CHAPTER XXV
EXPLANATIONS
Betty furnished the next sensation. As the man in charge of the officerspassed near the auto, poor Carrie cowering away from him, though he nolonger had it in his power to harm her, the Little Captain exclaimed:
"Girls! Girls! He's the old hair doctor--the man we met with the gaywagon--Bennington's Restorer!"
"Who is?" demanded Amy.
"That man--the one they have arrested. He's the one we gave the boltto."
"Ha! That settles it!" cried Mollie. "That was where I first saw thescarred thumb! It's all working out now! I didn't remember at first. Hishair is black instead of white."
"Dye," murmured Grace. "It is he all right!"
The farmer came hurrying through the crowd with the justice to whom hehad gone to make a complaint. Above his head he waved a paper, crying:
"I got it! I have the warrant. Now Mr. Faker, which ought to be yourname, you'll spend the rest of the summer behind the bars, on thischarge."
"Yes, and with another added to it, perhaps," said Mr. Blackford, with aglance at Carrie.
The faker, which it is easier to call him, as he went by many names,shrugged his shoulders philosophically. He saw that he was caught.Perhaps he had been in the toils of the law before this.
He was quickly taken to the court house, where he was held on thefarmer's charge under such heavy bail that it was not produced. Thisinsured him being retained in custody.
"And now to attend to your case, Miss Norton," said Mr. Blackford, whenAllen Washburn had been telegraphed for, and promised to come. "So hewas your guardian; eh?"
"Yes, and since the girls recognize him for what he was part of thetime--a seller of hair tonic--I will explain a little further. He mademe pose in his cart, before the crowds, as one whose hair had beenrestored and made long by his worthless stuff. Oh, it was shameful! Thatis why I ran away from him!"
"I don't blame you," said Mollie. "And did his stuff do your hair anygood?"
"I never used a drop of it! Neither did he. It was trash! He used tomake me shake down my hair before the crowd, and then he would tell howI used to have none at all, but by using his medicine it came. I alwayshad nice hair, before I ever met him! Oh, I can't forget it!" and shesobbed a little.
"Never mind," said Betty, gently, "it is all over now."
And it was, as far as any further charge the faker had over CarrieNorton. Allen Washburn came on with the papers in the case. It seemsthat a distant relative of the girl, learned in a round about way thatClark, or Bennington, to use but two of his names, had forged certaindocuments in order to make it appear that he was her legal guardian.This gave him control of Carrie, and her money, a tidy sum left by herfather. The girl he compelled to accompany him on his vending trips, butwhen he went into the making of worthless hair restorer and obliged herto pose as having benefited by it, she finally rebelled.
This distant relative, wishing to aid the girl, took the matter up witha law firm, happening to hit on the one where Allen Washburn wasemployed. The newspaper advertisement was inserted, and at last had itseffect.
The facts in the case were presented to the court after the faker'sarrest, and the judge lost no time in deposing him as Carrie's guardian.He was obliged to give up the money he had wrongfully retained, andAllen Washburn was, much to Carrie's delight, appointed to look afterher affairs.
"You'll be all right now, my dear," said Mollie, when the court actionwas over.
"She will be, if Betty doesn't get jealous!" said Grace, with a laugh."Oh, I didn't mean anything!" she added quickly, as she saw her chumfrown. "Have a chocolate!"
Bennington, or Clark--the faker, to be brief--was thus held by the law.In view of the other charges against him, Mollie did not press hers.
"It would only bring you into unpleasant notoriety," said Mr. Washburn."He will get a severe enough penalty as it is."
"He must have mistaken you for me," said Carrie, as they talked over thethrusting of Mollie into the room. "Seeing you in the house whence I hadfled, and with your hair hanging down, he made a natural mistake,thinking I had come back to him."
"Except that my hair is nothing like as lovely as yours, my dear."
"Oh, yours is fine, I think. But the dim light might have deceived him."
"But why should he dress up all in white--like a ghost?" asked Grace.
"Probably to play that part," suggested Betty. "That is one point wehaven't solved--how the ghostly manifestations were brought about. Iwish we could have solved that for the sake of Mr. Lagg."
"I fancy it is solved," said Mr. Blackford, with a smile. "It was thefaker, all the while."
"It was?" cried Mollie. "Did he do it on purpose?"
"No, he had no intention of being a spook, but he could not have done itbetter had he planned it. I have been talking to him," and Mr. Blackfordnodded in the direction of the court house. "He made a clean breast ofeverything when Allen hinted that it might have a good effect when hecame to be sentenced.
"It seems that he manufactured his hair-tonic in the haunted mansion. Itwas necessary to heat it in a sort of furnace, and this made thegroaning sound you heard, it was caused by air pressure. Sometimes itgroaned and again it shrieked as the hot air rushed from theventilator."
"And the clank of the metal?" asked Grace, not without a look over hershoulder, though it was broad daylight.
"That was when he stirred the stuff in the brass mixing kettle."
"What about the queer blue light, and the smell of sulphur?" askedCousin Jane.
"That was the burning of sulphur which he used in the preparation.Sulphur is often used in hair-tonics I believe, though I don't know thatthis man used it to any advantage. At any rate he burned it, making theghostly flashes of blue fire, and the smell. The flashes were reflectedfrom the room where he worked into the smaller house, by the big windowpanes."
"But why did he dress like a ghost?" asked Mollie.
"That was a big white garment he put on to avoid soiling his clotheswhen he made his hair-tonic mixture. And he really did mistake you forCarrie, Mollie. He admitted as much, and asked to be forgiven. It washis lunch you ate. He had prepared for a long stay in the house."
"Well, I guess we won't bother to pay for it," said Betty. "He's madetrouble enough. Then the mansion isn't haunted, after all?"
"No, and never was. It was simply the making of his hair-tonic therenights that produced the effect. He says he never even knew that thedoctors who were to buy the place were frightened away, and the nightyou girls stopped there he thought you had, as was the case, takenrefuge from the storm. He did not know he had frightened you, but whenhe saw Mollie he made a rush for her, thinking she was his ward, comeback. He locked her up, intending to come for her later, when he hadtaken off the furnace some of his boiling mixture."
"Then Mr. Lagg can sell his property after all!" exclaimed Grace. "I'mso glad!"
And so was the poetical store keeper himself, when he heard the news. Hecomposed an eight-line verse on the subject, and insisted on rewardingthe girls, saying it was due to their efforts that the "ghost was laid."He received a substantial sum for the old mansion, which was turned intoa sanitarium.
"And, now that all the explanations are explained," said Mollie a day orso later, "we may as well resume our tour. What do you say, girls?"
"Fine!" cried Betty. "And we'll take Carrie with us. She needs a change,and traveling around will benefit her."
"Though I traveled considerable after I ran away from that horrid man,"said the girl, with a smile at her new friends.
"There is one regret," spoke Grace, "and that is that Mr. Blackforddidn't find his missing sister."
"I had some hopes that you might prove to be she," he said, looking atCarrie. "However, I have not yet given up the prospect of finding her. Iam going to seek farther."
"Let's go for a long ride, anyhow, and then we can plan what to do forthe rest of the summer," suggested Mollie, and the girls went off in thecar.
And what occurred further to the chums may be learned by reading thenext volume of this series, to be entitled "The Outdoor Girls in aWinter Camp; Or, Glorious Days on Skates and Ice Boats."
"And so there is no haunted mansion after all," remarked Betty, as theyrode on.
"Are you sorry?" asked Grace. "I'm not."
"Well, a haunt is so--romantic," spoke Betty.
"But I suppose it is just as well."
Eventually the false guardian was sent to prison for a long term, onseveral charges. Mr. Bailey was not the only farmer he had swindled, itappeared. The fellow had unexpectedly come to the old mansion, and hadboldly decided to use it for his purposes, learning that the title wasin dispute. It just suited his needs, and the hair-tonic was not theonly nostrum he made there after Carrie ran away. But the tonic wasalone responsible for the queer sounds and manifestations. On leavingthe mansion to go about peddling his wares, the man would take hisapparatus with him in the wagon, so there were few signs of hisoccupancy.
Mr. Blackford bade the girls farewell a few days after the explanationshad been made, saying he was going to look up a new clue regarding hissister. Carrie Norton was made welcome at the home of Betty, though sheoften stayed for weeks at a time with the other chums. She had incomeenough to support her now that her fortune was restored to her.
The girls completed their tour, having many good times which the boysand the twins shared, the latter never forgetting to ask,semi-occasionally:
"Has oo dot any tandy?"
And now that the Outdoor Girls have a prospect of "living happily everafter," we will take leave of them.
THE END.