"I object to your signing that paper," protested the stranger, seating herself in a vacant chair. "I haven"t the faintest idea what it is you"re about to sign, but if I were you I wouldn"t do it."
"It is the price of my liberty," explained Alora.
"Well, this is a free country and liberty doesn"t cost anything. I"ve a carriage waiting outside, and I will drive you back to the Colonel and Mary Louise free of charge. You won"t even have to whack up on the cab hire."
The nurse slowly rose and faced the girl.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"No one of importance," was the answer. "I"m just Josie O"Gorman, the daughter of John O"Gorman, of Washington, who is a lieutenant in the government"s secret service."
"Then you"re a detective!"
"The aforesaid John O"Gorman declares I"m not. He says I must learn a lot before I become a real detective, so at present I"m just practicing. Mary Louise is my friend, you know," she continued, now addressing Alora, "and you are a friend of Mary Louise; so, when you mysteriously disappeared, she telegraphed me and I came on to hunt you up. That wasn"t an easy job for an amateur detective, I a.s.sure you, and it cost me a lot of time and some worry, but glory be! I"ve now got you located and Mrs. Orme"s jig is up."
The nurse moved softly to the door that led into the pa.s.sage and locked it, putting the key into her pocket.
"Now," said she, with another flash of those curious eyes, "I have two prisoners."
Josie laughed.
"I could almost have sworn you"d try that trick," she remarked. "It was on the cards and you couldn"t resist it. Permit me to say, Mrs. Orme, that you"re a rather clever woman, and I admire cleverness even when it"s misdirected. But my Daddy has taught me, in his painstaking way, not to be caught napping. A good soldier provides for a retreat as well as an advance. I"ve been on your trail for a long time and only this morning succeeded in winning the confidence of the cabman who drove you here. Wasn"t sure, of course, that you were still here, until I saw Alora"s face at the window a while ago. Then I knew I"d caught you. The cab is a closed one and holds four inside, so I invited three policeman to accompany me. One is at the back of this house, one at the front door and the third is just outside here on the landing. Probably he can hear us talking. He"s a big man, that third policeman, and if I raise my voice to cry out he could easily batter down the door you have locked and come to my rescue. _Now_ will you be good, Mrs. Orme?"
The nurse realized her defeat. She deliberately took the note from the table and tore it up.
"You have really foiled me, my girl," she said philosophically, "although if you knew all you would not blame me for what I have done."
"You"ve decided not to dig any money out of Alora, then?"
"It wouldn"t matter to her, but I have abandoned the idea. However, I shall insist on making Jason Jones pay me liberally for my disappointment. Now take the girl and go. Get your things on, Alora."
Josie regarded her thoughtfully.
"I had intended to arrest you, Mrs. Orme," she remarked; "but, honestly, I can"t see what good it would do, while it would cause Mary Louise and the dear Colonel a heap of trouble in prosecuting you. So, unless Miss Jones objects----"
"All I want it to get away from here, to be out of her clutches,"
a.s.serted Alora.
"Then let us go. The woman deserves punishment, but doubtless she"ll get her just deserts in other ways. Get your things on, my dear; the cab and the policemen are waiting."
Janet Orme unlocked the door to the pa.s.sage. Then she stood motionless, with drooping eyelids, while the two girls pa.s.sed out. Alora, greatly unnerved and still fearful, clung to the arm of her rescuer.
When they had gained the street and were about to enter the closed automobile she asked: "Where are the three policemen?"
"Invisible," returned Josie, very cheerfully. "I had to invent that story, my dear, and the Recording Angel is said to forgive detectives for lying."
She followed Alora into the car and closed the door.
"Drive to the Blackington, please," she called to the driver.
And, as they whirled away, she leaned from the window and waved a parting signal to Mrs. Orme, who stood in the upper window, her face contorted and scowling with chagrin at the discovery that she had been outwitted by a mere girl.
CHAPTER XXV JASON JONES
The Colonel and Peter Conant had just entered the drawing room of the suite at the hotel and found Mary Louise absent. This was unusual and unaccountable and they were wondering what could have become of the girl when the door suddenly burst open and Josie"s clear voice cried triumphantly:
"I"ve got her! I"ve captured the missing heiress at last!"
Both men, astonished, rose to their feet as Alora entered and with a burst of tears threw her arms around the old Colonel"s neck. For a few moments the tableau was dramatic, all being speechless with joy at the reunion. Colonel Hathaway patted Alora"s head and comforted the sobbing girl as tenderly as if she had been his own grandchild--or Mary Louise.
Josie perched herself lightly on the center-table and swinging her legs complacently back and forth explained her discovery in a stream of chatter, for she was justly elated by her success.
"And to think," she concluded, "that I never missed a clew! That it was really the nurse, Mrs. Orme--Mrs. Jones" old nurse--who stole Alora, according to our suspicions, and that her object was just what I thought, to get money from that miser Jason Jones! Daddy will be pleased with this triumph; _I"m_ pleased; Mary Louise will be pleased, and--By the way, where is Mary Louise?"
"I don"t know," confessed the Colonel, who had just placed Alora, now more self-possessed, in a chair. "I was beginning to worry about her when you came in. She seldom leaves these rooms, except for a few moments, and even then she tells me, or leaves word, where she is going. I spoke to the clerk, when I returned, and he said she had left the hotel early this morning, and it"s now four o"clock."
Josie"s smile faded and her face became grave.
"Now, who," she said, "could have an object in stealing Mary Louise?
Complications threaten us in this matter and the first thing we must do is----"
"Oh, Alora!" exclaimed Mary Louise, who had softly opened the door and caught sight of her friend. Next moment the two girls were locked in an embrace and Josie, a shade of disappointment struggling with her sunny smile, remarked coolly:
"Very well; that beats the champion female detective out of another job. But I might have known Mary Louise wouldn"t get herself stolen; no such adventure ever happens to _her."_
Mary Louise turned to the speaker with an earnest look on her sweet face.
"An adventure _has_ happened to me, Josie, and--and--I hardly know how to break the news."
She held Alora at arms" length and looked gravely into her friend"s face. Alora noted the serious expression and said quickly:
"What is it? Bad news for _me?"_
"I--I think not," replied Mary Louise, hesitatingly; "but it"s--it"s wonderful news, and I hardly know how to break it to you."
"The best way," remarked Josie, much interested, "is to let it out in a gush. "Wonderful" stuff never causes anyone to faint."
"Alora," said Mary Louise solemnly, "your father is here."
"Where?"
"He is just outside, in the corridor."
"Why doesn"t he come in?" asked the Colonel.
"He needn"t have worried about me," said Alora, in sullen tone, "but I suppose it was the danger of losing his money that----"