The Mystery of the Secret Band Read online

  CHAPTER XV _Christmas Morning_

  Christmas morning!

  Mary Louise laughed out loud when she wakened amid the bleakness of hersurroundings in that empty house near Center Square. Oh, how different itwas from every other Christmas of her experience! No lovely fragrance ofevergreen, no warm fire, no cheery hot breakfast--no presents! But thislast fact worried her least of all. At the moment she believed she wouldgive up all the Christmas presents in the world for a plate of sausageand hot cakes.

  She felt a little stiff from sleeping in her clothing, but underneath theblankets and her fur coat she had not suffered from the cold. And, oh,how good it was to see the sun! To be able to walk around in a lighthouse--or a dimly lighted one, for even some of the second-story windowswere boarded up.

  She shuddered at the fear that no one might come that day to rescue her,that she might be subjected to another black night in this dismal place.But with daylight to aid her perhaps she could find a way out forherself, if no one came. She would try not to lose hope.

  She got up and washed, thankful at least for the water in the house, andshe took a long drink. Then she remembered that there was tea in thekitchen, and even though there was no way of heating the water, she couldmake cold tea and add sugar. Perhaps the sugar would supply a littleenergy.

  With her fur coat buttoned up to her neck she cautiously descended thestairway in the hall. Downstairs it was so dark that she could not evensee the outlines of the furniture until her eyes became accustomed to thedimness.

  "There must be candles in the kitchen," she surmised. "But I'm afraid itwill be too dark to find them."

  She groped her way out to the kitchen, and fumbled around until shetouched the dresser.

  "I'd never be able to tell which is sugar and which is salt," shethought. "Except that I can taste anything I happen to find."

  However, that proceeding might not prove to be so good, she decided, forshe had no desire to taste kitchen cleanser or rat poison, for instance.No, it would be better to do without than to take any risks, just for thesake of a cup of cold tea!

  As she cautiously ran her hand along the bottom shelf of the dresser, herfingers encountered something decidedly rough. For a moment she waspuzzled, until she could identify the object. But in a moment sherecognized it. Sandpaper, of course! Sandpaper on the outside of a box ofmatches.

  Her pulse quickened as she picked up the box, and found that it was full.This was luck indeed! She struck a match at once, and began to huntfeverishly for candles. But she wasted three matches without finding asingle one.

  "I can have my cold tea, anyway," she thought, and with the aid of asingle match she located tea and sugar and a cup. The sink was rightbeside the dresser, and she ran cold water over the tea leaves.

  "Merry Christmas, Mary Lou!" she finally said aloud, as she drank thecold tea through closed teeth, to avoid swallowing the leaves.

  She felt chillier than ever after she had finished it, but not quite soweak and empty. Lighting another match she made her way into the livingroom.

  "Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were an open fireplace all piled upwith wood!" she mused, as she entered the room.

  There was a fireplace, she found, but it was totally empty. On a shelfover it, however, she came upon a discovery which she had overlooked theprevious night. There, right in the middle of the mantelpiece, stood aChinese vase of the very design which Mrs. Hilliard had described!

  "Maybe if I look around I'll find Miss Granger's painting," was her nexthope.

  She examined the picture over the fireplace--a cheap hunting scene--andwas just about to turn away when she made another find which brought awhoop of joy to her lips. In plain view, at each end of the shelf, stoodtwo tall, red candles!

  When Mary Louise had lighted one of these she felt suddenly like adifferent girl. It was amazing what a change one steady little gleam oflight could make. But she was frugal enough to burn only one of them; ifshe had to spend another night in this house she would not need to be incomplete darkness.

  There was an upright piano at the other side of the room; Mary Louisestepped over and sat down on the stool in front of it.

  "I'll play a Christmas carol, just to celebrate!" she decided, and struckthe opening chords of "O come all ye faithful."

  She stopped abruptly. "What a terrible rattle!" she exclaimed. "Thesepeople must throw their tin cans into the piano when they finish withthem!"

  She stood up and examined the top with her candle. Lifting up the hingedhalf, she peered down into the space beneath. Instantly she perceived agray flannel bag hanging on the end of one of the keys as if someone haddeliberately hidden it there.

  She snatched it off excitedly, delighted to find that it was heavy. Nodoubt it contained something metallic, which had been the cause of thejangling of the piano keys. With trembling fingers she pulled open thestring and dumped the contents of the bag upon a chair.

  Diamond rings, bracelets, earrings, watches, and gold necklaces droppedout before her astonished eyes. A fabulous treasure, such as one readsabout in fairy tales or sometimes dreams of finding! Color came to MaryLouise's cheeks, and her heart raced wildly as she examined the articlesone by one to make sure that they were genuine.

  Mrs. Weinberger's old-fashioned timepiece ornamented with diamonds wasthere--and Mary Louise's own dainty little wrist watch, engraved with hername in the back of it. Oh, what a joy it was to have it again! Sheclasped it affectionately about her wrist.

  Leaving the jewelry on the chair, she peered into the piano again to seewhat else she could find. She was rewarded with another discovery. Downin a corner, in a remote spot, she saw a small package wrapped in brownpaper. She encountered some difficulty in prying it loose, but at lastshe had it free. Stripped of its brown-paper wrapping, she found that sheheld a fat wad of bills in her hand!

  "Mrs. Macgregor's money!" she thought immediately. "And MissGranger's--and my own five dollars!"

  How wonderful it all was! To be able to return the possessions to therightful owners at Stoddard House! To have proof enough now to convictMrs. Ferguson and her band of thieves! To collect her salary from Mrs.Hilliard and go home--in time for Max's senior dance!

  If--only--she could get out of this house!

  A feverish sense of impatience took possession of Mary Louise. It wascruel, she stormed, that in her hour of triumph she should be imprisonedalone in a dark house. Wouldn't somebody miss her and come to her rescue?Where was her father? Why hadn't he driven out here to Center Square whenhe returned to Stoddard House last night--and had found her missing?

  But suppose--awful thought--that he had not returned! Suppose he hadmissed finding Mrs. Ferguson and had been deceived by that letter of hersinto pursuing the woman to Florida! Mrs. Hilliard would conclude that hehad taken her--Mary Louise--with him, when neither returned!

  A trip to Florida, Mary Louise figured, might consume almost a week.While she waited alone in this dark, cold house, each day itself aneternity of hunger and loneliness and suffering!

  A hollow laugh escaped her lips as she glanced at the money and thevaluables heaped on the chair beside her. They were as little use to hernow as Midas's gold. They would neither feed her nor keep her warm.

  "There's no use hoping for release by somebody else," she told herself."I'll have to work out a way by myself. I'll have to be a modern Count ofMonte Cristo!"

  She stood up and gathered her treasure together again into the bag andtook the Chinese vase from the mantelpiece. Another tour of the roomrevealed the Whistler picture in a dark corner. With the aid of herhalf-burnt candle, she carried everything to the dining room and placedit all in a pile beside the silverware.

  "I'll hide the money inside my dress and the jewelry in my coat pocket.These other things I'll drop into that wood-basket I saw in the kitchen."

  When she had finally completed her packing she sat down in the diningroom to think.

  "I believe I'll try t
o get out the same way I got in," she decided."Because the glass is already broken in that window. All I'll have to dowill be to cut my way through the new boards which that caretaker--orwhoever he was--hammered on last night."

  With this purpose in view, Mary Louise carried her candle into thekitchen. The drawer in the dresser revealed a poor selection of knives;it might take days to cut through a board with only these as tools.Nevertheless, she meant to try. Anything was better than idleness.

  Selecting what appeared to be the sharpest in the collection, shereturned to the window in the dining room. But she realized immediatelythat her scheme would not work. The boards were too close together; itwould be impossible to insert a knife between them at any place.

  "I guess I'll have to smash that bedroom window and jump out," shethought gloomily. "It would probably mean a broken neck, but that'sbetter than a slow, lingering death."

  She pulled the dresser drawer farther out, looking idly for some otherimplement to facilitate her escape. Suddenly her eyes lighted upon ahammer. Not a very large hammer, but adequate enough for the task. Whyhadn't she thought of that plan before? It would be lots easier to hammerthose boards loose than to try to cut through them with a knife.

  She picked it up out of the drawer and paused abruptly. There was aslight sound in the front of the house, like the click of a key in alock. Extinguishing her candle, she waited breathlessly till she heardthe front door open. Someone stepped cautiously into the hall!

  Mary Louise's heart stood still in her excitement. Who was the intruder?Was it the Margaret whom Mrs. Ferguson had mentioned in her letter, orwas it the woman herself? Whoever it was, was he or she armed with arevolver?

  Much as Mary Louise longed to find Margaret Detweiler, she dared not takea chance now of coming face to face with an unknown person in this darkhouse, since all the valuables were in her possession. Her only desire atthe moment was for escape. Silently she moved towards the door of thekitchen which led directly into the hall.

  She heard the newcomer go into the living room, and as Mary Louise creptpast the doorway she saw the gleam of a flashlight. But the person,whoever it was, was hidden from her view, and Mary Louise did not wait tofind out who it was. She reached the front door in safety and found thekey still reposing in the lock.

  A second later she removed the key and slipped out of the door into theclear, cold sunshine. She was free at last!

  And with a chuckle of triumph she inserted the key on the outside of thedoor and turned it, imprisoning the intruder, just as she herself hadbeen imprisoned for the last sixteen hours!