Chapter XVI The Disappearance
“Juliet Temple has not returned, Sally. Mother feels uneasy and told me to ask if you knew anything of her plans. We feel especially responsible now that Tante is away, as she made it a point that we were to look after Juliet while she was gone and see that she was not lonely.”
“Why, what has happened, Bettina?” Sally inquired serenely. “I am sure you have been more than attentive for the past few days.”
The long twilights were beginning and with dinner over, Sally and Dan were sitting in the hammock under the linden trees, one of Sally’s favorite resorts.
The other members of the house party were in the garden, where already a few tiny spears were appearing from seeds planted but a brief time ago, so swift had been the arrival of the heat that of late there had been days more like summer than spring.
“Well, perhaps Juliet was so bored with my society that she has preferred to run away. She told mother this morning that she wished to go to the mainland on the early boat and would be away all day. Mother made a point of making her promise to return in the afternoon. But now the last boat has come and gone and there is no chance of her reaching the island until to-morrow, unless some friend brings her across, which does not seem probable. We might go over in the motor launch and search for her, but discovering her would be another matter.”
“Didn’t Juliet intend to spend the night away from the island?” Sally inquired. “Otherwise why did she take her suit case? I saw her starting off with it.”
“She wished to bring back her purchases and said she thought this would be the simplest method of carrying them. I declare I don’t know what we ought to do. I would not for a great deal have Juliet in any difficulty; the very fact that Tante thinks we do not like her would make me more uncomfortable if matters have gone wrong.”
“Is there anything I can do to be useful?” Dan asked. “Tell Aunt Betty that of course I am at her service.”
There was in Dan’s manner a constraint that puzzled Bettina, while Sally continued to rock idly to and fro, Dan having risen on Bettina’s arrival.
“You seem remarkably uninterested, Sally,” she declared with unusual irritability, since ordinarily Bettina possessed a fine self-control.
“Sorry,” Sally answered calmly, “but you see, my dear, I have a conviction that Juliet Temple is well able to take care of herself. Suppose we walk to the house, so that Dan may ask Aunt Betty if she wishes him to do anything in the matter.
“You and I might go up to Juliet’s room and investigate. Endeavor to discover if she has taken any of her belongings which might give one the idea that she planned to be away over night.”
“Oh, very well, Sally, although it seems unnecessary. If Juliet wished to remain away who would or could have objected, so what possible reason for secrecy? Being a determined person, however, perhaps I had best do as you say.
“Dan, you will find mother in the drawing-room. Ask her to take no steps until Sally and I report any discovery we may make. Has it ever occurred to you that Sally is under the impression she has a gift for detective work?”
Her speech was a perfectly idle one so Bettina was puzzled to observe Sally blush uncomfortably and lower her eyes, while Dan said “No” in an annoyed tone.
Ten minutes after, the two girls were standing facing each other in Juliet Temple’s room, which adjoined Mrs. Burton’s larger one.
“Really, Sally dear, I do not like to peer into Juliet’s private closet or bureau drawers. Would you mind looking first, since after all I am her hostess and you are not.”
Sally smiled the demure smile with which she covered a number of situations.
“So, Bettina, you wish me to do something you have an aversion to doing yourself? Never mind, I don’t particularly object and you do. Besides, the suggestion originated with me and if I am right or wrong, I shall summon the courage to confess to Juliet, although I shall not enjoy it. I shall tell her that Aunt Betty was uneasy and we thought perhaps she had arranged to spend the night with friends and used this method to find out.”
So saying, Sally drew forth the top drawer of the mahogany chest of drawers, then a second and a third drawer; each and every one was entirely empty.
Without comment the two girls walked across the room and together unfastened the closet door; not a dress or garment of any kind hung inside.
“Sally, Juliet does not intend to return! Why, I don’t understand, we have done our best to be courteous and she might at least have said good-by. I presume she has gone to Tante’s New York apartment. Do you think we should telegraph and say she is no longer here.”
Sally shook her head.
“Not for the present, but of course we must tell Aunt Betty and Dan and learn their opinion. Wait another moment, please.”
Returning to the empty drawers, Sally began searching diligently underneath the neatly folded papers lining each one. Finally she removed them.
“I thought it barely possible Juliet might have left a note for Tante. She understands that she is to return in another thirty-six hours and probably would wish to explain to her.”
“Here is a letter, Sally, addressed to Mrs. Richard Burton and sealed with sealing wax!” Bettina exclaimed, having answered Sally’s suggestion by entering the adjoining room and slipping her hand under one of the pillows of Mrs. Burton’s bed.
“I presume this letter does inform Tante why Juliet found existence with the Camp Fire girls by the blue lagoon so disagreeable that she could not endure the experience during the week of her absence. Well, I am just as glad we discovered the letter and grateful to you, Sally, for the idea. I never have pretended that you do not understand human nature better than the rest of us, although no one would guess the fact except through long acquaintance with you. Juliet, I suppose, never dreamed that we would search Tante’s bed for the concealed letter and so believed it would not be unearthed until her return. I don’t know what gave me the inspiration to look there? Personally I wish Juliet had vanished from Tante’s life for all time, rather than until the close of her visit to us. Let us go down to the drawing-room and make our report. I’ll bear the letter with me and see if mother thinks we should dare open it.”
“No, I do not consider it wise to open Polly’s letter,” Mrs. Graham stated ten minutes later. “She is so unnecessarily sensitive about the girl, I don’t wish her to feel that we regard Juliet’s behavior as more than ordinarily discourteous. I am relieved that she planned her disappearance, so she is not in any trouble. Polly will decide what is best when she learns what Juliet wishes her to know. Put the letter in Polly’s room, please, Bettina, dear, not under her pillow, that seems to imply secrecy; lay it upon her desk where she will be apt to observe it soon after her arrival. Thank goodness, she will be at home after another day and two nights. She has been with me so little in the past years I begrudge the loss of each day.”
Bettina sat down on the arm of her mother’s chair.
“Is Aunt Patricia coming with Tante, mother, you have not said?”
“Yes, I think so, I have had a room made ready, although in Polly’s last letter Aunt Patricia still seemed to be arguing the question. I never have had much doubt, however, that she finally would do what Polly insists upon.
“However, the battle will not be severe, as Aunt Patricia is longing to surrender.”