CHAPTER XIV
"GRANT NO FAVORS!"
"Mrs. Wilson's tea is at four o'clock, girls, remember," Harrietannounced a day or so later, looking up from the note she was writing."Are you actually going sight-seeing again to-day before the reception?Truly, I never imagined such energy!"
"Oh, come, Harriet Hamlin, don't be sarcastic," Ruth rejoined. "If youhad not lived so long in Washington you would be just as much interestedin everything as the 'Automobile Girls' are. But Bab and I are the onlyones to go sight-seeing to-day. Mollie isn't feeling well, and Grace isstaying to console her. We shall be back in plenty of time. Why don't youlie down for a while! You look so tired."
"Oh, I am all right," Harriet answered gently. "Good-bye, children. Begood and remember you have promised not to be late."
Ruth and Bab were highly anxious for a walk and talk together, and theyhad a special enterprise on hand for this afternoon. Bab had received amysterious summons from her newspaper friend, Marjorie Moore. The notehad asked Bab to bring Ruth, and to come to the Visitors' Gallery in theSenate Chamber at an appointed time. Marjorie Moore chose this strangemeeting place because she had a "special story" of the Senate to writefor her paper and was obliged to be in the gallery.
Barbara was not particularly surprised at the request. She knew thatMarjorie Moore had been wishing to make her a confidant ever since thereception at the White House. And she knew that the girl could not cometo Mr. Hamlin's house because of Harriet's hostile attitude toward her.
So Bab confided the whole story to Ruth, and feeling much mystified andexcited, the two girls set out for the Capitol.
During the long walk Barbara thought of her own secret, which she longedto confide to Ruth, but she dared not tell Ruth of the borrowed money forfear Ruth would at once insist on paying her debt. The money had to bepaid, of course, and Bab hoped to pay it back at an early date, but shehad not yet come to the point where she could bear to ask Ruth for it.
When Ruth and Bab finally reached the Capitol building, and made theirway to the Visitors' Gallery in the Senate Chamber, Marjorie Moore wasnot there. She had failed to keep her appointment.
"I am not so very sorry Miss Moore has not come," Barbara remarked toRuth. "She seems to be such a mysterious kind of person, alwayssuggesting something and never really telling you what it is."
Ruth laughed. "The 'Automobile Girls' hate mysteries, don't they, Bab?But goodness knows, we are always being involved in them!"
The two visitors sat down to listen to the speeches of United StatesSenators. There was some excitement in the Chamber, Bab decided, butneither she nor Ruth could exactly understand what was going on.Both girls listened and watched the proceedings below them withsuch intensity that they forgot all about Marjorie Moore and herstrange request.
A few moments later she dropped down into the vacant seat next toBarbara. She looked more hurried and agitated than ever. Her hat was onone side, and her coat collar was half doubled under. She was a littlepaler from her trying experience of a few nights before, and an uglybruise showed over her temple. But she made no reference to her accident.
"I am sorry I am late," she whispered. "But come back here in the farcorner of the gallery with me. I want to talk with you just half aminute. I am so busy I can't stay with you any longer. I just felt I mustsee you, Miss Thurston, before you go to tea with Mrs. Wilson thisafternoon."
"Tea with Mrs. Wilson!" Bab ejaculated. "How did you know we were goingto Mrs. Wilson's tea? And has that anything to do with your message tome?" Barbara did not speak in her usual friendly tones. She was gettingdecidedly cross. It seemed to her that she had been under some one'ssupervision ever since her arrival in Washington.
"Yes, it has, Miss Thurston," the newspaper girl replied quickly. "I wantto ask you something. Promise me you will grant no one a favor, no matterwho asks it of you to-day?"
Barbara flushed. "Why how absurd, Miss Moore. I really cannot make youany such promise. It is too foolish."
"Foolish or not, you must promise me," Marjorie Moore insisted. Then sheturned earnestly to Ruth. "I know you have a great deal of influence withyour friend. If she will not agree to what I ask her, won't you make herpromise you this: She is not to consent to do a favor for any one thisafternoon, no matter how simple the favor seems to be. Do youunderstand?"
Ruth looked at Marjorie Moore blankly, but something in the newspapergirl's earnest expression arrested her attention.
"I don't see why you won't make Miss Moore the promise she begs of you,Bab," Ruth argued. "It seems a simple thing she has asked you. And Idon't think it is very nice of you, dear, to refuse her, even though herrequest does seem a little absurd to you."
"But won't you tell me why you ask me to be so exceedinglyunaccommodating, Miss Moore?" Bab retorted.
Marjorie Moore shook her head. "That's just the trouble. Again I can'ttell you why I ask this of you. But I want to assure you of one thing. Itwould mean a great deal more to me, personally, to have you agree to dothe favor that may or may not be asked of you this afternoon. I am theonly outside person in Washington who knows of a certain game that is tobe played. It would mean a big scoop for my paper and a lot of money forme if I would just let things drift. But I like you too well to hold mytongue, though I am not going to tell you anything more. And I certainlywon't beg you to do what I ask of you. Of course you may do just as youplease. Good-bye; I am too busy to talk any more to-day." Before Barbaracould make up her mind what to answer, the newspaper woman hurried away.
Ruth looked decidedly worried after Marjorie Moore's departure. ButBarbara was still incredulous and a little bored at being kept socompletely in the dark.
"Look here, Bab," Ruth advised, as the two girls walked slowly hometogether, "you did not promise Miss Moore to do what she asked of you.But you must promise me. Oh, I know it seems absurd! And I am not exactlyblaming you for refusing to make that promise to Miss Moore. But, Bab, wecannot always judge the importance of little things. So I, at least,shall be much happier at this particular tea if you will promise me notto do a single thing that any one asks you to do."
Both girls laughed gayly at Ruth's request.
"Won't I be an agreeable guest, Ruth?" Bab mimicked. "If any one asksme to sit down, I must say, 'No; I insist on standing up. Because Ihave promised my friend Miss Stuart not to do a single thing I amrequested to do all afternoon.' I wish I did not have to go to Mrs.Wilson's tea to-day."
"You need not joke, Bab," Ruth persisted. "And you need not pretend youwould have to behave so foolishly. I only ask you to promise me what youwould not agree to, when Marjorie Moore asked it of you: 'Don't do anyfavor for any one, no matter who asks it of you this afternoon!'"
Bab gave up. "All right, Ruth, dear; I promise," she conceded. "You knowvery well that I can't refuse you anything, though I do think you andMiss Moore are asking me to be ridiculous. I do hereby solemnly swear tobe, for the rest of this day, the most unaccommodating young person inthe whole world. But beware, Ruth Stuart! The boomerang may return andstrike you. Don't dare request me to do you a favor until after the bellschime midnight, when I shall be released from my present idiotic vow."
Mrs. Wilson's afternoon teas were not like any others in Washington. Theywere not crowded affairs, where no one had a chance to talk, but smallcompanies of guests especially selected by Mrs. Wilson for theircongeniality. So Mrs. Wilson was regarded as one of the most popularhostesses at the Capital and distinguished people came to herentertainments who could not be persuaded to go anywhere else.
Harriet and the four "Automobile Girls" were delighted to see a number ofservice uniforms when they entered the charming French drawing-room oftheir hostess, which was decorated in old rose draperies against ivorytinted walls.
Lieutenant Elmer Wilson's friends, young Army and Navy officers, were outin full force. They were among the most agreeable young men in Washingtonsociety. Lieutenant Elmer at once attached himself to Mollie; and hisattentions might have turned the head of that young wo
man if she had notbeen feeling unusually sobered by her recent experience with debt.
Barbara soon recognized the two young men who had helped her carryMarjorie Moore from the lawn to the White House veranda. But neither oneof them referred to the incident while there were other peoplesurrounding them. Finally an opportunity came to one of the two men tospeak to Barbara. He leaned over and whispered softly: "How is the youngwoman we rescued the other night? I almost thought she had been killed.We have been sworn to secrecy. But one of my friends has an idea that hesaw the man who may have attacked Miss Moore. He was out on a porchbefore the rest of us joined him, and he swears he saw two figures atsome distance across the lawn."
Bab shuddered. "I was on the lawn. Perhaps he saw me."
"No," her companion argued, unconvinced. "My friend is sure he saw twomen; one of them was rather heavily built--"
Peter Dillon's approach cut short the conversation and the young Armyofficer turned away, as Peter joined Bab.
Barbara hardly turned around to greet the newcomer. She did not likePeter Dillon and she was very anxious to hear what her previous companionhad to say. So Bab only gave Mr. Dillon her haughtiest bow. Peter did notappear discouraged; he stood for a moment smiling at Bab good humoredly,the boyish look shining in his near-sighted dark blue eyes.
Barbara was forced to speak to him. "How do you do, Mr. Dillon?" sheasked at last.
"Very well indeed," replied the young man cheerfully. "Did you arrivehome safely the other day?"
Barbara colored hotly. She felt certain now that despite her promise ofsecrecy Mrs. Wilson had betrayed her confidence and told Peter Dillonabout the borrowed money. Why she had done so was a mystery and why hehad lied to Bab in saying Mrs. Wilson was out was also a problem Babcould not solve.
While all this was passing through her mind Peter stood regarding herwith a quizzical smile. Then he said smoothly: "Miss Thurston, will youdo me a favor?"
Bab flashed a peculiar glance at him. "No," she replied abruptly.
The young man looked surprised. "I am sorry," he declared. "I was onlygoing to ask you to go in the other room to look at a picture with me."
A little later in the afternoon, Harriet managed to get the four"Automobile Girls" together. "Mrs. Wilson wishes us to stay to dinnerwith her," Harriet explained. "She has asked eight or ten otherpeople and Father has telephoned that he will come in after dinner totake us home."
Automobile Girls at Washington; Or, Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies Page 14