The Third Girl Detective

by Margaret Sutton

  “Really, girls, this has been about the only home that I have known, this and your house, Lina.”

  The other two girls had sat down to listen quietly. Allie May was the first to speak. “I never would have thought anything about your not knowing about your mother. You always seemed perfectly natural about everything, Janet.”

  “Did I? I’m glad.”

  “You are a little more—what does Miss Hilliard call it?—reserved, with all the girls, than some of us,” said Lina. “She tells us not to tell all we know, and you don’t!”

  Allie May and Janet laughed at this. “Miss Hilliard’s brought me up, you know,” smiled Janet. “I can remember yet crying for ‘Gramma’ and having her comfort me. Then came your auntie to teach here, Lina—and I was fixed!”

  “I can remember how crazy I was to see you, Janet,” said Lina. “I wasn’t allowed to come here until I was twelve, Allie May; and Auntie told me all about the ‘darling child with the golden hair’ that took piano lessons of her and practiced away so hard with fat little fingers. She said she wanted to hug you every other minute, but had to teach you piano instead. Your fingers aren’t fat now, Janet.”

  “When did you first see Janet?” asked Allie May, interested.

  “The first time that Aunt Adeline brought her home with her. Miss Hilliard used to look after her the first two or three vacations. You weren’t with her all the time, though, were you, Janet?”

  “Just part of the time. She had my old nurse that took care of me while Grandmother was sick, and we’d go to the seashore, or somewhere in the mountains. But Miss Hilliard kept an eye on me. I never can pay her back, or your Aunt Adeline either.”

  “You’ll never need to. Just having you in the family is enough. But won’t it be wonderful to have some kin folks? Tell us about it, Janet.”

  Janet then handed the girls the books and read them the letters, pledging them again to secrecy, for she did not want to have the fifty girls talking over her private affairs. Like Janet, her friends were more interested in the surprising facts which she had to tell than in the good things in the box, though when she showed them the cake with its white frosting and unwrapped the pieces of chicken from the oiled paper, offering them their choice, there were some exclamations of pleasure. “That is a family worth having!” said Allie May. “No, Janet, I’d rather eat a good dinner and then when I am starved as usual after studying come to your feast.”

  “Whom are you going to invite, Janet?”

  “I want to take something to your aunt, Lina, and to Miss Hilliard, and do you think it would be very piggy just to have this by ourselves? Some way, I don’t want anybody much right now, and I just had a party of our crowd last Saturday, you know.”

  “Suits me,” laughed Allie May.

  “It wouldn’t be ‘piggy’ at all, Janet,” asserted Lina. “I know how you must feel—sort of dazed, aren’t you?”

  Janet nodded assent. “I’ll let you know when, after I talk to Miss Hilliard. I am to see her after dinner.”

  But when Janet asked Miss Hilliard she was asked in turn if she had ever attended a late feast in the school. To this question Janet gave an honest reply. “Why, yes, Miss Hilliard.”

  “Then you were either invited without my knowledge by one of the older girls or attended a feast held without permission, though I should scarcely think that you knew it, Janet, and I shall not ask you now. No, tomorrow is Saturday, fortunately. It is cool and your box came right through. You may put the chicken in the refrigerator if you like. Have your party at any time on Saturday you like before evening.”

  There was so much of greater importance waiting to be discussed that Janet did not feel much disappointment. She did have one thought, though, expressed to Lina later. “Won’t it be fine to go to a home where you do about as you please, the way it is at your house?”

  But Lina reminded Janet that even there, late refreshments were not encouraged.

  Miss Hilliard did not disappoint Janet in any other way. She was pleased that the note of explanation was so cordial. “I should say that a woman of some intelligence wrote that kind note,” she said. “It must be a satisfaction to you, too, Janet, that you are named for your mother. Perhaps there will be some pictures of her in the Van Meter home. I know how you have wished to see some.”

  “Oh, there will be!” Janet exclaimed. “I had not thought of that!”

  “We shall be expecting news direct from your uncle, then. When your grandmother first wrote to me, urging me to take you at a time when the only small girls were day scholars, she said that your mother was of a fine family in the east and that your father, her son, was ill when he brought you to her. Does this depress you, Janet?” Miss Hilliard had noticed that Janet seemed touched when she first showed her the books and names.

  “Oh, no, Miss Hilliard. My father and mother are like beautiful dreams to me. This makes them a little more real—that is all, and I felt a little ‘teary’ when I read my father’s letter.”

  “I will try to find that old correspondence. I must have kept it, I think, though when you first came, we were expecting nothing like your grandmother’s sudden death. I understood that she was an invalid, but with some ailment that could be cured in time.”

  “And I have forgotten so much, except the fact that I did not know my own mother’s name!”

  “You should have told me, if that troubled you, Janet. I will ask Miss Marcy, who wrote about you to your grandmother, I think, what she knows about those early circumstances. Have you been happy here, Janet?”

  “Oh, you know, Miss Hilliard, don’t you, how I have been so glad for you and Miss Marcy and all my friends?”

  “Yes, Janet. You have always been more than appreciative.”

  On the next day, Janet, Lina and Allie May made a lunch out of their party, by Miss Hilliard’s suggestion, and it was almost as much fun as a late feast. As it happened, it was well that they had their fun early in the afternoon, for about three o’clock Janet was sent for. There was a gentleman waiting for her, the maid said.

  CHAPTER III

  THE UPSETTING PLANS OF UNCLE PIETER

  Although so without family, Janet Eldon did not possess a lonely heart. She had the faculty of making friends, in spite of a little natural reserve and a manner more or less formal which she had unconsciously acquired by long residence in a school that fostered it. But that dropped away when she was with her intimate friends, for jolly school girls with a sense of humor can have many a merry time. If Janet was a little more mature in manner than some of the other girls of her age, it was to her advantage. Yet her background there had its limitations and it was a good thing for her that the Marcy family was so fond of her.

  The family circle there was large. With Lina, Janet entered into all the vacation plans, athletic or domestic, as they might be. They lived in town, but the younger fry learned to ride, to row, to swim, to camp out a little or to motor together. Janet had some idea back in the recesses of her brain that the Marcys might take her to her uncle’s home after school was out. But that plan was not to be carried out. She was to see the Marcys again, but Janet was leaving this school sooner than she had thought. Some of the girls she never saw again, the inevitable separation taking place sooner than any of them anticipated.

  The day was bright after the April showers of the preceding one. Janet went down to the double parlors of the building not knowing whom she would see, but she was rather relieved to see the lawyer by whose hands the modest fortune left her by her grandmother Eldon was administered. He was a man of medium height, with a somewhat serious but pleasant face, hair partly gray, keen eyes on the hazel order, and a manner of some dignity. Rising, he held out his hand to Janet.

  “Miss Hilliard is not yet at liberty,” he said, “but we can have a little conversation before she comes in. I have what I hope will prove to be pleasant news to you, certain comm
unications from the representative of your mother’s family, her oldest brother, your uncle Pieter Van Meter.”

  Janet smiled, as she sat down and the lawyer resumed his seat. “I am glad to see you, Mr. Conley. I have just had some word of the sort myself, a fine box from the home place and a letter from some lady there. She sent me two books of my mother’s and I found out that I had an uncle.”

  “Well, well—I am disappointed not to surprise you more. I thought that I should find some enthusiasm.”

  “Oh, there is! I am terribly thrilled over it!”

  “‘Terribly thrilled’, are you? Did the lady tell you that your uncle wants you to go as soon as possible to the Van Meter place in New York and make your home there?”

  “No, Mr. Conley. Oh, how can I do that? I’ll have to go to school some more, won’t I?”

  “I think that your uncle has some idea of having you taught privately.”

  “I wouldn’t like that at all. I don’t think that I will go—yes, I will, too, for I must find out about my mother.”

  Mr. Conley smiled at Janet’s independent speech and Janet realized as soon as she had spoken that she must do what her guardian said. Thank fortune her guardian was Miss Hilliard!

  “Perhaps the lady who has written you is the one who will instruct you. But we shall see what Miss Hilliard has to say. Here she comes now,” and Mr. Conley rose to meet Miss Hilliard, who came across the wide room from the door into the hall.

  “I suppose, John, you have come to tell us about Pieter Van Meter,” said Miss Hilliard, after she had shaken hands with the lawyer and he had placed a chair for her.

  “Yes, Anna, that rather poetical name is the subject of my discourse.”

  Janet could scarcely suppress a mild giggle at that. Pieter and Meter did make a sort of rhyme.

  Most of the conversation was now between Miss Hilliard and her old friend. Janet remembered what the older girls said, that Mr. Conley had wanted to marry Miss Hilliard and was waiting for her yet. It was very interesting. Sakes, they must be at least forty years old!

  The letter from Pieter Van Meter was submitted to Miss Hilliard and passed on to Janet. It was brief, but clear, stating that the writer had recently traced the whereabouts of his niece, though he did not say how. He wanted to see her and to offer her a home where her mother, his sister, had lived. It was also hinted that he was Janet’s natural guardian and that legal steps to that end could be taken in due time.

  Janet was reading the letter and did not see the look that was exchanged between the lawyer and Miss Hilliard when Mr. Conley began to speak of that last point. But Miss Hilliard said firmly that nothing of the kind would be undertaken until Janet had been to the Van Meter place and made report about it and her uncle.

  “First we must see, John,” said she in a low tone, glancing at Janet who was reading the letter and apparently absorbed in it, “whether Pieter Van Meter is a fit guardian for Janet. If he is, and will care for her little property and keep it together for her, very well. But I shall not hand over the responsibility just to be relieved of it. Everything is safe for Janet as long as you are in charge. Mr. Van Meter might be perfectly good and yet without judgment to take care of Janet. Janet, dear, you may be excused now, while I talk over business matters with Mr. Conley and arrange about your going, for I think that I shall let you drop the school work to go, as your uncle desires.”

  “Just a moment, Anna. Janet, I have made out a full report for you of your property and income, with the same items of interest and rent that I am giving, as usual, to your guardian. You are old enough now to know about these matters.”

  “Please, Mr. Conley,” begged Janet. “I don’t want to know anything about it. Will I have the same allowance as usual?”

  “Yes,” smiled the lawyer, in some amusement, “perhaps a little more, if you go to your uncle’s and need some more frocks.”

  “Goody!” Janet looked at Miss Hilliard mischievously, then made her adieux as a properly trained pupil of the Hilliard school ought to do.

  Miss Hilliard looked after her thoughtfully and Mr. Conley looked at Miss Hilliard. “Anna, you have had great success with that child,” he said.

  “Who can tell what the future will bring my girls?” she asked. “One can only try to implant high ideals and the Christian principles that will carry them on in any path. Janet is spirited and inclined to be independent, but she has fine ideas of justice and the rights of others, with considerable courage, too. I am hoping that she will find a loving home in this new place. Mr. Van Meter says nothing about the family. How would it do for you to call personally in a little while, after we hear Janet’s reports about her people?”

  “That is a good idea, Anna. There is always the excuse of business, in addition to showing an interest in Janet’s welfare. Meanwhile, I shall quietly inquire about Mr. Van Meter. It is probably one of the old Dutch families with considerable standing, but we do not want to take too much for granted.”

  “Will it interrupt your affairs too much, John?”

  “No. I often run up to New York and Albany. This letter is mailed at some small village, near the country place of the Van Meters, I suppose. How would you like to have me take Janet there, or to Albany, rather, where Van Meter says she will be met?”

  “Thank you—I shall go with Janet myself. It is not much of a trip and the assistant principal can have a chance to exercise her skill with the girls. I want to stop a day or two in New York.”

  The next two weeks were full of excitement for Janet, who went to classes as usual, but with much distraction of mind. They had written to her uncle. The date was set. Clothes were being put in order, and a new frock or two purchased, a task easy enough in the Philadelphia department stores. Janet’s wardrobe was always sufficient, but she rather imagined that Miss Hilliard felt as she did, that Uncle Pieter should see her well provided for up to date.

  “Won’t it be lovely in the country, Janet, through May and June!” Allie May Loring exclaimed. “I just envy you. We’ll be shut up to old lessons as usual, only for a few trips around and our picnics! Do write to us at least.”

  “Indeed I will. If only it isn’t too lonesome there! Maybe I’ll be just perishing to come back, after I find out all about my mother, you know. But I am crazy to see the place where she lived when she was a girl like me. If Uncle Pieter is nice, it will be all right. He did not say a word about his wife or anybody, so I have it all to find out. Perhaps I have some cousins, too. Won’t it be fun if I have?”

  “I hope that you will, if you want ’em,” said Allie May, who sometimes thought that she had too many. But then, Janet never had had anybody.

  “When I get married,” said Janet, “if I ever do, I’m going to marry some one with a large family of brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins and all the relations that you can have!”

  “Great idea,” laughed Lina Marcy.

  At last the fateful day arrived. Janet, neat from top to toe and clad in the “darling spring suit,” said goodbyes that turned out to be rather tearful in the end, to a host of girls assembled in the parlors and halls of the Hilliard school.

  “Sure you come back next fall, Janet!”

  “Come down for Commencement if your uncle will let you!”

  “We’ll miss you awfully in the spring fête, Janet!”

  “That blue suit with the gray tones is too utterly sweet on you for anything, Janet.”

  “’Bye, Jannetje Van Meter Eldon. Give the Dutchman my best regards.”

  All this, to be sure, was before Miss Hilliard appeared from her room to take Janet to the taxi which was waiting outside. And funniest of all, several of the girls, who knew more about where Janet was going than the rest, took hands and sang softly around Janet:

  “O Uncle Pieter,

  Pieter Van Meter

  Ain’t no one sweeter,

>   Be sure to meet her,

  Pieter Van Meter!”

  Lips parted in merry smiles; girls were waving last goodbyes and kisses, as Janet was whirled away in the taxi beside Miss Hilliard. One tear, of which Janet had been scarcely aware, was now carefully wiped away to keep it from splashing upon the new suit. “Weren’t the girls lovely, Miss Hilliard?” she asked. “I never was so surprised as when my little club gave me this sweet silk scarf that just goes with the suit, and the pair of hose that I have on.”

  “‘Sweet’?” inquired Miss Hilliard.

  “Well, it is fragrant, for I put a drop of violet on it before I started.”

  Last pictures of the merry girls floated in Janet’s mind, with the appearance of the fine old brick building, almost flush with the street, its vines, over the large windows, just budding with spring green.

  But the future was more interesting than the past. The very fact that Janet knew so little about what it might hold for her made it all the more fascinating to contemplate.

  CHAPTER IV

  HER MOTHER’S HOME

  At Albany, when Miss Hilliard and Janet descended from the train which brought them from New York they started into the station but were met at once by an obsequious colored man in livery, who inquired if they were not the Van Meter guests and took their light bags. Inside, a fine-looking woman, in a roomy coat of gray and a close hat, seemed to have been watching for them, and came forward to meet them. “I am Mrs. Holt, Miss Hilliard. This is our cousin Janet, I suppose. I am glad to see you both. Allow me to present Mr. Andrew Van Meter, Miss Hilliard—Cousin Janet. Now we are hoping that you will come to the farm with us, Miss Hilliard. My cousin Pieter begs pardon for not having urged it, but until your last note came, he did not feel like asking you to leave your girls.”

  “He would scarcely think that I could bring Janet myself, I know; but I occasionally run away for a few days. However, I have business in New York, and it is impossible for me to accept your kind invitation. It is just as well for you to have Janet to yourselves, also. Perhaps Mr. Van Meter and I may meet some time to talk over matters relating to this little girl. She is anticipating this visit with much pleasure.” Miss Hilliard emphasized “visit” a little.