"Sister!" snapped the girl, laughing at the youth"s discomfiture.
"But won"t you tell me just this?" he pleaded. "Who on earth is the girl in the black robe--the nun? See, there she goes off toward the lake with Antonio."
"How can I tell?" answered Luna. "But if you really want to know, suppose we follow them?"
"Great idea!" agreed the Indian. "There goes Rosebud and Adonis.
My, but they are hitting the trail, if you will pardon the language of an early settler. Suppose we go around this way? Then we can have a full view of both pairs in this mystery."
"As you please," answered Luna with some condescension as they started toward the little lake.
"Shall we sit here?"
It was Adonis speaking to Rosebud. She sank down upon a rustic bench and instantly noticed a couple turn behind the spruce hedge.
They were both in black. It was Antonio and the nun.
CHAPTER XIX
A STRANGE DISCOVERY
Adonis and Rosebud sat for a while at the side of the miniature lake, where the pretty little lights dimpled in the placid waters, and where now a score of merrymakers were clamoring for a ride in the tiny launch which Jack Kimball and his chums, Ed and Walter, had rigged up, in order to add picturesqueness to the fete.
"Don"t you want to take a sail?" asked the Greek youth of his fair companion.
"Oh, no, indeed, thank you. I must leave that for the others."
"You must?" and he accented the last word, as if to penetrate her disguise by this act of deference to the "others."
"Oh, well," she answered hesitatingly, "I never did care much for sailing, to tell the truth--especially in a--tub. I prefer a place where there is at least room in which to dip my hands."
"Then let us walk," he suggested. "I am anxious to see all over the grounds. Aren"t they splendid? Just see that cave formed by the cedars, back of the lighted path. I declare" this place looks like a real fairyland to-night."
"I am glad you like it," replied the girl. "I--er--" She clapped her dainty hand over her masked mouth. She was near to betraying her ident.i.ty.
"Like it?" he repeated. "How could I do otherwise? But in all this human garden there is no fairer flower than--Rosebud," and he brought her hand reverently to his lips.
"Oh! You--you mustn"t be too--too gay!" she expostulated, but she laughed as she said it. "You know the patronesses have specified--"
"There!" he exclaimed, interrupting her. "It"s all right, Rosebud,"
and he tucked her arm within his own. "I will make love to the trees if it pleases you. But let us walk about the grounds. I am afraid the curtain will be suddenly rung down and leave us again just mortals."
Rosebud felt that it was, pretty--very pretty. She was entirely satisfied with herself and her friends. Then Adonis--wasn"t he splendid? And how courteous--almost like the brave knights of old.
They approached a spot gloomy with shadows.
From it they heard voices in a gentle murmur--voices near what Adonis had called the cedar cave.
Involuntarily, at the sound of one voice, Rosebud pressed her companion"s arm. She heard some one say:
"I must go home at once--I am so frightened!"
There came an answering whisper, but it was in tones that indicated a youth pleading.
"I have--I have done it," again came the girl"s frightened whisper.
"I did what you asked me to, and I don"t see why you don"t take me home."
There was almost a sob in her voice.
"What? Just when I"m having a fine time?" objected the other. "Why don"t you want to stay? No one could have seen you drop it into---"
"Hush!" cautioned the girl desperately.
"Oh, you"re just nervous--that"s all."
Rosebud felt that she should not hear any more, but she would either have to cross the path near the cave and allow the hidden ones to see her, or she must wait until they had come out, as, if she and her companion retreated now, they would make a noise on the gravel, and it would be heard. Adonis seemed to understand the situation, and whispered to his companion:
"Stay. They"ll be gone in a moment." He drew her farther back into the shadows.
"If you don"t take me home," continued the girl in the cedar cave, "I"ll ask some one else to. I certainly shall not stay until supper and have to unmask. I dare not."
"Just as you like," was the cool response.
"And I risked it all for you--spoiled my entire evening. I"ll know better next time!"
"Well, I"m going to make it up to you," said her companion.
There was a movement of the cedars, and two figures emerged from amid the trees. They crossed the path. They were Antonio and the nun.
Rosebud drew Adonis farther back from the path. The others pa.s.sed on without seeing them and at once began talking gaily, as if they had been merrymaking with the rest but Rosebud and Adonis detected the false note in their laughter. Adonis pressed the little warm hand on his sleeve.
"Do you know them?" he asked.
"I--suspect them," she replied.
"So do I," he almost gasped, "and with good reason. I have just found something in my pocket."
"In your pocket?"
"Yes, quite a bulky package. I did not notice it until this moment."
"But how--"
"Don"t ask me how it got there. It"s just--there. I did not even know there was a pocket in this cloak I wore. Whoever put the package there was more clever than I."
"But what is it?"