"Yes. It is short notice, I know," the woman said, smiling; "but I, myself, only knew of the plan yesterday, and, as you know, I was too busy to make any arrangements for it. Will you go, Ruth? We have nothing to do but to pack our trunks."
"I suppose there is no reason why I should not," the young girl returned, musingly, while she told herself that she could send a note to Ray, informing him of her intention. She was not quite sure that he would approve of it, and she wished that she could have known of it the previous day, so that she could have consulted him.
"That is nice of you," Mrs. Montague quickly responded, and a.s.suming that her remark was intended as an a.s.sent to the trip; "and now we must at once go about our preparations. How long will it take you to pack?"
"Not long," Mona answered; "I have only my dresses to fold, and my toilet articles to gather up. I have not really unpacked since I came here," she said, smiling; "for I have needed so few things."
"Well, then, get yourself ready; then you may come to help me," Mrs.
Montague said, as she arose to go to her own room, and breathing a sigh of relief that this vital point had been gained with so little trouble.
Mona was as expeditious as possible, but, somehow, now that she had given her consent to go, her heart grew unaccountably heavy, and she began to feel a deep aversion to leaving New York.
She wrote a hasty note to Ray, telling him of the intended journey, and how she regretted not being able to consult him, but could not, under the circ.u.mstances. She also wrote, as she did not know the route they were to take, she could not tell him where to address her, but would write to him again when she learned where they were to be.
Then she packed what she thought she would need to take with her, after which she went to a.s.sist Mrs. Montague. She found that she had been very expeditious, for she had one trunk already packed and locked, ready to be strapped, and was busily engaged filling another.
Their arrangements were all made and they were ready to start by the time dinner was served, and this meal Mrs. Montague insisted they should eat together, as they must leave immediately afterward.
She was very chatty and agreeable, treating Mona more as an equal than she had ever done before. She seemed in excellent spirits, and talked so gayly and enthusiastically about the trip that the young girl really began to antic.i.p.ate it with considerable pleasure.
Mary and the cook were to have a holiday during their absence; the house was to be closed, and the coachman alone would remain about the premises to look after the horses and see that nothing happened to the place.
At seven o"clock they left the house, and an hour later were seated in a luxurious Wagner, and rolling rapidly Southward.
They arrived in St. Louis on the morning of the second day, and drove directly to the Southern Hotel, where Mrs. Montague said they would remain for a day or two, to rest, and where the friends who were going down the Mississippi to New Orleans with them would join them.
The following morning Mrs. Montague dressed herself with great care, and told Mona that she was going out to make some calls, adding that she might amuse herself as she chose, for there was nothing to be done, and she might get lonely to remain alone in the hotel.
The young girl resolved to improve the opportunity and look about the city a little on her own account.
She donned her hat and jacket, and running down to the street, hailed the first car that came along, with the intention of riding as far as it would take her.
She changed her purpose, however, as the car was about pa.s.sing a street leading down to the great bridge across the Mississippi.
She had heard and read a great deal about the grand structure, and she determined to walk across and see how it would compare with the wonderful Brooklyn Bridge.
She was feeling very well, the morning was bright, and she enjoyed her walk immensely. By the time she returned her cheeks were like wild roses, and her whole face glowing from exercise.
She was a little weary, however, and glad to get seated again in a car going back toward her hotel.
The car had proceeded only about half a block, however, when it stopped again, and two people, a man and a woman, stepped aboard, and seated themselves next to her.
They seemed to be absorbed in earnest conversation, and did not appear to notice any one about them.
The woman was an elderly person, rather fine looking, with a good figure, and an erect, graceful bearing. Her hair was almost white, and there were deep wrinkles in her forehead, at the corners of her eyes, and about her mouth, although they were somewhat concealed, or softened, by the thickly spotted black lace veil which she wore; but on the whole she was an agreeable looking person, and her manner was full of energy and vitality.
Her companion was a rather rough-appearing personage and dressed like a Western farmer or miner, rather coa.r.s.ely handsome, and with an easy, off-hand manner that was quite attractive, and he might have been thirty or thirty-five years of age.
"What a dark skin--what black hair and beard, with blue eyes!" was Mona"s mental comment, as she observed this peculiarity about him. He also had very white teeth, which contrasted strikingly with the intense blackness of his mustache and beard.
He appeared to be quite disturbed about something, and talked to his companion rapidly and excitedly, but in low tones.
"You were very imprudent to try to dispose of so many at one place," Mona overheard his companion say, in reply to some observation which he had previously made, and then a great shock went tingling through all her nerves as her glance fell upon the dress which the woman wore.
It was a fine, heavy ladies" cloth, of a delicate shade of gray--just the color, Mona was confident, of that tiny piece of goods which Ray had shown her at Hazeldean, and which had been torn from the dress of the woman who had trapped him into Doctor Wesselhoff"s residence, and stolen his diamonds.
She was very much excited for a few moments, and her heart beat with rapid throbs.
Could it be possible that this woman had been concerned in that robbery?
That woman had had red hair, and according to Ray"s description, was much younger; but she might possibly be the other one, who had made arrangements with the physician for Ray"s treatment. At all events, Mona was impressed that she had found the dress in which the fascinating Mrs. Vanderbeck had figured so conspicuously.
Her face flushed, her fingers tingled with the rapid coursing of her blood, and she felt as if she could hardly wait until the woman should rise, so that she might look for a place that had been mended in the skirt of her dress.
She resolved that she would ride as long as they remained in the car, and when they left it, she would follow them to ascertain their stopping place.
She could not catch anything more that they said, although she strained her ears to do so.
Those few words which she had overheard had also aroused her suspicions--"you were very imprudent to try to dispose of so many in one place," the woman had said, and Mona believed she had referred to diamonds; her vivid imagination pictured these people as belonging to the gang of robbers who had been concerned in the Palmer robbery, and now that the excitement attending it had somewhat subsided, they had doubtless come to St. Louis to dispose of their booty; while it was the strangest thing in the world, she thought, that she should have happened to run across them in the way she had.
They were drawing very near the Southern Hotel, where Mona and Mrs.
Montague were stopping; but the excited girl resolved that she would not get out--she would ride hours rather than lose sight of these two strangers, and the chance to ascertain if that gray cloth dress was mended--"on the back of the skirt, near the right side, among the heavy folds." Ray had told her that was where the tear was.
But what if she should find it there? What should she do about the matter? were questions which arose at this point to trouble her. What could she, a weak girl, do to cause the arrest of the thieves? how was she to prove them guilty?
At that moment the man signaled the conductor to stop the car, and Mona"s heart leaped into her throat, for they were exactly opposite her own hotel.
The couple arose to leave the car, and Mona slowly followed them.
As the woman was about to step to the ground she gathered up her skirts with her right hand, to prevent them from sweeping the steps of the car, and Mona looked with eager eyes, but she could detect no mended rent.
She kept a little behind them as they crossed the sidewalk and made straight for the entrance of the hotel, when, as they were mounting the steps, the woman suddenly tripped and almost fell.
In the act, her skirts were drawn closely about her, and Mona distinctly saw a place, where the plaits or folds were laid deeply over one another, that had been mended, and not nicely, either, but hastily sewed together on the wrong side. It would hardly have been noticed, however, unless one had been looking for it as Mona was, because it lay so deeply in among the folds.
The couple entered the hotel, and both gave Mona a quick, sharp glance as she followed; but she quietly pa.s.sed them with averted eyes, and went into a reception-room on the left of the hall.
"Go and register, Jake, and I will wait here for you," Mona heard the woman say, and the man immediately disappeared within the clerk"s office opposite, while his companion walked slowly back and forth in the hall.
Presently the man rejoined her, remarking:
"It"s all right; they had a room next yours which they could give me.
Come," and both pa.s.sed directly up stairs.
Mona waited a few minutes, to be sure they were well out of the way, then she quietly slipped across the hall to the office.
"Will you allow me to look at the register?" she asked of the gentlemanly clerk.