THE MYSTERY OF THE ATTIC
THE sound of running feet was heard on the floor below following Ruth's cry for help. Olive, Mollie and Grace had heard it from the foot of the stairs on the ground floor. Mr. and Mrs. Presby, sitting in the dining room, had also heard the cry and started for the stairs. Tom, who was down in the cellar, heard the girls running, and started up the stairs three steps at a time, instinctively realizing that something was wrong. His first thought was that the girls in the garret had set the house on fire.
The three girls fairly tore up the stairs to the attic in response to Ruth's cry, getting in each other's way on the narrow stairs as they ran. Tom was close at their heels, while his father and mother followed more slowly.
At first they could distinguish nothing but Ruth's figure dimly outlined in a haze of dust that filled the air.
"Fire!" cried Grace.
"No!" roared Tom. "It's dust. Somebody's been kicking up a fine smudge here. What's the matter? Have you folks gone crazy?"
"Ruth! Ruth! What is it?" cried Olive.
"It's Bab," moaned Ruth.
"Bab?" cried the girls.
For the first time since reaching the attic their thoughts turned to Barbara Thurston. But where was she? Nowhere in sight. Mr. Presby came limping into the room, followed by his wife very much out of breath.
"Wha—wha—what is the cause of all this uproar?" demanded Mr. Presby testily.
"It's Bab! It's Bab, I tell you," almost screamed Ruth. "Oh, what has happened?"
"That's what we would like to know," retorted Mr. Presby.
"Where is Bab?" demanded Tom, who had been nosing around the room like a terrier.
"She—she's gone," moaned Ruth. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with fright. Tom rushed to the windows, which were tightly closed.
"What fell?" he questioned sharply, halting in front of Ruth.
"I—I don't know. I—I wasn't here. I was at the foot of the garret stairs when I heard that terrible crash."
The dust, slowly settling, gave them a clearer view of the attic. Barbara Thurston was not in sight.
"What has become of Bab? Why don't you look behind the chests?" demanded Mollie, gathering up her skirts, darting here and there, kicking aside the heaps of old clothing that had been turned out on the floor.
Mollie paused with a dazed look in her eyes.
"She's gone," whispered the girl.
"Yes, she's gone, all right," answered Tom. "I know what she has done. She's played a trick on all of you. I know her. She is a sharp one. She'd catch you napping when you were looking right at her. She must have gone downstairs after you did, and——"
"No, no," protested Ruth excitedly. "She never left this attic by the stairway."
"Calm yourself, my dear," begged Mr. Presby in a somewhat more gentle voice, at the same time laying a hand on Ruth Stuart's shoulder. "Now let us understand this affair. You say Barbara was up here—she did not go downstairs with you?"
"No, no!" exclaimed Mollie. "She was reading that old journal when we went down. We left her sitting right there. Don't you remember, you asked us to call Barbara downstairs? You wanted to see the diary of old Mr. Presby, and Ruth went upstairs to call her."
"Yes, yes. Ruth, how do you know that Barbara was here when you called to her?"
"Because she answered me," replied Ruth.
"What next? Did her voice sound as if she were here in the attic?"
"Yes. I know she was here."
"Was that when you cried out?"
"No. That awful crash came a few seconds after she had answered me. I ran up here as fast as my feet would carry me. At first the dust was so thick I was unable to make out anything clearly. I called to Bab but she did not answer me. I then ran about the room in search of her, thinking that she had fallen and hurt herself. But she wasn't here," wailed Ruth. "Oh, what shall I do?"
"Calm yourself. That is the first thing to be done. There is something mysterious about this. I wish Bob Stevens were here."
"I sent Tom for him. Did you see Mr. Stevens, Tom?"
"No. I sent word by one of the hired hands," admitted Tom sheepishly. "I—I wanted to do some work in the cellar."
"Then go at once," commanded Mr. Presby sternly.
"Wait!" exclaimed Ruth. "I'll drive the car, storm or no storm. The cold air will help me to brace up. How far is it to Mr. Stevens' house?"
"Mile and a half," answered Tom.
"Come with me, Tommy. We will be there and back in twenty minutes. Do you know the way?"
"Yes, he knows the way. He knows too much about everything in these parts," answered Mr. Presby testily. "I will telephone to Mr. Stuart."
"Oh, don't, please. At least—not un—until I get back. Per—perhaps Mr. Stevens may find her."
"He will, if anyone can," declared Olive. Everyone in the room was overwhelmed with the mystery of it all. That a person could disappear so completely from a room that had only one entrance and with that entrance guarded at the moment passed all comprehension.
Once more Mollie set herself to examining every nook and corner of the room. She even raised the lids of the closed trunks and chests, thinking that possibly Barbara might have hidden in one of them. There was no trace whatever of the missing girl.
"Has anyone found the diary?" questioned Olive.
"Could it be that she fell through a trap in the floor?" queried Grace.
"There are no traps in the floor," answered Mr. Presby sharply.
"If there were, and Bab had fallen in, she would have dropped into one of our rooms," explained Olive. "I believe I will go all over the house," she decided as an afterthought.
"We will go with you," declared Grace. "Oh, Bab, Bab; where are you?" Grace broke into a paroxysm of heart-breaking sobs. This was too much for Mollie, who began sobbing also.
"Come, come, girls; this won't do," chided Olive. "We must keep our heads clear. Something has happened to Bab, but I'll venture to say that she is all right, no matter where she is."
"But—but if she is all right, why doesn't she call to us?" questioned Mollie, gazing at Olive through her tears.
Olive was unable to answer that question. The same thought had occurred to her. Now Mr. Presby began thumping the sides of the room with his cane. They understood his purpose and waited in breathless silence until he had gone all the way around the room.
"All sounds alike," he announced. "I didn't know but there might be another of those secret passages up here. I see, however, that it is not possible. Come, there is nothing to be gained by remaining here. Come, Mollie. Do not take it too much to heart," soothed Mr. Presby.
Mollie was now leaning against the wall with head buried in her arms, crying softly. The others had started for the stairway. A servant came up the stairs and announced that Ruth had telephoned from the Stevens place saying that Bob Stevens had gone to Brightwaters, and that she was going there to find him.
"Good gracious! What was that?" screamed Mrs. Presby, gripping her husband's arm with both hands as a mighty crash shook the building. A violent current of air smote them, another cloud of suffocating dust filled the air.
"Mollie's gone, too!" screamed Grace Carter.