"But that--oh! let us go away from here. I am nervous!"
"Certainly," and Jack took her arm. "Now if that were Belle," he proceeded calmly, and then paused.
Bess was actually trembling when they crossed to the stairway, but she soon recovered her composure.
She said nothing more about the face she had seen peering through the window and tried to forget it, as the dance went on.
After the "Paul Jones," a feature of the Tip-Top affairs, had been danced, every one wanted to cool off or down, according to the temperature desired. Cora was with Ed. They had drifted out on a side porch. Without any preamble one of the waiters touched Ed on the arm and told him there was a message for him waiting in the office.
"How do you know it"s for me?" asked Ed, astonished.
"You are with the motor girls, aren"t you?" replied the man, as if that were an explanation.
"I"ll take you back to the others," said Ed to Cora. "I may as well see what it is."
"Oh, run along. It may be something urgent," suggested Cora. "I can slip back into the dance room when I want to, or I can wait here. You won"t be long."
Ed followed the waiter indoors, then went into the office as he directed. He was not absent more than ten minutes, but when he returned to the porch Cora was gone!
CHAPTER XVII
MISSING
"I left her here ten minutes ago!" gasped Ed, trembling with excitement, as he related the news.
"She must have gone inside," replied Jack, equally alarmed. "We must look before we tell the others."
"No, give the alarm first, and look afterward," insisted Ed. "The thing that counts is to find her; people"s nerves may rest afterwards.
I think we had best call the hotel manager. That message sent me was a fake. It was an envelope addressed to me, and contained nothing but a blank paper. It was a game to get me away from Cora!"
"Perhaps you are right. But I do hate to alarm every one. I know that Cora would feel that way herself. What"s this?" and Jack stooped to the porch floor. "Her fan!"
Ed almost s.n.a.t.c.hed the trinket from Jack"s hand. "The chain is broken," he said, "and she had it on when I left her. I remember how she dropped the fan to her side and it hung there."
Here was a new proof of something very wrong--the chain was broken in two places.
"Don"t let us waste a moment," begged Ed, starting for the hotel office. "I will speak with the manager first."
Jack felt as if something was gripping at his heart. Cora gone! Could it be possible that anything had really happened to her? Could she have been kidnapped? No, she must be somewhere with some of the girls.
He followed Ed mechanically into the office. The manager was at the desk looking over the register.
"A young lady has just disappeared from the west-end porch," began Ed, rather awkwardly, "and I fear that something strange has happened to her. I was called in here by this fake message"--he produced a slip of blank paper--"and while I was in here she disappeared."
"No one else gone?" asked the manager with a questioning smile.
"Why, no," replied Ed indignantly. "I was with Miss Kimball almost up to the moment she disappeared."
Jack stepped forward. "I know that my sister would not give us one moment"s anxiety were it in her power to avoid it," he said. "She is the most thoughtful girl in the world."
The manager was looking at the envelope Ed held. "Who did you say told you about this?" he asked of Ed.
"A waiter."
"Just come along with me, and we will see the waiters and kitchen men before we disturb the guests," said the manager.
They pa.s.sed through the halls, where knots of the guests were strolling about pa.s.sing the time between the dances--all apparently happy and contented. But Jack and Ed! What would be the outcome of their anxiety?
"This way," said the hotel proprietor. "Let me see, you are----" he paused suggestively.
"My name is Foster, and this is Mr. Kimball," said Ed.
In the kitchen they found everything in confusion. The chef had lined up every man in the department, and he was questioning them.
"What"s this?" asked Mr. Blake, the proprietor.
"Some one has been in here, or some one here has made away with a lot of the silver and with money from the men"s pockets," replied the chef indignantly. "We have got to find out who is the culprit. I won"t stand for that sort of thing."
"Certainly not," Mr. Blake a.s.sured him, "but perhaps we can help you.
Mr. Foster, will you kindly pick out the man who told you about that message?"
The men stood up. Ed scrutinized each carefully.
"None of these," he said finally.
"Are you sure every one is here, Max?" asked Mr. Blake.
"Every one, sir; even the last man I hired, who has never had an ap.r.o.n on yet."
"Could it be any one from the outside?" faltered Jack.
"No one could get in here and manage to make his way through----"
"Excuse me, sir," said a very blond young waiter, "but I think a stranger has been in here. My locker was broken open and my ap.r.o.n--one of the best--is gone."
"Is that so?" spoke Mr. Blake sharply. "Then we have no time to spare.
The young lady----"
"Oh, don"t say it," cried Jack. "Cora kidnapped!"
"Jack, old boy, be brave," whispered Ed, patting him on the shoulder.
"Wherever Cora is, the G.o.ds are with her!"
"We must first inst.i.tute a thorough search," declared Mr. Blake. "You men form an outside posse. Be quick. Search every inch of the grounds. Max, no more kitchen duty to-night. Here, Ben, you ring the hall bell. That will bring the porters together. Then, Dave"--to a handsome young Englishman--"I put you in charge. That young lady must be found tonight."