The Motor Maids by Rose, Shamrock and Thistle Part 9

The girls looked at her pityingly. Medium-sized was hardly the word to use in connection with this gigantic female.

"But there is some mistake--" began Billie. "I am looking for my cousin--"

The woman groaned aloud.

"Don't you know your own cousin whose bread and b.u.t.ter you expect to eat for the next six months and whose roof you expect to sleep under?"

"My cousin is Miss Helen Campbell," exclaimed Billie desperately. "We only arrived from America the other day. Didn't she engage lodgings from you and telegraph we were coming this evening?"

"What is this you're telling me?" cried the woman. "You mean to say you're not my two cousins, Eva and Laura Smithson? Who are you?" she demanded fiercely. "Where did you come from? Give me back the three s.h.i.+llings I paid for your cab fare, and a big price it was, too."

Her small pale eyes gleamed angrily at them and her enormous bulk fairly trembled with rage.

Billie explained that their cab had missed the one in front, and without any address they were lost.

"We thought we remembered the name of 'Rivers'," she continued, "and we got your address from the directory and came here. Now, what shall we do? We have no address, no money, nothing. If I could only let my cousin know to-night we were safe. She will be wild with anxiety."

"Do you think I believe your story?" cried the obstinate fat woman. "How can I tell you're speaking the truth? How do I know that you are not a pair of young spies, sent here by the police to pry into my secrets and the secrets of my lodgers,-not that we have any, but poor people are always suspected, while the rich go free. It's the poor that has the hard time in this wicked world, and the rich that flourishes, and it's the well-dressed ones with the innocent faces that's the most dangerous of all, and the most noticing,-not that there's anything to notice about my lodging house nor any secrets to hide. Everything is open and above board in this house, but I'm poor, and my lodgers is poor, and the police never lets the poor alone."

The fat woman paused breathless after this peroration and Nancy burst out indignantly:

"We are not spies. We are just two American girls lost in London."

"You won't regret being kind to us," put in Billie hotly. "When we get back to our friends, we shall be glad to pay you for your trouble."

The woman's pig eyes twinkled. She looked the two girls up and down, took in their neat traveling ulsters, their pretty hats. Even their trim boots came in for a share of notice, and their gloves and small handbags, minus a penny.

"Umph! Umph!" she exclaimed in a low voice. "So!"

In spite of themselves the girls could not help feeling terribly frightened. It was a scene of which they were reminded much later when they saw Hansel and Gretel and the old witch. Nancy's knees began to tremble violently.

But suddenly the temperature of Miss Felicia Rivers' manners took an unexpected rise.

"Come, dearies," she said, "take chairs, both of you. 'Are you weary, are you dreary, are you hungry, are you sad?' as the ballad says. Marty, some supper for these ladies. Now, dearies, a little tea and toast, just to please Felicia Rivers, and because you remind her of her own sweet little lamb cousins who are out in the rain somewhere to-night."

The girls sat down timidly and silently. Outside they could hear the rain beating against the walls of the old house.

Where was Miss Campbell? Would she arouse the whole of London in her search for her two lost girls? Oh, heavens, what a terrible thing it was to have neither money nor friends in the biggest city in the world!

Billie made up her mind to one thing then and there. When she got back to Miss Helen Campbell-if ever she did get back-she intended to sew the largest piece of gold money in the English coinage in the lining of her coat for emergencies such as this; although she prayed heaven there would be no more such emergencies.

"Don't you think it would be a good idea to call a policeman?" suggested Nancy, breaking the long silence which had fallen on them after Miss Felicia Rivers had hospitably invited them to sit down.

"Police!" screamed the enormous woman, giving her great bulk a violent shake, which made everything in the room rattle as if an earthquake had struck it. The mercury had dropped ten degrees. But it went up again in a hurry. "No, no, my dearies. A policeman would surely arrest you as suspicious characters. Take it from me, and leave the police alone.

There's not one who would believe your story. No, what you need is a kind gentleman to advise you. Marty, go and tell Mr. Dinwiddie I wish to speak with him. Tell him there's tea brewing in the kitchen."

The girls exchanged a long meaning glance. Then Billie rose.

"I'm very sorry, Miss Rivers, but I think we won't wait to see your friend. We'd better be going. Perhaps a policeman can show us the way to-to--"

To where? Billie did not know herself. She choked down a sob and tried to think. Her father's teaching had covered many things, but he had never told her what to do when lost in a big city.

"When two young persons incurs debts which they can't pay, it awn't for them to say what they must and must not do. Young woman, take my advice and sit right where you are. No harm will come to you. Listen to the rain. Would you care to leave these beautiful rooms, every convenience, splendid location, candles and service, and go out on such a night as this? You'd be as mad as a March hare to do such a foolish thing. I'll keep you here to-night. There's an empty fourth-floor-middle. You can just as well put up there for to-night."

"You are very kind, but--" began Billie, when Marty, the slavey, hurried in, and behind her came a shabby middle-aged man, with a weak, delicate face, pale watery eyes and an ingratiating smile. There was something of the dandy in his appearance at second glance, and if the light had been less bright, he might have looked really well-dressed. But his black and white checked trousers were fringed around the hems; his black cutaway coat was s.h.i.+ny and rubbed in the seams; his shoes down at the heels and his white gaiters soiled and spotted.

"Your servant, ladies," he said, making a low bow and placing his hand on his heart.

For some reason, the two girls felt more confidence in this shabby old dandy than in Miss Felicia Rivers. The amiability of his smile and a certain kindly gleam in his pale eyes made them more hopeful.

The lodging-house keeper explained the situation so rapidly and glibly that the young girls were startled by her sudden alertness.

"Now, Mr. Dinwiddie, what's to be done? I've paid their cab fare and I now offer to give them supper and lodgings. A'n't that 'ospitality? And do you think they accept the invitation? Not they!"

Mr. Dinwiddie glanced at a clock on the mantel.

"It's past eleven," he said. "I think you had better do as the lady says. You'll be safer here than you would be, lost out there in the storm, and we'll turn in and find your friends in the morning."

Past eleven o'clock! Who would have believed that all those hours had pa.s.sed since they parted with their beloved friends at the station?

"We will stay, then," said Billie, sighing miserably. "But we wish you would have helped us find our friends to-night."

"We are willing to do w'ot we can, young woman," said Miss Felicia Rivers emphatically. "But we awn't willing to take the influenzy and the pneumonia for the sake of a pair of foolish girls who goes and gits lost."

They tried to swallow down a cup of tea and eat a bit of toast, but they were too wretched and uneasy to feel the pangs of hunger now; and it was almost a relief presently to follow the slavey, carrying a lighted candle, to the upper regions of the house, preceded by the vast bulk of Miss Felicia Rivers.

The stairs leading to the upper floors were not carpeted and their footsteps resounded on the bare boards with a dismal hollow sound.

The fourth-floor-middle was not such a miserable place, however, as they had expected. In the dimness of one flickering candle they could see that it was fairly well furnished with a big double bed, a rickety chest of drawers, a table and two chairs.

"Good night, my dears, sleep well," said Miss Felicia Rivers. "You won't be sorry in the morning that you accepted Felicia Rivers' 'ospitality."

Then the great creature removed herself into the hall and Billie quickly locked and bolted the door. There was another door in the room already locked, but from which side it was impossible to say. At any rate there was no key in the keyhole. After taking the precaution to look through, and seeing nothing whatever, Billie went over and placed her hands on Nancy's shoulders.

"Nancy, dear, I have decided not to be frightened," she exclaimed. "It will only make matters worse for us to go off so. I know I've been just as terrified as you, but, after all, what else could the woman do? She couldn't turn us into the rain at this hour and she couldn't go herself.

I am afraid Cousin Helen will have an awful night, but I really think the only thing for us to do is to go to bed and try to get a little rest."

"I don't see how we can sleep," said Nancy. "How do we know whether the sheets are clean?"

They examined the linen. It appeared perfectly fresh, and in their extreme weariness the bed indeed looked almost comfortable. At the end of another ten minutes they had crawled wearily under the strange covers, having removed only their shoes and dresses. What few pieces of jewelry they had, they had tied into a handkerchief and put under Billie's pillow. At last, worn out with their strange adventures, they fell into a deep sleep.

CHAPTER VII.-THE ESCAPE.

It was dawn when the two girls waked, a cold, gray dawn. Through the half-opened window a wet fog poured into the room. Even without the burden of uneasiness on their souls, they would not have felt cheerful at the prospect; and now, leaning on one elbow, Billie, who was the first to come back to consciousness, stared at the shabby place incredulously. Was it a bad dream? Where were they? Then memory returned and she jumped down to the floor. In the night, fears and suspicions had crowded into her mind, and she was determined to get away from this terrible Miss Rivers and her lodging house the instant daylight appeared. As soon as they could find their friends, Miss Rivers should be paid. In the meantime, they must escape. All these thoughts flew through Billie's mind while she drew on her shoes.

"Nancy," she said, in a low distinct voice, "get up. We must dress and escape from this house before that awful woman is awake."