CHAPTER XIXDECOYED
The excitement of being once more in a big city rendered Alora Joneswakeful on that eventful Tuesday morning following her arrival inChicago. At daybreak she rose and peered trough the window into a grayand unimpressive side street; then, disinclined to return to bed, sheslowly began dressing.
Presently a sharp knock sounded upon her door. Somewhat surprised, sheopened it far enough to see a middle-aged woman attired in nurse'suniform standing in the dim hallway.
"Miss Jones? Miss Alora Jones?" questioned the woman in a soft voice.
"Yes; what is it?"
"I've a message for you. May I come in?"
Alora, fearful that Mary Louise or the Colonel might have been takensuddenly ill, threw wide the door and allowed the woman to enter. Asthe nurse closed the door behind her Alora switched on the electriclight and then, facing her visitor, for the first time recognized herand gave a little cry of surprise.
"Janet!"
"Yes; I am Janet Orme, your mother's nurse."
"But I thought you abandoned nursing after you made my father give youall that money," an accent of scorn in her tone.
"I did, for a time," was the quiet answer. "'All that money' was not agreat sum; it was not as much as your father owed me, so I soon took upmy old profession again."
The woman's voice and attitude were meek and deprecating, yet Alora'sface expressed distrust. She remembered Janet's jaunty insolence at herfather's studio and how she had dressed, extravagantly and attendedtheatre parties and fashionable restaurants, scattering recklessly themoney she had exacted from Jason Jones. Janet, with an upward sweep ofher half veiled eyes, read the girl's face clearly, but she continuedin the same subdued tones:
"However, it is not of myself I came here to speak, but on behalf ofyour mother's old friend, Doctor Anstruther."
"Oh; did he send you here?"
"Yes. I am his nurse, just now. He has always used me on his importantcases, and now I am attending the most important case of all--his own."
"Is Dr. Anstruther ill, then?" asked Alora.
"He is dying. His health broke weeks ago, as you may have heard, andgradually he has grown worse. This morning he is sinking rapidly; wehave no hope that he will last through the day."
"Oh, I'm sorry for that!" exclaimed Alora, who remembered the kindlyold doctor with real affection. He had been not only her mother'sphysician but her valued friend.
"He learned, quite by accident, of your arrival here last evening,"Janet went on, "and so he begged me to see you and implore you to cometo his bedside. I advised him not to disturb you until morning, but thepoor man is very restless and so I came here at this unusual hour. Itseems he is anxious to tell you some secret which your dead motherconfided to his keeping and, realizing his hours are numbered, he urgesyou to lose no time in going to him. That is the message entrusted tome."
There was no emotion in her utterance; the story was told calmly, as byone fulfilling a mission but indifferent as to its success. Alora didnot hesitate.
"How far is it?" she quickly asked.
"A fifteen minute ride."
The girl glanced at her watch. It was not quite six o'clock. MaryLouise and the Colonel would not appear for breakfast for a good twohours yet and after breakfast they were all to go to the yacht. Thehour was opportune, affording her time to visit poor Doctor Anstrutherand return before her friends were up. Had Alora paused to give Janet'sstory more consideration she might have seen the inconsistencies in thenurse's statements, but her only thoughts were to learn her mother'ssecret and to show her sincere consideration for her kindly old friend.
Hastily completing her attire she added her hat and jacket and thensaid:
"I am ready, Janet."
"I hope we shall find him still alive," remarked the nurse, a cleverlyassumed anxiety in her tone, as she took the key from inside the doorand fitted it to the outer side of the lock.
Alora passed out, scarcely aware that Janet had pretended to lock thedoor. Halfway down the hall the woman handed her the key.
"Come this way, please," she said; "it is nearer to the carriage whichis waiting for us."
At the rear of the building they descended the stairs and passedthrough an anteroom fitted with lockers for the use of the employees ofthe hotel. No one happened to be in the anteroom at that moment andthey gained the alley without encountering a single person. Janetquickly led the girl through the alley and soon they came to a closedautomobile which evidently awaited them. Janet opened the door forAlora and followed the girl inside the car, which started at once andsped along the quiet streets.
"You will find Doctor Anstruther very feeble," said the nurse, "for hehas suffered greatly. But I am sure it will give him pleasure to seeyou again. I hope he will recognize you. I scarcely recognized you,myself, you have changed so much since last we saw you at the Voltaire.Your resemblance to your mother is quite marked, however."
And so, during the ride, she kept up a flow of desultory conversation,intended to distract Alora's attention from the section of the citythrough which they were passing. She spoke of Dr. Anstruther, mostly,and answered such questions as Alora put to her in a calm, unemotionalmanner well calculated to allay suspicion. The woman kept her eyesveiled by her lashes, as of yore, but her face seemed to have aged andgrown harder in its lines. There was no hint now of her former gay lifein New York; she had resumed the humble tones and manners peculiar toher profession, such as Alora remembered were characteristic of her atthe time she nursed her mother.
"This is the place," said Janet, as the cab came to a stop. "Let usmove softly, as noise disturbs my patient."
Alora had paid no attention to the direction they had driven but onleaving the car she found herself facing a three-storied brick flatbuilding of not very prepossessing appearance. Then were several vacantlots on either side of this building, giving it a lonely appearance,and in the lower windows were pasted placards: "To Let."
"Oh; does Doctor Anstruther live _here?"_ asked Alora, somewhatastonished.
Without seeming to have heard the question Janet mounted the steps andopened the front door with a latch-key. Alora followed her inside andup two dingy flights to the third floor. Once she started to protest,for the deadly silence of the place impressed her with a vagueforeboding that something was amiss, but Janet silenced her with awarning finger on her lips and on reaching the upper landing herselfavoided making a noise as she cautiously unlocked the door. She stoodlistening a moment and then entered and nodded to the girl to follow.
They were in a short, dark passage which separated the landing from therooms of the flat. Janet closed the outer door, startling her companionwith the sharp "click" it made, and quickly opened another door whichled into a shabby living room at the front of the building. Standingjust within this room, Alora glanced around with the first realsensation of suspicion she had yet experienced. Janet raised her lidsfor a sweeping view of the girl's face and then with a light laughbegan to remove her own cloak and cap, which she hung in a closet.
"Come, child, make yourself at home," she said in a mocking, triumphantvoice, as she seated herself in a chair facing the bewildered girl. "Imay as well inform you that this is to be your home for some time tocome--until Jason Jones decides to rescue you. You won't object, Ihope? Don't get nervous and you'll find your quarters very comfortable,if retired."
Alora, understanding now, first shuddered, then grew tense and cast ahurried glance at the hall door behind her.
"Have you lied to me, Janet?" she demanded.
"Yes."
"And this is a trap? Doctor Anstruther is not sick? He did not send forme? He is not here?"
"You have guessed correctly, Alora."
The girl wheeled and in a quick run reached the door to the landing. Itwas fast locked.
"Help!" she cried, and stopped to listen; "help! help!"
"Come in and take off your things," called Janet, undisturbed by theoutcry. "This building hasn't a soul in it but ours
elves, and you mayyell for help until you are hoarse without being heard. But don't befrightened. I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'd like to make yourconfinement as cheerful as possible. Can't you understand the truth--that I am simply holding your person in order to force Jason Jones topay the money he owes me?"