CHAPTER XV--A DISCOVERY
It took the other girls some time to get the whole story from Billie,but when she had stammered it out to them they broke into a babel ofexcited exclamations that threatened to bring one of the teachers totheir hiding place.
It was Billie herself who thought of this danger and who finally managedto calm them down a little.
"Not so loud," she entreated, still feeling faint and shaky from herexperience. "You know what will happen if somebody finds us here."
"But Billie," protested Laura, though her voice sank to a more cautiouswhisper, "we've got to do something about it, you know. There may havebeen a murder or something up there."
"Perhaps we'd better all go back with Billie and try to get into thatlittle room at the head of the ladder," suggested one of the girls, butthe mere idea made Billie shudder.
"You can go," she said decidedly. "But I'm through for to-night."
"Oh, well, if you won't go," said the girl dejectedly, "it's all off, ofcourse. We need a guide----"
"I don't see why," protested Billie. "Nobody gave me a guide."
"No. And it was a shame to send you away up there all alone," said Vi,putting a protecting arm about her. "It's a wonder you didn't die offright."
"I suppose," said Ann Fleming, thoughtfully, "we might tell one of theteachers about it--or Miss Walters, perhaps--and she could go with us upto the tower----"
"Say," interrupted Rose Belser with her most pronounced drawl, as shelooked contemptuously upon the freshman who had proposed so foolish athing, "it's easy to see you haven't been at Three Towers long, Ann. Nowjust what do you suppose would happen if we told Miss Walters that wewere up after hours initiating and doing stunts?"
"I--I didn't think of that," stammered Ann, completely crushed.
"I thought you didn't," answered Rose dryly.
For some time afterward the girls discussed in awed whispers thestartling thing that had happened, and then somebody suddenly conceivedthe idea that it would not be a bad thing to go to bed.
Billie was looking very white and shaky after her ordeal. Then, too, itwas getting late, and there was always the chance of discovery by some"over-curious teacher."
"But I'll never, never, sleep a wink," said Vi, as they filed ghost-likeout of the gymnasium. "I know I'll be dreaming of blood-stainedhandkerchiefs all night long."
"And I don't think it's fair," pouted Connie, "for Billie to have allthe adventures. First she gets lost with Teddy and discovers a perfectlygood cave, and then she unearths a thrilling mystery, like this. Toomuch good luck for one person."
"Good luck!" repeated Billie ruefully. "Well, if you call _that_ goodluck, I certainly would hate to be the one to find out what bad luckis."
"Hush," ordered Rose, once more assuming the deep voice of the head ofthe ghosts. "Some one may hear you and we'll all be shot at sunrise."
"I never get up that early," giggled Laura.
Many and varied were the plans the girls made for a storming of towernumber three in the hope of solving the mystery of that little lockeddoor and the blood-stained handkerchief. However, there seemed to be somany obstacles in the way of carrying out these plans that theyreluctantly decided to give up the idea, at least for the time being.
"And, anyway," Laura had said in one of their discussions, "the bloodstains on that handkerchief might not have meant anything mysterious atall. Maybe somebody had a nose-bleed."
"How romantic!" drawled Rose while the other girls giggled at the idea.
Their studies and the race for prizes absorbed the classmates in thedays that followed and gradually the mystery, if indeed it was amystery, faded from their minds.
Billie worked hard, and thought she was getting along finely. Shecommenced to grow a trifle pale, and at this Vi and Laura shook theirheads.
"Don't overdo it, Billie," said Vi.
"No kind of prize is worth one's health," added Laura.
"Don't worry about me," declared Billie, with a smile. "I know what youwant to do--make me let up so you can pass me."
"Oh, you know better than that!" cried Laura.
"Of course she does," came from Vi. "Now remember, don't study so hardthat you get sick."
"No danger," retorted Billie airily.
It was nearly a week later when Billie suddenly realized that there wasanother thing they had almost forgotten, and that was Polly Haddon andher unhappy little family.
"And poor little Peter!" said Vi penitently, when Billie spoke to herabout it. "He must be either better or dead by this time."
"Suppose we go over to-morrow"--the next day being Saturday--Laurasuggested. "We can walk to town first. Or maybe we can get Tim Budd todrive us over in the wagon. We can get some good canned stuff, soups andthings, and take them over to the Haddons when we go."
The next day the girls sought out Tim Budd, who was the gardener at theHall and who was also, alas! the father of poor, simple Nick Budd withwhom Teddy and Billie had had so queer an experience. After a great dealof coaxing, they succeeded in getting the gardener to take them to townin the carryall. From this it may be seen that Tim acted as chauffeuralso upon occasion.
They were in hilarious spirits all the way to the town and back again,and it was not until they had almost reached Three Towers that Vi made asuggestion that somehow clouded their faces.
"Suppose she won't accept these things?" she said, giving thewell-stocked basket at her feet a little shove. "You said yourself shewas awfully proud, Billie."
Billie looked sober for a moment, but Laura, as ever, found something tolaugh at.
"Why worry about that?" said the incorrigible one, gaily. "If shedoesn't want 'em we'll have a midnight feast and use them ourselves."
Tim Budd let them out at the Hall and they walked the rest of the way tothe little cottage. Mrs. Haddon herself opened the door, but she lookedso pale and wan that they hardly recognized her.
The woman welcomed the girls absently, as if her mind were a great wayoff, but when her eyes fell on the basket a resigned little smile playedabout her lips.
"More charity," she muttered, as though to herself. "Well, I will takeit because I must. But I'll pay it back." She turned proudly upon thegirls and her fine eyes flashed. "No one can say of Polly Haddon thatshe left her debts unpaid."
Taken aback by this unexpected declaration, the girls said nothing, butshifted their feet uneasily, wishing fervently that Polly Haddon wouldturn the fire of her black eyes on something else.
But almost instantly the woman's mood became softer, and, seeing thegirls' embarrassment, she tried to put them at their ease.
"Thank you so much," she said. "Won't you sit down? The basket is heavyand you have come a long way."
The girls, not knowing what else to do, sat down on the three spindlychairs awkwardly enough, and Laura and Vi sent distress signalsBillie-wards. For Billie was always their spokesman.
So Billie, who had been as much abashed as any of them at their ratherqueer reception, found her tongue with difficulty and asked Mrs. Haddonhow Peter was.
"He is dreadfully low," Mrs. Haddon answered softly. Her head droopedwearily and her hands were crossed listlessly in front of her. "Thedoctor says it is not even an even chance whether he lives or dies."
The girls murmured their very real sympathy, and Billie started to askanother question when the door at the other end of the room opened andthe two little girls, Mary and Isabel, entered.
At sight of the visitors they looked startled and started to retreat,but their mother called to them.
"Come here," she said, and the children sidled slowly up to her wherethey stood, their large eyes fixed shyly on the girls. "Don't you knowthese young ladies?" asked the mother, putting an arm about each of thepoor little thin things caressingly and drawing them up close to her."They are the ones who brought you home that day that you were naughtyand ran away, and they have been very kind to us since."
There was a slight sound from the room beyond where poor little
Peterlay so desperately ill, and Mrs. Haddon rose suddenly, leaving the twolittle girls and the three big girls together.
It would have been hard to tell at first who was the most embarrassed.But as no children had ever known to resist Billie for very long, thetwo little Haddons were soon won over and chatted to the three big girlsin careless, innocent child fashion.
"We get good things to eat now," said Isabel, confidentially, speakingof the thing that loomed biggest and most important in her starvedlittle life. "A man comes almost every night with a basket--just likethis," and she eyed the basket which the girls had brought with hungryeyes.
"Yes, an' he's a funny little man, too," added Mary, her big eyes roundwith eagerness. "He has whiskers and he stoops--dreadful."
A glance of understanding passed between the chums.
"That description----" Vi began.
"Suits Tim Budd----" added Laura.
"To a T," finished Billie.