BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL
Or, Leading a Needed Rebellion
by
JANET D. WHEELERAuthor of "Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance," "Billie Bradley onLighthouse Island," Etc.
Illustrated
New YorkGeorge Sully & CompanyPublishers
Copyright, 1920, byGeorge Sully & Company
The girls swept past them, and ran down the steps of theschool.]
CONTENTS
I ALMOST A FORTUNE
II THE WRECK
III RECOVERED TREASURE
IV THE "CODFISH"
V AMANDA SURPRISES
VI OFF FOR THREE TOWERS HALL
VII MISS WALTERS
VIII THE DILL PICKLES
IX A NEW ACQUAINTANCE
X LAKE MOLATA
XI LIGHTS OUT
XII TOO MUCH TO EAT
XIII FOUR ENEMIES
XIV BILLIE SNORES SUCCESSFULLY
XV A PLOT FAILS
XVI MYSTERY
XVII THE QUARREL
XVIII THE "CODFISH" AGAIN
XIX ROBBED!
XX CHET PLAYS THE HERO
XXI RAIDING THE PANTRY
XXII A CHALLENGE
XXIII A PRISONER OF WAR
XXIV THE CAPTURE
XXV HAPPY AGAIN
BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE TOWERS HALL
CHAPTER I
ALMOST A FORTUNE
"Oh, Dad, I can't believe it's true!"
In the rather dim light of the gloomy old room the boys and girls lookedqueer--almost ghostly. They were gathered about a shabby old trunk, andbeside this trunk a man was kneeling. As Billie Bradley spoke, the man,who was her father, rose to his feet and thoughtfully brushed the dustfrom his clothes. Then he stood looking down at the hundreds andhundreds of postage stamps and old coins that filled the queer oldtrunk.
"Is it really true, Dad?" Billie continued, shaking her father's armimpatiently while the other young folks looked eagerly up at him.
Mr. Bradley nodded slowly.
"Yes, you really have made a find this time, Billie," he said. "Ofcourse I'm not an expert, but I'm sure the coins in that old trunk areworth three thousand dollars, and the postage stamps ought to bring atleast two thousand more----"
"At least two thousand more!" broke in Chet Bradley, excitedly. "Doesthat mean that Billie may get more for the postage stamps?"
"I shouldn't wonder," replied Mr. Bradley, nodding his head. "However,"he added, smiling round at the girls and boys, "you'd better not counton anything over five thousand."
"But five thousand dollars!" interrupted Laura Jordon, in an awed voice."Just think of it, Billie! And because your Aunt Beatrice left you thishouse and everything in it, every last cent of that five thousandbelongs to you."
"Yes," said Teddy Jordon, turning to Billie with a chuckle. "I supposeyou won't look at any of us now you've got this money. How does it feel,Billie?"
"I--I don't know, yet," stammered Billie, still staring at the wonderfultrunk. "You'll just have to give me time to get used to it, that's all."
As those readers who have read the first book of this series, entitled"Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance," will probably have gathered, thegirls, Billie Bradley, Laura Jordon and Violet Farrington, and their boyrelatives and chums, Chet Bradley, Ferd Stowing and Teddy Jordon, werestill at the old homestead at Cherry Corners where so many weird andmysterious experiences had befallen them.
For the benefit of those who are meeting the girls and boys for thefirst time, what had happened up to the time of this story will besketched over briefly.
The young folks had grown up in North Bend, a town of perhaps twentythousand people, and about forty miles by rail from New York City. Thegirls had seen the great metropolis several times, though their visitshad been all too short to satisfy their eager curiosity.
Billie Bradley was called the most popular girl in North Bend, and,indeed, after one had been with Billie five minutes, one would neveragain wonder where she got the title.
Whether it was her sparkling brown eyes with the imp of mischief alwayslurking in them, or her merry laugh that made every one want to laughwith her, or the adventurous spirit that made her eager to embark on anykind of lark, it would be hard to tell--perhaps her popularity arosefrom a combination of all of these. But the fact remains that everybodyloved her and she had not an enemy, except, perhaps, Amanda Peabody--butmore of _her_ later!
Then there was Laura Jordon, Billie's best chum, blue-eyed andgolden-haired, who, despite the fact that her father was very wealthyand owned the thriving jewelry factory in North Bend, was not theslightest bit spoiled or conceited. She adored Billie, and although thetwo would sometimes enter into rather heated discussions, it was usuallyLaura who gave in to Billie in the end.
The last of the trio, but decidedly not the least, was VioletFarrington, who, tall and dark and less hasty and impetuous than theother two, often found the doubtfully blessed office of peacemakerthrust upon her. And though her slowness and tendency to hang backsometimes exasperated her chums, they nevertheless were very fond ofher--and showed it.
Chetwood Bradley, known as Chet to his friends, was Billie'sbrother--and very proud of it. He was a splendid, fine looking, ratherthoughtful boy whom everybody liked.
Ferd Stowing was a comical, jolly, all-around good fellow, who, thoughhe was not related to any of the girls, had been drawn into the groupthrough his friendship for the boys, Chet and Teddy.
And--Teddy! Teddy, who was the handsomest and gayest of all the boys,had been Billie's friend and playmate ever since they could remember.Either of them would have felt lost without the friendship of the other.Teddy was Laura's brother and had starred in almost all the sports inwhich the lads of North Bend had taken part--a fact which did not makeBillie like him any the less.
Just the summer before this story opens, Billie, going back with Violetand Laura to the grammar school from which they had just graduated, had,in a moment of thoughtless skylarking, broken a handsome and expensivestatue that belonged to her English teacher--Miss Martha Beggs.
The accident was nothing short of a tragedy to Billie, for her father,Martin Bradley, a real estate and insurance agent in North Bend, havingmost of his capital tied up in property and being at the time engaged infighting a rather losing fight with the high cost of living was in noposition to pay a hundred dollars--which was what the statue was worth.
Billie's worry was deepened by the fact that she would not be able to gowith Laura and Violet to Three Towers Hall, a boarding school to whichshe had wanted to go all her life. The high school in North Bend wasnotoriously poor and inefficient, and the girls had set their hearts onattending Three Towers in the fall. And now, because of the brokenstatue, Billie could not go.
Then had come news of Beatrice Powerson's death. Beatrice Powerson wasan aunt of Billie's mother for whom Billie had been named. Then came thestrange inheritance which the queer old lady, who had spent her lifetraveling, had left to Billie--the old homestead at Cherry Corners whichdated back to revolutionary times and had been the scene of more thanone Indian attack.
Readers of the first book of this series will remember how the girls andboys had decided to spend their vacation there, the many queer andspooky experiences they had had, and finally the shabby old trunk whichBillie had found stowed away in a corner of the attic--a shabby oldtrunk that contained riches; at least, so it now seemed to the boys andgirls. Five thousand dollars in th
e shape of old coins and postagestamps.
Billie had sent the wonderful news post-haste to her family, and Mr.Bradley had hurried out to the old house to see if Billie's discoverywas really worth anything.
And now he had just given the result of his investigation to six pairsof ears. To be exact it had better be made seven, for Mrs. MariaGilligan, Mrs. Jordon's housekeeper and the girls' chaperone on thisexpedition, was looking on with interest from the doorway.
Five thousand dollars, perhaps more. This almost certainly meant thatnot only could Billie go to Three Towers Hall, but Chet would be able togo with the other boys to a military academy which was only a littleover a mile from Three Towers.
"Oh, Daddy, I'm so glad you came!"
Billie squeezed her father's arm ecstatically.
"I'll say we are," said Ferd Stowing, staring down at the queer littletrunk as though he already could see it full to the brim with shiningnew gold pieces from the mint instead of the old coins and rare postagestamps that were its present contents.
"How soon," he asked, turning to Mr. Bradley, "will you be able to getreal money for these?"
"Probably almost as soon as we can get the trunk to North Bend," saidMr. Bradley. "The bank----" But Billie would not let him finish.
"Oh, Daddy, let's hurry!" she cried; then as her chums stared at her insurprise she rushed over to the trunk and slammed the lid shut. "Whatare you waiting for?" she cried, stamping her foot impatiently as sheturned to face them. "If _you_ want to stand around looking foolish, allright. But _I'm_ going home."
"Say! wait a minute," cried Teddy, stopping her as she started from theroom. "Perhaps your father----"
"I was going to suggest," said Mr. Bradley, looking at his watch, "thatwe catch the eight o'clock train for North Bend. Is that at allpossible, Mrs. Gilligan?" he asked, turning apologetically to Mrs.Gilligan.
However, before Mrs. Gilligan could reply, his daughter answered forher.
"Of course it is," she cried. "We girls were beginning to pack anyway.Come on, girls, what we need is action," and without giving them achance to protest she fell upon the girls and dragged them from theroom.
The boys looked after them with laughing eyes, and Mr. Bradley remarkedwith a smile: "My young daughter seems to be unusually happy aboutsomething."
"No wonder," said Chet, shaking his head ruefully. "I'd be happy, too,if anybody thought enough of me to give me five thousand dollars."
The rest of that afternoon was one wild scramble for the girls and boys,but at the end they made their train with, as the train was late, a fewminutes to spare.
The boy who had driven them and their luggage to town was the same whohad taken the girls and their chaperone to the old homestead at CherryCorners upon their arrival over a month before.
As he turned away and went back to his antiquated wagon, he shook hishead soberly.
"Gosh," he said, "I do be sorry to see 'em go. When they first came itsure did turn my heart cold to see three girls an' a woman goin' intothat there haunted house. At night it was, too! But it seems they'vecome out all right, after all. Guess they must 'a' scared the ghostsaway. Well, you've sure got to hand it to 'em." And he shook his headsagely as the springs of the old wagon creaked under him. "Giddap,Napoleon!" And a few minutes later wagon and driver were enveloped inthe gray mist of the evening.
"If we only get the train!" Such had been Billie's thought throughoutthe drive to the station. Her mind was on getting home and turning theprecious old coins and postage stamps into real money. Then she couldarrange about going to Three Towers Hall and about sending her brotherto Boxton Military Academy.
Fortunately the train was only ten minutes late, and presently they weresafely aboard and on the way to North Bend.
Half an hour passed. Boys and girls were chatting gaily, the otherscongratulating Billie over and over again on her good fortune.
"Just like a page out of the Arabian Nights----" Teddy was saying whenhis words were cut short most unexpectedly.
There was a jar and a crash, a shock and another crash, and then thelights in the car went out, leaving the passengers in darkness.
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