CHAPTER XXIII.--BELLE'S CONFESSION.
Belle, looking still very unlike herself, lay in Billie's little brassbed, propped up on pillows.
"How can you and Miss Campbell be so kind to me," she was saying, "whenyou know how wicked I have been?"
"But you are sorry and that means everything," answered Billie, who wassitting on the side of the bed, feeding her hot beef tea.
"When are the others coming?" asked the invalid.
"They have come. I was just going to tell you after you had finished thetea. Shall I call them?"
Belle nodded, and presently Miss Gray and Mary Price came into the room.
The Principal took the sick girl's hand kindly.
"Speak out from the heart, Belle," she said, "and don't be afraid. Youwill be much happier when you get it off your mind."
"I promise to, Miss Gray," replied Belle meekly, gazing miserably atMary, who looked pale and ill.
Miss Gray sat in a judicial looking armchair; Mary, with closed eyes,lay on a lounge near the fire, and Billie seated herself on the foot ofthe bed.
"I suppose," began Belle, "it would be almost impossible for you tobelieve that a well brought up girl of decent family could be as wickedas I have been. When I finally realized what I had done I thought Iwould rather run away to South America with those terrible people thanstay here and bear the shame of it all. But I thank heavens for thestorm. The ship was not sailing for any good purpose. I feel sure ofthat.
"To begin at the beginning, perhaps you didn't know how angry I was whenyou joined the Blue Birds, Billie? I hope I shall never be angry again.I was ill from it and I lay on my bed all afternoon planning a revengeon all the Blue Birds, but you, especially. I think I must have beeninsane with rage and mortification. I wanted to humiliate you, because Ithought you had humiliated me before the whole school. I thought ofdozens of ways of doing it, but the only plan that seemed good enoughwas to prove----"
She paused and bit her lip.
"To prove that you were--a--thief."
There was a long silence. Nothing could be heard but the ticking of thelittle French clock on the mantel. Miss Gray had started and flushedcrimson. She was only just now realizing what this confession must meanto the two girls.
"I asked Fannie Alta to help me because she was the only outsider in theclass, but I never dreamed that she was a real thief, herself. She foundout what it was I wanted her to do almost before I had half breathed itto myself, only she was afraid of Billie and put it on Mary. It was mytwenty dollars she used, but we found the scheme didn't work. Anyhow,she told it all over school and went so much farther than I had intendedthat I soon found myself too deeply involved to get out. She and hermother owned me, body and soul. I had to take Fannie with me everywhereI went, even to Mrs. St. Clair's. I had to give her my clothes, andexplain to mamma that she was my best friend. Her mother made me carryletters and messages back and forth. Once I had to go by myself all theway to Boulder Lane after dusk and meet a horrible creature who had onlyone eye and one arm. He gave me a letter for Mme. Alta. Another time Iwas to meet one of them, a man who helped him, up in the Sophomore classroom of the High School. I didn't go, because there was such a mist."
Billie and Mary exchanged glances.
"He was the man who robbed us of the fifty dollars," said Billie.
"Then whose fifty dollars was it I got?" demanded Miss Gray.
"My monthly allowance," replied Billie.
"Foolish, foolish girls," said the Principal. "But it was my own fault.I blame no one else, and perhaps I wouldn't have believed the story justat that time."
"Then," continued Belle, "the most dreadful thing of all happened. Thesepeople were always in need of money. Everything they had seemed to go tosome object. The one-eyed man, who was Fannie's stepfather, was to getsome high position in South America. She used to tell me what she wasgoing to do when he was made Vice President, or something. When we wentto the St. Clair's, Fannie was almost unbearable. She made me give hermy dress and I had to wear hers, and she insulted me at every turn. ButI didn't find out until after the party that her stepfather had beenthere dressed as a ghost. He wanted to rob Mrs. St. Clair. It was Fanniewho took the necklace. She was to go back later and give it to him, sothat if her bag was searched the next morning, when the necklace wasmissed, it wouldn't be found. But she made me go back instead, afterevery one else was asleep, I supposed. It was terrible, when I foundmyself alone in the attic, with the necklace hidden under my wrapper. Noone was there. The man must have been frightened and run away. Then Iheard all of you come and I threw a sheet over me and hid in a farcorner."
"It _was_ you, then?" exclaimed Billie.
"Yes, and when I met you and Mary I had the necklace with me and Ididn't think I had strength enough to get to my room. When we got homefrom Mrs. Ruggles' next day and I found Fannie had been sent to town, Iknew something had happened. I thought perhaps she might have taken thenecklace with her, but the next morning, when you and Mary left beforebreakfast, I was certain that one of you had been accused.
"You never can understand how I suffered. And yet it was what I hadplanned when I was so angry. Late Monday afternoon Mr. Bangs, adetective, came to see me. He wrote across his card 'Pierre Lafitte,'and I was convinced then that he knew everything."
"You did tell Fannie about the card that was in the box of jewels,then?"
Belle hung her head.
"Yes," she said, at last. "In the very beginning, before I had learnedto loathe her and myself so, I told it to Fannie.
"After Mr. Bangs had left," she went on, "I hurried as fast as I couldto Mme. Alta's lodgings and told her that everything had beendiscovered. The husband came in while I was there and ordered her toleave at once. The ship was in the harbor, he said. I was ordered to go,too, and it really did seem best. I felt I should be disgraced if Istayed and I was too miserable to reason much, anyway. They were glad togo. They hated it here, and they were afraid to leave me, I suppose, forfear I would tell. Ever since they were almost caught in Smugglers'Cave, they have been very careful.
"I have made a great many people suffer," Belle went on, "Mary andBillie and Mrs. Price and Mrs. St. Clair, and I have suffered, too,perhaps more than any of you. But I have learned a great deal. I neverknew before what a wicked, spoiled girl I was. Mamma and papa neverdenied me anything in my life. I have been indulged and petted until Ihave been nothing but a bundle of selfishness. When the ship was wreckedand we thought we were going to sink any minute the scales droppedentirely from my eyes and I saw myself as I really was. I knelt on thedeck and prayed and prayed for forgiveness until they came and told meit was my turn to be taken to shore.
"You will forgive me, won't you Mary? I will do everything I can to makeup for the trouble and unhappiness I have caused you."
Belle stretched out her arms toward Mary and tears flowed down hercheeks and splashed on the coverlid.
Miss Gray wiped her eyes and Billie's face worked convulsively for amoment and she choked back a lump which would rise in her throat onoccasions.
Mary came over and took Belle's hands.
"Of course I forgive you, Belle," she said, kissing the repentant girlon the lips.
"But I must ask your forgiveness, too, Mary," cried Miss Gray. "I feel Iam not fit to be the principal of the High School to have so misjudgedyou. It was only the strange way you acted about the fifty dollars whichmade me credit for a moment the stories that were told."
When peace was entirely restored, Miss Gray took her departure. She didnot return to the High School, but hurried to the livery stable, whereshe ordered a carriage and had herself driven straight to Mrs. St.Clair's.
As Belle will not again appear in this story, you will perhaps beinterested to know how sincere her reformation really was. Her motherand father scarcely recognized the pale, quiet girl who returned to themin another day. Her entire nature had been shaken by the experience, andfor some time she was dazed and silent. But no one ever saw her angryagain, and as
if she wished to give some visible sign of her repentance,the red rubber curlers were thrown away and from that time she has wornher hair straight.
There was no evidence against Mme. Alta or Fannie, except what BelleRogers could furnish, and they were finally allowed to go free. But theywere not permitted to remain in quiet West Haven, where suspiciouscharacters were not welcomed.
The police cared little for the music teacher and her daughter. Theprize they looked for was Ruiz, the famous filibuster and desperado whohad smuggled hundreds of rifles into Venezuela and had robbed andpillaged and even killed, but had never been caught.
Detective Bangs, standing on the shore, the day of the shipwreck,scanned eagerly the face of each sailor as he was drawn ashore. But Ruizwas not among them. It was supposed that he preferred death to arrest;for he remained on the sinking ship. But the sturdy little vessel clungdesperately to the Serpent's Fang until after sunset, and there are somewho believe that Ruiz swam ashore with his one arm, which was as strongas iron, and is still at large somewhere working mischief andmisfortune.
On the day after the departure of Mme. Alta and Fannie, Miss Gray calleda meeting of the Faculty and pupils of West Haven High School. MaryPrice was there and so was Billie, and in the gallery sat Mrs. Pricebetween Mrs. St. Clair and Miss Campbell.
"I called this meeting," said Miss Gray, "because I wanted to make anannouncement to all of you at once, since the subject of theannouncement concerns us all. We have recently had a very clever thiefin our midst. She has robbed many of you and has brought unjustsuspicion on some innocent persons by spreading reports. This girl hasbeen dismissed from the school and from West Haven. She will nevertrouble us again.
"Some of us have suffered deeply for the last few weeks on account ofthis disgrace and scandal in the school, and I don't mind confessingthat I have been one of those persons. I know that you will all rejoicewith me that the affair is concluded.
"I want to say further, that at a specially called meeting, the Board ofEducation has consented to add a new post to the school force. Thisposition, which is that of private and confidential secretary to theprincipal and has a salary attached, is to be filled by Miss Mary Price.I hope you will all congratulate me on my good fortune in obtaining socompetent and reliable an assistant."
There was wild applause when this announcement was made and Mary,smiling and happy, with her three devoted friends about her, was obligedto rise and bow her blushing acknowledgments to her schoolmates.
CHAPTER XXIV.--OUT OF THE MISTS.
The Motor Maids were gathered in Mrs. Brown's sunny parlor around acheerful driftwood fire. You may easily guess it was Saturday morning,because Nancy was darning stockings, Elinor was at the piano, Mary wasreading, while Billie lay flat on her back on the hearth rug, her handscrossed under her head, thinking deeply.
"I wish people were not so careless of their diamond necklaces andthings," she observed, addressing the ceiling with some irritation."Throwing them around in motor cars, giving them to the first person whocomes along, and not caring to have them returned! It's a nuisance----"
Suddenly the door was thrown violently open and Merry appeared.
"Mrs. Ruggles," he announced, making a low bow.
Nancy did not take the trouble to turn around. Elinor went on playingand Mary reading. It was only one of Merry's jokes, they thought. ButBillie jumped up in amazement; for there actually stood Mrs. Ruggles inthe flesh--very much in the flesh, in fact. She was dressed in decentblack and wore a black bonnet, and Billie could not decide whether sheresembled a queen disguised as a fish-wife or a fish-wife dressed as alady.
"Why, it is Mrs. Ruggles," cried Nancy, glancing over her shoulder."Merry plays so many jokes that we can never tell when he is in earnestand when he isn't. Do come in, Mrs. Ruggles. What brings you up to townso early?"
Mrs. Ruggles, who was slow of speech, did not reply at first. She movedinto the room with the step of a grenadier and stood before Billie.
"Are you Miss Wilhelmina Campbell?" she asked.
"She is the same," put in Merry, "but she'll answer to the name ofBillie."
Billie nodded and smiled. She was really too much engaged in admiringMrs. Ruggles to reply to her question.
Nancy pushed up an armchair.
"Please sit down, Mrs. Ruggles, and perhaps you will have a cookie or acup of tea."
"No, Miss Nancy, I am not hungry and I couldn't eat anyway, until Ifinished what I have to say."
"That's right, Mrs. Ruggles. Get it off your system. Are you going toscold Billie?" cried Merry.
"No, my boy. I'm going to thank her. She's a fine young lady. I havejust seen Miss Campbell and she has told me."
"Told you what?" asked Billie.
"Told me that you have kept the box of jewels as you promised."
"But----" began Billie, a dozen thoughts flashing through her mind atonce in tumultuous confusion.
She saw again the face of the sick woman at Mrs. Ruggles', her long hairspread over the pillow like a mantel of black and the troubled dark eyeswhich gazed into hers for one brief moment.
"Then that was the automobile lady I saw in your bedroom?" she burstout.
"Yes," replied the old woman. "That was my daughter, Maria."
"Is Maria home again?" asked Elinor.
"I thought she had married a South American," said Nancy.
"Maria is now a singer," said Mrs. Ruggles proudly. "She has sung inBuenos Ayres and Paris, not in this country. Her husband was fromVenezuela. He was very rich and he gave her many jewels. He loved herdearly for a few years, until he began to like something else better."
The old woman paused. It was extremely difficult for her to speak atsuch great length when she was so unaccustomed to talking at all.
"My daughter is very beautiful and very clever. She will be a greatsinger. He was jealous of her singing. He wished to be great, too, andhe became a politician. Gradually he spent all of his money in makingtrouble for the government of his country. He wished to bring about awar and make himself a ruler. My son, my daughter's step brother, pushedhim on. He was a bad boy, my only son. It is better that he should bedead. He was always in the thick of the fight. He couldn't keep away.His arm was shot off; his eye put out. But nothing could stop him."
"Was Ruiz really your son, John, who went away to sea so many yearsago?" interrupted Nancy.
Mrs. Ruggles nodded.
"What happened next, Mrs. Ruggles?" demanded Billie.
"The next thing was that my Maria could not stand the life any longer.She came back to America with her jewels. They were all that was left ofher husband's fortune and those he wanted so much that he threatened hermany times. If he had wished to use them for a good purpose and not forrifles to kill innocent people, Maria would have given them gladly. Buthe was too clever for her, that man. He followed on a fast steamer andcaught up with her before she could get to me. He forced her to go withhim in an automobile down the Shell Island road to meet John, my poorson, who was to take the jewels and sell them. Maria always carried herjewelry in a secret pocket inside of her skirt, but she had put it in abox that day and wrapped the box in her coat. Her husband did not knowthis. He thought she had it in the usual place. When they were upsetgoing around a curve in the road my Maria was very seriously injured.She is still very lame. Her husband went away to get another car and youknow the rest.
"When they found out in a few hours that she did not have the jewelsthey were very angry. She told them the truth: that she had given themto a young lady she had met, and asked her to take care of them.Although she did not have the name or address of this young lady, sheknew they would be safe."
"And Mr. Lafitte?" began Billie.
"He is an old friend, a lawyer who lives in Paris. She happened to havehis card in her pocket. But he had just started to America and theletter she wrote, and your letter, came back here. That is how Ihappened to get your name at last, Miss Wilhelmina. Mr. Lafitte was withmy daughter yesterday."
"And wh
at became of your son-in-law, Mrs. Ruggles?" asked Elinor.
"He died some weeks ago," replied Mrs. Ruggles. "He was accidentallyshot with one of his own rifles, which exploded and killed him. My sonhad his body sent to us and we laid him to rest in the old Sabaterburying ground, where all my family is buried. It is better that heshould have died. He only made trouble while he lived, not only for poorMaria, but for his country, where many have been killed with the rifleshe has smuggled in. He was a good man until he got in with thoserevolutionists. And my poor son, my poor John, how much sorrow he hasbrought us----"
Billie wondered if Mrs. Ruggles really knew the extent of her poor son'sevil career. Perhaps she did, for the old woman's face twitchednervously for a moment and she covered her eyes with her hand, as if shewished to hide her unhappiness from the young girls.
"Maria and I are going away for a long time," she went on at last, witha rather shaky voice. "I will close the Inn. It is hard for me to leavehome in my old age, but Maria wishes it, and it is better for me to bewith her. Good-by and thank you," she said simply, rising and takingBillie's hand.
Billie stood on tiptoe and put her arms around Mrs. Ruggles' neck.
"Good-by, Mrs. Ruggles," she said. "I hope that your troubles are allover now and you and your daughter will be happy together."
The old woman wiped her eyes. She could not speak when she said good-byto the other girls, but silently handed Billie a little package andhurried away.
The package, when unwrapped, proved to be a small box containing apretty gold filigree necklace. Written on a card inside was thismessage:
"With my love and gratitude. This is a simple little necklace my fatherbrought me once from a voyage to the East. I am fond of it and that iswhy I send it to you. Will you wear it sometimes and think of me? Ishall never forget your kindness and loyalty.
"Maria Ruggles Cortina."
And now we have reached the end of our tale. Those troublous firstmonths of Billie Campbell's early school days in West Haven are changedinto happy, quiet times, with plenty of study and plenty of play. Alldoubts and mysteries are cleared up, and the Motor Maids, wholesome,nice girls, are none the worse for their adventures.
It is in their beloved "Comet" that we see them last, flashing down MainStreet toward the open country.
Billie, like the good pilot she is, is seated at the wheel, her finegray eyes ever on the lookout. Nancy is bubbling over with laughter andgaiety. Elinor, on the back seat, holds herself as proudly as a queen,and little Mary, with a grave smile on her face, looks out across thefields, her clear eyes, deep as pools, holding and reflecting, as ever,the beauty from without intensified by the purity of the spirit within.
The friendship of these four school girls was of the quality thatoutlives a single season and many adventures. It held them together, infact, so closely that they often found themselves planning for anindefinite future of partnership and mutual pleasures. That theyrealized their anticipations to some extent at least is assured, for thenext volume of this series, "The Motor Maids by Palm and Pine," is afurther account of their good times together.
THE END.
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