DAYS OF WAITING
Eight o'clock that evening saw the three Rovers on their way to Hope
Seminary. Tom was the leader, and it had taken a good half hour's
arguing on his part to get Dick and Sam to accompany him.
"You'll make a fool of yourself, and make fools of us, too," was the
way Sam expressed himself.
"Most likely they won't want to see us," was Dick's opinion.
"If they don't want to see us, really and truly, I want to know it,"
answered Tom bluntly. "I don't believe in this dodging around the
bush. There is no sense in it." It had angered him to think Nellie had
been seen in the company of Flockley and his cronies, and he was for
"having it out" without delay.
"Well, you'll have to lead the way," said Dick. "I'm not going to make
a call and have Dora send down word that she can't see me."
"She won't do that," said Tom. "I know her too well."
"Well, you call on Nellie first."
"I'm not afraid," retorted Tom. He was so "worked up" he was willing
to do almost anything.
The nearer the three students got to the seminary the slower they
walked. Even Tom began to realize that he had undertaken what might
prove a very delicate mission.
"I think it would have been better to have sent a letter," suggested
Sam. "Let's go back and write it before we go to bed."
"And put down something in black and white that you'd be sorry for
afterward," grumbled Dick.
At the entrance to the seminary grounds they halted again, but then
Tom caught each brother by the arm and marched them up to the front
door and rang the bell.
A maid answered their summons and led them to a reception-room. A
minute later one of the teachers appeared.
"Why, I thought you young gentlemen knew the young ladies had gone
away," said the teacher after they had mentioned the object of their
visit. "They said they were going to send you a note."
"Gone away!" echoed Dick.
"Yes. The three left for home on the late afternoon train. Mrs.
Stanhope and Mrs. Laning said it was a matter of business. Then you
didn't get their note?"
"We did not," answered Tom.
"That is too bad. I am sure they spoke of sending it. Wait, I will ask
Parks, our messenger, about it."
The teacher left the room, and the Rover boys looked speculatively at
each other.
"They must have been getting ready to leave when Tubbs saw them," said
Dick.
"And we never knew they were going," added Sam bitterly.
"The matter of business must refer to that Sobber case," said Tom. "I
don't know what else could take them home."
"Maybe they have lost the case and must give the treasure up," said
Sam. "In that case, Mr. Laning would have to take the girls away from
such an expensive place as this."
In a few minutes the lady teacher came back.
"Parks says he took three notes, addressed to Richard, Thomas and
Samuel Rover. He says he went over to Brill this morning with them and
gave them to a man named Filbury."
"Filbury, eh?" said Dick, naming an old man who worked around the
dormitories. "Well, we didn't get them, and I am very sorry."
"So am I, Mr. Rover," said the teacher.
"Do you know how long the young ladies will be gone?"
"They could not tell. They said they would send letters after they
arrived home."
This was all the seminary teacher could tell, and a minute later the
Rovers said good night and left. All hurried from the grounds in deep
thought.
"We must find Filbury and see what he did with those letters," said
Tom, and his brothers agreed with him.
When they reached Brill they located the man they were after fixing a
light in one of the halls.
"Where are those letters you got for us this morning, Filbury?" asked
Dick sternly.
"Letters?" asked the old man, who was rather absent minded. "I don't
remember no letters, Mr. Rover."
"I mean the three letters which Parks of Hope Seminary gave you for me
and my brothers."
"Oh, them. I remember now. Let me see. Yes, I got them, and one for
Mr. Flockley, too. I gave him all the letters. He said he'd hand 'em
to you." And apparently satisfied, Filbury resumed his work on the
light.
"When was this?" demanded Sam.
"About eleven o'clock. I hope it's all right. I would have delivered
the letters myself, only I had a lot of work to do."
"It is not all right, and we are going to look into the matter at
once," said Dick; and hurried off with Tom and Sam at his heels.
They went straight to the room occupied by Flockley and Koswell, and
knocked on the door. There was a stir within, a few whispered words,
and then the door was opened.
"What do you want?" asked Jerry Koswell. Flockley was sitting by the
table, reading.
"Flockley, what did you do with those letters you got from Filbury for
us?" demanded Dick, striding into the room.
"Letters?" asked the dude carelessly. "Oh, I put them on the table in
Tom and Sam's room."
"When?"
"This morning."
"They weren't there after dinner," said Sam.
"Nor after supper, either," added Tom.
"Look here, do you accuse me of stealing your letters?" demanded
Flockley, rising as if in anger.
"No; but we want to know where they are," answered Tom.
"I told you what I did with them. I wouldn't have touched the letters,
only Filbury asked me to do the favor. If they are not on the table
maybe the wind swept them to the floor. Did you look?"
"No."
"Then you had better."
"You might have spoken about them, Flockley," said Dick coldly. "Any
other student would have done so."
"Or you could have handed us the letters at lunch," added Sam.
"I am not your hired man!" cried Dudd Flockley. "Next time I'll not
touch the letters at all!" And then he dropped back into his chair and
pretended to read again.
"If we don't find the letters you'll hear from us again," said Dick.
And then he and his brothers retired.
They entered the room occupied by Sam and Tom and lit up. The notes
were not on the table.
"Here they are!" cried Sam, and picked them up from the floor, under
the edge of Tom's bed. They looked rather mussed up, and all of the
Rovers wondered if Flockley had opened and read them.
"I don't think he'd be any too good to do it," muttered Tom as he
opened the note addressed to himself.
It was from Nellie, and rather cool in tone. It said all were
called home on account of the case at court, but did not give any
particulars. At the bottom was mentioned the time of departure from
Hope and also from Ashton. The notes from Dora and Grace contained
about the same information, and Grace added that she wanted Sam to
write to her.
"If we had had these letters this afternoon we might have gone to Hope
instead of nutting," said Tom bitterly.
"They must have expected to see us, either there or at the depot,"
said Sam. "Otherwise they wouldn't have been so particular about
mentioning the time of departure from both places."
"Yes, I guess they expected to see us, or hear from us," said Dick,
and breathed a deep sigh.
"Well, they did see us--when we were with Miss Sanderson and her
friends."
"What must they have thought--if they imagined we had received the
letters?" groaned Tom.
"They thought we cut 'em dead," replied Sam. "Isn't this the worst
ever? And all on Flockley's account! I'd like to punch his nose!"
"I'd like to be sure of one thing," said Dick, a hard tone stealing
into his voice. "Did Flockley just happen to be in Ashton when the
girls got there, or did he open and read these letters and then go on
purpose, with Koswell and Larkspur?"
"Say, that's something to think about!" cried Tom. "If he opened the
letters I'd like to make him confess."
"Well, one thing is certain," said Dick after the matter had been
talked over for a while, "we missed a splendid chance to talk matters
over with the girls. It is too bad!" And his face showed his concern.
"And you didn't even want to go to Hope with me," commented Tom, with
a humor he could not repress.
"Wish we had gone yesterday," answered Sam bluntly. He could read
"between the lines" of the note he had received, and knew that Grace
wanted to see him just as much as he wanted to see her.
Sam said he was going to write a letter that night, and finally Tom
and Dick agreed to do the same.
"But I shan't write much," said Dick. "I am not going to put my foot
in it." Nevertheless he wrote a letter of four pages, and then added
a postscript of two pages more. And the communications Sam and Tom
penned were equally long.
"We'll not trust 'em to the college mail," said Tom. "We can take 'em
to the post-office when we go to church to-morrow," And this was done.
After the letters were posted the brothers waited anxiously for
replies, and in the meantime buckled down once more to their studies.
It was now well along in December, and one morning they awoke to find
the ground covered with snow.
"Snowballing to-day!" said Tom with a touch of cheerfulness, and he
was right. That day, after class hours, the students snowballed each
other with a will. The freshmen and the sophomores had a regular
pitched battle, which lasted the best part of an hour. All of the
Rovers took part in the contest, and it served to make them more
cheerful than they had been for some time.
"What's the good of moping?" said Tom. "We are bound to hear from the
girls sooner or later." Yet, as day after day went by, and no letters
came, he felt as downcast as did his brothers.
The boys were to go home for the Christmas holidays, and under
ordinary circumstances they would have felt gay over the prospect. But
now it was different.
"Going to send Dora a Christmas present?" asked Tom of Dick, a few
days before the close of the term.
"I don't know. Are you going to send anything to Nellie?"
"Yes, if you send something to Dora."
"Sam says he is going to send Grace a writing outfit and a book of
postage stamps," went on Dick.
"That's what they all need," growled Tom. "It's a shame! They might at
least have acknowledged our letters."
The boys did not know what to do. Supposing they sent presents to the
girls, and got them back? They held a meeting in Dick's room and asked
Songbird's advice.
"Send them the nicest things you can buy," said the would-be poet. "I
am going to send a young lady a gift--a beautiful autograph album,
with a new poem of mine, sixteen verses in length. It's on 'The Clasp
of a Friendly Hand.' I got the inspiration once when I--er--But never
mind that. It's a dandy poem."
"Who is the album to go to?" asked Tom indifferently.
"Why--er--Minnie Sanderson," answered Songbird innocently. "You see,
we have gotten to be very good friends lately."