The Mystery of the Secret Band Read online

  CHAPTER V _Another Robbery_

  Mary Louise had three separate plans in view for the morning. First, shewould visit as many pawnshops as possible in the vicinity and ask to seetheir displays of watches. Second, she meant to go to Strawbridge andClothier's department store and find out whether Margaret Detweiler hadworked there, and why and when she had left. And third, she wanted tofind some pretext to call on Miss Henrietta Stoddard in her own room andobserve her closely.

  As she walked out of the dining room she met Mrs. Hilliard going towardsher little office on the first floor.

  "Could I see you for a moment, Mrs. Hilliard?" she inquired.

  "Certainly, my dear. Come into the office with me."

  Mary Louise followed her into the room, but she did not sit down. Sheknew how busy the hotel manager would be on Saturday morning.

  "I have decided to visit some pawnshops, Mrs. Hilliard," she said. "Ihave my own watch to identify, and I got a pretty good description ofMrs. Weinberger's today. But I want you to tell me a little more aboutthe other things that were stolen."

  "The silverware had an ivy-leaf pattern, and the initials 'S. H.'--forStoddard House--engraved on it," replied the woman. "The vase was an oldChinese one, of an odd size, with decorations in that peculiar red theyso often use. I believe I can draw it better than I can describe it. ButI feel sure you'd never find it in a pawnshop. Whoever stole that sold itto an antique dealer."

  However, she picked up her pencil and roughly sketched the vase for MaryLouise, giving her a good idea of its appearance. At the same time shedescribed the painting which had been stolen from Miss Granger's room--anoriginal by the American artist Whistler.

  Mary Louise wrote all these facts in her notebook and kept the drawing.

  "That's fine, Mrs. Hilliard," she said as she opened the door. "I'm goingout now, and I'll be back for lunch."

  "Good-bye and good luck!"

  Mary Louise went to her room, and from the telephone book beside her bedshe listed the addresses of all the pawnshops in the neighborhood. Thiswas going to be fun, she thought--at least, if she didn't lose her nerve.

  She hesitated for a few minutes outside of the first shop she came to.The iron bars guarding the window, the three balls in the doorway, seemedrather forbidding. For Mary Louise had never been inside a pawnshop.

  "I can say I want to buy a watch," she thought. "I do, too--I certainlyneed one. But I'm afraid I'd rather have a brand-new Ingersoll than agold one that has belonged to somebody else. Still, I don't have to tellthe shopkeeper that."

  Boldly she opened the door and went in.

  She had expected to find an old man with spectacles and a skullcap, thetypical pawnbroker one sees in the moving pictures. But there was nothingdifferent about this man behind the counter from any ordinarystorekeeper.

  "Good-morning, miss," he said. "What can I do for you today?"

  "I want to look at ladies' watches," replied Mary Louise steadily.

  The man nodded and indicated a glass case on the opposite side of theshop. Mary Louise examined its contents intently.

  "The fact is," she said, "my own watch was stolen. I thought maybe itmight have been pawned, and I'd look around in the shops first, before Ibuy one, in the hope of finding it."

  "Recently?"

  "Yes. Last night."

  The man smiled.

  "If it had been pawned last night or this morning, you wouldn't find itoffered for sale yet. We have to hold all valuables until the time ontheir tickets expires."

  "Oh, of course! How stupid of me.... Well, could you tell me whether anyladies' watches have been pawned here since midnight last night?"

  "Yes, we've taken in two," replied the man graciously. "And I don't mindshowing them to you. I'm not in league with any thieves. I'm an honestman."

  "I'm sure of it," agreed Mary Louise instantly.

  But she was disappointed upon sight of the watches. Neither of them washers, nor did either remotely resemble Mrs. Weinberger's or any of theother three stolen from Stoddard House.

  "Thank you ever so much," she said finally. "I think I'll look around alittle more and ask about my own, and if I can't find it, I may come backand buy one of yours. Several of those you have are very pretty."

  Thoroughly satisfied with her interview, she walked down the street untilshe came to another shop. It was on the corner of an alley, and just asshe approached the intersection she noticed a woman in an old-fashionedbrown suit coming out of the side door of the pawnshop. The woman glancedabout furtively, as if she did not care to be seen, and caught MaryLouise's eyes. With a gasp of surprise, the girl recognized herimmediately. It was Miss Henrietta Stoddard!

  Before Mary Louise could even nod to her, the woman had slipped acrossthe street and around the corner, lost amid the Saturday morning crowdthat was thronging the busy street. Mary Louise repressed a smile andentered the pawnshop by the front door.

  She repeated her former experience, with this difference, however: shedid not find the shopkeeper nearly so cordial or so willing toco-operate. Finally she asked point-blank what the woman in the brownsuit had just pawned.

  "I can't see that that's any of your business, miss," he replieddisagreeably. "But I will tell you that it wasn't a watch."

  Mary Louise wasn't sure that she believed him. But there was nothing thatshe could do without enlisting the help of her father.

  She visited four other shops without any success, and finally decided toabandon the plan. It was too hopeless, too hit-or-miss, to expect to findthose watches by that kind of searching. Far better, she concluded, toconcentrate on observing the actions of the people at Stoddard House.Especially Miss Henrietta Stoddard herself!

  So she turned her steps to the big department store where she believedMargaret Detweiler had worked till last Christmas and inquired her way tothe employment office. The store was brilliantly decorated for Christmas,and crowds of late shoppers filled the aisles and the elevators, so thatit was not easy to reach her destination.

  Nor was the employment manager's office empty. Even at this late date,applicants were evidently hoping for jobs, and Mary Louise had to sitdown and wait her turn. It was half an hour later that she found herselfopposite the manager's desk.

  Mechanically a clerk handed her an application to fill out.

  "I don't want a position," Mary Louise said immediately. "I want to seewhether I can get any information about a girl named Margaret Detweilerwho, I think, worked in your store up to last Christmas. Would it be toomuch trouble to look her up in your files? I know you're busy----"

  "Oh, that's all right," replied the manager pleasantly, and she repeatedthe name to the clerk.

  "You see," explained Mary Louise, "Margaret Detweiler's grandparentshaven't heard from her for a year, and they're dreadfully worried.Margaret is all they have in the world."

  The clerk found the card immediately.

  "Miss Detweiler did work here for six months last year," she stated. "Inthe jewelry department. And then she was dismissed for stealing."

  "Stealing!" repeated Mary Louise, aghast at such news. "Why, I can'tbelieve it! Margaret was the most upright, honest girl at home; she camefrom the best people. How did it happen?"

  "I remember her now," announced the employment manager. "A pretty,dark-eyed girl who always dressed rather plainly. Yes, I was surprisedtoo. But she had been ill, I believe, and perhaps she wasn't quiteherself. Maybe she had doctor's bills and so on. It was too bad, for ifshe had come to me I could have helped her out with a loan."

  "Was she sent to prison?" asked Mary Louise in a hoarse whisper. Oh, thedisgrace of the thing! It would kill old Mrs. Detweiler if she ever foundit out.

  "No, she wasn't. We found the stolen article in Miss Detweiler's shoe. Atleast, one of the things she took--a link bracelet. We didn't recover thering, but a wealthy woman, a customer who happened to be in the jewelrydepartment at the time, evidently felt sorry for Miss Detweiler andoff
ered to pay for the ring. We didn't let her, but of course we had todismiss the girl."

  "You haven't any idea where Margaret went--or what she did?"

  "Only that this woman--her name was Mrs. Ferguson, I remember, and shelived at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel--promised Miss Detweiler a job. Soperhaps everything is all right now."

  "I hope so!" exclaimed Mary Louise fervently. And thanking the womanprofusely she left the office and the store.

  But she had her misgivings. If everything had turned out all right, whyhadn't Margaret written to her grandparents? Who was this Mrs. Ferguson,and why had she done this kindness for an unknown girl? Mary Louise meantto find out, if she could.

  She inquired her way to the Benjamin Franklin Hotel and asked at the deskfor Mrs. Ferguson. But she was informed that no such person lived there.

  "Would you have last year's register?" she asked timidly. She hated toput everybody to so much trouble.

  The clerk smiled: nobody could resist Mary Louise.

  "I'll get it for you," he said.

  After a good deal of searching she found a Mrs. H. R. Ferguson registeredat the hotel on the twenty-third of the previous December, with only theindefinite address of Chicago, Illinois, after her name. MargaretDetweiler did not appear in the book at all: evidently she had neverstayed at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel.

  With a sigh of disappointment, Mary Louise thanked the clerk and left.Nothing had been gained by that visit.

  "It must be lunch time," she decided, after glancing in vain at herwrist, where she was accustomed to wear her watch. "I guess I'll go backto the house."

  The minute she entered the door of Stoddard House, the most terriblecommotion greeted her. A woman's shriek rang through the air; someonecried out, "Catch her--she's fainted!" the elevator doors slammed, andpeople appeared from everywhere, in wild confusion.

  Mary Louise dashed through the door to the desk just in time to see Mrs.Macgregor, the wealthy widow who lived in room 201, drop down on thebench beside the elevator. Women pressed all around her prostrate figure:guests, maids, Mrs. Hilliard, and the secretary, Miss Horton, who offereda glass of water to the unconscious woman. But nobody seemed to know whatit was all about.

  Presently Mrs. Macgregor opened her eyes and accepted a sip of the water.Then she glared accusingly at Mrs. Hilliard.

  "I've been robbed!" she cried. "Five hundred dollars and a pair ofdiamond earrings!"