TROUBLE AHEAD
Gale tucked her books under her arm and started down the steps of
Happiness House.
“Gale! Wait!” Adele Stevens called and fell into step beside her. “Even
Seniors go to classes sometimes,” she smiled. “Nice morning, isn’t it?”
“Very,” Gale agreed.
“Last night was a nice night, too,” the Senior said, with twinkling
eyes.
Gale laughed. “Yes. The sound of a million bells always lends
enchantment to an autumn night.”
Adele laughed, too. “You and Phyllis have been good sports, Gale. Don’t
think we haven’t noticed it.”
“We’ve gotten fun out of it, too,” Gale said.
“You are the kind of girls we want in Happiness House,” the Senior
declared. “But,” she frowned, “Gale, we are sorry for some things——”
“Freshmen expect a lot,” Gale said, smiling.
“I mean—such as Marcia Marlette.”
“Oh.” Gale looked across the campus, letting her eyes dwell on the red
and golden brown of the leaves stirring in the breeze.
“Gale, don’t ever think that the things she does have the approval of
the whole sorority,” Adele continued seriously. “She is one of our
members, true. She was elected to our house when she was a Freshman. Now
we can’t exactly put her out—it wouldn’t be the nice thing to do and
she won’t quit of her own accord. She knows we don’t like what she has
been doing lately. Our sorority house is Happiness House. We want to
keep it that. We don’t want quarrels or bickering. We want friendship
between the girls, friendship that lasts much longer than our college
days. Do you see what I mean?”
Gale nodded. “I think so.”
“Well, I leave you here. Remember, Gale, you and Phyllis are the sort of
girls we want in Happiness House—and we hope you want to stay there.”
Gale watched the Senior enter the Hall where she was to attend her
class. Slowly Gale strolled along to her own class. She liked Adele
Stevens.
“Was our noble president giving you some good advice?” a voice asked
dryly.
Gale merely glanced at Marcia Marlette as the girl walked beside her.
“Yes.”
“Thought so. I suppose you think she is just the noblest person,” Marcia
laughed. “Freshmen always take to Adele. They plan to be like her, but
then Freshmen are idealistic and——”
“I’ve got to go,” Gale said, and hastily ran up and into the nearest
building. Inside she stood in the shadows until Marcia had turned away
and was almost out of sight. Then she came out and went on more
peacefully to her own class.
Gale was finding college life more and more interesting. She did want to
make something of her life and she seriously thought of studying
medicine. She didn’t want to be a nurse—rather a doctor. The other
girls were inclined to treat such ambition with lightness. They didn’t
think much of women doctors, but Gale was still determined. Whether she
would achieve her doctor’s degree was dim in the future, but at least
she had chosen to take the pre-medical course at college. She figured
that was a step in the right direction.
Her favorite subject right now was Chemistry. She found Professor
Lukens, the Chemistry teacher, willing to answer all and any questions.
Often she lingered after classes for a further talk or experiment. On
one occasion Doctor Norcot was there and the three of them had a most
interesting talk until the Dean and Professor Powell, assistant
Chemistry teacher, arrived.
“I came for you,” the Dean said to the Doctor. “My secretary was
suddenly taken ill. She is in the infirmary and the nurse advised
calling you.”
“I’ll come at once,” the Doctor said.
Gale, too, gathered up her books and made her way to the door. There the
Dean joined her.
“Gale, I haven’t seen you for a week or more.”
“No,” Gale agreed.
The Freshman went down the stairs with the Dean and the Doctor. They
stopped on the steps outside to talk before separating. Gale was talking
to the Dean when the Doctor suddenly pushed them roughly to one side.
“Look out!” she shouted.
There was a tinkle of glass and a dark stain spread on the stone steps
at their feet. The three bent over it before the Doctor whirled and ran
into the building.
“A test tube of acid!” Gale cried in amazement. “I wonder how that came
to fall out the window?”
“Fall? Perhaps it was thrown,” the Dean murmured, looking up at the
windows to the Chemistry room which fronted on the campus.
“Thrown!” Gale gasped. “But if that had hit one of us—the way acid
burns we might have been scarred for life! No one would do such a
thing!”
“No,” the Dean agreed unenthusiastically, “no one would do such a
thing.”
Gale looked at her strangely. The Dean was white, whether with fear or
anger, Gale did not know. From the Dean, Gale looked at the shattered
glass and up at the window. Doctor Norcot was leaning out, looking
directly down at them. She disappeared and a few minutes later rejoined
them on the campus. Her face was sternly set and she answered the Dean’s
questioning glance with a shake of her head.
“There was no one in the room—and the test tubes and materials are all
locked in the closet.”
The Dean flashed a glance at Gale, The Doctor smiled in understanding.
“Shall we go on to the infirmary now?” she asked.
A few minutes later Gale was walking across the campus toward the field
in back of the tennis courts where the Freshman class was practicing
hockey. So deeply in thought was she that she passed several girls from
the sorority house without recognizing them at all. That night she
talked the whole affair over with Phyllis.
“Do you think the Dean actually suspects that the acid was thrown?”
Phyllis asked in consternation. “That is an awful thing for anybody to
do!”
Gale frowned. “That is what she said. Remember, too, that somebody cut
her canoe adrift and she was almost caught in the rapids.”
“It would seem somebody doesn’t like the new Dean,” Phyllis murmured.
“Do you know what was wrong with her secretary?”
Gale shook her head. “No, but I am going to find out. I have a hunch
that the three incidents are tied together in some way.”
“Ah! Mystery at Briarhurst!” Phyllis said gayly. “But both things might
have been accidental, you know.”
“I don’t think so,” Gale said firmly. “A rope doesn’t cut itself and
secondly, a test tube of acid doesn’t walk from a locked closet and fall
out the window.”
“Then you think someone is really trying to injure the Dean?”
“It looks like it,” Gale said. She crossed to the window. Her studies
were forgotten, the open text book on her desk did not exist. “Heavenly
night, Phyl.”
From the campus below floated up a chorus of friendly voices. The
Seniors were singing their sorority song:
“Secure in love and laughter,
Our voices blend on high,
We link our hands in friendship,
The girls of Omega Chi.”
“So far so good,” Phyllis said, putting her arm about Gale and leaning
with her on the window sill.
“What? The song?”
“No, I mean us. We’ve been here three weeks now and like it more every
day. At least I do,” she added.
“Let’s go and see Janet and Carol,” proposed Gale mischievously.
“It is study hour,” Phyllis returned. “Freshmen are supposed to slave
away over their books. We are to remain indoors.” She continued with
twinkling eyes, “How shall we get out? By the back door?”
Gale switched out the light. On tiptoe the girls went to the rear
stairs. With the silence of shadows they descended to the ground. Once
outside they stood for several minutes in the shadows of the building,
waiting for the Seniors to disappear from view. Finally they were safely
away from the sorority house. Quickly they ran to the dormitory building
where Janet and Carol were housed. Once there, another problem presented
itself.
“How’ll we get in?” Phyllis wanted to know.
There were two Juniors sitting on the steps in front of the building so
that was closed to them. Gale pointed suggestively to a trellis from
which only lately the dried vines had been cut to leave room for new
growth in the spring.
“Acrobats, eh?” Phyllis giggled. “Well, why not? We used to climb ropes
in gym at High School. I guess we can climb that to the second floor. It
is a good thing they don’t live on the fourth,” she added in a stage
whisper as she rested halfway to their goal.
Carol and Janet were bent over their books. Out of the corner of her eye
Carol saw a head slowly appearing at the open window.
“Help! Burglars!” she shrieked.
“Shshsh,” Phyllis laughed. “It is only us.”
“Such hospitality,” Gale said disgustedly, climbing into the room after
Phyllis. “You should have a stepladder at least for your callers.”
“Our callers don’t usually enter through the window,” Janet returned.
“Am I glad to see you! I was about to burst with all the biology I am
cramming into my head.”
“I don’t see how she does it,” added Carol lightly. “Bugs, bugs——”
“Speaking of bugs,” Janet put in, “when does the Freshman team play the
Sophomores in hockey?”
“Next week,” Phyllis answered.
Noiselessly the door opened. Valerie and Madge stole into the room.
“Ah, a family reunion,” Janet beamed. “We will have to celebrate. Carol,
get the chocolate.”
“We have a box of cookies in our room,” added Madge generously.
“Ah, perhaps we had better go to your room,” Carol declared brightly.
“I’ll bring them here,” Madge offered.
Neither the hot chocolate nor the cookies lasted very long when once the
six girls set seriously about the task of devouring them.
“You know,” Janet said, munching the icing off her cookie before she ate
the rest of it, “I heard that one of the Chemistry teachers is sending
the Dean candy and flowers.”
“Mmmmm,” Carol hummed.
“Romantic idiots!” Madge called them. “Because the Dean is young and
good looking you think there is a romance.”
“Well, why not? Even college professors aren’t immune to it. Look at
Gale——” Janet offered mischievously. “Even she was conquered by a
birdman.”
“That isn’t all about the Dean,” Valerie said in a whisper and the
others leaned forward in interest. “I heard someone is trying to murder
her—or something.”
“What do you mean?” Gale asked tensely. “Tell us!”
“I heard,” Valerie said, “that her house was set afire yesterday.”
“What?” Both Phyllis and Gale were on the edge of their chairs with
renewed interest. “How?”
“No one knows,” Valerie replied. “The maid saw the curtains blazing in
the library. She called the caretaker and he ripped them down and
stamped the fire out. There was nothing they could have caught fire
from. It must have been done deliberately.”
“But who?” Carol scoffed. “Why?”
“Things like that aren’t done,” Janet added. She looked at Phyllis and
Gale. “You two look as though you actually believed it.”
“Tell them what you know, Gale,” Phyllis advised. “But,” she added, “you
mustn’t go around telling the other girls. We can’t prove anything—it
is only what we think.”
“We’ll be as mum as mice,” Carol promised. “If we have been missing
anything, tell us!”
Gale told them of the things she had discovered and of the things she
suspected. The other girls were astounded.
“We will have to appoint ourselves solvers of the mystery,” Carol
suggested.
“We are the best mystery-solvers at Briarhurst,” added Janet. “But where
do we begin? There aren’t any clues or anyone to suspect.”
“Good detectives find those things,” Madge informed her.
“But for goodness sake,” cautioned Phyllis, “be careful about it. Dean
Travis might not like our bothering with her affairs. After all, it
isn’t our business, you know.”
“We’ll make it our business,” Gale proposed.
“And it might mean adventures for us,” added Valerie.
“We have been falling rather low on adventures,” commented Janet.
“Things have been too quiet. We must stir something up.”
“We will do that, never fear,” prophesied Carol.
“And now we have to go back to the sorority house,” Phyllis said,
consulting Janet’s desk clock. “Lights-out bell rang twenty minutes
ago.”
“Perhaps we can use the front door instead of the window this time,”
suggested Phyllis.
Gale and her friend cautiously descended to the campus and there took a
deep breath of relief. They had gotten out of the dormitory house
without detection, but now to get back into their own room!
They sped across the campus, keeping in the shadows. Almost at the very
door of the sorority house they were forced to halt. Crouching in the
shadows of the shrubbery they waited while two figures strolled toward
them. Two women stopped directly in front of them. One was speaking and
they recognized the voice of the Dean.
“But don’t you see—that candy was meant for me. If Miss Horton became
ill eating it——”
The doctor nodded. “You had a narrow escape. You don’t know who sent it
to you?”
They continued on their way and the girls glanced at one another. When
they had safely and secretly entered Happiness House by the rear door
which they had left unlocked when they went out and were again in their
room Phyllis smiled:
“I guess your hunch was correct.”
“Mmm,” Gale murmured, staring into the darkness as she lay in bed. “Do
you suppose they were talking about her secretary? If so, she became ill
eating candy that was originally sent to the Dean.”
“Poisoned?” Phyllis hazarded.
“I don’t know.” Gale raised herself on one elbow and looked across at
Phyllis. “Do you remember Janet saying one of the Chemistry teachers was
sending her candy?”
“Say——” Phyllis sat up suddenly. “Chemistry Professor, acid, poisoned
candy—they all fit together.”
“We aren’t sure the candy was poisoned, but that is what I was
thinking,” Gale murmured. “However, there are four Chemistry
professors.”
“The question is which one of them threw the acid and poisoned the
candy,” Phyllis agreed. She yawned. “I am afraid the puzzle will have to
wait until morning. This detective is getting sleepy.”
Gale wanted to lie awake and think over the puzzling circumstances
surrounding the Dean and her reign at Briarhurst, but she didn’t, and it
was to be many weeks before the mysterious occurrences were solved.