Miss Hilliard drew back from the door, admitting Janet, who went to the table by the big desk. There a box of medium size reposed, a square package, wrapped in heavy paper and well tied with cord.
“You will notice that the return address is with initials only, from some hotel in Albany, New York,” Miss Hilliard continued.
Janet stood close to the table, looking with interest at the package, saying first, as she had said to Allie May, that there was “probably some mistake”. But she caught her breath as she looked at the address. “Why—” she began. “Why, how queer!”
“Yes, isn’t it? Rather pretty, though. Could that be your name, Janet? There is no one else here,—there has never been any one here by the name of Eldon; and you will observe that the name of the school is given, the correct address.”
“I see.”
Janet looked again in the upper left hand corner. The initials were P.V.M. But it was the address which filled her with surprise. The package was addressed to Miss Jannetje Jan Van Meter Eldon!
The longer she looked at it, the stranger it seemed. “Why, Miss Hilliard, I don’t understand it at all. Could it be some joke? Oh, I just imagine that there is some mistake in addresses. Shall we open it?”
“Yes, Janet. But I shall be very busy for a while and have no time for this. I will have it taken to your room and you may do the investigating. I need not tell you to preserve the treasure intact if it should be full of diamonds.”
Janet looked up at the tall, slender woman beside her and laughed at the suggestion. She was not afraid of Miss Hilliard, though many of the girls were. Had not Janet been in this school since her sixth year? The older woman’s arm now drew her close and her cheek was laid for a moment against Janet’s hair.
“Now run along, child. Get back to your lessons and I will have this sent upstairs by Oliver. There he is now, in the hall. Report to my own room after dinner, Janet, and I shall be able to see you in your room if necessary.”