The lawyer looked up at Mike.
"Better get Hiley on the phone at once. Tell him to search the boy before he gets a chance to make away with anything. Search the old lady, too. He may have managed to hand something over to her. Here's the list. Tell him to make a thorough job of it, before he gets a chance to hide anything."
Eden listened in wonder.
"Did Mrs. Fane know of the existence of this jewelry?" asked Lorrimer.
"I don't know," said Eden, and he turned toward Janet.
"She might have known," said the old nurse, "although Mrs. Thurston was thet ill after she coom thet she seldom wore jewels. Still this Fane woman was thet much of a snoop that somehoo she'd smell oot a thing an' pry aroond till she got a sight of it."
The lawyer nodded, showing that he was getting a pretty good idea of the Fane woman's character, and that of her boy also.
Eden was sitting by the desk with the fine old pearls dripping through her fingers, and the young man as he looked up could not but think how fitting such jewels were to go around a lovely throat like this young girl's.
He gave her an admiring glance and an apologetic smile.
"I hope you'll forgive me," he said, as he got up to take his departure. "This really was necessary, and I shouldn't wonder if these pearls would help a lot in solving our problems. It's been nice to have you and your servants cooperate so well. I thank you."
"Oh, I'm glad if we helped any, and I'm grateful to you for finding the pearls," said Eden. "Perhaps I never would have known about them if this hadn't happened." She smiled into his eyes, and he thought again how sweet her young eyes were.
"Well, I'm glad we could find them, and I'll find out from Mr. Worden at once how much he knows of the contents of this secret drawer. You know, it just may be that this little box fit so tightly into the bottom of the compartment that it escaped notice when the other things were taken out to go to the bank."
"Yes, of course," said Eden. "I wish I knew just what those things were, the rest of the valuables. Somehow I never took much interest in them while Father was alive and while I was in college. I just thought of them as some old family relics. But I guess I ought to go down to the bank and look the rest over. Should I do it right away?"
"Don't worry yourself now. If Mr. Worden hasn't returned yet, I think I'll call him on the telephone. This is important, to get hold of the facts in the case before anything more can happen. If I get any more information, I'll call you."
And so with a smile and a quick friendly clasp of the hand he went away with Mike, and the household settled down to what they hoped was going to be peace and quietness.
Eden, standing at the window, watching the young lawyer walk down the street, thought how very kind his voice was and how restfully dependable he seemed. Of course, she didn't know him at all, but he seemed very nice, and she felt almost comfortable knowing that he was working to protect her interests.
Then Janet suddenly appeared on the scene.
"Coom ye oof an' heve yer loonch!" she commanded. "Ye hed niver a bite o' breakfast, an' verra little dinner the night before. We didna want ye to blow awa' wi' the first little breath of air."
"Oh," laughed Eden, "I didn't realize I hadn't had my breakfast. I was just so excited over what they were talking about. Isn't it awful that anybody tried to break in? Do you really think it was Ellery, Janet?"
"Think!" sniffed Janet. "I shud say there's na doubt about it. Little snake in the grass! I only wish he would be put where he couldna be botherin' the likes of ye ony mair. An' tae think of thet old sneak of a mither of his coomin' around sayin' she was goin' tae be yer chaperone! I sure would like tae see her bashed in the face the way Mike talks aboot dooin' tae soom of the criminals."
Eden laughed a merry little ripple of a relieved sigh.
"What did she say, Janet? Did she talk to you?"
"No, but Tabor give her gude an' plenty back agin. Her wi' her sham tears and her pretenses! But noo, coom ye out tae yer loonch. It's already settin' on the table, and the cook's fair frantic fer ye tae eat afore it gets cold. Coom noo, an' I'll tell ye the rest whilst ye eat."
So Eden went to her lunch and heard the full tale of Lavira Fane's attempt to get into the house earlier in the day.
"And where do you think she went?" asked Eden, with still a bit of trouble on her brow. "Will she try to come back here tonight, do you suppose, and plead that she hasn't any place to sleep?"
"Na, she'll nae do thet. Mike said he would see thet she was safely hoosed."
"You--don't mean they've arrested her, do you, Janet?"
Janet gave a significant shrug to her shoulders.
"I canna say what they've doon wi' her, but I'm certain they'd niver let her run at large. They've places tae keep people they don't troost, ye ken. Perfec'ly respectable places, thet is, so tae speak, where they can keep an eye on her, an' ef there ever was a wumman needed an eye kep' on her, that Fane wumman's the one."
"Well, I shouldn't like to be the cause of her going to jail," said Eden with a troubled look.
"Why not, ef it's the only place ither folks is safe from her? But don't ye fret, dear cheeld. Mike's a discerin' mon ef there iver was wan, an' he can be troosted. An' besides all this, don't ye know the law has ways of findin' oot aboot folks? He's likely, as he says, 'got a line' on her an' her crooked son, by this toime. An' ye see the matter is not in yer wee hands. It's the law has it in the noo, an' ye can't do onythin' aboot it."
"But maybe I ought to telephone Mike to get them to promise to go back West where they came from and we won't say anything more about it. Wouldn't Dad have wanted me to do that?"
"No, my leddy, he would niver want thet. He was allus fer joostice. A good businessmon is allus fer joostice. And what right would ye have tae send them crooked folks back tae steal frae ither folks? No, me leddy-gurril, ye've naethin' more tae do wi' it. Just rest yer heart, my lamb. An' ef ye wantae talk wi' onyboody mair aboot the matter, go call yer feyther's friend, Mr. Worden. Belikes he knows all aboot it by now. Thet young lawyermon seemed mighty fine an' oop-coom-in'. He won't let the grass grow onder his feet. He'll get the right kind of advice, an' stan' by it. Jest ye rest."
So Eden ate her delicate lunch.
"A wee drap o' soup," to quote Janet's description of it, "a coopla crispy bits o' toost, a bit o' the brist of chicken, a cool little slice o' pineapple ice, an' a shred o' angel cake. Don't that soond gude, my lamb?"
So Eden began to plan what she would tell Mr. Worden when she called him up. Would he be at the bank now? And would that Mr. Lorrimer have talked with him yet? Somehow she felt that that young man would have a right, just view of things. He wouldn't be hard on people unless it was necessary, for the safety of others. She would wait a little before calling. Mr. Worden usually went out to lunch at one o'clock. Perhaps she would be able to catch him a little before one. A glance at her watch told her that there was a good half hour yet before she should try to speak with him.
Then her thoughts reverted to Caspar. How fortunate that he had changed his plans. If he had come this morning, it would certainly have complicated things. Caspar would have been impatient. Would have wanted to know what was going on. Would have recalled all his unpleasant memories of the trouble Ellery had made her father, and would probably have advocated vengeance on the Fanes to the limit. She was glad he was not there. And as for keeping it quiet, keeping Caspar in ignorance of what was going on, that would hardly have been possible. Not with police and lawyers coming to question her, especially when he was wanting to see her without any hindrances to talking.
Then she began to look forward to the evening. Would the troubles be settled by that time? Or would some more policemen come barging in and want more interviews? She hoped not.
Up in her own quiet room again she found it impossible to rest. She tried to call Mr. Worden but found he had not returned from his business trip and would probably not be back until the next day sometime. There had been a wire from him
saying so, and there seemed to be nobody in the bank just then who could take his place.
She hung up the instrument and sat down perplexed. Oh, if her father were only here! How strange that all this should have to come just after he had left her! And he had tried so hard to make everything plain and straight in her little world for her so there would be no perplexities.
Just then the telephone rang again, and it was Mr. Lorrimer.
"Is that you, Miss Thurston? I'm Lorrimer, your lawyer. They told me you had just called for Mr. Worden, so you know he has not yet returned and that I have not been able to talk with him except briefly on the telephone, just as he was catching another train. But I did learn that he knew of the secret compartment in the desk and that there had been articles left there for you, things of your mother's meant for you. They were to be taken to the bank, after you had gone over them and selected what you wished to keep here. He told me where to find the list of these things, and I have gone over it carefully. None of them are in our vault. Of course, we cannot check definitely until Mr. Worden returns, but I have been comparing notes with the police headquarters, and so far they have discovered a handsome jeweled pin fastened in the coat of the young man, under the sleeve lining. He claims that his girl gave it to him when he went away to war. But so far we can find no record of his having been accepted in either the army or navy, and his mother's stories and his do not agree. We are holding them for further questioning and to give them a more thorough searching. The woman is wearing a very handsome bracelet on her upper arm under a heavy sleeve. It might be the diamond bracelet, but she claims it is rhinestones and that you gave it to her."
"No!" said Eden. "I never gave her anything."
"I have not seen it yet," went on Lorrimer. "We will have it examined, of course, by an expert. Just how she would have gotten possession of it if the young man stole it during the night we have not yet figured out, but it might have been done. The list names some unmounted jewels, three emeralds, a ruby, and four sapphires, one a star sapphire. They seem to have been a part of your grandmother's dowry. We have tried to find them in the bank, but they are not there.
They are things that can be easily hidden in clothing. I suppose there will have to be a trial, I am not sure. But be assured we will do our best to keep you out of this whole matter, so please do not worry."
Eden turned away from the telephone at last with a degree of peace in her heart. At least she was assured that her affairs were in safe hands, and she could rest on that. And after all, what were jewels? She could live without them. She had been happy before she knew of their existence. Of course, she would like to have articles of value that belonged to her family, but why should she make herself miserable over their loss? She found herself exceedingly weary of the whole matter. So telling Janet she was going to take a nap, she went up to her room and, curling up on her bed, fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter 5
Caspar Carvel turned up before dinner after all. He had been used to barging into their house whenever he liked to a meal, when he was a lad, and he figured that times hadn't changed even if there had been a war.
Eden was in the big living room curled up in a chair, reading a book she had found among some mail that had come to her father since his death. She had unwrapped it and sat down to find out what it was, when the door opened and Caspar walked in, just as if it were yesterday that he went away.
"Hello, lovely!" he said. "My buddy took an earlier train than he had expected; he went up to New York to get his boat, and so that let me out. I figured perhaps you'd be here anyway, so I came. Think they'll have dinner enough for me, too, or will I have to take you out to a restaurant?" He finished with his well-known grin, and suddenly it did seem only yesterday that he had gone away.
Eden looked up smiling, trying to put a note of cheer into her voice, for surely that was what he, a returned soldier, deserved. He must have seen plenty of hardships and sorrow and horror and was just trying to put it all out of his thoughts, as of course he ought to do if he was to return to living.
"Come in," she said brightly, holding out her hand to greet him. "Of course there'll be enough dinner for you. Did you ever get turned away hungry from this house?"
"No," he responded heartily. "I never did!" And he grasped the hand she held out, possessively. Before she knew what was going on he had drawn her close within his arms and kissed her most thoroughly on either cheek, her eyes, and then her mouth, as if he had all the rights in the world, as if she had been his always. He did not seem to notice that her lips did not respond to his in the kiss. He was the master of the situation and was entirely satisfied with the way he was conducting the scene.
But Eden gasped and struggled back away from him.
"Caspar! Don't! Please don't!" And she turned her head away from his attempted repetition of the kiss.
"Why, what's the matter, beautiful? Aren't you glad to see me? Don't tell me you don't like to be kissed. Every girl likes that. And I have a reputation for being good at it." His possessive hands reached out to draw her close again, but Eden in quick alarm backed off definitely from him and drew herself to her full height."
"I do not like it," she said decidedly.
"But--but baby, don't be stuffy! All the girls kiss the army boys, and all the army boys kiss the girls. It's custom, you know. It's a part of patriotism. Why, they all kissed us when we went away, and of course now that we're back, we kiss them and they like it."
"Oh," said Eden coldly, retiring from his near vicinity. "Was this supposed to be an army regulation? A sort of mass salute? Well, you see, I'm not like the rest. I do not like it. Won't you sit down and be yourself, Caspar? Where have you been, and what have you been doing?"
"Oh, for gosh's sake, Eden, do I have to recite my exploits to you? Wait till next week and hear me over the radio. That'll be enough. And now suppose we talk about you. You certainly haven't wasted any time growing up. I doubt if I would have really known you if I had met you in New York, say. You're quite sophisticated, too. You're not a dowdy little kid the way you used to be. You're gorgeous. You really are more than pretty. I never dreamed you'd get to be so good looking. Of course, I missed you a lot when I first went away, but they kept us so darned busy out there I didn't have much time to think about you, and then in between we used to have a lotta fun. The girls everywhere we went had dances for us. I've learned to dance, you know, and I'm pretty swell at it, they tell me. You and I will have to try it the next time I come back. How long do you have to stay cooped up here before you can go out again and get around among 'em? I'd like to take you up to New York and show you around. See life, you know."
Eden smiled distantly. "Thank you, but I've been to New York, you know, quite a good many times," she said. "I used to go up with Father every time he had business up there, and we always had wonderful times together."
"Oh, yes, I suppose you did," said Caspar contemptuously. "Symphony concerts and lectures and stuffy things like that. But I mean see real life. I'm crazy to take you to nightclubs and shows."
"Oh," she reminded him with dignity, "nightclubs are not at all my style. I wouldn't care for them."
"Oh, but you don't know. You've never been out and seen real life. You don't know what you're missing. Wait till I get you to a few places I know, you'll be crazy about it. Don't be stuffy, Eden."
"Thank you," said Eden in a really cold voice now. "I do not care for that kind of life, and I do not want to see it. I like real things."
"Aw, ye gods! If I ever saw such puritanical notions. Anybody would think you were an old woman in your dotage. Be your age and have a good time. I thought, of course, you'd get over those silly notions when you get away from your puritanical father."
"Well, I haven't, Caspar," she said with flashing eyes. "I'd rather not talk any more about it. I certainly don't think you have improved when you talk like that. You always used to be respectful to my father."
"Oh, sure, he was a good guy, and all that. B
ut he's gone now, and it can't hurt to have a little good time."
"That isn't my idea of a good time," said Eden quietly. "Suppose you tell me some of your experiences abroad. What countries were you in? Italy? Oh, you saw the Forum and all those wonderful buildings. I've always been fascinated by Rome. And were you in Switzerland at all? Tell me about it."
"Oh, that!" said the young man contemptuously. "Mountains, of course, and wonderful sunsets and castles and all like that. But I'm not keen on scenery, and I was glad to get back to city life. I enjoyed Paris most."
He rattled off into a description of a few merry gatherings and told some jokes he thought were funny that Eden didn't appreciate. She was glad when Tabor came and announced dinner and they could go out to the table.
Caspar was talking in a lively stream of reminiscence as he drew back Eden's chair for her and then sat down, but Eden waited quietly till he came to the end of a sentence and then she said shyly, "Caspar, you used to ask the blessing when we were children. Will you ask it now?"
Caspar grinned, looked at her as if she were joking, and then grew red.
"No, I don't believe I remember any of those little old prayers," he said. "You get away from all that sort of thing when you go to war, you know."
But Eden did not smile. She quietly bowed her head and said quite simply as she had been taught to do in childhood: "Lord, we thank Thee for this food, and we ask Thy blessing upon us tonight. Amen."
The two servants stood at their places for serving with bowed heads, just as Caspar remembered they did whenever he came over to dinner, only it was usually Mr. Thurston who asked the blessing in recent years. Nevertheless, there was something impressive in the whole little ceremony, something distinctly admirable and quaint in the young girl who had taken her place in life even as she had been trained to do. The annoyed young soldier bowed his head reluctantly. Maybe it wasn't so ridiculous as the world would think it was. It was rather sweet in a way, and Eden was awfully pretty, with all her quaintness. Besides, she must have a mint of money. People with money could get away with oddities. He had never thought of money very much before. But getting back from war and seeing all this quiet elegance made him feel that it wouldn't be bad to have a part in a life like this. He must take care not to antagonize his old friend. And, of course, it would be easy to train Eden and get her away from her religious fancies when he had her under his control. He had always been able to influence her, he flattered himself.
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