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Jannet sat on the edge and let herself down withouttrouble.]
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THE PHANTOM TREASURE
By HARRIET PYNE GROVE
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY Akron, Ohio New York
Printed in U. S. A.
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Copyright, MCMXXVIII The Saalfield Publishing Company
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THE PHANTOM TREASURE
CHAPTER I
JANET LEARNS HER NAME
"There's a package for you, Janet." A smiling face was thrust withinthe partly open door.
"April fool," replied Janet, not looking up from her book for a moment.Then with a twinkle in her blue eyes, she raised her hand impressivelyand began to recite in sonorous tones the lines that she was learning.
"Exactly like Miss Sanders! Do it that way in class, Janet! I dare you!"
"I would, but it might hurt her feelings to do it in earnest as shedoes. No, I want to read poetry like Miss Hilliard,--but I can't saythat I like to commit it. I want to pick out my own kind, Allie May."
Allie May came inside the door and leaned against it. "Well, Janet,"she said, "I think that you might believe me when I tell you that thereis a package for you down in the office. Honest. No April fool. MissHilliard said for me to tell you to come down. I don't know why shedidn't give it to me to bring up. Perhaps she wants to see you anyhow.This is what she said: 'Janet has a box. Please tell her to come downto the office.'"
"H'm. Lina and I had our light on after hours last night. But it wasnot long, and we had a grand excuse. Lina lost a page of her shortstory that she had to hand in this morning. Honestly, Allie May, isthere a package for me? I never had a box in my life except things sentfrom the store." Janet had put her book down now and was on her feetstarting toward the door and her schoolmate.
"You haven't! Poor you! I hope that it's a grand cake with lots of goodthings. Maybe the box was so big that Miss Hilliard knew I couldn'tbring it up!"
Allie May made big eyes as she linked her arm in Janet's and walkedwith her to the top of the stairs.
"If it is, you shall have the first and the best out of it. But itisn't. It's probably something brought here by mistake. Thanks, AllieMay."
Janet was half way down the long, dark staircase that led to the lowerhall when she finished her remarks. Allie May saw her friend's fluffy,golden locks fly out in the wind created by the rapid descent. Smiling,she went to her room, next to Janet's, somewhat struck with the factthat Janet had never received a "box," that delight of a school-girl'sheart.
The lower hall was dark on this rainy first of April. None of the doorswere open, and Janet Eldon, slight, active girl of fourteen years,stood poised on the lower step for a few moments, looking out throughthe mullioned panes of the tall, wide door at the entrance. Eaves weredripping and she heard the beat of the drops upon the tin roof of aporch outside.
Eyes the color of brighter skies considered thoughtfully the prospecttill the sound of an opening door made them turn in another direction.Quickly Janet stepped to the floor, rounding the newel by catching holdof it and swinging herself around it. At the second door, down the hallto her right, she presented herself.
It was Miss Hilliard, principal of this small school for girls to whomJanet curtsied prettily. "Allie May said that you wanted to see me.Miss Hilliard," she said.
"Yes, Janet. There is a package here in the office that must be meantfor you, yet the address is peculiar, to say the least. It is about thesize of the usual box that comes for the girls,--come in to see it foryourself."
Miss Hilliard drew back from the door, admitting Janet, who went to thetable by the big desk. There a box of medium size reposed, a squarepackage, wrapped in heavy paper and well tied with cord.
"You will notice that the return address is with initials only, fromsome hotel in Albany, New York," Miss Hilliard continued.
Janet stood close to the table, looking with interest at the package,saying first, as she had said to Allie May, that there was "probablysome mistake". But she caught her breath as she looked at the address."Why--" she began. "Why, how _queer_!"
"Yes, isn't it? Rather pretty, though. Could that be your name, Janet?There is no one else here,--there has _never_ been any one here by thename of Eldon; and you will observe that the name of the school isgiven, the correct address."
"I see."
Janet looked again in the upper left hand corner. The initials wereP.V.M. But it was the address which filled her with surprise. Thepackage was addressed to Miss Jannetje Jan Van Meter Eldon!
The longer she looked at it, the stranger it seemed. "Why, MissHilliard, I don't understand it at all. Could it be some joke? Oh, Ijust imagine that there is some mistake in addresses. Shall we open it?"
"Yes, Janet. But I shall be very busy for a while and have no time forthis. I will have it taken to your room and you may do theinvestigating. I need not tell you to preserve the treasure intact ifit should be full of diamonds."
Janet looked up at the tall, slender woman beside her and laughed atthe suggestion. She was not afraid of Miss Hilliard, though many of thegirls were. Had not Janet been in this school since her sixth year? Theolder woman's arm now drew her close and her cheek was laid for amoment against Janet's hair.
"Now run along, child. Get back to your lessons and I will have thissent upstairs by Oliver. There he is now, in the hall. Report to my ownroom after dinner, Janet, and I shall be able to see you in your roomif necessary."
Through the partly open door they could see the janitor passing.Summoned by Miss Hilliard, he came after the box immediately andstarted up the stairs with it. Janet, holding Miss Hilliard's handlooked up into the kind eyes and asked soberly, "Do you suppose thatreally is my name, Miss Hilliard?"
"It is not impossible, Janet. You have always thought that the Janetcame from your grandmother's Scotch ancestry, haven't you?"
"Yes, Miss Hilliard. You know I have everything about her family andpictures of my father from the time he was a baby."
"I hope that there will be something very interesting inside that box,Janet,--but there is the bell now. I must go to the parlors in amoment. I am expecting a call from one of our patrons this afternoon."Miss Hilliard was now the gracious head of the school in her manner,which had the dignity that usually accompanies such management.
Janet, too, made her departure with the formal curtsey which was thecustom of the school. Never in the presence of Miss Hilliard did thegirls forget their "manners". If so, they were instantly reminded ofthem.
Mechanically Janet ascended the stairs; her thoughts elsewhere. Acaress from Miss Hilliard, rare, but expressing a real affection, wasalways something to be remembered. Janet "adored" Miss Hilliard as sheoccasionally said to Allie May Loring or Lina Marcy. Then, here wasthis box. In her heart Janet felt that it was for her.
"That quaint old Dutch name!" she thought. "Can it be that mymother--", but Janet grew confused. There was no use in conjecture. Shemust open the box. How she hoped that it _was_ for her. The suggestionof diamonds amused her. She had not lifted it and did not know itsweight. Probably it was heavy, because Oliver had been asked to carryit up. No, Miss Hilliard usually had him do that.
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p; On entering her room, Janet saw the box on the floor. No wonder. Hertable was full of books and papers. Her desk looked worse. Lina's coatand hat were on one of the straight chairs, the dictionary reposed onthe other. If Miss Hilliard were coming up after dinner the room mustbe made perfect. One thing, there were no odds and ends of clothing orornaments around. They were trained to keep such things in theirplaces. But Lina had had an errand and rushed off to class, not hangingup her wraps as usual.
Janet gave a glance at her little alarm clock which occupied aprominent place on the desk. It was very disappointing. She had exactlytwo minutes before the next recitation. Did she know that poem, ordidn't she? Saying over and over again the new lines, Janet again randownstairs, the back stairs this time, to the recitation room.