In the Shadow of the Tower E-Book

Carolyn Keene

• Herausgeber: Alien Ebooks
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: The Dana Girls
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 190

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Josy Sykes, despairs as a fox runs off with her one thousand dollar bill. Louise and Jean help the lonely orphan by having her first come to Starhurst and then to a friend's during Christmas vacation.

Josy's luck changes when a hunter finds her one thousand dollar bill, but when the hunter accidentally humiliates Josy because of her deformity, she runs away. The hunter also runs away, upsetting his employer, Miss Melbourne, and the Dana girls' friend, Miss Marsh, who is in love with him. The Dana girls are puzzled at this strange turn of events.

The mystery deepens when Miss Melbourne learns the name of the man who sent Josy the thousand dollar bill, Joseph Sykes, and collapses, insisting that Josy be found immediately. The Danas must find Josy as quickly as possible in order to save Miss Melbourne's life.

Leseprobe

IN THE SHADOW OF THE TOWER

BY CAROLYN KEENE

Originally published in 1934.

v

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

PAGE

I

The Lost Letter

1

II

Josy Sykes

9

III

The Shadow

18

IV

At the Fox Farm

27

V

A Startling Announcement

38

VI

Harsh Words

45

VII

Strange Happenings

50

VIII

The Mystery Deepens

62

IX

The Veiled Portrait

69

X

A Thief

76

XI

The Patient’s Plea

85

XII

A Familiar Whistle

94

XIII

The Impostor

101

XIV

A Valuable Clue

113

XV

Miss Melbourne’s Story

123

XVI

The Shadow beneath the Tower

133

XVII

An Emergency Call

141

XVIII

The Danas’ Discovery

148

XIX

An Explanation

156

XX

The Mystery of Joseph Sykes

166

XXI

The Accusation

175

XXII

Justice Is Done

185

XXIII

At the Studio

194

XXIV

The Letter

204

XXV

The Reunion

213

1

CHAPTER IThe Lost Letter

“Jean, I believe someone is following us!”

“Following us, Louise? What makes you think so?”

“Can’t you hear the whistling?”

Jean and Louise Dana, two pretty sophomores at the Starhurst School for Girls, halted on the trail which led through the woods. It was early winter, and the ground was covered with snow. The bare branches of the frost-laden trees glistened in the sunlight.

“Listen!” said Louise. “I can hear it again.”

On the still December air floated the notes of a plaintive whistling in a minor strain. It was not the warbling of a bird, nor did it seem like that of a human being. Puzzled, the girls looked behind them. There was no one in sight. The trail was deserted.

2

“It doesn’t sound human,” said Jean Dana, “yet it must be. There’s a sort of tune to it.”

Suddenly the whistling ceased. In the distance the girls could hear the snapping of twigs. It was late afternoon. Jean and Louise had been skating on Mohawk Lake in the hills not far from Starhurst, and had left before their companions. They were not disposed to be frightened, but the strange whistling really mystified them.

“There is someone coming,” insisted Louise. “Let’s hide.”

“Perhaps it’s some of the other girls trying to scare us.”

“Well, then, we’ll just fool them.”

The girls were near the outskirts of the woods where the trail dropped steeply down the hillside toward the meadows and the road below. They were familiar with the place, and knew that the path led past a natural cavern in the rocks not far ahead of them.

“Quick!” said Louise. “We’ll hide in the cave.”

The girls hurriedly descended the trail. The mournful and mysterious whistling was suddenly resumed, and they could still hear it when they reached the grotto. It continued as they scrambled into the gloomy hiding place among the rocks, where they crouched, watching the snow-covered path a few yards ahead of them.

3

In a short time they again heard the crackling of twigs, followed by the soft shuffling of footsteps in the snow. Jean clutched her sister’s arm in excitement as a strange-looking figure suddenly came into view.

It was that of a boy—a slender youth with a pinched, white face. The girls judged him to be about nineteen years of age. He was a furtive, odd-looking creature in ragged clothes that looked as if they had been made for someone else. As he shuffled along the trail, he looked fearfully from side to side.

“Why, he’s a hunchback,” whispered Jean.

The poor boy was, indeed, deformed by a hump that distorted his back, giving him a grotesque and dwarfed appearance. He walked in an ungainly manner, one hand thrust inside his tattered coat.

As the girls watched tensely, the hunchback came to a halt, looked back down the trail, and then nodded his head in satisfaction.

“I’m safe here,” he muttered. “There’s no one in sight.”

With that he sat down on a rock not far from the mouth of the cave. Rummaging in his pockets, he drew forth a long envelope, from which he extracted a letter.

4

The Dana girls regretted that they had concealed themselves in the cave. They knew they had nothing to fear from this pathetic cripple, and they had no intention of spying on him. However, not wishing to frighten the boy, they thought it best to remain where they were.

The letter, much-thumbed and frayed, appeared to be some kind of a legal document. The cripple read it carefully, muttering to himself in an undertone, while his thin face twitched strangely. Then, to the astonishment of the Dana girls, he began to cry.

It was evident that the letter had affected him deeply. The onlookers accordingly grew curious. They wondered what sort of message the document contained. Yet at the same time they were uncomfortable in the realization that they were peering at the secrets of a stranger.

“We ought to leave,” whispered Jean.

Louise, however, cautioned her to stay.

“We can’t go now. We’ll only frighten the poor fellow.”

Suddenly in the distance the girls could hear voices and shouts of laughter. The other students from Starhurst were sauntering down the trail from the lake.

The cripple scrambled hastily to his feet, and cast a frightened glance back up the snow-covered path.

“Someone coming!” gasped the hunchback. “I can’t let them find me.”

5

In evident terror he ran ahead a few paces, then paused in indecision and finally turned back. He saw the gloomy mouth of the cave, plunged through the snow toward it, and crouched down among the rocks at the entrance. He had not yet seen Jean and Louise, as they had withdrawn to the deeper shadows of the cave and had there hidden themselves, scarcely daring to breathe.

Suddenly nearby them the high, harsh laugh of a girl rang out.

“Oh, it will be the joke of the term! First of all we’ll leave a phone message for the Dana girls that their Uncle Ned is at the Continental House, and that they’re to go to see him at once. Then we’ll call up the clerk at the hotel and tell him that if two girls ask for their Uncle Ned Dana, they’re to be sent to the State Hotel. We’ll have them running all over Penfield looking for their precious relative, and when they get back to school they’ll surely be late. Won’t Mrs. Crandall give them a scolding?”

“Oh, Lettie,” came a shrill giggle, “that’s the best joke I’ve ever heard. We’ll get even with them for a few things they’ve done to us.”

6

Louise and Jean were very interested in the conversation which they had just overheard. The two persons sauntering down the trail were Lettie Briggs and Ina Mason, the only pupils at Starhurst with whom the Dana girls were not on good terms. Lettie Briggs, an angular, snobbish individual, fond of impressing upon everyone the fact that she was the wealthiest girl at Starhurst, was a very unpopular student because of her arrogance. Her one and only friend, Ina Mason, was a meek, toadying creature who seemed delighted to have the rich Miss Briggs deign to notice her.

The pair had clashed with the Dana girls on several occasions, for Lettie and Ina had a habit of playing mean practical jokes, and nothing delighted Jean and Louise more than to score a point against the unpopular chums.

Louise almost laughed aloud. She knew that she and Jean had overheard the details of an elaborate joke which was to be played upon them. Forewarned was to be forearmed. The sisters heard nothing further of Lettie’s plan, for Ina Mason said quickly:

“We’ll talk it over when we get back to school. The others are coming.”

In a few minutes a laughing, chattering group of girls came down the trail and passed the cave, unaware of the hidden watchers. Jean and Louise had a fleeting glimpse of gaily-colored sweaters and scarfs as their schoolmates passed by. Then the clamor of voices died away as the students descended the hillside.

7

The hunchback, who had been crouching near the mouth of the cave, rose to his feet. He groped in his pocket, withdrew the letter, and began to study it once more.

“We can’t stay here,” whispered Jean.

“And I’m cold. I’m going to speak to that poor boy.”

Louise advanced quietly toward the opening of the shallow cavern.

“We’re very sorry,” she said apologetically. “We aren’t spying on you, but——”

There was a cry of alarm as the cripple wheeled about and stared at them. Then he turned and fled as though terrified. Tripping and stumbling among the snow-covered rocks, he ran from the trail directly toward the edge of a steep cliff that dropped to the meadow below.

“Come back!” cried Jean. “You’ll fall!”

The lad paid no attention to her warning. In his mad flight he scrambled desperately to the very brink of the cliff. The girls gasped, as he suddenly slipped on the ice, staggered and fell. The letter flew from his hand.

The white sheet of paper, together with a green object that had been concealed in its folds, was whisked up by the breeze. The two articles fluttered over the rocks and went sailing out toward a distant field.

Jean and Louise hastily ran to the assistance of the hunchback, who lay panting and gasping in the snow.

8

“Are you hurt?” asked Louise. “We didn’t mean to frighten you.”

The cripple thrust the proffered hand aside.

“My money! My letter!”

The girls knew then that the green object had been a bill.

“We’ll help you get your money again,” said Jean. “Look! It has blown down into the field.”

The letter and the greenback had come to rest in the branches of a clump of bushes not far from the base of the cliff. But even as she spoke, the wind suddenly dislodged the letter and the bill from the trees and sent them both skimming across the snow.

“I must have it back,” declared the hunchback fearfully. “It’s all the money I have in the world——”

Then Jean uttered a cry of dismay. From among the rocks there emerged a lean black animal with a bushy tail—a fox. The little beast leaped playfully at the fluttering papers, snapped up the greenback, then sprang lightly toward the letter. A gust of wind sent it flying out of reach. The little beast whirled in pursuit, jumped into the air, and deftly caught the swirling bit of paper.

Then, like a fleeting black shadow against the white snow, the fox raced away across the meadow.

9

CHAPTER IIJosy Sykes

The Dana girls were overcome with concern. They felt that they were somewhat to blame for the loss of the letter and the money.

Sobbing with grief, the cripple was already hastening down the trail, wailing:

“Oh, the fox is gone. Gone with my letter.”

As the animal scurried off across the meadow, Jean and Louise scrambled down the hillside.

“We’ll never catch it!” gasped the younger Dana girl.

“But we may find its den,” replied Louise.

When they reached the foot of the trail, the cripple was already following the tracks across the snow. The sly fox, however, had disappeared. The girls traced the footprints as far as the meadow fence, but soon saw that the chase was futile.

It was growing dark, and the wind was rising. The breeze sent the snow shifting over the surface of the field, and the tracks were being blotted out swiftly.

10

The boy sank down beside the fence and burst into tears. Something about that heartbroken sobbing caught Jean’s attention. She looked significantly at her sister. Louise uttered an exclamation of surprise.

“Why, he isn’t a boy at all!” she cried.

“No boy ever cried like that,” declared Jean.

The hunchback looked up, eyes filled with tears.

“No,” the cripple sobbed, “I’m n-not a boy. I’m a g-girl. Oh, why didn’t you leave me alone? I’ve lost my letter and my money, and now I don’t know what to do.”

Jean sat down and slipped an arm around the shoulders of the weeping girl.

“We’re dreadfully sorry,” she said, “but you mustn’t blame us. We didn’t intend to frighten you. We’ll do everything we can to help you find your letter again.”

“Indeed we will,” Louise assured her. “Was it important? Was there very much money?”

It was in her mind that she and Jean might make good the loss if the amount were small.

“It was all the money I had,” confessed the girl in the snow. She was a little calmer now. “It was a thousand-dollar bill!”

The Dana girls were stunned by this unlooked for statement.

“A thousand dollars?” exclaimed Jean incredulously. “In one bill?”

11

The two sisters at once scented a mystery. Those of our readers who have made the acquaintance of Louise and Jean in previous volumes of this series can readily understand that a problem of this kind would appeal to them. They possessed marked talent as amateur detectives, and had already been successful in solving two strange cases that had created a great deal of excitement and bewilderment at Starhurst.

In the first book which introduced the Dana girls, By the Light of the Study Lamp, they encountered many thrilling adventures in getting to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the theft of a study lamp given to them by their Uncle Ned. Their clever work in this affair had brought about the recovery of a fortune in jewels.

Jean and Louise were orphans. Louise, a pretty, dark-haired girl of sixteen, was rather quiet, and the more serious of the two. Jean, a year her junior, was fair-haired, boyish, and impetuous. They made their home with their uncle, Captain Ned Dana, who lived at Oak Falls, which was not far from Starhurst. He was skipper of the Balaska, one of the great trans-Atlantic liners. Aunt Harriet, his maiden sister, was housekeeper of the picturesque old residence on the outskirts of the town.

12

In the second volume of the series, The Secret at Lone Tree Cottage, the Dana girls again proved their abilities as detectives when they solved the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Miss Tisdale, their young and beloved English instructress at Starhurst. In clearing up the case they also succeeded in restoring to a fine family a long-lost relative.

The success of the two sisters in these cases had given a decided impetus to their interest in detective work. It was only natural, therefore, that they should be excited by the mystery presented by the girl in boys’ clothing, who had lost a thousand-dollar bill.

“I’m afraid we’ll never find the money tonight,” said Louise kindly. “It’s getting dark.”

The cripple agreed that further search was useless at the time.

“I’m going to stay in Penfield tonight,” she said, “but I’ll come back here early tomorrow and look for my money.”

“We’ll help you,” Jean offered. “If we can find the den of that fox, we ought to be able to locate the money and the letter, too.”

“Why,” asked Louise, “are you dressed as a boy?”

A shadow crossed the thin face of the hunchback as she started to walk across the meadow.

“It’s because I have run away.”

13

At first she was not inclined to explain anything further, but as they went back toward the main road that led to Penfield the Dana girls were so kind and sympathetic toward her that she soon realized they were sincerely eager to help her. At last, won over by their tact and understanding, the hunchback told them more of her story.

“My name is Josephine Sykes,” she said. “Everyone calls me Josy. I ran away from the Home for Crippled Children at Bonny Lake.”

“Didn’t they treat you well?” asked Jean.

“Well enough,” replied Josy Sykes, with a pathetic smile, “compared to the other places.”

“What other places?”

“The farmhouses. Ever since I was fifteen I have done housework on farms. Being a cripple, I was never sent to any of the better places. You see, I was left at the Home when I was a baby.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Louise. “Your father and mother——”

14

“Dead,” replied the girl shortly. “I don’t know anything about my folks. My uncle left me at the Home. That’s how I got my name. He was Joseph Sykes and I was named after him. I was brought up at the Home as a sort of charity girl, because my uncle just seemed to drop out of sight after he left me there. I didn’t mind going out to work at the farmhouses, because I wanted to repay the people at the institution in some way, and it was time I was earning my own living anyway—but—oh, some of the places were awful! I ran away from the last one.”

Although Josy Sykes told her story in a matter-of-fact tone, the Dana girls sensed the tragedy of loneliness that had shadowed the life of the crippled girl. Yet they were still puzzled by her present disguise.

“Where did you go when you ran away from the farm?” asked Louise.

“I went back to the Home. They were very kind to me—they have always been kind—and gave me a job in the office. I thought my bad luck was over, but it wasn’t. I hadn’t worked there two days before a big sum of money disappeared from the safe. There had been a benefit for the Home and the cash proceeds had come to nearly a thousand dollars. Every cent of it was stolen.”

“They surely didn’t accuse you, did they?” asked Jean indignantly.

The hunchback nodded.

15

“They thought I took it. You see, while I was away from the institution, an important letter came to the Home addressed to me. The secretary put it in the safe. She was on a vacation when I came back, and I suppose the superintendent forgot to tell me about my mail. At any rate, I found the letter when I was putting some papers into the safe and naturally I took it. That was the one I was reading a little while ago. It was from my uncle, Joseph Sykes. He had enclosed a thousand-dollar bill. So you see, when I was accused of taking the benefit money from the safe, I was afraid they would find my thousand dollars——”

“So you ran away!” exclaimed Louise.

“I borrowed an old suit of clothes from a boy at the Home and climbed out of the dormitory window last night. I’ve been wandering about ever since.”

The girls were deeply concerned over the plight of the unfortunate girl.

“What are you going to do?” asked Jean.

“I don’t know,” confessed Josy, her lips trembling. “I felt safe enough when I had the money—but now that it’s gone—I haven’t any money—I haven’t any friends——”

Her voice faltered. With a cuff of her ragged sleeve she brushed away tears from her eyes.

“You have friends,” Louise assured her. “We’re your friends. You’re coming to Starhurst with us, and we’ll get some proper clothes for you. Then we’ll talk to Mrs. Crandall. She is the headmistress at the school and perhaps she’ll be able to help you.”

16

Josy Sykes looked at the Dana girls gratefully.

“You’re the very first strangers,” she said, “who ever paid any attention to me or tried to do anything for me.”

By this time they had reached the Penfield road. When they came within sight of Starhurst School, the Dana girls realized that their new acquaintance presented a grotesque appearance. Josy Sykes, who was evidently sensitive about her deformity, was conscious of her shabby clothes and bedraggled appearance.

“I—I can’t go into that grand place with you,” she said. “They’ll all stare at me. People always do. Perhaps you had better leave me. I’ll get along somehow.”

“Nonsense!” said Jean warmly. “We’re not ashamed of you.”

As they approached the walk that led to the front entrance of Starhurst, they saw Lettie Briggs and Ina Mason standing on the pavement watching them in open-mouthed wonder. They heard a harsh cackle of laughter from Lettie, and then her high-pitched, disagreeable voice:

“Look what the Danas have picked up. They’ve been slumming.”

A deep flush suffused Josy Sykes’s pinched face.

17

“I don’t like those girls,” she whispered. “They’re laughing at me. I’m not going in with you.”

Before the Dana girls could prevent her, she left the sidewalk abruptly and stepped out into the road. Confused by the rude stares and contemptuous laughter of Lettie and Ina, she failed to see a roadster which at that moment swept around a bend. She stepped directly into the path of the speeding car.

Jean screamed.

“Come back!” cried Louise.

Josy Sykes turned, saw the approaching machine, and uttered a shriek of alarm. She seemed frozen with fear. The man at the wheel of the roadster applied his brakes, but it was evident that he would be unable to bring the car to a stop in time. Josy Sykes wavered, moved as if to run back toward the curb, and then to the horror of the Dana girls she slipped on the icy pavement and sprawled helplessly in front of the oncoming wheels.

18

CHAPTER IIIThe Shadow

Jean Dana did not hesitate. She sprang from the curb and grabbed Josy Sykes by the arm. Even as the driver of the car swung desperately to one side, Jean dragged the helpless girl out of danger.

The roadster flashed past, brakes screeching, and skidded to a stop. It had missed the cripple by a couple of inches.

The Dana girls helped Josy to her feet.

“Are you hurt?” demanded Jean anxiously.

Josy’s face was white as she realized the narrowness of her escape.

“No,” she panted. “And you saved my life!” she declared gratefully. “I should have been run down if you hadn’t caught my arm in time.”

The driver of the car, a stout, red-faced man, was stepping from his machine.

“Close call!” he said. “A mighty narrow squeak. Young lady,” he remarked to Jean, “if you had been half a second slower, I’d be reporting a serious accident to the police.”

19

Some of the Starhurst girls were already running toward the scene. Jean took Josy Sykes by the arm.

“Come!” she said. “Let’s hurry into the school.”

The little hunchback was embarrassed with the thought of being the central figure of any excitement, so before the gathering crowd could learn what had happened, the Dana girls and Josy were hustling up the school steps. They reached the study unobserved, and there Jean and Louise quickly found a complete outfit of clothing for their new acquaintance. Within half an hour the ungainly crippled boy of the hillside had vanished, being transformed into a shy, wide-eyed girl in a neat blue woolen dress. Josy’s gratitude was pathetic.

“It’s a long time since I’ve worn silk stockings,” she sighed luxuriously, looking at her slender ankles. “You are too good to me.”

Josy was a little more cheerful as they went down the stairs, although she was still painfully conscious of her deformity and shrank from the curious glances of the students whom they encountered in the hall. When she reached Mrs. Crandall’s office, however, she was immediately put at her ease by the kindly manner of the headmistress. The Dana girls told their story, and the mentor of Starhurst School was at once sympathetic.

20

“If you are looking for work, Josy,” she told the hunchback, “I can offer you a temporary position in the linen room. It will give you time to look around and make plans for the future.”

There were tears of happiness in the cripple’s eyes.

“It’s wonderful of you to give me this chance,” she said. “I promise to work hard and try to please you.”

“I’m sure you will,” said Mrs. Crandall. “And I sincerely hope you will find your money. If you wish, you may take time off tomorrow afternoon to go back and look for it.”

“Exactly what we were going to ask, Mrs. Crandall,” said Jean promptly.

The headmistress smiled.

“I thought so.” She turned to Josy. “Was the letter very important?”

The cripple hesitated.

“Yes,” she said simply. “It was important.”

Josy said nothing more about the missive. When she returned to the study with the Dana girls, they noticed that she was evasive and silent whenever the letter or the robbery at the Home for Crippled Children was mentioned.

After dinner the girls left Josy in the room in the servants’ wing to which she had been assigned by Mrs. Crandall. Louise was puzzled by the girl’s reticence about her private affairs.

21

“Do you think she could have stolen that money?” she said to Jean.

“I don’t believe Josy Sykes would take a nickel that didn’t belong to her.”

“It would be dreadful if the police were to come here and take her away. After all, Jean, her story is very strange. She tells us she received a thousand-dollar bill in a letter, but she hasn’t said anything more than that. Who sent her that much money? And why?”

“Suspicious?” asked Jean.

“Well, after all, we don’t know anything about Josy.”