“Last September was the first time we ever had any trouble at all,” began Mrs. Hilliard. “We lost a complete set of silverware – a dozen each of knives, forks, and spoons. But as these were only plated, the loss did not run into a great deal of money, so we didn’t make much fuss. I supposed that one of the maids stole them – a waitress who left the next day to be married.
“But I must have been mistaken, for more things disappeared after she left. A very unusual vase we had in the library, quite valuable too, for it had belonged in the Stoddard family. That made it look as if the thief were a connoisseur.
“The matron and I were watching the help carefully, and we felt sure that none of them was responsible. We hadn’t many guests at the time – there are only about a dozen who live here permanently. And there happened to be only a couple of transients.”
“What are ‘transients,’ Mrs. Hilliard?” asked Mary Louise, who was unfamiliar with the term.
“They’re the people who stop in for a day or two – or even a week – and don’t stay permanently,” explained the other.
“I should think they’d be the people who would be most likely to steal,” observed Mary Louise. “Because they could get away with it more easily.”
“I thought so too, at first. But when things kept right on being stolen, and the same transients never came back, it began to look to me as if one of the permanent lodgers were responsible… These two girls – I have forgotten their names – were here when the silverware and the vase disappeared, but they were not here in October when our watches were taken.”
“How many watches?” asked Mary Louise.
“Four – including my own!”
“And were there any transients here at that time?”
“Just one. A chorus girl named Mary Green. She stayed a couple of days and then said her show was closing up.”
The young detective wrote all these facts into her notebook and asked whether that was all.
“Not quite,” replied Mrs. Hilliard. “Last Friday Miss Violet Granger had a valuable oil painting stolen from her room, and a purse containing fifty dollars… So you see the situation has become pretty serious. Two of our regular guests have moved away because of it, and others have threatened to do so if anything else is stolen.”
She looked doubtfully at Mary Louise. “I’m sure I don’t know how you would go about an investigation like this,” she said. “But perhaps you do. Are you willing to try it?”
“Of course I am!” cried the girl eagerly. “It’s just the kind of thing I love. I’ve put down everything you said, Mrs. Hilliard, and I’m all ready to go to work now. I want to see the hotel and meet the guests as soon as possible.”
“I think Mary Louise had better keep secret the fact that she is spying on them,” put in Mr. Gay. “Just let them think that she is a young friend of yours, Mrs. Hilliard, visiting you for her Christmas vacation. As a matter of fact, she wants to look up a young girl from Riverside, whose whereabouts have been lost by her relations. But use your own discretion, Mrs. Hilliard.”
“I will, Mr. Gay,” agreed the woman. “And I will take good care of Mary Louise for you,” she added.
“That’s right. No late hours – or being out alone at night, Mary Lou. Don’t forget that this is a big city, and girls can easily get lost.”
“I’ll be careful, Daddy,” she promised.
Mr. Gay kissed his daughter good-bye, and Mary Louise and Mrs. Hilliard took the elevator to the second floor.
“There are ten rooms on each floor,” the manager explained. “The fourth floor belongs to the help, and I have my own little three-room apartment at the back.
“The third floor is reserved for our permanent guests. We have thirteen of them now – some two in a room, some alone.
“Our second floor is principally for transients, although sometimes guests prefer to live there permanently. One woman named Mrs. Macgregor, a wealthy widow, likes her room and bath so much that she has decided to keep it indefinitely. But most of the guests on the second floor come and go…
“And now, my dear, here is your room. I was going to take you into my own apartment at first, but I decided that would be too far away from everybody. Here you can mix more with the other guests. Of course, whenever you get lonely, you can come up with me. I have some nice books, if you care to read in the evening, and a radio. And perhaps you brought your knitting?”
“I forgot all about that,” replied Mary Louise. “But of course I do knit, and I can easily buy some wool and some needles.”
Mrs. Hilliard opened the door of the room that was to be Mary Louise’s and handed her the key.
“Now I’ll leave you to rest and unpack,” she said. “Perhaps you can come down early before dinner to meet some of the girls in the reception room. The younger ones usually play the radio and dance a little before dinner.”
“I’ll be there!” returned Mary Louise joyfully.
CHAPTER III
The Book Club
Mary Louise was a little awe-struck as she sat down alone in her new bedroom. The first time she had ever been away from home by herself, without any friends! Alone in a big city – working on a job! It seemed to her that she had suddenly grown up. She couldn’t be the same care-free high-school girl who had gone coasting only yesterday afternoon with her friends.
A momentary sensation of depression took hold of her as she thought of Jane and the boys and the informal party she was missing that evening. It would be wonderful if Jane could be with her now, sharing her experiences as she always had, helping her to solve this mystery. But such a thing was impossible, of course. Jane wouldn’t want to give up the Christmas gayety at Riverside, and besides, this was a real job. You couldn’t bring your friends along on a real job as if it were only play.
Then she thought of that other Riverside girl alone in this big city. Margaret Detweiler, the girl who had so mysteriously disappeared. What could have happened to her? Suppose something like that should happen to Mary Louise!
“I’m positively getting morbid,” she thought, jumping up from the chair on which she was seated and beginning to unpack her things. “I’d better get dressed and go down and meet some of the young people. I’ll never accomplish anything by mooning about like this.”
She unpacked her suitcase and hung her clothing in the closet. What a neat little room it was, with its pretty maple furniture and white ruffled curtains! So different from the common, ugly boarding-house bedroom! She was lucky to have such a nice place to live in. And Mrs. Hilliard was certainly a dear.
She found the shower bath down the hall, and feeling refreshed, slipped into a new wine-red crêpe, which her mother had bought her especially for the holidays. It was very becoming, and her eyes sparkled as she ran down the steps to the first floor. No use bothering with elevators when she had only one flight to go.
Mrs. Hilliard was at the desk, talking to the secretary, who was putting on her hat and coat.
“Oh, Mary Louise,” she said, “I want you to come here and register and meet Miss Horton. This is Miss Gay,” she explained, “a young friend of mine. She is visiting me for the holidays, and I forgot to have her register when she came in. But as she is using room 206, and not my apartment, I think she had better register.”
Mary Louise nodded approvingly and wrote her name in the book.
“You have never come across a girl named Margaret Detweiler, have you, Miss Horton?” she asked. “I want to find her if I can while I am in Philadelphia.”
The secretary shook her head.
“No, I don’t think so. You might look through the book, though. I can’t remember all the transients who have stopped here at Stoddard House.”
“Naturally,”