_Release_
While her parents and her friends at Shady Nook were imagining all sorts
of horrors for Mary Louise, the day actually passed peacefully for her.
It was a terrible shock to waken up in that bare little bedroom with the
iron bars at the window, but after the first realization of it was over,
she found comfort in work. For, unlike the previous night, she was not
allowed to be idle.
Miss Stone came in at seven o'clock with a tray of breakfast in her
hands.
"And how do you feel today, dear?" she inquired cheerfully.
Mary Louise opened sleepy eyes and looked about her, trying to remember
where she was. For one ghastly moment she felt as if she would scream as
the horror of the whole thing came back to her. But, realizing that such
an act would only help to confirm her nurse's belief in her insanity, she
managed to control herself. The sun was shining, Miss Stone was
kind--surely Mary Louise would find a way out. So she smiled back at the
woman.
"I'm fine, Miss Stone," she said. "Am I supposed to get dressed?"
"Eat your breakfast first," was the reply. "After today you'll probably
eat with the other patients. But the doctor is coming in to make an
examination this morning."
Mary Louise nodded. "And then what do I do?"
"You tidy up your own room and then take some part in the household
duties. You may have your choice of cleaning, cooking, washing dishes, or
sewing. Then you'll eat lunch in the dining room and spend an hour
outdoors in the garden. After that there is a rest period, when you may
read or sew, if you like. We have a small library, and there is a class
in knitting too, if you prefer. Then supper--and vespers."
"It sounds fine--so much better than doing nothing," replied Mary Louise.
"I think for my particular work I'll choose cooking. I'm pretty good at
cakes and pies."
"That's nice, dear," concluded Miss Stone, turning towards the door. "Be
ready to see the doctor in about an hour."
"May I have a shower?"
"Yes. I'll come back in fifteen minutes to take you."
"But I'm not a baby!" protested Mary Louise. "I'm quite used to giving
myself baths."
"I know, dear, but it's a rule. Sometimes patients drown themselves if we
don't watch them. Maybe--later on----"
She did not finish the sentence, but left the room, locking the door
behind her. It was very like a nightmare, Mary Louise thought, as she
picked up her tray--a dream in which you found yourself locked up
somewhere without any means of escape. But she meant to get away just the
same, if she had to climb that ten-foot wall to accomplish it!
She decided immediately that she would be an exemplary patient, that she
would work hard and do everything she was told to do. Gradually, perhaps,
her liberty would be increased as the attendants learned that she could
be trusted.
In spite of her blue calico uniform, Mary Louise looked exceedingly
pretty that morning when the doctor came in to see her. Her cheeks were
glowing with perfect health, and her dark eyes were smiling. The room, as
well as her person, was meticulously neat.
She identified the doctor immediately as the man who had received her the
day before at the door of the institution.
"Good-morning, Miss Adams," he said, regarding her with admiration.
"You're looking well today."
"I'm fine," replied Mary Louise. "Only my name doesn't happen to be Miss
Adams," she couldn't help adding.
The physician smiled, and she detected a shade of pity in his expression.
Something like that in Miss Stone's face when she had humored that
patient by calling her "Joan of Arc."
But he made no reply and went ahead with the examination. When Miss Stone
returned he told her that Miss Adams was in perfect physical condition.
"It's only the brain," thought Mary Louise in secret amusement. How often
she and her young friends had made that remark to each other! She
resolved never to speak jokingly of insanity again.
After the doctor's visit her day proceeded in the orderly manner which
Miss Stone had outlined. She cooked and washed dishes and ate lunch with
the patients. Then she went out in the garden, where she was assigned a
flower bed of her own.
But Mary Louise was not interested in flower beds at the moment. She
pretended to work, all the while looking about her at the grounds around
the asylum, at the high stone wall below and into the valley beyond.
Across this valley, on a level with the institution, she could see a
white road that ran like a ribbon along the hill in the distance. This
road, she decided, must be a main highway, or at least a drive frequented
by automobiles--otherwise it would not be so smooth and white....
Staring at this road in silence, an inspiration came to Mary Louise. An
idea that might bring about her longed-for release!
She waited eagerly for the nurse to come over to where she was working,
but she was careful to keep her tone matter-of-fact when she did make her
request. Miss Stone must not guess her hidden purpose!
"May I break off two sticks from some bush?" she asked indifferently.
"I'd like to practice my semaphore."
"What's that, dear?" inquired Miss Stone skeptically. "Is it anything
dangerous?"
Mary Louise smiled.
"Oh, no. It's just part of a Girl Scout's training. You've heard of Girl
Scouts, haven't you?"
"Yes, I believe I have. Anyway, I've heard of Boy Scouts, so I suppose
the Girl Scouts is an organization like theirs--for girls."
"That's right," agreed Mary Louise. "And I have always been very much
interested in it. I don't want to forget all that I have learned. So if I
had a couple of sticks and a needle and thread, I could make a pair of
flags and--and--practice every day."
She uttered the last sentence haltingly, fearful lest Miss Stone might
guess her reason for wanting them and refuse. But as the nurse had no
idea that semaphore meant signaling messages, she was entirely
unsuspicious. And it had always been her policy to humor her patients in
pursuit of any harmless amusements.
So that afternoon she brought Mary Louise needles and cotton and scissors
and sat with her while she cut up her red-and-white sports dress for the
flags. It seemed a pity, Miss Stone thought, to destroy such a pretty
dress, but it was not likely that Mary Louise would ever need it again.
It was a sad fact that few of their patients ever returned to the outside
world!
Mary Louise finished her flags just before supper and laid them carefully
away behind the washstand. Tomorrow--oh, happy thought!--she would try
her luck.
Hope is indeed a great tonic. Mary Louise went right to sleep that night
and slept soundly until morning. She performed her duties so quickly and
with such intelligence that even Miss Stone began to wonder whether there
had not been some mistake in confining the girl to the institution. But
as they did not take a daily paper at the asylum, and as they were
entirely cut off from the outside world, she had no way of knowing about
the desperate search that was going on all over the country for Mary
Louise Gay.
"Now that I have finished my work, may I go out into the garden and
practice my semaphore for an hour before lunch?" the girl asked her
nurse.
"Yes, certainly," agreed Miss Stone. "I'll go with you, because I want to
spray the rose bushes."
Mary Louise was not so pleased to be accompanied, but after all, Miss
Stone's presence would mean freedom from other attendants. Nobody would
molest her while her own nurse was with her.
She selected a spot high up on the terrace, from whence she could plainly
see the ribbon of white road across the valley. Then she began to signal
her message:
"I AM MARY LOUISE GAY. HELP!"
Over and over again she repeated the same letters, hope coming into her
heart each time a car swung into view, despair taking possession of her
when it failed to stop. Perhaps, she thought, she was too far away to be
seen. She glanced behind her, at the green bushes, and moved along where
she might have the gray wall of the institution for her background. Red
and white should show up brilliantly in contrast to somber gray.
Half an hour passed, during which perhaps a dozen cars went by without
stopping, and Mary Louise's arms became weary. But she did not give up.
Sometimes, she was certain, one of her own friends' cars would come over
that hill--and stop.
Miss Stone, watching the girl out of the corner of her eye, nodded sadly
to herself. She must be crazy after all, she decided, to go through that
silly routine over and over again. Intelligent on most subjects as she
had discovered Mary Louise to be, she must be unbalanced on this
particular obsession.
Still Mary Louise went on trying.
"I AM MARY LOUISE GAY. HELP!"
she signaled again, for the twenty-fourth time, as a small, bright car
appeared on the road.
The car was proceeding very slowly; it looked as if it could scarcely
climb the hill. Then, to the girl's intense joy, she watched it stop.
Perhaps it was only because of a faulty engine or a puncture--but--oh--it
was stopping!
Her heart beat so fast and her hands trembled so that she could hardly
repeat the message. But she forced herself to go through it again. This
might be her one chance--her vital hope of escape!
She knew now what it must feel like to be abandoned at sea and all at
once to glimpse a sail on the empty waters, bringing hope, and rescue,
and life--if it stopped. But, oh, the utter despair if it continued on
its course unheeding!
Two figures which looked like little dwarfs in the distance jumped out of
the car and stood still, evidently watching Mary Louise's motions.
Frantic with excitement, she spelled the message again, this time very
slowly, forming the letters carefully and pausing a long second between
each word:
"I AM MARY LOUISE GAY. HELP HELP HELP!"
The two tiny figures waited until she had finished and then waved their
arms frantically.
She watched them in feverish anguish as they returned to the car and took
something from the back of it. For five long minutes they busied
themselves in some way which she could not understand, while she waited,
tense with emotion.
Miss Stone strolled over and spoke to her, startling her so that she
almost dropped her flags.
"Tired, dear?" inquired the nurse sympathetically.
"No! No!" protested Mary Louise. "Let me stay fifteen minutes more.
Please!"
Her eyes were still fixed upon the car across the valley. One of the men
was stepping away from it now, holding up both arms, which waved two dark
flags. Made from clothing, perhaps, on the spur of the moment. And then
he began to signal.
Breathlessly Mary Louise watched the letters as they came, spelling out
words that brought floods of joy to her heart. Overwhelming her with
happiness such as she had never known before. For the message which she
read was this:
"WE ARE COMING MARY LOU. MAX AND NORMAN."
Great tears of bliss rushed to her eyes and rolled down her cheeks; her
hands trembled, and her arms grew limp. In the exhaustion of her relief
she dropped down weakly to the ground.
Miss Stone came and bent over her anxiously, fearing that some curious
spell had come over Mary Louise. A fit, perhaps, which would explain why
her brother had wished to confine this girl in the asylum.
"I'll help you up, dear," the nurse said, "and we'll go into the house.
You had better lie down for a while."
"But I'm all right!" exclaimed Mary Louise, jumping happily to her feet.
"My friends are coming for me, Miss Stone!" She threw her arms around the
woman and hugged her. "Two boys from my home town--in Riverside."
"Yes, yes, dear," agreed Miss Stone, sure now that Mary Louise was
raving. "But come inside now and rest."
"No, I don't want to rest," objected the girl. "You said I could stay out
till lunch, and there's still ten minutes left. I want to wait for Max
and Norman."
"All right, dear, if you'll promise to calm yourself. Sit down there on
the step while I finish these rose bushes."
Mary Louise did as she was told, keeping her eyes fixed on the gate,
wondering how long it would take for the boys to get across that valley,
hoping that they wouldn't get lost. She picked up her home-made flags and
touched them lovingly. "Suppose I had never joined the Girl Scouts--and
suppose I had never become an expert signaler!" she thought. She shivered
at the very idea.
She did not have to wait long, however. In less than ten minutes she saw
the gardener unlock the big iron gate and a dear, familiar green roadster
speed up the hill and stop at the door of the asylum. In an instant both
boys were out of the car. Max was the first to reach Mary Louise. Without
any question of permission, he took her into his arms and kissed her
again and again. Then Norman kissed her too, not quite so ardently as
Max.
Finally she freed herself laughingly from their embraces and introduced
them to Miss Stone. The boys looked questioningly at the woman. If she
had been responsible for the kidnaping of Mary Louise, why was the girl
so polite to her?
Max took a revolver from his pocket, just to be prepared in case of
violence.
Mary Louise laughed merrily.
"You don't need that, Max," she said. "Miss Stone won't do anything
desperate. She is a nurse."
"A nurse? Is this a hospital?" Alarm crept into Max's voice. "Oh, Mary
Lou, you're not hurt, are you?"
"No, not a bit. Don't you know what kind of place this is, Max? It's an
asylum for the insane! I'm supposed to be crazy."
Horrified, Max sprang forward and seized Miss Stone by the arm.
"What kind of diabolical plot is this?" he demanded. "Whose accomplice
are you?" He pulled a newspaper out of his pocket and shook it in the
nurse's face. "The whole country's frantic over the disappearance of Mary
Louise Gay!"
Miss Stone gazed at the picture in the paper with increasing fear. Had
she--and the rest of the staff at the asylum--been accomplices to a
hideous crime?
But Mary Louise replied for her reassuringly.
"Miss Stone's innocent, Max," she explained. "Please let her go. So are
the others here. They're just obeying orders. Tom Adams put me in here,
calling me his feeble-minded sister Rebecca. He really does happen to
have one, you may have heard, and I understand her papers for confinement
were filed once before. Mr. Frazier signed my commitment too, pretending
to be a cousin. Those two men are the only guilty ones."
"Tom Adams!" repeated Max and Norman at the same time, and Norman added:
"Yes, that's what Freckles said. They're looking for Tom Adams. He ran
away from Shady Nook--or wherever it is he lives. The police are after
him."
"How about Frazier?" demanded Mary Louise.
"Is he guilty?" asked Max.
"More so than Tom," replied the girl. "Oh, I must get back to tell the
police before Frazier sneaks away!" She turned to the nurse. "May I go
with the boys now?"
"I'll have to ask the doctor," replied Miss Stone, hurrying inside to the
office.
It took no persuasion at all, however, to obtain the doctor's consent. As
soon as he read the account in the newspaper and saw that Tom Adams was a
fugitive from the law, he gladly agreed to let Mary Louise go free. In
fact, he was anxious that she should, lest he be blamed for participation
in the crime.
So Mary Louise jumped into the car between the two boys, and in less than
an hour she saw the dear familiar trees of Shady Nook in the distance. As
the car approached her own bungalow, she could distinguish her
mother--yes, and her father--sitting on the porch in an attitude of
hopeless despair.
Oh, what fun it was going to be to surprise them so joyfully!