Edith Lavell

“ A lump came into Mary Louise’s throat. The pathos of it all! Yet how kind and sweet Miss Stone was. Oh, but—ghastly thought—the nurse was being kind to Mary Louise in the same way! That was why she humored her by calling her “Mary Louise.” And all the time she believed her to be Rebecca Adams!
Three doors farther down the nurse stopped and unlocked another door.
“This is to be your room, Mary Louise,” she said. “It’ll be nicer when you put some flowers in it. We have a lovely garden, and most of the patients have their own special flower beds. You can grow whatever you like best.” ”

“ For a long time Mary Louise sat still, her knitting lying forgotten in her lap, while she thought over Adelaide’s startling proposition. Maybe it was the best thing in the world that could have happened; perhaps fate was playing right into her hands. The opportunity to know and to watch Horace Ditmar would be perfect; if he really were guilty, she surely ought to be able to find it out upon such close association.
[147]
But, on the other hand, the work would take a great deal of time. Time from recreation, time from following up other clues that might transpire concerning other suspects. ”

“ Mary Louise backed the car out of the garage and followed the same road she and David McCall had taken on their first visit to Adams’ farm. She drove very cautiously now, almost as if she expected Rebecca Adams to dart out again from the bushes into the path of her car.
But nothing happened, and the girls reached the top of the hill in safety. An old man was sitting out on the porch with one leg propped up on a chair. A young man was standing on the steps talking to him. He was a big fellow in overalls; Mary Louise remembered seeing him at Flicks’ the day after the fire. ”

“ As soon as they were safely out of hearing, Mary Louise said significantly, “Two more suspects for my notebook!”
“Two?” repeated Jane. “You mean Lemuel Adams and his son?”
“I wasn’t thinking of the son,” replied Mary Louise, “Though, of course, he’s a possibility. No, I was thinking of Mr. Eberhardt, the storekeeper.”
“The storekeeper! Now, Mary Lou, your ideas are running wild. Next thing you’ll be suspecting me!”
“Maybe I do,” laughed her chum. “No, but seriously—if Dad is working on a murder case, he always finds out immediately who profited by the victim’s death. ”

“ What in the world did she want?”
“I’ll tell you,” replied Mary Louise. “And you must listen, too, Mother, for I want your advice.” And she proceeded to outline the proposition which the young woman had made to her.
“I want to go into it,” she concluded. “I think it means everything to Adelaide. Lots of people have been poorer than the Ditmars at one time or another, but I don’t believe anybody has ever been much more desperate.” ”

“ How could they commit anybody to an insane asylum?
“Yes. Stanfield Frazier.”
“Frazier!” she cried in scorn. “He’s not my cousin! He’s no relation. He’s a crook too, like Tom Adams.”
[199]
“Now, now, Rebecca, calm yourself,” advised the woman, taking Mary Louise’s arm. “And just come along with me. You don’t want to make trouble! Wouldn’t you rather walk by yourself than have these men carry you?” ”

“ Gay nodded, immensely relieved. What a comfort Mary Louise was! You never had to ask her to do anything for you.
The two girls hurried away along the private road beside the river, past the Flicks’ and the Robinsons’, then turned up the hill to the Smiths’ house beyond. It was Jane’s first sight of the imposing-looking place at close range. She exclaimed in admiration.
“What a marvelous house! They must be awfully rich!”
“They are,” replied Mary Louise. “But they don’t appreciate this place a bit. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are hardly ever here at all in the summer. Those two boys just run wild. ”

“ So she hunted out some pictures of Mary Louise for the detectives and answered their questions for an hour. Just as the two men left to go to Ditmars, to investigate the threat and guard Adelaide, the roar of an airplane in the sky drew Mrs. Gay’s attention. It was an auto-giro, fluttering over a near-by field where there did not happen to be any trees.
Breathlessly she waited while it made its landing. But the motor did not stop, and only one man got out of the cockpit. Then, as the auto-giro speeded away, the man on the field began to run towards Shady Nook. ”

“ There’s nothing I love better than a mystery. Only this one does scare me a little, because we may actually be involved in it.”
“Well, you do whatever you want,” Jane told her. “Just regard me as one of the family, and I’ll go my own way. I know everybody here now, and I’m having a grand time. Only don’t forget you have David McCall to reckon with about breaking that date!”
They drove up to the back door of the cottage, and Freckles, who had returned home by this time, helped carry in the boxes. Mary Louise asked him how he had made out with the Flicks. ”

“ Mary Louise was overjoyed at her mother’s decision. Immediately she began to make important plans for the day. She would go over to Adams’ farm and find out where Rebecca was. If necessary, she could have the boys trail her during the day, in case the crazy woman might be planning another fire for tonight. Then she would call on the Ditmars and make it a point to talk to the man himself. Maybe she’d run over to Eberhardt’s store at Four Corners, later in the afternoon, just to check up on his business. ”

“ And servants, unlike parents, too often think of their own safety first.
“We’ll go right away, Rebecca,” Mary Louise assured her as she stepped into her pumps. “We’re all ready.”
Taking only their flashlight for protection, she and Jane ran off as fast as they could go, with Silky faithfully following them.
As soon as they had passed the ruins of Flicks’ Inn, they could see the smoke rising from the hill beyond. There could be no doubt about it. Rebecca was right: the Smiths’ house was on fire.
The girls redoubled their pace and tore up the hill. ”

“ Clifford’s Story
“What did he say?” demanded both Jane and Freckles the moment David McCall was out of hearing distance.
Mary Louise leaned forward and lowered her voice.
“He said Cliff Hunter set the place on fire himself—to get the insurance. Now that his father is dead, the bungalow belongs to him.”
“How awful!” exclaimed Jane. “Do you believe that, Mary Lou?”
“No, I don’t—knowing Cliff as I do. Do you, Mother?”
“Certainly not,” replied Mrs. Gay emphatically. “It’s just David’s jealousy. He’s poor himself, and he has a sort of grudge against all rich people.” ”

“ Adelaide Ditmar’s Plan
“There are four new young men at the Royal,” announced Jane as she set the table for lunch after their swim that morning.
“Who? How do you know?” demanded Mary Louise.
“Sue Reed told me. She says they used to come to Flicks’ every summer for two weeks’ vacation. So instead they are staying one week at the Royal Hotel. I don’t know their names.”
Her chum nodded.
“I know now. I can’t think of their names either, but they’ll probably come to me. They’re Harrisburg people.... But, Jane, how can you take an interest in men when your own boy-friend is in such trouble? ”

“ Reed and the three Partridge women were all still sitting on the Gays’ porch, hopefully waiting for news. But they knew from the slow, silent manner of the young people’s return that they had not been successful.
“Make us some coffee, and we’ll begin all over again,” said Stuart Robinson. “Mary Lou must be somewhere!”
Mrs. Gay shook her head.
“No, I think you better all go to bed. The children must have their sleep. In the morning the police will come. Perhaps they will have some news for us.”
“If only we hadn’t let Tom Adams get away from us!” muttered Horace Ditmar. ”

“ I like Cliff Hunter a lot—everybody does. But we don’t pair off much at Shady Nook, except sometimes to go canoeing. Most of the time we’re just one big family.”
“Who else are there besides the Hunters?” inquired the other girl. “I mean, what other families with young people?”
[20]
“The Reeds are about the jolliest family at Shady Nook,” answered Mary Louise. “There are five children, and the father and mother are just as much fun as the kids. The two oldest girls—Sue and Mabel—are twins about our age. Seventeen, I believe, to be exact. ”

“ Frazier, I can assure you,” interrupted Mary Louise. “He’ll be losing money without the Hunters and their friends. No—but maybe——”
“Maybe what?”
“Nothing. No use of making guesses in the dark. We’ll wait and see.”
The girls went into their room to dress. Mary Louise was surprised to see Jane take a simple white voile out of the closet.
“Why, Jane, we’re going to the Royal Hotel! To dine and dance. Don’t you want to wear your pink georgette?”
Her chum shook her head.
“No. White’s more appropriate for the way I feel tonight. I’m not in a party mood. Maybe I’d wear black, if I had it!” ”

“ Hattie Adams—you remember, Jane, the girl who waited on our table at Flicks’?—said he tried to pay her two dollars a week and excused himself by telling her she’d make a lot on tips! She gets ten at Flicks’!”
“A man like that deserves to fail,” agreed Jane.
“To get back to the subject of the fire,” said Mary Louise, in her usual practical way whenever there was a mystery to be solved, “what is your idea of the way it started, Cliff?”
“I believe it was just an accident,” replied the young man. “Maybe it was some tramp or those kids. You know the Smith boys and a few others. ”

“ He was absent from the two parties which were going on when the Hunters’ and Flicks’ places burned, and he could easily have slipped out last night and set Smiths’ on fire.
“And last—and most important of all, Dad often says—Ditmar’s the kind of man who could do it. Quiet, almost sullen, I think, and deceitful. I’ve never spoken two words with him, but that’s my opinion.”
Jane nodded solemnly: her chum’s logic appeared sound.
“But still,” she remarked, “Horace Ditmar isn’t profiting any by these fires. Nobody seems a bit inclined to rebuild.” ”

“ But, anyhow, I want to be prepared to jump up at the first sign of smoke. I’m going to rig up a hose with the river, so that I can put it out if it does happen around our cottage.”
“You sound almost as crazy as the old lady, Mary Lou! Next thing you’ll be taking your pitcher out for river water!”
“Now, Jane, be yourself! You’ll sleep out with me, won’t you?”
“I suppose so. But let’s keep Silky with us, in case one of those gypsies comes along and grabs you, the way she did at Dark Cedars.”
“There aren’t any gypsies anywhere around here,” Mary Louise assured her.
“No, but there’s a tramp. ”

“ I hope I can make him ashamed of himself, if he did cause Cliff’s arrest!”
“I’m afraid you can’t do that,” put in Mrs. Gay wisely. “These self-righteous people who feel that it is their duty to tell on others——” She stopped, wondering whether she was hurting Mary Louise’s feelings by speaking thus about David McCall, but her daughter was scarcely listening. “I think he’ll come over to see us,” Mrs. Gay concluded as she gave her order to the waitress, “with the Smiths.”
Mrs. Gay was correct in her surmise: when the Smiths had finished their dinner, they came straight to the Gays’ table. ”