in spite of her real concern for rosemary's disappointment, lorraine enjoyed the easter holidays. there was much to be done in them. morland and claudia were anxious to revisit the sea-nymph's grotto, which had been neglected during the winter, so with landry in attendance they chose a fine day, and had another delightful picnic there. fortunately the tides had not reached as high as the mouth of the cave, and their "furniture" was undisturbed; even the shell patterns remained as formerly, though the sea-weed was brown and shrivelled. that was a matter easily remedied, however, for the rock pools below were full of pink and green algæ, and corallines beautiful enough for a mermaid's bouquet.
"it would be a ripping place for a hermit," said morland. "i expect it beats a dug-out hollow. i shall often think of it when i'm called up!"
"me go to the war too!" said landry suddenly.
he spoke so seldom that claudia turned in surprise.
"no, landry, dear, i couldn't spare you."
[182]"but morland's going!"
"all the more reason why you should stay at home and take care of me."
"me want to be with you both," said landry fretfully.
"but that can't be. the government will send papers, and then morland will have to go."
there was trouble in the boy's blue eyes; his poor dull brain seemed to be making a supreme effort to understand. he spoke again, still in the language of a little child.
"landry will take the nasty papers and hide them, and then morland stay at home."
"no, no, dear! landry couldn't do that," laughed claudia, fondling his hand. "you must be my good boy and look after me when he's gone."
landry relapsed once more into his habitual silence, but it was evident that a new and unusual access of thought was stirring in his feeble mind. he kept looking at morland with awakened interest. lorraine, watching, wondered what was the result of his cogitations. his own sister and brother, accustomed to his moods, took no more notice of an occurrence that seemed trivial at the moment, but afterwards bore unexpected fruit.
"when we've made the cave so nice, it seems almost a pity to keep it quite to ourselves," suggested morland after a pause.
"why, but we all pledged ourselves to absolute secrecy!"
"i know we did."
[183]"whom do you want to bring here?" enquired claudia suspiciously.
"oh, nobody in particular. only madame bertier was asking me one day if there were any caves along the coast. i thought she'd like to see this one."
"you're not to bring that russian woman here! i don't like her. i hope you did not tell her about it?"
"of course not!"
"honest injun?"
"crystal clear i didn't!"
"it's our secret, and nobody is to know," said claudia, still ruffled. "let us all take a sort of oath!"
"right oh! i shan't break it!" agreed lorraine emphatically.
"will you swear, morland?" urged claudia.
"who's going to tell?" asked morland huffily. "what a fuss you girls make about nothing. the cave might be full of diamonds instead of only shells!"
"only shells, indeed!" claudia's tone was belligerent.
"i wish you'd both help me to collect some shells," put in lorraine, trying to patch up peace. "i want some more desperately badly for the museum."
a duty which lorraine had undertaken during the holidays was the arrangement of the school museum. she was the curator, but during term time she was so fully occupied that she had never [184]been able to sort and label the specimens which the girls had brought to her. the whole collection had been so far stored away in boxes. now, however, miss kingsley had set apart special premises for the museum. there was an unused room at the gables that in the days of former tenants had been occupied by the coachman. it adjoined the house, but was approached by an outside staircase from the yard. it had been filled with lumber, but miss kingsley had had this cleared away, the floor had been scrubbed, and some old desks moved in to serve as cases for the specimens.
miss kingsley and miss janet had gone away for easter, and the servants were also taking a much-needed rest. the gables therefore was shut up for the holidays, though the charwoman, who lived in a cottage close by, went in to scrub and clean. before leaving, miss kingsley had given lorraine the key of the museum, so that she might enter it when she wished, quite independently of going to the house.
lorraine spent very happy mornings there—sometimes alone, sometimes with claudia to help her. with the aid of natural history books from the school library, she identified and labelled the specimens to the best of her ability. it was a quiet kind of work that appealed to her. she felt that the room was going to be a tremendous acquisition to the school. all sorts of treasures could find a home on the walls, secure from the meddlesome fingers of juniors. she intended to keep it as a sort of sanctum for the monitresses, and had visions [185]of holding committee meetings there, and bringing tea in thermos flasks.
one morning she had arranged to spend a little time at the museum and to meet claudia, who had promised to come and help her. the trysting-place was the old windmill, and lorraine stood there waiting. claudia was late—the castleton family were always late for everything—and lorraine walked impatiently up and down the road. footsteps coming round the corner made her turn expectantly. to her surprise, the new-comer was not her friend, but her uncle, mr. barton forrester.
"why, uncle!" she exclaimed. "what are you doing up here? i thought you were so busy at the office?"
"so i am; and i ought to be at work now. this is what comes of being a special constable! there's a pretty to-do to-day! the telephone wires have been cut, and the job is to discover where!"
"the telephone wires cut!" echoed lorraine. "but who has cut them?"
"some spy, i suppose. one has constantly to be on the lookout for treachery, especially in a place like this. if we could only find out where the leakage is! there, lorraine, i can't stay. i've got to see mr. jermyn immediately."
uncle barton—busy, energetic little man that he was—waved his hand to his niece and hurried away up the road, just as claudia, also in a hurry, turned the corner. lorraine cut short her apologies with the news about the telephone wires.
[186]"it means," she explained, "that, until they find the place and can mend it, porthkeverne's cut off by telephone from all other places. you may depend upon it, as uncle says, there's some treachery at the bottom of this. isn't it horrible to think that there may be spies in the town, ready to betray one's country?"
"dreadful!" shuddered claudia. "they ought to intern everyone who's the least bit under suspicion."
the two girls walked rapidly to the gables, and went into the school-yard and up the outside staircase. lorraine had the key in her pocket, and unlocked the museum. directly she entered, she noticed that the room was not as she had left it. some of the desks and boxes had certainly been moved. she remembered exactly how she had placed them yesterday. her first thought was that mrs. jones, the charwoman, must have been in to clean; but that was clearly impossible, for she herself had the key. who could have intruded into the sanctum, and for what reason? she discussed it with claudia. it gave them both a most uncanny feeling to think that someone had been able to enter. the gables was practically shut up. had a burglar been picking the locks during miss kingsley's absence? there seemed to be nothing in the museum likely to excite the cupidity of even an amateur thief; the specimens, though interesting to the school, were of no monetary value. lorraine's glance went slowly round the room, and took in the desks and boxes, the walls, on [187]which she had pinned natural history prints, and finally wandered up to the ceiling. ah, here was a clue at last! the trap-door in the corner had certainly been moved—it did not now quite fit down. there was about an inch of light to be seen round its edge. a horrible idea suggested itself to the girls. suppose somebody was in hiding up there!
the bare notion blanched their cheeks. with one accord they fled from the room, locked the door on the outside, and scurried down the steps. in the yard they paused. what was to be done next? they did not feel capable of tackling a possible burglar unaided, yet it seemed rather weak to run away.
"let's fetch morland!" said claudia.
the suggestion seemed a good one. lorraine was only too content to throw herself upon masculine aid. they walked at double speed to windy howe, and hauled morland from the piano. he stopped in the middle of a brahms sonata, and offered at once to go back with them to the school.
"you see, miss kingsley and everybody's away, and there's only the charwoman about," explained lorraine. "i know she'd be worse scared than ourselves if we told her."
"right-o! i'll go and investigate," agreed morland, rather pleased to show his courage before the girls.
so they all three went back to the museum, and here morland placed desks and boxes together, [188]and mounted on them so as to reach the trap-door, through which he wriggled. the girls held the pile steady, and watched his long legs disappear through the opening.
"it leads on to the roof!" he shouted. "i'll climb up and explore. i'm in a sort of garret with a ladder in the corner."
to the waiting girls it seemed a very long time before morland returned. at last, however, they heard his footsteps overhead, and he called to them to hold the erection while he came down. it was with a sense of relief that they saw his boots issue through the trap-door. they had had an idea that he might have disappeared for ever.
"well?"
"did you see anybody?"
morland shook his head. he was dusting his sleeves, and trying to rub the dirt off his hands.
"i didn't catch a burglar, but i've made a discovery," he said slowly.
"what?"
the girls were half-frightened, half-thrilled.
"i've been on the roof. did you know the telephone wires run over the school?"
"i never noticed."
"well, they do. and what's more, they've been cut!"
"great scott!"
"whoever did it has been very clever. it was a unique spot to get at them, and impossible to be seen from the road."
"i must tell uncle barton at once!" gasped [189]lorraine breathlessly. "it's exactly what he was wanting to find out!"
"we'd better ask mrs. jones if anybody has been hanging about the place," suggested claudia.
the charwoman, on being interviewed, assured them that nobody had been to the school. there was only one key to the museum, so it could not have been entered in their absence.
"did you leave the window open?" asked morland of lorraine.
"i believe i did, just a little at the top."
"well, don't you notice that the leads below the window communicate with one of the bedroom windows of the school? any one inside the gables could step out and get into the museum that way."
"but mrs. jones says nobody has been in the school, didn't you, mrs. jones?"
"yes, miss, no one but myself—except—yes, i do remember, one of the teachers came and asked if she might fetch a book she'd forgotten, and i let her go in."
"which teacher was it?"
"that foreign lady."
"madame bertier?"
"i don't know her name. she wasn't there more than a few minutes."
"oh!" said lorraine thoughtfully. "thank you, mrs. jones!"
uncle barton also looked thoughtful, when lorraine described to him the whole occurrence. he wrote a note at once to the chief constable, to tell [190]him where the telephone wires were cut, and sent the office boy to deliver it. then he asked for any details his niece could supply.
"you're a little brick!" he commented. "there's treachery at work somewhere, undoubtedly, but the question is how to lay our hands on it. can i trust you and the castletons just to keep this dark for the present? i'd rather it wasn't noised all about the place. i've my own ideas, and i want to work them out in my own way."
"shall i say anything about it to madame bertier?" asked lorraine.
"most decidedly not! please don't mention the matter to anybody. you can give me the key of the museum till miss kingsley returns. you don't need to go there again at present?"
"i'd be scared to death!" confessed lorraine.
in spite of uncle barton forrester's injunctions, the episode of the cut telephone wires became known. the castletons on their return home had found madame bertier in their father's studio, sitting for her portrait, and, being full of the exciting subject, had poured out their story. the pretty russian was aghast.
"it is too horrible!" she exclaimed; "to have happened while miss kingsley is away! some burglar would be bad—but it is perhaps a spy. i was at the gables yesterday, just for a moment, to fetch a book. i saw nothing! had i met anyone i should indeed have been very alarmed! the police will no doubt keep the house under observation now."
[191]"the question is how anybody got into the room when it was locked," said claudia.
"perhaps they brought a ladder. you say the window was left open?"
"yes, but it's shut and fastened now. whoever came wouldn't be able to get in so easily again."
the easter holidays were nearly over, and in a few days the miss kingsleys would be back to look after their own property, and take what precautions they thought fit against burglars or spies. at the near prospect of term time, claudia, whose spirits had effervesced lately, suddenly waxed serious. lorraine could not make out what was the matter with her.
"you look about as cheerful as an undertaker, old sport!" she remonstrated. "something's got on your nerves!"
"i'm in a beastly hole," admitted claudia, with a gusty sigh. "i know i'm a slacker."
"what have you been doing?"
"something awful!"
"go ahead and confess, then!"
they were sitting in the garden at windy howe, resting after planting some rows of peas, and sheltering under a tree from the heavy drops of a sudden april shower. claudia pulled off her gardening gloves, and rested a delicately-modelled chin upon a prettily-shaped hand. there was desperate trouble in her blue eyes.
"i'm scared to go back to school, and that's the fact! i've done an awful thing! the day we broke [192]up, miss janet gave me some papers to be signed and sent in to the kindergarten college. she said they must be posted before the 6th. i put them in my coat pocket. well—i've only just remembered them."
lorraine was aghast.
"claudia! your application for the exam! how could you forget?"
"i don't know, but i did!" groaned the sinner.
"when did you remember?"
"only this morning. i hadn't worn my coat during the holidays, it was too hot. i put it on this morning to run to the town to shop for violet, and stuck my hand in my pocket, and found that wretched envelope."
"but did you never think of it once during the holidays? i should have thought studying would bring it to your mind."
"i haven't done any studying—i was so dead sick of lessons," confessed claudia. "i've just been playing about with the children all the time."
"oh!"
lorraine's tone was eloquent.
"what will miss janet say?" speculated claudia gloomily.
what, indeed? lorraine did not dare to anticipate what would happen at the gables on the receipt of such news. only a member of the haphazard castleton family would have been capable of such a shiftless act. it was exactly what morland would have done, but lorraine had expected better things from claudia.
"can't you get it signed now, and send it off?" she suggested.
"father's away to-day, but i'll ask him to sign it when he comes back, and post it at once. i don't suppose it's much use, though."
"oh, claudia, i'm so sorry!"
"well, it can't be helped now," said her friend, rather impatiently. "the rain's stopped, and i'm going to plant another row of peas."
lorraine could not quite understand claudia's attitude of mind, which seemed to hold more dread of miss janet's anger than concern for missing the application for the scholarship. there was a curious shade of relief mingled with her contrition. she began to sing quite cheerfully as she planted the peas, and, when constable came running past, she picked him up and kissed him.
"violet would miss me dreadfully if i went away. we've been friends the last few days," she remarked later on. "i helped to make baby a new frock, and he looks so sweet in it. he is a darling!"
there was trouble at the gables when the misses kingsley returned and learnt the bad news. they wrote off at once to miss halden, explaining the circumstances, but the answer came back that certain rules of the college were very strict, and the governors could not consider any application submitted later than the 6th.
"also," wrote the principal. "i feel that a girl, who could forget such an immensely important step in her own career, would be of no use to [194]us, and i could not feel justified in awarding her a scholarship. i am exceedingly sorry, but fear this decision must be final."
so there, as far as the college was concerned, the matter ended. at school, however, claudia with an obstinate look on her face weathered the storm of miss janet's contempt.
"after all the trouble i took in coaching you! it's really too bad! you've ruined your own career, and no one but yourself to thank for it! why, the scholarship was as good as gained! you'd so easily have passed the exam. it was all arranged with miss halden, and you've spoilt the whole thing with your carelessness. you might at least have the grace to say that you're sorry!"
"i'm very sorry, miss janet," said claudia in an apathetic voice.
the mistress glanced at her keenly.
"i doubt if you really are! i can't make you out! i'm disgusted with the whole affair. one gets very little thanks for trying to help people!"
claudia, in terrible disgrace, retired sobbing. later on, however, she poured confidences into lorraine's ear.
"i'm sorry of course to disappoint miss janet, but i can't tell you how relieved i am, really! i never wanted to go, and that's the fact. i'd have hated to be a kindergarten teacher! i'd rather go on the land if i leave home at all, but—but——"
"claudia!" began lorraine, with sudden enlightenment, "were you going to be home-sick?"
"i suppose so. i'm fond of the children, you [195]know, though i get fed up with them sometimes. it would take a very strong magnet to draw me away. perhaps if something really fascinating offered, i'd want to go—but not for kindergarten! no thanks! some other girl may get the scholarship instead of me, and she's welcome to it. after all, home is a very nice place."
"it certainly is. i don't want to leave mine just at present," agreed lorraine reflectively.
