getting better, and he should not see Mr.Robinson's check for money, which that gentleman had insisted uponleaving for the sick boy's expenses. They were not poor, neither werethey rich, but Paul Hastings should not want for anything through hissister's pride.
"He was so glad to hear you were improving," she went on, "andparticularly said you were not to worry about the papers. It seemsthey have some important clue, and feel positive of recovering them."
"If they only could," sighed Paul. "To think that I should have lostthem! And they meant a small fortune to the Robinsons. What if theyshould become poor, and through me!"
"Oh, you silly boy! Stop that nonsense this moment. There! I heardClip coming. I am glad, for she knows better than I how to controlyou."
It was Clip who entered the room, but what with her buoyant, happy way,and the great bunch of flowers she carried, one could hardly be certainit was only a girl--it might have been some fairy of sunshine.
"Well!" she exclaimed, glancing from Paul to Hazel. "You are better,Paul. Has Hazel been treating you again with some of her magicsuggestion business? At any rate, I cannot deny its power." Sheflittered over to the bed and playfully buried Paul's face in thebouquet. "There! Aren't they splendid? And you would never guess whosent them. Guess, Hazel."
"Ed," hazarded the girl.
"No, indeed. You try, Paul."
"Walter Pennington," replied Paul, smiling.
"Indeed, Walter probably has forgotten my very existence."
"Then it was--"
"Oh, you would never guess. It--was--Rob Roland!"
A dark look stole over the face of the young man on the bed. "I don'tlike him, Clip," he said.
"Neither do I," she replied promptly. "That is precisely why I am sonice to him. I have to keep friends with him just now. And I have notthe slightest doubt his motive is identical with my own." She paused tolaugh indifferently, then she tossed aside her dust coat and stoodrevealed in spotless white linen. "How do you like me?" she asked,straightened up to her short height. "Am I not a full-fledged'strained' nurse, now? You know I am summoned to court this afternoon,and all the papers will describe me."
Her brightness seemed infectious. Paul leaned upon his elbow, andHazel was actually interested in Clip's new costume.
"Yes," she went on. "You see, Mrs. Salvey has been called to accountfor Wren--did you ever hear of anything so ridiculous? Those lawyerrelatives of hers pretend to believe that Wren is being neglectedbecause we have taken her away from the supposed care of that absurddoctor. Well, I just told Mrs. Salvey to answer the summons and go tocourt. It will be the best thing that ever happened to have her gether real story before the public."
"But what about yourself?" asked Hazel. "They will ask you how oldyou are, and what is your occupation?"
"And my friends will all fall dead." Cecilia did not appear worried atthe prospect. "Well, I shall say I am not as old as some girls, andthat I am engaged in being a member of the Motor Girls' Club."
"That is precisely where your trouble will begin," said Paul. "Themotor girls will never stand for a 'strained'--"
"Indeed, I am not the least bit afraid that I shall lose the friendshipof Cora and her brother. Even Walter and Ed will think it jolly tohave kept up the joke. Of course"--and she hesitated--"some of theothers--"
"Well, you can count on us," declared Paul warmly. "And if ever I getout of this trouble, and am well again, I am going to take Hazel for along tour. You might--"
"Oh, you silly! I might go along? Where on earth would I getseventy-five cents to go to Europe with?"
She placed the bouquet on the small table near the window. "There; Iguess the flowers will not contaminate us. But when he gave them tome--or, rather, sent them, there was a note in the box," she added.
Both Hazel and Paul looked their question.
"Yes," replied Clip. "Would you like to hear the note?" She took fromher pocket a slip of paper. "It always strikes me as odd that peoplewho try hardest to do one thing, and mean another, fail utterly to hidethe intention. Now this gentleman, who writes with such solicitationabout Wren, says he really misses seeing her, declares frankly thatJack Kimball and I were seen to smuggle her off in Jack's auto, andthen-- But let me read the finish. I am spoiling the effect:
"'Of course you have the child safe,'" she read, "'and no one questionsyour ability to care for her. All the little clandestine trips whichyou and your friend made to the Salvey cottage happened to have beenobserved.' Just hear the boy! Happened to have been observed, when Iknew he was watching--saw him on more than one occasion." She turnedover the page of business letter paper, and continued:
"'But the fact that I, her own cousin, am denied the privilege ofseeing her makes the thing look odd.'
"Now do you see what that means?" asked the girl. "He is trying tomake me feel that it would be better to produce Wren than to keep heraway from the lawyers, because it looks 'odd.' Well, I'll take mychances on the odds," she said with a laugh; "and Wren Salvey will be'produced' when I am sure that the motor girls' strange promise will bekept. We have those smart men just where we want them now, and if theywant Wren they must give us that table."
"You think they know where the table is?" asked Hazel.
"I am not so sure of that," responded Clip, putting away the paper andpreparing to place upon the center table some of the contents of hersatchel. "But I do know that this man, Reed, is Mrs. Salvey's secondcousin. She told me he was always interfering between Wren and thepopular grandfather. Now, if the table contained the will, as Wrendeclares, and if that same table was sold at auction, by this man,Reed, or through his management, it seems more than likely that hecould trace it."
"But if he could find it, why would he not do so, and destroy thedocument?" asked Paul.
"Bright boy!" declared the girl. "That only goes to show, Hazel, thatwhen a girl gets a thought she stops. When a boy gets one he looks foranother. I think now that perhaps the old table is safe in someunthought-of place, and that perhaps--"
"That is why they wanted to get the promise book, to find if any clueto its whereabouts might be within its pages," put in Hazel. "Well, Iknow that Cora Kimball will find that table if it is in any housearound here. She vowed when she started out she would either bringback the table or acknowledge herself beaten. The latter possibilityis a
ctually beyond serious attention."
"Whew!" Paul almost whistled. "But our little sister is progressing.Talk about professions, Clip. I rather fancy there will be more thanone to report at the final meeting of the Motor Girls' Club."