The Secret Pact Part 34

"Back you go to camp," he said. "This is no place for a little girl at night."

Penny's protests went unheeded. Jerry and Salt marched her between them to the cottage. Unceremoniously turning her over to her father, they leaped into a press car, and were gone.

Hours later the picnic came to an end. Riding home with her father after taking Horney to the _Times_ building, Penny was startled to observe a light in an upstairs window of the Parker house.

"Why, that's in Mrs. Weems' room!" she exclaimed. "She can't be home!"

Penny was mistaken. Upon hastening upstairs to investigate, she was met at the bedroom door by the housekeeper.

"Why, Mrs. Weems! I thought you intended to stay on the farm until tomorrow!"

"I decided a few hours would make no difference. Penny, the place was unbearable."

"How did you get home?"

"By taxicab."

"Oh, I wish you had stayed one day longer," sighed Penny. "Did you learn anything since I saw you last?"

"Nothing of value. Fenestra came home a short time before I left. He was in a dreadful temper."

"Had he been in a fight?" Penny asked quickly.

"There was a black and blue mark across his cheek."

"Then I was right!" exclaimed Penny triumphantly. "I wish I knew for certain who attacked him."

Questioned by Mrs. Weems, she described the scene witnessed at the river, and proudly displayed the key.

"Why, it does resemble one I've seen Fenestra use," declared the housekeeper.

"Then it must unlock the cave! Tomorrow I'll go there and find out!"

"You'll do no such thing," replied Mrs. Weems firmly. "That is, not without your father's permission."

"But you know Dad won't be in favor of it," groaned Penny. "I simply must go there and get a scoop for the _Weekly_."

"No, Penny, you need to be protected from your own recklessness. Your father must be consulted before you visit the farm again."

"Either he'll say I can't go, or if he thinks there's anything to the story, he'll turn it over to a _Star_ reporter. Whichever he does, I lose."

"Penny, I am in no mood to listen to your pleadings," Mrs. Weems said wearily. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go to bed."

Grumbling at the decision, Penny went to her own room. She did not feel equal to a spirited discussion with her father that night.

"Here, I'm on the verge of solving a great mystery," she grieved.

"Perhaps the most stupendous of my life! And now I'm told I must stay away from Fenestra's farm. It's enough to turn my hair gray."

Penny overslept the next morning, barely awakening in time to reach school by nine o'clock. A surprise oral history quiz caught her completely unprepared. She missed three questions in succession, and was told that she must remain after school for a special study session.

Released at four-thirty, Penny hastened to the _Star_ office. Neither her father nor Jerry were there, nor could anyone tell her when they would return. Discouraged, she sought Louise who as usual was working at the _Times_ plant.

"Such luck as I am having," Penny complained. "Mrs. Weems says I can't go to Fenestra's farm without Dad's permission, and he's hiding from me."

"I wish you would forget that storm cave and the octopus tattoo," said Louise unsympathetically. "Maybe then we could get out another issue of this old paper."

Penny gazed at her rather queerly. "You're sick of it, aren't you?" she asked.

"No," Louise denied, "it's been fun, and we've learned a lot. But there's so much work. It never ends."

"It will soon," replied Penny quietly. "Our advertisers are dropping off one by one. Sales are falling, too."

"We always can quit," said Louise cheerfully.

"No, we can't," Penny's mouth drew into a tight line. "Fred Clousky would taunt me to my dying day. I'll never close the plant except in a blaze of journalistic glory!"

"But you just said we're failing--"

"What the _Weekly_ needs and must have is a tremendous story! Somehow I'm going to get it!"

"You're nothing if not persistent," said Louise admiringly. "Oh, before I forget it, Old Horney has been up here several times inquiring for you."

"More bad news I suppose."

"He didn't say why he wished to talk with you. I thought he seemed rather disturbed, though."

"I'll see what he wants."

Penny sought Horney in the composing department and pressroom, and even ventured into the bas.e.m.e.nt. The old man was not to be found. Concluding that he had left the building, she gave up the search.

She helped Louise read proof until six o'clock, and then telephoned home to inquire if her father were there. Learning from Mrs. Weems that he did not expect to come until later, she decided to remain downtown for her own dinner.

"Why don't you stay with me, Lou?" she invited. "Afterwards, I'll take you on a little adventure."

"Not to Fenestra's?" her chum demanded suspiciously.

"Unfortunately, no. I shall do a bit of spade work by watching Ellis Saal's shop. This is Thursday, you know."

"It will be a long, tedious wait."

"I'll consider it well worth the time if I learn the ident.i.ty of Saal's customer. You don't care to come?"

"On the contrary, I do. I'll telephone Mother."

The girls dined at a cafe not far from the _Weekly Times_ and soon thereafter stationed themselves a half block from Ellis Saal's shop. An hour elapsed. Several times they became hopeful as persons paused to gaze at the exhibits in the show window, but no one entered. A cold wind made their vigil increasingly uncomfortable.

"If we don't get action in another fifteen minutes I am going home,"

chattered Louise.