"A miracle!" cried Jack, as he came down the stairs three steps at a time, followed by Paul and Walter. "Cora is up before the rest of us!"
"Fair G.o.ddess of the rosy-fingered dawn,"
quoted Walter.
"You boys stop your nonsense now and listen to me," smiled Cora. "I"ve got something very important to talk over with you."
"The new fall styles, perhaps," chaffed Walter.
"It"s about the gypsy girl," began Cora.
"The gypsy girl!" exclaimed Jack, pressing his hand to his brow. "Where have I heard that name before?"
"She"s upstairs sleeping," said Cora simply.
The effect was electric. The young men dropped their foolery at once.
"What do you mean?" asked Jack, staring at her.
"You"re joking!" cried Walter.
"How did she get here?" queried Paul.
"She came last night about twelve o"clock," replied Cora, quietly enjoying the shock she had given. "I heard her knocking at the door, and got up and let her in."
"But why didn"t you call us?" asked Jack.
"I didn"t want to rouse the house," Cora answered. "I made sure that it was a woman before I opened the door."
"But that might have been a trap," reproved Walter. "She might have had confederates with her who would have forced their way in as soon as the door was opened."
"I didn"t think of that," admitted Cora. "I knew it was Nina-that"s the name she goes by-and I took her in. The poor thing was drenched from head to foot and was nearly frightened to death. We gave her dry clothes and something to eat and put her to bed."
And then to the boys and to Aunt Betty, who had entered while they were talking, Cora told in detail what she had learned of the gypsy girl"s story.
The others listened intently, breaking in frequently with questions. Aunt Betty was full of sympathy, though a little dubious about this new element brought into the life of Kill Kare.
The sympathies, too, of the boys were aroused, though their feelings took the form of bitter indignation against Higby. They would have jumped at the chance to form a vigilance committee and thrash him within an inch of his life, if it could have been done without disagreeable publicity for the girls.
As to the mystery itself, they were not as keenly interested as the girls were in solving it. They had a masculine hatred of seeming to pry, and they foresaw a whole lot of possible complications in the presence of the newcomer. But after all, their chivalry was aroused by the girl"s plight, and they cheerfully promised to do all they could to get her out of it.
"On general principles I object to Kill Kare"s becoming an orphan asylum," laughed Jack. "But you can count on us, sis, to take off our coats and work like beavers to set things right. Eh, fellows?"
"You bet!" replied Walter in his somewhat slangy manner.
"Watch our smoke," prophesied Paul, and grinned broadly.
CHAPTER XXVII A NARROW ESCAPE
Cora, greatly relieved now that things had been explained to the rest of the household, went upstairs to find that the other girls were up and nearly dressed.
Nina presented a very different picture from that of the night before. No one looking at her would think that she was different from any other girl who might be staying as a guest at Kill Kare. In a pretty white dress that Belle lent her, she looked charming.
She was naturally diffident and nervous at the prospect of meeting Aunt Betty and the boys. But their good breeding and kindness of heart smoothed over all difficulties. They laughed and jested at the table as usual, including her at times in the conversation, but taking care not to make her feel conspicuous. By the time the meal was over, they had succeeded very materially in putting her at ease.
For the benefit of the servants, it was given out that Nina was a friend who had arrived rather late the night before, and might stay at Kill Kare for some time.
"Let"s hope that Joel doesn"t get wise," remarked Jack, when he was alone with his chums. "I can imagine the old boy throwing a fit if he learns that we"re harboring anybody connected with the gypsies. He loves them as much as a miser loves a tax collector."
"I don"t think he"ll catch on," replied Walter; "but if he does we"ll tell him that our keeping her here is making the gypsies sore. That"ll square things with him."
"I think it would be a good thing for one of us to run over to the gypsy camp to-day, to see if that Higby is hanging around," suggested Paul. "We might get a line on where he"s staying and how long he"s likely to be in the neighborhood. And then, too, we might be able to see whether Nina"s absence has raised much of a stir in the camp."
"I"d like to get my hands on that Higby"s throat," growled Jack. "Of all the unspeakable cads, he"s the limit."
"He sure is," agreed Paul. "But we"ll have to put on the soft pedal if we hope to find out anything. I"ll try to strike up an acquaintance with him, ask him for a match, or something like that. He"s a shallow rascal, and it ought to be easy to worm something out of him."
"All right, Mr. Detective," laughed Jack. "Suppose you take that part of the work on you. In the meantime, I"ll write a letter to Tom Willis, an old college pal of mine and Walter"s, who lives in Roxbury, and ask him to make some discreet inquiries about that matter of the theft. Tom"s a good old scout and he"ll be glad to do anything he can for us. I want to find out whether a warrant was actually issued for the girl. If it wasn"t, the girl is all right, and Higby can"t make good on his threats.
If it was, we"ll have to get a lawyer, and try to have it quashed."
"How are you going to find out whether a warrant was issued for her, if you don"t know her name?" asked Walter.
"That"s so," replied Jack, a little dashed. "I"ll go and have a talk with Cora. Maybe she can get the girl to tell her."
As a result of his hurried conference, Cora spoke to Nina.
"Jack wants to look up that old matter at Roxbury, Nina, and he can"t do it unless he knows the date and also your name," she explained. "We don"t want to pry, but you can see yourself that we can"t do much if we go groping round in the dark."
"It happened a year ago last May," replied Nina, "and the name to look for is Helen Holman. It isn"t my real name, but it was one that I chose to take when I was afraid my uncle would be hunting for me."
"And you don"t feel quite ready yet to tell me your real name?" inquired Cora kindly.
"Please don"t ask me yet," pleaded Nina. "When once I know that there"s no danger of disgracing it, I"ll be glad to tell you."
Cora did not press her, but returned to Jack with the information he wanted.
"Thank you, sis," he said. "By the way, are you girls planning to use your car to-day? If not, Paul would like to drive over to the gypsy camp in it. Walter and I want to take my car over to the garage in town to-day to have a few repairs made. These roads have played the mischief with the tires. Besides, I want to lay in a stock of gasoline. I noticed this morning it was running low."
"We won"t want to use my car to-day, and Paul"s perfectly welcome to it,"
replied his sister. "And if you"re going over to Milford I wish you"d bring back some things we"re short of for the spread. You know that comes off to-morrow night. I"ll give you a list of the things we want."
"Sure thing," replied Jack.
But an hour later, when he and Walter drove off, his mind was so full of the measures he meant to take in behalf of Nina that he forgot all about Cora"s list.