eagerly jessie and amy scrutinized the bill again and, with the v-shaped notch to help them, they saw, or thought they saw, that the marking on the under side of the bill was a trifle blurred and indistinct.
even then they were not satisfied, but must run down to show the note to mr. norwood, who sat chatting with momsey in the living room.
“daddy norwood, if you tell me this bill is a counterfeit, i will never forgive you,” was jessie’s greeting to her father, as she dropped on the arm of his chair and thrust the bill into his hand.
“what’s this, what’s this?” exclaimed mr. norwood, smiling at the two girls. “what is all this talk about counterfeits? am i to understand, my daughter, that you have turned criminal?”
“and she is so young, too,” murmured amy, beneath her breath.
“please look at it, daddy norwood,” urged jessie, indicating the bill which dangled carelessly from her father’s hand.
“well,” said the latter, mildly, “i am looking at it. now suppose you tell me what all the excitement is about.”
between them the girls told him of the announcement by radio of the dangerous counterfeit five-dollar bill that was in circulation.
as they proceeded, the lawyer’s face became grave and he examined the bill carefully and with a sudden intense interest.
“hm! i have heard about this counterfeit money,” he said, after a pause during which the girls, and mrs. norwood, too, regarded him expectantly. “and it is a very serious matter, let me tell you.”
“but is this bill counterfeit?” asked jessie, impatiently.
mr. norwood looked up at her with a peculiar smile, then down at the note again.
“it certainly is a remarkably clever imitation,” he said.
“then it is a counterfeit!” declared jessie, and turned to face amy, whose expressive face was a mirror of conflicting emotions.
“now i will have to keep my vow,” wailed the latter, “and follow that wretched girl all over the world!”
“what for?” asked mrs. norwood, with an indulgent smile, for she was well used to amy’s extravagances.
“to recover my perfectly good five dollars, of course! oh, dear, what a bore!”
“oh, so a girl palmed this off on you! suppose you tell me some more about it,” said mr. norwood. “i am intensely interested.”
jessie and amy told him about the strange girl who had accosted them before the dainties shop and gave as faithful a description as they could of her. then they suddenly remembered the interrupted radio concert and dashed off to jessie’s room to enjoy what was left of it.
madame elva, a great favorite of the girls, at the broadcasting station of the stratford electric company, gave several charming selections and the remainder of the program was so unusually fine and interesting that the girls became completely absorbed and forgot for the time all such matters as tall thin girls and troublesome five-dollar bills.
it was not till the following morning that jessie revived the subject. the four of them, jessie, amy, her brother darry, and burd alling were sitting on the norwood veranda talking over plans for the trip to forest lodge. the girls had already, earlier in the day, talked with miss alling over the telephone.
it was a fine morning and the handsome norwood estate had never looked pleasanter and more luxurious than it did in the full glare of the morning sunlight.
the smooth sweep of lawn, sloping down to the broad, shaded boulevard, was dotted with flowering shrubs. beside the house and a little to the rear, began the beautiful rose gardens which were the pride of mrs. norwood’s heart, and of all roselawn as well.
in fact, this section where the norwoods and the drews lived had been dubbed roselawn by reason of the beautiful and gorgeous rose gardens that abounded in that district.
on the farther side of bonwit boulevard was the home of the drews, a rambling old house which had once been a farmhouse but had been remodeled by mr. drew into an up-to-date and handsome building. there dwelt wilbur and sarah drew, the parents of amy, amy, herself, and her brother darrington—the latter, however, only on those rare occasions when yale “relaxed her grip on him.”
the four young people had had many good times together and since jessie and amy had “discovered” radio their adventures had been replete with thrills and excitement.
the two girls had astonished their friends and relatives by successfully installing a radio set in jessie’s room.
then one day had come a mysterious call out of the air, and how the girls went to the rescue of a girl wanted as a witness in an important law case has been told in detail in the first volume of this series, entitled “the radio girls of roselawn.”
since that time the girls had made the acquaintance of the owner of a large sending station and through him had been permitted to get “on the program,” much to their satisfaction. then they had gone to “station island,” and later had taken a trip on board the marigold, a steam yacht willed to darry by his uncle. the vessel took fire, and how the young folks had to fight to escape in safety is related in the volume before this, called “the radio girls on station island.”
it was of this last adventure that they were thinking and talking now as they sat in idle luxury upon jessie norwood’s porch.
“the poor old marigold is almost a total loss,” darry said, regretfully. “i have laid her up for repairs, and, judging from the amount of work there is to be done on her, it looks as if she would be in dry dock a considerable time.”
“oh, dear! no more chance to inspect the bottom of the sea!” sighed amy. “i think you are too mean, darry drew.”
“well, say,” interrupted burd, rising from the depths of a comfortable chair and stretching luxuriously, “loth as i am to break up this happy party, i fear i must be going.”
“he has a date and won’t let us in on it,” remarked amy, reproachfully.
“i sure have,” chuckled burd, unabashed. “and wait till you see the lady!”
darry raised his eyebrows and grinned.
“aunt emma, burd?” he asked.
burd nodded and started for the steps.
“promised to meet her at the train in the old bus,” he said. “and if anything should make me late i should never hear the end of it. coming, darry?”
the latter laughingly shook his head.
“go ahead, old lad,” he said. “i am not looking for punishment just yet.”
“why, don’t you like miss alling?” asked jessie, surprised.
“i do. she is the salt of the earth,” replied darry, emphatically, adding with a rueful smile: “the only trouble is, she doesn’t like me. has a fixed opinion that i am a bad influence for burd, or something of the sort.”
“well, aren’t you?” asked his sister, maliciously, adding quickly, as burd seemed about to depart: “oh, let me go along, burd, i feel a severe attack of curiosity coming on. i must meet aunt emma.”
“all right, come on—but your blood be upon your own head,” warned burd, with a grin.
after they had gone jessie and darry looked at each other and laughed.
“i am almost as curious as amy to meet aunt emma,” confessed jessie. “she must be a very unusual person.”
“she is kind-hearted and full of pep and fun, but as domineering as they make ’em,” pronounced darry. “just the same, this trip to forest lodge is a mighty fine idea. i prophesy we won’t have a slow minute while we are up there.”
“how do we go, and when?” asked jessie, with a mounting impatience to start on this adventure.
“as soon as you girls are ready, i suppose,” returned darry. “and as for our means of transportation, i gather from what burd has let drop that we will drive up in miss alling’s car—aunt emma driving,” he finished, with a chuckle.
“well, as long as aunt emma doesn’t try to put up our radio set for us, we won’t complain,” laughed jessie.
