Linda winced1 at the name, and looked around her, to see whether another girl could be entering at the same time. But there was no one except a strange young man sitting in the corner, who couldn’t possibly be “Miss Slocum.” The secretary was evidently giving her a dig; perhaps he was trying to trap her by calling her by the name which Dot had manufactured on the spur of the moment at Kansas City, and which had been repeated by the newspapers.
“Trying to be funny, Mr. Sprague?” inquired Dot, scathingly.
The stranger in the corner arose from his seat.
77
“This is Mr. Bertram Chase, of the police,” Sprague announced, calmly. “Miss Slocum and Miss Manton.”
The girls regarded the young man questioningly. He was in plain clothes—not an ordinary policeman.
“A detective,” explained Sprague, simply.
Dot became impatient; she wanted to get to the point of their visit.
“We should like to meet the aviatrix who calls herself Linda Carlton,” she announced, in a business-like tone. “Has she come in yet?”
“She is on the set now,” replied Sprague. “Going through her stunts2. She has only a small part in the picture, so it can all be done at once.”
“Will you kindly4 take us out where she is?” asked Linda.
“In a minute, sister,” returned the man, condescendingly. “But we have some business with you first.”
Linda’s expression became freezing. She could not bear this insolent5 young man. He smiled in an irritating manner.
78
“We have examined your licenses6, Miss Slocum,” he said. “And we believe the signatures have been forged. The real Miss Carlton brought hers today, and we compared the two. There is no doubt that hers is genuine.”
“What?” demanded Linda, in horror.
“Let us see them!” demanded Dot, entirely7 unconvinced.
Mr. Sprague nodded.
“Our friend, Mr. Chase, has them now. He will let you look at them.”
The young man, who could not have been a day over twenty-five, looked extremely embarrassed. Not like a hard-boiled detective at all, Linda thought. Indeed, he flashed her a look of sympathy, as if he did not share in Sprague’s accusation8. Still, it was his business, and he had to go through with it.
He fumbled9 in his pockets and produced two cards, identical at a glance. The same numbers, the same printing—and what looked like the same signatures.
“Don’t let them out of your hands, Chase,” warned Sprague, evidently determined10 to be as nasty as possible.
“You see, ladies,” Chase said, almost apologetically. “This signature is forged.” He held up one of the cards. “Look at the capital ‘L’. It hasn’t been copied quite right.”
79
“Of course it hasn’t!” cried Dot. “But the other one is yours, Linda.”
“Yes,” agreed Linda, trembling in spite of her innocence11, “I remember that mud-spot on mine. I got it on that treasure-hunt that Mr. Clavering planned, from Green Falls last summer.”
“Odd,” remarked Sprague, sarcastically12. “That is the very mud-spot the real Miss Carlton identified her card by!”
“What do you propose to do?” demanded Dot, now thoroughly13 exasperated14.
“Hold Miss Slocum under bail15,” replied Sprague. “For forgery16.”
Dot burst into a peal17 of laughter.
“It’s too absurd!” she exclaimed.
The young detective looked exceedingly uncomfortable.
“Shall we go out on the lot?” he suggested. “And see the stunts?”
“O. K. by me,” agreed Sprague.
“Are we to wear hand-cuffs?” inquired Dot, flippantly.
Sprague gave her a withering18 look.
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“You are not being held at all, Miss Manton,” he said. “We’re not concerned under what names you care to travel.”
The young detective fell back and walked across the lots with the girls.
“I believe you are innocent, Miss—Carlton,” he said, his brown eyes already showing devotion to Linda. “Of course I have to take your money for bail, but I’m sure it will be all cleared up soon. I think that the other girl is the impostor.”
“Oh, thank you, Mr. Chase!” cried Linda, the tears dangerously near to her eyes at this expression of sympathy.
The group reached the lot, where the picture was being rehearsed. It looked so interesting, so thrilling,—had it been under any other circumstances, the girls would have only been too delighted at the opportunity. But now they could think only of the horrible fix they were in, with not a friend in this strange city to vindicate19 them.
81
Mr. Von Goss, who was buzzing busily about the lot, paid no attention at all to Dot and Linda—not even a formal nod of greeting as he passed them by. He had evidently decided20 that they were impostors, who had cleverly deceived him, thereby21 securing for themselves an evening’s unusual entertainment at his expense. Therefore, he preferred not to recognize them at all. The deliberate cut hurt Linda, for she had liked and admired the older man, and had found him exceedingly interesting.
The moving-picture aviatrix, however, was going through all sorts of stunts in a silver Moth22, which had been brightly painted and decorated. Linda stood still, gazing at her enviously23. Not that she wanted to be in the picture, but she would always rather be in the air than on the ground. And it looked now as if she were to be chained to the earth for several days to come, unless she or Dot could think of a way out of their difficulties.
“The girl’s too low!” cried Chase suddenly, in horror.
Linda watched her; she certainly was dangerously near to the ground. The roar of her motor was deafening24. But, by a stroke of luck, she regained25 control, and abruptly26 pointed27 her plane upward, climbing without disaster.
“She’s good,” admitted Linda, in all fairness.
82
“Not so good as she looks,” remarked Chase. “I happen to know that plane and it will take a lot of punishment. But she’ll do that little stunt3 once too often.”
“You’re a flier too, Mr. Chase?” inquired Linda.
“Yes,” he replied. “I’m a secret-service man, on the air force of the police.”
He looked right into Linda’s eyes, as if to tell her that his love of flying was another bond of sympathy between them.
“How did you happen to be called in—on an unimportant case like ours?”
“I’m here on something else. Connected with another case. And I know Mr. Von Goss personally, so he asked me to help him out.”
“I see.... I suppose I shouldn’t ask you for advice, Mr. Chase—but—I feel as if you would help me, if possible. What would you do if you were in my place?”
“Wire to somebody well known in aviation circles, who can come and identify you as the girl who flew the Atlantic alone. Because that is the important thing. That’s why Von Goss is paying the aviatrix thirty thousand dollars for a small part in one picture. Just because of that one fact!”
83
“Then friends wouldn’t help—in establishing my identity?”
“No. They ought to be people in aviation.”
Dot interrupted this conversation, by suddenly grasping Linda’s arm. “Look at Sprague!” she cried. “Look at the way he’s waving that hat of his to his girl-friend! Now what do you suppose the idea of that is?”
At the mention of his own name, the secretary turned to the girls.
“Miss Carlton is supposed to fly away—be lost to sight now,” he informed them, calmly. “It isn’t likely she’ll come back and land here, for that finishes her part.”
“You mean we’re not to see her?” demanded Dot. “That looks suspicious to me!”
“Oh, yeah?” returned Sprague. “Well, don’t flatter yourselves that Miss Linda Carlton has time to waste on a couple of upstarts from Toonerville, or wherever it was you came from. She’s a busy girl!”
Linda sighed deeply as she watched the plane disappear entirely from view. There was nothing to do now; Sprague and Von Goss were both against her. She might as well go back to the hotel.
84
“Come to the hotel this afternoon for that check for bail,” she said to Chase. “I’ll have it ready.”
Then, with a nod of farewell, she and Dot left the lot and went into a restaurant at Culver City for their lunch. But this time they were not interested in seeing the stars. Their own problems were too pressing.
“If I could only get in touch with Daddy,” said Linda, as she nibbled28 at her salad. “But I don’t know where he is, and I should hate to alarm Aunt Emily by telling her that I am being held under bail. No ... I guess the best idea is to wire Mr. Eckert.”
“That’s the stuff!” approved Dot. “Why not go over to that telephone and do it now, while I order something for dessert?”
Linda took the suggestion, and fifteen minutes later the girls started back for their hotel in Los Angeles. They felt like prisoners, unable to come and go at will. As a matter of fact, Dot was still as free as air, but she had no thought of deserting Linda.
85
They bought the afternoon paper on their way back to the hotel, and when they reached their room, Dot spread it out on her bed to read. But the first item that met her eye made her stare in horror. It was Linda’s picture, right on the front page, with the caption29 “Miss Sallie Slocum, impersonating Linda Carlton,” and underneath30 it, the whole dishonest story.
She read it in rising anger, determined to destroy it before Linda should see it. But her companion, noticing the look on her chum’s face, crossed the room and saw it for herself.
“Not a soul will believe it is really I!” she exclaimed. “Because it doesn’t look a whole lot like me.”
“No, it certainly doesn’t. It must be that same picture the reporter took of us both at the airport, the day we landed here in Los Angeles. Only I’m cut off. I’m not news any more.”
“No, you’re free, Dot.”
“Yet it’s all my fault!” She wound her arms around Linda. “Darling, I just can’t tell you how sorry I am for that silly prank31!”
Linda patted her hand.
86
“Don’t think of it as your fault, Dot. That name business is only a side-issue. That girl would have gotten away with it, no matter what we did. She’d have thought up something else if she hadn’t had that to play on.”
“But I played right into her hands.”
“Perhaps. Only, any girl who would go to all this trouble to invent such a dishonest scheme would have succeeded somehow. Why, the licenses were really the most important thing. But how she ever managed to get them exchanged without that smart Sprague noticing, is more than I can account for.”
“Well, you must remember he wasn’t prejudiced against her as he was against you. He trusted her, so he probably wasn’t watching her closely.”
“I detest32 that man,” said Linda.
“So do I,” agreed Dot.
“Well, this isn’t getting us anywhere,” remarked Linda, with a yawn. “I think a nap would do us good.”
So, wisely acting33 upon the suggestion, the girls slept until Mr. Chase called at five o’clock for Linda’s check for one thousand dollars for bail.
“Which I hate to have to take,” he said, apologetically. “But I expect to give it back to you soon!”
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收听单词发音
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1
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stunts
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| n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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licenses
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| n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 ) | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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vindicate
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| v.为…辩护或辩解，辩明；证明…正确 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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moth
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| n.蛾，蛀虫 | |
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enviously
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| adv.满怀嫉妒地 | |
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deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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caption
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| n.说明，字幕，标题；v.加上标题，加上说明 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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31
prank
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| n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己 | |
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detest
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| vt.痛恨，憎恶 | |
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33
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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