CHAPTER XXIII-BROUGHT TO BAY

One other person had noticed, with even greater interest than had Ruth and Bab, that the Countess Bertouche had failed to appear at the ball.

That person was the jewel thief, Harry Townsend. He was filled with a silent rage. How dared she fail him this night of all others?

All the fellow's plans were carefully laid. The woman with the jewels he coveted sat in the ballroom; large and slow witted, she would not be quick either to discover her loss or to raise an alarm. And Harry Townsend was on friendly terms with her. Once she decided to leave the brightly lighted halls for the darkness of the grounds outside, lifting the tiara would be an easy matter. But Townsend never kept the jewels he stole in his possession ten minutes after their theft. How was he to get rid of them to-night?

It was after midnight. Many of the guests had withdrawn to the veranda; the lawns were filled with people walking about. Now Harry Townsend stood back of a row of lights that cast a deep shadow. He was talking to some acquaintances. The women were elegantly gowned, and one of them wore a beautiful diamond tiara.

Bab was standing alone in the door of the girls' dressing-room. Miss Sallie had called her in, after supper, to smooth her hair. The other girls had been with her, but they had returned to join the dancers. Bab was resting and thinking. Mollie and Grace knew nothing of what she and Ruth had on their minds. The younger girls knew that Harry Townsend and the Countess Bertouche were suspected as thieves, but they did not know that the detectives were on the alert, and that the arrest might come to-night.

Barbara was wondering if she ought to tell Gladys Le Baron what she knew. After all, Gladys was her cousin; and, as she had told Ralph, the other day, Bab felt that there ought to be a certain loyalty among people of the same blood, even when they were not fond of one another.

To-night Gladys Le Baron had been more conspicuous with Harry Townsend than ever before. Not only was she seen with him constantly, but she wore an air of conscious pride, as if to say, "See what a prize I have won!"

Gladys had pa.s.sed Bab two or three times during the evening, but had pretended not to see her. Now she was coming in at the dressing-room door.

"Gladys," said Bab, timidly.

Gladys turned to her haughtily. "I would rather," she said, "that you did not speak to me. We cannot have much to say to each other. Harry Townsend told me"-Gladys spoke so pa.s.sionately and with such deep anger in her tones that Barbara stared at her aghast-"of the accusation you made against him. He made me promise not to speak of it, but I will speak of it to you. I want you to know that I shall never forgive you as long as I live, and that I shall get even with you some day. You are jealous and envious of me because we have more money, and because Harry Townsend likes me. I want you never to talk to me."

"O Gladys!" said Barbara. She was angry and hurt, but she was more frightened by the real feeling her cousin showed. Did she care for Mr.

Townsend so much? Gladys was nearly eighteen, and Bab knew that ever since she was a girl of fourteen she had been brought up to think she was a young lady.

"Gladys," said Bab, firmly, "listen to me! Be quiet. I cannot tell you what I wish to say in this ballroom, to-night, among all these people, but I have something to tell you that you simply must know. Do you understand? Come to my house in the morning, and don't fail." Barbara's tones were so new and commanding that Gladys could only stare at her in silent amazement.

"Yes," she said, meekly; "I will come."

Bab's eyes were burning, and her cheeks stung with the shame of the scene between herself and Gladys. In order to be alone in the fresh air, she slipped out of the dressing-room door which opened into a side yard.

This yard had a double hedge of althea bushes which led into the back part of the Casino grounds. At the same instant that Bab left the dressing-room door, a man pa.s.sed her on the other side of the hedge. He was going into the back part of the garden.

The show grounds of the Casino were in a central court. In the rear, back of the kitchens, was a long arbor covered with heavy grapevines.

The man Bab followed slipped into this arbor.

When Barbara glanced into it a second later-she dared not move quickly, for fear of making a noise-there was no human figure in sight. "He has gone on down through the arbor and slipped over the fence," she thought to herself.

She was feeling her way along, trying to keep in the center path. The night was dark, and there were few stars overhead.

Suddenly, Bab gave a little shriek of terror and started back. Crouching in the darkness was a man. His back was turned to Barbara, and, if the darkness was not deceiving her, he was digging in the earth.

But Barbara's shriek roused him. "You, again!" he cried. He leaped at her, and, before she could call for help, his hand covered her mouth, and her head was pressed back.

"Don't make a noise," another voice said quietly. "My instructions were not to make a scene."

Townsend felt his own arms seized and drawn down to his sides. The big, blond man, who had interrupted his tete-a-tete with Barbara earlier in the evening, was again by his side. A smaller, dark man stood near him.

"Well, we have got you this time with the goods on you, or pretty close to you," said the smaller detective, striking a match and looking down at his feet. Just near where they stood, only partially concealed by the dirt, which had been hastily dug up, something brilliant flashed and sparkled.

"Did you think, Mr. Townsend," laughed Detective Burton quietly, "that you were the only clever person in Newport? These jewels you have just stolen are hardly worth the risk you ran. You might get about twenty-five dollars for the lot. I suppose you didn't know, since it has become the fashion to have a jewel thief in Newport, it has also become the fashion to wear paste jewels." The man held the tiara in his hand.

"But I will restore them to the rightful owner," he said. "Mrs. Oliver informed me they were gone, two minutes after you slipped them out of her hair."

Townsend had not spoken. "Don't," he now said, with a shudder, "put those handcuffs on my hands. I will go quietly. I see the game is up-thanks to you!" He turned to Barbara with a snarl. But Ruth and Ralph were standing close by her side.

Barbara was much shaken and frightened by her encounter, but she tried to summon a little of her old spirit. "You do me too much honor, Mr.

Townsend," she answered quietly.

"Where is the Countess Bertouche?" asked Townsend stolidly.

"She is ready to leave Newport with you to-night. Only we persuaded her to get ready a little earlier; indeed, we called upon her this afternoon, while she was at the tournament, and were waiting for her when she got back. She had two or three little trinkets in her possession, which she was holding for you, that we wished to return to their rightful owners. The lady will be able to travel as soon as you are. We think it best not to have any excitement in Newport. By the way," went on the detective-the three young people were listening breathlessly-"the lady is not such a cool customer as you are. She confessed that she was not a countess, but a poor newspaper woman out of a job, whom you enticed down here to help you. She explained that you had been mailing letters of instruction to her by sending them on to New York and having them remailed to her here. A poor business it has been for both of you, I am thinking."

"Ruth," said Barbara, quickly, "it's too awful! Let us go back to Miss Sallie!"

CHAPTER XXIV-GOOD-BYE TO NEWPORT

Early next morning Ruth and Barbara made full confession to Miss Sallie.

Mollie and Grace were not surprised, for they had been told enough of the circ.u.mstances to expect the outcome. But imagine Miss Sallie!

"You mean to tell me, Ruth and Bab," she gasped, dropping limply into the nearest chair, "that Harry Townsend is the jewel thief, the Newport Raffles? Why, you girls have walked with him, talked with him, played tennis with him! And Barbara has suspected him all the time! My heavens!" she wailed, in despair. "Did it never dawn on you, Barbara, that you might have been killed?"

Miss Stuart was overcome. "Ruth Stuart, my own niece, do you mean to tell me that you lately discovered that 'this Townsend' was the thief who tried to rob us in New Haven? Why was I not told at once? But then, I am grateful I was not. And you, Mollie, fourteen-year-old Mollie, you found out this wretch's accomplice, and discovered Mrs. Cartwright's stolen b.u.t.terfly! I never would have thought it of you!"

"But I didn't mean to, Miss Sallie. It was all an accident. I am awfully sorry for that poor woman," answered Mollie.

"Nonsense, child!" said Miss Sallie. "I am grateful enough that such dangerous people are out of the way."

The girls were standing in a circle round her. "Come to my arms," she demanded of Grace. "Thank heavens, child, you have not turned detective, and can be relied on to keep me company!"

"But it was just as much Grace's fault as it was mine that I discovered the b.u.t.terfly," argued Mollie, who could not see that Miss Sallie was joking. "She was with me when I found it out." Everyone joined in the laugh at Mollie's expense.

"Some one to see you in the library, miss," announced Susan, the parlor maid. "She says she'd like to see you alone, first, and she'd rather not give her name."

"Then you are not to go one step, Barbara Thurston," said Miss Stuart in the voice the girls knew had to be obeyed. "There is no telling who it is waiting for you, nor what her intentions may be toward you. You'd go if you thought you'd be murdered the next minute. I never saw a girl like you. I will go myself," announced Miss Sallie.

"Oh, no," said the girls, all pulling together at her skirts.

Miss Sallie had to pause. "If you think, young ladies," she said, calmly, "that, because I have not unearthed a jewel robber, nor attacked a burglar in the dark, I am therefore more of a coward than a parcel of silly girls, you are vastly mistaken. Let go of me!" Miss Sallie marched majestically forward.

"Susan, _I_ will go down."

"Oh, no'm," pleaded Susan, giggling. She had no idea what all the fuss was about, but she knew it was most unnecessary. "Please'm, let me whisper to you. It's only that Miss Gladys Le Baron, but I promised not to give her name. I am sure she means no harm, miss. She looks like she was worried and had been crying a bit, ma'am."

"It is all right, Barbara," said Miss Sallie. "From what Susan tells me you may go downstairs alone."