John O'Gorman had never been quite sure whether his fatherly adoration3 unduly4 influenced him or whether Josie was indeed an exceptionally talented girl; so, having firmly determined5 to train her to become a girl detective, he had so far held her in leash6, permitting her to investigate various private cases but refusing to place her in professional work—such as the secret service—until she had gained experience and acquired confidence in herself. Confidence was the one thing Josie lacked most. She took her mistakes too much to heart.
The girl was full of enthusiasm, however, and now meant to untangle the mystery of Alora Jones if it were possible to do so, both to please Mary Louise and to enjoy the satisfaction of success. After saying good night to her friends, and before going to her own room, the girl wandered about the big hotel making casual inquiries7 and obtaining more or less useful information. Afterward8, she sat in her room and arranged in her mind the complete history of Alora, so far as she was informed of it, and made notes of all facts which seemed to bear on the present problem.
Next morning she inquired for the housekeeper9 and found that lady seated in her little office on the third floor of the hotel.
"I'm trying to trace one of the servants who left you Monday night, or early Tuesday morning," she said, after informing the woman that she was engaged in tracing the missing girl, Alora Jones. "I am not sure what name you knew her by, but her real name was Gorham."
"No one has left us this week," returned the housekeeper, who seemed disposed to converse10 freely with her visitor.
"Are you sure of that?"
"Why, I'm positive. We treat our help well and they seldom leave us. I'm sure no woman employed in this hotel, down to the lowest kitchen scullion, has resigned or been discharged during the last few days."
"And there is no one still in your service named Gorham?"
"No one. It's an unusual name and I should have remembered it."
"Do any of the guests ever use the servants' entrance?"
"Certainly not. It is reserved exclusively for the employees. Some of our guests have private maids, who occasionally use the rear entrances, and Mrs. Tolliver's trained nurses are allowed to pass out that way, too; but——"
"What is it?" asked Josie, who was watching her face.
"Why, I have just recollected12 that Mrs. Tolliver's night nurse did not show up Tuesday evening, for some reason, and they were obliged to telephone for another."
"Who is Mrs. Tolliver?"
"One of our permanent guests, who is suffering just now from a severe attack of rheumatism13. She employs two trained nurses, a day nurse and a night nurse."
"And the night nurse left her post Tuesday morning and did not return in the evening, as she was expected to do?"
"That's it, miss. Mrs. Tolliver was greatly annoyed, but fortunately she was able to secure another nurse at once."
"What was the nurse's name—the one who abandoned her job without notice?"
"Let me see. It wasn't Gorham. I'll call Alice, my assistant; I feel quite sure that she will know."
"The nurse was Mrs. Orme. She'd been with Mrs. Tolliver ever since she was took sick, and was the best nurse she's had."
"Why did she leave?" asked Josie.
"I don't know, miss, I'm sure. She were a quiet body, never sayin' much to no one. But quite ladylike, she were, an' most of us liked her."
"Can you describe her?"
"Well, she isn't tall—not so very tall, you know—an' she's got a good form an' good manners. I take it she's about thirty- five, an' handsome for her age. Good eyes, but mostly looks down an' don't show 'em. Very neat an' tidy. Brown hair. She wore gray clothes, you know—the reg'lar nurse's uniform."
"Do you know where Mrs. Orme lives?"
"No, miss; haven't the faintest idea."
"Who is Mrs. Tolliver's doctor?"
"The house physician, Dr. Pease. His office is No. 633, in this hotel."
"Thank you, Alice."
Josie hunted up Mary Louise.
"Have you ever heard that a trained nurse named Mrs. Orme is in any way connected with Alora's history?" she asked.
"No; I'm pretty sure Alora has never mentioned such a person. What about her, Josie?
"I think Alora went away with her. Have you any description of Miss Gorham, the governess?"
"Not especially," said Mary Louise, trying to remember. "Alora has sometimes referred to her as 'Old Skinny,' but that doesn't mean anything."
"It means she isn't Mrs. Orme, anyhow," answered Josie, in a disappointed tone.
Mary Louise considered this in her usual careful way. She would like to help Josie, if she could.
"Who do you suppose this Mrs. Orme could be?" she presently asked.
"Some one whom Alora knew years ago, when her mother was alive. Of course her name may not have been Orme, then, and she may not have been a trained nurse. That's why I was inclined to connect her with Gorham."
"Wait a minute, Josie! A nurse, do you say? Why, I remember something about a nurse, no—Alora's mother's nurse. When we were in Italy, where I first knew Alora, she told me that her father, at one time when they lived in New York, had been forced to give money to a woman, and Alora believed he had left America to escape this person's further demands. When I asked who the woman was, she said it was her mother's nurse; but I'm pretty sure she didn't mention her name."
"How simple any enigma16 proves when you have the key," she remarked, with an air of relief. "The mystery is solved, my dear! It's all as easy as A. B. C."
"With pleasure. You haven't given me much time to forge a chain, so I'll add each link as it occurs to me. Mrs. Jones, during her last illness, had a nurse; a good nurse, too, in whom she had confidence. When Mrs. Jones sent for her husband, from whom she had been estranged18, the nurse was aware of the action. When the husband came—Alora's father—without doubt the nurse remained in the sick room during the interview. Husband and wife quarreled, instead of making up—this guess is justified19 by the man's disagreeable disposition—and Mrs. Jones hastily wrote a codicil20 to her will and gave it into the nurse's keeping, with instructions to deliver it to her lawyer. Then the poor lady over-excited, lay back and died, and the man Jason Jones—realized that his lack of diplomacy21 had euchred him out of a big income for seven years. But he put up a job with the nurse who held his fate in her hands in the shape of scrap22 of paper. If she'd give him that codicil—no! that isn't right—if she'd keep it to herself and not let anyone know of its existence, Mr. Jones proposed to give her a share of the money. She considered this easier than working and the bargain was struck. Isn't that a logical chain of events, so far, Mary Louise?"
"But what a terrible thing to do, Josie!"
"Yes, human nature in its worst aspect selfishness, greed, unscrupulousness—and still human nature. Well, the woman followed him to New York and got some of the money, as Alora said; but the nurse wanted more, and was likely to bleed the man more liberally than he liked; so, being afraid of her, he ran away to Europe. Nurse spent her money, couldn't find Jason Jones to get more, and so returned to Chicago and practiced her profession again. Any dummy23 could figure that out."
"I cannot see," responded Mary Louise, "how that accounts for Alora's disappearance24."
"Why, of course the woman knew all about the terms of the will. She was nursing a Mrs. Tolliver in this hotel when she discovered Alora's arrival. How she discovered it doesn't matter. In the morning, when the day nurse arrived to take her place, she left Mrs. Tolliver and went directly to Alora's room. The girl instantly recognized her and would probably have a warm place in her heart for her mother's old nurse. Decided25 to walk part of the way home with her so they could talk over old times—you and the Colonel being still asleep—but was enticed26 to the nurse's house and promptly locked up and held as a weapon to force old Jones to pay up. This completes the chain. A woman who would enter into such an ugly deal with Jason Jones as I have described would not hesitate to capture Alora, especially as it proved an easy thing to do."
Mary Louise drew a long breath. "If I could believe that theory, Josie," she said, "it would relieve me of much worry, for I'd know Alora is safe. But—what was it your father said about your imagination?"
Josie laughed. "This isn't wholly imagination, you goose, for it's based on a knowledge of human nature, as I've hinted. Also it's a scientific matching of the pieces in the puzzle. Why, Mary Louise, in this deduction27 we have all the necessary elements of the usual crime. A woman—always look for a woman in a mystery, my dear—money, the cause of four-fifths of all crimes, and a guilty man who is afraid of being forced to disgorge his ill-gotten gains. Then we will add an innocent girl who suffers through the machinations of others. Some of my conclusions may not be exactly correct, but in the main the story is absolutely logical."
"That's what you said last night, Josie, when you thought the governess, Gorham, had abducted28 Alora."
"True, but I have later information which doesn't entirely29 upset the theory but changes the actors in the drama. I don't say that further investigations30 may not alter this present plot in some of its details, but the main facts are too lucid and undeniable to get far away from. I'm now going to interview the house physician and get Mrs. Orme's address."
When she had gone, Mary Louise went to Gran'pa Jim with the tale of Josie's latest discoveries and Colonel Hathaway was so impressed by the theory that he decided to telegraph Peter Conant to catch the noon train and come straight to Chicago.
"The complications suggested by Josie will require a lawyer's advice," he said, "and Mr. Conant knows law and can advise us how to handle the case when we have discovered where Alora is confined."
Meanwhile Josie went to the doctor's office and after waiting some time, was finally admitted to his private room.
"I came to ask for the address of a trained nurse—a Mrs. Orme—whom you recommended to Mrs. Tolliver," she began, her innocent eyes regarding the physician gravely.
Dr. Pease frowned.
"I cannot recommend her again," said he. "Although she's a good nurse, she is unreliable, and left my patient without notice when she was badly needed."
"I merely want to find her," declared Josie. "I'm a stranger in town and I've a letter of introduction to Mrs. Orme."
"I don't know her address. I got the woman through Dr. Anstruther."
"Oh. May I telephone Dr. Anstruther, then?"
"I've no objection. There's a telephone in the outer office. But you're not likely to catch him much before noon. Dr. Anstruther is a very busy man."
Josie went to her own room to telephone. She telephoned Dr. Anstruther's office at intervals31 all the morning, but did not succeed in getting him until nearly two o'clock. Then he answered that he did not know Mrs. Orme's address, having always secured her services through the Sisters' Hospital.
Josie tried the Sisters' Hospital and learned that Mrs. Orme lived in an apartment at 524 Morgan Avenue. She took a taxicab and drove there, determining to obtain an interview with the woman by posing as a nurse who desired assistance in securing employment. But disappointment confronted her. Mrs. Orme had moved from the apartment ten days ago and her present address was unknown.
"She has taken considerable pains to cover her traces," said Josie to Mary Louise, when she returned from her futile32 trip.
"I hope you're not discouraged, dear," returned Mary Louise anxiously. "The local detectives have done nothing at all, so you are our only hope, Josie."
"I'm not here on a pleasure trip," she said, "although I enjoy travel and good hotel fodder34 as well as anyone. This is business, but so far I'm just feeling my way and getting a start. You can't open a mystery as you do a book, Mary Louise; it has to be pried35 open. The very fact that this Mrs. Orme has so carefully concealed36 her hiding- place is assurance that she's the guilty party who abducted Alora. Being positive of that, it only remains37 to find her—not an impossibility, by any means—and then we shall have no difficulty in liberating38 her prisoner."
"But to find her; can you do that, Josie?"
"Certainly, with a little help from the police, which they will gladly furnish. They know I'm Daddy's daughter, for I have already introduced myself to them, and while they may be slow to take the initiative they are always quite willing to aid in an affair of this sort. Now, it stands to reason, Mary Louise, that the nurse didn't use the streets to promenade39 with. Alora. That would have been dangerous to her plans. There are so few people abroad in Chicago at six o'clock in the morning that those who met the two would have noted40 and remembered them. For the same reason Mrs. Orme did not take a street car, or the elevated. Therefore, she took a cab, and the cabman who drove them will know Mrs. Orme's address."
"But who was the cabman?" asked Mary Louise.
"That," said Josie, "is to be my next discovery."
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1
canvassed
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| v.（在政治方面）游说( canvass的过去式和过去分词 )；调查（如选举前选民的）意见；为讨论而提出（意见等）；详细检查 | |
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lucid
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| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
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adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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leash
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| n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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enigma
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| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
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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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estranged
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| adj.疏远的，分离的 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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codicil
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| n.遗嘱的附录 | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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dummy
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| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
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24
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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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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enticed
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| 诱惑，怂恿( entice的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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28
abducted
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| 劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展 | |
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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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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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32
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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33
embryo
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| n.胚胎，萌芽的事物 | |
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34
fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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35
pried
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| v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的过去式和过去分词 )；撬开 | |
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36
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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37
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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38
liberating
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| 解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 ) | |
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39
promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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