The Merriweather Girls and the Mystery of the Queen's Fan Part 41

Could you get a good print by this evening? The plate would do, but we'd like to have a clear print to show the old fellow. I'll go down and see Chief Baldwin now."

"I'll have it ready at eight o'clock!" answered Shirley from the dark room.

It was in the back room of Shirley's Shop where Chief Baldwin brought old Peter Gruff, confronted him with the picture and accused him of stealing the fan.

"I steal Colonel Baxter's fan!" he exclaimed violently. "Why should I take the fan when I have enough of my own?"

"That is the question I am asking you. Now, Peter, confess and get it over with. If you do not tell us everything, I'll send this picture to the New York police and get your record. Maybe there is another picture of you in the Rogues Gallery!"

The old man started excitedly. "No, no, don't do that!" he cried.

Then feeling that he had given himself away, added, "I don't like policemen; they ask too many questions. I have done nothing. I'm an old man and don't want to be disturbed."

"All right, Peter, out with the story! If you say you stole the fan, we'll go easy with you. --That is, if you confess. The girls have asked me not to be too hard on you."

"Those girls!" exclaimed Peter Gruff, throwing his hands up in dismay.

"They come and they come and they look into every corner of the shop!

They are a nuisance!"

The Chief laughed heartily. "All right Peter, now why did you take the fan?"

"I wouldn't steal the fan," began Peter Gruff, but Chief Baldwin rose.

"All right, we'll get the city police on the job and it will likely mean a long term in prison for you."

At the word "prison," Peter Gruff jumped to his feet. "No, no, Chief, not that! I'll tell." And with the helpful questioning of the Chief, the old man blurted out his story. It began with the night of the party. He had looked for the fan in the attic. It was his footprints in the dust and the snow.

"How could that be?" laughed Chief Baldwin, looking at the tiny foot of the old man. "Those feet were big."

Peter hesitated a moment then continued: "I put on big shoes so they'd think a big man did it."

He owned that he had slipped back into the house and had been seen by some of the young people. Finally he had hidden away in a closet and waited until the party was over. When he thought everyone was asleep he had crept into Colonel Baxter's study and stolen the fan, and later he had hidden it in Hermit's Hut.

"But why did you hide it away out there?" asked the Chief.

"I didn't think anybody would go out there in the winter. n.o.body ever does. But those girls! They go everywhere! I thought I would leave the fan there until people had forgotten it. It was a good hiding place."

"But as usual when a man does something wrong, he gets found out! The girls were too smart for you!" answered the Chief. "Why did you want the fan? Tell me that."

"I had a big offer from a dealer in Paris. That dealer told me it was owned by someone in Lynnwood, he didn't know who. But I knew that Colonel Baxter would be the only person who could have it. So I got it."

"If I had my way," said Chief Baldwin sternly, "I'd put you in jail and keep you there a long time. But Colonel Baxter is kind and is willing to give you another chance. So let this be a lesson to you to go straight."

The old man seemed to have shrunk to half his size as he rose and followed the Chief out of the door. In the outside room he met Colonel Baxter. "I'm sorry," he said and was gone, but whether he was sorry he had done wrong or sorry he had been caught was doubtful.

"So that solves the Mystery of the Queen's Fan," said Colonel Baxter as the young people came into the shop a few moments later. "Old Peter has confessed."

"Colonel Baxter, you don't know what a relief it is," cried Phil. "I got so nervous, being shadowed all the time, that sometimes I wondered if I _had_ stolen it." Phil laughed in a strained manner. "It's a great relief. You know, half the time, I think the girls believed I _was_ guilty."

"Why Phil Gordon! What an idea!" exclaimed Kit Patten. "We all stood by you to a man! Every single moment you were backed by the Merriweather Girls! And you know it!"

"Yes, I guess I do. You are friends worth having, but it all looked so bad for me that I wouldn't have blamed you in the least."

"We didn't doubt you for a single minute!" exclaimed Shirley.

"You should have heard Bet defending you to that dumb detective, Amos Longworth!" cried Joy.

Bet could laugh now as she recalled the conversation. Her relief was great, especially as Colonel Baxter had plead for Peter Gruff and he was to go free, on the promise that he would leave the village and never come back.

As the group left the shop, Bet caught Phil by the arm.

"Phil, I must talk to you alone."

"All right. Let the others go on," suggested the boy. "We'll walk slowly."

Colonel Baxter turned and saw his daughter and knew that she was making a clean breast of her suspicions against her friend. He smiled and spoke to the other girls. "Come on Kit, we'll take you home first.

You're the nearest!"

When a short distance was between them, Bet suddenly caught Phil's arm.

"Phil, I must tell you that, since Sat.u.r.day when I found the fan, I thought you had taken it."

Phil stopped short. The color had left his face. "Bet! How could you!" There was a real hurt in his voice. "I thought you knew me better than that."

"I did, Phil. When I finally showed Dad the evidence against you I made him promise not to believe that you did it, even when things looked bad."

"But what was the evidence against me, Bet? I don't understand."

"The fan was wrapped in your handkerchief!"

"Of course it was. I forgot that until this minute. I was afraid the fan would get dirty so I wrapped it in my handkerchief."

"And Phil, I'd have known it was that way, if I hadn't been so terribly worried."

"How did the other girls feel about it when you told them?"

"Oh I wouldn't tell them. I hid the handkerchief. No one knows about it except me and Dad."

"Bet, you're a sport! I like you! Now, forget that you ever blamed me, and don't feel badly about it."

They hurried ahead to catch up with the others and all met at Kit's gate.

"Isn't it a wonderful night!" Bet exclaimed suddenly, looking up into the sky. "Why, I never saw so many stars before! They fairly sing!"

"The singing is in the heart of the Merriweather Girls who have saved the Manor from being sold and have also saved the reputation of their good friend," suggested Colonel Baxter.

"It's good to be alive!" cried Phil.

Then the Colonel hesitated a moment. "You know I am going to reward the Merriweather girls for finding the queen's fan."

"Hooray!" shouted Bet. "What's the reward?"