The School by the Sea

  CHAPTER XVIII

  An Alarm

  That same evening an extraordinary thing happened. It was the custom forglasses of milk, dishes of stewed fruit, and plates of bread and butterto be placed on the table in the dining-hall about eight o'clock. Thiswas done as usual, but when the girls arrived for supper they found alarge proportion of the bread and butter had vanished. At first thesuspicion fell on Spot, the fox-terrier, but the cook pleaded an alibion his behalf, proving that he had been in the kitchen the whole time;also, the rifled plates were in the middle of the table, so no dog couldhave purloined their contents without knocking over glasses, ordisturbing spoons and forks.

  "I'm afraid it's a two-legged dog," said Miss Harding gravely. "TheFrench window was open, and it would be easy for anyone to walk in andhelp himself. I'm glad nothing more valuable was taken. I wish MissBirks were here! It's most unfortunate it should happen on the veryevening she's away."

  The incident gave cause for serious apprehension. Miss Harding made amost careful round of the house before bedtime, to see that all boltsand shutters were well secured. Though she would not betray her alarm tothe girls, she was afraid that a burglary might be committed during thenight. Both she and Mademoiselle kept awake till dawn, listening forsuspicious footsteps on the gravel outside. All was as usual, however,in the morning; there were no evidences of attempts to force locks orwindows, and no trace of the mysterious thief who had taken the breadand butter. Mademoiselle reported indeed that she had again heard thecurious sounds which for some nights past had disturbed her. She hadrisen and patrolled the house, and had come to the unmistakableconclusion that they issued from the barred room. The closed chamber wasas much a riddle to teachers as to girls, so Miss Harding merely shookher head, and recommended Mademoiselle to tell her experiences to MissBirks as soon as the Principal returned.

  At five o'clock that afternoon Elyned Hughes came running downstairswith a white, scared face. She solemnly averred that, when passing thedoor of the mysterious room, she had heard extraordinary noises within.

  "It was exactly like somebody moving about and frying sausages. Ismelled them too!" she declared.

  The report was in part confirmed by several other girls, who pledgedtheir word that they heard stealthy movements when they listened at thebarred door.

  "Are you absolutely certain, or is it only mice?" queried Gerda. "We'veso often fancied things."

  "Mice don't clink cans, and strike matches, and clear their throats!"retorted Rhoda.

  "But you may have thought it sounded like that."

  "I couldn't be mistaken."

  "Somebody's there, beyond a doubt," said Agnes.

  "Perhaps it's a ghost?" queried Elyned.

  "It's nothing supernatural this time, I'll undertake to say--whatevermay have made the noises before."

  "It ought to be enquired into," declared Doris. "Miss Birks ought toinsist on having the bars taken down, and seeing what's going on."

  "Oh, no, no! It's best to leave things as they are."

  Gerda was looking white and upset and spoke almost hysterically.

  "Do you expect the ghost to bolt in amongst us the moment the door isunlocked?" mocked Rhoda.

  "No, of course, I'm not so silly! But it's often better to let wellalone."

  "Mrs. Trevellyan is still away, so Miss Birks couldn't ask her to havethe bars taken down now," volunteered Betty Scott.

  "So she is," exclaimed Gerda, with an air of relief.

  "Ah! You're afraid of the ghost," repeated Rhoda. "I'm more inclinedtowards the burglar theory. In the circumstances, I think Miss Birkswould be quite justified in making an investigation, even without Mrs.Trevellyan's permission."

  "I shouldn't wonder myself if Miss Birks called in the police," saidBetty Scott.

  The girls were in a ferment of excitement over the affair. Deirdre andDulcie felt that in view of yesterday's discovery they had a strong clueto the mystery. They hesitated as to whether they ought at once to tellMiss Harding, but, as Miss Birks was expected home within an hour ortwo, they decided it was better to wait till they could deliver theirnews at head-quarters.

  Gerda, during the whole day, had been very abstracted and peculiar inher manner. She was nervous, starting at every sound, and seemed sopreoccupied with her own thoughts that she often took no notice whenspoken to.

  "What's wrong with the Sphinx?" commented Deirdre. "She's absolutelyobsessed."

  "Yes, I can't make her out. She's disturbed in her mind. That's easyenough to see. There's something queer going on in this school. I hopeshe's not mixed up in it."

  "We'd decidedly better watch her. After all that's happened before, onecan't trust her in the least. Until Miss Birks is safely back in thehouse I feel we oughtn't to let Gerda out of our sight. Who knows whatshe may be going to do, or whom she's in league with?"

  Coupled with the mysterious happenings of last night and to-day, Gerda'spalpable uneasiness gave strong grounds for suspicion. The chums watchedher like a couple of detectives. They were determined to warn Miss Birksdirectly on her return. Meanwhile nothing their room-mate did mustescape their notice. They were to perform a duet at the musicalexamination, therefore they had the extreme felicity of doing theirpractising together. For the same half-hour Gerda was due at theinstrument in the next room. They waited to begin until they heard thefirst bars of her "Arabesque". At the same moment came from the hall thesounds of the bustle occasioned by Miss Birks's arrival home. Deirdreand Dulcie looked at one another in much relief.

  "She'll just be downstairs again by the time we've finished practising,and then we'll go straight and tell her," they agreed.

  I am afraid neither in the least gave her mind to the piano.Mademoiselle, had she been near, would have been highly irate at thewrong notes and other faults that marred the beauty of their mazurka.Both girls were playing with an ear for the "Arabesque" on the otherside of the wall.

  "She's stopped!" exclaimed Dulcie, pausing in the middle of a bar. "Now,what's that for, I should like to know? I don't trust you, Miss GerdaThorwaldson."

  But Deirdre was already at the window.

  "Look! look!" she gasped. "Gerda's off somewhere!"

  The window of the adjacent room was a French one, and the girls couldsee their schoolfellow open it gently and steal cautiously out on to thelawn. She glanced round to see if she were observed, then ran off in thedirection of the kitchen-garden. In a moment the chums had thrown up thesash of their window and followed her. All their old suspicions of herhad revived in full force; they were certain she was in league withsomebody, and for no good purpose, and they were determined that at lastthey would unmask her and expose her duplicity. They had spared herbefore, but this time they intended to act, and act promptly too.

  Gerda opened the gate of the kitchen-garden as confidently as if shewere not transgressing a rule, and rushed away between the strawberrybeds. Pilfering was evidently not her object, for she never even lookedat the fruit, but kept straight on towards the end where thehorse-radish grew. Keeping her well within sight, the chums went swiftlybut cautiously after. She stood for a moment on the piece of wasteground that bounded the cliff, looked carefully round--her pursuers werehidden behind a tree--then plunged down the side of the rock and out ofsight. Deirdre and Dulcie each drew a long breath. The conclusion wascertain. Without doubt she must be going to pay a visit to the cavewhich communicated with the mysterious chamber. Whom did she expect tofind there?

  "To me there's only one course open," declared Deirdre solemnly. "Wemust go straight to Miss Birks and tell her this very instant."

  The Principal, disturbed in the midst of changing her travellingcostume, listened with amazement to her insistent pupils' excitedaccount.

  "This must be investigated immediately," she declared. "Dulcie, fetch acandle and matches, and you must both accompany me to this cave. You sayGerda has gone on there alone?"

  Miss Birks took the affair gravely. She appeared very much concerned,even alarmed. She hurried off a
t once with the girls to thekitchen-garden.

  They led the way down the narrow staircase cut in the cliff, and acrossthe beach and over the rocks. At the entrance to the cave they bothuttered a sharp exclamation, for Gerda stood there in an attitude ofhesitation, as if unable to make up her mind whether to enter or no. Sheturned red, and white, and then red again to the tips of her ears whenshe saw that she was discovered, but she offered no explanation of herpresence there. She did not even speak.

  "Girls," said Miss Birks, "I think it is highly desirable and necessarythat we should follow this passage into the room which I am told isbeyond. Deirdre, you go first, with this candle, then Dulcie--Gerda,give me your candle, and walk just in front of me."

  Policing the three in the rear, the Principal gave nobody an opportunityto escape. She had her own reasons for her conduct, which at present shedid not choose to explain. With a hand on Gerda's shoulder, she forcedthat unwilling explorer along, and she urged an occasional caution onDeirdre. They had reached the cavern, and now, opening the small innerdoor, flashed their candles into the room. The result was startling.

  On the bed reclined a figure, which, at sight of the light, sprang upwith the cry of a hare in a trap--a man, unkempt, ragged, and dirty,bearing the impress of tramp written plainly upon his haggard, unshavencountenance. He darted wildly forward, gazed up at the strangersregarding him, then threw himself on a chair, and buried his face in hishands.

  Gerda gave a long sigh of supreme relief. It was evidently not at allwhat she had expected to see.

  "I'm done!" whimpered the tramp. "Send for the bobbies if you like. I'llgo quiet."

  "You must first tell me what you are doing here," said Miss Birks,stepping down into the room. "Then I can decide whether or no it isnecessary to call in the police. Who are you? And where do you comefrom?"

  "I knowed this passage when I was a boy," was the whining reply. "Weused to dare each other to go up it, but the door at the end was firmshut. Then when I come back, down on my luck, and without a penny in mypocket to pay for a lodging, I thought I'd at least spend a night thereunder cover. I'd a bit of candle and a few matches, so I found my wayalong easy, and there! if the door at the end wasn't broke open, and theplace waitin' all ready for me--bed, kettle, cooking-stove, frying-pan,cup and saucer, and all the rest of it, just as if someone 'ad put 'emthere a purpose. I wasn't long in takin' possession, and I've lived herefive days, and done nobody no harm. I didn't take nothing from the houseeither, except a bit of bread and butter last night when I feltstarving. T'other days I'd found a job on the quay, and was able to buymyself victuals."

  "Did you cook sausages?" quavered Dulcie, with intense interest.

  "Aye, I'd earned a bit this morning to buy 'em with. Don't know who setup a stove here, but it come in handy for me, all filled ready with oil,too."

  "But you know you've no right here," said Miss Birks severely.

  "No, mum," reverting to his original whine. "I know that, but I'm a poorman, and I've been unfortunate. I came back to my native place lookingfor a bit of work. I've bin half over the world since I left it."

  "If you're a Pontperran man, somebody ought to be able to vouch for you.What's your name?"

  "Abel Galsworthy."

  Then Gerda sprang forward with intense, irrepressible excitement on herface.

  "Not Abel Galsworthy who was at one time under-gardener at the Castle?"she queried eagerly.

  "The same--at your service, miss."

  "And you were dismissed for--for----"

  "For borrowing a matter of a few pears, that made a little disagreementbetwixt me and the head gardener. I swore I'd try another line of life,and I shipped as a fireman on board a steamer bound for America, andworked my way over the continent to California. I didn't get on with theYankees, so I took a turn to Australia, but that didn't suit me nobetter, and after I'd knocked about till I was tired of it, I comehome."

  "Do you remember that when you were at the Castle you witnessed a paperthat the old Squire signed?"

  "Aye, I remember it as if it was yesterday. Me and Jim Robinson, theunder-groom, was the witnesses, but Jim's been gone this many a year."

  "Should you know your own handwriting again? Could you swear to it?"

  "I'd take my Bible oath afore a judge and jury, if need be."

  "Then--oh! thank Heaven I have pieced the broken link of my chain!"cried Gerda. "Oh! can I really clear my father's name at last, and wipethe stain from the honour of the Trevellyans?"

  "What does she mean?" asked Dulcie. "I don't understand!"

  "It's all a jig-saw puzzle to me!" said Deirdre. "What does Gerda knowabout the Castle, and the old Squire, and a paper? And what has she todo with the honour of the Trevellyans?"

  "I guessed the riddle long ago," smiled Miss Birks, laying a friendlyhand on Gerda's arm. "The likeness to Ronnie was enough to tell me thatshe was his sister."