CHAPTER XII
A DISABLED CAR
"Where did she go?"
"Didn't she leave her name--or anything?"
"Did she seem all right?"
"Did she tell why she was in the tree?"
With these questions the girls fairly bombarded the mystified maid whenthey had established, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the girl theyhad aided and the one at the hotel were one and the same.
"I don't know where she went," the maid finally managed to say, "and Idon't know her name. It may be on the register, though."
"We'll look!" declared Betty. "But did you learn anything about her?"
"Nothing much. She seemed all right, as far as her health was concerned,but she did not seem happy. The cut on her head was nothing. I asked herif the fall from the tree had hurt her, and she said not much."
"Did she say why she climbed up it?" asked Amy.
"No, Miss, she did not."
"And she didn't tell you anything about herself?" It was Grace who askedthis.
"No, only in a general way. I thought, from what she said, Miss, thatshe had seen trouble, and was trying to get away from it. She was welldressed, and had some money. She let fall that she was traveling about,trying to find some friends she had lost track of. There was somemystery about her, of that I'm certain."
"I am too," declared Mollie. "Poor girl!"
"I'm going to look at the register," said Betty. "That may give us aclue, as the boys say."
The girls dressed for dinner, and then visited the hotel office. Themaid fortunately had a good memory, and could tell the date of thegirl's stay. The register of that day contained several names, but theclerk recalled the incident of the girl applying for a room. This hotelmade a speciality of catering to women patrons.
"That's her name," said the young man, pointing to one in the book."Carrie Norton."
"And it doesn't say where she is from," remarked Amy.
"I asked her about that," spoke the clerk, "and she said it did notmatter. So I did not insist."
"Carrie Norton," mused Mollie, as the girls went into the dining room."Well, I hope she has found her friends. Poor girl!"
They talked and speculated about her, but that was all they could do.They could arrive at no conclusion. It was plain that she had not beenas badly hurt as they had feared, and, after leaving the farm house,must have gone to some other place of shelter. She must have alsochanged her garments, for the dress the maid described was not the oneshe wore at the time of the accident.
She had left the hotel, after stopping there one night, the maid said,and had left no directions for any mail to be forwarded, nor had shegiven any clue to where she was going.
"She seems to have come into our lives in a most mysterious way," saidMollie, "and then to have vanished. We get a glimpse of her, as it were,and again she vanishes. I wonder if we will ever solve the mystery?"
"Perhaps she is--the ghost of the haunted mansion of Shadow Valley,"suggested Betty.
"What an idea!" cried Grace. "Don't be so--shivery!"
"Well, she is as mysterious as ghosts are supposed to be," Betty wenton. "I wonder when we will meet her again?"
"When we do, we must take care that she does not escape without tellingus more about herself," said Amy. "Not that we can insist, but we oughtto know for our own satisfaction."
"I think so, too," added Mollie. "She is getting on my nerves."
"Besides, we might be able to help her," spoke Grace. "It is dreadful tothink of a nice girl like that going the country, friendless and alone.She may need just the aid we could give her."
All the conclusion the girls could come to was that the girl, afterleaving the farm house, had somehow managed to find those who were ableto look after her. Then had come an interim, which was a blank as far asthe girls were concerned. Then came the hotel episode, and--anotherblank.
"It's like one of those missing-piece puzzles," complained Grace. "We'llnever get it straightened out."
"We may," said Betty, more hopefully.
That evening, with Cousin Jane to accompany them, they went to a prettylittle play, enjoying it very much. Morning saw them on the road again,and they stopped the next night at the house of a distant relative ofBetty's mother.
Then, for a time, the good luck the girls had had left them. There camea spell of rain that lasted two days, and they remained in the house ofMrs. Nelson's relative--rather miserable days they were, too, for therewas little to occupy them. But all things come to an end finally, andthe bad weather was no exception.
The sun came out, the roads dried up, and one pleasant morning saw theoutdoor girls again in the car, speeding onward. Their objective pointwas Wendell City, and to reach this they had to make a detour that wouldtake them through a picturesque part of the country.
In fact it was so picturesque, and there were so many fine views, thatMollie stopped the car oftener than she meant to, and in consequencethey were far behind their schedule when it began to grow dusk.
"Something is the matter with the car," said Mollie, after a climb of asteep hill, which had to be taken on second gear.
"Oh, don't say that!" begged Grace. "We've got a good way to go, yet."
"Oh, it isn't anything serious, I think," said Mollie. "But one of thecylinders seems to be 'missing.' There, hear it!" she exclaimed. Thegirls were expert enough to detect the "miss," now. It was unmistakable.
The auto faltered on top of the hill. Then it went down and on the levelseemed to be all right again. The girls were more hopeful, until thenext hill was reached. There the car nearly stalled. But the summit wasreached, and there appeared in view a long, easy, downward slope.
And then, with a sigh and a groan of protest--which manifestations hadbeen accumulating of late, the car suddenly ceased working, and came toa stop. The power was gone.
"Oh dear!" cried Mollie, for it was getting late, and the road was alonely one. "What shall we do?"
"Get out and fix it, of course," answered practical Betty.
"Look--look where we are," whispered Grace, clutching the arm of Mollie.
"Where? Don't be so nervous. Where are we?"
"Near the rear entrance to Shadow Valley," spoke Grace, in an awe-struckvoice.