The Seven Sleuths'' Club

  CHAPTER II. SNOW MAIDENS

  The picturesque village of Sunnyside had one main road, wide, elm-shaded,which began at a beautiful hill-encircled lake, and which from thereclimbed gently up through the business part of town to the residential,passed the orphanage, the fine old seminary for girls and the even olderacademy for boys, and then led through wide-open spaces, fertile farms,other scattered villages and on to Dorchester, a large, thriving cityforty miles away. Merry Lee's father was a builder and contractor whoseoffices were in Dorchester, but whose home was a comfortable old colonialhouse on the main thoroughfare in the village of Sunnyside.

  The large, square library of the Lee home was warm and cheerful on thatblustery, blizzardy Saturday afternoon. A log was snapping and cracklingon the hearth and a big slate-colored Persian cat on the rug was purringloudly its content. A long lad, half reclining on a window seat, wasreading a detective story and making notes surreptitiously now and then.At a wide front window, Merry Lee stood drumming her fingers on the paneand peering out at the whirling snow. A chiming clock announced that thehour was three. "And I told the crowd to be there by two-thirty at thelatest." Although the girl had not really been addressing him, the boyglanced up to remark: "Might as well give up, Sis. Girls wouldn't ventureout in a storm like this; they are like cats. They like to stay in whereit's warm and comfy. Hey, Muff?" The puss, upon hearing its name, openedone sleepy blue eye, looked at the boy lazily and then dozed again.

  Suddenly there was a peal of merry laughter. "Oh, Jack," his sisterexclaimed gayly, "do look out of the window. Did you ever before see sucha funny procession?"

  Jack looked and beheld coming in at the front gate five maidens socovered with snow that it was impossible to tell which was which.

  Merry whirled to defy her brother. "Now, sir, you see girls aren't afraidof a little blizzardly weather. I'm certainly glad they came. I'd burstif I had to keep my secret any longer."

  "Secret?" Jack's voice held a rising inflection and he looked up withinterest, but Merry was on her way to open the front door that Katie, themaid, need not be summoned by the bell.

  A gust of wind and a flurry of flakes first entered, then, what astamping as there was outside on the storm porch.

  "Hail! Hail! The gang's all here!" Merry sang out, but quickly added:"Oh, don't mind about the snow. Come on in. Katie put matting over thecarpet." Then as she looked from one ruddy, laughing face to another, thehostess exclaimed: "But you aren't all here. What's the matter with Rose?Why didn't she come?" Then before anyone could reply, Merry guessed: "O,I suppose her lady mother was afraid her precious darling would melt orbe blown away! I don't see how Rose ever gets to school in the winter.Her mother coddles her so!"

  "Drives, my dear, as you know perfectly well, but it seems that today thesnow-plough hasn't been along Willowbend Lane, and her mother won't hearto having the horses taken out. Rose tried to call you up, but your'phone is on the blink, so she called me." Peg paused for breath, thenwent on: "She's simply heart-broken; she said she'd give us all thechocolates we could eat and a nice hot drink if we'd beg, borrow or steala sleigh somewhere and hold our meeting out there at her house."

  Merry's face brightened. "Say, that's a keen idea! I was wondering how Icould divulge my secret with Jack hanging around in the library, and Icouldn't turn him out very well, being as it's about the only warm spotin the house except the kitchen. What's more, I'm crazy to go for a trampin this snow storm. Wait till I get on my leggins and overshoes."

  They had not long to wait, for in less than five minutes Merry reappearedfrom the cloakroom, under the wide, winding stairway, a fur cap hidingher short curls, a fur cloak reaching to her knees and her legs warmlyensconced in leggins of the same soft grey. She opened the door to thelibrary and called to her brother, who was again deeply engrossed in hisbook: "The 'cats' are about to leave. We've decided to hold today's_most_ important meeting of our secret society in the palatial home ofthe Widow Wright. I am enlightening you as to our destination, Brotherdear, so that if we happen to be lost in a snow drift, you will knowwhere to come to dig us out."

  Jack had leaped to his feet when he saw the merry faces of the five girlsin the hall, but before he could join them, they had darted out throughthe storm porch, and the wind slammed the door after them.

  The boy laughed to himself, then shrugged his shoulders as though he wasthinking that the modern girl was beyond his comprehension. Then hereturned to the fireplace, dropped down into the comfortable depths of abig easy chair and continued to read and scribble alternately. He waspreparing a paper to be read that night before the secret society towhich he belonged: The C. D. C. The boys had long ago guessed the meaningof the letters that named the girls' club "The S. S. C."

  "Dead easy!" Bob Angel had told them. "Sunny Side Club, of course." Butthe girls had never been able to guess the meaning of the boys' "C. D.C.," nor did they know where the secret meetings were held. Thesemeetings were always at night, and, although Sunnyside girls were modernas far as their conversation went; due to their parents' antiquaitedideas, perhaps, they were not considered old enough to roam about thedark streets of the town at night unless accompanied by their brothers orsomeone older. And, of course, they couldn't find out the secretmeeting-place of the boys when the members were along, and so up to thatparticular date, January 11, 1928, the seven "S. S. C." girls had noteven a suspicion of where the boys' clubrooms were located.

  They had vowed that they would ferrit it out if it took a lifetime.