The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires; Or The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail Read online

  CHAPTER II

  NEW LIGHT ON OLD PAPERS

  "Mother, you are worried about something," said Barbara to her motherearly the next morning as they sat alone in their little dining room,which was bright with the September sun.

  Mrs. Thurston started nervously. She had been thinking so deeply thatBab's voice had startled her.

  Mollie and Ruth had rushed off early to find Grace and bring her backwith them. Susan, the maid, was in the yard hanging up her dish towels.Mrs. Thurston had supposed Bab was deep in reading the history of DavidCopperfield, which lay open on her lap.

  "You don't answer me, mother," complained Barbara, as she saw hermother's face flush under her gaze. "You might as well ''fess up' and bedone with it. I know there is something wrong."

  Mrs. Thurston hesitated; then she answered quietly: "You are right, Bab,dear. I am very much worried and it is about money. But I did not wantyou children to know of it until I was obliged to tell you. Barbara, halfof our income is gone!"

  "Oh, mother!" cried Barbara, "what do you mean?"

  "Well, dear," said her mother quietly, "the money has not entirely goneyet. But I fear it soon will go. Your uncle wrote me that some stock hebought for me had been going down, down, until finally it will ceasepaying dividends altogether and be of no value. How shall we manage then?I have been lying awake at night trying to plan. You know it takes everycent we have to live in even the simplest way. Oh, Bab, what shall wedo?"

  Barbara looked grave. "Did Uncle Ralph write you about this?"

  "Oh, yes," said Mrs. Thurston, "two or three weeks ago. I have had it onmy mind ever since. Your uncle used to own some of this same stock, buthe wrote me he had sold out some time ago."

  "It is strange he didn't tell us to sell at the same time," Barbarareflected. "What does Uncle Ralph propose that we do? He is so rich Ithink he might show some interest in you, poor dear. You are his onlysister, especially since he has made all his money out of the businessfather founded."

  "Your Uncle Ralph suggests," Mrs. Thurston faltered, "that we find somework to do. But you and Mollie must be educated, and I am so ignorant ofbusiness."

  Barbara's cheeks were crimson and her brown eyes flashed. "I think,mother," she said quietly, "it will be just as well for us to learn alittle more about Uncle Ralph's management of our business. I am going toconsult Mr. Stuart; I am sure he will give us good advice; he is such aclear-headed business man. Don't you worry, mother, dear, for I am surethings will turn out all right."

  Mrs. Thurston rose to go out to market.

  "Before you go, mother," Barbara begged, "will you please let me see theroll of father's business papers you have stored away in the trunk in theattic. Oh, I know they are of no value, but just the same I am curious tosee them."

  "Well, if you are so determined, all right," sighed Mrs. Thurston.

  Before she left the house she handed Barbara a roll of old papers tiedwith a crimson cord.

  Bab sat pondering with the papers in her lap. She was more frightened ather mother's news than she would show. They were mere girls, she andMollie, and their little mother had no knowledge of business. She shookherself impatiently. Barbara was an optimist--things would turn out allright.

  Soon Bab wrinkled her forehead and tried to settle down to her work; thepapers were altogether incomprehensible to her. Most of them were oldbusiness contracts. Yet, here was one that seemed a bit different. It wasin Uncle Ralph Le Baron's handwriting, but so faded that it was difficultto read. Slowly Bab deciphered it: "On demand, I promise to pay to JohnThurston the sum of five thousand dollars for value received." To thiswas appended her uncle's well-known signature, Ralph Le Baron.

  "Well," sighed Barbara, as she started to tie the papers together again,"I suppose Uncle Ralph settled this debt a long time ago."

  Suddenly a big, cheerful presence darkened the doorway.

  "Hello, Bab!" called Mr. Stuart. "Why are you alone?"

  "The girls have gone up to the Squire's for Grace," Bab explained, "andmother is at market. But do please come in and wait for them. Ruth toldme to keep you; she wants to ask you about something very important."

  "May I inquire what you are doing, Barbara?" Mr. Stuart queried, taking aseat. "Are you preparing to be a lawyer's clerk that you spend your sparehours poring over musty business papers?"

  Barbara blushed. "I am almost ashamed to tell you, Mr. Stuart, but youand Ruth have been so awfully good to us, I think I shall just ask youone more favor. These are some business papers my father left when hedied. No one has ever looked them over. I have always wondered if theycould be of any value. Of course I know it is foolish of me to even dreamof such a thing. But would you mind glancing at them, please?"

  Barbara handed the roll of documents to her friend with such a prettylook of pleading in her brown eyes that a much harder hearted man thanMr. Stuart could not have refused her.

  "Certainly; I shall be glad to have a look at them," Mr. Stuart answered.

  Tick, tock, tick, tock. The only sound in the room was the soft refrainof the old clock on the mantel. Barbara held her breath, but she knew shewas foolish to feel so excited.

  Mr. Stuart examined the papers closely. One after another he read themthrough. This big western man who had made a fortune by his own brainsand ability, was devoting the same care to Barbara's apparently worthlesspapers that he would give to his own important business affairs. Suddenlyhe looked up. He held in his hand the promissory note signed by Ralph LeBaron acknowledging his debt for five thousand dollars to hisbrother-in-law, John Thurston.

  "I presume," Mr. Stuart said quietly to Bab, "that your uncle settledthis debt years ago; but if he did, why was the note never canceled?"

  At this moment Mr. Stuart and Barbara heard a rustle of skirts, andlooking up they saw Mrs. Thurston, her arms full of bundles, and her facewhite. "What do you mean?" she said in a strange, hard voice. "What moneyshould have been paid by my brother years ago? Please explain."

  "Why," said Mr. Stuart, so quietly you could have heard a pin drop in thestillness of the little room, "I mean, of course, this five thousanddollars, which, as I see by the date, your brother borrowed from yourhusband eleven years ago. Let me see, that was one year before yourhusband's death!"

  Mrs. Thurston sank into a chair. Mr. Stuart reached her just in time tosave her from falling. He took the bundles from her hand and waited. Fora minute Mrs. Thurston could not speak.

  Barbara felt her heart pounding away and her pulses throbbing; but shemade no sound.

  "Was this money paid you by your brother when he settled your estate?"Mr. Stuart repeated his question.

  "No!" faltered Mrs. Thurston.

  "Have you any memorandum among your husband's papers which would provethat the money was returned to him before his death?"

  Mrs. Thurston shook her head. Barbara was staring at her mother with wideopen brown eyes, her cheeks paling, then flushing. Here was a mystery!

  "My brother," said Mrs. Thurston finally, "settled my affairs for me atthe time of my husband's sudden death. I was too crushed to realize whatwas taking place, and I had no idea that we would be brought to poverty.But I know I saw no such paper as you mention. Until this minute, I neverheard that my brother borrowed any money from my husband. Oh, it simplycan't be true----"

  "What can't be true, mother?" inquired Bab at last. Her mother did notanswer.

  Mr. Stuart quietly folded up the mysterious paper and put it in hispocket. "It may be that Mr. Le Baron can explain this situation at once,"he said. "He is staying at the same hotel with me. If you will permit meI will inquire into the matter for you. Now don't worry yourselves aboutit any more," Mr. Stuart ended, resuming his natural manner.

  To himself he told a different story. "This looks bad, very bad!" hethought. "If Ralph Le Baron had paid this money back he would have seenthat the note was returned to him. I know him well enough for that. If henever has paid it, can he be forced to do so now?" reflected Mr. Stuart,looking at the matter from all
sides. "He has never been asked for themoney before, and I do not believe the law requires a debt to be paidafter six years, if no claim has been previously made for it, and it isnow eleven years since the note was made. I must look into the matter. Aman who could rob his widowed sister and nieces of five thousand dollarswould be guilty of any crime. I shall make it hot for him unless he cantell a straight story."

  "Why is everybody looking so serious?" called out a gay voice, and Ruth,followed by Mollie and Grace, entered the room.

  The little group within the room started guiltily.

  "There is mystery in the very air," declaimed Ruth, "you are trying toconceal something!"

  "You are a goose," replied her father fondly, then nodding reassuringlyto Bab and her mother. "Who knows what a day may bring forth?" he said.