"Janet, what d'ye think? Will that impertinent boy Cappie come back again, or are we rid of him fer good?"
"Well, Tabor, I dootna he'll coom back soom toime, if not richt at oncet. But he was pretty weel astonished at the way my leddy treated him. I canna blame her, fer he was juist awfoo' talkin' they wy about the master an' the master not dead a week yet, an' him allus sae kind tae the lad 'fore he wint awa' tae war. He showed no tender feelin's at all, either fer my leddy, ner him. An' as fer his Maker, I cower a' hoo he could lift oop his head an' speak like thet. Do ye nae think he'd been drinkin', Tabor?"
"No," said the old servant, "he gave no sign of drink. That is, I didn't smell it on his breath when I he'ped him on with his topcoat. Besides, it's not likely he would come here with that on his breath, knowin' how the family feels about young men drinkin'!"
"Weel, he kens juist the same hoo they feel aboot God, an' yet he spoke oot like a regular heathen."
"Yes, I know, but that's the way a lot o' the kids are talkin' now. They learn that in school. They think it's smart. My niece's boy was talking some like that the last weekend when I was home, an' he's only a high-school kid. He said the teachers okayed talk like that. That is, he said some of the teachers talked that way right in class. Though when I narrowed it down, he owned up there was only one teacher of the whole lot talked that way and laughed at the Bible."
"Dear me!" said Janet. "Whut air we coomin' tae? Nae wunner the master dreaded tae leave his wee bairnie alane in the worl' like this. I hoop thet Carvel lad stays in the army. We dinna want him around here, mooch as I useta loike him when he was a slip of a lad. But he niver was a match fer our young leddy. I'm certain bein' in the war hasna improved him ony, though I will say there are some as is quite fine and different since they coom back."
"Yes," agreed Tabor, "I reckon it has improved some, made 'em more thoughtful-like an' considerate. That young lawyer seems a nice sort. Where does he come in? I don't seem to remember him around here before the war."
"Nae. He wasna. Marnie the oopstairs maid says she heard he's the soon o' an ole frind o' Meester Woorden. He was stoody'in' law afore he enlisted, an' whin he goot back, Meester Woorden sint fer him an' took him intae the firm."
"So! That's the way of it! Well, he's some man. I'd like to see our young lady get a man like that."
"Weel, he do seem loike a braw laddie. But it'll be the way the Lord plons," said Janet with a sigh, as if she were a little dubious how that would turn out and would like to get her own hands on the planning.
But over in her own room Eden was deep in her book, and as she read further and further, she kept recalling the words of the young lawyer and was more and more impressed by what he had said, wishing he were here now so that she might ask him a few questions. Strange it was, how a young stranger had been able to impress thoughts upon her just when she was perplexed about these things. How very different he was from Caspar. It somehow seemed more and more as if Caspar hadn't really grown up yet, or perhaps she should say he had grown undesirably.
And a few blocks away in a small pleasant room on the tenth floor of a modest apartment house, young Lorrimer was preparing for rest after a long hard day. He was reading his Bible, jotting down a few notes in his small diary, thinking of the sweet girl who had asked him such unexpected questions, looking up a book he thought she might like to see, and at last kneeling to pray for her, his heart more deeply stirred for her than perhaps it had ever been stirred for any other person. And that was strange, because he scarcely knew her at all, and from what he knew of her station in life and her fortune, she wasn't at all a girl on whom he would have felt he could fasten his interest.
He puzzled over the idea for a moment as he prayed, and then he thought to himself, Of course not, but that need not hinder my interest in her salvation, and I don't believe she quite knows what it is all about. Teach her, dear Father!
***
Those were strange days that followed. Eden spent much time in her room reading the wonderful book that she had found, growing more and more filled with interest in it.
But often she was interrupted by the coming of old friends. Three sweet old ladies who used to know her mother, and who, though they had not kept much in touch with Eden since she had grown up, felt a duty toward her for old friendship's sake. They all talked of the old days, and fairly purred over her state of loneliness, and wished she would come and see them. It was all a little hard to bear.
Then there were a few older men, intimate friends of her father's. These she knew better because they had been often at the house when he was living, and she liked them and was glad to see them. But through it all she was thinking now and then of the book she had been reading, and wondering if these people knew the doctrines the book had talked about so simply, as if everybody knew.
There were other callers in the afternoons, girls she knew well, some coming shyly in, some boisterously, because they hated the idea of death and didn't exactly know what to say, especially because Eden had always been so devoted to her father and they felt she must be now in the depths of despair without him. They spoke of having seen Caspar, wondered if he were still in town or had gone back to New York. Some of them had hoped perhaps Eden would be out and so the day of calling on her might be postponed. Eden was such a reserved girl and seldom reacted as they would have done. They were sure she would not burst into tears and weep hysterically, or would never be giddy or gleeful. But they felt uncomfortable. Of course, they were sorry for her, but they did not feel they knew her well enough to be sure how she would meet them. Of course, they were relieved when they found she was just her old sweet self, with no sign that she had met with a hopeless disaster, no mark of shock on her lovely face.
A few of her old boy friends came in the evening, in groups of two or three. They made a good deal of noise and rollicked quite a little to cover up their embarrassment, but Eden understood. They had been good friends of her father, too. Some of them had been in the bank. She knew that they mourned for her father, who had always been so kind to them, and she was smiling and pleasant with them, trying to act as she knew her father would wish her to do and make them feel comfortable. She appreciated their coming and knew it had been hard for them.
Then there were two or three of the older fellows from the bank who came, singly; most of them had something pleasant to tell her about what her father had done for them, some pleasant remembrance of him while they had been working under him.
Each time when it was over and they were gone, Eden had a lovely warm feeling that she had been with her father for a little while. It was so beautiful to hear them praise him and show that they so fully realized his worth. It spread a healing balm over the sore wounds that her former friend Caspar had so thoughtlessly caused.
It was four days later that Mr. Worden, her father's confidant and friend, returned. He came at once to see her. After she had had a talk with him, she felt greatly strengthened to go on in the way that her father had planned for her, and not at all apprehensive concerning the Fanes. Mr. Worden assured her he would look after them. Their trial was to come off in a few days now, and he personally would talk with them both and see if he couldn't knock some sense into them.
It was while they were talking together, however, and she was just feeling so happy and comforted, that the telephone rang and Mr. Worden was wanted at once. It was young Lorrimer talking, and though he tried to make his words most guarded, Eden, who had followed to the hall to give a message to Janet, could not help hearing a little, and so she stood with wide-open eyes and a frightened expression on her face, her hands clasped over her heart.
"Oh," she said as Mr. Worden hung up the receiver and turned toward her, "something more has happened at the police station, hasn't it? I heard the word escape. Tell me, please, what it is. You needn't be afraid. I don't get frightened, you know. But I like to understand thoroughly, and then I won't make so many mistakes."
Her old friend smiled.
"I know, Eden. You wouldn't be your father's own daughter if you weren't like that, of course. But this is nothing that need worry you anyway. It only concerns the police. It is entirely out of your hands."
"But who has escaped?" insisted Eden. "Ellery or his mother?"
"Well, both of them," admitted the man, "and they haven't quite figured out how it happened. They thought they had them safely guarded. But they'll soon be caught, of course, and then we'll see that there are no more pranks played on the law."
Then the telephone rang again, and this time it was Mike.
"Miss Eden, could I speak with Tabor a moment? Somebody seems to be using the kitchen telephone, and this is urgent."
Tabor was on the spot at once.
"Tabor speaking, Mike. What? You don't say. Right-o, Mike, I'll check on the cellar, and the garage and the outside shed. Yes, there might have been some old coats and other things that were used by the gardener. Do you think they would dare come here again?"
"Sure. They'd think it was the last place we would look for them. Where else could they go in a hurry? No hideouts around here that aren't watched. That old lady is clever. She got around her keeper by pretending to be very sick. She asked to have her son sent for. Thought she was dying. Two guards brought the guy over, and she had another bad spell with her heart, almost died. Manda, our guard woman, went for water quick, and when she got back they were gone. How they managed to get out is a mystery. They musta had this all planned before they began this show. Better check on your place right away. Put Janet wise, too. And take it easy; they're smooth. They aren't new at this job. Better keep yer gun handy, but watch out how you use it. I'm sending two of my men over. They are on their way now. So long!"
Tabor did not wait to convey the intelligence. He vanished toward the kitchen. But Eden and her caller had heard enough to understand.
"Oh!" said Eden. "How terrible Daddy would have felt if he had known we were to have a thing like this to go through!"
"Well, it's a mercy he didn't know. It would have distressed him, of course, but we'll take care of you and your interests, child!"
"Of course! I know," said Eden, smiling. "Only it seems so awful that two people we have known, no matter how disagreeable we thought them, should turn out to do things like this. Do you know, Uncle Worden, I never realized what sin was before, nor how much of it there could be all about us when we didn't see it ourselves."
"Yes, that is certainly true," said the man thoughtfully. "But you, kitten, ought not to have to think about sin. It will never touch you. You are not a sinner."
"Oh, but I am, Uncle Worden, and I've just found it out!" exclaimed Eden. "I found a book of Daddy's, one he had just sent for, and I got to reading it. I think it is a theological book. Father was interested in such things, you know, and I've been very much interested in it myself. I find that the Bible says that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that nobody is able, in themselves, to please a just and righteous God. That Jesus Christ was the only one who never sinned. Of course, in a way I knew that from Sunday school when I was a child, but I never realized it before. But the thing I can't understand is why people, when they get old enough to understand, should deliberately choose to be sinners instead of wanting to follow God and be saved. Why, for instance, should Mrs. Fane start out to do what she must know is wrong, instead of teaching her boy to do right and doing right herself?"
"Well," said Mr. Worden, somewhat perplexed and very much embarrassed over her questions, "I don't know that I can answer that. Your father was always one who could study up deep problems like that and find the answers, but I always had to be content with just following out the line the church has marked out for us. That seemed easiest and best. But maybe this Mrs. Fane did this because she loved her son and wanted to save him. Or maybe he and she both wanted things they couldn't afford to buy and so they took the dishonest way to get them. That must be the explanation. However, don't you think maybe we ought to call up and see if there is anything more we can do to help find these people? We certainly don't want them hiding around this house all night. I wouldn't think of allowing you to stay here under any such circumstances. There! There goes the phone again. Perhaps that is my man Lorrimer again. Shall I answer?"
It was Lorrimer. He had been to police headquarters and had a bit of news. It seemed that Ellery Fane had somehow possessed himself of a knife brought with his dinner. It was dull and not very effectual as a weapon, but he had managed to pry up a stone from the corner of his cell, and he had worked away carefully and cautiously until it had assumed an alarming sharpness. That wasn't the first knife that Ellery had practiced the same act upon, and he had developed some skill in the art. Ellery was still missing and so was the knife, but one of the guards left behind unconscious on the floor in front of the empty cell had a deep slash scientifically placed that testified to the ugliness of the knife, and now that the guard was being brought back to consciousness he would more than likely be able to add details to the story of the escape. But in the meantime, just before the incident took place, the prison authorities had discovered another jewel sewn cleverly into the lining of the prisoner's coat, which had, of course, been taken from him. Naturally, the young man had fled without his coat, and the jewel was still in possession of the prison authorities. But the peculiar thing about it was that this jewel was not one listed among the Thurston list. It seemed to be a rare diamond, probably guarded carefully and possibly stolen from some other person, unless Mr. Worden could remember or find some record of such a stone.
Eden as she listened began to feel that she was living in a wicked fairy tale. And then Mr. Worden came in with a troubled face.
"Tabor has been hurt," he said, and his voice was much troubled, for he had known Tabor for many years and knew how they all regarded him. "They are bringing him in. They found him lying unconscious in front of the toolhouse with a knife in his back. Eden, can you telephone for the doctor quickly while I bring a mattress down for him to be laid on? I'm afraid this is serious."
Eden flew to the telephone and fortunately got the doctor, who promised to come at once.
Eden found she was trembling as she went back to the dining room where they had put Tabor down. He was lying on his side on the mattress, and the knife, the crude prison knife, was still sticking in his back, a stream of blood making a crimson stain down his immaculate white linen coat.
"That's a prison dinner knife," said Mike, who had helped to carry Tabor in. "That settles it. He must have been hiding in the toolhouse."
Eden's eyes were wide with horror. To think that all this could happen in their quiet home, and just after her father had gone! She felt unnerved. But quick as a flash she saw something she could do that took her mind off herself and her fright. She slipped down on the floor beside the mattress where Tabor lay and took his still hand in hers, just quietly, and was there when a moment later the doctor arrived and knelt to feel the pulse and listen to the heart.
While this was going on, Janet wasn't missed by any of them at first, till the doctor asked, "Where is Janet? Tell her I need her," and then they looked around and couldn't find Janet, who had always been on hand in any special crisis.
"Where did she go?" they asked, and Eden answered quickly, "Oh, I think she went out the back door. She would think she could find the Fanes. Janet was always like that."
It was Mike who slipped out the back door at once and gave a command to look for her, and then he was back in the house again doing everything he could find to do devotedly.
Meantime Janet had gone out to the little conservatory behind the garage, for that was where some old garments hung that the gardener had been told he might give to a poor family who needed them. It was only a few days ago they were put there, and Janet remembered it, so armed with her flashlight Janet went that way. If the Fanes had come back to the house to hide, these little outbuildings would likely be where they would seek shelter, so reasoned Janet. And though she sighted several policemen near the house, she did not tell them of her suspicions but marched boldly around the end of the garage, and stepping quietly on the grass to drown the sound of her footsteps, she arrived in the doorway, silently turned on her flashlight from the enveloping shelter of her ever-present apron, and plunged it into the darkness where she had hung the garments. Her first object was to find out if they were still there or had been used as a disguise. Janet had a very good mind for reasoning, helped out by the many detective stories she had read in her leisure hours.
Janet did not yet know what had happened to Tabor, or unquestionably she would have been back in the house helping to bring Tabor back to consciousness. But not knowing, she was here, engineering another dramatic scene for herself.
So she stood in the doorway, looking into the familiar little glassed-in room. And at first sight as she let the tiny pencil of light focus on the hook by the opposite door, the garments appeared to be hanging there just as she had left them a few days ago. She was about to turn away and try some other possible hideout when it seemed to her in the wavering light that she saw or heard a slight movement over by those shadowy garments.
Janet was a courageous woman and afraid of nothing, even the uncanny, but the idea of movement over in that corner sent a thrill up her sturdy old backbone, and her ever-alert mind leaped to the thought of what she could do all by herself, if it should prove that one of the Fanes was hiding there. She should have brought a policeman with her of course, but stuff and nonsense! He would only have laughed at her notions, and no real policeman would stand for a woman's idea of course, so she swiftly searched in her mind for a way to catch whoever was there, if they were there, before they could get away. If anyone was there and should get away, she would never hear the last of it from Mike for not telling him what she was going to do. But, of course, she must make sure, so she turned the flashlight full upon the hanging garments, which even now showed a slight movement, as if someone or something were alive inside the clothes. Then the bright pencil of light played full upon the place, and there she saw as plain as day a pair of feet, peeping out from a fold in the long old coat. It took only an instant to recognize a crouching figure, flattened behind those worn old garments, a bony hand clutching the coat across. The rest of the figure was hidden behind the dark green skirt that hung behind the coat. That would be Lavira Fane. Janet was sure of it at once. But how to catch her, that was the question, and there was no time to waste.
Down beside Janet's feet lay a coil of hose, already attached, and at her right hand was a small iron wheel that controlled the water supply. Could she do it? She had used it before at times when the gardener had been sick or away and had asked her to water some special plants. But this, this was something different. She knew she was being watched by a desperate woman, and there was no time to spare.
But Janet was not one to hesitate when she had a job to do; she did it. Quick as a flash she stooped and silently caught up the nozzle of the hose, even while her other hand sought the wheel and gave it a twirl. With relief she heard the quick rush of water, and she gave her swift attention to the flashlight, directing its rays straight at a pair of desperate eyes now peering out, relieved to see the swift stream plunge straight toward its goal. She turned the full force of water toward the gasping prisoner as the woman flung the disguising clothes aside and tried to get away. But Janet had the water turned on in full force now, and it knocked the trapped woman flat to the ground as she groveled and struggled to get her breath and get away from the terrific force.
But now suddenly a great light burst over the place. Someone, perhaps a policeman, had heard the rushing water and turned on the searchlight from the back porch. Then Janet's achievement was revealed, and two policemen came rushing to her assistance.
They lifted the dripping Lavira to her feet, making her fast with handcuffs as they did so, and now she was screaming anathemas to the men and declaring they had no right to touch her, that she was a relative of the family and sent out there to get some garments that were to be given away.
"Anything around here we can put over her to carry her away, Janet?" one of the men asked Janet, wondering how they were to get this dripping woman back to jail.
"There's an old blanket from the master's car back of you in the garage," said Janet crisply. "I'll get it."
She was back in a moment with a heavy blanket, and they wrapped Lavira in it and compelled her to the police car.
"Get you back to the house, Jan," called one of the policemen, as they propelled the reluctant prisoner toward the street where their car waited. "We'll look after this party. You done your work well, an' now you'll be needed in the house. Old Tabor was pretty bad hurt."
"Tabor! Not Tabor?" exclaimed Janet aghast, and she sped with all her might back to the house.