“What I am going to tell you,” said Elinor, “may be of the vastest importance or it may be just nothing whatever. At any rate, I didn’t want to take any chances and it was simple enough for us to meet the boys out here and see for ourselves.”
“See what, Elinor Butler?” ejaculated Nancy impatiently. “You always begin at the last of a story and tell backwards.”
Elinor smiled provokingly.
“That’s to see how much curiosity you can accumulate without exploding, Nancy, dear.”
Nancy shut her lips tightly. She was determined now, at any cost, not to speak again until Elinor had really started on the story, but how irritating Elinor could be at times!
Mary was never disturbed over these little tiffs of the two friends which were merely the ups and downs of the endless conversation that flowed between them.
“This is what happened then, Nancy darling,” continued Elinor, slipping an arm around her friend’s waist, while she locked her other arm through Mary’s. And the three girls hurried on, too absorbed in their intimate talk to notice the flash of a scarlet motor car through the high bushes, which bordered both sides of Boulder Lane, the name of the road which intercepted the two meadows.
“I was coming across Court House Square late yesterday afternoon after my music lesson. You know I have begun to study with the new teacher, Mme. Alta. Just as I came to the statue of Thomas Jefferson, I heard some one call very softly, or rather it was more like a hiss than a call. I suppose I should have rushed off frightened, but I am never afraid of people. It’s only spiders and snakes and bulls that make me shiver. So, I didn’t run away, but waited, and I discovered that the hiss came from around the other side of the statue and was not meant for me at all. Even then I should have gone on if I hadn’t heard some one cry out. I couldn’t understand the language, but another voice said in English: ‘There are only two boxes left. Take them to the old house in Boulder Lane to-night and never keep me waiting this long again.’ Then the other man said something and the English voice said: ‘You can haul them to-morrow morning. It’ll be time enough when I get the signal to do the rest.’ I couldn’t understand what the man answered, but the English voice said: ‘I’ll kill the whole crew of Butlers and anybody else who interferes with me. I’m in a desperate humor and I won’t be bothered.’ Fortunately they took the walk that goes to the docks, because they would certainly have seen me if they had come around on the other side. But I saw them plainly when they passed under the electric light. They looked like seamen.”
“‘Kill the whole crew of Butlers,’” repeated Mary Price. “Does he mean that he is going to wipe your family off the face of the earth? And for what?”
“That is what I want to find out. It wouldn’t do any special harm to take a late afternoon stroll in this direction, if the boys are with us. I didn’t want to say anything to father about it. He is so busy, and you know how excitable he is. William is exactly like father. Edward and mother and I are the only calm, peaceful members of the family, and mother’s sick and Edward is at college. Besides, you know, the man may not have meant us. The county is full of Butlers, dozens of them. Some of them claim kin and some do not. They are the most quarrelsome, high-tempered people in existence—that is, all except Edward and me.”