  Max, who was standing on the ground near by, heard the heavy thud of the stone as it hit the floor of the car. Turning about sharply, he saw Mary Louise slumped in her seat, unconscious from the blow. He flung open the door and jumped in beside her. “Mary Lou! Mary Lou! Are you alive?” he cried desperately. The girl did not answer. “Help! Help!” he shrieked, at the top of his lungs. A mocking laugh sounded from the tree above. Max looked up, but in the darkness he could see no one. How he wished he had his flashlight! But it was behind in the rumble seat, and he daren’t waste a minute; he must get Mary Lou to a doctor with all possible speed. Starting his engine immediately—for there was no reply to his call for help—he circled around the tree and crept cautiously down the slippery hill, praying as he had never prayed before. Oh, suppose Mary Louise were dead! With as much speed as he dared put on, he drove back to the Center Square hotel. As he came to a stop he felt a little movement beside him, and Mary Louise raised her head and opened her eyes. “Where are we, Max?” she asked. “What happened?” “Oh, my darling!” he cried, flinging his arm around her shoulders. “You are alive!” The girl managed a feeble laugh. “Of course I am. My head hurts dreadfully, though. What happened?” “You were hit by a stone—see it there, on the floor?—from that tree we were parked under. It knocked you out.... Now, can you manage to walk up to the hotel, or shall I carry you?” “I can walk,” she replied, taking his arm. In the light of the hotel doorway Max saw the blood running down her neck. He wiped it with his handkerchief. “Can we have a doctor immediately?” he asked the hotel clerk the moment they were inside the door. “Yes, there’s one in the dining room now, eating his dinner. I’ll call him. An accident?” Max explained the strange happening at the empty house, but the clerk said he did not know anything about the place. He had not heard of any gangsters in these parts. The doctor came immediately and dressed Mary Louise’s head. The cut was not serious, he assured her; it was not in a vital place. When it was washed and bandaged she was able to eat her dinner with enjoyment. “Maybe that first person I saw was Margaret Detweiler,” she said. “I wish I could stay here all night and go investigate tomorrow. But Mother wouldn’t approve of it.” “I should say not!” thundered Max. “I’m taking you back to Mrs. Hilliard tonight, and I think you had better go home to Riverside tomorrow.” “Indeed I won’t, Max. And that reminds me, I have to be at the hotel tonight at eleven o’clock. I want to spy on an elopement.” “Elopement! What next?” “Well, one of the guests, a Miss Stoddard, who happens to be a niece of the founder of Stoddard House, thinks another guest is eloping tonight. She thinks this couple are responsible for all the robberies at the hotel. You know it was a man who entered my room and stole my watch, so I hoped maybe I could identify this fellow as the burglar. If I could, the mystery would be solved.” “And you could go home?” “Yes, unless I could find out something more about Margaret Detweiler. But I wouldn’t stay here just on purpose for that. I’d go home and see what I could do from there, with Dad’s help.” “What time is it now, I wonder?” asked Max. “We must get back without fail!” “I don’t know,” replied Mary Louise regretfully. “I haven’t any watch.” “I’m going to buy you one for Christmas, if I get a check from Dad,” announced Max. “Of course, it will be late, but I’ll give you your other present first, so you wouldn’t mind that, would you, Mary Lou?” “You’ll do nothing of the sort!” protested the girl. “I couldn’t accept it. If you get a check from your father it’s to buy something for yourself. I’ll get an Ingersoll tomorrow when I’m in town.... Now, what time is it?” “It’s half-past eight. If you feel able, I think we better go along, because I don’t dare drive too fast on these slippery roads at night.” “I’m all right—I only have a headache now. So let’s get going.” Max paid the bill, and they were off. “Now, what will your plans be for tomorrow?” he inquired, as they rode along. “I’d like to come out here and visit that empty house with a policeman,” she replied. “If it’s possible, I will. But of course I have to see what turns up at the hotel. That is my real job: I’m being paid for it, and my father and Mrs. Hilliard are counting on me to do my best.” “I wouldn’t care if you never saw Center Square again,” muttered Max resentfully. “Still, it would be great to catch the guy who threw that rock at you.” “And find out whether the girl really was Margaret Detweiler. Yes, and I’d like to see that ugly woman again. I’ve seen her face before somewhere, but I can’t place her. You don’t forget a face like that.” “There’s something crooked about their hiding in that house,” remarked Max. “Yes, of course.... Well, to continue with my plans: I’ll see what develops tonight. If there really is an elopement, I’ll try to identify that man. If he isn’t anything like my burglar, I’ll believe that Miss Stoddard is guilty herself and that she just made the whole story up to throw suspicion away from herself.” Max regarded her admiringly. “You are a pretty clever girl, Mary Lou,” he said. “I do think you’ll make a swell detective.” “Thanks, Max. But I’m afraid there’s nothing clever about that. It’s just using common sense.” “Well, the good detectives say that’s the most important thing: not to let anything escape their notice and to use common sense all the time.” They talked of other things for a while, of school and dances and basketball. Finally they reached Stoddard House, a little after ten o’clock. “Oh, I do hope we’re in time!” exclaimed Mary Louise. They found the hotel almost deserted. Mrs. Hilliard was sitting in a chair, knitting. Nobody else was around. “Did you have a good time, dear?” she asked, after Max had been introduced to her. “An exciting time,” replied the young man. “Mary Lou was hit on the head with a stone and knocked out. But detectives have to expect that sort of thing, I suppose.” “Sh!” warned the girl. “Nobody except Mrs. Hilliard is supposed to know I’m acting as detective.” “I didn’t k-n-o-w that!” apologized Max, in the tone of Joe Penner. Mrs. Hilliard looked troubled. “Tell me what happened,” she urged. Briefly Mary Louise related the story, and the good woman was relieved to hear that the blow was not serious. She was thankful, too, that the job at Stoddard House had not been responsible for it. “Are the Weinbergers still here?” was Mary Louise’s next question. “Mrs. Weinberger is. But her daughter went out early this afternoon, and I don’t think she came back. Her mother was in a great stew at supper time. You would think from the way she carries on that her daughter was a girl in her teens instead of a woman of twenty-eight or so.” A look of disappointment crossed Mary Louise’s face. “I must see Miss Stoddard,” she announced. “Max, you wait here with Mrs. Hilliard till I come back, because I may need you. I shan’t be gone long.” She ran off and took the elevator to the third floor and knocked at Miss Stoddard’s door. “Who is it?” was the query. “Mary Louise Gay. May I come in, Miss Stoddard?” The woman turned the key in the lock and opened the door. She was dressed in a kimono and slippers. “You’re too late, Miss Gay,” she said. “Miss Weinberger has already eloped. I’m sure of it. I saw her get into a taxi this afternoon, and one of the maids came out and brought her her suitcase. She probably had hidden it somewhere from her mother. She’s probably married by now—and run off with all the money and jewelry from Stoddard House!” “Oh!” gasped Mary Louise in dismay. “Why wasn’t I here! Did you see the man, Miss Stoddard?” “No—unless he was the taxi driver. But I didn’t even get a good look at him.” “Probably she was to join him somewhere. He wouldn’t risk coming near the house in broad daylight if he was the burglar who entered my room.” “No, that’s true.” “If Hortense Weinberger really is married,” said Mary Louise, “don’t you suppose her mother will hear about it tomorrow? And if I keep in touch with her mother, I ought to see the man when he comes back from the honeymoon.” “Mrs. Weinberger was planning to leave Stoddard House tomorrow,” returned Miss Stoddard. “Yes, I know. But this may alter her plans. And besides, she will surely give her forwarding address to Mrs. Hilliard. She has no reason to hide; she doesn’t have any idea that her daughter or her husband is suspected of stealing.” “I hope you’re right, Miss Gay.... Now, tell me what happened to your head.” “I was riding in an open car, and a stone fell out of a tree and hit me,” she answered simply. The older woman pulled down the corners of her mouth and looked doubtful. “Of course, she’s thinking I’m just a wild young girl,” Mary Louise concluded. But it really didn’t matter in the least to her what Miss Stoddard chose to believe about her. “Well, I must get to bed, Miss Stoddard,” she said aloud. “So good-night.” “Good-night,” returned the other, carefully locking the door after Mary Louise went out. A moment later the girl joined Mrs. Hilliard and Max on the first floor. “Miss Stoddard thinks Miss Weinberger eloped this afternoon,” she announced. Mrs. Hilliard laughed incredulously. “Old maids love to imagine romances,” she said. “Well, we’ll see.... Now, don’t you think you had better go to bed?” she asked Mary Louise in a motherly way. “Yes, I do,” agreed the girl, “Max, if you’re still here, I’d be glad to have you come to lunch with me tomorrow. We’re allowed to have men to meals, aren’t we, Mrs. Hilliard?” “Certainly, dear.” “Nix on that!” protested the young man immediately. “Can you imagine me—one lone fellow—in that dining room full of dames? Looking me over and snickering at the way I wear my hair or tie my shoes? Nothing doing! I’ll call for you at one, Mary Lou, and we’ll go out somewhere to lunch.” “O.K.,” agreed the girl, smiling. “See you then!” |
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