keeping under cover of the cedar trees, mary louise and jane followed elsie grant, at a discreet distance, to the back of the house. unlike the front entrance, there was a screen at the kitchen door, so the girls could hear hannah’s exclamation at the sight of the transformation in elsie’s appearance.

“my land!” she cried in amazement. “where did you get them clothes, elsie?”

elsie laughed; the first normal, girlish laugh that mary louise and jane had ever heard from her.

“don’t i look nice, hannah?” she asked. “i haven’t seen myself yet in a mirror, but i’m sure i do. i feel so different.”

“you look swell, all right,” agreed the servant. “but no credit to you! if that’s what you done with your aunt’s money——”

“oh, no, hannah!” protested elsie. “you’re wrong there. i didn’t buy these things. they were given to me.”

[53]

the two girls were standing at the screen door now, in full view, and elsie beckoned for them to come inside. “these are my friends, hannah. the girls who rescued aunt mattie’s kitten—remember? and they brought me the clothes this morning.”

the woman shook her head.

“it might be true, but nobody’d believe it. folks don’t give away nice things like that. i know that, for i’ve had a lot of ‘hand-me-downs’ in my life.... besides, they fit you too good.”

“but we did bring them to elsie,” asserted jane. “you can see that we’re all about the same size. and we can prove it by our mothers. we’ll bring them over——”

“you’ll do nuthin’ of the kind!” returned hannah. “miss mattie don’t want a lot of strangers pokin’ into her house and her affairs. now, you two run along! and, elsie, hurry up and get out of that finery. look at them dishes waitin’ fer you in the sink!”

the girl nodded and disappeared up the back stairs, humming a little tune to herself as she went. mary louise stood still.

“we want to ask you a question or two, hannah,” she explained. “we want to help find the thief who stole miss grant’s money.”

the woman’s nose shot up in the air, and a stubborn look came over her face.

[54]

“is that so?” she asked defiantly. “and what business is that of your’n?”

“we’re making it our business,” replied mary louise patiently, “because we’re fond of elsie. we think it’s terrible for her to be accused of something she didn’t do.”

“how do you know she didn’t do it?”

“why—we just know.”

“that ain’t no reason! besides, what do you know about elsie grant? seen her a couple of times and listened to her hard luck story and believe you know all about her!”

“but surely you don’t believe elsie stole that money?” demanded jane. “if she had, she’d certainly have run away immediately. wouldn’t she?”

“maybe—if she had the spirit. but, anyhow, it ain’t none of your business, and miss mattie don’t want it to get around. she don’t want no scandal. now—get along with you!”

“please, hannah!” begged mary louise. “we’ll promise not to tell anybody about the robbery—not even our mothers. if you’d just answer a couple of questions——”

the woman eyed her suspiciously.

[55]

“you think maybe i done it?” she demanded. “well, i didn’t! miss mattie knows how honest i am. william too—that’s me husband. we’ve been in this house ever since miss mattie was a girl, and the whole family knows they can trust us.”

“oh, my goodness!” exclaimed mary louise. “i’m not suspecting you, hannah! all i want is a little information.”

“you’re not going to the police and tell what you know? or to some detective?”

“no. on my word of honor, no! jane and i are going to try to be detectives ourselves, that’s all. for elsie’s sake.”

the woman’s expression softened. after all, mary louise’s brown eyes had a winning way.

“all right. only hurry up. i got a lot of work to do.”

mary louise smiled. “i’ll be quick,” she promised. “i just want to know whether you think there was any time during the day or evening—before miss grant went to bed—when a burglar could have entered the house without being seen or heard.”

hannah stopped beating the cake which she had been mixing while this conversation was taking place and gave the matter her entire consideration.

[56]

“let me think,” she muttered. “not all mornin’, fer miss mattie was in her room herself. not in the afternoon, neither, fer there was too many people around. all them relations come over, and miss mattie was right on the front parch—and i was here at the back.... no, i don’t see how anybody could have got in without bein’ heard.”

“how about supper time?” questioned mary louise. “couldn’t somebody have climbed in over the porch roof while the family were eating in the dining room?”

“it’s possible,” answered hannah. “but it ain’t likely. burglars ain’t usually as quiet as all that. no; i hold with miss mattie—that elsie or maybe that good-fer-nuthin’ harry took the money.”

mary louise sighed and turned towards the door.

“i’m sure it wasn’t elsie,” she said again. “but maybe you’re right about mr. harry grant. i hope we find out.... by the way,” she added, “you couldn’t tell me just how much was taken, could you, hannah?”

“no, i couldn’t. miss mattie didn’t say.... now, my advice to you girls is: fergit all about it! it ain’t none of your affairs, and elsie ain’t a good companion fer you young ladies. she ain’t had no eddication, and probably, now she’s fifteen, her aunt’ll put her into service as a housemaid somewheres. and you won’t want to be associatin’ with no servant girl!”

[57]

jane’s eyes blazed with indignation.

“it’s not fair!” she cried. “in a country like america, where education is free. anybody who wants it has a right to it.”

“then she can git it at night school while she’s workin’, if she sets her mind to it,” remarked hannah complacently.

“well, hannah, we thank you very much for your help,” concluded mary louise as she opened the screen door. “and—you’ll see us again!”

neither girl said anything further until they were outside the big hedge that surrounded dark cedars. both of them felt baffled by the conflicting information they had gathered.

“i wish i could put the whole affair up to daddy,” observed mary louise, as they descended the hill to the road. “he isn’t home now, but he soon will be.”

“well, you can’t,” replied her chum. “it might get elsie into trouble. and besides, we gave our promise.”

“it’ll be hard not to talk about it. oh, dear, if we only knew where and how to begin!”

[58]

“i guess the first thing to do is to find out just what was stolen,” said jane. “that would make it more definite, at least. we have heard that it was money, but we don’t know how much or what kind.”

“yes, that’s true—and it would help considerably to know. for instance, if there was a lot of gold, as elsie seems to think, it would be practically impossible for harry grant to have concealed it in his pockets, or for corinne pearson to have carried it back to riverside without any car. but if, on the other hand, it was mostly paper money, it would be no trick at all for either one of them to have made away with it.”

the shrill screech of a loud horn attracted the girls’ attention at that moment. a familiar horn, whose sound could not be mistaken. it belonged on the roadster owned by max miller, mary louise’s special boy-friend.

in another second the bright green car flashed into view, came up to the girls, and stopped with a sudden jamming on of the brakes. two hatless young men in flannel trousers and tennis shirts jumped out of the front seat.

“what ho! and hi!—and greetings!” cried max in delight. “where have you two been?”

“taking a walk,” answered mary louise calmly.

[59]

“taking a walk!” repeated norman wilder, the other young man, who was usually at jane’s elbow at parties and sports affairs. “you mean—giving us the air!”

“giving you the air? in what way?” jane’s tone sounded severe, but her eyes were smiling into norman’s, as if she were not at all sorry to see him.

“forgot all about that tennis date we had, didn’t you?” demanded max. “is that a nice way to treat a couple of splendid fellows like ourselves?” he threw out his chest and pulled himself up to his full height, which was six feet one.

mary louise gasped and looked conscience-stricken.

“we did forget!” she exclaimed. “but we can play now just as well as not—at least, if you’ll take us home to get our shoes and rackets.”

“o.k.,” agreed max. he turned to norman. “get into the rumble, old man. i crave to have mary louise beside me.”

the car started forward with its customary sudden leap, and max settled back in his seat.

“we’ve got some great news for you, mary lou,” he announced immediately. “big picnic on for this coming saturday! rounding up the whole crowd.”

[60]

mary louise was not impressed. picnics seemed tame to her in comparison with the excitement of being a detective and hunting down thieves.

“afraid i have an engagement,” she muttered. she and jane had a special arrangement, by which every free hour of the day was pledged to the other, so that if either wanted to get out of an invitation, she could plead a previous date without actually telling a lie.

“the heck you have!” exclaimed max, in disappointment. “you’ve got to break it!”

“sez you?”

“yeah! sez i. and you’ll say so too, mary lou, when you hear more about this picnic. it’s going to be different. we’re driving across to cooper’s woods——”

“oh, i’ve been there,” yawned mary louise. “there’s nothing special there. looks spooky and deep, but it’s just an ordinary woods. maybe a little wilder——”

“wait! you women never let a fellow talk. i’ve been trying to tell you something for five minutes, and here we are at your house, and you haven’t heard it yet.”

“i guess i shan’t die.”

with a light laugh she opened the car door and leaped out, at the exact moment that jane and norman jumped from the rumble, avoiding a collision by a fraction of an inch.

[61]

“tell me about it when i come out again,” called mary louise to max as she and jane ran into their respective houses to change.

freckles met mary louise at the door.

“can i go with you, sis?” he demanded.

“yes, if you’re ready,” she agreed, making a dash for the stairs. her mother, meeting her in the hall, tried to detain her.

she asked, “did the girl like the clothes, dear?”

“oh, yes, she loved them,” replied mary louise. “i’ll tell you more about it when i get back from tennis. the boys are pestering us to hurry.”

three minutes later both she and jane were back in the car again, with freckles and silky added to the passenger list.

max immediately went on about the picnic, just as if he hadn’t been interrupted at all.

“here’s the big news,” he said, as he stepped on the starter: “there are gypsies camping over in that meadow beside cooper’s woods! so we’re all going to have our fortunes told. that’s why we’re having the picnic there. now, won’t that be fun?”

“yes, i guess so. but i really don’t see how jane and i can come——”

[62]

she was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder from the rumble seat.

“i think we can break that date, mary lou,” announced her chum, with a wink.

mary louise raised her eyebrows.

“well, of course, if jane thinks so——” she said to max.

“it’s as good as settled,” concluded max, with a chuckle.

but mary louise was not convinced until she had a chance, after the game was over, to talk to jane alone and to ask her why she wanted to go on the picnic when they had such important things to do.

“because i had an inspiration,” replied jane. “one of us can ask the gypsy to solve our crime for us! they do tell strange things, sometimes, you know—and they might lead us to the solution!”