"Answer me."
"I can"t tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because I can"t." There was a ring of finality in Veronica"s tone.
Agent Sanders scribbled something more in his little notebook. Then he renewed his questioning. "You took that letter to somebody, didn"t you?"
"I did not," replied Veronica emphatically. "I told you before, and I repeat it, I know nothing about any letter. I never saw it, and I never heard of it until you accused me of taking it."
The agent smiled knowingly. "To whom did you telephone from this study last night?"
"To a friend of mine."
"Who?"
Veronica refused to answer that question, calmly defying the agent to make her tell. Again there was a sensation in the room. The Winnebagos were ready to drop with astonishment at the strange behavior of Veronica. Sahwah looked around at the various faces. Mr. Wing still wore his puzzled, pained expression; the artist seemed to be getting bored; he looked out of the window and his left hand was playing with his ear, pulling down the lobe and releasing it with a jerk, a gesture he was continually making when his hands were idle. It irritated Sahwah now and made her nervous; she was filled with a desire to tie his hand down so he couldn"t reach his ear.
"That will do," said Agent Sanders to the Winnebagos, indicating by a gesture that they were to go out of the room. Sahwah lingered. She stood up beside Veronica and put her arm around her. "She didn"t do it! She didn"t do it!" she said fiercely, facing the three men fearlessly.
"She"s as loyal to this country as you are!"
"Possibly," said Agent Sanders drily. "Well, little lady, your faith in your friend is very beautiful to see, but until we find out that someone else took that letter we can"t take much stock in it."
"I"ll prove to you that she"s all right," Sahwah proclaimed rashly, and then reluctantly went out of the room. Her faith in Veronica"s innocence was unshaken. Veronica herself had said that she did not know anything about the letter, that was enough for Sahwah. Her friend had spoken, and she never dreamed of doubting her word.
As she went out she saw Mr. Wing rub his hand thoughtfully over his forehead and heard him say, "But hang it, Sanders, you didn"t hear her play last night. She had us all roused to such a pitch of patriotism that we were ready to go to the front on the next ship." The agent said nothing, only went on making notes in his little book. The artist sprang to open the door for Sahwah, but she took the k.n.o.b out from under his very hand and pa.s.sed him with hostile eyes.
Soon afterward Agent Sanders and Mr. Wing went to Philadelphia and took Veronica away with them. Before they went the Winnebagos all flung themselves upon Mr. Wing and implored him not to let the agent take her away. "_You_ know she is all right," pleaded Sahwah. "_You_ tell him not to arrest her."
Mr. Wing threw out his hands in a helpless gesture. "You don"t understand, my dear," he said patiently. "I can"t tell Special Agent Sanders "not to" do anything. I don"t happen to have the authority."
"Oh-h," said the Winnebagos.
"You see," he went on gently, "Agent Sanders is only doing his duty in arresting her. It"s his business to run down the enemies of our country and he is working for the good of all of us. The case against her is pretty strong, you"ll have to admit. She"s an alien enemy, a friend of this Prince Karl Augustus; is wearing a ring which his wife gave her.
Then here comes this letter from him which will expose him as the head of a great plot. Veronica is in the house with that letter; she is known to have been alone in the room where it was; soon after that she leaves the house and says she is going home with a sick headache. When you get home you find her trying to steal un.o.bserved into the back entry. She herself admits that she had an appointment with someone during that time. The next morning the letter is found to have disappeared.
Naturally all suspicion points to her, and how could Sanders do anything else but put her under arrest? This is a serious matter, much more serious than you can guess, if that letter goes back into the hands of the prince"s agents."
"But do you really think she took the letter?" asked Sahwah despairingly.
Mr. Wing shrugged his shoulders and repeated his gesture of helplessness. "It"s hard to know what to expect from such a temptestuous nature as that," he said seriously. "A nature which can work up such a pa.s.sionate loyalty for an adopted country--what must its feelings have been toward its own native land? Suppose when the chance unexpectedly came to aid the cause for which her country is fighting and for which her father died, the old ties were stronger than the new, and she could not resist the temptation? A nature like hers is capable of going to any extreme. Naturally I hate to suspect her of any connection with enemy agents, but as a servant of the government it is my duty to act upon anything that is in the least suspicious. Sanders is absolutely convinced that she"s a dangerous spy in the employ of the enemy, for she answers the description of a young girl he has been trying to find for a long time, a girl who belongs to the Hungarian n.o.bility who has helped German agents in this country.
"Sanders is dead sure she took that letter and pa.s.sed it back to the prince"s agents, and you really can"t blame him for thinking so. For, hang it all, if _she_ didn"t, who under the shining sun did?"
Only Sahwah, with her faith in her friend unshaken, though circ.u.mstances pointed accusing fingers from every direction, declared stoutly, "She didn"t, I know she didn"t. Some day you"ll find out I"m right!"
CHAPTER XVI
CLOUDY DAYS
The days dragged themselves along and a week loitered past which seemed an age to the Winnebagos. No word had come from Nyoda since a telegram she had sent upon her arrival, saying that Sherry was very low and not expected to live. They had written her about Veronica"s plight, but there was no answer to that.
Neither did they hear anything about Veronica. Mr. Wing had been in Philadelphia ever since the day of Veronica"s arrest, but they had not heard from him since.
The Winnebagos wore themselves out talking about Veronica. The subject of her mysterious excursions from the house was always in the air, and it formed a hurdle over which no one could jump. Where had she gone on those excursions? Why didn"t she confide in them and satisfy their minds on this point?
It usually happens in such instances, where our friends fail to take us into their confidence on matters which we think we have a right to know, that our pride is hurt at the neglect and pretty soon we begin to have suspicions in regard to the mysterious action. So it was with the Winnebagos. At first they only felt hurt that Veronica should have secrets away from them, but soon they began to say to themselves that there must have been something suspicious somewhere, if she could not confide in them, her best friends.
It was Agony who voiced this sentiment the oftenest, and kept the mystery constantly stirred up. She never let them forget it for a moment. She seemed inclined to argue as her father had done, that Veronica"s ties of blood and birth had been too strong for her and in an unguarded moment she had yielded to the impulse to a.s.sist the cause of her native land. The constant repet.i.tion of this belief began to influence the others. Much as they were loath to believe that Veronica would a.s.sist the enemies of their country, they were always conscious of the fact that they had never really known Veronica; that they could not understand her strange, pa.s.sionate nature; that never in their acquaintance with her had they ever been able to guess what she would do next. There had always been a gulf between themselves and her which they had never been able to cross entirely, much as they had come to love her; there was always a line drawn around her over which they had never been able to pa.s.s. They loved her dearly; they admired her wildly; but they no more understood the soul that was locked up in her uncommunicative nature than they understood the riddle of the Sphinx.
They all realized this, and were filled with sorrowful forebodings. The fact that she had known Prince Karl Augustus loomed larger and larger in their minds as the days wore on, and it seemed not at all improbable that she had seized the opportunity to aid him in his activities, without ever stopping to think of the consequences of her act. They were broken-hearted over it, but gradually came to believe the possibility of the charge against her.
Only Sahwah stood out stanchly for her right along, refusing to doubt her for a moment.
"I don"t care if she _is_ an alien enemy!" she declared vehemently.
"She"s my Veronica, and I know she never had anything to do with it, so there!"
She wouldn"t listen to Agony and her wise-sounding talk, withdrew to herself a great part of the time, and for lack of other supporters spoke out her mind to the portrait of Elizabeth Carver, hanging serenely over the harp in the long parlor.
"You would have stood up for your friend, no matter what the others said, wouldn"t you?" she demanded beseechingly, and it seemed to her that Elizabeth nodded her head in confirmation.
Then one day came news which filled them all with consternation.
Veronica was to be interned! Mr. Wing came home and told them about it briefly. The weight of suspicion had been so strong against Veronica that nothing could stand against it; her internment had been ordered by the agents of the government. They were now awaiting the arrival of the internment papers from Washington; when these came she would be taken away.
Mr. Wing wearily waved aside the hosts of questions poured out by the dismayed Winnebagos. He had suffered great chagrin over the loss of the letter which was to have played such an important part in the coming trial; sober afterthoughts had convinced him of the possibility of Veronica"s connection with enemy agents; he had come to believe it implicitly now. Of course, she had taken in these simple girls with her spectacular protestations of loyalty to this country; that was part of the game. His anxiety was all for his girls, for fear they had already compromised themselves in some way.
The Winnebagos saw him in a new mood to-day, stern, inflexible, obdurate. He curtly advised them to speedily forget their friend and to say nothing to outsiders about the occurrence. He refused to tell them where she was at present, and would not hear of their having any intercourse with her.
"The first thing you know you"ll be suspected of connivance yourselves,"
he warned. "And I also advise you not to express too much sympathy for your friend," he continued. "It"s a sure way to make yourselves unpopular these days."
Stricken, Sahwah sped home, and fleeing from the others, went into the woods by herself. That was always her place of refuge in trouble. When others would have sought human comfort and advice, Sahwah fled straight to the woods. There she could think clearly and gather together her stunned faculties.
She wandered on blindly until she came to the brook, the little laughing stream she loved so well, and sat there for hours trying to think of some plan by which she could save Veronica. For the conviction was strong within her that Veronica was innocent and it would not budge for all the suspicions in the world. She thought of one wild extravagant scheme after the other, and abandoned them all, and at last, utterly crushed and low-spirited, she took her way back to Carver House.
CHAPTER XVII
THE DRILL CONTEST
While the Winnebagos were gasping under the cold shower of upsetting events, time marched steadily onward toward the day set for the military drill contest between Oakwood and Hillsdale. In these last days the Winnebagos realized what it meant to have the honor of a town on their shoulders. Although they had little heart for drilling they must turn out every day with their company of Oakwood girls just as if nothing had happened, must be the life and brains of the company and never appear to let their enthusiasm flag. Everyone in town depended upon them to win the contest for Oakwood; everywhere they went they were greeted with pleasant smiles and complimentary remarks; they were touched and flattered by the confidence that was reposed in them--they simply _had_ to win that contest for Oakwood. No one else knew anything about Veronica; that was kept a state secret. The Winnebagos simply told Miss Raper that she had been called out of town and would not be in the contest, and Miss Raper chose another girl to put in her place.