Tom, Dick and Harriet/Chapter 11

HEY were not able to take Harry into their confidence right away, however, as by the time they reached school it lacked but a few minutes of dinner time. And after that meal, when they called at the Cottage, they found that Harry had not returned from Silver Cove but had remained to take dinner with one of her girl friends in the village. In the dining-room Roy and Chub had treated Dick with contemptuous indifference and afterward had observed him pass out of the building and across to the library with supreme unconcern. He smiled tauntingly as he passed them in the corridor, but both Roy and Chub looked impassively by him.

“Who’s your friend?” asked Chub audibly.

“Never met him,” responded Roy loftily. “Some low person.”

At two Roy had to go and get ready for the hockey game, and as Chub had nothing better to do he went with him. During the half-hour of practice preceding the game and during the contest itself he watched from the side of the rink and, with Sid, Whitcomb, Pryor, Post and others cheered the home team on to a well-deserved victory. Harry didn’t turn up at the game—an unusual thing for her—and so it was not until after supper next day that Roy and Chub found Harry. They called again at the Cottage and were ushered by Mrs. Emery into the little parlor. Harry joined them soon afterward and in a few moments was made acquainted with the situation relating to Dick.

“It’s a mystery!” she declared excitedly.

“It surely is,” Roy answered. “And we want you to help us find out what the silly chap is up to. Will you?”

“Yes, and I’ll be a detective too!”

“All right,” answered Chub, “but I don’t think I ever heard of a female detective; did you, Roy?”

Roy shook his head, but Harry protested vigorously.

“There are female detectives,” she asserted stoutly. “I read of one once in some book. She was awfully smart and found the stolen diamonds after every one else had failed!”

“All right,” said Chub. “What was her name?”

“Why, it was—was—oh, dear, I’ve forgotten it!”

“Then I don’t see how you can be her,” teased Roy.

“I shall recall it,” answered Harry with dignity. “Besides, detectives have aliases, don’t they?”

“Oh, the cheap ones do,” replied Roy. “Sherlock Holmes didn’t change his name.”

“Did Vi—Vi—Vidocq?” asked Harry anxiously.

“Yes, often,” answered Chub. “He was the real thing, too. He caught more desperate criminals than Sherlock Holmes ever thought of! And he was great for disguising himself, too.”

“Oh, that’s it!” cried Harry. “I must have a disguise!”

“Wear your hair on top of your head,” suggested Roy laughingly.

“Put your shoes on the wrong feet,” added Chub.

“Never you mind,” said Harry with sparkling eyes. “I know what I shall do. You wait and see. But if you recognize me—if you penetrate my disguise, I mean, you mustn’t let on. You won’t, will you? Because it might spoil everything.”

“You may depend upon us,” replied Roy gravely.

“We ought to have a password,” Harry continued. “So when we meet each other we can communicate.”

“‘R-r-r-revenge!’” muttered Chub with a ferocious scowl. Harry clapped her hands.

“That’s it! That’s the password! ‘Revenge!’ Don’t forget it.”

“Trust us,” said Roy. “We think of nothing else. ‘Revenge!’”

“‘Revenge!’” echoed Harry.

“‘Revenge!’” growled Chub.

Then they looked at each other and laughed enjoyably. And suddenly Harry gave an exclamation of triumph.

“I remember!” she cried. “It was Estrella!”

“What was?”

“The name of that lady detective. Estrella—Estrella—oh, I can’t remember her last name, but I guess Estrella will do, won’t it?”

“Yes, I should think so,” Chub said. “It’s a fine-sounding name, all right. Roy, allow me to present you to Miss Estrella, the Lady Sleuth.”

“What’s a sleuth?” asked Harry anxiously.

“Oh, that’s just a slang name for detective.”

“Well, I don’t believe lady detectives would use slang,” she said. “So I guess I won’t be a sleuth, if you don’t mind, Chub.”

“Have your own way about it. It doesn’t make much difference what you call yourself, Harry, if you’ll only find out what Dick is up to. He’s got to be punished for the way he has treated us all. It—it’s a low-down trick, that’s what it is!”

“Yes, we owe him something,” Roy agreed. “And we’ll pay him back, too. But we must try and make him think that we aren’t watching him any more.”

“Yes, lull his suspicions,” said Chub.

“Then maybe he will get careless and we’ll catch him red-handed.”

“Red-handed!” echoed Harry with gusto. “Isn’t it lovely? I do wish I could start to-morrow, but I suppose you can’t detect on Sunday!”

“Hardly,” Roy agreed. “But on Monday we’ll begin in earnest. We mustn’t let him out of our sight a moment.”

“I don’t see how we can help letting him out of our sight,” Chub objected. “We have our recitations to attend and Harry has to go to Silver Cove.”

“Well, after school, then,” answered Roy. “In the afternoon we’ll—we’ll—”

“Dog his very footsteps,” aided Chub. “I read that somewhere; good, isn’t it?”

“Fine,” laughed Roy. “Little he recks—!”

“You dry up,” growled Chub good-naturedly, “and come on home.”

Harry went to the porch with them and there, at her suggestion, they clasped hands and cried “Revenge!” together in a thrilling chorus.

“We meet anon,” said Chub. “Farewell!”

And thereupon Vidocq and Sherlock Holmes slunk away into the enveloping darkness, and Estrella, muttering “Revenge!” under her breath, closed the front door and stole stealthily into the library to ransack the shelves for the detective story which recounted the adventures and triumphs of her namesake.

The next day Dick was inclined to be chummy, but Roy and Chub repulsed his overtures coldly. And in the afternoon he once more disappeared and didn’t show up again until supper-time. He spent most of the evening in the study-room, and although Roy and Chub watched him surreptitiously they were unable to gather any incriminating evidence, since he did nothing more enlightening than apply himself to his algebra lesson.

There was no hockey practice on Monday, and so when Roy had finished his last recitation in School Hall he hurried across toward the dormitory to dispose of his books, with the idea of then finding Dick before that mysterious youth had whisked himself out of sight. But before he had covered half of the distance between the two buildings he had forgotten all about Dick. For on the steps of Burgess stood a most remarkable figure. Roy stared and marveled. At first he thought he was looking at an elderly woman, but the next moment he changed his mind, for the small, slight form was youthful in spite of the attire. There was a vividly blue cloth skirt which swept the ground, a black fur cape, rather the worse for service, which reached almost to the waist, a large hat with brown feathers and a heavy black veil which completely hid the face. One hand clutched a silver-handled umbrella and the other was lost in the folds of the voluminous skirt.

“Well, that’s a funny-looking scarecrow!” muttered Roy as he approached. The lady, whoever she was, seemed to be viewing him from behind the thick veil, and Roy ceased staring. But as he mounted the steps he could not resist another look. Through the close meshes of the veil he caught sight of two bright eyes and a rather impertinent nose, and—

“Revenge!” said a smothered voice.

Roy stopped and stared with wide-open mouth.

“I—I beg your pardon, ma-am!” he faltered, uncertain whether he had imagined it. “Did you speak?”

“Revenge!” said the voice again. Roy gasped.

“Harry!” he exclaimed incredulously.

“S-sh! Would you betray all?”

“Oh, but you’re a sight!” said Roy, standing off to obtain a better view of her. “Where’d you get the clothes, Harry?” Then he leaned up against the opposite railing of the porch and gave way to mirth. Harry stamped her foot and thumped the silver-handled umbrella.

“Roy Porter, you’re just as mean as you can be!” she declared aggrievedly. “And you can do your own detecting!”

“But, Harry,” Roy gasped, “if you could only see the way you look!”

“I don’t care; I fooled you all right enough, Mister Smarty!”

“That’s so; I thought you were an old woman at first! It’s a dandy disguise, Harry.”

“Do you really think so?” Harry asked, somewhat mollified. “I had a terrible time getting the things, because of course I couldn’t ask for them; if I had, my disguise would have been no longer a secret, would it?”

Roy shook his head.

“And so I had to swipe—borrow them, I mean, without saying anything to mama. And if I should meet her wouldn’t she be surprised?” And Harry giggled behind the veil.

“I’ll just bet she would,” laughed Roy. “Have you seen anything of—”

“S-sh! Some one approaches!” cried Harry. “Follow me, but take no notice!”

Several boys had come out on to the steps of School Hall and were looking curiously across. Harry seized the folds of the ridiculous blue skirt and lifted it so that she could walk without tripping over it. Then, raising the silver-handled umbrella in a gesture of caution she turned and stole stealthily into the building. Roy, vastly amused, followed. Harry crossed to the dining-room, opened the door and beckoned. To enter the dining-room outside of meal-hours was strictly against the rules, but Harry was a law unto herself, and Roy ventured after her. Then she closed the door, turned the key in the lock and raised the black veil.

“Now,” she said, “we are safe for the moment.”

“Yes, that’s all very well, but supposing Dick takes it into his silly head to disappear while we are in here talking?”

“Then we must find him.”

“But we said we were going to watch for him and follow him. What’s the good of letting him get away? I left him in School Hall and he will be out in a few minutes.”

“We-ll, maybe we’d better go,” said Harry. “But I did want to talk to you a minute.”

“All right, go ahead. What do you want to talk about?”

“Do you think Dick would recognize—would penetrate my disguise if he met me?” she asked anxiously.

“I don’t believe he’d let you get near enough,” answered Roy with a laugh. “I’ll bet if he saw you coming he’d run a mile!”

“Now you’re being mean again,” said Harry reproachfully.

“Well, honest then, Harry, I don’t believe your own mother would know you!”

“But she’d know her clothes,” Harry said laughingly. “Supposing, then, that I go over toward School Hall and wait for him to come out. Then I can follow him and he won’t suspect anything.”

“All right, but I wouldn’t let him think you are after him,” Roy advised.

“Of course I sha’n’t,” answered Harry indignantly. “Don’t you suppose I know more about—about detecting than that? I’ll just make believe that I’m a visitor looking around the school. And maybe I’ll meet him and ask him some questions. Wouldn’t that be funny?”

“He’d know your voice in a minute,” said Roy.

“I’d disguise it, like this,” Harry replied, sinking her voice until it sounded like the croak of a raven. “You couldn’t tell it was me, could you?”

“I should say not!” Roy declared with emphasis. “You sound the way Methuselah did the time he had a sore throat!”

“You’re not very complimentary,” said Harry with a pout. “But I suppose detectives mustn’t mind that. Now I think we’d better go, don’t you?” Roy agreed and Harry carefully lowered her veil. At the door she turned.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” she said. “I found that book last night after you went, and my name is Estrella De Vere. Isn’t it lovely?”

“Fine and dandy!” answered Roy. “It sounds almost real.”

He remained inside until Harry had passed down the steps and was sauntering with elaborate unconcern toward School Hall. Then he went out on to the porch and watched. Harry, her blue skirt trailing regally behind her, stopped in front of the entrance, leaned on her umbrella and studied the architecture of the building. A group of boys on the porch stopped talking and viewed her curiously. Presently, with a nod of approval, Harry turned and walked slowly up the path toward the Cottage, pausing at length to take in the details of that modest structure quite as thoroughly. The boys on the porch, Roy observed, were laughing and making fun of the queer figure. At that moment the door of School Hall opened again and Dick hurried out and along the path toward Harry, who had now turned and was sauntering back toward the hall. As he went he cast a quick and cautious glance about him and Roy, although he tried to draw back out of sight, knew that Dick had seen him. Dick’s gaze now was on the person in the black veil. When he reached the place where the path to the Cottage branched off from the road to the barn he seemed to hesitate an instant. Then he turned to the right toward the Cottage and Estrella De Vere.

By this time Harry had made up her mind to a desperate venture. As Dick reached her she sank her voice to sepulchral tones.

“Pardon me, young man,” she said, “but can you tell me what building that is?” She pointed the umbrella toward School Hall.

Dick stopped and touched his cap, looking very intently at the black veil. But Harry kept her head averted as much as she could and flattered herself that Dick was far from suspecting her identity. But she did wish he wouldn’t look so hard!

“Yes, ma’am,” answered Dick. “That is the Biological Laboratory.” Harry gave a gasp. “And further along,” pointing out the dormitory, “you see the Astronomical Observatory.” Harry gasped again. Dick swung around and indicated the gymnasium. “And that building, ma’am, is called Somes Hall in honor of Mr. Richard Somes, who gave the money for it. It cost two million dollars and contains the Phrenological and Optimistic departments.”

Harry had a wild desire to giggle, but conquered it. She wondered for an instant whether Dick knew her, after all, and was trying to tease her. The expression of his face, which was one of the utmost seriousness, told her nothing. She almost forgot to disguise her voice as she answered him.

“Thank you so much,” she said. “And—and the small house here?”

“Oh, that’s the Insane Asylum,” answered Dick readily. “I have but one case confined there at present, a young girl. It’s really very sad, ma’am. I don’t think she will ever be any better. She imagines”—he dropped his voice to a confidential whisper—“she imagines that she’s a detective! Very sad, really!”

He touched his cap again, gravely and politely, and went on toward the Cottage, leaving Harry a prey to conflicting emotions, the strongest of which was exasperation.

“Now how did he know me?” she wondered. “I think he’s just as mean as he can be!”

She stood motionless and watched Dick ring the bell. In a moment the door was opened and he passed into the Cottage.

“And what do you suppose he’s gone there for?” she asked herself. “Perhaps he’s going to tell mama that I’m out here with her old blue skirt and fur cape on! Let him! I think he’s the meanest—!”

But at that moment the mystery was explained. She had put up one hand to make certain of the arrangement of her veil, which since she had first donned it had been giving her not a little trouble, and discovered that it had become undone at the back, leaving exposed a small expanse of red hair.

“That’s how he knew!” she exclaimed. “If it hadn’t been for that he’d have been fooled just as Roy was! Beastly old veil! And I just know he’s told mama and they’re having a lovely joke about it! I’m going in!”

She hurried to the Cottage and attempted the front door, only to find that it was locked. Wrathfully she rang the bell. Steps sounded in the hall, the door was opened a little and Mrs. Emery’s face appeared for a brief moment. Then,

“Nothing to-day, thank you,” said her mother, and the door closed again sharply before Harry had recovered from her surprise. Then she beat upon the portal with the umbrella and stabbed at the button until the bell fairly outdid itself. A window opened up-stairs and Mrs. Emery put her head out.

“If you don’t go away at once,” she said, “I’ll call the man to put you off the grounds. We don’t allow peddlers here.”

“I’m not a peddler!” cried Harry. “I want to get in! I’m Harry!”

“''What! Harry?''” exclaimed her mother. “Well, I am surprised!”

But Harry noticed that she was smiling broadly as she closed the window and disappeared. In a moment the door was opened and Harry passed inside, a little bit sulky.

“You knew it was me,” she declared. “You just did it to tease me!”

“What, knew you in those clothes?” asked her mother. “Why, how could I, my dear? And with that veil over your face? And tied so neatly, too!”

“Yes, you did know; Dick told you! And he’s as mean as mean can be!”

“Dick? No, Dick didn’t tell me, my dear. But I saw you leaving the house half an hour ago and found my blue skirt missing.”

“Where’s Dick?” demanded Harry.

“Oh, he’s been gone a long time, I guess. He came and asked if he might pass through the house and go out by the back door; he said you and he were playing a game called—Detective, wasn’t it? So I told him he might and the last I saw of him from my window he was climbing over the hedge into the ball field.”

Harry sank into a chair, the black veil trailing from one hand and the silver-handled umbrella in the other.

“Foiled again!” she cried despairingly.