CHAPTER XIII
UNCLE PIETER AS AN ALLY
Promptly at ten o'clock the next morning, Jannet was waiting in thelibrary for her uncle. She had timidly said at breakfast, "I will be inthe library at ten, Uncle Pieter," and he had replied, "Very well,Jannet."
She had brought with her the little slip of paper which she had foundin the book. If she had opportunity, she was going to sound him aboutit, or show it to him, provided she could screw her courage to thepoint. Just why she should be afraid of her Uncle Pieter, Jannet didnot know, but he did not invite confidences. She was sure that he hadnot the least sentiment about him. But she was not ready to accept anygossip about him. She would find out for herself what sort of a man heruncle was.
As she sat there, thinking, in the midst of the books that lined thewalls or stood out in their cases, she remembered what Miss Hilliardhad once said in warning the girls: "Most of us are talked about fromthe cradle to the grave. Some of what 'they' say is true and a goodpart of it is not."
It was a quarter past ten when her uncle hurried into the library andhung his hat on a small rack. He was in riding costume and looked verynice, Jannet thought, a little like Andy. "I'm late, Jannet. Do notfollow my example. I was detained, on an errand to the next farm. Now,let me see, what were we going to talk about?"
"I have ever so many things to talk to you about," soberly said Jannet,"but you had something, you said, about plans and things."
"Then we'll talk about 'plans and things' first," said her unclesmiling a little. He sat down by his desk, leaning back comfortably ina large chair there and motioning Jannet to a seat near him. For amoment he drummed on the desk with the fingers of his right hand,looking down thoughtfully.
"You may have wondered why I have not talked to you before," he said atlast, "but it takes some time to gather up the history of fifteen yearsor so, and I have hoped that you might find out some things graduallyand form the rest. I am not much of a talker.
"The particular thing that I want to ask you is whether you like ithere enough to make it your home, whether you will consent to give upyour school to be tutored, with some travel, and a few advantages thatI think I can give you, or whether you would prefer to go back to theother mode of life. It may be too soon to ask you this. If so, we canput it off." Jannet was surprised, and more at her own feeling.
"No, Uncle Pieter, it is not too soon. I felt as soon as I reached mymother's room that here was home. But you would not mean to cut me offfrom the people that have been so good to me, would you?"
"No, but I'd like to get you away from the eternal atmosphere of aschool. I feel a responsibility, now that I know you are on earth."
"Why, do you?" Jannet's face lit up. Perhaps Uncle Pieter really likedher a little, too. "That is nice, but I had vacations, you know,--onlyI have never really belonged anywhere."
Her uncle nodded. "I thought as much," he said. "Understand that I findno fault with a school. But when I found that you had practically livedin one all your life, I thought it was time for something else."
Mr. Van Meter frowned and rubbed his hands together in a nervous waywhich he sometimes had. "How you came to be lost to us I can notunderstand at all. Why your grandmother did not notify us of yourfather's death is another strange thing. Surely her undoubted jealousyof your poor mother would not go that far."
"Oh, it didn't, Uncle Pieter! I have a little note that says she hadwritten."
"And there was the matter of your grandfather's legacy. Have you hadthat?"
"No, sir. I have Grandmother Eldon's little fortune, enough to keep mein school. Then I thought perhaps I'd be a missionary."
Mr. Van Meter's frown changed into a smile. "I've no doubt you'd make agood one, Jannet, but suppose you try your missionary efforts here fora while."
Jannet met her uncle's eye. Actually there was a twinkle in it!
"At least it would be as well to stay with us until you are grown,Jannet, and we have a chance to clear everything up. Now yourgrandfather died before your mother did. That much is sure. We have aletter, or did have it, written by your mother the day we telegraphedabout your grandfather's passing. Then we received sad telegrams andorders for flowers, for she could not come, though we told her that itmight be possible to wait for the funeral till she arrived. Your fatherwrote, also. Then there was silence, Jannet, a silence so long that wedid not know what to make of it.
"It was not so strange that Jannet would not write often to me, for Iwas so much older and your mother, too, thought that I was interferingand dictatorial and I admit that I thought her impulsive and foolish.She thought that I did Andy a great injustice by my second marriage andmatters were on an uneasy footing between us when she was married."
This was the first mention of the second marriage that Jannet hadheard, but she kept herself from showing any surprise.
"But that there should be no communication," continued Mr. Van Meter,"was strange, particularly as I had written her that when she came homein the summer, we could arrange about anything she wanted and her ownfurniture. Father did an unusual thing, you see. He knew that he couldnot live a great while and while we had no inkling of that, for he wasas active as ever, he divided the property, giving me the home place,giving Jannet another farm and certain bonds and securities which weresent her and which she received. Indeed, I sold the farm for her, withFather's permission, after he finally overcame all our objections andsaid that he preferred to see how we would 'carry on.' Yet both of usreserved certain funds for Father. Such was the arrangement, and a verypoor one from a parent's standpoint, though Father was safe enough intrusting us.
"I had made a quick trip to Europe on business. My wife reported noletters from your mother on my return. I wrote, and received word thatthey had moved. I found the new address after considerable trouble. Noone was there. A new family had moved in. The word was that all haddied of the 'flu' or something of the sort. I heard several conflictingstories. The one nearest the truth, according to what I found out aboutyou, was that your father, half ill, started East with you and thatyour mother died at the hospital, either before or after that time."
"He told Grandmother that my mother had died," Jannet supplied.
"I see. There is only one thing, Jannet, that has made me feel strangeabout it all, and that is a telegram that I found after a long time.Date and address were torn off. Some one in the household had made amistake. It blew at my feet from some pile of rubbish back where it isburned."
Mr. Van Meter pulled out a drawer in his desk and took from it a pieceof yellow paper, such as is used in telegrams. He handed it to Jannet.
"If you feel so I can never again set foot in your house." This was themessage that the surprised Jannet read. She looked up into her uncle'sface in inquiry.
"Why, that reminds me of a slip of paper that I found in a book.Perhaps just your not replying to something may have made her send thetelegram."
"I did not think of that. I was away,--what was the slip of paper?"
Jannet handed to her uncle the slip which she had found. He frownedover it, reading it more than once and looking off into space as iftrying to recall something. "I never saw that before, Jannet," said he,handing it back to her. "This looks pretty serious, Jannet. It looks asif you owe to some unfriendly hand the fact that your mother was soseparated from us and that you have been among strangers since yourgrandmother's death."
"Do you think that my mother could possibly be alive somewhere?"
"Of course I do not know the date of this telegram, but the word of herdeath seemed so clear that I never tried to trace the telegram afterfinding it. I would not cherish such a possibility, Jannet. Wherevershe is, in that other world that she believed in, she will be glad thatyou are here, and I am glad to have an opportunity to make up to youwhat I seemed in her eyes to lack." Mr. Van Meter spoke kindly, but alittle bitterly at the last.
"Oh, I _believe_ you, Uncle Pieter!" cried Jannet, stretching out
aslender hand to him. He took it, patted it and let her draw it back asgently as she had given it. Then Jannet drew her chair closer and said,"Now may I take time to tell you what has been happening?"
"Yes, child. What is it?"
One entering the library would have seen an interesting picture for thenext half hour. The eager Jannet leaned on the desk with both elbows,and a bright face rested between her two hands as she related to heruncle every detail of her ghostly experiences and told him all aboutthe pearls. She was utterly forgetful of herself and her fear of heruncle. Indeed, that had left her for all time.
Mr. Van Meter, thoughtful, as always, listened, smiling a little fromtime to time, for Jannet told it all in her own vivid way, amusedherself, at different times, especially when she told of how she andNell listened at the boys' door and of how funny Paulina looked in hernight-cap.
At the close of the recital, Mr. Van Meter questioned her further aboutthe pearls, as that seemed to be the most serious feature of thematter. "I feel sure that you will find Jan at the bottom of the ghostaffair," he said. "Of course, you could scarcely offend Paulina morethan to express your disbelief in the family ghost. But if you and Nellwant to investigate, you have my full permission, so far as you keepwithin safe bounds. I gather that the ghost has not offered to harm youin any way?"
"No, sir, even if it did want my comforters."
"I fancy that there will not be any more ghostly visitations till thenext time Jan is home, but let me know if there is one. I should liketo enjoy it with you."
Mr. Van Meter spoke so seriously that Jannet looked at him doubtfully.It was hard to tell what Uncle Pieter meant sometimes. But he wasn'tsuch a riddle as "Old P'lina," anyhow.
"Well, don't you think it possible, Uncle Pieter, that there is asecret passageway of some sort?"
"It is entirely possible, Jannet. I had no work done by the carpentersabout the old chimney, though it was pointed up and had bricks renewedat its top. I am too busy now to do anything, but later I may be ofsome assistance. By the way, Jannet, did you know that Andy mounted ahorse and rode with me quite a little? All at once his back seems to bebetter. The doctors said it might be so. Do you like Andy?"
"Oh, yes, Uncle Pieter! No one could help loving Cousin Andy."
It was not until Jannet had left the library and her uncle that sherecalled one thing which she had forgotten. She had not asked him howhe had discovered her. But her doubts about her uncle were at rest. Hewas a peculiar man in some respects. Jannet felt that he was ashamed toshow the least emotion, but she was sure that he had some feelings forall that. She might never love him as she could love her cousin Andy,but she respected him. More than ever Jannet felt herself a part of hermother's family.
Hurrah for Jannet and Nell, the famous "deteckatives," she thought, andbefore dinner she telephoned Nell to see how soon she could come over."I've got lots of things to tell you, Nell," she urged.
"I'd love to come to-day, Jannet," Nell replied, "but we have company.I was just going to call you to see if you could ride over thisafternoon. Can't you?"
"Why, yes, I can, so far as I know now. I'll call you later."
Thus it happened that attic investigations were postponed; but thedetective-in-chief sought an interview with one of the main "suspects"as soon as she could.