CHAPTER XXIII

AN ACCUSATION

On the following morning Doris and Kitty arose earlier than usual. They wandered about the grounds until time for breakfast, but when they were called to the dining room by Cora, the Misses Gates had not put in their appearance.

“You may as well sit down,” the housekeeper told them. “Things are getting cold and I’m in a hurry to get around this morning.”

“Really, we’d prefer to wait,” Doris told her. “It’s so unusual for the Misses Gates to be late. We’re usually the guilty ones.”

They were about to go outside again when they heard some one coming down the stairs. It was Azalea and the girls saw at once that she was dreadfully agitated. Iris came after her and she, too, was excited.

“Some one has been tampering with our things!” Azalea cried. “We have separate desks in our rooms. A few minutes ago when I went to get a check book from the pigeon hole, I found that everything had been rifled!”

“My desk is the same way,” Iris declared angrily.

“Was anything taken?” Doris questioned quietly.

“Yes, several important papers.”

Doris and Kitty, not greatly surprised at this news, glanced significantly at each other. The twins, observing them, regarded the girls rather sharply.

“Was any one here yesterday while we were gone?” Azalea questioned Cora who had remained in the room.

“No, ma’am. There wasn’t any one in that wing all day—except of course the young ladies.”

“What do you mean?” Doris demanded. “We never set foot in that part of the house.”

The housekeeper merely stared at them in feigned astonishment and shrugged her shoulders.

“I can’t understand who would want the papers,” Iris said quietly, but she looked queerly at Doris and Kitty. “Of course, the bonds may be more valuable than we thought.”

“In all the time I’ve been at the mansion nothing like this ever happened,” Cora murmured.

Kitty and Doris cast irritated glances at the housekeeper. They realized all too well that she was trying to build up an alibi for herself by calling attention to her past service.

“Perhaps it would clear up matters if you girls would tell the housekeeper what you were doing yesterday,” Azalea suggested in her gentle voice.

“Why—we weren’t doing much—of anything,” Kitty stammered.

The question embarrassed her. She could not very well tell the Misses Gates that she and Doris had taken it into their heads to explore every nook and cranny of the old mansion. It would appear to the ladies that they had abused their hospitality.

“We were in our room part of the time,” Doris said.

“And where were you the rest of it?” Cora demanded harshly.

“We weren’t in the left wing at any rate!” Doris retorted, with growing indignation.

Azalea and Iris, greatly disturbed, looked uncertainly from one to the other. They did not know what to say or how to handle the difficult situation.

“I’ll call Henry in,” Cora announced. “He can tell you where these girls were yesterday!”

She stepped to the door and called to her husband who was in the garden. He came readily and, as the girls had expected, corroborated Cora’s story.

“Right after you ladies went to the bank they said they were going for a walk,” he told the twins. “They started out but as soon as they thought they had thrown us off the track they stole back into the house. My wife and I heard them go into the left wing and knowin’ they had no business there we sort of listened. They went into your room, Miss Azalea, and closed the door. Later we heard ’em in the room adjoining.”

“Can this be true?” Azalea asked the girls, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion.

“No, of course it isn’t,” Doris returned.

“What isn’t true?” a loud voice demanded, and they all turned to see Ronald Trent standing in the doorway.

To the embarrassment of the girls he was quickly told of the accusation against them. They knew they could expect no help from him.

“There, there,” he said, masterfully throwing an arm around the shoulders of each of the ladies. “Don’t take on so about it. I’ll straighten this matter out in a minute for you. Just leave everything to me.”

“Oh, Ronald,” Iris murmured gratefully.

“We’re in such a muddle,” Azalea added, “and we don’t want to falsely accuse any one.”

“Of course not. Just let me handle this in my own way. Now, Cora and Henry are old servants, aren’t they?”

“Cora is the daughter of our former dressmaker,” Azalea explained. “She and her husband have been with us several years now.”

“Years! And how long have you known Doris Force and her friend?”

“Why, we never met them until a few days ago,” Iris answered reluctantly.

Ronald nodded in grim satisfaction.

“There you are!”

“You accuse your own cousin—” Iris began, but Ronald interrupted her.

“Yes, my first duty is to you and to Miss Azalea. I will not protect my own relatives at your expense!”

Goaded beyond endurance, Doris faced Ronald Trent defiantly.

“Call me no cousin of yours!” she cried. “I believe you’re nothing but a bluff!”

The man’s face went white with anger and for an instant Doris thought he meant to strike her. Instead he laughed harshly.

“Don’t say such things!” Azalea commanded sternly. “Ronald is the son of our dear friend, John Trent.”

“Let him prove it,” Doris cried.

“Young lady,” Ronald told her angrily. “The burden of proof is upon you. Prove that you didn’t take those papers!”

“All right, I will!” Doris announced with sudden decision. “I’ll tell you where the papers are!” At her words, Cora and Henry Sully recoiled a step, but the Misses Gates did not observe their guilty action.

“Tell us!” Azalea commanded.

“Yes,” Ronald echoed, but with less force. “Spin your fairy tale.”

Doris faced the three conspirators defiantly. She pointed an accusing finger at Henry.

“The papers are in his suitcase!”

“You lie!” Henry snarled.

“It’s the truth and you know it,” Kitty confirmed. “We can prove it!”

“How do you know the papers are in Henry’s suitcase?” Iris questioned doubtfully.

“Because we saw them there yesterday,” Doris declared.

“Ah, then you admit you were snooping around?” Ronald demanded triumphantly.

“We weren’t snooping,” Doris retorted indignantly. “We had a very good reason for going to the Sullys’ suite, and as it turns out, it was fortunate for the Misses Gates that we did.”

“You went to the Sully suite yesterday?” Azalea, gasped.

“Yes, we heard Etta crying and sobbing. We didn’t know what was wrong—”

“You saw Etta?” Iris asked.

She dropped weakly into a chair and for a moment looked as though she might faint.

“We thought no one in the world knew about her,” she said very low. “For her sake we have kept Cora and Henry here during all these years. What will the neighbors think if they learn it?”

“They shall never hear it from us,” Doris replied, “but we are unwilling to permit the Sullys to desert her.”

“You’re crazy!” Henry shouted. “We wouldn’t think of leaving her!”

“Then why are your suitcases packed?” Doris demanded.

Henry could not answer, and Ronald, seeing that the man was throwing suspicion upon himself, stepped again into the breach.

“All this talk is getting us nowhere,” he said. “Obviously, the girls took the papers from the desks and are only trying to save themselves.” He turned to the Misses Gates and a false note came into his voice. “Of course, I realize that you ladies regret this exceedingly and no doubt feel sorry for them. Under the circumstances I suggest that the matter be dropped without placing charges against them.”

“The matter will not be dropped!” Doris cried. “We’ll sift it to the bottom right now.”

“And the easiest way is to look in Henry’s suitcase,” Kitty added. “You’ll find the papers there!”

A less clever man than Ronald Trent would have lost his temper, for well he knew that he was treading upon dangerous ground. Realizing that the Misses Gates would judge him as much by his manner as by his words, he faced the girls with the calm and dignity of a judge.

“You are only trying to shield yourselves,” he told them sternly. “Your entire story has been a series of lies!”

“Stop!” cried Doris, throwing back her lovely head and looking her accuser straight in the eye. Kitty thought never had she seen her chum quite so beautiful, so courageously poised for one so inexperienced.

“I speak the truth!”