NAN IS FRIGHTENED
Nan played tennis with Walter the next day, and what is more, she beat
him, four out of six. She declared later that it must have been either
pure luck, or the fact that Walter was so dazed with surprise at finding
that it was possible for a girl to beat him that he had given her two
sets before he had recovered from the shock.
Be that as it may, the fact remained that Nan had to work her hardest to
wrest a set from him after that, and felt very lucky if she managed to
win one out of three.
On the other hand, Walter had to work his hardest to keep Nan from
making a "fool" of him and winning everything. Consequently his
admiration for the girl from Tillbury rose at least ten points.
The other girls were interested in the game also, although of the three,
Grace was by far the best player. Lazy Bess much preferred reading a
magazine on the immense piazza of the hotel to chasing a ball around in
the hot sun.
There were so many wonderful things to occupy their attention that a
week flew by before they knew it. Almost without sensing it, the girls
had drifted into the routine of gay activities that prevailed at the
resort.
There was usually a brisk walk before breakfast. That is, there was for
Nan, Rhoda, Grace and Walter. Bess was often too tired after the gaiety
of the day before to get up before breakfast to take anything so
uninteresting as a walk.
Then came breakfast, an event in itself, for the food was delicious,
especially to such ravenous appetites as the girls and Walter brought
back to it, and the beautiful dining-room of the hotel was a treat to
the eye.
After breakfast the majority of the guests sallied forth to the delights
of motoring or sailing or tennis, while the others either lingered on
the porch or sauntered over to the golf links to play a game of golf,
or, if anglers, went out on a fishing excursion.
The golf course was between the two hotels, so that the players not only
furnished amusement for themselves but for all those who cared to watch
them.
Later in the morning, somewhere between eleven o'clock and noon, was the
hour for bathing. Then all who cared to go in the water made a dash for
the ocean, and had a cool, invigorating plunge before luncheon. This was
the hour that Nan liked best of all.
Later in the afternoon, one could either go over to the cocoanut grove
for afternoon tea and a dance or two or take what was in many cases a
much-needed rest.
At night the girls loved to have dinner in the Garden Grill, for the
place itself was a romantic dream of beauty with its palm trees and
boxes of shrubs. And the music--the music carried them far away from the
present on golden wings of melody and made them forget that there was
anything sordid or unpleasant in all the world.
Perhaps the evening was the time that most of the Palm Beach visitors
lived for. Then came the chance to display beautiful gowns and flashing
jewels of fabulous worth.
There was a glamor about the lights and music and gowns and jewels that
quite went to wealth-loving Bess's head, and even made steady Rhoda's
heart beat faster and eyes shine brighter.
As for Nan and Grace--they were just in their element, and showed it.
Of course they met Linda Riggs occasionally. It would have been
impossible for them not to have done so. But as the disagreeable girl
continued consistently to ignore them, the chums just as consistently
adopted the same attitude.
They met several other girls of about their own age, and two of these
girls had their brothers with them, and these youths had two chums
along--so none of the girls wanted for partners when it came to dancing
or playing tennis. In fact, sometimes they had "more partners than were
really needed," as Bess put it.
"But you are not going to complain because you have enough partners, are
you?" queried Grace.
"Oh, no, indeed," cried Bess. "I am glad there are more boys here.
Imagine Walter having to take care of all of us."
One day all of them went for a horseback ride. This put Rhoda in her
element, and, seated on a fine, spirited steed, the girl from Rose Ranch
gave as fine an exhibition of horsemanship as had been seen at Palm
Beach for a long time.
"Your chum rides like a regular western girl," said one of the boys
present, to Nan.
"And that is just what she is," answered Nan. "And one of the best girls
in the world besides."
"I don't doubt it. I wish I could ride half as well."
"Maybe Rhoda will give you lessons."
"No such luck, I'm afraid," said the boy. "But I'll ask her anyway," and
he did, with the result that he and Rhoda went out half a dozen times,
and the girl from Rose Ranch taught him many of her best riding tricks.
"He's a splendid fellow, Will Halliday is," said Rhoda to Nan. "He likes
outdoor life--and that's the best there is."
"Does he come from out West?"
"The middle West--Iowa."
"You are making a good rider of him, Rhoda."
"Well, I like somebody who takes a real interest in a horse," answered
the girl from Rose Ranch.
One night in the ballroom, Rhoda espied Linda across the room and with
her was a girl who looked familiar. She called Nan's attention to the
fact.
"Why, yes," said Nan with a puzzled frown. "It looks like--why, Rhoda,
it is----"
"Cora Courtney!" finished Rhoda in a "what-will-happen next" tone of
voice.
"Let's go over and make sure," said Nan, and they started to skirt the
floor, hugging the wall to escape the dancers, for the floor was already
crowded with them. But when they reached the spot where Linda and her
companion had been, the latter were gone, and, try as they would, the
girls could not find them.
"It seems awfully strange," said Nan as they disappointedly found their
way back to their seats, "that if the girl was really Cora we haven't
seen her before."
They told Bess and Grace about it later, and they agreed that the
incident looked queer, to say the least. However, they had so many
things to think about in the days that followed, that Linda slipped
entirely from their minds.
One morning the girls decided to forego their usual game of tennis and
take an early dip instead. Nan had complained of an ache in the muscles
of her right arm, and as the trouble almost undoubtedly came from
overstrain, Walter had insisted that she take "a day off."
The weather had seemed uncomfortably warm at the hotel, but when they
reached the beach the girls were surprised to find that they felt
chilly.
"Goodness!" said Bess with a shiver, "I think I will let you girls go in
and I'll stay here. Experience has taught me that the beautiful green
ocean about these parts isn't always as balmy and warm as it's reported
to be."
"No, you don't," said Nan decidedly. "You know very well it spoils all
the fun if one of us backs out. Come on, Rhoda, you take the other arm.
One--two--three--go!" and Bess was hurried, half laughing and half angry
and wholly protesting, down to the water's edge and promptly ducked
under a foam-tipped, hungry, man-eating wave.
She came out on the other side and struck out manfully, puffing and
steaming like a young whale.
The girls watched her laughingly for a minute, then plunged in after
her.
"My, the water is cold," sputtered Grace, as the girls struck out
abreast with long, beautifully even strokes. "Poor Bess! I don't know
but what she had the right idea after all."
The hour being so early, the girls had that particular portion of Old
Man Ocean almost to themselves. There were a few early bathers, however,
and among these was a man with a long, thin face and a mouth that was
set in a hard, straight line.
Nan, doing the crawl with her head under water, came up directly in
front of this unpleasant-looking person and was so startled and
surprised in consequence that she almost forgot to keep herself afloat.
Her paralysis remained only a moment, however, and in a flash of time
she was swimming back toward her companions.
As for the man, having given Nan a careful look, he suddenly made a dash
for the shore and one of the bathhouses.
"I reckon this is my chance," he said, as he got into his clothing with
all speed. "I'll do the trick while she is in bathing."
Nan was almost out of breath when she reached her chums.
"Listen to me!" she gasped. "I've got to get up to the hotel--and at
once!"
"Nan Sherwood, is it serious this time, or is this only another of your
attacks?" asked Bess impatiently. "Here you are the one who dragged us
into the water at this early hour, and now you want to spoil all the fun
by breaking up the party. For goodness' sake, listen to reason," she
wailed, as Nan, with a determined shake of her red-capped head, started
in toward shore.
"Haven't time," she flung back.
"You can at least tell us what the matter is," called Grace, as
reluctant as Bess to cut short the fun.
"Haven't time," Nan repeated, half way in to shore now.
Bess and Grace paddled the water and looked at each other helplessly.
"Don't you think we had better go, too?" asked Rhoda uncertainly.
"No, I don't," was Bess's cross answer. "Nan's acting awfully funny
these days, anyway. I think she has another secret."
As for Nan, she did not wait to see whether the girls were following her
or not, but ran posthaste to her bathhouse, where she exchanged her
bathing suit for more formal attire. Then she hurried on to the hotel.
She had not seen this man since his arrival at Palm Beach, and the
sudden appearance of his face so close to hers in the water had startled
her horribly. Her first thought had been of the documents in her
suitcase and her one desire to get to them as soon as possible.
"Oh, what a fool I was not to give those papers to Mr. Mason, or have
them placed in the hotel safe," she scolded to herself. She called
herself several kinds of a goose as she ran down the quiet corridor to
her room. As she stood before the door a slight noise within sent her
heart suddenly into her mouth, and she hesitated before turning the
knob.
Then, with desperate courage, she flung the door wide and stepped into
the room. Before her bed a tall, thin man was standing, and on the bed
was a bag, her bag, partly open, with the contents showing!
In a moment her fear changed to flaming indignation, and she sprang
forward, flinging herself before the bag and pushing the man away from
her with furious, impotent little fists.
"You little imp!" the fellow snarled, catching her wrists and holding
them in an iron grip. "You just dare make a noise, and I'll show you
who's boss. You little----"
"Nan! Oh, Nan, what's the matter?"
The voice held a frightened note, and its owner was evidently running
along the corridor toward Nan's open door. The man said something under
his breath, released Nan's wrists, and darted toward the window.
Nan, conscious of a stabbing pain in her wrists, followed him, but not
in time to stop his flight. She saw him disappear down the fire escape
and then, with a little stifled sob, turned back into the room and found
herself face to face with her startled chums.
"Nan! you look like a ghost," cried Bess, flinging an arm about the
girl and drawing her to the bed.
"We thought we heard a man's voice," added Rhoda, staring with
fascinated eyes from Nan to the half-opened bag on the bed.
Grace was plainly frightened. "Nan! was that man here?"
"Yes," said Nan faintly. "He was here and he--oh, girls, it was
dreadful! I can't talk about it." And she broke down with a sob and
buried her head on Bess's shoulder.