“Maybe you think we don’t know all about who you are!” he said mockingly.
Marjorie looked helplessly at the woman.
“Is he crazy?” she asked.
“No, indeed,” replied the other. “He really knows what he’s talking about. And you do too, only you won’t own up to it!”
“Frieda!” said Marjorie, in a terrified voice. “We must get out of here immediately.”
“Not so fast! Not so fast!” said the old man. “All the doors happen to be locked. But in case you think I mean to harm you, I’ll explain, though I know you’re only pretendin’ like you don’t know.
“Miss, you know better’n I do that you ran away from your pap. And you must know as how he’s anxious to get you back. Though mebbe you’re not acquainted with the fact that he’s offered a thousand dollars’ reward to them as locates you and notifies him accordingly. Therefore, I mean to hold you—and your friend, too, to keep you company—until your pap gets my message and shows up to claim you and give me my reward. My wife jest had one of them new fangled arrangements for runnin’ water put in the house, and it cost us a pretty penny; the money’ll come in right handy. We’ve got a nice bedroom for you upstairs, so you might as well make yourselfs to home. Now is there anything I can do for you?”
By this time Marjorie realized that he was really in earnest, though where he could have heard the strange story appalled her. She stood still, hopeless, in the centre of the room, and two great tears rolled down her cheeks.
“It’s all a ghastly lie!” she cried. “You people are ordinary kidnappers—and that’s the meanest kind of criminal there is!” She flashed a look of intense hatred at them both. “My father knows all about where I am, and he gave me full permission to go with the scouts. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you telephone him?”
“Easy, easy, me gal!” said the old man, with a cynical smile on his face. “It’s possible, of course, that we might have the wrong Margaret Wilkison, but I guess I’ll find that out. A thousand dollars would lift the mortgage from this yere farm!”