CAPTURE
Peggy and Jack, at Steeple Rocks, had gone to watch for the yacht at the
tops of the steps which ran down to the dock where the yacht was
expected. At the sight of it, Jack waited, but Peggy hurried in to
announce the arrival. Mrs. Ives and Madame Kravetz were sitting in the
drawing room, while Timmons, the butler, was in the hall.
"The yacht is coming," said Peggy in her clear voice, "all lit up and
everything. It just passed another vessel that was going along and it's
coming into the bay! Shall I tell Jack to light the lights outside?"
"Timmons will do it. Timmons, rouse the maids if they are drowsy." But
Mrs. Ives wondered at the alarmed expression on the face of the butler,
and that Madame Kravetz went outside immediately. Mr. Ives and the Count
had gone out to the yacht in the morning, ostensibly to go to the port
where he was to meet his guests. Some train must have been late to delay
them this long, or perhaps the engines had not worked properly. It was
all decidedly queer. She looked at Peggy.
"What's the matter with 'em?" bluntly asked Peggy.
"I am sure I do not know, unless Timmons is excited for fear things may
not go as they should."
The bay was a trap. No sooner had the yacht gotten well into it than the
passing vessel, manned by government men to catch both aliens and
smugglers, turned about and rapidly sought the mouth of the bay. The
pursuit was short, as Mr. Ives and Count Herschfeld, on board the yacht
knew it must be. Hastily the word was passed around among the more
important passengers, who were panic-stricken, facing deportation,
having many jewels which they were smuggling in.
Smaller boats also gathered around the yacht, but it reached the dock,
though boarded at once. It attempted no useless defense, for it was
immediately seen that a concerted plan on the part of the government
forces made them too strong for the smugglers.
How Mr. Ives got away, no one knew. He was not seen upon the rocks, but
someone saw him take off his coat and leap into the water, though it was
thought at the time that he was at once picked up by one of the boats.
The approaches to the house were all guarded, it was supposed, but a
secret entrance from the cliff, which the girls had not discovered,
admitted Mr. Ives to a rocky chamber behind his office.
Peggy, sitting in the drawing room with her mother, heard the door to
the library and office open behind her. Mr. Ives, a wild figure,
appeared. Water was dripping from him. He was drawing on a dry coat as
he entered and stuffing its pockets with money from his safe.
"Get the car quickly, Kit! They're after me! Call Timmons! Peggy, run up
and get my overcoat and all the clothes that you can lay your hands on!"
Mrs. Ives in her pretty evening dress ran outside, followed by her
husband, while Peggy instinctively started after the overcoat and
clothes. But she met Timmons on the stairs, a hurrying Timmons, dressed
for departure, carrying her step-father's top-coat and two suit-cases.
Her assistance was not necessary. Timmons must have seen the capture at
which Peggy guessed. She stood aside to let him pass, but followed
rapidly herself.
At the foot of the stairs Peggy and Madame Kravetz nearly collided. The
governess was rushing out from the dining room with what appeared to be
a sack of food, a brown paper sack carried by the particular, elegant
Kravetz! She picked up a suitcase in the hall and dashed out of the
front door.
Peggy heard the sound of the car and immediately thought of her mother,
outside in the chill air with only that thin dress to protect her.
Perhaps her husband would make her go with him! Luckily Peggy had
wrapped herself in her mother's coat when she had gone with Jack to look
for the yacht. There lay the pretty silk-lined evening wrap with its
warm fur collar. Peggy snatched it up from the hall seat and rushed out
as wildly as any of the fleeing conspirators had done. It was only a
moment after Madame Kravetz had passed her, before Peggy was at the side
of the car with her mother's wrap.
She tossed it in, hearing Mr. Ives say, "Very well, ride a short
distance with us, Kitty. You have been a good wife,--" But the car
started to speed, Peggy knew, over the terrible roads till they reached
the good highway and what hiding place Peggy could not imagine. But
while she stood there, watching the darkness into which the car had
taken her mother and scarcely seeing the stupefied maids that gathered
around her, Mr. Tudor, breathless and much chagrined over the escape of
Mr. Ives, came hurrying around the house from the dock. Unfortunately
for plans, guards around the house had all rushed to prevent escape at
the yacht.
"Where is your mother, Miss Peggy?" he asked. "Is your father inside? It
will be better for him quietly to surrender."
"Don't ask me anything, please," said Peggy, suddenly feeling utterly
alone. But her maid, the beloved "Pugsy," who had avoided being sent
away after all, came with alarmed face from the house just then and went
to Peggy, who collapsed upon her shoulder in a storm of sobs.
"I am very sorry, Miss Peggy,--_believe_ me, I am," Mr. Tudor stopped to
say, though he had one eye on two officers who were entering the house.
"I know it," sobbed Peggy, "but do go away now, and find out things for
yourself!"
Jack, who had been down at the yacht, joined the maid in soothing Peggy
and between them they persuaded her to go to bed, promising to let her
know when her mother came back.
Mrs. Ives was one of the women who believe that vows for better or worse
should be kept. Had her husband desired her to accompany him, she would
have done so, though it took her into danger and unhappiness. His wet
hands drew the cloak around her, as he outlined briefly what had
happened. Amazed, in spite of previous suspicions, she listened, while
the ear jolted them from side to side. They were all in great suspense.
It was a terrific dash for freedom, but at last they reached a good
highway where they went on for some miles, turning off finally upon one
short, bad stretch to a small village. There Mr. Ives said that he had
kept horses for some time, using them in "his business" as he needed
them.
"Go back with the car," he directed, "stopping somewhere for something
to eat, if any place is open. We shall be aboard a ship after a short
ride with the horses. I will get word to you, from abroad, probably, in
some way. I have plenty of money now."
Mrs. Ives knew that scouting parties would be out in every direction as
soon as it was known from the servants how Mr. Ives made his escape.
Accordingly, she quickly took the car to the main highway and drove
slowly homeward, faint and worn, and in no mood for questions. But
unlike tempestuous Peggy, she responded courteously when she was
stopped. Yes, she had accompanied Mr. Ives part way. They could scarcely
expect her to help them, could they? She knew very well that trains
would be examined, the woods searched and the coast followed. As it was,
her husband was foolishly expectant of escape, she thought.
But Mr. Ives was clever enough to elude them, it happened. The Count had
been taken, on the yacht. He was the real organizer of the ring. Bill
Ritter, trying to escape, had been arrested and through Tom Carey's
information, all his chief assistants in this work were gathered in. The
village was in a turmoil, for some of the people there were due to be
deported. Through Evan Tudor, however, the work of investigation was
carried on in a way as little distressing to these poor victims of
others' greed as was possible. Tom Carey set to work to organize again
the fishing industry, filling orders and carrying on the shipping.
Through Jack, Mrs. Ives sent for Mr. Tudor, who was still in his camp,
in the intervals of these affairs in which he was concerned. He came to
Steeple Rocks rather uncertain of his reception, but Mrs. Ives, sober
and depressed, made no reference to his part in the disclosures.
"I have heard of you from Peggy, Mr. Tudor," she said, "and I want to
consult you as representing the government interests. Your report will
probably be accepted, will it not?"
Mr. Tudor, relieved, bowed. "Yes, Mrs. Ives."
"I want it understood that whatever in the way of restitution is to be
done, I will do. I am sorry that I could do nothing for those poor
foreigners that were hurried right away. Whether Mr. Ives is ever found
or not, I should prefer to have everything made clear and to be free
from obligation. So I have made out a list of our property, not
including, of course, the small estate which is Peggy's from her own
father. My husband told me that the liquor in the cave was Bill
Ritter's, though I suppose that my husband was partly responsible for
letting it be housed upon our property.
"I want to show you the safe and what I found in it, some bonds, cash
and important papers. Now will you act for me?"
"I will be glad to do so, though I am not a lawyer."
"You will be more a witness, I should think. I am dismissing most of the
servants; indeed, some of them left because they were afraid of being
arrested as aliens. Steeple Rocks will be for sale. I have not found any
smuggled jewels, and I scarcely think that my husband ever was concerned
in that."
"The whole place was thoroughly searched, Mrs. Ives, before your return.
After the steamer took charge of the aliens, the force searched yacht
and house at once."
Mrs. Ives sadly shook her head. "It is a tragedy to me, but if only the
shadow does not rest on Peggy, I can bear it."
"Nothing of all this attaches to you, Mrs. Ives, and I have seen to it
that a very general account so far has been published by the papers. My
friend and I so promptly sent in our reports that they are the ones
given. I will send you some of the papers."
"Thank you. It is a relief to know that all the details are not spread
broadcast."
Following this conference with Mr. Tudor, Mrs. Ives and Peggy quietly
went about Steeple Rocks making ready to close it early, for Mrs. Ives
felt that she must get away from the place. Peggy, on the other hand,
wanted to stay and asked her mother if she might not stay at the Eyrie.
"Will they want you after this?"
"I don't see why not. I belong to the 'trium-feminate', you know. Sarita
likes me for taking an interest in birds, and Dalton saved my life. I
know that _he_ likes me. Leslie is just like Dalton and Elizabeth is
_always_ sweet to me. Dal would like to stay all winter and keep Beth
from teaching. Why, Mother, why couldn't she tutor me? They might like a
boarder that would pay and work, too, and it wouldn't be as expensive
for you, I'm sure. Think of traveling expenses and boarding, especially
if we have to give nearly everything we have to the government!"
Mrs. Ives smiled. "It is not quite as bad as that, Peggy, but we shall
see."
"I'm going right over now!" declared Peggy.
This is how it came about that after a quiet summer, without the
expected visit from the Lyon-Marsh party, but with cruises and hikes and
picnics, Peggy Ives was still with the Secrests. She was called by her
own name, Peggy or Marguerite Nave, though the girls occasionally called
her Angelina for fun and Dal said that he was "always sure an angel
descended when she leaped out of the air into the blackberry bushes."
Beth had consented to tutor Peggy and take care of her as long as it
seemed best for her to stay at the Eyrie, "and that may be all winter,"
Peggy confided to Dalton, who nodded assent.
Jack tried in vain to persuade Dalton to go to college with him, but
Dalton could not be persuaded. "No, Jack," he said at their final talk.
"You go to college, and Leslie and I may both come year after next. But
I want to finish this home, and keep Beth out of school this year if
possible. The way it looks now, she never will go back. It will be nip
and tuck between Jim Lyon and this Evan Tudor, I think, though Jim seems
to be losing out at present. I think that Beth is the heroine in that
best seller that Mr. Tudor is always joking about."
Jack nodded. "All right, Dal. I don't blame you for wanting to fix up
this place. And if you bring Leslie to my college year after next,--it
will be worth waiting for."
By fall the quaint new home was ready for cold weather. Plans had grown,
with their interest, till now it included the living room with its big
fireplace, two bedrooms and a tiny kitchen, though that would not be
used much when it grew cold. Dalton was full of plans for plumbing and
electricity and a still larger house, but Beth, while she never threw
cold water on the projects, was quite content to regard this as a happy
interlude and a summer home. There were more school days for Dalton and
Leslie, and as for her,--she had just received a letter from Mrs. Ives
which informed her that the father of Evan Tudor wanted to buy Steeple
Rocks! Simply, too, Mrs. Ives wrote that she was now a widow and that
the long strain of anxiety about her husband's always impending capture
was over.
On Christmas Eve, Peggy and Dalton were decorating the large room with
spruce boughs and some holly wreaths and mistletoe sent by Mrs. Ives.
The most perfect little Christmas tree that the Secrest woods could
furnish stood in front of the window, ready to be lit up for the world
to see, though that world might consist only of a few village children
in whose welfare Beth and the rest were interested.
Leslie sat in front of the fireplace stringing the last bit of corn out
of the popper for festoons upon the tree. Beth was finishing little net
stockings for nuts and candy. "We _must_ stop for some supper,
children," she was saying.
"Oh, never mind about supper; there's too much to do." Peggy gave Dalton
a mischievous glance as she spoke.
"Never," he promptly replied. "Didn't I bring home the bacon myself?"
"Yes, you did," answered Leslie, emptying the corn popper and rising
from the floor. "I'll cook that rabbit myself. I can watch it while we
finish up. What more is there to do, Beth?"
"Not so much. Anita's doll has to have a sash, Sonia's a cap and Josef's
drum needs hanging on the tree. If you will get the supper, I will
finish, Leslie. The baskets of food for them need a little more
arranging. Peggy and Dal may drape the popcorn on the tree, if they
will."
Something was already bubbling in an old-fashioned iron pot in the
fireplace; but it was the same old reliable and speedy "portable" which
Leslie used to cook the rabbit. Behind a tall screen in one corner of
the room stood a table, the stove and a cupboard, but primitive ways of
cooking in the fireplace, were fun when "used in moderation," as Peggy
put it.
Soon the savory supper was over and everything cleared away. Peggy and
Leslie lit the candles on the trees, for they knew that eager feet were
trampling the light snow in the path from the village. Childish voices
were heard outside before long and then there came a pause. Leslie was
about to fling open the door, but Beth signaled to her to wait. It was
Anita whose clear voice led the Christmas carol which Beth had taught
them, but the children were almost too excited to finish it properly for
the lights of the tree shone out over the snow to invite them within.
"I couldn't make 'em sing it vera good," said Anita, as Beth drew her
inside with the rest of the children and several mothers, one of whom
Beth had first met that day on the beach when someone else important
entered Beth's life to stay.
"It was _beautiful_," Beth answered lovingly. "Now we'll all sing
together while you warm your toes and fingers by the fire. Leslie, get
your guitar, please, and Peggy, you may lead us if you will. We shall
have Sarita to sing with us after Christmas. After we sing about the
little Christ-Child, we shall see what Santa can find for us on that
tree!"
Obediently the children sang and how they shouted when Dalton, who had
disappeared during the singing, appeared as Santa Claus with a
rosy-cheeked, white-bearded Santa Claus mask. There was no delay in
presenting the gifts, in providing which some absent friends had a
share.
It was much later, after the guests had gone, that Beth sat alone by the
fire. Dalton, Leslie and Peggy had taken their skates to the lake. Beth
felt a little lonely and was not in a mood to read. She was thinking of
someone whom Tom Carey had promised to take in whenever he could get
away for a trip to Maine. She was still thrilled over his last letter
and she wondered if he had yet received her reply. The flames curled
lazily around the last log that Dalton had put on before he left.
Unexpectedly, but appropriately to her thought, there came a little rap
that Beth knew. "Oh,--why--" she said, as she opened the door quickly to
a traveler in a big fur coat.
"I couldn't help it, Beth," said Evan Tudor, closing the door upon icy
breezes, tossing off his thick gloves and taking both her hands. "Beth,
dear, I have sold the 'best seller'! It has just been accepted and I had
to come on to make _sure_ that I am, too. It's Christmas Eve, Beth!"
"I didn't make any conditions, did I, Evan, in my letter? I'm glad about
the 'best seller'--and--you needn't worry about the rest. Oh, how
_wonderful_ to have you for Christmas!"
THE END