Part 19 (1/2)

”That certainly seems a logical conclusion,” admitted the Colonel.

”Then,” said Josie, thoughtfully, ”we must decide whether to put it up to Mr. Jones, and let him pay, or to go on with the search.”

”We'll go on!” exclaimed Mary Louise. ”We may be wrong, and poor Alora may be in danger, or suffering. We must rescue her as soon as possible.”

”The girl was in my care,” said the Colonel, ”and I feel responsible for her safety. Moreover blackmail is a crime against society, and the plot should be foiled even were we not interested in the victim of it.

I am anxious to find Alora before her father is approached.”

”Then,” Josie decided, ”we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to locate and recover her. If we have diagnosed the case correctly, we have to deal with a shrewd and unprincipled, if not clever person.

Cleverness, too, we may encounter, and then our task will be doubly hard.”

”Poor, dear Alora!” sighed Mary Louise. ”It's a shame she should suffer because some cruel person wants her father's money. The fortune her mother left her has been a _mis_fortune to her daughter, instead of a blessing.”

”Money,” said Josie sententiously, ”is a dangerous thing. Its possession, or the lack of it, leads to four-fifths of the world's crimes. The other one-fifth is charged to hatred and jealousy. But-- dear me!--here I am philosophizing, when I ought to be thinking.”

”Then think, Josie, and think to some purpose,” pleaded Mary Louise.

”If our hastily constructed theory is correct,” remarked John O'Gorman's daughter, ”Papa Jones will soon hear from Alora's abductor, with a financial proposition.”

”I hope we shall find her before then,” returned the Colonel earnestly.

”We ought not to delay an instant, with that idea in view. Indeed, our theory may be quite wrong and Alora be in desperate need of immediate a.s.sistance.”

”Correct, sir,” agreed Josie. ”But we won't abandon our theory until we evolve a better one and in following this lead we must first discover who in Chicago is aware of the terms of the will of Antoinette Seaver Jones. Also who is familiar enough with Papa Jones' love of money to believe he can be successfully blackmailed. What information can either of you give me along those lines?”

”Alora has talked to Irene a good deal about that dreadful will,”

replied Mary Louise, ”Irene has repeated many of her statements to me.

Also Alora has frankly spoken to me, at times, and her queer history has interested us all. But I cannot remember that any such person as you describe is in any way mixed up with the story. Judge Bernsted drew up the will for Alora's mother. He was her lawyer, and she trusted him fully.”

”She was justified,” declared Josie. ”I know of Judge Bernsted, by reputation. He died a year ago.”

”Then,” continued Mary Louise, reflectively, ”there was Mrs. Jones'

doctor, who was very kind to Alora and who also enjoyed her mother's confidence. His name was Anstruther--Dr. Anstruther.”

”He is a prominent physician in Chicago,” declared Josie, who seemed to know every important person of every locality, for this had been part of her education. ”It is impossible that Dr. Anstruther could have any knowledge of this plot. Moreover, it doesn't seem to me like a man's plot. I don't believe Alora would have accompanied a strange man, under any circ.u.mstances, for she's knocked around the world enough to have learned prudence. The crime is feminine. What woman knew of this will, and was an intimate friend of Mrs. Jones, or of Mr. Jones?”

”Really,” said Mary Louise, ”I don't know.”

”Nor you, Colonel?”

”I do not recollect hearing of any woman connected with the Jones history--except Alora's former governess, a Miss Gorham, who was discharged by Mr. Jones at the time he took his daughter from Chicago to New York.”

”That isn't such a bad clew!” Josie quickly returned, sitting up straight and staring reflectively at the old gentleman. ”Miss Gorham, eh? Now, how long had she been Alora's governess?”

”For some years, I believe.” It was Mary Louise who answered this question.

”Then she doubtless knew the family secrets. Was Alora fond of her?”