A WHITE MITTEN
Days passed, and still no news of little Don. Chuck now made it a
habit to wait for Phyllis and walk home with her and Janet.
Each day the greeting was the same.
"Any news?" and always Chuck shook his head and answered, "Not yet."
Friday morning Janet woke up with a sore throat and a headache, and
Miss Carter kept her home. Phyllis went to school as usual, and in the
afternoon Chuck met her.
"The week's almost up," he said after the usual question had been asked
and answered, "and Uncle Don is determined to go on Monday with the
money. He's had a letter since the first, you know, telling him to
double the sum."
"Will they have Don there at the house waiting for him?" Phyllis
inquired.
"No, indeed. There's not a word about that. The detectives say that
they will probably try to take the money by force; perhaps knock Uncle
Don senseless. They don't want him to go, but they have to admit that
they haven't a single clew."
"Oh, Chuck, isn't it hateful not to be able to do a single thing to
help?" Phyllis's voice rang with real emotion.
"You bet," Chuck agreed. "I lie awake at night thinking all kinds of
things and planning what I'd do if I ever caught those brutes, but that
doesn't do much good. I wish Uncle Don would let me go with him on
Monday. I'd take a gun along and do a little holding up on my own
hook."'
"But that would only make things worse; they'd be sure to do something
awful to Don then," Phyllis reasoned.
"Suppose so," Chuck was forced to admit. "I don't suppose I'll see you
to-morrow, will I?" he added.
"Why not?" Phyllis inquired. "Come over to the house in the afternoon
and we can go for a walk."
Chuck looked at her gratefully. "Thanks, guess I will; I'll be over
about two." He lifted his cap as they reached the steps of the house
and turned to go. "Tell Janet I'm sorry she is sick," he called back,
and Phyllis nodded as Annie opened the door.
She found Janet up and dressed, but playing the invalid up in the
snuggery.
"Any news?" she called, as she heard Phyllis's step on the stairs.
"Not yet, and the week's almost up," Phyllis replied sadly.
"Did you walk home with Chuck?"
"Yes, and he said he was very sorry you were sick and he sent you his
love."
"Thanks, but what are they going to do?"
Phyllis gave a little shudder.
"Don't use that awful word '_they_,'" she said. "It always means the
kidnappers to me, and somehow or other every time I hear it I seem to
see bandits with gold ear-rings and red handkerchiefs tied round their
heads, and they are always doing something horrible to little Don."
"I know," Janet agreed sympathetically, "only I don't think of _they_
as that kind of bandit. I wish I did. It wouldn't be half so hard to
find them and have a real old fight, but these creatures that have
stolen Don are men and they look just like everybody else."
"Except inside," Phyllis added.
"Of course, but their insides don't help. We can't see anything but
their everyday outside looks," Janet reminded her.
Phyllis was thoughtful for a little, then she said slowly, "I'm sure I
don't know why I should feel so terribly about it; worse than the rest
of you, I mean, but somehow I do. Don was such a darling that day that
I met him in the park, and I've sort of loved him ever since, and now
to think that he's shut up somewhere and can't get out, and that
perhaps he's being badly treated and starved. Oh, Jan, I just can't
bear it, and if I feel like this just imagine his poor father!"
"But surely they--the detectives--will find him,"--Janet tried to
console; "and anyhow Monday something is bound to happen."
"Yes, and worrying won't help, and it's unkind to you, poor
darling,"--Phyllis smiled with determination. "How is the throat, and
the head by this time?"
"Oh, loads better. I feel perfectly well; but it's such fun being an
invalid. I told Annie to bring luncheon up here. Auntie Mogs is out
and I waited for you."
"Angel, you must be starved to death, but here comes Annie now. I can
hear her venerable boots creaking up the stairs."
Annie appeared with a tray, and Phyllis busied herself putting the
table where Janet could reach it comfortably.
"Filet of sole and that nice sauce that Lucy knows I love; how nice."
She sat down opposite Janet, and for the time being gave herself up to
cheering her.
"Sally and Daphne are coming over to-morrow morning. They both sent
their love and everybody was so, so sorry you were sick. I had to
answer questions all morning. Even old Ducky Lucky said she hoped
you'd be better, though I really think she has grave doubts as to
whether I was not masquerading as you."
Janet laughed.
"I never thought I could miss school so much," she said, "but it has
seemed ages since you left. Auntie Mogs has been an angel; she read to
me all morning and only went out because I simply made her."
The afternoon wore on slowly. Phyllis did not go out, but insisted on
reading aloud to Janet.
In the middle of the afternoon the room grew stuffy, and she went to
open the window. Of chance she looked down on the roof below her and
just across the yard. Something white caught her eye.
[Illustration: Something white caught her eye]
"Jan, come here a second," she said breathlessly, and Janet hurried to
her side.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Look down there," Phyllis pointed. "What do you see?"
Janet looked. "Why, it seems to be a white mitten," she said.
Phyllis faced her squarely, her breath was coming in short little
gasps. For a second Janet did not understand, then the bond of
understanding that so closely bound them, as twins, together made her
see what was going on in Phyllis's mind.
"Don?" she asked quietly.
Phyllis nodded and stared harder at the tiny mitten, and her thoughts
raced. For Janet's benefit she voiced them.
"The wire screen, first, then Don talking to the caretaker."
"When?" Janet interrupted.
"The day we went in Taffy's car up to Miss Pringle's. Then I saw him.
As we left he went in. Then last Monday, remember, I told you I saw
Miss Pringle go in that house?"
"Yes, you described her hat and the funny way she acted."
"And now there's a baby's mitten under the window. Of course it
doesn't prove anything but--" Phyllis broke off abruptly and went out
of the room. When she returned she had a pair of field glasses with
her and she looked at the roof through them.
"There's a blue band on the edge of it," she said, handing the glasses
to Janet. "Look, and don't leave the window until I get back," she
directed.
She hurried to the telephone and got the Vincents' house on the wire
and asked to speak to Chuck. His voice answered her after a little
wait.
"Chuck, this is Phyllis Page speaking," she said. "I don't want to
give you any false hopes, but something queer has happened. I've found
a little white mitten, and I think it belongs to Don. No, don't ask
questions. I haven't time to answer them. Just find out from Don's
nurse what his mittens were like and then come straight over here, and
be sure not to say anything to your mother or your uncle, for I may be
all wrong."
She hung up the receiver before Chuck could reply and hurried back to
the snuggery. Janet was still looking out of the window as though she
feared the mitten might fly away if she took her eyes from it.
They waited until the door bell announced Chuck's arrival. Phyllis
flew down the stairs to meet him.
"Here," he said, by way of greeting and he handed her a white mitten.
Phyllis took it eagerly; it had a blue border, and it was handmade
after a pattern of long ago.
"Nannie always makes them," Chuck explained. "Where's the one you
found?"
"Come up here and I'll show you."
Janet gave the glasses to Chuck as soon as he entered the snuggery and
Phyllis pointed to the roof below and using as few words as she
possibly could she explained about the caretaker and Miss Pringle.
"I've got to get that mitten," Chuck announced. "Is there a window
below this to your roof?"
"Yes, from the butler's pantry," Phyllis told him. "You could crawl
along the fence to that roof easily. It's only a little way."
"Then I'll do it now," Chuck decided.
"Oh, but you mustn't," Phyllis protested. "If any one saw you from one
of the windows they'd know what you were doing and then all sorts of
awful things might happen."
Chuck reluctantly agreed, and they all thought hard for the next few
minutes.
"I think I have it," Phyllis said at last. "There are only two people
in the house that we know of, the caretaker and Miss Pringle. Now if
some one rang the bell when the caretaker was out, Miss Pringle would
have to come to the door. That would leave the coast clear for you."
"Go on," Chuck prompted.
"There's nothing else," Phyllis answered. "We will just have to wait
until the caretaker goes out."
Chuck groaned at the thought of time wasted.
"When's that likely to be?" he demanded.
"About sunset. He takes care of some of the furnaces in the
neighborhood, so he'll be gone for quite a while," Phyllis told him.
"I'll go and watch at the corner," Chuck decided.
"What are you going to do if you find the mitten is Don's?" the
practical Janet asked, and Phyllis and Chuck looked at each other.
"Notify the police," Chuck said at last, but Janet shook her head.
"It might be too late. Miss Pringle's sure to be suspicious if Phyllis
rings the bell and then has nothing to say, and she may take Don away."
She spoke as though the mitten had already been identified.
"I'll tell you," said Phyllis. "Chuck, you watch at the corner, and
when you see the caretaker go you come back and go over the roof. I'll
ring the bell then and I'll talk my head off to Miss Pringle. If the
mitten is Don's, you climb up to the window. We've a ladder in the
cellar."
"And I can take it across the yard and help you haul it up," Janet
announced. "It's not a bit heavy."
"Go on," Chuck said again.
"You go into the room and get Don and--" Phyllis paused; the window
seemed at a dizzy height now that she thought of it as a descent for
Don.
"I'll take him downstairs and straight out the front door," Chuck
exclaimed. "I'd like to see a dozen Miss Pringles stop me."
Phyllis looked at him and decided that it would indeed take more than
the weak flutterings of the old costume-maker to stop him.
He hurried down the stairs, and they heard the door slam behind him.