The Enchanted Barn

by Grace Livingston Hill

  CHAPTER XXIII

  The next trolley that passed the old barn after the Hollisters had leftbrought a maid servant and a man servant from the Graham place. Theother old servant met them, and together the three went to work. Theyhad brought with them a lot of large dust-covers and floor-spreads suchas are used by housemaids in cleaning a room, and with these they nowproceeded to cover all the large pieces of furniture in the place. Ina very short space of time the rugs and bits of carpet were carefullyrolled up, the furniture piled in small compass in the middle of therooms, and everything enveloped in thick coverings. The curtains,bric-a-brac, and even the dishes were put away carefully, and the wholebig, inviting home was suddenly denuded. The clothes from thecalico-curtained clothes-presses were folded and laid in drawers, andeverything made perfectly safe for a lot of workmen to come into thehouse. Even the hay-loft bedrooms shared in this process. Only a cotwas left for the old servant and a few necessary things for him to use,and most of these he transported to the basement out of the way. Whenthe work was done the man and maid took the trolley back home again andthe other old man servant arranged to make his Sabbath as pleasant aspossible in the company of his brother from the near-by farm.

  Monday morning promptly at eight o'clock the trolley landed a bevy ofworkmen, carpenters, plasterers, plumbers, and furnace men, with aforeman who set them all at work as if it were a puzzle he had studiedout and memorized the solution. In a short time the quiet spot wasfull of sound, the symphony of industry, the rhythm of toil. Some menwere working away with the furnace that had been stored in the cellar;others were measuring, fitting, cutting holes for lead pipes; stillothers were sawing away at the roof, making great gashes in its mossyextent; and two men were busy taking down the old barn door. Out infront more men were building a vat for mortar, and opening bags of limeand sand that began to arrive. Three men with curious aprons made ofticking, filled with thin wire nails, were frantically putting laths onthe uprights that the carpenters had already set up, and stabbing themwith nails from a seemingly inexhaustible supply in their mouths. Itwas as if they had all engaged to build the tower of Babel in a day,and meant to win a prize at it. Such sounds! Such shoutings, suchbangings, thumpings, and harsh, raucous noises! The bird in the talltree looked and shivered, thankful that her brood were well away ontheir wings before all this cataclysm came to pass.

  Presently arrived a load of sashes, doors, and wooden frames, andanother load of lumber. Things can be done in a hurry if you havemoney and influence and the will to insist upon what you want. Beforenight there was a good start made toward big changes in the old barn.

  Plumbers and gas-fitters and men who were putting in the hot-water heatchased one another around the place, each man seeking to get his pipesin place before the lathers got to that spot; and the contractor waseverywhere, proving his right to be selected for this rush job. Assoon as the lathers had finished with a room the plasterers tookpossession, and the old door was rapidly being replaced with a greatglazed floor set in a frame of more sashes, so that the old darknesswas gone entirely.

  In the roof big dormer windows were taking the place of the two orthree little eyebrow affairs that had given air to the hay heretofore,and the loft was fast becoming pleasanter than the floor below.

  Outside laborers were busy building up a terrace, where a widecement-floor piazza with stone foundations and low stone walls was torun across the entire front. Another chimney was rising from theregion of the kitchen. A white enamel sink with a wide drain-shelfattached appeared next, with signs of a butler's pantry between kitchenand dining-room. A delightful set of china-closet doors with littlediamond panes that matched the windows was put in one corner of thedining-room, and some bookcases with sliding doors began to developalong the walls of the living-room. Down in the basement a man wasfitting stationary tubs for a laundry, and on both the first floor andthe second bathrooms were being made. If the place hadn't been so big,the workmen would have got in one another's way. Closets big andlittle were being put in, and parts of a handsome staircase were lyingabout, until you wouldn't know the place at all. Every evening the oldservant and the neighbor next door, who used to rent the old barnbefore he built his own new one, came together to look over what hadbeen accomplished during the day, and to discourse upon this changingworld and the wonders of it. The farmer, in fact, learned a great dealabout modern improvements, and at once set about bringing some of themto bear upon his own modest farmhouse. He had money in the bank, andwhy shouldn't he "have things convenient for Sally"?

  When Sidney Graham reached the city on Monday morning he scarcely tooktime to read his mail in the office and give the necessary attention tothe day's work before he was up and off again, flying along theGlenside Road as fast as his car would carry him. His mind certainlywas not on business that morning. He was as eager as a child to seehow work at the old barn was progressing, and the workmen stood smallchance of lying down on their job that week, for he meant to make everyminute count, no matter how much it cost. He spent a large part ofMonday hovering about the old barn, gloating over each new sign ofprogress, using his imagination on more things than the barn. But whenTuesday arrived an accumulation of work at the office in connectionwith a large order that had just come in kept him close to his desk.He had hoped to get away in time to reach Glenside before the workmenleft in the afternoon, but four o'clock arrived with still a great pileof letters for him to sign, before his work would be done for the day.

  He had just signed his name for the forty-ninth time and laid his pendown with an impatient sigh of relief when the telephone on his deskrang. He hesitated. Should he answer it and be hindered again, orcall his secretary and let her attend to it while he slipped away tohis well-earned respite? A second insistent ring, however, brought himback to duty and he reached out and took up the receiver.

  "Is this Mr. Sidney Graham? Long distance is calling!"

  The young man frowned impatiently and wished he had sent for hissecretary. It was probably another tiresome confab on that Chicagomatter, and it really wasn't worth the trouble, anyway. Then a smallscared voice at the other end of the wire spoke:

  "Is that you, Mr. Graham? Well, this is Carol. Say, Mr. Graham, I'mafraid something awful has happened to Shirley! I don't know what todo, and I thought I'd better ask you." Her voice broke off in a gasplike a sob.

  A cold chill struck at the young man's heart, and a vision of Shirleybattling with the ocean waves was instantly conjured up.

  "Shirley! Where is she? Tell me, quick!" he managed to say, thoughthe words seemed to stick in his throat.

  "She's down at Washington," answered Carol. "Mr. Barnard phoned herlast night. There was something special nobody else could take notesabout, because it was for a Government contract, and has to be secret.Mr. Barnard asked her to please go and she went this morning. Motherdidn't like her to go, but she addressed a lot of postal cards for herto write back, and one came postmarked Baltimore in this afternoon'smail, saying she was having a nice time. But just now a call came formother to go to the telephone. She was asleep and George was crabbingso I had to come. It was a strange man in Washington. He said he hadjust found three postal cards on the road addressed to mother, that allsaid 'Help! Quick! Two men were carrying off Shirley and please tophone to the police.' He took the postals to the police station, buthe thought he ought to phone us. And oh, Mr. Graham, _what shall Ido_? I can't tell mother. It will kill her, and how can we helpShirley?"

  "Don't tell mother," said Graham quickly, trying to speak calmly out ofhis horror. "Be a brave girl, Carol. A great deal depends on you justnow. Have you phoned Mr. Barnard? Oh, you say he's in Washington? Hewas to meet your sister in Baltimore? He _did_ meet her you say? Thepostal card said she had met him? Well, the next thing is to phone Mr.Clegg and find out if he knows anything. I'll do that at once, andunless he has heard that she is all right I will start for Washingtonon the next train. Suppose you stay right where yo
u are till half-pastfive. I may want to call you up again and need you in a hurry. Thenyou go back to the cottage as fast as you can and talk cheerfully. Sayyou went to take a walk. Isn't Elizabeth with you? Well, tell her tohelp keep your mother from suspecting anything. Above all things don'tcry! It won't do any good and it may do lots of harm. Get George offby himself and tell him everything, and tell him I said he was to makesome excuse to go down town after supper and stay at the telephoneoffice till ten o'clock. I may want to call him up from Washington.Now be a brave little girl. I suspect your sister Shirley would tellyou to pray. Good-by."

  "I will!" gasped Carol. "Good-by!"

  Graham pressed his foot on the bell under his desk and reached out toslam his desk drawers shut and put away his papers. His secretaryappeared at the door.

  "Get me Barnard and Clegg on the phone! Ask for Mr. Barnard or, if heisn't in, Mr. Clegg. Then go out to the other phone and call up thestation. Find out what's the next express to Washington. TellBromwell to be ready to drive me to the station and bring my car backto the garage."

  He was working rapidly as he talked; putting papers in the safe,jotting down a few notes for the next day's work, trying to think ofeverything at once. The secretary handed him the phone, quietlysaying, "Mr. Clegg on the phone," and went out of the room.

  Excited conference with Mr. Clegg brought out the fact that he was butjust in receipt of a telegram from Police Headquarters in Washingtonsaying that a book with Barnard and Clegg's address and an appeal froma young woman named Shirley Hollister who was apparently beingkidnapped by two strange men in an auto, had been flung into a passingcar and brought to them. They had sent forces in search of the girl atonce and would do all in their power to find her. Meantime they wouldlike any information that would be helpful in the search.

  Mr. Clegg was much excited. He appeared to have lost his head. Heseemed glad to have another cooler mind at work on the case. Hespluttered a good deal about the importance of the case and thenecessity for secrecy. He said he hoped it wouldn't get into thepapers, and that it would be Barnard and Clegg's undoing if it did. Heseemed more concerned about that and the notes that Shirley probablyhad, than about the girl's situation. When Graham brought him uprather sharply he admitted that there had been a message from Barnardthat he would be detained over night probably, but he had attached nosignificance to that. He knew Barnard's usual hotel address inWashington but hadn't thought to phone him about the telegram frompolice headquarters. Graham hung up at last in a panic of fury anddismay, ringing violently for his secretary again.

  "The next train leaves at five o'clock," she said capably, as sheentered. "Bromwell has gone after the car. I told him to buy you amileage book and save your time at this end. You have forty minutesand he will be back in plenty of time."

  "Good!" said Graham. "Now call up long distance and get me PoliceHeadquarters in Washington. No! Use the phone in father's officeplease, I'll have to use this while you're getting them."

  As soon as she had left the room he called up the shore again and wasfortunate in getting Carol almost immediately, the poor child beingclose at hand all in a tremble, with Elizabeth in no less a state ofnervousness, brave and white, waiting for orders.

  "Can you give me an exact description of your sister's dress, andeverything that she had with her when she started this morning?" askedGraham, prepared with pen and paper to write it down.

  Carol summoned her wits and described Shirley's simple outfit exactly,even down to the little black pumps on her feet, and went mentallythrough the small hand-bag she had carried.

  "Oh, yes!" she added, "and she had a book to read! One she found herein the cottage. It had a red cover and was called, "From the CarBehind."

  Graham wrote them all down carefully, asked a few more details ofShirley's plans, and bade Carol again to be brave and go home with amessage to George to be at the phone from half-past eight to ten.

  He was all ready to go to his train when the Washington call came in,and as he hurried to his father's office to answer it he found hisheart crying out to an Unseen Power to help in this trying hour andprotect the sweet girl in awful peril.

  "Oh, God, I love her!" he found his heart saying over and over again,as if it had started out to be an individual by itself without his willor volition.

  There was no comfort from Washington Police Headquarters. Nothing morehad been discovered save another crumpled postal lying along theroadside. They received with alacrity, however, Mr. Barnard'sWashington hotel address, and the description of the young woman andher belongings. When Graham had finished the hasty conversation he hadto fly to make his train, and when at last he lay back in his seat inthe parlor car and let the waves of his anxiety and trouble roll overhim he was almost overwhelmed. He had led a comparatively tranquillife for a young man who had never tried to steer clear of trouble, andthis was the first great calamity that had ever come his way.Calamity? No, he would not own yet that it was a calamity. He washurrying to her! He would find her! He would not allow himself tothink that anything had befallen her. But wherever she was, if she wasstill alive, no matter how great her peril, he was sure she was prayingnow, and he would pray too! Yes, pray as she had taught him. Oh, God!If he only knew how to pray better! What was it she had said so often?"Whatsoever ye ask in my name"--yes, that was it--"I will do it." Whatwas that talismanic Name? Ah! Christ! "Oh, God, in the name ofChrist--" But when he came to the thought of her she was too exquisiteand dear to be put into words, so his petition went up in spirit form,unframed by words to weight it down, wafted up by the pain of a soul intorture.

  At Baltimore it occurred to Graham to send a telegram to Barnard tomeet him at the train, and when he got out at Union Station the firstperson he saw was Barnard, white and haggard, looking for him throughthe bars of the train gate. He grasped the young man's hand as if itwere a last straw for a drowning man to cling to, and demanded in ashaking voice to know if he had heard anything from Miss Hollister.

  One of the first questions that Graham asked was whether Barnard hadbeen back to the office where Miss Hollister had taken the dictation,to report her disappearance.

  "Well, no, I hadn't thought of that,"' said Barnard blankly. "Whatwould they know about it? The fact is I was rather anxious to keep thefacts from getting to them. You see they warned me that there wereparties anxious to get hold of those specifications. It's Governmentwork, you know."

  "They should know at once," said Graham sternly. "They may have insideinformation which would give us a clew to follow. The secret servicemen are onto a lot of things that we common mortals don't suspect."

  Mr. Barnard looked mortified and convinced.

  "Well, what _have_ you done so far? We would better understand eachother thoroughly so as to save time and not go over old ground. Youhave been in communication with Police Headquarters, of course?" askedGraham.

  "Why, no," said the older man apologetically. "You see, I got herejust in time for the train, and failing to find the young lady in thestation where we had agreed to meet, I took it for granted that she hadused the extra time in driving about to see a few sights in the city,as I suggested, and had somehow failed to get back in time. I couldn'tunderstand it because she had been quite anxious to get home to-night.I could have caught the train myself, but didn't exactly like to leaveher alone in a strange city, though, of course, it's perfectly safe fora steady girl like that. Afterward it occurred to me that she mighthave gotten on the train and perhaps I should have done so too, butthere was really very little time to decide, for the train pulled outtwo minutes after I reached the station. I waited about here for atime, and then went over to the Continental, where my sister isstopping, thinking I would ask her to stay in the station and watch forthe young lady and I would go home; but I found my sister had run downto the shore for a few days; so I had something to eat and while I wasin the dining-room your telegram came. I was hoping somehow you hadseen Miss Hollister, or had wor
d from her, and it was all right."

  One could see the poor man had no conception of what was due to a ladyin his care, and Graham looked at him for a moment with rage, wishinghe could take him by the throat and shake some sense into him.

  "Then you don't know that she's been kidnapped and the police are outon track for her?" said Graham dryly.

  "No! You don't say!" exclaimed Barnard, turning white and showing hehad some real feeling after all. "Kidnapped! Why--why--how _could_she? And she's got _those notes_! Why, Graham! You're fooling! Why,how came you to know?"

  Graham told him tersely as he walked the man over to the telephonebooths, and finished with:

  "Now, you go in that booth and phone your Government man, and I'll callup police headquarters and see what's doing. We've got to work fast,for there's no telling what may have happened in the last three hours.It's up to us to find that girl before anything worse happens to her."

  White and trembling Barnard tottered into the booth. When he came outagain the sleuth-hounds of the Secret Service were on the trail ofShirley Hollister's captors.