LOOKOUTS REAL AND TRUE.
While Marjorie had gone on to the reception a la masque which had been
prepared for her, Jerry had donned her infant costume in a far from
happy humor. She could not get over her feeling of resentment against
Anna Towne, though she knew it was hardly just. Twice during the
progress of her dressing she picked up the note from the chiffonier and
re-read it with knitted brows. There was something in the assured style
of it that went against the grain.
"Where's Marjorie?" was Ronny's first speech as shortly after seven she
flitted into the room looking like a veritable butterfly in her gorgeous
black and yellow costume. "I am anxious to see her as a doll. I know she
will be simply exquisite."
"She certainly looked sweet," returned Jerry. She paused, eyeing Ronny
in mild surprise. Ronny had broken into a hearty laugh. Jerry as an
infant was so irresistibly funny. Her chubby figure in the high-waisted
tucked and belaced gown and her round face looking out from the fluted
lace frills of a close-fitting bonnet made her appear precisely like a
large-sized baby.
"Oh, I see. You're laughing at me. Aren't you rude, though? Ma-ma-a-a!"
Jerry set up a grieved wail.
"You are a great success, Jeremiah." Ronny continued to laugh as Jerry
performed an infantile solo with a white celluloid rattle. "Where is
Marjorie? I asked you once but you didn't answer."
"Read that. Marjorie said I was to show it to the Lookouts." Jerry
picked up the letter from the chiffonier and handed it to Ronny.
"How unfortunate!" was Ronny's exclamation as she hastily read the note.
"When did she leave here? I am glad she put on her costume before she
went. She can go straight to the gym, provided she isn't detained over
there."
"She left here at five minutes past seven," Jerry answered. "I felt
cross about it, too. It seems as though Marjorie is always picked-out to
do something for someone just about the time she has planned to have a
good time herself."
"What do you suppose has happened to Miss Towne? She was your freshie
catch. It's a wonder she didn't ask you to go to her instead of
Marjorie."
"Well, she didn't. I have tried to behave like a father to her but she
doesn't seem to notice it," Jerry returned humorously. "You see they all
gravitate straight to Marjorie. There's something about her that
inspires confidence in the breasts of timid freshies."
"She is the dearest girl on earth." Ronny spoke with sudden tenderness.
"Are you going out on the campus to parade? I am not particularly
anxious to go."
"Then we won't go, for I don't care about it, either." A double rapping
on the door sent Jerry scurrying to it. Katherine and Lucy walked in,
arms twined about each other's waists. They were a pretty pair of school
girls in their short bright gingham dresses, ruffled white aprons and
white stockings and tennis shoes. Hair in two braids, broad-brimmed
flower-wreathed hats and school knapsacks swinging from the shoulder
completed their simple but effective costumes.
They came in for a lively share of approbation from Jerry and Ronny, of
whom they were equally admiring in turn. Inquiring for Marjorie, they
were shown the note and Jerry again went over the information she had
given Ronny.
"That note doesn't sound a bit like Anna Towne," Lucy said in her
close-lipped manner as she laid it down. "I know her quite well, for she
takes biology and has come to me several times for help. She is awfully
proud and tries never to put one to any trouble."
"This may be something that has come upon her so suddenly she hasn't
known what to do except to send for Marjorie," hazarded Katherine. "I
agree with you, Lucy. It does not sound like her."
Another series of knocks at the door broke in upon the conversation.
"Wonder if that's Muriel." Jerry turned to the door. "She may have
changed her mind about not letting us know what she was going to mask
as."
The door opened. Jerry gave an ejaculation of undiluted surprise. The
girl who stood on the threshold was Anna Towne.
"Come in, Miss Towne." Jerry stepped aside for her unexpected caller to
enter. "Have you seen Marjorie?"
"Why, no. I haven't seen anyone except the maid who answered the door. I
came over to see if I could go to the masquerade with you girls. Phyllis
and a crowd of Silvertons went out to parade. I didn't care about it, so
I thought I would come over here."
"Wha-a-t!" Jerry was almost shouting. Ronny, Katherine and Lucy were the
picture of blank amazement.
"What's the matter?" Anna Towne flushed deeply. She did not understand
the meaning of Jerry's loud exclamation. Perhaps she had presumed in
thus breaking in upon the chums.
"Matter! I don't know what's the matter, but I am going to find out.
Read this note. You didn't write that, now did you?" Jerry thrust the
note into Anna's hands.
The room grew very still as she fastened her attention upon the
communication, supposedly from herself.
"Of course I never wrote it." Anna looked up wonderingly. Almost
instantly her expression changed to one of alarm. "There is no one
living at 852 on our street," she asserted. "My landlady has not moved.
I still live at 856. I haven't had any trouble. I came here dressed for
the masquerade. I'm wearing a Kate Greenaway costume. See. She took the
silk scarf from her head disclosing a Kate Greenaway cap.
"No one living there!" came in a breath of horror from Ronny. It was
echoed by the other three Lookouts. "Then _who_ wrote that note and
_what_ has happened to Marjorie?"
"I am going to find out pretty suddenly." Jerry sprang to her dress
closet for her fur coat and overshoes. "Go and get ready to go over to
that house, girls. One, two, three, four--We are five strong. Get your
wraps and meet me downstairs. I am going to see if I can't find Leila
and Vera. You had better wait for me here, Miss Towne. I'll be back
directly."
Ten minutes later a bevy of white-faced girls met in the lower hall.
Leila and Vera were among them. Jerry had met them just in the act of
leaving for the gymnasium.
"I'd go for my car but if would take longer to get it than for us to
walk. We must make all haste. Now I have an idea of my own about this. I
am not far off the truth when I say the Sans are to blame for the whole
thing. I would rather think it was they than that the note had been
written by some unknown person." Leila's blue eyes were dark with
emotion. "And that beloved child trotted blindly off by herself never
dreaming that the note was a forgery. Well, I might have done the same."
"I think you are right, Leila. The Sans have planned some kind of seance
at that empty house to scare Marjorie. Probably they have dressed up in
some hideous fashion. They could easily get away with it on account of
the masquerade. The sooner we get there the better. We may be able to
catch them, unless they have got hold of her and hustled her off
somewhere else." Ronny's voice was not quite steady on the last words.
The seven worried rescuers were now crossing the campus and making for
the campus entrance nearest the direction of Miss Towne's boarding
house. They were swinging along at a pace that would have done credit to
an army detachment on a hike.
"She wouldn't stand for that. She would fight every inch of the ground
before she would go a step with that gang." Jerry spoke with a
confidence born of her knowledge of Marjorie.
"They might be too many for her," reminded Leila. "What's to prevent
them from throwing a shawl or something over her head so that she would
be more or less helpless? I would not put it past Leslie Cairns."
"They wouldn't dare be rough with her or hurt her, would they?"
questioned Anna Towne.
"No; but this empty house proposition is about as bad as I would care to
tackle. They certainly have nerve." Jerry's plump features had lost
their infantile expression. Here face was set in lines of belligerence.
She was ready to pitch into the Sans the minute she caught sight of
them.
"This is the street. We are not far from the house now," informed Anna,
as the seven turned into the humble neighborhood in which her boarding
house was located.
"Look!" Jerry, who was leading with Ronny, stopped and pointed. "There
is a _light_ in that house. Let's stop a minute and decide what to do."
"We had better go around to the rear of the house and see if we can't
get in by the back door," suggested Vera. "After all, we are only seven
in number, and we don't know what awaits us. We are fairly sure that she
is in the clutches of the Sans. Even so, they are sure to have the front
door locked. They are stupid enough to forget all about the back door.
They are not expecting any interference."
"You girls go around to the back. I am going up on the veranda. I shall
try the front door. If it is unlocked I will let you know. I'd rather
walk in on them that way, if we can. Now for some scouting. Don't make a
sound if you can help it, girls. We want to take them by surprise."
Separating from her companions, who stole noiselessly to the shadowy
rear of the house, Jerry cautiously invaded the front porch. The shade
which had been raised a little when Marjorie had come to the house was
now drawn. Still she could see that the room on the right was lighted.
With the stealth of a burglar she tried the door. It was locked. She
listened at it, then stood up with a triumphant smile. From within she
could hear the sound of voices.
As softly as she had stolen up on the porch, she now withdrew. Her feet
on the ground, she ran like a deer for the rear of the house. There she
beheld dimly a group of figures drawn into a compact bunch near the back
steps.
"Front door's locked. How about the back one?" she breathed.
"It's unlocked. Ronny just tried it," Leila whispered. "She says she can
open it and go inside without making a sound."
"Of course. She's a great dancer, you know, and light as a feather in
stepping. Oh, fudge! You don't know. At least you didn't until I told
you. I have given away Ronny's secret. She made us promise not to tell
it right after the beauty contest. I don't care. I am glad you know it.
I have always wished you and Helen and Vera could see her dance. She is
a marvel."
At this juncture Ronny joined them. In the darkness she did not see
Leila's Cheshire cat grin, born of Jerry's unintentional betrayal. Leila
had often remarked to Marjorie, who had told her of Ronny's concealment
of her real identity at Sanford High School, that Veronica was a good
deal of a mystery still.
"That you, Jeremiah?" was Ronny's whispered inquiry. "I am going to slip
in the back way and find out what is going on. Was the front door
locked?"
"Yes; but I could hear voices from where I stood on the veranda. I
couldn't sort 'em out so as to know who was who."
"I'll soon find out whose they are." Ronny shut her lips in sharp
determination. "Now for the great venture." Immediately she glided away,
and mounted the steps with the noiseless tread of an apparition. The
tense watchers heard no sound as she opened the door and stepped
inside.