“Miss Alling would like to speak to you, Mrs. Norwood,” announced the maid, coming into the room.
The girls could hardly wait for the telephone conversation to come to an end, and, in their eagerness, did no more than stutter their questions when Mrs. Norwood returned, a smile on her face.
They were overjoyed to find Mrs. Norwood pleasantly willing to give her consent to the Forest Lodge project, especially now that Emma Alling had given them her personal invitation to accompany her. It seemed that at some former time Mrs. Norwood and Miss Alling had worked together in some benefit scheme, and Mrs. Norwood had been strongly attracted to the rather eccentric but good-hearted woman.
“All of which is very lucky for us,” remarked the irrepressible Amy.
“Though I must say,” Mrs. Norwood added, with a smile, “I don’t particularly envy Emma Alling her present undertaking!”
Jessie’s eyes twinkled as she said reproachfully: “Don’t you think that is rather hard on us, Momsey?”
Amy hastened home to gain permission to make the visit at Forest Lodge, but was persuaded without much difficulty to return for dinner, and as soon as the meal was over, the girls ran up to Jessie’s room to “listen in” on the special concert that was scheduled for that evening.
They tuned the set to the wave length of the broadcasting station of the Stratford Electric Company and almost immediately heard a man’s voice speaking. The first words were sufficiently unusual to catch and hold their attention.
“Before proceeding with the program, we wish to make a special announcement,” said the voice. “There is positive evidence that a counterfeit five-dollar bill is in circulation in this locality. The bill has a small v-shaped notch in one corner of it and the marking on the under side is indistinct. We wish all who hear this announcement to-night to be on the lookout for the counterfeit money, so that any one finding it in his possession may report it to the authorities.” That was all.
The girls removed their head phones and stared at each other intently for a moment. It was evident that they were both thinking of the same thing. That five-dollar bill which the strange girl had asked Amy to change that afternoon!