The Merriweather Girls and the Mystery of the Queen's Fan Part 36

"Ss.h.!.+ Don't talk so loud, s.h.i.+rley!" Bet whispered. "And don't worry.

We'll ask Bob and Phil to come up with us and get it. We'll tell them to bring a shot gun! And who knows, maybe in the meantime you'll get your picture of a deer."

The bus had never seemed to go so slowly. It stopped at every street corner, or so it appeared to Bet Baxter. At the corner where they alighted, Smiley Jim came bounding over the hard snow, barking his welcome. "Smiley Jim, I'm glad you're here, I've never been so happy to see you, in all my life!" Bet exclaimed.

As if the dog knew that Bet needed him, he walked by her side, and growled as he always did when strangers came to the Manor.

"I believe he knows!" said Bet softly as she patted the dog's head.

But when she stumbled into the kitchen a few minutes later, she fell into Auntie Gibbs' arms and sobbed hysterically.

"Now, what's the matter child? Have you had more bad luck? Your father can't get home too soon to suit me!"

At last Bet got her breath:

"Auntie Gibbs! Uncle Nat! We've found the fan!"

CHAPTER XVII

ON GUARD

Bet was still clutching the precious fan in a tight grip that had not relaxed for a second since she found it in the Hermit's Hut.

"I just knew you'd find it, Bet," said Auntie Gibbs. "I told you so over and over again!"

Even Bet, whose nerves were at the snapping point, had to smile at the old lady who was always in the right and sure to exclaim: "Didn't I tell you so!"

"Now let's have a look at that queen's fan. I never rightly noticed it, before it was stolen." The old man held out his hand.

"Here it is, Uncle Nat," said Bet proudly, as she unwrapped the treasure from the dusty handkerchief. Then she gave a little gasp which was immediately smothered in a cough, as she stuffed the handkerchief into her sweater pocket.

"What's the matter now, Bet?" Kit cried excitedly.

"Nothing at all. Must have taken a cold. My throat seems raw." Bet took the fan, opened it and held it out to Uncle Nat.

"Well, well, well!" exclaimed the old man. "So that's the queen's fan!

Are you quite sure it's the one, Bet? Doesn't seem fancy enough to be worth all that money."

"All I can say is that it ain't much to look at," sputtered Auntie Gibbs. "It's a nice enough fan, but I wouldn't give a dollar for it.

If I were a queen I'd want one with ostrich plumes and lots of gold on it."

"Queens are funny like that!" Uncle Nat shook his head. "But I can't understand how anyone would want it at a price like that. I wonder if Colonel Baxter isn't joking with you about it?"

"You know Daddy wouldn't do a thing like that. His letters have been so full of joy at the prospect of a sale."

"And, Bet dear, isn't it good that we found it before he got back? It has saved him a lot of worry. I do think we are the luckiest girls in the world," cried s.h.i.+rley Williams.

"The lucky Merriweather Girls! We're living up to the ideals of our club, and Lady Betty!" Joy kissed the tips of her fingers toward the portrait, then whirled about on her toes.

Bet rushed up to her room and taking her father's picture from her desk, whispered, "Oh Daddy, you can trust me!" She looked at it a long time, then kissed it as she replaced it on the desk.

"So far, so good!" exclaimed Kit as she joined Bet. "We've found the fan but we haven't found the thief, and until that is done we won't be able to clear the suspicion against Phil. Everybody in town is blaming him." Kit's voice showed her indignation.

"Let's phone him! He'll sleep better tonight if he knows the fan has been found," suggested Joy as she and s.h.i.+rley came into the room.

"Girls, do me a favor, don't tell anyone tonight. If it gets around town that we have the fan, the thief may come and try to get it again.

Until it is in the safety deposit box at the bank, I've not kept faith with Dad. And tomorrow is Sunday. I have to guard the fan for two nights instead of one."

"That's true. Someone might try to steal it again. Wish we were staying all night with you, Bet," said Kit.

"Please do, girls. I don't want to be left alone, I'll phone and ask!"

and Bet ran to the telephone.

Bet needed their presence to keep her from brooding over something that she could not talk about with them, for the handkerchief that had been wrapped around the fan, bore the initials P.S.G. in one corner. She recognized it as one of Phil's handkerchiefs. There was no doubt about it.

Now that the fan was in her possession she was so relieved that she did not care to lay the blame on him, but with the proof in her pocket, she felt weighed down as if she were the guilty one.

"'How could Phil do such a thing!" she thought. "No wonder he didn't stop to talk to me! I should think he _would_ slink by without hardly speaking!" Bet's indignation was at fever heat. At this moment she wished he were there to make him face the evidence she had against him.

The three girls had no difficulty in getting permission to stay with Bet. Mrs. Stacey laughingly suggested that Kit be adopted by the Baxters and then she would never have to come home.

"Now girls, we will take turns in guarding the fan. Two at a time through the night," said Bet. "But if you think I'm going to let the fan out of _my_ possession, you're mistaken. Right now, I'm going to fasten it around my neck! And what's more, I'm going to sleep with it on."

"But a thief may come and carry you away, fan and all!" exclaimed Joy.

"Not if we are guarding her!" s.h.i.+rley a.s.sured them. "Where will we sleep?"

"s.h.i.+rley and Joy must have the room across the hall, and Kit will sleep with me. Two of us must always be together. I have the feeling if one of you girls had been with me the other night, the fan might not have been stolen at all."

"Let me have the first watch, then," said s.h.i.+rley. "I'm such a night owl anyway, that I won't mind staying awake. Joy and I can watch until two o'clock, then we'll waken you."

The girls caught the thrill of the night watch and almost hoped a thief might come so they could capture him.

"Someone may try to kidnap Bet, if he thinks she has the fan on her,"

suggested Kit.

"If he does, Bet, he'll have to kidnap all four girls, for we'll stand by you!" Joy put her arms protectingly around Bet.

"I'd love to catch the thief, lock him up in a closet, send for Chief Baldwin and have him arrested. That would end the mystery of the queen's fan."

"And that's what I call romantic bunk.u.m," laughed Auntie Gibbs.

"You'll all go to bed tonight and get your rest! Uncle Nat will hide the fan so no one will get it."

At which there was a loud protest from all the girls. They had no intention of being cheated out of any of the thrilling romance of the fan.

Bet was tucked into bed with all the tenderness that one bestows on a small child and was made to promise, hand on heart, that she would not step outside her room for any reason whatever, unless one of the girls was with her.