The Second Girl Detective Megapack: 23 Classic Mystery Novels for Girls

by Julia K. Duncan

  “The Chemistry Professor’s,” Carol said proudly.

  “And the assistant’s,” added Janet. “We covered them both. Are we good detectives or are we?”

  The check-up of the typing on the last two notes was the same as it had been with Marcia’s. None of them were alike and none of them resembled the typing in the mysterious note. The type of the Chemistry Professor’s machine was much larger while that of his assistant was smaller.

  “Shucks,” Carol said disgustedly. “We had all that work for nothing.”

  “Perhaps it wasn’t written by any machine here at the college,” Valerie said.

  Gale nodded. “True, it might not have been.”

  “I think it was,” Carol said. “There are no visitors on whom we could blame all these mysterious happenings, and certainly the same person is responsible for the notes!”

  “We will have to find some more typewriters.”

  “Tell you what,” Janet said, “I’ve a bright idea. Let’s give a party and hold a scavenger hunt. We will make the items for the girls to bring in mostly typewriters. In that way we will have all the typewriters brought to us and we can try them.”

  “It would immediately make the one person we want suspicious. He could smash his machine then,” Carol said. “You will have to have a brighter idea than that.”

  “My next bright idea is to go and visit Phyllis,” Janet said. “All in favor——”

  “Aye!” The vote was unanimous.

  The girls descended to the campus. It was while they were passing the East Campus Dormitory where Janet and Carol abided that another Freshman hailed them.

  “Hi, Carol, the house mistress wants to see you—and she is angry,” the girl added confidentially.

  “If it is that little matter of a broken window——” Carol began calmly.

  “Broken window?” Gale asked. “In your room?”

  Janet giggled. “I threw a book at Carol. She dodged and it went through the window.”

  Valerie shook her head sadly. “A Freshman trick! I am ashamed of you. To think——”

  “She wants to see you too,” the Freshman said smiling, “about the broken vase in the hall.”

  “A Freshman trick!” Janet mimicked.

  “It was an accident,” Valerie said firmly. “I slipped and fell against it. I couldn’t help it if the table wiggled and the vase fell off.”

  “Did it fall or was it pushed?” Carol winked at Janet.

  “I suppose I’ll have to go in,” Valerie sighed.

  That left Gale to go on alone to the infirmary to see Phyllis. That young lady was chafing at the delay in her recovery. It was a week now since the second accident and she wanted to get back to Happiness House and on her feet. She did not like the restrictions placed on her by the Doctor and frankly told her so. Doctor Norcot merely smiled and told her to be good.

  Gale told Phyllis all the news of the campus and only when it was nearing dinner time did she leave. When she closed the door to Phyllis’ room behind her she noticed the Doctor standing in the hall. She beckoned to Gale and the Freshman followed the physician to her office. There Gale sat in the chair facing the Doctor across her desk.

  “Is anything the matter?” Gale asked when she noted the tenseness of the Doctor’s expression and the frown on the usually smiling features.

  The latter nodded gloomily. “There is—a great deal.”

  “Has anything happened to the Dean?” Gale asked, the mystery still uppermost in her mind.

  “No,” the Doctor said getting up and pacing to the window. “No, she is quite safe.”

  “Then it is Phyllis,” Gale said with quiet conviction. “What is it? Tell me!”

  Doctor Norcot came across and leaned against the corner of the desk at Gale’s side.

  “What sort of a woman is Miss Elton’s aunt?”

  Gale was taken somewhat by surprise. Why should she ask about Phyllis’ aunt?

  “She——” Gale fumbled for words. “She isn’t exactly pleasant,” she said at last quite frankly. “Cold—aloof—stern. Why?”

  “Has she money?” Doctor Norcot asked next.

  Gale was more astounded than ever.

  “I—I don’t know,” she said finally. “She keeps a big house—but not lavishly. She is sending Phyllis to college. I suppose she must have.”

  “Does she love her niece? I mean, would she do anything for Phyllis?”

  Gale sat back in her chair and looked squarely at the Doctor.

  “I don’t understand, Doctor. Why don’t you ask Phyllis these things? Why do you want to know?”

  “Because——” Doctor Norcot laid her hand gently on Gale’s shoulder. “Because unless your friend has an operation she will never walk again—not as other girls.”

  “Oh!” Gale shrank at the picture presented to her. Phyllis helpless! Phyllis never to run or dance or play with the girls again.

  “But isn’t there something we can do? I’ll do anything!” she told the Doctor passionately. “Anything!”

  “An operation will cost money. Unless she has it——”

  “Unless she has it,” Gale echoed faintly. “How much would you charge for the operation, Doctor?”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t perform it,” the Doctor said. “I’m not a surgeon. But we would have to get a good one—the best in the East. Otherwise she hasn’t a chance.”

  “Have—have you told her?” Gale asked.

  “No—quite frankly, I haven’t the heart.”

  “She is so brave,” Gale agreed simply. “It is horrible to think——”

  “I had to tell you,” the Doctor said. “Between us perhaps we can think of something to do.”

  Gale passed a dazed hand across her eyes. “I can’t think of anything right now.”

  “It has been a shock. We will talk about it again tomorrow.”

  Gale rose and went to the door. “Do you think we should tell Phyllis yet?”

  Doctor Norcot smiled slowly. “Suppose we wait a little while. There is no use to frighten her. When we tell her we might be able to promise her recovery later.”

  Gale was in a daze as she walked across the campus. Phyllis, the girl who had always been so active, so gay in the face of tremendous odds, was faced now with a sterner bit of life than had yet confronted her. It would take every bit of courage Phyllis possessed to face the news when the Doctor told her.

  Gale had no rosy hopes that Miss Fields would help. Phyllis’ aunt was not the sort to be generous and kind especially when it hurt herself. If she did not consent to put up the money for the operation Phyllis would suffer. The injustice of it hurt Gale. She was Phyllis’ friend, Phyllis had saved her and the Dean at this expense! She must do something! But what? She didn’t have the money—none of the girls had. They were helpless, as helpless as Phyllis herself, to do anything.

  Gale, instead of going immediately to the sorority house, went down to the village. The long walk was what she needed. The bracing air invested her with a little optimism. After all, Miss Fields couldn’t be as harsh as all that! She wouldn’t want Phyllis to suffer if she could help. At the railway station Gale sent a telegram to Marchton asking Miss Fields to come to Briarhurst as soon as possible and signed her own name.

  Then she walked slowly back up the hill, scorning the ride offered her by the old bus driver. She wanted to be alone and think and not have to listen to his garrulous chatter.

  Dinner was in progress when she arrived at Happiness House. Instead of going into the dining room she went upstairs. Once there she flung herself upon the bed and smothered her sobs in the pillow. Her tears were all for Phyllis; for her own helpless position, helpless to aid the friend who had tried to aid her, Gale, in like circumstances; for the friend who had saved Gale serious injury that day from the falling lumber.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” Ricky demanded bursting in. “My eagle eyes caught sight of you sneaking in just now and I—say, what’s the matter? Gale! You aren’t sick!”
/>   Gale sat up, wiping away her tears. “Nope.”

  “Then why the anguish? Bucking Bronchos! Don’t tell me you flunked your Biology!”

  “Nothing so simple,” Gale said.

  “Simple? Biology is anything but simple! I never heard of so many bugs back on the ranch,” Ricky mourned. “I sometimes wish I had stayed there.” She put her arm about Gale. “Tell Auntie what the trouble is.”

  Haltingly Gale told Ricky everything the Doctor had said.

  “We gotta do something,” Ricky said. She sniffed. “You’ll have me crying too in a minute. Does Phyllis know?”

  Gale shook her head. “We don’t want her to—yet.”

  “Then you had better not tell the other girls,” Ricky advised wisely. “One of them is sure to let it slip.”

  Gale nodded. “It will be between you and me. I’ve telegraphed her Aunt to come. The Doctor can talk to her before we tell Phyllis.”

  “Come downstairs and have your dinner,” Ricky coaxed.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Neither am I—now,” Ricky sighed. “But we have to eat something. Remember, we have hard classes tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER X

  Miss Fields’ Visit

  “I am going with you!” Ricky said firmly. Gale looked at Doctor Norcot helplessly. When Ricky was determined upon a thing nothing could change her mind.

  “Why?” Gale ventured.

  “I want to see what this female Simon Legree looks like,” Ricky said calmly. “You may need my sunny presence to help persuade her.”

  “There won’t be much use for persuasion I’m afraid,” Gale said drearily. “Either she has the money or she hasn’t.”

  Yesterday Gale had received a telegram with the news that Miss Fields would be in Briarhurst this afternoon for merely an hour. As a result Doctor Norcot and Gale were going to the railroad station to meet her when Ricky had descended on them with the news that she was going along. Gale was glad of the other girl’s companionship for the Doctor was strangely silent.

  The train was late and Gale found it hard to conceal her impatience. She was impatient for Phyllis’ Aunt to arrive and yet she dreaded meeting her. The Adventure Girls had always feared the silent woman in the house on the hill. Now Gale did not fancy giving her the news about Phyllis. She would let Doctor Norcot handle the situation.

  The woman that descended from the train was the same stern person Gale had known in Marchton. What change she had expected Gale did not know. She only felt now, suddenly, definitely, that Phyllis’ case was lost before it was ever presented. This woman would not be charitable or generous.

  The three had planned to take her to the one restaurant in the little village for luncheon. There, seated in a booth by themselves, Gale let Doctor Norcot tell Miss Fields all about Phyllis while she and Ricky listened.

  The Doctor was eloquent in her praise of Phyllis. In the end she stressed particularly the need for the operation.

  Gale forgot the dessert before her. With the silent Ricky she watched the sharp features of the woman opposite her. Miss Fields was regarding the plate before her with unwavering eyes. Not a flicker of emotion disturbed her features. Doctor Norcot glanced at Gale and smiled, a peculiarly baffled smile. Phyllis’ chances now lay in Miss Fields’ hands alone. Beneath the table Ricky’s hand caught hold of Gale’s.

  Miss Fields glanced at her watch and rose. “It is almost time for my return train. Perhaps we should go.”

  The girls exchanged glances with the Doctor and followed Miss Fields from the restaurant. Silently they walked back to the station. The hour that Phyllis’ Aunt proposed to spend in Briarhurst was up. Already her train was approaching.

  “But aren’t you going to see Phyllis?” Ricky demanded finally. She could be quiet no longer.

  “What have you decided?” Gale asked breathlessly.

  Miss Fields looked at Gale and actually smiled. It was a brief smile, and her eyes did not light with friendly warmth. Then she turned to the Doctor.

  “I want to thank you, Doctor Norcot, for taking so much interest in Phyllis. I regret that I am not able to do what you suggest.”

  “You mean——” Gale began.

  “You haven’t the money?” Ricky put in brusquely. “But you are sending Phyl to college. You must have money!”

  Miss Fields’ eyes froze the garrulous Ricky with a single glance.

  “My affairs are only my concern. My association with Phyllis concerns a promise I made many years ago. Believe me, I am truly sorry.”

  “But you must do something!” Gale said.

  Phyllis’ Aunt stepped onto the train. “It is impossible for me. Goodbye.”

  “A promise! Sorry!” Ricky stormed when the train had gone and they were on their way back to the campus. “She couldn’t keep a promise or be sorry for anything!”

  “I wonder what she meant?” Gale murmured. “Doctor Norcot,” she said later, “are you going to tell Phyllis today?”

  The Doctor took a deep breath. “She must know sometime. I’ll go and see her this afternoon.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Gale said immediately.

  “And I,” Ricky added.

  The Doctor smiled. “I would wait until tomorrow if I were you.”

  “She won’t want to see us,” Ricky agreed upon second thought.

  “Wait until tomorrow when she will feel better. Then you must act as if nothing has happened—you must be perfectly natural. Don’t make it any harder for her,” the Doctor cautioned.

  “You can count on us,” Gale sighed. “When can she come back to the Omega Chi house?”

  “In a few days,” the Doctor promised. “She may feel better if she is with the girls.”

  “Then she won’t have to leave college?” Ricky asked fearfully.

  “No,” the Doctor said, “not unless she wants to. She will be able to attend classes and get about but not without a cane or crutch—ever.”

  “There isn’t any justice!” Ricky said savagely as she went up the Golden Stairs with Gale and entered the latter’s room. “Why did such a thing have to happen to Phyl? Who——” she stopped in amazement and looked about the room. “What’s happened?”

  The room was topsy turvy. Bureau drawers were pulled out and the things tumbled about. The desks had been thoroughly searched. Even the closet door stood open and the girls could see the tumult within.

  Gale smiled. “Someone was hunting for that note, I’ll wager.”

  Ricky had been taken into the girls’ confidence. Now she stared wide-eyed at Gale. “Did they find it do you suppose?”

  “Hardly!” Gale pulled the note from her coat pocket. “Since I know someone else would like to have it, I keep it with me.”

  “Have you discovered the typewriter that wrote it?”

  “No. The girls are still hunting,” Gale laughed. “Every time they see a typewriter they run for it.”

  Ricky and Gale set things to rights and then Ricky departed to find Gloria. Gale went downstairs and over to the dormitory house to tell Valerie and the others about Phyllis. They might as well all know now.

  She was still puzzling over Phyllis’ Aunt’s words. A promise? To whom? No promise was important enough to stop her aiding Phyllis now!

  Miss Fields had been a mystery to the girls in Marchton ever since they knew her. They had always looked with awe upon the grey silent house and the woman who lived there. Through Phyllis they had glimpsed the life of Miss Fields—cold, always calm. Gale reminded herself that she had really been prepared for this. She had not thought in the very beginning that Miss Fields would have the money. Yet she had hoped against hope for Phyllis’ sake. Now there was nothing to be done.

  Over and over again the words recurred to Gale. Miss Fields’ association with Phyllis concerned a promise she had made several years ago. But what sort of a promise? Gale, quite suddenly, had a brilliant idea. At first she had thought she must wait until the Christmas vacation or at least until she went home for
Thanksgiving before she could question Miss Fields more closely, for question her she was going to! Certainly she was not going to consider the matter closed now! Gale was determined to do everything in her power to help Phyllis. She knew she could count on the other girls to feel the same. Gale was going to get to the bottom of Miss Fields’ reserve! She determined to find out just what the woman meant. But Thanksgiving was several weeks away—Christmas even more so. She would write to David Kimball. He was a boy in Marchton who had been Phyllis’ staunchest ally. He would help. He could set in motion the wheels of their action. While he studied law in Marchton he could aid Phyllis. She would write to David tonight!

  CHAPTER XI

  Phyllis

  Phyllis sat by the window and looked over the campus. It was the last day of classes before Thanksgiving. Tomorrow the girls would be going home for the holiday. But she was going to stay right here. Her Thanksgiving dinner would be served here in her room as so many other meals lately had been. Oh, there would be other girls in the building, she would not be alone. But she would feel lonely nevertheless.

  Gale was going home. Phyllis smiled reminiscently. Gale had been sweet these last weeks and so had the other girls. They had all been marvelously good to her—but that, to her, was worse than if they had quarreled and shouted at her. If only something would happen to break the even tenor of her days! If only the girls weren’t always so sweet, so considerate! They felt sorry for her, she knew, and it irked her. She was going to classes again now, studying, but college life wasn’t the same. There were no extra activities for her. She could not partake of the basketball games in which Carol and Janet starred. She could not join the dancing classes which claimed all Valerie’s attention. She could not hope to ride in the spring riding classes to which Ricky and the others were looking forward so joyfully.

  She threw her book at the opposite wall with such vigor that the book bounced back and landed on the floor with a dull thud. If only something would happen! She was sick of being pampered. If they would only treat her as they had before her accident. They argued with her then, scolded—anything! Anything but this eternal sweetness and light! She herself felt anything but sweet. She was tired of having to be courageous, always appearing to be cheerful! She wanted to let out some of the pent-up energy.