The Orchard Secret Part 14

"I don't know. She should be somewhere around here. We must find her quickly. We have scarcely time to dress and catch the eight-thirty train back to Cedar Ridge!" Arden exclaimed.

"She knew we were to meet her here when the dance was over," Terry said petulantly. "Come, Arden, let's go look for her! We have to hurry."

CHAPTER X What to Do

Like the reflection of a cloud in a pool of water, a shadow pa.s.sed over the face of Arden Blake as Terry spoke to her. But she acted quickly.

"I'm sorry we must go so soon," Arden said to the somewhat puzzled boys.

"But if we miss that train we'll probably be campused. I'm sure Sim has some good excuse for her absence, but we'd better find her and learn what it is. I'll have to say good-bye for her. I really don't know what to think."

"It's all right," d.i.c.k Randall remarked. "You and Terry go along. Perhaps Sim is upstairs waiting for you."

"She doesn't usually do things like this. But I suppose we really should go up," Arden agreed. "We haven't much time."

Saying good-bye again, Terry and Arden left the group of boys and walked toward the elevator. But when they reached the room, high up in the large hotel, Sim's bag was closed and packed, as Terry discovered, on the middle of the bed. And she exclaimed:

"She isn't here, Arden! We must phone Mary Todd's room."

"I'll do it," Arden promptly offered. "She may be down there talking things over." She hurried to the instrument.

But Mary Todd hadn't seen Sim since early afternoon!

"Don't say anything to anyone, will you, Mary?" Arden pleaded. "I don't want Mrs. Malvern to know yet."

"Of course not!" Mary answered. "But Sim will turn up. Don't worry!

'Bye!" and she hung up.

"She isn't there, either," said Arden, turning to Terry. "What's the next move?"

Terry considered. "Well, this is a pretty big place. Sim may be--"

The telephone jingled shrilly. Both girls sprang to answer, but Terry got there first.

"Yes, Mrs. Malvern," she said sweetly. "We're all ready, and we'll be in the lobby in a few minutes. Yes. Good-bye!"

Quickly she turned from the telephone.

"Oh, what shall we do? Mrs. Malvern will see that Sim isn't with us!

Think of something, Arden! Quick!"

"We'll have to go down, anyhow," said Arden, pulling her dress over her head. "Maybe, in the crowd, she won't notice that Sim is missing. Hurry, Terry, and change your dress."

"I am hurrying. I'm as nearly ready as you are. We mustn't show we are excited. She really could be--lots of places."

"Whatever possessed Sim to do a thing like this?" Arden was struggling with her garments.

"She's probably got some idea into her head. Unless she's been kidnaped and is being held for a ransom!"

Both girls stopped their dressing, suddenly frightened, Terry no less, though she had spoken the words. They had been spoken jokingly, but the possibility of such a terrible happening was not pleasant to consider.

"Oh, Terry! Do you think we better tell Mrs. Malvern after all? The police----"

"No! No! I was only joking. I have a lot of confidence in Sim. She can take care of herself. She knows people in New York. If she isn't in the lobby when we get there, we'll have to decide what to do then." Terry was putting on her hat.

"I'm ready. I'll take her bag and mine. You shut the door."

Arden swept a last glance around the room. She stepped into the corridor, followed by Terry, who pulled the door shut. They both quickly looked down the long hall. It was empty.

"Hurry, Arden, into the elevator, before someone sees there are only two of us when there should be three!"

By the greatest of good luck the elevator came quickly in answer to their ring. It was almost filled with chattering girls, and when it reached the ground floor it was impossible to see who got off.

The girls for Cedar Ridge were a.s.sembled in the magnificent lobby; a happy, chattering, laughing group. Terry and Arden, in unspoken agreement, worked themselves gradually as near to the center of the throng as they could, hoping Mrs. Malvern's gimlet eyes would not note the absence of Sim.

"Come, girls, get together!" The chaperon was herding them toward the door leading to the waiting cabs. "Tell the driver to take you to Thirty-third Street tube station and there take a train for Hoboken. When you get there, ask at the information desk which is the next train for Cedar Ridge, and don't forget to sign in as soon as you get back. That is important. We shall have to separate from now on."

So far so good. Terry and Arden guiltily got into a gaudy taxi with three other girls. The two were thinking so much about Sim; wondering if, should they go on thinking, some subconscious influence would not cause someone to ask about her. The only thing to do was to talk to the other girls about the dance to keep their thoughts occupied with that subject.

"Did they make any money, do you know?" Arden asked a strange girl, one of the three riding with her and Terry.

"They cleared expenses, but I heard they only have a few dollars over."

"It was a nice party, anyhow," Terry put in, looking anxiously out of the window. "The music was grand!"

And that ended the half-hearted attempt at conversation. Both Arden and Terry had too much on their minds to do much talking. The other girls were intimately whispering among themselves. They seemed to give no thought to the missing Sim, nor to the fact that Arden and Terry had been two of a trio, inseparable, but were now only a duet.

Their problem was a difficult one.

Where was Sim?

If she was not waiting at the tube station or in Hoboken, what should they do? How could they get back to Cedar Ridge without Mrs. Malvern or someone with inquisitive authority finding out about the missing girl?

Arden privately decided, if they did not find Sim at either station, to tell Mrs. Malvern at the first opportunity.

Terry, whose thoughts were following the same line as were Arden's, decided, if they reached Cedar Ridge and found no trace of Sim, that it would be best at once to telephone from college to the parents of the missing girl and ask for advice.

There was a milling throng on the platform of the Thirty-third Street tube station on one side of which trains left for Jersey City and Newark, and on the other side for Hoboken and thence to Cedar Ridge. As well as they could, Terry and Arden peered through the crowd for Sim. But she was not to be seen, and the hope thermometer in their hearts went nearer the zero mark.

The train was crowded, and it was almost impossible for Arden and Terry to converse above the noise. It didn't matter. They had nothing of interest to talk about, now. They looked anxiously at each other. Were they deserting Sim? Or rather, were they not showing real confidence in her? She must be safe! The excitement of the travel was helping to cheer her chums.

When Hoboken terminus was reached and the crowds poured out as they had flowed in, once more the two sought anxiously among the many faces. But though there were scores of their fellow students hurrying to catch the next Cedar Ridge train, Sim was not among them.

"She may be on the platform waiting for us," suggested Terry with a hope she did not feel.

"Maybe," Arden murmured prayerfully.