The Cry at Midnight Part 29

"If you mean, am I willing to sit quietly by and see you rob my grandmother, the answer is 'No!'"

"I do not care for your choice of words, my dear," replied the monk. "You are an impertinent child who must be disciplined."

"Wait until I get away from here!" the girl challenged. "People will learn exactly what's going on in this place!"

"Will they indeed? So you propose to make trouble?"

"I'll tell what I've seen. You're only a cheap trickster! Furthermore, you can't keep me a prisoner in this room."

"No?" Father Benedict's voice crackled with amus.e.m.e.nt. "In this house _I am the law_! Since you are in no mood to discuss matters reasonably, I shall leave you here. Your grandmother, I trust, will display a more sensible att.i.tude."

"You leave my grandmother alone!" the imprisoned girl cried furiously.

"You're only after her gems!"

"If you were to cooperate--"

"I'll never fall in with your schemes!" the girl exclaimed. "Let me out of here!"

Penny heard a scuffle and knew that an unsuccessful attempt had been made to reach the door. As her own hand groped along the closet wall, it suddenly encountered a small, circular panel of wood. As she pushed against it, a crack of light showed through.

"A peephole!" Penny thought. "Julia knew it was here! That was what she meant when she said I could see and listen!"

Stealthily, so as to make no sound, she slid the piece of wood aside.

Gazing into the semi-dark bedroom, she saw Father Benedict push the struggling girl backwards onto the canopied bed.

"You have settled your own fate!" he said angrily. "Now you'll stay here until I find a better place! Sweet dreams, my little wildcat!"

Quitting the room, he locked the heavy door. The girl on the bed buried her head in the dusty, scarlet draperies and began to cry.

Penny waited only until she was certain Father Benedict was far down the corridor. Then she rapped softly on the closet wall.

Through the peephole, she saw the girl start violently and look about the room.

"Hist!" Penny whispered. "Over here!"

She rapped again, and this time the girl saw the tiny hole in the wall.

Leaping from bed, she came across the room.

"Who are you?" she demanded, unable to see Penny's face.

"A friend! I'm here to help you."

"Can you get me out of this room?"

"Father Benedict seems to have the only key," Penny told her. "I'll sneak out of here and telephone the police. But first, I must know exactly what case we have against Father Benedict."

"He's mean and cruel! He half starves the people who live here and takes all their money and jewels!"

"Why did he shut you up here?"

"Because I've opposed him. Though I tried hard to prevent it, he coaxed my grandmother to come to this horrible place."

"Have either of you been mistreated?" Penny asked.

"Until tonight, Father Benedict favored us above the other cult members.

Of course, that was only because as yet he hasn't been able to get his thieving hands on the star sapphire!"

At mention of the gem, Penny's pulse leaped. No longer did she doubt that the girl was the missing Hawthorne heiress sought by Mr. Ayling.

"You're the one I picked up on the road," she said. "But you've never told me your name. Is it possible you're Rhoda--"

"Rhoda Hawthorne," the girl completed for her. "I refused to answer your questions before because I distrusted everyone."

"And now?"

"I realize you're a true friend--the only one I have. Oh, you must get me out of this room quickly! Please bring police at once!"

CHAPTER 19 _A DORMITORY ROOM_

"I'll get you out of this room somehow," Penny promised through the peephole. "First, before I go for police, tell me more. Why were you carrying a suitcase that night Louise and I met you on the road?"

"I was running away," Rhoda Hawthorne replied.

"Yet you returned here."

"I had to. When I thought about Grandmother alone in the clutches of Father Benedict, I knew I couldn't desert her. She is putty in his hands!"

"But why didn't you bring police here yourself, Rhoda?"

"What could I prove? Until tonight when Father Benedict locked me up, I had no real evidence against him."

"Even now, we haven't very much," said Penny. "He'll deny he imprisoned you unless police take him by surprise and find you here."

"Grandmother will be worrying about me," Rhoda said anxiously. "She's in her room now, sick abed. I'm afraid it's from eating such vile food."

"What does the doctor think?"

"No doctor has seen her. Father Benedict won't allow anyone to call if he can prevent it. He has only one thought--to get his hands on the sapphire and leave here before police catch up with him."

"You're really convinced he is a crook?"

"I'm certain of it! Grandmother and I met him at a Florida resort. As soon as he learned about the star sapphire, he attached himself to us like a leech. Soon he found out Grandmother is superst.i.tious about the gem, so he started playing upon her feelings. He told her about this wretched society of his and painted the monastery in such glowing colors that Grandmother became fascinated."

"So he talked her into coming here?"