by Clair Blank
Chapter XIII
STARTLING NEWS
Gale opened one eye and peered at the clock. The next instant she was upand hurriedly dashing through her usually methodical routine ofdressing. It was Christmas morning. She was home with her parents andBrent was here! Last night had been the most glorious Christmas Eve shehad ever experienced. The Adventure Girls, with the exception of Phyllisof course, and Brent and the other boys had gone carolling. After thatthere had been sandwiches and hot chocolate in the Howard living roomwhere they could admire the big Christmas tree. Then, when the othershad gone, a long intimate talk with Brent, learning all about his workin Washington and telling him all about her college life.
Now she pictured Brent waiting downstairs and, important enough too, alot of mysterious packages beneath the Christmas tree just waiting to beopened. With a final approving look at the laughing, gray-eyed girl inthe mirror, Gale dashed out into the hallway. With a cheer she slid downthe banister and landed right in Brent's arms.
"Merry Christmas!" she said gaily.
"Merry Christmas yourself. Your Dad and I had about decided you weregoing to sleep all day." He tucked her arm within his. "How about somebreakfast? I'm famished!"
"Before we open our presents?" she demanded. "I should say not!"
Saint Nicholas had been more than generous in his gifts to Gale and theothers. After a long time spent examining and exclaiming over what theboxes disclosed they went to church. Then a long walk home through thebrilliant sunlight and a most satisfying dinner.
"You know," Gale confessed to Brent, "I keep thinking about Phyllis. Itold you what her Aunt said that day, didn't I? Let's go see MissFields. I want to ask her what she meant--if she is home."
"As you say," Brent agreed.
The two walked up the long hill arm in arm. The air was cold andinvigorating. Gale felt she must burst with personal happiness yet shefound time to think of Phyllis and wish, as often before, that there wassomething she could do.
The house on the hill was gray and silent, just as she had pictured itwhen she was at Briarhurst. The shutters were closed on most of thewindows and there was a forlorn, deserted look about the place.
"I think you will be disappointed," Brent said. "It looks as though itis closed up for the winter."
"I hope she is here," Gale said.
Brent used the old iron knocker vigorously. They could hear the soundecho in the room beyond. They waited several minutes before Brentknocked again. To their surprise the door was opened almost immediatelyand by Miss Fields herself.
"H-Hello," Gale began uncertainly. "I want to talk to you, Miss Fields."
"I'm sorry, I'm busy," the woman said.
"I've got to talk to you!" Gale insisted. "About Phyllis."
Grudgingly the woman opened the door farther and Gale took advantage ofit to slip within. Brent followed and then there was nothing for MissFields to do but lead the way into the cold, dark front room.
Gale shivered as she sat on the edge of an old-fashioned stuffed sofabeside Brent. This was a terrible place, so cold and damp and dark. Shewagered no sunlight had been inside the house since Miss Fields tookresidence there, and that was years and years. Brent reached over andtook Gale's hand in his warm grasp. It seemed to be what she needed.
"Well?" Miss Fields' voice was frigid and she sat stiffly in her chair.
"I--that is----" Gale began lamely. "We, the girls, are anxious to helpPhyllis all we can. We can't do it without your aid."
"Well?" Miss Fields repeated.
"We want to know why you won't help," Gale said quickly.
Miss Fields grew even more frigid if that were possible. She regardedGale with the utmost disdain and Gale was glad of Brent's presence. Shefelt she would have withered away under such a glare if she had beenalone.
"I told you that day at Briarhurst it was impossible," she said.
"I know," Gale agreed, "but we want to know why. You must think we areimpertinent, but you see we think an awful lot of Phyllis. Somethingmust be done."
"It will do you no good to question me," Miss Fields returned. "If thatis all I will wish you good day."
"Wait!" Gale cried when the woman would have left them.
"You have no right to make Phyllis suffer because of a promise you madeyears ago. She can be cured and you can help! There is no promiseimportant enough to stop that!"
A cool glance was all the reply she got.
"You've got to help Phyllis," Gale insisted doggedly. She took a deepbreath and looked at the woman almost pityingly. "I had no idea anyonecould be so hard-hearted--so unfeeling! No wonder Phyllis hates you!"
To the utter amazement and consternation of Gale and Brent, Phyllis'Aunt sank into a chair and covered her face with her hands.
"I know she hates me," Miss Fields said in a dry whisper, "but I'd doanything for her."
Gale looked at Brent and he looked at her. Was she hearing aright? Wasthis the cold stern woman whom they had always accused of having nofeeling whatever--of being cruel to Phyllis? It seemed Gale's words hadreleased a spring of words that had been harbored too long.
"I've raised Phyllis since she was two years old. I've never meant to becruel but I've been afraid I would lose her," Miss Fields continuedstaring at the floor. "I was jealous and afraid of the friends shemade--it seemed to take a part of her away from me. I wanted to knowwhat she was doing--I wanted her to love me."
Gale refrained from commenting on the fact that Miss Fields had taken amighty strange manner of showing her love for Phyllis. She listenedincredibly to the story of this strange lonely woman who had raisedPhyllis. It was a cry of a heart which had at last broken through thecast of steel and ice which had so long encased it. It was hard tobelieve that Miss Fields really possessed a genuine affection forPhyllis. But, Gale admitted slowly to herself, it might be possible forone, such as Miss Fields, to want to have Phyllis' affection solely forherself, to be jealous of the girl's outside activities and friendsbecause it meant a branch of life in which she could not share. She hadoverlooked, in her blind striving for all of Phyllis' companionship, thegirl's craving for friends her own age and the other interests ofyounger people.
"I realize what this--this accident has meant to her," Miss Fieldsassured them. "I would help--I've tried to think of a way--but I can't.My hands are tied."
Brent leaned forward and spoke for the first time.
"Phyllis is not really your niece, is she, Miss Fields?"
Gale looked at him in surprise. This was a new angle! Phyllis not reallyMiss Fields' niece? What did he mean?
Miss Fields stared at Brent. Her eyes had the hunted look of an animalcaught in a trap.
"What do you mean?" she asked fearfully.
"You might as well tell us everything," Brent pursued kindly. "We onlywant to help straighten matters out. Phyllis isn't really your niece, isshe?" he insisted.
Miss Fields looked down at her hands clasped together tightly in herlap. Finally she raised her head.
"No," she said.
"I thought so," Brent murmured. "You had better tell us abouteverything. All about what happened years ago----"
Miss Fields fixed her eyes on the opposite wall and started to speak. Itwas as if she had forgotten the young people to whom she was talking,merely repeating a story that had been lodged in her mind for years.
"Years ago I was secretary to a Doctor. He had a wife and a little girl.One day his wife was killed in a bad railroad accident. Before she diedshe made me promise to stay with Phyllis. The Doctor was heart-brokenand partly to forget, partly to further his ambition, he decided to goto Europe to study surgery. He left his little girl with me and enoughmoney to keep her until he should return and longer."
"Didn't he ever return?" Gale asked anxiously.
"I lived in his house with Phyllis for two years. Then one day Ireceived a wire that he was returning. I thought of all sorts ofthings--that I might be discharged--I might
never see Phyllis again. Iwas lonely--I had no family, and I had grown to love the little girllike my own daughter." She looked sadly at Gale. "I brought Phyllishere. I've hidden her all these years----"
"Her father?" Gale asked.
Miss Fields bowed her head. "He returned to Europe after a fewyears--when he didn't find us. I've always been afraid someone woulddiscover who she was--that is why I didn't want Phyllis to makefriends--I was afraid. Now you know everything--what do you propose todo?"
Gale looked speechlessly at Brent. Her head was whirling with the newdiscovery. What a story had been here in their midst! Phyllis was theheroine of a story as incredible and fantastic as any fiction. What werethey to do first?
"Who is her father?" Brent asked.
Miss Fields looked at him silently for a long moment. "Doctor PhilipElton," she said finally.
"The famous surgeon?" Brent echoed in surprise.
Miss Fields nodded. "But no one knows where he is. When I learnedPhyllis needed money for an operation I tried to get in touch with him.I was willing then to let him know about Phyllis because I couldn't helpher any more--but he could. It was impossible. He is somewhere inEurope."
"We've got to find him," Gale said excitedly. "Think what it means toPhyl----"
Brent rose. "We will start a search immediately. When he is found he candecide what is to be done," he told Miss Fields.
Gale and Brent went out into the sunshine leaving the woman sittingalone in the cold forlorn house.
"To think of all that being hidden for years and years," she murmured asthey walked toward her home. "Because Miss Fields was so selfish. Shedidn't think what it might mean to Phyllis----"
"I'll start the search for Doctor Elton," Brent planned. "I supposeDavid will want to help when he returns."
"Do you think we should tell Phyllis now?" Gale asked. "Or do you thinkit would be better to wait until her father is found?"
"Perhaps it would be wiser to wait a little while," Brent agreed.
They reached Gale's home and entered the warm living room.
"Why don't you take your overcoat off?" Gale asked. "You are going tostay a while, aren't you?" she continued humorously.
Brent shook his head. "No. I'm flying back to Washington thisafternoon."
"Brent!" she wailed. "You didn't tell me."
"I wanted it to be the happiest sort of Christmas," he replied. "Someday you will be going with me."
"Some day," she agreed.
When Brent had gone Gale curled up in the corner of the divan andwatched the flames of the fire in the fireplace. She let her dreams runrampant. Some day she would be flying to Washington with Brent. Sheremembered what a thrill it had been flying to Canada with him lastyear. She remembered, too, the night of the Senior Prom when she andBrent had strolled in the garden.
But even over-riding all her rosy dreams was the astounding news she hadheard about Phyllis that afternoon. It was like a fantastic fairy story.To think that Phyllis was the daughter of a famous surgeon, really awealthy girl who had been hidden away in this small town all these yearsby a strange, selfish woman who claimed affection for the girl. Thinkwhat it must have meant to Phyllis' father--to return to his home tofind the woman, whom he had entrusted with the care of his little girl,had disappeared taking his daughter with her. It must have beenheart-breaking! But think what a reunion there would be when they metnow--after all these years! How would Phyllis receive the news?
Gale pictured all sorts of ways to bring Phyllis and her father togetheryet the one which actually was to happen was even more dramatic.
Gale went to the telephone and put a long distance call through toBriarhurst. A few minutes later she heard Phyllis' voice.
"Merry Christmas!" Gale said gaily. "How are you? What did you do withyourself?"
"David hired a sleigh drawn by two horses and we had a long ride in thecountry," Phyllis said happily. "It was glorious."
They talked for a few moments and then Gale hung up, feeling satisfiedthat Phyllis had really enjoyed her Christmas after all. She had saidnothing of her interview with Miss Fields, that would come later. Galeeven doubted if she would tell the other Adventure Girls yet. It wouldbe a secret between herself and Brent and David until Doctor Elton wasfound and could be produced.
She went back to her position before the fire. In ten days she would begoing back to college. Then to pick up the threads of mystery concerningthe Dean. This would be the spring term. Her riding lessons would startand she was anxious for them. Her only regret was that Phyllis would notbe able to join her. Perhaps if her father was found and there was anoperation performed Phyllis would eventually be as active as she hadbeen. But not now!
Gale opened a book and nibbled on a chocolate caramel. She was perfectlycontent with her present position. A book was always a treasuredcompanion to her. She could find much delight in following theadventures of a printed hero and heroine. Their adventures were alwaysmore dangerous, more glamorous than events in real life.
But alas, her composure and peace were not to last. There arose a loudclatter outside and the doorbell pealed long and loudly. Galeresignedly, smilingly, closed her book. Only the Adventure Girls wouldmake so much noise.
