CHAPTER VII
TWO NEW MYSTERIES
There was some secret between Jan and Old P'lina, Jannet could see, butit was scarcely polite to intercept their glances. Jannet told herselfthat she must mind her own affairs strictly. Yet it was hard to do itin this environment. Jannet felt that Jan was joking considerably whenhe talked of the ghosts of the old house, but Paulina wasn't she wassure. For some strange reason, nevertheless, Jannet grew more and morefond of her pretty, quaint room. Perhaps the face upon the wallaccounted for that. In that sweet presence nothing would harm Jannet,yet Jannet was enough of a little girl not to be entirely unshaken bythe stories, especially when remembering the blue comforter. It hadnever appeared again. Paulina did not inquire about it and Jannet didnot mention it to Paulina.
The April days were warm, though in this climate they are often verycool indeed. It could not last, Jan said, but they would make the mostof it. Forsaking Chick and his other friends, Jan devoted himself totaking Jannet riding over the farm and all about the country. One wouldhave thought that he owned it all, so anxious was he to impress Jannetfavorably.
The Clydes came over to meet Jannet, who now always used the two n's inher name. She was "as Dutch as kraut," Jan told her, and on the land ofher ancestors. With this she was quite content. She liked Nell Clydeand felt a little shy with the two boys, but no more so than they feltwith the girl from the Philadelphia school.
A cruel fate was taking Chick back to school after the short Springvacation, but Jan, though with no grounds that Jannet could see, stillhoped to escape. He introduced Jannet as his twin, Jannetje Jan, andthey all had several rides together on the roads near home. As Nell wasbeing tutored at home, Jannet expected to have her companionship afterthe boys had gone back to school. Tom, a little older, was not alwayswith the rest, but all the boys were often in Jan's shop, not farenough from Jannet's room to prevent her hearing the sounds of theirconversation and laughter.
No one as yet suggested that it was time for Jannet to go on with herlessons, and Jannet was enjoying her rest far too much to make anyinquiry concerning them. At odd times she browsed among her uncle'sbooks and it was when she opened one of them that she made a discovery.A little torn strip of paper fell out of the book from where it mighthave been used as a book-mark by some one.
Idly Jannet looked at the bit of paper which she held in her handstill, though turning the pages of the book to see whether it lookedinteresting or not. But seeing the name "Jannet" in full, she laidaside the book and examined the paper more closely.
It was part of a letter, or note, she decided. Perhaps some one hadpicked the scrap from a waste paper basket at hand and used it as amarker without looking at it. Surely,--well, how odd! "Please,_please_, Pieter, help me find them," it said. "I have"--here the paperwas torn, but below in the irregular places were the words "money" and"gone." Then below, where one could see through the edge, torn to agauzy film, the signature, "Jannet," was plain.
"It is part of a letter from my mother to Uncle Pieter," thoughtJannet. "What does it mean?"
Jannet did not feel like reading now. Taking the scrap of paper withher, she walked from the library to the hall, down the hall to theouter door, across a tiny path between tulip beds to the old door withits queer knocker. Soon she was in her room and at the desk. It wasscarcely worth while to compare the writing with that of her mother, sosure was she that this was a message from her mother, but she wentthrough the form.
It was raining again. Her search of the desk had been so casual andhurried before that this would be a good time to devote to it, withgreater interest, too, because less distracted by the newness ofeverything as at first. Jannet admired the rich beauty of the desk,although she did not know that it was of the Chippendale design, withconsiderable carving, and that it had been made for an earlier ancestorthan her mother.
For several hours Jannet opened and closed "secret" drawers which shehad found previously, and read carefully whatever of writing she foundin them. Quickly she learned to recognize her mother's hand. She wasscarcely old enough to appreciate the sentiment attaching to oldprograms and faded flowers, but she collected them thoughtfully and putall such mementos together.
The bundle of letters she untied, to look at the addresses. These werethe love letters, of course; but between the letters she found a fewpages of a diary, quickly recognized by the date at the head and theaccounts that followed. In a moment she was bending over it with deepinterest. One day's account recorded what had been said of her mother'ssinging at a private recital, and expressed the hope of a future as asinger. Another, kept by way of contrast, perhaps, told, with somereserve even to a personal diary, of her engagement and her lover.
Under a date not long before her marriage, Jannet Van Meter had writtenvery fully and regretfully of a loss. "I have searched everywhere. Ican not think that any one could have taken my pearls, yet where _are_they? I put them in my desk, in the most secret of its drawers. I havenot worn them since, and they are gone! It is a great loss in money aswell. Father made some sacrifices to raise the sum necessary for mypearls,--but he _would_ do it. I was to have them, and Pieter did notlike it, of course. He just smiled when I told him that I had lost themand would not show the least interest in discussing what might havebecome of them, nor would he help me hunt. 'If they're gone, they'regone,' said he, shrugging his shoulders. Sometimes I've almostthought,--but no, I'll not even write such an unworthy suspicion.
"I had thought that it would be safe for us to have the pearls, becauseif we ever need money very much after we are married,--you and I reallyare going to be married, Douglas boy,--we could sell a pearl or two, orthe whole necklace. Perhaps I shall find them yet. I'll never give itup, not, at least, till I am too far away to hunt. I shall give athorough going over to every place to-morrow.
"It is too bad that 'Mother' Eldon can't come on for the wedding. Andwe have to go right through to the far West without stopping offbecause Douglas must get to his work. But someway, I imagine from herletter that she is not real happy about her boy's getting married atall. Perhaps it is just as well for her to get used to the idea beforewe meet, though Douglas is just silly enough to say that she will loveme when she sees me and that she couldn't help it. Well, if he lovesme, that is enough for me."
The last page contained a brief account of wedding preparations. Nomention was made of the pearls. "There is no use in trying to write itall down," Jannetje Van Meter had written at the close. "And to writeof my thoughts and feelings about this change in my life, or about us,I simply couldn't. I believe that I will tear up my diary, anyhow! Thisis _Finis_."
Jannet Eldon was smiling as she finished. Her mother was just a realgirl, after all. She hadn't lived to be very old. How Jannet wishedthat she had not burned the diary. Where had she gotten the impressionthat her mother would be buried among the Van Meters? Why, of course,it would be natural, if she had died before her husband. But if she hadbeen carried off in an epidemic, that would be the reason why her gravewould be out West. Then "Gramma" would want her son buried in the Eldonlot. That was it. Jannet had once visited that spot, in company withMiss Hilliard. There was no mystery there; besides, her father andmother were together now, wherever, apart, the worn-out bodies were.One of the lovely things about Miss Hilliard was that she had made theother world so real to Jannet.
Suddenly Jannet rose and went to one of the drawers of the highboy inwhich her own treasures now reposed. Rummaging through things not yetwell sorted, Jannet found a note book and drew out several sheets ofwriting paper pinned together. True to her promise, Miss Hilliard hadlooked up past correspondence, which recalled facts that she hadforgotten. But she and Jannet had not had time to go over it verythoroughly.
Jannet recalled dimly having labored over a few lines to hergrandmother, because she "ought to," One of the teachers helped her.Here was the reply, or part of it:
"I was pleased that you wrote me yourself. Be a good child. I
hope tobe better soon and to have you at home for your next vacation. So someof the girls have mothers and you want to know about yours? I will tellyou all that I know when I feel stronger. The nurse is writing for me.I never saw your mother and the only letters I have had from her weredestroyed by mistake. They were to stop on their way to New York thesummer after you were born. Your father took all your mother'sphotographs with him and what became of them I do not know. He cameEast so suddenly, half delirious, saying that your mother had died.
"It was very fortunate that I found you both. I had moved, writing andtelegraphing, but from what he said in his delirium he must have movedtoo. He was on his way to the old home, when providentially I took thesame train from a business trip to a town near by. I took you both fromthe train and to a hospital in the nearest place, a hospital of which Ihappened to know. Both of you were ill for weeks and after it was allover and I could think of sending for any of your father's things, itwas too late. No one seemed to know anything. He was young, juststarting in business, and I was too worn out to care. They were, or hadbeen living in a furnished apartment. Your father after I found himnever had been himself, only to say, 'She is dead.'
"I wrote to your mother's people several times, but never received areply. If they had so little interest, I was only too glad to have myboy's little girl to myself. 'Gramma' loves you dearly, and when I getwell, we shall have some good times."
This letter was probably read to Jannet at the time, but she couldscarcely recall it. Even there, her grandmother had not mentionednames, and Miss Hilliard said that the Eldon family Bible sent toJannet had no record entered of her father's marriage.
The letters, with the pages of the diary between them, Jannet put backin their drawer and laid this letter, with the scrap from the book,with them. That scrap must refer to the loss of the pearls, yet whyshould her mother _write_ to her uncle about it? It was puzzling.
Now to find that "most secret drawer." Jannet had all sorts of fanciesabout how to find secret drawers. There was one worn spot, with anarrow piece of yielding wood, in a groove by a little ridge of themahogany. Jannet rubbed the worn place, thinking of Aladdin's lamp, butnothing happened. Then she noticed a tiny glint of brass by the ridgeand pressed it with the point of her knife. There! a drawer, sticking alittle, began to move out. Jannet inserted her fingers and pulledgently, afraid of breaking the delicate wood. "Oh, how beautiful!" sheexclaimed as the drawer came out to its full length. There, upon thesoft purple velvet of its case, coiled a shining rope of pearls!
With delicate fingers that shook a little, Jannet lifted the case fromthe drawer and laid it on the desk before her. As in a dream she tookhold of the glistening strand and drew it up, letting the loops ofpearls unfold from their long curling. What wonderful pearls they were!Jannet knew little about pearls, but she could appreciate beauty. Thismust be very valuable,--her mother's--hers!
Suddenly she lifted them against her cheek while quick tears came toher eyes. Oh, these had been on her mother's neck the last time thatthey were worn. Jannet ran to the picture. Yes, she had worn these whenthat photograph was taken. Why had Jannet not thought of that when sheread the diary just now? She looked at the shimmering little pile thatshe was holding in two hands. Then she put them around her own neck.Twice they went around, coming just a little above the round neck ofthe dress that Jannet was wearing.
There was no one to see the pretty picture that was made by theblue-eyed girl with her golden hair, as she stood looking up at theother older girl so like her. How Jannet loved to feel the pearls onher neck. She would like to wear them all the time, she thought, butshe sighed as she thought of their value. How many things might havehappened to them in these years, and why had not her mother been ableto find them? There they were, right in the drawer, as her mother musthave put them away,--unless someone had taken them for a joke, orspite, and put them back later.
That thought troubled Jannet, but she was not right. A more peculiarcircumstance than she could then imagine had hidden the pearls.
Should she tell her uncle about them? Jannet considered that for sometime, while she carefully looped the pearls again and replaced them.No, she did not believe that she would. She would know her uncle alittle better first before she made a confidant of him. And if she didtell him about the pearls, or the scrap of paper, for that matter, shewould have somebody else present, too. What if Uncle Pieter shouldclaim the necklace! Oh, he couldn't have the _heart_ to take anythingof her mother's away from her--but she "guessed she wouldn't tell himjust yet."
Jannet knew that she would not forget where the spring was, but aftershe closed the drawer again, she gave the surroundings a rub with herhandkerchief, for want of a duster, and then closed the desk just intime, for there was a great rapping upon her door. It was Jan, drummingagain on the panels and calling her.
"Jannetje Jan," came the call, with the Dutch Y sound for J.
"Yes, Yan," she answered, running to open the door, for she had slippedthe bolt as well, when she started in on the desk.
"Get ready to ride, won't you? Nell and Chick are out here," said Jan,adding, when the door was opened, "and worse luck, I've got to go backwith Chick and finish up school! We only have a day or two more of fun!"
"I'll be out in a minute, Jan. I'm aching for a ride. Will you get myhorse ready while I dress?"
"Yep,--intended to. Make it snappy." With this, Jan went away, whileJannet, elated with her discovery, the mystery of it all, and theprospect of fun with her young friends, hurried into her riding clothes.