Ruth Fielding In the Red Cross Part 10

"I don't know. The porter says he first saw flames rising from the waste basket between the big desk and the file cabinet," Mr. Mayo said. "Then the fire spread both ways."

"Well! The insurance adjusters will be after you. I've got to report my belief. Looks as though somebody had been mighty careless with some inflammable substance. What were you using oil at all for here?"

"I-I could not tell you," Mr. Mayo said. "I will ask Mr. Legrand when he comes back."

But Ruth learned in the morning that Legrand had not returned. n.o.body seemed to know where he lived. Mrs. Mantel said he had moved recently, but she did not know where to.

The insurance adjusters did make a pertinent inquiry about the origin of the fire. But n.o.body had been in the office with Legrand when it started save the porter, and he had already told all he had seen. There was no reason for charging anybody else with carelessness but the missing man.

Save in one particular. Mrs. Mantel seemed horror-stricken when she saw the charred remains of her desk and the file cabinet. The files of cards were completely destroyed. The cards were merely brown husks-those that were not ashes. The records of contributions for six months past were completely burned.

"But you, fortunately, have the ledgers in the safe, have you not, Mrs.

Mantel?" the Chief said.

The woman in black broke down and wept. "How careless you will think me, Mr. Mayo," she cried. "I left the two ledgers on my desk. Legrand said he wished to compare certain figures--"

"The ledgers are destroyed, too?" gasped the man.

"There are their charred remains," declared the woman, pointing dramatically to the burned debris where her desk had stood.

There was not a line to show how much had been given to the Red Cross at this station, or who had given it! When Mr. Mayo opened the safe he found less than two thousand dollars in cash and checks and noted upon the bank deposit book; and the month was almost ended. Payment was made to Headquarters of all collections every thirty days.

Mrs. Mantel seemed heartbroken. Legrand did not appear again at the Red Cross rooms. But the woman in black declared that the funds as shown in the safe must be altogether right, for she had locked the safe herself and remembered that the funds were not more than the amount found.

"But we have had some large contributions during the month, Mrs.

Mantel," Mr. Mayo said weakly.

"Not to my knowledge, Mr. Mayo," the woman declared, her eyes flashing.

"Our contributions for some weeks have been scanty. People are getting tired of giving to the Red Cross, I fear."

Ruth heard something of this discussion, but not all. She did not know what to think about Mrs. Mantel and Legrand. And then, there was Jose, the man whom she had seen tampering with the fire extinguishers!

Should she tell Mr. Mayo of her suspicions? Or should she go to the office of the fire insurance adjustors? Or should she keep completely out of the matter?

Had Mr. Mayo been a more forceful man Ruth might have given him her confidence. But she feared that, although he was a hard-working official and loyal to the core, he did not possess the quality of wisdom necessary to enable him to handle the situation successfully.

Besides, just at this time, she heard from New York. Her application had been investigated and she was informed that she would be accepted for work with the base supply unit about to sail for France, with the proviso, of course, that she pa.s.sed the medical examination and would pay her share of the unit's expenses and for her own support.

She had to tell Mr. Mayo, bid good-bye to her fellow workers, and leave Robinsburg within two hours. She had only three days to make ready before going to New York, and she wished to spend all of that time at the Red Mill.

Chapter XI-SAID IN GERMAN

Ruth Fielding had made preparations for travel many times before; but this venture she was about to undertake was different from her previous flights from the Red Mill.

"Oh, my pretty! Oh, my pretty!" sighed Aunt Alvirah Boggs. "It seems as though this life is just made up of partings. You ain't no more to home than you're off again. And how do I know I shall ever set my two eyes on you once more, Ruthie?"

"I've always come back so far, Aunt Alvirah-like the bad penny that I am," Ruth told her cheerfully.

"Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!" groaned Aunt Alvirah, sinking into her chair by the sunny window. "No bad penny in your case, my pretty. Your returns air always like that of the bluebird's in the spring-and jest as much for happiness as they say the bluebird is. What would your Uncle Jabez and me do without you?"

"But it will be only for a few months. I might remain away as long if I returned to Ardmore for my junior year."

"Ah, but that's not like going away over to France where there is so much danger and trouble," the little old woman objected.

"Don't worry about me, dear," urged Ruth, with great gentleness.

"We don't know what may happen," continued Aunt Alvirah. "A single month at my time o' life is longer'n a year at your age, my pretty."

"Oh, I am sure to come back," Ruth cried.

"We'll hope so. I shall pray for you, my pretty. But there'll be fear eatin' at our hearts every day that you are so far from us."

Uncle Jabez likewise expressed himself as loath to have her go; yet his extreme patriotism inspired him to wish her G.o.dspeed cheerfully.

"I vum! I'd like to be goin' with you. Only with Old Betsey on my shoulder!" declared the miller. "You don't want to take the old gun with you, do you, Niece Ruth?" he added, with twinkling eyes. "I've had her fixed. And she ought to be able to shoot a Hun or two yet."

"I am not going to shoot Germans," said Ruth, shaking her head. "I only hope to do what I can in saving our boys after the battles. I can't even nurse them-poor dears! My all that I do seems so little."

"Ha!" grunted Uncle Jabez. "I reckon you'll do full and plenty. If you don't it'll be the first time in your life that you fall down on a job."

Which was remarkably warm commendation for the miller to give, and Ruth appreciated it deeply.

He drove her to town himself and put her on the train for New York.

"Don't you git into no more danger over there than you kin help, Niece Ruth," he urged. "Good-bye!"

She traveled alone to the metropolis, and that without hearing from or seeing any of her fellow-workers at the Red Cross rooms in Robinsburg.

She did wonder much, however, what the outcome of the fire had been.

What had become of Mrs. Rose Mantel, the woman in black? Had she been finally suspected by Mr. Mayo, and would she be refused further work with the organization because of the outcome of the fire? Ruth could not but believe that the conflagration had been caused to cover shortages in the Red Cross accounts.

At the Grand Central Terminal Ruth was met by a very lovely lady, a worker in the Red Cross, who took her home to her Madison Avenue residence, where Ruth was to remain for the few days she was to be in the city.

"It is all I can do," said the woman smiling, when Ruth expressed her wonder that she should have turned her beautiful home into a clearing house for Red Cross workers. "It is all I can do. I am quite alone now, and it cheers me and gives me new topics of interest to see and care for the splendid girls who are really going over there to help our soldiers."

Later Ruth Fielding learned that this woman's two sons were both in France-one in a medical corps and the other in the trenches. She had already given her all, it seemed; but she could not do too much for the country.

The several girls the lady entertained at this time had little opportunity for amus.e.m.e.nt. The Red Cross ship was to sail within forty-eight hours.

Ruth was able to meet many of the members of her supply unit, and found them a most interesting group. They had come from many parts of the country and had brought with them varied ideas about the work and of what they were "going up against."

All, however, seemed to be deeply interested in the Red Cross and the burden the war had laid upon them. They were not going to France to play, but to serve in any way possible.

There was a single disturbing element in the bustling hurry of getting under way. At this late moment the woman who had been chosen as chief of the supply unit was deterred from sailing. Serious illness in her family forced her to resign her position and remain to nurse those at home. It was quite a blow to the unit and to the Commissioner himself.

The question, Who will take her place? became the most important thought in the minds of the members of the unit. Ruth fully understood that to find a person as capable as the woman already selected would not be an easy matter.