AN IMPORTANT REQUEST
Doris and Kitty spent an unpleasant night in the right wing, for, as they
had anticipated, the weird noises began shortly after they had retired.
Once, hearing footsteps near their door, they clutched each other in an
agony of fear, but the sound soon died away. They were on the verge of
falling asleep when a strange noise from a distant part of the wing
roused them into wakefulness.
“This is terrible!” Kitty whispered. “What can be going on in this
dreadful house?”
“Perhaps it’s only Cora or Henry astir,” Doris suggested, but the
explanation did not satisfy her, and Kitty refused to be comforted by it.
For long hours the girls lay awake, but once asleep nothing disturbed
them and they awoke in the morning feeling refreshed in spite of the
harrowing night.
“It’s always something of a surprise each morning when I wake up and find
I’m still alive,” Kitty laughed.
At breakfast Iris chanced to remark that an old croquet set had been
stored in the attic and Doris and Kitty asked if they might use it.
“Certainly,” Iris assured them. “I’ll get it out of the attic for you.”
“Oh, let us get it ourselves,” Doris begged. “I just love to poke around
in attics. It’s on the third floor above our wing, isn’t it?”
Azalea and Iris exchanged quick, startled glances.
“Oh, no,” Iris returned hastily. “The attic is in the left wing.”
“But I thought there was a floor above our bedroom,” Doris said, somewhat
puzzled. “We’ve been hearing such queer noises at night.”
“Mice undoubtedly,” Azalea explained and arose from the table. “If you
want to see the attic, come with me.”
They went to the kitchen for a lantern and then mounted the stairs to the
third floor above the left wing. Azalea unlocked the door and told them
to look about as much as they liked.
After Azalea had gone back down stairs, Doris whispered to her chum:
“Didn’t you think the twins acted funny when I asked about the third
floor on our wing?”
“Yes, I did, Doris. They switched the subject, too.”
The attic was something of a disappointment, for it was very clean and
tidy. A number of boxes lined the walls, but each was plainly labeled as
to its contents. Flashing the lantern about, the girls saw that they
contained blankets, woolens, old clothing, and numerous other articles.
“Nothing very exciting here,” Kitty said. “It isn’t any fun poking into
boxes when they’re all labeled. I wish the Misses Gates weren’t such good
housekeepers.”
Doris had found the croquet set and, with Kitty’s help, dragged it out
into the light.
“We may as well take it down into the yard and have a game,” she
suggested.
“I suppose so,” Kitty agreed. “I’d hoped we might stumble upon something
interesting here, but I guess there’s no chance of it. You know, Doris,
I’ve read about folks finding false bottom trunks and things like that in
their attics.”
“I guess it happens only in stories. Anyway, I don’t see any trunk here.
If there’s an attic above the right wing, I’ll bet it’s more interesting
than this one.”
Locking the attic door, the girls took the croquet set down to the front
lawn and set up the arches. They played three games, Doris going down in
ignoble defeat.
“Croquet isn’t my game,” she laughed. “I’d rather wield a tennis racquet
than a mallet.”
Soon tiring of the sport they amused themselves by throwing a rubber ball
to Wags who would pick it up in his mouth and return it to them.
Presently Iris and Azalea brought their sewing and came out to sit in the
swing. They watched the girls for a time and then Iris called to them.
“Perhaps you would like to hear the rest of the story we were telling you
the other day?” she asked.
“Yes, indeed,” Doris declared.
“I’m afraid we’re only boring you,” Azalea murmured. “We have no desire
to inflict our troubles upon you.”
“Oh, but you aren’t,” Doris assured her. “We’re both very much
interested.”
Leaving Wags to his own devices, the girls sat down in the swing beside
the Misses Gates.
“You go on with the story,” Azalea murmured.
Iris did not begin at once but sat for some minutes gazing away. At last,
with a sigh, she forced herself to take up the broken threads.
“For thirty-two years after John Trent left, we heard no word from him,”
she said sadly. “Often we wondered what might have become of him. At
first we thought perhaps he would write to one of us—at least to tell us
that he was sorry for everything that had happened.”
“And he didn’t?” Doris asked.
“No, to this day our only message has been through his son. You may
imagine our joy when Ronald came to see us here at the mansion. He
resembles his mother more than his father, it seems, so we did not
recognize him.”
Kitty and Doris exchanged odd glances but Iris did not notice.
“Ronald told us that his father was dead,” she continued in a low voice.
“His wife had died before him, so Ronald was his heir. Before John passed
away, he begged Ronald to return to Rumson and find the lovely Misses
Gates. Those were his very words! ‘Do all in your power to make them
happy,’ he said.”
Here Iris paused to wipe her eyes.
“It was very dear of him to think of us at the last,” Azalea said softly,
“and very kind of his son to come this far with the message. He
remembered us in a material way, too.”
“Yes,” Iris went on bravely. “It seems, that after John left Rumson he
accumulated a large fortune. He willed three-quarters of the estate to
his son—which was as it should be—and the remaining quarter to Azalea and
myself, to be divided equally.”
“How considerate,” Doris murmured.
“Yes,” Iris agreed, “and just at this time the money will come in handy.
You see, since Father died the estate has dwindled. We have this
property, of course, but very little ready money.”
“Unfortunately, we shall not be able to get our inheritance for some
time,” Azalea explained. “There are certain legal complications which I
do not entirely understand. There seems to have been some tangle about
identifying poor John’s body at the time of his death and the estate is
tied up.”
“Of course we shall get the money in the end,” Iris declared, “but right
now there are a number of attorney’s fees to be met. Ronald is entirely
without funds, so it was natural that he should come to us.”
“You gave him money?” Doris asked, although she thought she knew the
answer.
“Yes, we loaned him what we had, but our funds are running low,” Azalea
told her. “It isn’t as if we were actually giving him the money, for in
the end every one will be rich.”
“Ronald says he will pay us back when the estate is settled,” Iris added.
Doris and Kitty were so taken by surprise that for a minute they could
think of nothing to say. The twins looked at each other in an embarrassed
way, and it was evident that they scarcely knew how to go on.
“Unless we can raise money to meet the necessary attorney’s fees, we will
lose our inheritance,” Azalea said. “We have nothing of value we can sell
except this mansion, and we are too old to leave it after having lived
here all these years.
“Ronald has been so impatient at our reluctance to do anything. Dear boy!
One scarcely can blame him, for his fortune, too, is at stake, and he
does not understand how low our funds are.” Iris hesitated as she
finished lamely, “And so, after hours of debate, we decided that for the
sake of your own uncle, Doris, we would ask you for money.”
“Of course you understand we intend to will everything to you at our
death,” Azalea added hastily. “It will be your own uncle’s money, so it
will be entirely a family affair.”
“That is why you invited me here?” Doris stammered.
“Yes,” Iris told her. “You will help us, won’t you?”
Doris did not know what to reply; in fact, the request left her a trifle
dazed. She remembered that Marshmallow had jokingly told her the Misses
Gates might ask for money, but she had not considered the matter
seriously. She actually had believed that she was being invited to Locked
Gates for the purpose of being informed of an inheritance of her own!
What a blow to her hopes!
“I really don’t know what to say,” she murmured. “I must confess I have
no idea how much money of my own I actually have.”
“Of course this has all been very sudden,” Iris said tactfully. “We can’t
expect you to decide upon the instant, but after thinking it over, if you
decide you can spare the money, we shall be eternally grateful.”
“Yes,” continued Azalea, taking up the subject. Her sister sank back in
the big, old-fashioned rocker, like one in need of rest. “We realize the
importance of not neglecting this business a day longer. You will
consider it soon, won’t you, Doris, dear?”
She, too, now leaned back in her chair with something of a sigh of
relief, making Doris aware of the fact that her assistance was expected
and counted upon by her hostesses, who could from now on assume that she
would lift their burden permanently.
Just then Cora, without any warning of her approach, entered the room,
carrying a number of letters and several newspapers. She glanced at the
faces of the thoughtful group, as though she were to be asked to remain,
should her advice or assistance be required. However, they were so
absorbed in what they had been discussing that they did not notice Cora’s
being there, and, receiving no word of encouragement to remain, even for
a moment, she bustled out of the door.
Wags bounded into the room, and came straight up to Doris, attempting to
jump into her lap and to lick her hands and face caressingly.
Doris was glad of the interruption, for this gave her an opportunity to
get up from her chair and shake the playful puppy off her lap.
As soon as she gracefully could do so, Doris excused herself and went to
her room. She wished to be alone that she might think over what the twins
had told her.
“Can it be that I have made a mistake about Ronald Trent?” she asked
herself.
After all, she had heard him say only that he was having trouble securing
money from the two sisters. But why, if his motives were honest, was he
in league with Cora and Henry Sully?
Doris admitted that the problem was too weighty for her to solve at once.