“Soup again?” asked one of the cult members in bitter disappointment. “We are hungry!”
“We’ve had little more than soup since we came here!” exclaimed another old lady plaintively.
“Are you so soon forgetting your vows?” chided Father Benedict. “Material things have no true meaning.”
Grumbling a little, the women sat down at the table and began to eat. Penny took an empty place near the door. She tasted the soup and nearly gagged.
Father Benedict did not join the group. After lingering a few minutes he quietly slipped away. This offered Penny an opportunity to leave without arousing the monk’s suspicions.
“I must learn more about that girl who is locked up here somewhere!” she thought. “Perhaps I can help her escape!”
Still wearing the white robe, Penny started back to the cloister. The cult ceremony which she had witnessed greatly disturbed her.
“Father Benedict is taking unfair advantage of these people,” she told herself. “He accepts their jewels and gives nothing in return. Furthermore, he is cruel!”
Voices in the cloister directly ahead warned the girl to proceed cautiously. Keeping close to the wall and holding her robe tightly about her, she crept closer to the fountain.
The candles had all been extinguished. However, Father Benedict and Winkey were there, working by the light of a lantern.
“Fish out the jewels and be quick about it!” the monk ordered his servant. “We must be finished before they’re through in the refectory.”
The hunchback scrambled down into the bowl of the fountain, and groped with his hands for the trinkets the cult members had thrown away.
“Did the old lady kick in with the sapphire tonight?”Winkey asked as he worked.
“No!” the monk answered. “She sent word that she was too sick to leave her room! I suspect that girl put her up to it!”
“You goin’ to let her get by with it?”
“I’ll talk with her later tonight,” Father Benedict said. “If she doesn’t come across by tomorrow, we’ll find ways to persuade her.”
“You been saying that ever since she came here! If you ask me, we won’t never have any luck with her until we get rid of the girl! She’s been a wrench in the machinery from the start.”
“I’m afraid you are correct, Winkey,” sighed the monk. “But I do so dislike violence. Well, if it must be, so be it. You assigned her to the room with the canopied bed?”
“I locked her in like you said.” Winkey, having gathered all of the trinkets, scrambled out of the stone basin onto the tiled cloister floor.
“What have we here?” asked the monk eagerly.
Winkey spread the contributions on a handkerchief. Father Benedict held the lantern closer to inspect the articles.
“Junk! Trash!” he exclaimed. “Only the diamond has any value.”
“How about this ring?” demanded Winkey, picking up Penny’s dime store contribution.
“Glass!” In fury, the monk hurled the ring across the cloister.
Penny suppressed a giggle. But Father Benedict’s next words sent a shiver down her spine.
“This settles it!” he said. “I’ll talk to the old lady now! If she refuses to give up the sapphire, then you know what to do with the girl!”
“I’m waiting for the chance!” growled the hunchback. “Just say when!”
“Once the girl is where she can’t influence the old lady, we’ll have no trouble,” the monk continued. “However, we must work fast. After tonight, I have a feeling we will do well to move our institution elsewhere.”
“The newspapers are sending reporters around to ask a lot of questions,” agreed Winkey. “I don’t like it! If anyone should find out about the crypt—”
“Let me do the worrying,” interrupted Father Benedict. “We’ll get the sapphire and be away before anyone even sets foot inside the place.”
“What about that Parker girl?”
“She’s only a child!” the monk scoffed. “A very annoying, nosey one, I grant you.”
Taking the lantern with them, Father Benedict and Winkey disappeared in the direction of the monk’s study. Left in darkness, Penny debated her next action.
If only she could telephone her father or Mr. DeWitt at the Star office! This, of course, was out of the question, for the ancient building obviously had no phone service.
“I might go for help,” she reasoned, “but a full hour would be needed for me to reach Riverview and return with anyone. And what can I prove?”
Though Penny was convinced Father Benedict and Winkey were fleecing cult members, she knew the women voluntarily had given up their jewelery. In the event police tried to arrest Father Benedict, the cult members might rise to his defense.
“I’ll have to have more evidence!” she decided. “The one person who should be able to tell me what goes on here is that girl who is locked in the chapel bedroom!”
Stealing across the dark cloister, Penny listened a moment at the passageway leading to the refectory. An undercurrent of conversation and the clatter of tin spoons told her that cult members had not yet finished the evening repast.
From the map Mr. Eckenrod had shown her, the girl knew the location of the chapel bedroom. Tiptoeing down a corridor opening from the cloister, she came to a massive oaken door.
“This must be the one,” she decided.
Softly she tapped on the panel.
“Who is there?” called a startled voice. The words were so muffled, Penny barely could distinguish them.
“A friend,” replied Penny.
Footsteps pattered across the room. “Help me get out!” the imprisoned girl pleaded.
Penny tried the door. As she had expected, it was locked.
“Where is the key?” she called through the panel. “If I can find it, I may be able to get you out of here.”
“Speak louder!” the girl protested. “I can’t hear you.”
Penny dared raise her voice no higher. She realized that the heavy paneling deadened sound and made it impossible to carry on a satisfactory conversation.
“The key!” she called again. “Where is it?”
As she spoke the words, a board snapped directly behind her. Penny’s heart jumped. Before she could turn to look over her shoulder, a bony hand reached out of the darkness and grasped her wrist.
CHAPTER 18
ELEVEN BOWLS
Smothering a scream, Penny twisted around to see that it was Old Julia who had seized her arm.
“Oh!” she gasped in relief. “I thought it was Winkey or Father Benedict!”
“You go now!” the old woman urged her. “Please!”
“I can’t until I’ve helped whoever is locked in here,”Penny replied, gently prying away Julia’s fingers which were cutting into her flesh. “Tell me, where is the key?”
Old Julia shook her head in a stupid sort of way.
“The key to this door,” Penny explained patiently. “Where is it kept?”
“Father Benedict,” Julia mumbled. “No other.”
“Then it’s impossible to help the girl without bringing police!” Penny exclaimed. “I’ll have to get out of here and drive to Riverview! But can I prove anything?”
Old Julia stared blankly at Penny as if not understanding a word. But she reached out, and taking hold of the girl’s hand, pulled her along the corridor.
Believing that the servant meant to show her a quick means of exit from the building, Penny willingly followed.
However, Old Julia led her only a few yards before pausing beside another door. Opening it, she motioned for Penny to step inside.
The girl saw with some misgiving that Old Julia expected her to enter what appeared to be a rather large, empty storage closet.
“Oh, I don’t want to hide,” Penny explained thinking that the old woman had misunderstood. “I must leave here now.”
“Inside!” bade Julia insistently. “You see! Talk!”
She gave Penny a
little shove into the room and closed the door.
Only then did the girl realize that she barely had escaped detection. For, in the corridor, heavy footsteps now were heard. Standing motionless against the closet door, she recognized Father Benedict’s voice as he spoke to Julia:
“What are you doing here?” he asked the servant harshly. “Have I not told you never to come into this section of the building?”
Julia’s reply was inaudible. The monk’s next remark warned Penny that she courted detection if she remained longer in the building.
“I have just come from the refectory,” he said. “I counted the soup bowls. There were ten empty and one barely touched. Who was the eleventh person in this household that was served tonight?”
“Don’t ask me,” moaned Old Julia. “I dunno nothing.”
“Sometimes,” said the master coldly, “I am inclined to think you know far more than you let on. Get to the dishes now! Go!”
Evidently Father Benedict struck or kicked the woman, for Old Julia uttered a sharp cry of pain. Her sobs died away as she retreated down the corridor.
After the old woman had gone, Father Benedict unlocked the door of the bedroom and stepped inside. By pressing her ear against the closet wall, Penny was able to hear every word of the ensuing conversation.
“Well, my dear,” said Father Benedict to the imprisoned girl. “Are you ready to come to your senses?”
“If you mean, am I willing to sit quietly by and see you rob my grandmother, the answer is ‘No!’”
“I do not care for your choice of words, my dear,” replied the monk. “You are an impertinent child who must be disciplined.”
“Wait until I get away from here!” the girl challenged. “People will learn exactly what’s going on in this place!”
“Will they indeed? So you propose to make trouble?”
“I’ll tell what I’ve seen. You’re only a cheap trickster! Furthermore, you can’t keep me a prisoner in this room.”
“No?” Father Benedict’s voice crackled with amusement. “In this house I am the law! Since you are in no mood to discuss matters reasonably, I shall leave you here. Your grandmother, I trust, will display a more sensible attitude.”
“You leave my grandmother alone!” the imprisoned girl cried furiously. “You’re only after her gems!”
“If you were to cooperate—”
“I’ll never fall in with your schemes!” the girl exclaimed. “Let me out of here!”
Penny heard a scuffle and knew that an unsuccessful attempt had been made to reach the door. As her own hand groped along the closet wall, it suddenly encountered a small, circular panel of wood. As she pushed against it, a crack of light showed through.
“A peephole!” Penny thought. “Julia knew it was here! That was what she meant when she said I could see and listen!”
Stealthily, so as to make no sound, she slid the piece of wood aside.
Gazing into the semi-dark bedroom, she saw Father Benedict push the struggling girl backwards onto the canopied bed.
“You have settled your own fate!” he said angrily. “Now you’ll stay here until I find a better place! Sweet dreams, my little wildcat!”
Quitting the room, he locked the heavy door. The girl on the bed buried her head in the dusty, scarlet draperies and began to cry.
Penny waited only until she was certain Father Benedict was far down the corridor. Then she rapped softly on the closet wall.
Through the peephole, she saw the girl start violently and look about the room.
“Hist!” Penny whispered. “Over here!”
She rapped again, and this time the girl saw the tiny hole in the wall. Leaping from bed, she came across the room.
“Who are you?” she demanded, unable to see Penny’s face.
“A friend! I’m here to help you.”
“Can you get me out of this room?”
“Father Benedict seems to have the only key,”Penny told her. “I’ll sneak out of here and telephone the police. But first, I must know exactly what case we have against Father Benedict.”
“He’s mean and cruel! He half starves the people who live here and takes all their money and jewels!”
“Why did he shut you up here?”
“Because I’ve opposed him. Though I tried hard to prevent it, he coaxed my grandmother to come to this horrible place.”
“Have either of you been mistreated?” Penny asked.
“Until tonight, Father Benedict favored us above the other cult members. Of course, that was only because as yet he hasn’t been able to get his thieving hands on the star sapphire!”
At mention of the gem, Penny’s pulse leaped. No longer did she doubt that the girl was the missing Hawthorne heiress sought by Mr. Ayling.
“You’re the one I picked up on the road,” she said. “But you’ve never told me your name. Is it possible you’re Rhoda—”
“Rhoda Hawthorne,” the girl completed for her. “I refused to answer your questions before because I distrusted everyone.”
“And now?”
“I realize you’re a true friend—the only one I have. Oh, you must get me out of this room quickly! Please bring police at once!”
CHAPTER 19
A DORMITORY ROOM
“I’ll get you out of this room somehow,” Penny promised through the peephole. “First, before I go for police, tell me more. Why were you carrying a suitcase that night Louise and I met you on the road?”
“I was running away,” Rhoda Hawthorne replied.
“Yet you returned here.”
“I had to. When I thought about Grandmother alone in the clutches of Father Benedict, I knew I couldn’t desert her. She is putty in his hands!”
“But why didn’t you bring police here yourself, Rhoda?”
“What could I prove? Until tonight when Father Benedict locked me up, I had no real evidence against him.”
“Even now, we haven’t very much,” said Penny. “He’ll deny he imprisoned you unless police take him by surprise and find you here.”
“Grandmother will be worrying about me,” Rhoda said anxiously. “She’s in her room now, sick abed. I’m afraid it’s from eating such vile food.”
“What does the doctor think?”
“No doctor has seen her. Father Benedict won’t allow anyone to call if he can prevent it. He has only one thought—to get his hands on the sapphire and leave here before police catch up with him.”
“You’re really convinced he is a crook?”
“I’m certain of it! Grandmother and I met him at a Florida resort. As soon as he learned about the star sapphire, he attached himself to us like a leech. Soon he found out Grandmother is superstitious about the gem, so he started playing upon her feelings. He told her about this wretched society of his and painted the monastery in such glowing colors that Grandmother became fascinated.”
“So he talked her into coming here?”
“Yes,” Rhoda said bitterly, “it was only supposed to be for a day’s visit. But once we were inside the monastery, we became as prisoners. Letters are confiscated and there is no telephone.”
“You did get away once.”
“With Julia’s help—yes. Only once though. The place is guarded by Winkey and he is very watchful.”
“Tell me, have you seen Mr. Ayling, the insurance company investigator?”
“Mr. Ayling?” Rhoda was puzzled.
“I mean the man who was with me the day you peeped at us from behind the curtain in Father Benedict’s study,” Penny explained.
“Oh! No, only on that day.”
“Mr. Ayling came here to find you and your grandmother. Then he went to Chicago and hasn’t returned. I’m afraid something has happened to him.”
“I’ve seen no one here except members of the society,”Rhoda said. “Sometimes though, I wonder what goes on in the cellar. Once I heard a dreadful commotion! And the way Julia screams when she is upset!”
“She’s a simple
soul.”
“Simple perhaps, but she knows more than anyone else about the real secrets of this house.”
“Speaking of secrets,” said Penny hesitantly, “I’m wondering what ever became of the star sapphire?”
“It’s safe—at least I think so,” Rhoda replied. “Not even Grandmother knows where I have hidden it.”
“Then there’s no chance Father Benedict can get his hands on it while I go for police?”
“Not unless he forces me to tell where the gem is hidden. And I’ll die first! But I’m afraid he may torture Grandmother in an attempt to make her reveal what she doesn’t know.”
Penny prepared to close the peephole. “I’ll go for the authorities now as fast as I can,” she promised. “Keep up your courage until I return.”
“Do be careful,” Rhoda warned nervously. “If Father Benedict should catch you trying to escape, there’s no guessing what he would do!”
Penny closed the peephole and stole out of the dark closet. The corridor was deserted.
Retracing her way to the cloister, the girl paused beside a wall niche a moment as she considered the safest way to attempt an escape.
“I’ll try the kitchen window,” she decided. “It worked well enough coming in.”
On tiptoe she approached the kitchen, only to halt as she heard voices. Father Benedict was berating Old Julia again.
“There were eleven bowls of soup served!” she heard him insist. “Mrs. Hawthorne and her daughter were not in the dining room. So that makes one extra person unaccounted for. Julia, someone entered this house tonight to spy, and you know who the person is!”
“No! No! I dunno nothin’,” the servant moaned. “Even if you strike me and break my bones I can’t tell you no different!”
“We’ll see about that,” said the monk harshly. “After a few hours below, perhaps you’ll be willing to talk!”
Julia uttered a squeal of terror. “Don’t take me down into that awful place where the tombs are!” she pleaded. “Please!”
“Then tell me who entered this house tonight.”
“I’ll tell, if you quit twisting my arm,” Julia sobbed. “Only I didn’t want to get her into trouble. She didn’t mean no harm.”
The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels Page 196