The Secret of the Sundial Part 17

"Now, John," Miss Swenster said firmly, "unless you wish me to call the police, you must come without making any fuss."

"Where do you expect me to go?" he demanded sullenly.

"To my home. We'll talk matters over there."

"All right," he said suddenly. "I'll check my suitcase and go with you."

"We'll take the suitcase along," Miss Swenster told him.

He looked as though he intended to refuse, but the sight of a policeman moving through the train gate, caused him to change his mind. Madge and Cara carried the suitcase to a taxi cab, not trusting it in his hands.

"This is an outrage!" John Swenster protested as they drove toward the mansion.

His foster-mother paid scant attention. Not until they were all in the living room of the mansion did she speak her mind.

"John," she said calmly, "I've stood entirely too much at your hands.

I've protected you for the last time. Now either give up the pearls or I'll turn you over to the authorities."

"Pearls!" he scoffed. "I don't know anything about your pearls."

"Madge, will you search the suitcase?"

The girls had been waiting for this opportunity. Quickly, while John Swenster looked on furiously, they unstrapped the case and opened it.

They lifted out several layers of clothing. In the very bottom, lay an old candy box. Madge shook it. Something rattled. She opened the box.

Inside lay a string of pearls, perfect in shape, skillfully matched-the most beautiful necklace the girls had ever seen.

"The famous old Swenster pearls that were willed to my mother!" Miss Swenster exclaimed. She turned coldly to her adopted son, "And you would have stolen them from me!"

A sudden change had come over the man. At sight of the pearls which plainly established his guilt, his arrogance departed. He gazed contritely upon his foster mother. Madge instantly divined that he hoped to appeal to her sympathies.

"I would never have touched your pearls only I'm in such desperate need,"

he whined. "I can't find work. Why, I haven't had a decent meal in weeks.

I'm down and out while you have this fine home-everything."

He made a rather appealing figure as he stood there pleading his case.

Madge and Cara exchanged uneasy glances. Would Miss Swenster give in to him as she had in the past?

The old lady seemed to waver. Her face softened, then tightened again.

"Don't try your old tactics," she said sternly. "I notice that you have good clothing and you had money enough to stay at the Grand Hotel.

However, I'll be generous. If you care to make your home here you are free to do so."

He laughed bitterly.

"You think I'd stay in this one-horse town? Not on your life! You must furnish me with money to live in Chicago or New York."

"You'll not get another cent from me-ever!"

John Swenster shrugged his shoulders.

"O.K. Then I'll be ambling along."

"One minute!" Miss Swenster halted him. "I am letting you off easier than you deserve. By rights I should turn you over to the police."

"Oh, you're being very generous!" he mocked.

"Unless you tell me exactly what motivated your return to Claymore-and a truthful story, mind you-I may change my mind about being so generous!"

John Swenster recognized that she meant what she said. He realized too that her feeling toward him had undergone a change, that he could no longer bend her to his will.

"There's little to tell," he said gruffly. "I was out of money and I thought the pearls might tide me over. I'd have had 'em too if it hadn't been for these girls!"

"How did you learn of the pearls?" Miss Swenster questioned.

"Knew about them when I was a boy. Remember that old desk of yours? Well, it has a secret panel. There's a diary inside that told about the pearls.

I tore out one of the pages years ago and then forgot about it."

"Just what did that page say about the pearls?" Madge inquired curiously.

"Did it say they were hidden in the sundial?"

"No, it didn't. If it had, I'd have made off with them weeks ago. The only hint I had was that they were hidden somewhere near the sundial.

Like a fool I wasted a lot of time digging up the garden!"

"We saw you," Madge admitted. "But tell us, what brought you here just at this time?"

"It was years ago I learned about the pearls. I tried to locate them at the time but failed. Then I forgot all about it until I learned that Miss Swenster was coming back here to open up the house. I thought I'd get here first and make one more try. I didn't have any luck until it occurred to me that the pearls might have been hidden inside the dial.

Tonight I came here, chancing detection, and cracked open the pedestal. I found the necklace inside."

Miss Swenster asked a few more questions before telling her son that he might feel free to go. After he had left, she stood for some minutes at the window, watching his retreating figure. Then she turned back to the girls, and with tears in her eyes thanked them for their aid.

"You have saved my house!" she said. "Finding the pearls means more to me than you'll ever know."

It was so late that Cara and Madge dared linger no longer. However, the following day they were back at the mansion to learn from Miss Swenster that she had called off her auction sale. Already she was making plans to restore the estate to its former elegance and she had engaged old Uncle Ross as gardener. She told them too, that she had turned over the necklace to a jeweler for an appraisal.

"I don't know its value yet," she declared, "but it will bring more than enough to keep me in my old age. I intend to reward you girls too!"

Madge and Cara demurred and Miss Swenster finally dropped the subject after warning them she would have something more to say when their birthdays arrived. Nevertheless, the girls did have one favor to ask-that they might hold a meeting of Skull and Crossbones at the old mansion.

The very next Sat.u.r.day Madge and Cara introduced their friends to the delightful estate. They pointed out the broken sundial which Miss Swenster planned to repair, the desk with the secret panel, and told a story which held their friends spellbound.

"You lucky thing," Jane Allen said enviously to Madge. "How do you manage to run into all these entrancing adventures?"

"They seem to run into me," she laughed.

"It's not fair for you to have a corner on all the fun," Enid Burnett complained good naturedly. "We'll not forgive you unless you promise to take us in on your next secret."

"Oh, I shall," Madge returned, "though I can't say when I'll have another. If only you'd all go North with me next summer, I know I could guarantee real fun and perhaps an adventure."