“There are a great many things I must explain,” Mr. Trent said, appearing to read a part of what was in her mind. “It doesn’t seem to me I can tell the story now, but perhaps later I can make you [understand my side of the affair.”
“Don’t try to tell us anything now,” Doris said, smiling kindly. “There will be plenty of time after you have joined us at Chilton.”
She felt confident that her uncle would not run away again, and in this belief she was correct. As the reader will learn in the next volume of the series, John Trent was to keep his promise and rejoin his friends. Further adventures were to unite him with the Gates sisters, Azalea and Iris.
“What was it you were saying to me this afternoon about an inheritance?” Mr. Trent asked his niece, a twinkle in his eye.
“It’s true I had designs on your fortune,” Doris laughed, “but I’d much rather have an uncle than an inheritance.”
“From what you told me I judge you need money,” Mr. Trent persisted.
“Oh, I always need money. My music lessons take such a lot, and then of course I have to go to school. How fortunate it was I didn’t give McDermott the amount he wanted.”
“McDermott?” her uncle questioned.
“Yes, the lawyer who drew up your will. When I appealed to him for aid in settling up the Estate, he said it would be necessary to advance a fee.”
“Why, the old scalawag! He must have been trying to cheat you!”
“Who is a scalawag?” a genial voice demanded at the door.
Everyone turned to see Mr. Baker beaming in upon them. He drew up a chair, for by this time he felt very well acquainted with his tenants. Doris explained that they were speaking of the lawyer.
“McDermott has a reputation for shady deals,”
Mr. Baker informed them, “but this is the first time anyone ever caught him in anything.”
“We haven’t really caught him yet,” Doris observed.
“Perhaps not, but you know enough to make it very unpleasant for him. If I were you, I’d let on you know more about him than you do.”
“What would you advise?”
“Why not call him on the telephone? Pretend that you have proof he has handled your uncle’s affairs dishonestly. Let me see, didn’t you tell me that crook, Joe Jeffery, was in league with someone here in Cloudy Cove?”
“Your memory is unusually good tonight,” Doris smiled.
“I guess I can still remember a few things. Well, I have it! Tell McDermott you have proof that he and Joe Jeffery were scheming to get your uncle’s property.”
“It would only be a bluff.”
“Of course. But you never can tell how McDermott will take it. Why not try?”
“All right, I will,” Doris announced with sudden determination. “I’ll telephone his house this minute.”
She went to the telephone and after a brief wait was connected with the lawyer. She had not dared hope that her accusations would be considered seriously, yet more to humor Mr. Baker than for any other reason, she linked Joe Jeffery’s name with that of McDermott. There was a long silence at the other end of the wire and then a cold voice hissed:
“It’s a lie! I never saw Joe Jeffery in my life, let alone having had anything to do with him!” Before Doris could respond, the click of a receiver told her that McDermott had hung up.
“Oh, well, it was only a random shot,” Mr. Baker said, when she repeated the conversation.
“He did seem dreadfully disturbed, especially when I mentioned Jeffery.”
“Why not drop around and confront him in his office tomorrow morning?” Dave asked.
The others agreed that the suggestion was an excellent one, so it was decided that they would all go together to McDermott’s office early the following day. John Trent declared that he, too, would accompany Doris, for he wished to have a private talk with the lawyer.
As the hour was late, Mr. Baker said goodnight and left for Cloudy Cove, accompanied by Ollie Weiser. A little later John Trent took his departure, after promising to come back to the cabin for breakfast.
“You don’t thinlc there’s any danger he’ll try to run away again?” Kitty asked anxiously, after the old man had left.
“I’m sure he’ll keep his promise,” Doris said.
“You know, I thought tonight he seemed happier than he has since we came here.”
“Yes, he did, Doris. And what a difference clothes make! Why, he’s quite handsome!”
“I hope I’m not going to have a rival,” Marshmallow, who had heard the last remark, broke in. “We don’t want to have another Weiser-Chamberlin affair to deal with.”
“Say, lay off, will you?” Dave growled. “That fellow was a real help tonight, so I’m willing to let bygones be bygones.”
The young men went to their own cabin next door, still bantering good-naturedly. Doris and Kitty retired at once, but, instead of sleeping, they lay awake discussing all that had happened.
“Such a night!” Doris sighed blissfully. “And to think I’ve acquired another uncle!”
“He’s crazy about you, Dory. You can tell by the way he looks at you.”
“I like him a lot, too, Kitty. He’s had such an unhappy life. I hope I can make it up to him in some way. You know, I didn’t dare tell him about the ruby ring, because I was afraid he’d feel hurt if he knew the twins had given it away.”
“There will be plenty of time later on,” Kitty assured her. “Aren’t you just dying to learn why he hid the ring under the rose bush, and which one of the twins he really loved?”
“That’s only the start of what I want to know,”
Doris confessed just before she fell asleep. “If we’re only patient, I think we shall find out, for Uncle John has promised he will tell the entire story.”
Early the next morning Doris and her friends, including Mr. Baker and John Trent, hurried to Frank McDermott’s office, there to demand an explanation of his actions. To their surprise they found the place in disarray and the stenographer was just putting on her wraps to leave.
“The office is closed,” she announced in response to Doris’s inquiry. “Mr. McDermott left town late last night and said he wouldn’t be back.”
“Skipped out!” Dave exclaimed.
“He didn’t pay two weeks’ wages that he owed me,” the stenographer informed them. “I’ll probably never get my money now.”
She went out, leaving Doris and the others staring blankly after her.
“Let’s take a look at the inside office,” Mr. Baker suggested.
A casual glance disclosed that the room had been hurriedly vacated. The desk had been cleaned out and papers were scattered over the floor.
“It looks to me as though that bluff of ours was pretty effective,” Mr. Baker commented dryly. “Like as not he was trying to get Mr. Trent’s property.”
In this guess Mr. Baker was correct. Frank McDermott had been involved in many unscrupulous dealings, and it had seemed an easy matter to him to steal the contents of John Trent’s safe deposit box. With Joe Jeffery he had concocted the plot against the Misses Gates, revealed in the first volume of the series, but the news of Jeffery’s imprisonment made him uneasy. When Doris accused him of having had a part in the affair,