Chapter II
"FAMILY AFFAIRS"
"Just--one--moment, please!" Ashton Sanborn's keen blue eyes twinkled ashe surveyed his young guests. His heavy-set body moved with a musculargrace as he placed a chair for Dorothy and motioned the two boys toseats on a divan nearby. "Now then, Dorothy and Bill--I want you twochatterboxes to keep quiet while I ask Mr. Bright some questions and getthis matter straight in my own head. Your turn to talk will come later."His quizzical smile robbed the words of any harshness, and the culpritsgrinned and nodded their willingness to comply with his request.
"Mr. Bright," he went on, "if you'll just answer my questions for thepresent, I'll get you to tell the story from the beginning in a fewminutes."
"It's mighty decent of you to take all this interest, Mr. Sanborn."
The Secret Service Man shook his prematurely grey head--"It's mybusiness to ferret things out. Now, as I understand it, you mistookDorothy for her cousin, Miss Jordan, to whom you are engaged. Thelikeness must be amazing?"
"It is, sir."
"Yes--well, we'll get back to the likeness after a while. You say thatMiss Jordan is a prisoner in her father's apartment, and is in danger ofher life?"
"Yes, sir." Howard, tense and taut as a fiddle string, his handsgripping the edge of the cushioned couch, gazed steadily back at hisquestioner.
"Do you know for certain that she is in actual danger at the presentmoment, Bright?" Ashton Sanborn's quiet tone and unhurried manner ofspeaking was gradually gaining the young man's confidence. Bill andDorothy noticed that Howard's strained look was beginning to disappear,and he had started to relax.
"She has been in great danger," he replied, "but now, they've decided totest her. There isn't a chance, though, that she will pass the test, Mr.Sanborn. The poor girl is so worn out and nervous she's bound to fail."
"Do you know what time she is to be taken away from the apartment?"
"Yes, sir. Lawson told her to pack her clothes today, so as to be readyto leave at midnight."
"Mmm!" Sanborn glanced at his watch. "It is now one-thirty. That givesus exactly eleven and a half hours in which to get her out of theirhands. Now just one question more, Mr. Bright. What made you say thatthis is a matter in which the so-called Secret Service of the UnitedStates should be called in, rather than the police?"
"Well," Howard's brows knit in a puzzled frown, "you see, Janet is beingtaken to Dr. Tyson Winn's house near Ridgefield, Connecticut, tonight.As I understand it, Dr. Winn has a big laboratory up there where he isexperimenting on high explosives for the government. Lawson, the man whotold Janet she was to go there, is Dr. Winn's secretary. It all looks soqueer to me--I thought--"
"That _is_ interesting!" Ashton Sanborn's tone was serious and for alittle while he seemed lost in thought. Then abruptly he looked up froman inspection of his finger tips, and rose from his chair. "I orderedlunch for three before you young people arrived," he said with a returnof his cheerful, hearty way of speaking. "Now I'll phone down and havelunch for four served up here instead." He looked at Dorothy. "By theway, the menu calls for oyster cocktails, sweetbreads on grilledmushrooms, O'Brien potatoes, alligator pear salad, and cafe parfait--anysuggestions?"
"Oh, aren't you a dear!" Dorothy, who had been using a miniature powderpuff on her nose, snapped shut the cover of her compact. "You haveordered all the things I like best. No wonder you're a greatdetective--you never forget a single thing, no matter what it is."
Sanborn laughed. "Thanks for the compliment--but those dishes happen tobe favorites of my own, too. Now get that brain of yours working,Dorothy. When I've finished with the head waiter, I want you to tell usall you know about your uncle and cousin. Before we can go further Imust have every possible detail of the case at my fingers' ends."
He took up a phone from a small table near the window, and Dorothyturned toward Howard.
"You probably know more about the Jordans than I do," she said. "I havea picture of Janet that she sent me a couple of years ago. We alwaysexchange presents at Christmas--but we've never seen each other."
"I really know very little about the Jordans, myself," protested Howard."You see, Janet and I saw each other for the first time just five weeksago. It was on a Sunday afternoon, I'd been taking a walk in CentralPark, when one of those equinoctial downpours came on very suddenly.Janet was right ahead of me, so naturally, I offered her my umbrella.She's--well, rather shy and retiring, and at first she wasn't so keen onaccepting--"
"So there _is_ a difference between the cousins!" Bill winked at Howard."If it had been Dorothy, she'd have taken your overcoat and rubbers aswell. Nothing shy or retiring about Janet's double!"
"Is that so, Mr. Smarty! It's a good thing Howard met her that rainySunday. If it had been you, Bill, the poor girl would certainly have gota soaking!"
"You mean she wouldn't have accepted my umbrella?"
"I _mean_ you never would have offered it!"
"You win--one up, Dorothy," said Ashton Sanborn when the laughter atthis sally had subsided. "What happened after you and Janet got underyour umbrella, Bright?"
"Oh, nothing much. We walked over to Central Park West but there were notaxis to be had for love or money. So then I suggested taking her homeand we found we lived in the same apartment house. I asked if I mightcall, but she said that was impossible--that Mr. Jordan permitted nocallers."
"Well," said Dorothy, "that didn't seem to stop you. I mean you are apretty fast worker, Howard, to get engaged with a tyrant father guardingthe doorstep and all that."
"Cut it out, Dot," broke in Bill, who had been waiting patiently for achance to get even. "You can't be in the center of the stage all thetime, and your remarks are out of order, anyway."
"I'll dot you one, if you take my name in vain, young man!"
"Silence, woman! Go ahead, Howard, and speak your piece, or she'll jumpin with both feet next time."
Dorothy said nothing but the glance she shot Bill Bolton was a promiseof dire things to come.
"Oh, I don't mind," grinned Howard, and Dorothy immediately put him downas a good sport. "Well, to go on with it--we used to meet in the lobby,go for walks and bus rides, sometimes to the movies or a matinee. Twoweeks ago, Janet, who is just eighteen, by the way, said she would marryme. She seemed to have no friends in New York. I've seen her father, butnever met him. Except for this horrible business, which came up a fewdays ago, all that I know about Janet is that her mother died when shewas five, her father parked her at a boarding-school near Chicago, andshe stayed there until last June when she graduated. Her summer holidayswere spent at a girls' camp in Wisconsin. She was never allowed to visitthe homes of the other girls, so Christmas and Easter holidays shestayed in the school. During her entire schooling, she saw her fatheronly five times. Last summer he took her abroad with him. They travelledin Germany and in Russia, I believe."
"Gosh, what a life for a girl!" exploded Bill.
"I should say so!" Dorothy made no attempt to hide her disgust. "Themore I hear about Uncle Michael, the less I care about him."
"Tell us what you do know about him," prompted Sanborn. "I want to getall the background possible before Bright explains the girl's presentpredicament. I know a good deal about Dr. Winn and his secretary. Ifthose men are threatening her, there must be something very seriousbrewing. Go ahead, Dorothy--luncheon will be up here any minute, now."
"All right, but I warn you it isn't much. My mother, who as you knowdied when I was a little girl, had one sister, my Aunt Edith, who washer twin. They looked so much alike that their own father and mother hadtrouble in telling them apart. Aunt Edith fell in love with a youngIrishman named Michael Jordan, whom she met at a dance. He seemedprosperous, and my grandfather gave his consent to their engagement.Then he learned that Michael Jordan made his money by selling arms andammunition to South and Central American revolutionists. Grandpa, fromall accounts, hit the ceiling. He was a deacon of the church, verysedate and all that,
and he said he wouldn't allow his daughter to marrya gun-runner. And that was that. To make a long story short, Aunt Edithran away with Michael Jordan. They were married in New York, sentGrandpa a copy of the marriage certificate, and then sailed for SouthAmerica. For several years there was no word from them at all. Mymother, whose name was Janet, by the way, loved Aunt Edith as only atwin can love the other. But she couldn't write to her because theeloping couple had left no address. Six years later, mother had a letterfrom Uncle Michael. He was in Chicago then, and he wrote that Aunt Edithhad died, and that he had placed little Janet at the Pence School inEvanston. Mother and Daddy went right out to Chicago, to see UncleMichael. They tried to get him to let them take Janet home with them,and bring her up with me. I was only three at the time, so naturally Idon't remember anything about it. But what I'm telling you Daddy told tome years later. Well, their trip to Chicago was all for nothing--UncleMichael refused to let them have Janet. It almost broke my mother'sheart. Well, and that is the reason Janet and I have always given eachother presents at Christmas and on our birthdays, although we've nevereven met. Two years ago, she sent me her photograph, and both Daddy andI were astounded to see the resemblance to me. Twice, since then, I'vebeen taken for Janet by girls who were at school with her at Evanston.Perhaps, if we were seen together, you'd be able to tell us apart--Idon't know."
"I do, though," declared Howard, "you may be slightly broader across theshoulders, Dorothy, but otherwise you might be Janet, sitting there.You've the same brown hair, grey eyes, your features are alike--"
"How about our voices?"
"Exactly the same. You have a more forceful way of speaking, that's all.I keep wanting to call you 'Janet' all the time." Howard turned his headaway, and Dorothy could see the emotion that again overtook him as hethought of his helpless little fiancee, a prisoner in the hands ofunscrupulous men.
She glanced at Bill, and shook her head in sympathy. Just then therecame a knock on the sitting room door.
"Ah! lunch at last!" Ashton Sanborn rose and put his hand on Howard'sshoulder. "Come, no more of this now. The subject of the double cousinsis taboo until we've all done justice to this excellent meal!"