"I can't do that," Walter Crocker replied, and Penny thought she detected a trace of uneasiness in his voice.

"Perhaps you haven't the letters at all," Herman Crocker said quickly.

"Oh, yes, I have. But I don't carry them around with me. I'll bring them a week from today."

"All right, but remember, no letters, no money. And another thing, I can't have you coming here. Already folks are talking about your car being in my barn. I shouldn't have towed it here for you."

"Would you have wanted me to take it to a Kendon garage?"

"No," answered Herman Crocker shortly.

"I thought not. Well, where shall I meet you if you don't want me coming here?"

"At the footbridge by the ravine."

"Where is that?" Walter Crocker asked.

"A quarter of a mile below my cottage. Be there next Thursday night at ten o'clock."

"I'll be waiting," returned the young man. He started to walk away.

"Are you taking your car?" Herman Crocker called after him. "I fixed the wheel."

"Yes, I'll get it now," the young man replied.

As the girls saw Old Herman walk toward the house alone they felt a trifle sorry for him. There was no question as to his misdeeds, yet their sympathies went out to him rather than to Walter Crocker who evidently had been deprived of his rightful inheritance.

Penny and Susan heard the barn doors open and knew that the young man was getting out his car. As he remained in the building longer than seemed necessary, they moved around to a dust covered window and peered curiously inside.

"Why, he's searching for something!" Penny whispered.

Walter Crocker had removed the seat cushions and was examining every inch of the automobile. His face was twisted with worry. The girls could hear him muttering angrily to himself.

"What do you imagine he has lost?" Susan asked in an undertone. "You can tell by the way he acts that it's something important."

"I don't know, of course," Penny replied with a chuckle. "But I have a sneaking idea it may be Herman Crocker's packet of letters!"

CHAPTER XV

The Missing Letters

"What makes you think he has lost the letters?" Susan whispered to her chum. "Didn't he tell Herman Crocker that he would positively deliver them next Thursday night?"

"Yes," nodded Penny, "but obviously he had to say that. I thought he acted very uneasy as if he might not have the evidence in his possession."

The girls did not peep into the barn again for they were afraid that Herman Crocker might see them. Quietly they stole back to the woods and started for the cottage.

"Well, Penny, you were right about Old Herman being a mysterious character," Susan commented as they walked along.

"I feel a little disappointed though," Penny returned. "Now that everything is explained so nicely we'll not have any more fun."

"There are a great many things I don't understand."

"I'm not clear on every point," Penny admitted, "but in general I have an idea of the trouble."

"Then I wish you'd explain it to me."

"Well, from the conversation we overheard, it's evident that Walter Crocker is trying to blackmail his uncle. Only legally I suppose it wouldn't be blackmail because Walter is ent.i.tled to the entire fortune."

"Then you believe Herman Crocker really did cheat him out of the money?" Susan asked.

"Mr. Crocker practically admitted it, didn't he? I gathered that sometime during his life he had received letters from his sister, Jenny, and another woman--letters which probably mentioned the boy, Walter. Herman made a bad mistake when he kept those communications."

"But what became of Walter after Jenny's death?" Susan questioned in deep perplexity. "Why didn't his claim to the fortune come up at that time? And how did he get the letters?"

"In some manner Old Herman must have kept Walter in ignorance," Penny replied thoughtfully. "I have no idea how he finally learned the truth. As for the letters, I believe they were stored in the trunk of the cottage attic."

"Think what an opportunity you missed!" Susan exclaimed.

"I'm not sure how long the letters have been there. I remember that several days ago Old Herman came to the cottage and went to the attic.

At the time I couldn't imagine what he was after. Now I feel certain he was alarmed because Walter Crocker had attempted to extort money from him. Undoubtedly, he came to find the letters which he knew would stand as damaging evidence against him."

"You think the letters already had been taken?" Susan questioned.

"Herman didn't find what he was after, I know. You remember he accused Walter of stealing the letters."

"Yes, but he denied the charge."

"Walter might have been lying, but he acted sincere," Penny said slowly. "Anyway, when I looked in the trunk--that was after Herman had visited the cottage--a package of letters was still there. However, I doubt that it was the right packet or Herman would have taken it with him."

"Yet you told me that when you went to the attic the second time, the letters were gone," Susan reminded her chum.

"That is right. If the letters wouldn't stand as damaging evidence against Herman I don't see who would want them."

"Mightn't it have been that man who tried to break into your cottage at night?"

"It could have been all right," Penny admitted, "but I didn't hear the fellow in the attic. I was under the impression that he had just entered the cottage when I awoke."

"It seems to me that there is a great deal which isn't explained."

"The part about the letters is still a deep mystery," Penny acknowledged. "But we do know that Old Herman cheated his nephew out of a fortune, and that fate has caught up with him at last."

"I suppose the old man deserves everything he gets," Susan commented.

"I don't like him a bit, but for that matter there's something about Walter Crocker that gives me the creeps too. He has such a snakey look!"

The girls emerged from the woods close to the Nichols' cottage.