"Now I will wire my brother Dean that he may come as soon as he wishes; and oh, how I do hope that will be soon," Nell said as she happily surveyed the pleasantest place that she had ever called home.

The message was sent when they were on their way to the Pensinger mansion for lunch.

"I must not remain long," the new agent told Gloria, "for I promised Mrs.

Doran-Ashley that I would be on duty at one."

Every little while during that noon meal Bobs would look up with laughing eyes. At last she told the cause of her mirth. "I am wondering what Mr.

James Jewett thinks of his a.s.sistant detective," she remarked. "I am so glad that I gave the name Miss Dolittle. Now I can retire from the profession without being traced."

"Oh, good, here comes the postman," Lena May declared as she rose and went to the side door to meet the mail-carrier. Gloria looked up eagerly.

She was always hoping that Gwendolyn would write. The letters that she had sent to the Newport home of the schoolmate whom Gwendolyn had said that she was going to visit, had been returned, marked "Whereabouts not known."

There were two letters and both were for Bobs. One was a bulging missive from her Long Island friend, d.i.c.k De Laney, but it was at the other that the girl stared as though in uncomprehending amazement. The cause of her very evident astonishment was the printed return address in the upper left-hand corner. It was "Fourth Avenue Branch, Burns Detective Agency."

Then she glanced, still puzzled, at her own name, which was written, not typed.

"Miss Roberta Vandergrift," she read aloud. Then suddenly she laughed, and looking up at the other girls who, all interest, were awaiting an explanation of her queer conduct, she exclaimed: "The amateur detective has been detected, but how under the shining heavens did Mr. James Jewett know that my name wasn't Miss Dolittle?"

Gloria smiled. "You haven't much faith, it would seem, in his ability as a detective. What has he written, Bobs?"

There were few words in the message:

"Miss Vandergrift, please report at this office at once, as we have need of your services. Signed. J. G. Jewett."

"Well, I'll be flabbergasted!" Roberta e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "But I must confess I am curious, and so I will immediately, if not sooner, hie me down that way. Wait a jiff, Miss Wiggin. I'll walk along with you."

When Roberta and Nell were gone, Gloria found the bulging letter from Bobs' oldest friend, d.i.c.k De Laney, lying on the table unopened. The girl who was so loved by that faithful lad had quite forgotten it in her new interests. Gloria sighed. "Poor d.i.c.k," she said to Lena May as she placed the letter on a mantel, "I wish he did not care so much for Roberta, for I fear that she does not really care for him."

True it was that at that particular moment Bobs was far more interested in learning what Mr. Jewett had to tell her than in any message that a letter from d.i.c.k might contain.

CHAPTER XVI.

A NEW "CASE" FOR BOBS

The outer office of the Fourth Avenue Branch of the Burns Detective Agency was vacant when the girl entered, but almost instantly the door of the inner office opened and Mr. Jewett himself stood there. His pleasant face brightened when he saw his visitor. Advancing with his right hand extended, he exclaimed: "Miss Vandergrift, I am almost surprised to see you. I really feared that you had deserted your new profession."

"But--Mr. Jewett--I--that is--my name. I told you that it was Miss Dolittle."

The young man drew forward a chair for her, then seated himself at his desk, and again Roberta realized that, although his face was serious, his gray-blue eyes were smiling.

"The letter I sent to you was addressed to Miss Roberta Vandergrift," he said, "and, since you have replied in person, am I not justified in believing that to be your real name?"

Bobs flushed. "I'll have to acknowledge that it is," she said, "but the other day when you asked me my name, I didn't quite like to give that of our family and so, at random, I chose one." Then the girl smiled frankly at him. "I couldn't have chosen a worse one, it seems. Miss Dolittle did not impress my late employer as being a good name for a clerk."

"You are wrong there," the young man told her, and at last there was no mistaking the fact that he was amused. "Mr. Queerwitz decided that you did too much and not too little. I don't know when I have been so pleased as I was over the fact, which so disturbs him, that you were able to drive the better bargain. Mr. Queerwitz has excelled in that line, and to have a mere slip of a girl obtain one thousand dollars for a book, the mate of which brought him but five hundred dollars, is humiliating to say the least."

Then, leaning forward, the young man said, with evident interest: "Miss Vandergrift, will you tell me what happened?"

Roberta's expression was sphynx-like. "I understand, Mr. Jewett," she replied, "that one need not give incriminating evidence against oneself."

Then her eyes twinkled. "And what is more," she told him, "I don't believe that it is necessary. This office seems to have ferreted out the facts."

"You are right," the young man confessed, "and now I will tell you just what happened. It seems that while you were out for lunch Mr. Queerwitz, or one of his a.s.sistants, discovered that the rare book was missing. He phoned me at once and reported that his head clerk believed that you had taken the book. She had found you so absorbed in it earlier in the day that you had not even been conscious of her presence.

"I a.s.sured Mr. Queerwitz that I believed he was on the wrong trail, but he insisted that a detective be sent to watch your actions. This was done, and that night the report delivered to this office was that you had visited an old second-hand book shop on Third Avenue; that from there you had mailed one book, and had then taken another to Mr. Van Loon, sold it, and had delivered the money to the old bookseller.

"Our natural conclusion was that the stolen book was the one that you had sold, but when Mr. Van Loon was reached by telephone, he stated that the first of the volumes was the one that he had purchased for one thousand dollars.

"We said nothing of all this to Mr. Queerwitz, as we wished to see if the book that you had mailed was the one that had been taken from the antique shop.

"It was not until the following noon that the book was delivered, and almost immediately afterward Mr. Van Loon appeared and purchased it for five hundred dollars during the absence of Mr. Queerwitz.

"We were then forced to conclude that the old bookseller on Third Avenue had been the thief, and we sent at once to his shop to have him arrested, only to discover that with his wife, Marlitta, he had sailed for Europe at daybreak.

"However, our detective reported that Miss Dolittle was at the shop, having all of the old books heaped upon a cart. Being truly puzzled by the case, I decided to follow it up myself, which I did, reaching the place in my closed car just as you were being driven away on the book-laden truck. I followed, un.o.bserved, and when you descended in front of the Pensinger mansion, with which place I am familiar, I decided that you lived there. To verify this I visited the grocer who has charge of the place.

"I made a few purchases and then said casually to the grocer: 'I see the old Pensinger mansion is occupied. People been there long?'

"Mr. Tenowitz, as I hoped, was garrulous and told me all he knew about the three Vandergrift girls who had taken possession of the place. He said the one answering to your description was called Roberta.

"Of course the grocer really knew little about you, but it was not hard for a detective to learn much more about a family that, for generations, has been so well known in New York. But there is one thing I do not understand, and that is your evident interest in that old second-hand dealer in books."

"I will tell you gladly," Roberta said, and she recounted the story from the moment when she had caught a first glimpse of the spray of lilacs, unconsciously telling him more than her words did of how touched her heart was by the poverty and sorrow that she was seeing for the first time.

When she paused, he looked thoughtfully out of the window. "I don't know that I ought to permit you to continue in this line of work," he said. "A girl brought up as you have been can know nothing, really, of the dangers that lurk everywhere in this great city."

"Oh, Mr. Jewett!" Bobs was eager, "please let me try just once more; then, if I fail again I will endeavor to find a profession for which I am better fitted."

"Very well, I will," was the smiling reply, "for this case cannot lead you into places that might be unwise for you to visit. In fact, I am sure that it is a case that will greatly interest a young girl."

Mr. Jewett paused to take a note book from his pocket. While he was scanning the pages Roberta leaned forward, waiting, almost breathlessly eager.

Mr. Jewett, glancing up from his note book, smiled to see Bobs' eager, interested expression. Then he told her about the case. "A certain Mrs.

Waring-Winston, who is prominent in society, has a daughter who, although brought up in a convent, is determined to go upon the stage. Her mother has tried every form of persuasion to prevent this unfortunate step, and at last she decided that a year of travel in Europe might have the desired effect, and so she engaged pa.s.sage upon a steamer which is to sail next week.

"Mrs. Waring-Winston believed that if she could interest the girl in other things just now, on their return to this country she might entirely abandon her determination to become a chorus girl. The mother a.s.sured me that Winnie, her daughter, is not talented enough to advance beyond that point.

"But the girl, it would seem, has more determination and self-will than she has talent, for when her mother informed her of the plans she had made, although outwardly seeming to acquiesce, she was inwardly rebellious as her subsequent actions proved, for that night she disappeared.

"Three days have pa.s.sed and she has not returned. Mrs. Waring-Winston did not report the matter at once, believing that Winnie must have gone to stay with girl friends in the suburbs; but yesterday, having inquired at all possible places where her daughter might visit without having found a trace of her whereabouts, Mrs. Waring-Winston, in desperation, appealed to us, imploring us forever to keep the matter secret. We, of course, agreed to do this, and it was then that I determined to send for you, believing that a young girl could find Winnie sooner than one of our men."

"Do you think, Mr. Jewett, that the daughter of Mrs. Waring-Winston has joined a theatrical troupe in this city?" Bobs inquired.

"I think that it is more possible that she has joined a troupe that either has or soon will leave town to tour the country, but of course we must first visit the playhouses in the city. I have two other women working on the case, as I wish if possible to cover all of the theaters today. I have a.s.signed to you a group of Broadway playhouses that you can easily visit during the matinee performances. Here is a photograph of the missing girl."

Roberta looked at the pictured face. "How lovely she is!" was her comment. "I do not wonder that her mother wants to protect her. How I do hope that I will be able to find Winnie and persuade her to wait, at least, until she is eighteen years of age before choosing a profession."