CHAPTER XXVI

Melissa Again

Sim smiled a little bitterly. “If you mean the snuffbox,” she said, “we know it’s gone. It has been for some time.”

“Then you know about it?” Serge asked.

“We knew Dimitri _had_ it, if that’s what you mean,” Arden went on. “But we don’t know where it is _now_.”

“Of course,” the young man breathed a sigh of relief, “Dimitri has it with him, wherever he is.”

“He may have. We can’t prove he hasn’t,” Terry said explaining. “But why should he have broken open his own cupboard?”

“You’re right!” exclaimed Serge. “He would never have done that.”

“I wonder what that man who jumped overboard was doing,” Sim mused. “I don’t see that he has touched anything in here.”

After a look around, they all agreed that, whatever was his mysterious reason for coming, he apparently had left in a hurry. Several books that had been on the table now lay on the floor, but that was all in evidence.

“We’re just as much in the dark as ever,” Terry remarked sadly. “We’ll have to start all over again.”

“Tell us about Dimitri,” Arden said to Serge. “You were, as far as we can tell, the last person who saw him a——” she started, she had almost said “alive.” So she began again. “Was he all right when you saw him last? Did he say anything about going away?”

“We sat talking and eating all evening,” Serge explained. “Russians are great eaters, you know. But Dimitri didn’t mention going away, and I left him in the best of spirits. Then I rowed back, got into my car, and drove on to New York.”

“That doesn’t help at all,” Sim wailed. “It only proves that Dimitri left very suddenly and probably against his will. He would have told you if he’d planned leaving, wouldn’t he?” she asked the young man.

“I am sure he had no thought of going,” Serge hastened to assure her. “He was too much interested in the portrait he was finishing.”

“You mean the one of me?” Arden asked simply.

“Yes; you’ve seen it?”

“We looked—after Dimitri——” Arden said sadly. “Do you think he would mind?”

Serge shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. We have something more important to think about.”

“But the worst of it is,” Sim complained, “that we’re so helpless.”

“We can do nothing here, at any rate,” agreed Serge.

“You will come to dinner with us, won’t you?” Terry asked. “Mother expects you. There is no place in town where you can get anything worth eating.”

“You are sure it won’t be too much trouble? I did not expect it, you know,” Serge answered, smiling.

“Of course not,” Terry insisted. “You have to get your car, anyway.”

After another look around, the little party left the houseboat once more. Tania seemed used to these comings and goings, for she took no notice of them as they departed.

The water of the bay was as smooth as glass as they rowed away, the girls looking back wistfully as they left the houseboat behind.

Terry’s mother had a delicious meal waiting, and after so much excitement and activity the girls felt very hungry.

The conversation naturally centered about the disappearance of Dimitri. They discussed it from all angles. It was during a lull in the talk that Terry gave a little scream.

“What’s the matter?” Arden asked at once.

“Nothing,” Terry answered. “I saw a face at the window, and it made me jump. But it’s only Melissa again.”

“See what she wants, Terry,” Mrs. Landry told her daughter. “Perhaps the poor child is hungry.”

Terry left the table and hurried outside. She could see Melissa running down the path in the late summer twilight. She was wearing black rubber hip boots and her old gray sweater, but surely, Terry thought to herself, it couldn’t have been Melissa whom they had seen on the houseboat. Terry felt she must stop the girl, at any rate, to find out.

“Melissa! Melissa!” Terry called. “Wait, I have something for you.”

Melissa stopped and faced Terry. “What?” she asked abruptly. “What’ve you got?”

“Something nice,” Terry assured her, and then, because she could think of nothing else, she asked the frightened girl, “Do you like chocolate cake?”

“Sure do,” Melissa replied shyly. “Heaps!”

“Come on back, then,” Terry coaxed, and Melissa came towards her.

Terry took her into the bright little kitchen and gave her a large glass of milk and a big piece of chocolate cake. Melissa ate greedily, and Terry spoke gently to her to gain her confidence.

“That certainly is a lovely pin,” Terry remarked. “Would you mind if I showed it to my mother? She’s in the other room, but I’ll bring it right back.”

“I guess so,” Melissa agreed reluctantly, and taking the stick pin from her collar she handed the ornament to Terry. Her rather pale blue eyes were questioning her benefactor, and she looked not at all sure that she liked the situation.

Terry took the pin and pushed in the swinging door that led to the dining room.

“Come, finish your dinner,” Mrs. Landry said. “What happened to Melissa?”

“She’s out in the kitchen,” Terry replied and put a warning finger to her lips. “Don’t let her hear you. I just wanted to show this to Mr. Uzlov.” She held the pin out to Serge. “Isn’t this your brother’s?”

Serge took it and examined it closely.

“I gave it to Dimitri years ago,” he said. “He always liked it. I don’t believe he would have parted with it willingly.”

“We didn’t think so, either,” Arden remarked, taking what small satisfaction there was in the fact.

“Go back to her, Terry,” Mrs. Landry directed, “and talk to her a bit. See if she will tell you anything. But don’t frighten her,” she cautioned, and then to Serge she explained, “Melissa is like some woodland creature. She runs at the first hint of danger. Poor child! The girls have done all they can to help her, but she doesn’t trust anyone.”

Terry, taking the pin, they all having decided it would excite Melissa if they kept it, returned to the kitchen.

Ida, the maid, was rattling pans and knives in the sink, but Melissa was gone.

“Where’s Melissa?” Terry asked.

“She went,” Ida answered briefly.

“Why? Did you say anything to frighten her?” Terry wanted to know.

“Never said a word,” Ida insisted. “She et the cake and got up and walked out.”

Terry clenched her fists. Melissa gone again, and just when they thought they would learn something. If the girl really wanted to hide, they could never find her. There was only one thing to do. Follow her at once before she got too far away.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Terry flung over her shoulder, and still holding the pin clutched in one hand she slipped out the back door after the elusive Melissa Clayton.