CONCERNING TODHAM TODD
It was quite evident that Miss Todd was in no condition to go to any of
the city hotels. She needed rest and quiet more than anything else, and
when she had been revived a few minutes later, Mrs. Hardy insisted that
she remain in the Hardy home for a few days as a guest. Her sympathy
had gone out to the distracted woman, and although at first Evangeline
Todd would not consider the proposal, being afraid of imposing on their
hospitality, Mr. Hardy insisted that she remain.
"Your story interests me very much," he said. "I'll be very glad to
take the case, on one condition."
"What condition is that?"
"On condition that you accept our invitation to stay here for a while
until you are feeling better."
So Evangeline Todd was prevailed upon to stay and Fenton Hardy at once
prepared to take up the trail of the missing professor. He had no
important cases in hand at the time, so he was able to spare a few days
for preliminary investigation work and he decided that his best plan
was to go directly to the college town where the Todds had their home.
"Sometimes a professional, and a stranger, can pick up clues that
wouldn't fall in the way of a police detective who is known in the
town," he said. "I'll run up there and see what I can discover."
Mr. Hardy was accustomed to being called out of town suddenly and the
family were used to his abrupt departures. The detective was a man who
acted quickly, once he had made a decision, and Miss Todd was surprised
to see him leaving immediately.
"No use wasting any time," he explained cheerfully, having paused only
long enough to pack a bag with a few essentials. "I'll get busy at
once."
Although Frank and Joe Hardy were curious to learn further details of
the latest mystery on which their father was working, and in which they
had taken a small part, Miss Todd had evidently suffered more from her
adventure in Barmet Bay than they had at first thought. She was obliged
to keep to her room over Sunday and the lads had no chance to talk to
her, as Mrs. Hardy decided that their guest should not be disturbed.
Wisely, Mrs. Hardy wanted to keep the woman's mind off the matter of
her brother's disappearance and she knew that if the boys besieged her
with questions her state of anxiety would be only rendered worse.
On Monday, when the boys returned to school, they were met at the gate
by Chet Morton, heading a group of grinning chums. Chet, a plump,
jovial youth, equally fond of food and fun, held up a restraining hand.
"We would fain talk with thee, noble youths," he said. "Humble varlets
though we are, we would crave your indulgence for a time."
"You sound like Shakespeare or somebody," said Joe.
"Probably somebody," Chet agreed. "Young masters, we have gathered here
to-day to do honor to two brave and bright young men whom we are proud
to call our chums. Perhaps," he went on, in the manner of an orator,
"in the years to come, when we are poor and unnoticed people, we may
be able to say to our grandchildren that once upon a time we went to
school with the Hardy boys, that we went swimming with them, and that
they often gave us rides in their motorboat. However, that is not
getting to the point--"
"What's it all about?" asked Frank. "What's all this speech for?"
"Patience. Patience. Our little committee has waited patiently for
your arrival and now we wish to show you our esteem and regard. It has
come to our notice that on Saturday, the fourteenth instant, you did
bravely, heroically, and nobly perform the humane act of hauling an
old lady out of the water when she had swallowed several gallons of
Barmet Bay and was in grave danger of drowning. As a slight token of
our appreciation we wish you to accept these little tokens--" here Chet
gestured to Biff Hooper, who grinned and stepped forward with two shiny
objects on an old cushion--"not so much for their intrinsic value,
which is considerable, but for the spirit in which they are meant."
Chet took a deep breath.
"I don't know whether that's all quite correct," he said, "but I
learned some of it from a book."
Then, very gravely, he picked up the shiny objects, which proved to be
impromptu medals carved from the tops of tin biscuit boxes, dangling
from red ribbons, and pinned one on the chest of each of the Hardy boys.
There were loud cheers and shrieks of laughter from the boys at this
mock ceremony, and the Hardy boys joined in the laugh as well. However,
behind all the nonsense, the lads realized that their chums were proud
of them. The tin medals were embarrassing, and the boys watched for
their first opportunity to take them off.
"Seriously," said Chet, some time later when he was alone with the
brothers, "the fellows think you did some mighty smart work fishing
that lady out of the water. The captain of the boat told people about
it when the yacht docked."
"We couldn't very well stand by and watch her drown," said Frank. "If
Biff and Tony could have got there first they'd have done the same."
"Sure! But the point is, you chaps got there first and saved her life.
If you hadn't been there, Biff and Tony couldn't have done very much,
for their boats aren't fast enough. Where is the lady now? Did she give
you her name?"
Frank and Joe then told Chet about Miss Evangeline Todd and about the
coincidence that her visit to Bayport had been with the object of
seeing Fenton Hardy. Chet was greatly interested when they told him
about her search for the missing professor.
"A professor missing, eh? That's something new. If one of the
professor's students had disappeared there wouldn't be much mystery
about it. I know one student of this high school who would like to drop
out of sight for a while--until after these exams are over, at any
rate."
"You're hopeless," laughed Frank, and just then the opening bell rang,
cutting off further conversation.
When the boys returned home at noon they found that Miss Todd had
recovered sufficiently to come downstairs. She seemed in much better
spirits and the rest had evidently done her a great deal of good,
because she was not in the highly nervous state of the previous
Saturday.
"It's such a relief to know that the case is in good hands," she said.
"If Fenton Hardy can't find poor Todham, I'm sure no one can. Though he
may turn up of his own accord," she added.
"We'll hope for the best," said Mrs. Hardy quietly.
"Dad didn't like to question you too much on Saturday," Frank remarked.
"He didn't want to bother you more than he could help."
"I'm afraid I wasn't in any condition to tell him many details."
"Perhaps if you would tell us anything you overlooked, we might be able
to help out a little, too."
Miss Todd was thoughtful for a moment.
"There were a few things about Todham that would identify him almost
anywhere," she said. "For instance, he was very careless about his
shoes."
"His shoes?" echoed the boys.
"He _would_ not keep them laced. It was simply impossible to keep an
eye on that man, and if I didn't watch him he was just as likely as not
to go out to classes in the morning with his shoelaces dragging on the
ground, and he wouldn't notice them unless he tripped over them. He was
very absent-minded."
"That's a pretty good clue to go on. What did your brother look like,
Miss Todd?"
"He was tall and rather thin. His hair was white and he was
clean-shaven. His eyes and his teeth were very good. Even in spite of
his age and all the reading and studying, he never had to wear glasses.
Oh, yes--there's something else. He had an expression he often used,
about as near swearing as he ever went. 'By jing!' it was. Whenever
he was excited about anything or wanted to emphasize something he had
said, he would always exclaim 'by jing!' I remember that he forgot
himself in a lecture one day and said that. The dean spoke to him about
it."
"'By jing!'" remarked Frank thoughtfully. "It isn't an expression one
hears every day."
"It was the only expression I can remember that was quite
characteristic of Todham."
Miss Todd had little of further value to tell them, and when the Hardy
boys were by themselves later on they discussed the peculiarities of
the missing professor.
"He forgets to tie his shoelaces and he says 'by jing!'" observed Joe.
"It should be easy enough to pick him out with a description like that.
It's strange he hasn't turned up long ago."
"Unless he met somebody who knew he was missing and who had heard of
those little habits, he wouldn't be noticed. And it's just about a
thousand chances to one that we would ever run across him."
"Well, we can at least make a note of it and tell Dad when he comes
back. Chances are, he will never hear about those things, and Miss Todd
may forget to tell him. It might help him a lot."
"I guess this is one mystery where we won't have much chance to help,"
said Frank ruefully. "Still, we'll do what we can."
But the Hardy boys were destined to take an even more active part in
the mystery of Todham Todd than Fenton Hardy himself.