CHAPTER XXI--MORE MYSTERY
Billie Bradley turned cold all over. To have brought Polly Haddonhere--to have practically promised her a fortune--and then tofind--nothing!
"Billie! They're gone!" said a voice at her elbow, and she turnedsharply to find Laura and Vi peering inquisitively over her shoulder.
"I know they're gone," she cried, almost sobbing in her rage anddisappointment "Oh, girls, what, can we do? We can't tell Mrs.Haddon----"
"What's this you can't tell me?" asked Polly Haddon herself, and Billielooked at the woman miserably.
"The model," she said, her voice almost inaudible. "It was hereyesterday, and now it's gone."
"_Gone!_" cried Miss Walters sharply. "How can that be? Is it possiblethat somebody else is in the habit of visiting this tower?"
But Mrs. Haddon pushed her aside.
"Do you mean that the model is gone--again--after bringing me here?" shecried wildly. "Oh, you could not be so cruel, you could not!" The lastword caught in a sob, and Miss Walters put an arm about hercompassionately.
"Listen to me a moment," she said, in a gentle voice of authority. "Ifthe girls are certain that the machinery and the blueprints were here aslate as yesterday----"
"Oh, we are, we are!" cried Billie eagerly.
"Then whoever has taken them since could not have got very far away withthem in this short time," she went on reassuringly. "Your husband'sinvention--if indeed it was his model the girls found here--must stillbe in this neighborhood, perhaps in this very building. Though who," sheadded thoughtfully, "in this place could wish to steal such a thing isindeed a mystery."
"Oh, Miss Walters!" cried Billie eagerly, "I'm sure nobody here in theHall has stolen the invention. Nobody would have any use for it, andbesides, it isn't a thing that could be hidden very easily."
Suddenly Laura had what she thought was a bright idea.
"Maybe somebody stole it who had a grudge against Mrs. Haddon," shesuggested.
Miss Walters looked inquiringly at the woman who had drawn away from herembrace and was wiping her eyes resignedly.
"Is there any one you know of who might hold a grudge against yourfamily?" Miss Walters asked.
Mrs. Haddon went over to one of the dust-begrimed windows and stoodthere for a moment looking out, her fingers tapping a restless tattoo onthe windowpane. Then she slowly shook her head.
"No, I can't think of any one," she said, adding bitterly: "We were toopoor and unimportant to make enemies of any one. But what does itmatter?" She turned quickly from the window with one of her fiercechanges of mood. "The invention is gone. I was a fool to think that anygood fortune would ever come to me. Let me go home."
She brushed fiercely past Miss Walters, but the latter put out a gentlehand and detained her.
"Wait a little," she begged. Her heart ached for the other woman'ssuffering. "Come into my office with me while I make inquiries and findout if any suspicious person has been seen about here lately. I amconfident," she added with an assurance that reached the other woman,"that before long we shall be able to recover your property. Will youtrust me and believe that I want to help you?"
"Yes," said Polly Haddon, faint hope once more stirring in her heart."You are more than kind to me."
With what different emotions the classmates left the tower room fromthose with which they had entered it so hopefully only a few minutesbefore.
The girls supposed that now that Miss Walters had taken charge of Mrs.Haddon's affairs, they would have no further interest in the matter.But, to their surprise and gratification, Miss Walters motioned theminto her office also.
Then she summoned the teachers to her one after another and questionedthem carefully as to whom, if anybody, had been seen around Three Towerssince the afternoon before.
Through it all Mrs. Haddon sat with an expression of utter hopelessnesson her face. Evidently the faint hope that Miss Walters had for themoment revived had died away again.
It seemed that none of the teachers had seen anything that might arousesuspicion, and even the girls were beginning to despair when they wereat last given a clue to work on.
It was Miss Arbuckle who gave it to them.
She showed considerable surprise at first at being questioned. But afterwrinkling her forehead thoughtfully for a few minutes she rememberedhaving seen somebody loitering about the building late on the precedingafternoon.
"Could you identify the person?" asked Miss Walters quickly, alert atonce.
"No," said Miss Arbuckle, hesitantly, "I couldn't be at all certainbecause it was dusk and I saw him only from the window. But it lookedlike that simple son of Tim Budd, the gardener."
"Nick Budd!" cried the three girls together, and at the name PollyHaddon also roused from her reverie.
"You could not say certainly that it was Nick Budd?" said Miss Walters,questioningly.
"No, I couldn't," returned Miss Arbuckle. "But I remember thinking atthe time that the fellow was acting in a rather peculiar manner, and Ieven thought of reporting him. I was called away by some duties then,however, and when I looked from the window again he was gone."
"Nick Budd!" cried Polly Haddon, in an agitated tone, her hands claspingand unclasping in her lap. "You asked a while ago if there was anybodywho might bear a grudge against my family, and I said there was no one.But I had forgotten poor foolish Nick Budd!"
"Yes, Mrs. Haddon?" prompted Miss Walters, while the girls exchangedexcited glances.
"At one time my husband employed him as a handy man about the place,"the woman hurried on. "But after a while we noticed that things began todisappear--things that were worthless to any one else, but dear to usbecause of their associations."
The girls and Miss Walters were intensely interested now. They werethinking of the numerous petty thefts that had taken place in the Hallduring the past few weeks. Could there be any connection between thatand Polly Haddon's story?
"My husband charged the simpleton with taking the things," the womanwent on. "He did it gently enough, too, for he was sorry for the poorfellow, but Nick fell into one of his rages and slammed out of thehouse, muttering to himself. He never came back, and we never saw himagain."
"Then this boy did have some reason for wishing to get even with yourhusband," said Miss Walters, all interest. "It begins to look as if hewere the one who stole your invention in the first place. And if thiswas really Nick Budd whom Miss Arbuckle saw loitering about the schoolyesterday, it is probable he had something to do with its seconddisappearance----" she broke off suddenly, for Polly Haddon had risen toher feet.
The girls thought they had never seen such a picture of concentratedfury. She stood clutching the back of a chair fiercely and her eyesflashed fire.
"If it is proved that Nick Budd did this thing," she said in a low,tense voice, "I think I shall--shall----"
"But you must remember that he is a simpleton and not accountable assane people are," put in Miss Walters hastily; but apparently the womandid not hear her.
"We must catch Nick Budd and make him confess," she said impatiently:"Then perhaps we shall find out where he has hidden my property."
"Miss Walters!" cried Billie excitedly, jumping up, and walking over tothe principal, "I think I know where we can find everything that NickBudd has ever stolen."
"What do you mean?" asked Miss Walters. "Speak quickly, Billie."
"In Nick Budd's cave!" cried Billie, triumphantly.