The Secret of the Sundial Part 15

"I feel I must speak of my-my son. It was his picture you saw in the study. I turned it to the wall on the day I closed up the mansion."

Madge and Cara nodded, not wis.h.i.+ng to interrupt. They already had guessed this much.

"I found John in an orphan's home. He was nine when I adopted him, and the sweetest boy in the world! Oh, I adored him! But even as a boy he was inclined to get into trouble. He'd take things that didn't belong to him.

I couldn't seem to teach him the difference between right and wrong. Oh, I dislike to admit it, but he was willful and he repaid my kindness with indifference.

"I sent him away to school, thinking he might benefit by a change in environment. Once away from my watchful eye, he went from bad to worse.

He fell in with the wrong sort of companions. He spent far more money than I could afford to give him. Several times he forged my name to checks.

"Finally, I told him that if he did not straighten up I should disown him. For a time he seemed to do better. I was encouraged. Then he forged another check-this time using the name of a prominent Claymore man. I'll not bore you with the details. It was the end. I sent him away and I've never seen him to this day."

"But you've forgiven him?" Madge asked softly.

Miss Swenster did not reply at once. Then she said:

"I loved John more than any other person in the world, but it was a wasted love. I realize that should I take him back he would only make me unhappy. If he were to step into this house this very night, I'd tell him to go!"

Madge gazed at her queerly.

"You really mean that?"

"Yes, it may sound hard, but I gave twenty years of my life to John. For the first time I am commencing to see him in his true colors, ungilded by my ideals. I can never hope to forget him entirely, but at least his memory becomes more bearable."

Madge was sorely troubled. She had fully intended to tell Miss Swenster that her son was in Claymore. Now it seemed a cruel thing to do. By her own admission, the old lady was gradually casting off unhappy memories which had held her enslaved for so many years. She felt herself sufficiently strong to confront her son, yet Madge wondered. Might not it be better to say nothing? By tomorrow John Swenster would be far away with no one the wiser, providing she kept her own counsel.

She was still turning the matter over in her mind when they left the supper table. The girls cleared the table and wiped dishes. Madge dropped a plate which fortunately did not break.

"What ails you tonight?" Cara asked. "Are you worrying about that French quiz we had today?"

Madge laughed.

"No, but it might be better if I would worry a little. I flunked it flat I know."

"You always say that, but at the end of the month I notice you manage to squeeze through pretty well at the head of the list!"

They finished drying the dishes and stacked them in the cupboard. Madge was putting away the last plate when she suddenly straightened.

"What was that?"

"I didn't hear anything," Cara returned.

"I thought I heard something fall to the ground. It sounded like it came from the garden."

"You're imagining things," Cara laughed. "Did you hear anything, Miss Swenster?"

"No, I didn't. It might have been a ladder that fell. The man who was working on the house yesterday, left one standing against the eaves."

Madge did not look completely convinced.

"I might just run out and see."

"Don't be a goose!" Cara remonstrated. "I think it was your imagination.

We're too far away from the garden to hear any noise from there. It was probably the ladder."

Madge allowed her chum to drag her into the living room. She went to the window and looked out. It was a black night but had there been a moon she could not have seen the garden for a wing of the house obstructed the view. The wind howled plaintively outside. Miss Swenster thought the room was cold and went to the kitchen for fire-wood.

They built a cheerful little blaze in the fireplace. Madge and Cara sat on the floor, watching the embers. Presently, Miss Swenster brought in marshmallows which they toasted above the coals.

"Look out!" Cara warned. "Yours is burning, Madge."

Madge flung the charred marshmallow into the fire and abruptly arose. She slipped on her coat.

"Where are you going?" Cara demanded.

"Oh, just out to the garden. I want to satisfy my curiosity. I've had an uneasy feeling all evening."

Cara laughed scoffingly but when she saw her friend was not to be dissuaded, she too arose. Miss Swenster reached for her shawl.

"We may as well all go," she said. "I feel that fresh air would do me good too."

They filed out the front way, Madge leading. She was the first to reach the garden. Uttering a cry of surprise and alarm, she ran to the sundial.

It lay upon its side and the pedestal had been split from the dial!

CHAPTER XV The Secret in Stone

"I knew it! I knew it!" Madge exclaimed, gazing in dismay at the wreckage. "All evening I felt something like this was about to happen."

"Perhaps the wind blew it over," Miss Swenster said, though her voice disclosed that she had no faith in her own words.

"It would have taken a cyclone to move that heavy sundial," Madge declared. "Someone deliberately cracked it open. See, here's the sledge-hammer he used. I knew I heard some such sound."

"And like as not the pearls are gone!" Cara wailed.

"That's a foregone conclusion," Madge responded. "But we may as well get a light and make a thorough search."

Miss Swenster already had started for the house. She returned a minute later with a flashlight. They turned it upon the dark interior of the broken pedestal and Madge felt around with her hand.

"If the pearls were ever here they're gone now," she announced.

The significance of the discovery was gradually dawning upon her. She knew that it was John Swenster who had been prowling about the garden and now she was convinced that he had broken open the sundial in an attempt to locate the pearls. At the risk of shocking Miss Swenster, she determined to withhold her information no longer.

"Miss Swenster, I should have told you this before," she said quietly.

"Your son is in Claymore-has been for days. I learned this afternoon that he had registered at the Grand Hotel."