CHAPTER XIII
THE WILY STRANGER
"What _is_ this anyway?" asked Bess. "Greenland or the North Pole?"
"Well, it's Siberia at the very least," laughed Nan, as, wrapped inoutdoor coats and furs, the girls entered the recitation room the secondmorning after the explosion.
School without heat in weather that came close to the zero mark was notvery enticing, and it was glad news to all the girls when it wasannounced that, owing to the injury to the steam plant, which wasgreater than was at first thought, the school term would end nearly aweek ahead of time pending extensive repairs. Those who were going homewere directed to begin to pack at once, and those who were not would beprovided with quarters in the village.
After hearing this announcement the girls flew upstairs on winged feet.
"An extra week at home! What happiness!" exclaimed Bess, whirling Nanaround until they both dropped breathless on the window seat.
"And think of Grace with another week at Palm Beach to look forward to!"cried Nan.
"What luck for her!" said Bess enviously, as she began taking her thingsfrom the dresser drawer.
Soon the last trunk was locked and strapped and they were ready todepart.
"Let's run to town for a last visit to Mrs. Bragley," proposed Nan.
Bess gladly acquiesced, and the two girls were off. They were delightedto find Mrs. Bragley sitting up and able to get around a little with acane. She greeted them gratefully and was profuse in her thanks for allthe care they had shown her. And she was intensely interested in theirstory of the explosion at the school.
"And now," said Nan, after they had chatted for a while, "how aboutthose papers? We are going home sooner than we thought, and if you willgive them to me I will show them to Grace Mason's father. He is a veryable lawyer and will get to the bottom of this orange grove if any onecan."
"That will be fine," was the gratified reply. "The papers are righthere. I have been looking them over. Take them if you wish, dear."
Mrs. Bragley took them from the table and handed them to Nan, and thelatter tucked them safely away in her bag.
"I may be carrying a fortune away in this bag," she said jokingly, asshe snapped the catch and rose to go.
"I'm afraid they're not worth the paper they're printed on," said thewoman dubiously.
"Hope on, hope ever," quoted Bess gaily, as, with a last wave of thehand, she followed Nan out of the door.
They were almost to the school when Bess suddenly asked:
"Do you know that man, Nan? He looks as though he were going to speak tous."
Nan looked up just as a tall thin man approached them. He lifted his hatand said:
"I beg pardon, young ladies, but could you inform me where the WidowBragley lives?"
Nan pointed out the cottage and the man thanked her and passed on.
"What a peculiar way he had of talking," said Bess, as they resumedtheir walk.
"I noticed that he talked like a Southerner," replied Nan. "I wonderwhat business he can have with Mrs. Bragley."
"Hard to tell," said Bess. "I only hope it isn't a bill collector tobother the poor thing." And then the schoolgirls passed on their way.
The stranger soon reached the cottage of Mrs. Bragley. He scanned itcarefully and noted its poverty. A contented smile stole over his faceas he said to himself:
"I imagine there won't be any trouble in getting what I came for. Alittle money here will go a long way."
He knocked on the door and Mrs. Ellis opened it.
"Does Mrs. Sarah Bragley live here?" the stranger inquired with aningratiating smile, which, however, sat rather badly on his somewhatsinister countenance.
"Yes," replied Mrs. Ellis. "But she's not very well and has gone to liedown. Is it anything I can do for you?"
"No, thank you," replied the stranger. "My errand with her is a personalone. I've come all the way from the South to see her on a matter ofprivate business."
"If that's the case, I think she'll see you," replied the nurse,ushering him in and giving him a seat.
She excused herself and went into the bedroom, and in a few minutes Mrs.Bragley appeared, a little curious and considerably flustered by theannouncement of a visitor from such a distance.
"My name is Thompson," the visitor said, as he rose and bowed. "I camefrom Florida to see you on a business matter. I'm sorry to learn thatyou are not well, and I'd put the matter off, only that I havearrangements made to get back home as soon as possible."
"From Florida?" repeated the old woman. "It can't be that you've come tosee me about that orange grove property there that my husband put allour money into before he died?"
"If you refer to the property at Sunny Slopes," returned the visitor,"you are right. It is just that that I came to see you about."
"Laws me!" ejaculated the widow in some excitement. "And here it wasonly a little while ago I was saying that I never expected to hear fromit. I wrote and wrote and never heard a word from it. I began to think,"she went on a little apologetically, "that there might be some fraud orsomething of that kind about it."
"Oh, nothing like that," the visitor said impressively. "Mr. Pacomb isthe soul of honor. I have never known him to do anything that wasn'tstraight and aboveboard."
"I'm very glad to hear that," said the simple-hearted old woman. "Hewrote such beautiful letters to us when he was asking us to put ourmoney into the property that I thought he must be a nice man. I'm verysorry that I ever had an unkind thought about him. I'm so glad to knowthat things are all right. I need the money so badly. And my poorhusband always thought there would be a whole lot of money come fromit."
The stranger looked a little embarrassed.
"Quite right, quite right," he said. "There ought to have been a bigprofit from it. Everybody thought so, and nobody felt more sure of itthan Mr. Pacomb himself. He thought so well of it that he put everycent of his own money into it."
"Then he's made a fortune in it, too!" exclaimed the old woman, beamingon her visitor.
The stranger coughed.
"No," he said, "that's the unfortunate thing about it. You see, Mrs.Bragley, the thing didn't turn out as we had hoped and expected. Theland was right in the orange belt, and we had every reason to believethat it would yield big results. But for some reason or other it didn't.The ground couldn't have been adapted to it. You never can tell aboutorange groves."
The poor woman's face fell.
"Then," she said quaveringly, "all my money is gone!"
"Oh, no, not all," the stranger hastened to say. "There is still alittle money for you, if you want to sell what interest you have in theproperty. Of course the property has proved practically worthless. Butthe man who has a country estate bordering on the property is willing topay the company a small sum just to round out his estate, and yourinterest in it we calculate would be about two hundred dollars. Infact," he went on with a burst of generosity, and at the same timetaking a roll of bills from his pocket, "Mr. Pacomb would be willing togive you two hundred dollars to settle the matter up at once."
He began to count out the bills, as if the matter had been agreed upon.It was a long time since Mrs. Bragley had seen so much money, and in herstraitened circumstances two hundred dollars seemed like a fortune. Thevisitor had counted on the influence exerted by the sight of the money,and he was not disappointed.
"Well," said Mrs. Bragley, "I suppose it's the best thing I can do,since you say that the land isn't any good for oranges."
"We'll consider it settled then," the man observed, trying to concealhis satisfaction. "Now if you'll get me the papers I'll hand you themoney."
A look of dismay came into the woman's face.
"The--the papers!" she stammered. "Why, I haven't got them!"
"You haven't got them?" the man snapped in wonder. "Where are theythen?"
"I gave them to a young lady not more than an hour ago," replied Mrs.Bragley. "She had just gone a little before you came."
"Why did you give them to
her?" the man asked.
"Some friends of hers are going to Florida and they were going to lookup the matter," replied the old lady. "It seems that the father of oneof the girls is a lawyer and----"
"A lawyer!" interrupted the man, a look of fear coming into his face.Then by a great effort he regained his self-control.
"Well, Mrs. Bragley," he said, "it's for you to do what you choose inthis matter. It's too bad for you to lose this two hundred dollars whenyou might just as well have it as not. Suppose I see this young lady andtell her that you want the papers back."
"I wish you would," replied the old lady. Then she gave the man Nan'sname and told him where she thought he could find her. He scribbled thename and address in a notebook, and a little later hurried away.
"If I don't find that Nan Sherwood and get the papers away from her myname isn't Jacob Pacomb," he muttered to himself.
With all speed he hurried to the Hall, only to learn that Nan had leftfor the depot. Then he rushed to the station.
"Sorry, but the train left quarter of an hour ago," declared the stationmaster in reply to his question. "There won't be another train for threehours."
On gaining this information the face of Jacob Pacomb became a study.Savagely he bit off the end of a cigar, lit it, and began to puff awayfuriously.
"That young woman from the school may be a sharp one," he murmured as hestrode up and down the little depot platform. "I'll have to use eitherforce or diplomacy in getting those papers from her. I mustn't let herthink they are valuable. I wonder what I can do next? It's too bad Ipromised to go to Chicago to attend that sale. But I can't afford tomiss that." He mused for a moment. "Wonder if I couldn't get Davis andJensen to do this job for me? They are hanging around doing nothing andwould do almost anything for the price of a meal. Yes, I'll see Davisand Jensen and set them on the girl's track."
In the meantime Nan and Bess were being whirled at the rate of fiftymiles an hour toward the home where love and open arms awaited them.
Their parents had, of course, been apprised of their coming, and thewelcome was the royal one that always greeted them after their longabsences from home. Nothing was too good for them.
Several days passed quickly, and then came great news. The first itemwas a notification from Dr. Prescott that since the steam plant hadrequired far more extensive repairs than at first had seemed necessary,the reopening would be deferred for several weeks beyond the usual time.And following this closely came a letter to each of the girls from GraceMason. They _must_ go with her to Palm Beach. The "must" wasunderscored. She would take no denial. They would have such a perfectlygorgeous time if they could only come along. Please, please, _please!_They simply _must_, and that was all there was about it.
Nan and Bess were filled with delight and excitement. But they had toreckon with their parents, who were reluctant to spare their girls afterhaving them with them for so short a time. But the girls coaxed andwheedled, as girls will, and the parents finally yielded, as parentswill. In the next few days the matter was settled and hurriedpreparations were begun.
More than once they had to pinch themselves to make sure they were notdreaming. Palm Beach! Land of summer, land of flowers, land of beauty!And they--Nan Sherwood and Bess Harley--were actually going to dwell fora time in that earthly Paradise!