FOILED!
At Harriet's request Bab and Ruth went silently out of her room, their
faces white and frightened.
"Ruth, is there any place where we can be alone?" Barbara whispered
faintly. "I must talk with you."
Ruth nodded, and the two friends found their way into the library,
turning the key in the lock. Then they stood facing each other,
speechless, for a moment, from the very intensity of their feelings.
"Ruth, you must do something," Bab entreated. "The papers that Mrs.
Wilson and Mr. Dillon are making Harriet get for them they do not intend
to use for a joke. Oh, Ruth, they are no doubt important state papers!
Harriet may be betraying her country and ruining her father by placing
these papers in their hands."
"I think, too, that Mrs. Wilson and Peter Dillon are spies," Ruth
returned more quietly. "And, of course, we must do something to prevent
their getting their hands on the papers."
"But what can we do?" Barbara demanded sharply. "We cannot tell Mr.
Hamlin of Harriet's deed. It would be too cruel of us. Nor can we
confront Mrs. Wilson and Peter Dillon with the accusation. They would
only laugh at us, and declare that we were mad to have imagined any such
thing. Then, again, we would be betraying Harriet's confidence. We do not
know just what state papers Harriet is to give to them, but they must be
very, very valuable. I suppose those dreadful people will have the papers
copied, sell our country's secret, and return the papers to Harriet when
all the mischief has been done. Ruth, I believe, now, that Mrs. Wilson
and Peter Dillon both meant to make me steal Mr. Hamlin's papers. Then
they would have declared I had sold them to some one. And Mr. Hamlin
would never have suspected his friends. Now, they think poor Harriet will
be too much afraid to betray them."
Bab's voice trembled slightly. She realized how nearly she had been the
dupe of these two clever schemers. She felt that she and Ruth must save
Harriet at all events.
"Mrs. Wilson tried to steal Mr. Hamlin's papers the night she masqueraded
as a ghost," Barbara continued. "I picked up the envelope she dropped on
the floor in the hall."
"I know it, Barbara," Ruth answered in her self-controlled fashion,
which always had a calming effect on the more impetuous Bab. "I also
believe Mrs. Wilson meant to fix the guilt of the theft upon you. Uncle
William called me into his study the other day and asked me if I
considered you trustworthy. Of course I was awfully indignant and told
him just what I thought of him for being so suspicious. But I believe
Mrs. Wilson had tried to poison his mind against you. You must be on
your guard now, Bab, dear. If Harriet gives up these papers of Uncle's
the plotters may still try to use you as their scapegoat. When Uncle
finds his papers have disappeared Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Dillon will, of
course, appear to know nothing of them; but they will somehow try to
direct suspicion against you, trusting to Harriet's cowardice. Don't you
worry though, Bab, dear. You shall not suffer for Harriet's fault while
I am here."
"Oh, I am not worrying about myself, Ruth," Bab answered. "It is
Harriet's part in the affair that troubles me. Do, please, go to Harriet
and talk to her again. Surely you can make her see the risk she is
running. Do you suppose it would do any good if I were to call on Mrs.
Wilson? I could just pretend I still thought she meant to play the joke
on Mr. Hamlin. You know she told me she intended to do so. I could beg
her to give it up without mentioning Harriet's name or letting Mrs.
Wilson guess that Harriet had confided in us."
Ruth shook her head. "It would not do any good for you to go to Mrs.
Wilson, Bab. And, somehow, I am afraid for you. We do not know how much
further they intend to involve you in their plot."
"Oh, they won't do me any harm, now," Barbara rejoined. "Anyhow, I am
willing to take the risk, if Harriet will not give in."
"Just wait here, Bab, until I have been to see Harriet again," Ruth
entreated. "I will go down on my knees to her, if I can persuade her to
give up this wicked deed. Oh, why is she so determined to be so reckless
and so foolish?"
Fifteen minutes afterwards Ruth came back from her second interview with
Harriet, looking utterly discouraged. "Harriet simply won't give up,"
Ruth reported to Bab. "She is absolutely determined to go her own way,
and she is angry with me for interfering. Oh, Bab, what will happen?
Uncle is so proud! If his daughter is known to have given Mrs. Wilson and
Peter Dillon state papers, the report will be circulated that she stole
them, and Uncle William will be disgraced. Then, what will become of
Harriet? She does not intend to do wrong. But I simply can't make her
see this thing as we see it. So what can we do?" Unusually
self-contained, Ruth broke down, now, weeping on Bab's shoulder. The
thought of the dreadful disgrace to her uncle and her cousin was more
than she could face.
"I am going to see Mrs. Wilson, Ruth," Bab declared. "You had better
stay here and do your best with Harriet. The papers are not to be
delivered until four this afternoon, when, I believe, Harriet is to meet
Peter Dillon. Of course it was he who telephoned Harriet, only he was
clever enough to disguise his voice. So we have until afternoon to work.
Don't worry yourself sick. We simply must save Harriet in some way. I
don't pretend that I see the way clearly yet, but I have faith that it
will come. I cannot do any harm by going to Mrs. Wilson, and I may do
some good."
"I don't like you to go there alone, Bab," Ruth faltered. "But I don't
dare to leave Harriet by herself. She might find a way to give up the
papers while we were out, and then all would be lost!"
When Bab rang the bell at the door of Mrs. Wilson's home she did not know
that her approach had been watched. She meant to be very careful during
her interview, for she realized that she and Ruth were endeavoring to
foil two brilliant and unscrupulous enemies.
Mrs. Wilson and Peter were in the library, and through the window Mrs.
Wilson had watched Bab approaching the house.
"Here comes that tiresome Thurston girl, whom you were going to use as
your tool, Peter," teased Mrs. Wilson. "She wasn't so easy to manage as
you thought, was she? Never mind; she will still be used as our
scapegoat. But I shall not see her this morning. What's the use?"
"Let her come in, by all means, Mrs. Wilson," Peter Dillon urged. "I
shall hide so that she will not see me. What would fall in with our plans
better than to have this girl come here to-day! Who knows how this visit
may be made to count against her? Of course, if suspicion never points to
us we had best never mention the name of Barbara Thurston. But--if Mr.
Hamlin ever questions you, why not say Miss Thurston came here to-day and
betrayed the fact to you that she had stolen Mr. Hamlin's papers? We have
circumstantial evidence enough against her."
Bab found Mrs. Wilson very much surprised to see her, and looking very
languid and bored.
Straightforward Barbara rushed headlong into her request.
"Really, Miss Thurston, don't you think you are rather impertinent?"
drawled her hostess, when Bab finished. "I don't see what business it is
of yours whether or not I wish to play a joke on my friend, Mr. Hamlin.
Don't try to get out of mischief by reporting to Mr. Hamlin the story of
my poor little joke. You can hardly save yourself by any such method. No
one will believe you. And I have an idea that you came to my house
to-day for a very different purpose than to persuade me to give up my
joke. What was it?"
Bab was mystified. She had no idea how Mrs. Wilson and Peter Dillon had
planned to use her visit as evidence against her, so it was impossible
for her to understand Mrs. Wilson's insinuation.
Barbara did not stay long. She saw Mrs. Wilson had no intention of being
persuaded from her design. Even though the woman was beginning to see
that Bab and Ruth were a little suspicious of her, she had no idea of
being frightened from her deep-laid scheme by two insignificant
schoolgirls.
Barbara hurried to her car as fast as she could, anxious to get back to
Ruth and to devise some other move to checkmate the traitors. She even
hoped, against hope, that Harriet had been induced to change her mind and
that all would yet be well. But as Bab jumped aboard her car she saw
another girl, running down the street, waving something in the air and
evidently trying to induce Bab's street car to wait for her. Barbara
begged the conductor to hold the car for a moment, before she recognized
the figure, running toward them. But the next second she beheld the
ever-present newspaper girl, Marjorie Moore, tablet and pencil in hand,
completely out of breath and exhausted. Marjorie Moore could not speak
for some time after she had secured a seat next Bab in the car.
"I have been watching Mrs. Wilson's house since eight o'clock this
morning," she finally gasped. "What on earth made you go in there?"
"I can't tell you," Bab returned coldly. Not for anything in the world
would she have Marjorie Moore suspect what she and Ruth feared.
Miss Moore gave a little, half amused, half sarcastic laugh. "You can't
tell? Oh, never mind, my dear. I know you are all right. You weren't
doing anything wrong. I expect you were trying to help set matters
straight. You don't need to tell me anything. I think I know all that is
necessary. Good-bye now. I must get off this car at the corner. Let me
tell you, however, not to worry, whatever happens. I am in possession of
all the facts, so there will be no trouble in proving them. But if
anything disagreeable happens to you," Marjorie Moore gave Bab a
reassuring smile, "telephone me, will you? My number is 1607, Union."
Marjorie Moore rushed out of the street car as hurriedly as she had
entered it, before Bab could take in what she had said.
Barbara puzzled all the rest of the way home. Could it be possible that
Marjorie Moore had discovered Mrs. Wilson's and Peter's plot? Could she
also have guessed Harriet's part in it? Bab shuddered, for she remembered
the newspaper girl's words to her on the night of their first meeting:
"If ever I have a chance to get even with Harriet Hamlin, won't I take my
revenge?" Did Marjorie Moore also suspect that an effort would be made to
draw Barbara into this whirlpool of disgrace?
No one ate any luncheon at the home of the Assistant Secretary of State,
except Mollie and Grace. Fortunately Mr. Hamlin did not return home. Ruth
and Bab had decided not to tell the other two "Automobile Girls" of their
terrible uneasiness unless they actually needed the help of the younger
girls to save the situation. Ruth and Bab did not wish to prejudice
Mollie and Grace against Harriet if it were possible to spare her. But
Ruth had told Bab that, at four o'clock, Harriet was determined to
deliver the papers to Peter Dillon.
At two o'clock, however, the two friends had found no way to influence
Harriet to give up her mad project. Indeed, Harriet scarcely spoke to
either of them, she was so bitterly angry at what she termed their
interference.
At three o'clock, Ruth and Barbara grew desperate. For, at three, Harriet
Hamlin closed the door of her bedroom and commenced to dress for her
engagement.
"Try once again, Ruth," Bab pleaded. "It is worse even than you know. I
believe Marjorie Moore suspects what Harriet is about to do. Suppose she
publishes the story in the morning papers. Tell Harriet I have a reason
for thinking she knows about the affair."
Bab waited apprehensively for Ruth's return. It seemed to her that, for
the first time in their adventures, the "Automobile Girls" had met with
a situation that no amount of pluck or effort on their part could
control. This was the most important experience of their whole lives,
for their country was about to be betrayed! Once Barbara stamped her
foot in her impatience. How dared Harriet Hamlin be so willful, so
headstrong? Bab's face was white with anxiety and suspense. Her lips
twitched nervously. Then in a flash her whole expression changed. The
color came back to her cheeks, the light to her eyes. At the eleventh
hour the way had been made clear.
Ruth had no such look when she returned to Barbara. She flung herself
despondently into a chair. "It's no use," she declared despairingly.
"Harriet must go her own way. We can do nothing with her!"
"Yes, we can!" Bab whispered. She leaned over and murmured something in
Ruth's ear.
Ruth sprang to her feet. "Barbara Thurston, you are perfectly wonderful!"
she cried. "Yes, I do know where it is. Go to my desk and take that blank
paper. It is just the right size. Fold it up in three parts. There, it
will do, now; give it to me. Now go and command Grace and Mollie, if they
love us, to call Harriet out of her room for a minute. We can explain to
them afterwards."
Mollie and Grace feared Barbara had gone suddenly mad when she rushed in
upon them with her demand. But Mollie did manage to persuade Harriet to
go into the next room. As Harriet slipped out of her bedroom, her cousin,
Ruth Stuart, stole into it, hiding something she held in her hand. She
was alone in Harriet's room for not more than two minutes.
At a quarter to four o'clock, Harriet Hamlin left her father's house
with a large envelope concealed inside her shopping bag. Opposition
had merely strengthened Harriet's original resolution. She was no
longer frightened. Ruth and Bab were absurd to have been so tragic over
a silly joke.
At a little after four o'clock, in a quiet, out-of-the-way street in
Washington, Harriet turned over to Peter Dillon this envelope, which, as
she supposed, contained the much-coveted papers which she had extracted
from the private collection of the Assistant Secretary of State.
Whatever the papers were, Peter Dillon took them carelessly with his
usual charming smile. But inwardly he was chanting a song of victory. He
and Mrs. Wilson would be many-thousands of dollars richer by this time
to-morrow. He glanced into the envelope with his near-sighted eyes. The
papers were folded up inside and all was well! Peter did not dare, before
Harriet, to be too interested in what the envelope contained.
It would not have made him happier to have looked closer; the song of
victory would have died away on his lips. For, instead of certain secret
documents sent to the office of the Secretary of State, from
representatives of the United States Government in China, Harriet Hamlin
had turned over to Peter Dillon an official envelope, which contained
only folded sheets of blank paper!
It had been Barbara's idea and Ruth had carried it out successfully. In
the moment when Harriet left her room in answer to Mollie's call, Ruth
had exchanged the valuable state papers for the worthless ones. Once
Harriet was safely out of the way, she and Bab carried the precious
documents downstairs and shut them up in Mr. Hamlin's desk. Both girls
hoped that all trouble was now averted, and that Mr. Hamlin would never
hear of Harriet's folly!