The Motor Maids by Rose, Shamrock and Thistle Part 19

"No," she said. "You're lucky not to have to keep things. I hate secrets. I should like to live in a house with lots of windows and keep the blinds drawn up all the time so that any one who wanted to could look in. But I have to creep about and go out back doors and around dark streets. I am always frightened and uneasy; and as for mother, she keeps the blinds down all day and never sticks her nose outside."

"But what is it, Marie-Jeanne?" cried Billie. "Is it really something too dreadful to tell?"

"That's just it," exclaimed the poor girl miserably, "I don't know what it is. I only know we are hiding and there is a secret. If ever I find out what it is," she cried fiercely, "I shall tell it and have it over with."

"Is Miss Felicia Rivers in the secret?" asked Nancy.

"I don't know. But she allows her house to be used for the meetings."

"Meetings?"

"Yes. They meet there. Queer-looking men who speak foreign languages."

"And what has your mother to do with it?"

"I can't tell. She's in it, though. But we're going away next month. We are going to France. Mother has promised to do something for them-and after that, we'll go--"

Suddenly a memory came tapping at Billie's mind.

"Is some one connected with it called 'Tweedledum'?" she asked.

"Hus.h.!.+" whispered Marie-Jeanne. "Look the other way. I knew it was dangerous."

The two other girls turned their heads quickly to see what the matter was, but they only saw pedestrians hurrying over the bridge.

"Why,-what--" they began. But Marie-Jeanne was gone.

"Taking an afternoon walk?" asked a voice so close to them that they started guiltily.

But to their great relief, it was their old steamer friend, Telemac Kalisch.

"We came down to see London Bridge," Billie answered, shaking hands with him. "And how are you and where are you going?"

"I am taking a little stroll. May I not walk with you to your lodgings?"

Piloting the two young girls through the ma.s.s of people, Telemac finally steered them into a quiet street and they made for home.

"Miss Campbell is not a strict chaperone," he said, "or she would not allow her young ladies to wander on London Bridge late in the afternoon."

The girls were silent for a moment. They did not wish to be drawn into Marie-Jeanne's strange secrets and they were of half a mind to confide in Telemac. But Billie remembered her promise and Nancy would say nothing without her friend's initiative.

"She did not know we were going to London Bridge," Billie answered evasively. "We shopped for a while. Nancy bought herself a souvenir at an antique shop and then we went to see the bridge. We see many girls walking out alone. Why shouldn't we?"

Telemac made no reply.

"Have you seen Marie-Jeanne lately?" he asked presently.

Billie looked into his strange eyes. It suddenly occurred to her that he was trying to find out something, and with a certain stubbornness she had always shown when it came to keeping a secret, she replied:

"Marie-Jeanne's mother does not allow her to come to see us."

Then Nancy, who had an unconscious instinct for helping her friend, broke in:

"Wouldn't you like to see my little chalet? It is made of sandalwood lined with blue satin, and it smells deliciously."

But Telemac was not interested in Nancy's purchase. Indeed, he seemed strangely different from his usual genial self, and lifting his hat quite formally, he left them at the door of their lodgings and walked hurriedly away.

CHAPTER XIII.-ON THE ROAD TO ST. ALBANS.

There was some excitement in the street wherein stood Westminster Chambers. The old lodging house itself was all astir. Maria Cortinas stood on the balcony waving a white scarf and smiling as divinely as she smiled when she acknowledged the applause of great audiences.

Mrs. Ruggles, her mother, was also on the balcony in a rolling chair, nodding her fine old head and smiling gravely down the street at an old friend. The "Comet" was there. He wore a new scarlet coat spic and span, and boasted new red leather cus.h.i.+ons, but he was still the "Comet,"

polished and cleaned and oiled,-"tuned up," as Billie said.

The Motor Maids and Miss Campbell were to say farewell to London that morning. They had seen all the sights and enjoyed themselves immensely, but the wander-thirst had taken hold of them now and they were off. The tea basket and the luncheon hamper were safely stored within; suit cases were strapped on and faces and forms swathed with motor veils and coats.

It was exactly like all the old, familiar starts of the "Comet" and his burden of ladies; a last waving of hands and handkerchiefs, a last call of good-by, and off he flashed down the street, his red coat s.h.i.+ning in the morning sunlight.

So eager were these seasoned travelers to be on the road, that the whir of the motor engine was music to their ears. The truth is, they were just a little tired of sight seeing. Their days had been filled with excursions to Windsor Castle and Hampton Court, visits to picture galleries, museums, bridges, cathedrals and the houses of parliament, and trips on the River Thames. It was a relief now to feel themselves flying along toward the country.

"If we make a hundred miles to-day, I shall not be disappointed," Billie remarked.

London had not been without its disappointments to Miss Campbell and the girls. They had looked for a visit from their steamer friend, Feargus O'Connor, but he had not taken advantage of their invitation to call.

Mr. Kalisch, also, had dropped out of sight, and they had seen him no more after the meeting at London Bridge.

But how easy it was to lose oneself in that vast city,-like a drop of water in the ocean! And yet, in the great ocean of humanity that overflows London, people drift together in the strangest way, and those who have been lost to each other for months turn the corner one morning and meet face to face. Of course, our young girls had no such ideas regarding Feargus O'Connor. No doubt he had gone to Ireland to see his people without waiting to call on his steamer friends. And yet, that very day, they were to meet the young Irishman under the strangest circ.u.mstances.

By the afternoon they were well on the road to St. Albans. The way lay between hedges all a-bloom with hawthorn blossoms. An occasional lane branched off between meadows of surpa.s.sing green, and here and there a pretty lodge proclaimed that somewhere hidden back of a splendid park was a great house.

"Shall we slip quietly down one of these little sylvan lanes for tea?"

asked Billie. "It will be so jolly and English, don't you know, drinking tea under an oak tree, perhaps; and I am that thirsty I can hardly wait for the water to boil!"

It was agreed that the hour for tea had arrived, if not by the clock at least by taste and inclination, and at the next shady lane they turned in. It led through a charming little village. Smoke curled lazily from the chimneys of cottages that were built with low hanging eaves and tiny little windows. At the foot of the one street was a bridge spanning a small stream. Being of an exploring mind, the mistress of the "Comet"

guided him across the bridge and followed the windings of the wilful little road until it dwindled into a path and was absorbed by a meadow.

Lifting the bars that separated the meadow from the path, they made themselves at home on the greensward.

"Here's the very place," exclaimed Mary, her heart leaping with pleasure over the romance of this retired spot.

"Even the roadsides in England are like parks," observed Elinor presently, as she spread the contents of the tea basket on the gra.s.s and put the kettle over the lamp to boil.

Having departed from the high road, they seemed to be alone in a little world of green. They were on some one's grounds, perhaps, but where was the harm? The air was scented with the fragrance of apple blossoms and wild flowers; their spoons made a musical tinkle against the delicate china of the teacups.

Into the midst of this quiet pastoral scene came the thump of hoofs and there emerged on the brow of the hill an immense bull. To their excited and frightened fancies, he seemed really gigantic as he stood looking at them suspiciously. They sat frozen to the spot, too overcome to make the effort to stand on their feet.

"Oh, my dear! Oh, my dear! What are we to do?" whispered Miss Campbell.