CHAPTER X
THE SECRET
No more was heard from the Count. Dalton and Jack spent a busy week,working together and becoming very well acquainted. They were of almostthe same age with many ideas in common. Jack was intending to enter auniversity in the autumn and tried to persuade Dalton to enter with him,but Dalton told him that he was the man of the family and while it hadbeen a matter of course to expect a college education while his fatherlived, it might not be best now. He had that matter to decide. If hewent, he would work his way almost entirely.
The girls had savory lunches for the boys, but they were often out oninteresting affairs of their own about which they said little either toBeth, Dalton or Jack. The Sea Crest and the little row boat dubbed the"Swallow" were in frequent use. For the most part the girls wore theirbathing suits, with raincoats or heavy coats over them, according to theweather. They swam near the beach, they made trips to the village; theyclimbed over the rocks, and under Peggy's leadership they becameacquainted with the literal ups and downs of the rocky paths aroundSteeple Rocks. They talked of secrets and mysteries before the boys,inviting their questions, but Dalton and Jack claimed that if they hadanything to tell they would tell it.
"Oh, you'll be sorry!" cried Peggy to Dalton, whom she liked very much,it seemed, "when we find out why is Pirates' Cove or uncover a piratehoard, or something!"
"If you find it on our side, Miss, it belongs to us!"
"Finders keepers, Dal," laughed Peggy.
Of the girls Leslie was Peggy's favorite, but Sarita had no reason to bejealous, since Peggy was too much younger to spoil the old closerelation between the older girls. Yet Peggy was a bit of fire and energyand real lovableness to them both, and old enough in her ways to adaptherself to them if they forgot to adapt their plans to Peggy. ThroughSarita, Peggy was introduced to the different gulls and other sea birdsthat flapped or sailed or flew over the bay and in the woods. Leslieknew them too and Peggy was envious, she said, until she found out thatlooking through Sarita's good lenses, she, too, could distinguish thedifferences and learn to identify some of them. The little sandpipersthat flew in wheeling flocks or skimmed with rapid feet over the sandswere her particular delight.
Leslie and Sarita wondered what Peggy's real name might be, if Mr. Iveswere only her step-father, but Peggy did not seem inclined to talk aboutherself and they were too polite to ask. That she had been christenedMarguerite, Margaret, or some other more dignified name than Peggy theynaturally supposed, but they were puzzled a little, as doubtlessmischievous Peggy intended, when she wrote large upon the sand one dayat the beach the name Angelina.
"That, of course, is my real name, and Mother used to call me Angelsometimes till Dad said that it wasn't very 'characteristic.'" ButPeggy's pretty lips were parted in what might easily be called an impishgrin.
"Don't tell whoppers, little girl," advised Sarita.
"Thanks. I'm glad you think that 'Angel' is appropriate."
"Your lightning deductions are something wonderful," lazily said Leslie,who was lying on the sand in the sun. It was really a hot morning "foronce," as Peggy said, and the girls could safely take their time totheir dip. Peggy was telling them about bathing in Florida, and how sheloved it. "But I'm glad to be here with you girls now and the peppy daysthat we usually have here just suit me. How about going around homeafter a while, letting me have a lunch fixed up and exploring thatlittle cave we found. Perhaps there is a passage to that hole inPirates' Cove."
"Whoever heard of a hole in a Cove?" Sarita queried.
"You know what I mean, the hole in the rocks there."
Leslie jumped to her feet. "Come on, then. Let's do something. One moredip and then for camp!"
Three heads bobbed up and down in the surf as they tossed a big ball,one that Peggy had brought from Florida, from one to another while theyswam. By this time they had learned where it was safe for them and wherethe undertow might be a little too strong. Dalton, who was a strongswimmer, had both inquired and investigated.
A run and a climb and running again brought them into camp, where theychanged to dry garments and started on a hike through the woods towardSteeple Rocks. By this time Leslie and Sarita had become quite familiarwith the way. They scarcely liked to appear at the great house therejust because they knew that Mr. Ives was away; yet Peggy frankly wantedthem, and her mother cordially urged them to come often. She thankedthem for making life at the coast so pleasant to Peggy.
Count Herschfeld was away, too. Peggy said that it was like a differentplace with him away and openly rejoiced in the absence of "the Kravetz,"as Jack called her, most disrespectfully. Where she had gone Peggy didnot know. The pleasant fact was enough for her she told the girls,though not in just those words. Peggy was a great girl to "rattle on,"Sarita said; but Leslie thought that there was always a point to Peggy'sremarks and enjoyed them.
When they arrived at Steeple Rocks, Peggy ran in to interview thehousekeeper, while Leslie and Sarita strolled about the grounds, whichby this time were in their prettiest summer garb. In part the gardenswere formal, but there were nooks cleverly wild, yet rescued from theuncomfortable features of real wildness. They sat down on a rustic benchnear the tennis court and surveyed the arbors, the porches, the solid,handsome house, the mass of Beth's Cathedral Rocks and their steeplespires, towering behind and above.
"Grim and mysterious, aren't they, Sarita?"
"Yes, Leslie. I rather like the distant view best."
"We get advantage of the distance for the outlines."
"I wonder if Mr. Ives has built anything into the rock,--I mean bored orblasted into it See how closely that wall joins the rock."
"That is where Mr. Ives' library and office are, Peggy said, and I thinkthat she mentioned a safe built into the rock. She said that was why hekeeps everybody away from that part of the house."
"Oh, he does, does he?"
"So Peggy said. She says it's no temptation to her to go near his 'oldoffice.'"
Sarita smiled. "Peggy has turned out to be the most enthusiastic memberof our 'triumvirate.' Do you like her mother?"
"I don't know what to think of Mrs. Ives. She is lovely to us and sheseems to think a great deal of Peggy, if she does turn her over to otherpeople. Perhaps she has to. Do you remember Mrs. Peacock? She didn't doa thing but preen her feathers and play bridge and golf till the crashcame; then she gathered up her kiddies from various schools and went towork to take care of them."
"Yes. It's hard to tell about the society women."
The girls rose as they saw Peggy tripping down the steps with a picnicbasket in her hand. They joined her and went toward the path which ledaround into the rocks. They crossed the path by which they had enteredthe grounds from their own and the Ives' woods, crossing also the rockyway with the steps which led down to the dock where the Ives' yacht wassupposed to stay.
On a narrow ledge to their left they had need to be careful, but it ledto a small cave which they had discovered before. It was not like onehollowed out by the action of water, but more like a space in the midstof rocks which some giant had been piling, one upon another. There werecracks and fissures, too, and the retreat was large enough to beinteresting.
"I've got sandwiches and doughnuts, pickles, some shrimp salad, and ablueberry pie," Peggy announced, "and there is some lemonade in the'icy-hot.'" She swung the basket to the rocky floor as she spoke and satdown beside it.
"You are all hot with climbing and carrying that basket,"sympathetically said Leslie. "You should have let me carry it part ofthe way as I wanted to."
"It helped me swing around that narrow place," laughed Peggy. "Besides,let the hostess provide the eats."
"Are you hostess?"
"Isn't this Steeple Rocks? I know that you are laughing at the lunch,but those were the things I found and they all looked good."
"I know by experience, Peggy, that anything from your house is good,"said Leslie. "This isn't the
first time that you have treated us. Hurrahfor blueberry pie in Maine! We found a new place for blueberries, Peggy,scrumptious ones."
Peggy had saluted when Leslie complimented the Steeple Rocks cooking.Now she changed expression. "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the--smoke of anEnglish-_mun_! Isn't that funny? Don't you smell cigar smoke, girls?"
"I believe I do a little, Peggy," Sarita replied. She was at theopening, and taking a careful step or two she looked over the ledge, herhand on a rocky protuberance for safety's sake. "Somebody's going downtoward the dock. Perhaps we are getting a whiff from the pipe he issmoking."
"Please see who it is, Sarita, if you can without being seen. Mothersaid that Dad might be home to-day, and if he is, I want to keep out ofsight as much as possible."
Leslie, listening, puckered her brows and Peggy saw her.
"Now Leslie, don't worry. It isn't bad of me to keep out of trouble. Youjust don't understand, that's all." Peggy gave Leslie an engaging lookout of frank, affectionate eyes.
"Little flirt," laughed Leslie. "She knows, Sarita, that she only has tolook at us with 'them eyes' to have us melt. Why don't you try that onMr. Ives?"
"You think that I'm just pretending! I don't like you any mare, LeslieSecrest!" But Peggy was half smiling as she spoke and Leslie did notapologize.
Sarita was still looking out over the ledge. Then quickly she steppedback behind the jutting rocks and plumped herself down by the othergirls. "It's Bill," she said. "He was going on down, but I couldn't geta good look at him till he suddenly turned; and then I was afraid thathe would see me watching him,--hence my sudden retreat!"
"Could there be some other ledge along here, and someone on it?" Lesliesuggested. "This one ends here, I suppose, with that big bulge of rock."
"Suppose we fasten a sign of some sort here and then look up from belowand see just what is near us here. That does not smell like a pipe, andI can smell it yet. Can't you?"
"Yes, Peggy, though not so much," said Leslie. "Sarita, this is morelike an Eyrie than ours, isn't it? You can see most of the bay, ourheadland, the sea and a bit of the village from here. Do you supposethat we can see this with our 'mind's eye' next winter when we aredigging into our books and have nothing better to look at than the flatplains of home?"
"I wonder," said Sarita. Below them lay the bay, sparkling in the sun.Its salty waves leaped up on many a half-submerged rock near the shore,that sent back the spray. Beyond the rim of confining rocks and theSecrest headland, the sea surged more quietly than usual, though therewas a line of breakers to be seen. The sky was a deep blue, its cloudsin heaps of billowing, floating white.
"This," said Peggy, "is the home of the 'triumvirate.'"
"'Triumvirate' is not exactly appropriate, Peggy," Sarita remarked.
"No," said Leslie. "How about the Three Bears?"
"Who's been sitting in _my_ chair?" squeaked Peggy in a high voice.
They all laughed. It did not take much to make them laugh to-day. Peggywas rummaging in her basket and now handed out some paper napkins."Let's have a good name, then," she continued. "What would a triumvirateof girls be?"
"_Femina_ is the Latin word for woman," said Leslie. "Put it in place of_vir_ and see what you have."
"Tri-tri--" began Peggy, thinking; "trium-feminate!" she triumphantlyfinished, flourishing a bottle of olives so vigorously that the cork,previously loosened, came out and the liquid spilled.
Soon the girls were munching sandwiches and olives, drinking copiouslyof the cold lemonade and talking as busily as ever of Jack, Dalton andthe prospective log house; of the queer happenings at camp and at sea;and of their secret, the 'mystery', in regard to which they had teasedor tried to tease the boys.
"Tell me again, Peggy," said Leslie, "just what you heard said and justwhere it was. I want to get it straight. It may be that we ought to tellDal and Beth."
"It's all right with _me_, Leslie, if you do," said Peggy. "I'm surethat Dad has something up with the Count, and if either he or the Countare going to do anything to you folks, I don't want it to happen. ButI'm hoping, of course, that for Mother's sake Dad isn't into anythingreal wicked.
"Well, it was the night after he was supposed to have gone away thatlast time. I was as wide awake as anything and I thought that I'd slipout of the house and go down to the shore a while. The house was allstill, you know, and I guess it must have been about two o'clock. Iwould have taken my bathing suit for a dip, but I promised Mother that Iwould never go in all alone. So I just slipped out in my silk negligeeand slippers, though it was a little shivery.
"I sauntered down the long flight of steps, holding to the railing, andall at once I heard Dad's voice below me. I almost ran up the steps in ahurry, but what I heard was interesting, so I scrooched down on the stepright where I was to listen a minute. _That_ was curiosity, I'll admit,and I ought to have been noble enough not to have done it,--only thatthings are queer, and when they are, a body has _some_ right to findout. What do you think, Leslie?"
"I don't know, Peggy; but it does seem that way."
"Anyhow Dad was saying next, 'They are not mere children to befrightened and driven off as you supposed. If I had known that what youtold me was an absolute lie, I wouldn't have gone as far in my statementto them as I did. Just let it drop.'"
Peggy's air and dignified speech so reminded the girls of the suave Mr.Ives that both of them smiled broadly. The words were brutally frank,but Peggy's tone robbed them of sharpness. Now she was the cold Count inher recital. The girls could fairly see him draw himself up in courteousresentment.
"'You do not mince words, I see. It was the only way to produce theeffect through you. If you believed it yourself, you could intimidatethem.'"
"'But they were not intimidated. I do not like this intimacy with mydaughter any more than you do. But the first object must be to avoidsuspicion. I would suggest that we employ'--then I missed a few wordsjust at the important place! Dad dropped his voice a little, and youknow how the surf roars sometimes. But I got _one clue_ or one thingthat might be as important. The Count started in to talk. 'See to it,'he said, 'that they'--then a mumble of words--'by the twenty-eighth.'
"I said it over to myself, so I wouldn't forget to tell you girlsexactly what had been said, and then I realized that Dad was coming upthe steps. They shook, as you remember they do a little when somebodywalks. It was too far to get to the top before he reached me, so whatdid I do but whisk out to the side and drop under the steps to wait tillhe passed!"
"But it is some distance, in places, to the rocks underneath!"
Peggy nodded. "I knew it, but it was 'instinctive,' as you say, Leslie,to get out of Dad's way, and by good luck a nice rock was reachableunder my step. I just scrooched there again till Dad went by and I'msure he never saw me. I waited, because I thought the Count might comenext, but he never did, and I was so curious that when I hitched upagain--you ought to have seen my acrobatic performance, girls,--Isneaked down the steps to the bottom and finally all around the placeand never a sign did I see of the Count. There wasn't a sign of a boat,either, and there had scarcely been time, I think, for a boat to getaround behind the channel entrance."
"I don't know," Leslie said. "You may have taken more time than youthought."
"Perhaps so, but wouldn't I have heard a boat?"
"A launch certainly, but not a row boat against the sound of the surf ifit was rather rough that night."
"Perhaps the Count was behind a tree," Sarita suggested.
Peggy looked at Sarita to see if she were in earnest. "You know verywell, Sarita, that there isn't a tree there!"