The Secret in Stone
“I knew it! I knew it!” Madge exclaimed, gazing in dismay at the
wreckage. “All evening I felt something like this was about to happen.”
“Perhaps the wind blew it over,” Miss Swenster said, though her voice
disclosed that she had no faith in her own words.
“It would have taken a cyclone to move that heavy sundial,” Madge
declared. “Someone deliberately cracked it open. See, here’s the
sledge-hammer he used. I knew I heard some such sound.”
“And like as not the pearls are gone!” Cara wailed.
“That’s a foregone conclusion,” Madge responded. “But we may as well get
a light and make a thorough search.”
Miss Swenster already had started for the house. She returned a minute
later with a flashlight. They turned it upon the dark interior of the
broken pedestal and Madge felt around with her hand.
“If the pearls were ever here they’re gone now,” she announced.
The significance of the discovery was gradually dawning upon her. She
knew that it was John Swenster who had been prowling about the garden and
now she was convinced that he had broken open the sundial in an attempt
to locate the pearls. At the risk of shocking Miss Swenster, she
determined to withhold her information no longer.
“Miss Swenster, I should have told you this before,” she said quietly.
“Your son is in Claymore—has been for days. I learned this afternoon that
he had registered at the Grand Hotel.”
Miss Swenster’s face was hidden by the darkness but the girls saw her
figure straighten. She spoke no word and Madge rushed recklessly on:
“Perhaps I ought not to say this, but I discovered that it was he who
came here at night.”
“The prowler you saw digging here in the garden?” Miss Swenster asked in
a tense, unnatural voice.
“Yes.”
“Then I think we know what became of the pearls. You should have told me
before, Madge.”
“I did intend to—but——”
“I understand,” Miss Swenster interrupted, “you hoped to spare my
feelings. We must try to reach my son at once!”
“He’s registered at the hotel, but I’m afraid he may be gone by this
time. I heard him say he was checking out early.”
“We can’t let him get away with the pearls! Come, we’ll call a taxi.”
They rushed to the house. While Madge and Cara struggled into their
wraps, Miss Swenster telephoned the nearest cab agency. In five minutes
the taxi was at the door.
“To the Grand Hotel,” Miss Swenster directed, “and hurry!”
In the dim light of the cab she looked very pale but determined. She
listened quietly as Madge related in detail her experience of the
afternoon.
The cab halted in front of the hotel and the doorman assisted them to
alight. Telling the driver to wait, the three hurried inside, going
directly to the desk.
“We should like to see Mr. Swenster,” Madge said. “Is he here?”
The clerk shook his head regretfully.
“Sorry. He checked out some time ago. He went at least a half hour ago,
I’d say.”
“You don’t know where he was going?” Madge demanded eagerly. “It’s very
important.”
“You might inquire of the starter,” the clerk suggested. “I believe Mr.
Swenster called a taxi.”
The three hurried outside again, asking the same question of the doorman.
He did not know Mr. Swenster by name but recalled him from Madge’s
accurate description.
“If I remember rightly, he went to the Union depot,” he informed.
They sprang into the waiting cab, directing the driver to take them to
the station.
“Step on it!” Madge ordered.
She glanced at her wrist watch. It was exactly nine-thirty and she knew
that an express train left for New York at nine-forty.
“Oh, we’ll never make it!” she breathed.
Miss Swenster’s lips drew down into a tighter line. Her fingers nervously
tapped the car window.
They had three minutes to spare as the cab pulled up to the station.
Tumbling out, they started off at a run, unaware of the curious stares
directed at them.
Entering the waiting room, they swiftly surveyed it. John Swenster was no
where to be seen.
“He’s probably on the train by this time!” Cara cried. “And it pulls out
in two minutes.”
Miss Swenster and Madge dragged her toward the gate. “Tickets!” the
gateman said sternly. “You can’t go in without—”
The three brushed past him so quickly that he was taken completely by
surprise, and could only stare after their retreating backs.
They ran down the platform.
“Look!” Madge cried, pointing to a man ahead. “Isn’t that he?”
“Yes, it’s John,” Miss Swenster murmured.
They touched him on the shoulder just as he was boarding the train. He
wheeled and the color drained from his face as he beheld Miss Swenster.
“John—” her voice quavered, then took on a sterner tone. “You must come
with me.”
He laughed unpleasantly.
“Sorry, but I’m taking this train.” He tried to board it but Cara
deliberately blocked his way.
“You can’t go until you explain a number of things,” Miss Swenster said
quietly. “And you must give me the pearls!”
“Well, of all the idiotic things! Say, are you trying to create a scene?”
With increasing uneasiness, he surveyed a little group of persons who had
gathered on the platform to see what the argument was about. Passengers
had thrust their heads curiously from the train windows.
“All aboard!” the conductor called.
“Get out of my way!” John Swenster said harshly, thrusting Cara aside.
Madge darted forward, snatching his suitcase from his hand.
“All right, if you go, you go without your suitcase! And what’s more,
we’ll have you arrested at the first stop!”
The man faced Madge with smoldering eyes. He saw that he could not
retrieve his suitcase without a struggle and the conductor was not in
sufficient sympathy to hold the train a minute. Even now it was slowly
pulling from the station.
Frantically, he watched the cars moving by. He seemed undecided what to
do. Then with a gesture of angry submission, he abandoned all intention
of boarding the train.
“Well, now that you’ve made me miss my train, just what do you want?” he
asked unpleasantly, moving toward Madge as if to recover his suitcase.
She backed away.
“Now, John,” Miss Swenster said firmly, “unless you wish me to call the
police, you must come without making any fuss.”
“Where do you expect me to go?” he demanded sullenly.
“To my home. We’ll talk matters over there.”
“All right,” he said suddenly. “I’ll check my suitcase and go with you.”
“We’ll take the suitcase along,” Miss Swenster told him.
He looked as though he intended to refuse, but the sight of a policeman
moving through the train gate, caused him to change his mind. Madge and
Cara carried the suitcase to a taxi cab, not trusting it in his hands.
“This is an outrage!” John Swenster protested as they drove toward the
mansion.
His foster-mother paid scant attention. Not until they were all in the
living room of the mansion did she speak her mind.
“John,” she said calmly, “I’ve stood entirely too much at your hands.
I’ve protected you for the last time. Now either give up the pearls or
I’ll turn you over to the authorities.”
“Pearls!” he scoffed. “I don’t know anything about your pearls.”
“Madge, will you search the suitcase?”
The girls had been waiting for this opportunity. Quickly, while John
Swenster looked on furiously, they unstrapped the case and opened it.
They lifted out several layers of clothing. In the very bottom, lay an
old candy box. Madge shook it. Something rattled. She opened the box.
Inside lay a string of pearls, perfect in shape, skillfully matched—the
most beautiful necklace the girls had ever seen.
“The famous old Swenster pearls that were willed to my mother!” Miss
Swenster exclaimed. She turned coldly to her adopted son, “And you would
have stolen them from me!”
A sudden change had come over the man. At sight of the pearls which
plainly established his guilt, his arrogance departed. He gazed
contritely upon his foster mother. Madge instantly divined that he hoped
to appeal to her sympathies.
“I would never have touched your pearls only I’m in such desperate need,”
he whined. “I can’t find work. Why, I haven’t had a decent meal in weeks.
I’m down and out while you have this fine home—everything.”
He made a rather appealing figure as he stood there pleading his case.
Madge and Cara exchanged uneasy glances. Would Miss Swenster give in to
him as she had in the past?
The old lady seemed to waver. Her face softened, then tightened again.
“Don’t try your old tactics,” she said sternly. “I notice that you have
good clothing and you had money enough to stay at the Grand Hotel.
However, I’ll be generous. If you care to make your home here you are
free to do so.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You think I’d stay in this one-horse town? Not on your life! You must
furnish me with money to live in Chicago or New York.”
“You’ll not get another cent from me—ever!”
John Swenster shrugged his shoulders.
“O.K. Then I’ll be ambling along.”
“One minute!” Miss Swenster halted him. “I am letting you off easier than
you deserve. By rights I should turn you over to the police.”
“Oh, you’re being very generous!” he mocked.
“Unless you tell me exactly what motivated your return to Claymore—and a
truthful story, mind you—I may change my mind about being so generous!”
John Swenster recognized that she meant what she said. He realized too
that her feeling toward him had undergone a change, that he could no
longer bend her to his will.
“There’s little to tell,” he said gruffly. “I was out of money and I
thought the pearls might tide me over. I’d have had ’em too if it hadn’t
been for these girls!”
“How did you learn of the pearls?” Miss Swenster questioned.
“Knew about them when I was a boy. Remember that old desk of yours? Well,
it has a secret panel. There’s a diary inside that told about the pearls.
I tore out one of the pages years ago and then forgot about it.”
“Just what did that page say about the pearls?” Madge inquired curiously.
“Did it say they were hidden in the sundial?”
“No, it didn’t. If it had, I’d have made off with them weeks ago. The
only hint I had was that they were hidden somewhere near the sundial.
Like a fool I wasted a lot of time digging up the garden!”
“We saw you,” Madge admitted. “But tell us, what brought you here just at
this time?”
“It was years ago I learned about the pearls. I tried to locate them at
the time but failed. Then I forgot all about it until I learned that Miss
Swenster was coming back here to open up the house. I thought I’d get
here first and make one more try. I didn’t have any luck until it
occurred to me that the pearls might have been hidden inside the dial.
Tonight I came here, chancing detection, and cracked open the pedestal. I
found the necklace inside.”
Miss Swenster asked a few more questions before telling her son that he
might feel free to go. After he had left, she stood for some minutes at
the window, watching his retreating figure. Then she turned back to the
girls, and with tears in her eyes thanked them for their aid.
“You have saved my house!” she said. “Finding the pearls means more to me
than you’ll ever know.”
It was so late that Cara and Madge dared linger no longer. However, the
following day they were back at the mansion to learn from Miss Swenster
that she had called off her auction sale. Already she was making plans to
restore the estate to its former elegance and she had engaged old Uncle
Ross as gardener. She told them too, that she had turned over the
necklace to a jeweler for an appraisal.
“I don’t know its value yet,” she declared, “but it will bring more than
enough to keep me in my old age. I intend to reward you girls too!”
Madge and Cara demurred and Miss Swenster finally dropped the subject
after warning them she would have something more to say when their
birthdays arrived. Nevertheless, the girls did have one favor to ask—that
they might hold a meeting of Skull and Crossbones at the old mansion.
The very next Saturday Madge and Cara introduced their friends to the
delightful estate. They pointed out the broken sundial which Miss
Swenster planned to repair, the desk with the secret panel, and told a
story which held their friends spellbound.
“You lucky thing,” Jane Allen said enviously to Madge. “How do you manage
to run into all these entrancing adventures?”
“They seem to run into me,” she laughed.
“It’s not fair for you to have a corner on all the fun,” Enid Burnett
complained good naturedly. “We’ll not forgive you unless you promise to
take us in on your next secret.”
“Oh, I shall,” Madge returned, “though I can’t say when I’ll have
another. If only you’d all go North with me next summer, I know I could
guarantee real fun and perhaps an adventure.”
“Let’s take her up on it!” Enid cried.
The girls all laughed for as they sat in the cozy drawing room before the
crackling fire, summer seemed a long way off and Canada too far distant
to even imagine. Yet, the germ had taken root, and the next year was to
see them all in the North Woods with Madge fulfilling her pledge.
THE END
Transcriber’s Notes
--Silently corrected several palpable typos in spelling and punctuation
--Added a list of the books in the series to the title page
--Left the original copyright notice unchanged, although the book is
public domain in the U.S. (author date of death is 2002).
--As the original book jacket was unavailable, provided an image of the
title page instead.