Part 5

"Renee, will you let me--by way of celebrating this day--send a money order to Susette in your name? Remember, child, how little we have suffered as compared to you and Susette and countless others--over there! You shall write her a little letter to go with it!"

"Oh, I will _like that_! And then Susette will surely know that I am with kind, generous friends!" The child's eyes were bright again. "And I will remind her where we put the flag and she can hang it out, for I think now there will be flags flying in France for a long time!"

"This must, of course, be a holiday," declared Aunt Pen.

"And let's just do things we've never done before," cried Pat.

At that moment Mr. Everett was called to the telephone. He returned greatly excited.

"Burns telephones from the Works that the men are forming a monster parade! They've got a band and helped themselves to every flag in the place! The city's gone mad! I must hurry away. Take the girls downtown! This November eleventh must be a day we will never forget--as long as we live!"

And as he hurried off he said to Renee in parting:

"Have that letter ready, my dear, and I will send the money order home at noon-time."

The girls rushed away to put on their wraps.

"May we stop for Sheila?" called Pat over the banister.

"Of course!" assented Penelope, glad that Pat wanted to share all her joys with her friends.

By the time they reached the downtown section the walks were thronged with people and the streets had been cleared of traffic for the marching hosts. The girls found a place on the curb. It seemed to them as though everyone had gone mad all at once and that they were as mad as anyone else! At every corner processions were forming, headed by any sort of a makeshift band and where not even a drum could be commandeered, tin pans and pails had been pressed into service! And through it all the incessant, deafening tumult of whistles!

Everyone was smiling! The sun had burst through the accumulated clouds of long years of war!

A group of men and girls from a shipyard marched by. Some of them were drawing a huckster's wagon they had seized and upon its load of potatoes and apples and cabbages they had placed a big ship's bell! One of their number rode on the wagon and with a huge sledge pounded the bell at regular intervals. They were all carrying flags, big and small, and one grimy man had a baby in his arms! The crowd on the curb cheered wildly and the man held the baby high in the air!

The marchers had to halt and while the man with the bell rested, they sang the Star Spangled Banner. Others took it up--it was carried down block after block, a rising wave of sound, a chorus of triumph! Pat and Sheila and Renee sang lustily and as they sang Pat felt her hand suddenly caught in a warm, tight clasp! It was her neighbor, a little bent woman with the dark eyes of the Italian race and a worn shawl over her head and shoulders. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but through them she was smiling like the others! Pat was too young to guess the tragedy of sacrifice that might lie behind those tears, but she was not too young to sense the common joy and thankfulness and privilege they shared! So she squeezed the worn fingers and smiled back into the little old woman's face!

"Here come the men from the Works!" cried Aunt Pen, standing on tiptoe to look over the crowd. The shipbuilders had passed on. Along surged the approaching host, fifteen thousand strong, men and women! They had stripped the works of flags and carried them now high in the air with arms that could not tire! The discordant blasts of their band was heavenly music to their ears! Old men stepped along like boys; scattered through the lines were hundreds of girls in their working overalls and caps.

Renee was puzzled. These men, many of them, did not look like the Americans she had seen! One of them shouted out in a strange tongue, but he carried a banner that said "We are for the U.S.A." Perhaps, like herself, he had come to America for refuge and was giving now of his strength and loyalty to the mother country he had sought.

"Can't we march, too, Aunt Pen?" cried Pat.

Some one from the lines shouted to them to come in! They made a place in the ranks for them and even the little old woman with the shawl joined the procession. A voice from behind hailed them and Pat saw her father marching with his men.

"Could a day be more wonderful? But I am as hungry as a bear," declared Pat at luncheon. "And, oh joy, chicken and biscuits! What shall we do this afternoon, Aunt Pen?"

"Dear me, Pat, do you think as fast as you talk? For the sake of your digestion I shall keep the plans for this afternoon a secret until you are through luncheon! But it is going to be something you'll _just_ love!" and Aunt Pen imitated perfectly Pat's characteristically enthusiastic tone.

"Aunt Pen, I'll choke if you don't tell even a _teeny_ word! Let us guess!"

But Aunt Pen was firm, and not until the last crumb of luncheon had been eaten would she say one word!

Then: "Your father says we may all go through the Works!"

"All--Sheila and Keineth and Peggy?"

"Yes. And we will start in half an hour. That will give Renee a chance to write her letter to Susette." For Renee had found on her plate an envelope containing a money order for one hundred dollars!

Because of the day's celebration the Works were almost deserted and for the first time in months the great wheels were still and the furnaces smouldering. Mr. Everett met the girls and took them himself from building to building, explaining carefully every process of manufacture. Peggy and Sheila were intent listeners; Keineth, more imaginative than the others, thought that the wheels were like great giants, harmless now as they slumbered! And Renee loved the empty, dusty spaces, the gleaming metals of the engines and dull glow of the furnaces! Pat's most lasting impression was pride that her father should know so much!

Sheila became particularly absorbed in the pattern shop. She had lingered behind the others to examine more closely a series of beltings. Of an inquiring and inventive mind, she was always deeply interested in the putting together of any piece of mechanism. Suddenly she realized that she was alone and hurried out of the building to overtake the others. They had gone on through a long, enclosed alleyway to the main shop. She could still hear Mr. Everett's voice.

As she rushed through the passage she ran headlong into a man who appeared suddenly from a doorway letting into the passage. He was as startled as she! "_Du verdamte dumkopf!_" he snarled, under his breath, hurrying on. Sheila stood motionless.

"That was _German_!" she thought. She turned quickly. The man was disappearing at the end of the passage. And in a flash she recognized him as her mother's new lodger!

Pat's voice came to her from the other direction.

"Shei-la! Come along!"

A multitude of thoughts were whirling in Sheila's head! She did not hear one word of the light chatter about her, for the exploring party had ended now in Mr. Everett's office. That man had certainly cursed in German and there had been an evil look in his face; she had frightened him so that he had lost control of himself for an instant! And what could he have been doing there--like that--when all the other men were off celebrating?

Down deep in her heart a voice told her that she ought to tell Mr. Everett immediately! But another voice warned her that that would surely mean the man would be discharged and her mother would lose her lodger! The back room would be empty again--and the music! She had begun her lessons and Miss Sheehan had said she "was learning quickly!" It had been a precious dream come true--

She listened to the second voice--it was very coaxing! "Perhaps he is a German who has become a loyal citizen of the United States," it told her, and that sounded very reasonable! She had startled him and he had spoken in the old, forgotten language! And the evil look she had caught in his eyes might have been imagined--for she had been startled, too! Besides, had the fighting not ended this very day? What harm could an enemy do now! If she told Mr. Everett and he laughed she would feel very foolish! Mr. Everett was placing them in the automobile and instructing Watkins to take them to Huyler's where they would have chocolate and cakes to end the great day. She could not tell him now!

But the doubt in her heart made her sweets taste bitter, and while the others chattered merrily Sheila sat silent and absorbed. She had listened within herself to the pleasanter voice, but in her ears still rang that muttered "_Du verdamte dumkopf_," and she was haunted by the gleam of evil eyes.

*CHAPTER X*

*A SCOUT'S HONOR*

That night Sheila dreamed all the great wheels she had seen in the Everett Works were rolling down the street after her and, though she ran as fast as she could, they advanced more quickly and came nearer and nearer; then they began to roar and to wave arms of hot metal towards her! The nearest reached out and caught at her with fiery fingers and just as she felt them close about her, she wakened!

Paddy was barking furiously, running from her bed to the door and back, as though to implore her to come!

Her fingers clutched at the bedclothes--with terrified eyes she peered into the darkness of the room! It had been a dream--she was safe in her bed!

"Woof! Woof!" growled Paddy.

Sheila crept out of bed, scolding Paddy in whispers, that she might not waken her mother who slept in the next room. Barefooted she stole down the stairs to the kitchen, Paddy leaping on ahead of her. The kitchen was dark; it was a moment or two before Sheila's eyes could make out the familiar objects. Paddy growled and barked again! A sound outside startled Sheila so that she had to clap her hand over her mouth to still a scream! Then she realized it was the lodger going up the outside stairway! Each step creaked under his foot; she heard the door above close and a key turn in the lock!

But Paddy was not satisfied! He did not bark again, for Sheila had soundly rapped his nose, but he ran to the window, and placing his fore-paws on the sill, looked out and whined. Sheila, following him, peeped through the curtains. A light snow had covered the ground in the small backyard; it was still falling. Not an object was visible except the bare lilac bush in the sorrier.

"I s'pose it's a cat--you bad dog!" Sheila muttered crossly. "Come right upstairs, now, and be quiet!" So the two scampered back to Sheila's room and Sheila cuddled down under the bedclothes, pulling them well up over her face. Paddy jumped upon the bed and laid down very close to her feet and, though Sheila knew this was against the Quinn rules, she was grateful for his company and did not drive him away!

In the morning Sheila was not her cheerful self; she helped prepare the breakfast, clear it away and get the three small brothers ready for school in an abstracted manner. Her mother watched her start off herself with an anxious heart.

"Land o' goodness, what's got into my sweetness this morning?" she thought. "Never mind--if it's anything wrong she'll be telling her mother!"

Which was exactly what, at noon-time, Sheila ran all the way home from school to do. Not for a moment longer could she bear the self-reproach and doubt that was tormenting her! And her mother gave her the counsel she expected!

"You go just as straight to Mr. Everett as you can, dearie! And don't worry!"

Sheila found the Everett family in a state of intense excitement. She needed only to glance once at Mr. Everett's stern face to know that something terrible had happened! And with incredible instinct, born of remorse, something within her told her what it was! She stood quite still and looked from one face to another down the length of the table upon which the day's luncheon had been spread.

"Oh, Sheila, somebody has stolen some dreadfully important formulas from the Works----" began Pat.

"No--no--no!" cried Sheila, as though her protest must stop the truth! Then she realized that they were staring at her in amazement! She clutched the back of a chair and tried to speak but not a sound would come.

"It is true," explained Mr. Everett in a tired voice. "It must have been the work of a very clever band of spies! All three copies of the formula have been taken! Each one had been put in a place we considered absolutely safe! We had just completed them and were ready to turn them over for the examination of the government experts!"

"And think of it, Sheila, Daddy says that it was for an explosive so dreadfully powerful that just having the formula and knowing how to make it would help prevent wars! Isn't that what he said, Aunt Pen?" Pat was greatly excited.

"To keep the secret in our country will certainly help to prevent future wars! There is no doubt but that the theft is the work of German agents," Mr. Everett answered. "And I did not know that we had a man we could not trust!"

Then Sheila swallowed hard. As she began to speak she felt as though her voice was coming from a great way off--that it did not belong to her at all! Everything in the room began to whirl around her excepting Mr. Everett.

In broken words she told her little story. And at the end she burst out, tears choking her voice: "I just hate myself for not having told you right then and there!"

It seemed to Sheila that long minutes of silence followed her outburst and as though every face in the room was turned upon her in condemnation. Her own eyes were fixed on the rug at her feet. But presently Mr. Everett's voice answered with a hopeful ring it had not had before and, gaining courage, Sheila looked up to find Aunt Pen nodding in approval and Pat regarding her with open envy.

"My dear girl," exclaimed Mr. Everett, "I believe you've given us an important clue! I'll call up the secret service detectives and will ask you to repeat your story to them--if you will wait!" He quickly left the room as he spoke.

"Sheila Quinn, you're just like a real detective! Isn't it grand and exciting? I'd never have thought a thing about that awful man!" Pat cried.

And Aunt Pen was solicitous that Sheila should have some hot luncheon immediately!

From that moment on everything happened with exciting rapidity. Sheila repeated her story to the two detectives who came at Mr. Everett's call. It was too late to return to school, so, hurrying home, she went grimly about various little household tasks, constantly listening for a knock at the door, starting at every sound!

"Do you know, Sheila," her mother whispered, "I'm as nervous as can be! I'm sure I heard Mr. Marx go upstairs the front way! He's never done that before! I believe he just doesn't want a body to know he's in the house! Hark!" Holding hands tightly they listened; a soft pad-pad overhead made them certain someone was moving about in the room above.

"I wish they'd hurry and come and arrest him," Sheila groaned. And scarcely had the words left her lips when the front doorbell gave out its rusty clang.

Mrs. Quinn met three men at the door who briefly explained that they came with a warrant for the arrest of one Mr. John Marx who they thought might be found in her house. With a nodding of the head that set awry all sorts of little gray curls, Mrs. Quinn made it known that she was very certain the gentleman was at that moment right up in her back room! She started up the stairs with two of the men while the third lingered uncertainly in the hall below.

"Quick--come and watch these stairs outside," cried Sheila running to him. She led him back to the kitchen. They reached there just in time to hear the outside door above close quietly and quick steps on the rickety stairs. Not quick enough, though, for as Mr. John Marx opened the door at the foot of the stairs he faced the muzzle of a revolver!

Sheila, frightened and unnerved, shrank to a corner of the kitchen. She heard quick, angry voices, a sharp command, a click of metal as of a lock snapping shut! Her mother and the two other officers had come into the kitchen. Then the one man and his prisoner went away and the others returned to the room above to search its contents.

"Dear me, I feel almost as though we'd done something ourselves," sighed Mrs. Quinn, worn out with excitement. "And he was a nice appearing man, too, with always a pleasant word when he brought me the----" she stopped. For the first time it came to her that she had lost her lodger!

And as though the same thought tormented Sheila the girl dropped her work and went to the old piano. It had been tuned and polished and Mrs. Quinn had draped a linen and lace square over one end of it. Sheila sat down and slowly, with a lingering touch, ran her fingers up and down the scale. Then she rose abruptly and closed the cover over the keys with a resolute bang.

"It's not half the punishment I deserve--but I did want to learn!" and bursting into tears she, rushed off to her room to fight out by herself the disappointment she must face.

And as though the day had not brought enough to "just clean tucker one out," as poor Mrs. Quinn put it, that evening, after the boys had gone to bed, Mr. Everett and Pat came to the door! Mrs. Quinn's hospitable soul was greatly distressed that she could not invite her guest into the parlor--occupied now by old Mr. Judkins at twenty-five dollars a month--but Mr. Everett declared that he could not ask for a more comfortable chair than the old rocker nor for a more cosy room! With his usual tact he made Mrs. Quinn feel that they were old acquaintances.

He told them--keeping Pat's voice out of the story with difficulty--how the arrest of John Marx had led to the rounding up of the entire band; how they had been quickly proven to be Germans and paid agents of the German government and how--although as yet the formulas had not been found and their whereabouts remained a deep mystery, it must be only a short time before they _would_ be discovered, as some of the best secret service men in the United States were working on the case!

Mr. Everett's face looked worn and worried. Nevertheless he spoke cheerfully, as though to relieve Sheila's concern.

"And now, my dear," he concluded, "you have helped us so much in this matter I want you to tell me frankly--is there not some way in which I can show my appreciation? Is there not something you want to do? Girls like you and my Pat here have so many air castles and I would like----"

"Oh, _please_ stop!" Sheila sprang to her feet, her face burning. "I just can't _bear_ it! If I had done what I knew, right then, I _ought_ to do--and told you, there at the Works--they might have been stopped--in time! But I didn't! I waited! The only way I can bear thinking about it is knowing that--I'm being punished!" Her shame-faced glance went from the piano to her mother's face. "So please don't say anything to me about----" she stopped, held by a sudden thought, and drew from the pocket of her blouse a small, flat package of tissue paper. With trembling fingers she unwrapped it and held up to view her badge of the Golden Eagle.

"I didn't live up to it! I didn't keep my Scout's honor! Mr. Everett, please, will you take it and keep it for me--until the formulas are found? I cannot wear it!"

There was no doubting the resolution in Sheila's face. The man marveled at the courage with which this mere girl inflicted upon herself the punishment she thought she deserved! In spite of a half-smothered exclamation from Pat, he took the badge, carefully re-wrapped it, and put it away in his pocket.

"Sheila, you are evidently determined not to forget this lesson! Many of us make mistakes often by hesitating to heed the voice of our conscience, but I know one girl that isn't going to let it happen again!" He patted her affectionately upon her shoulder. "I don't know," he added, enigmatically, "but that this all may not be worth more than the formulas--for us all!"

Then he shook Mrs. Quinn's hand warmly in parting.

"I congratulate you, madam." And though Mrs. Quinn was too flustered to know what in the world for, nevertheless she beamed with pleased pride!

*CHAPTER XI*

*YOUNG WINGS*

"Tat! Tat! Tat! T-tat!"

The mystic door of the Eagles' Eyrie opened wide enough to admit Peggy Lee and Keineth Randolph.

All sorts of greetings assailed them. "Hello, Eagles!" "We were afraid you wouldn't come!" "A half-holiday and such a storm," regretfully from Pat.

"We'd come through flood and fire!" cried Peggy, with magnificent expression. "We are the bearers of good tidings!"

"What? What? What?" came at once from three throats.

"The Wasps have challenged us to another game, and if we don't beat the pigskin right off of 'em--I'll resign as captain of the team!"

"Peg--you talk more and more like Billy!"

"Garrett, if you please," and Peggy struck a fine pose! "Now that he has come into the dignity of long trousers, my dear brother desires to be called Garrett! Billy is far too childish for him and William would confuse him with his respected father who is also my dear daddy----"

"Well, Garrett, then," Keineth laughed, "only I heard you promise your mother you would not use any more slang!"

"So I did, and I am trying, and what I really mean is that if my dear little Yellowbirds do not play an exquisitely nice game and defeat the Wasps I shall be prostrated with chagrin and shall send in my----"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Peg!" they begged.

Peggy now became very earnest. The Wasps, Troop Nine's basketball team, was the only scout team that Troop Six had not been able to beat. Now the Yellowbirds were going to have another chance! For the next two weeks they must practice as they had never practiced before! They _must_ uphold the honor of Troop Six!

Pat's face, as she listened to the plans, wore a wistful look. She wanted so much to make the Troop team! No one of the scrubs worked harder at practice! And Peggy had told her, too, that she was beginning to play a good game. Of course it was wicked to wish that anything might happen to any of the valiant Yellowbirds, however--

Renee interrupted the plans of the young athletes by abruptly pushing back the one sound chair in the room which she had been occupying.

"It's too dark to work!" she declared, shutting her paint box.

"Let's just sit around and talk," suggested Pat "I feel lazy! Anyway, Ren, you work too hard! I heard Aunt Pen say so."

Against the windows of the Eyrie the storm beat relentlessly--rain and hail; gusts of wind, sounding like witches' voices around the gable. The girls stretched out on the floor. Sheila shut the book she had been reading. Pat pulled Keineth's head into her lap that she might "play," as she called it, with the bright curls escaping from the band that held them back.

"You'd almost think there were fairies around! Listen!" Keineth held up her hand. "It makes me think of a story poor Tante used to tell me about the kind fairies who came to whisper to the princess what she should do when she had been shut in the tower of the castle by the wicked prince. Tante used to try and make me understand how one could learn something from all those fairy tales--the wicked prince was our own selfish natures, the beautiful princess was, of course, our bestest selves that we'd shut away in the prison tower and the fairy voices that whispered and sang 'round the tower were the voices of Opportunity! But, dear me, I used to think it was more fun just to believe that the princess was a real princess!"

"I wish a fairy would come right now and tell me what _would_ rhyme with "long" besides "song!" sighed Pat.

"And _I_ wish a fairy would just guide my fingers for me," put in little Renee from her corner.