Chapter XXVI: Tumbling in

“Your sister took it,” said Nicky simply, as the whole party stood in Miss Davis’ parlor waiting to hear.

“My sister—took it!” Miss Isabel Davis could scarcely articulate; she was too surprised.

“Yep. She said _you_ wanted to show it and _she_ didn’t. She said it was hers too, and she gave me five dollars not to tell.” This last admission caused the boy to flush a little under his dark skin, for the taking of that “hush money” had worried Nicky considerably.

“And Miss Davis’s sister knew _that_ you knew where we hid it?” Babs asked in tone, but not exactly in words. “How did she know that?”

“Please sit down,” begged the hostess excitedly. “I am so flustered. Sister is coming home on this train. There’s the taxi——”

And it rumbled up to the door.

Just what was said after that was pretty hard to keep track of because, not only was every one talking at once but every one was so happy each just seemed to bubble up in a perfect torrent of excitement.

“It was all right, wasn’t it, Sister?” the newly arrived Miss Davis, the other twin, was asking Miss Isabel Davis, “I was too proud to have our heirloom shown to a—mob,” she stated. “But I was wrong. You were right,” she admitted to her sister. “It would have been an honor to have had our _Santa Maria_ among those other heirlooms. And there was no common crowd. I’ve read the papers every day and I hope we can get our ship in before it closes. I’d love to have it there.”

“You can,” said Dr. Hale. “I’ll see about that. I’m on the final committee.”

“But where did you hide it?” asked the dazed Miss Isabel, addressing her sister.

“I didn’t hide it at all,” the sister replied. “I put it just where it belonged, in the cabinet.”

“In the cabinet!” exclaimed Babs. “And they were blaming Nicky——”

“In the cabinet!” repeated Miss Isabel, breathlessly, making straight for the tall mahogany desk that had a glass compartment at the top.

“You could have found it if you had looked, Sister,” the other twin told her. “And you didn’t even ask me about it.”

“I didn’t dare to, I was so worried.” Miss Isabel stood looking at the vague lines of the ship model behind the glass door. “Well! Well! And that was there all the time! What a foolish old woman I am!”

“But you see, Nicky was wise after all,” put in Babs. “He got that precious five dollars——”

“And here’s five more.” Miss Isabel ran her hand in her pocket and soon held out a bill. “He deserves it. I owe it to him. Take it, son, and you’re a fine little man.” She couldn’t just think of anything more complimentary to say, and her eyes were swimming.

Five dollars more! That meant a lot to Nicky, and he undertook to fold the precious bill so carefully that Cara wondered where he was going to put it. She watched. The others were all talking again, and Nicky noticed her interest.

“See?” he said, taking from his magic pocket, that never leaked in spite of his tatters, a carved peach pit. “I did that,” he admitted shyly, opening the pit and placing the finely folded bill in the center.

“And I’m just telling sister about your sampler,” piped up Miss Isabel to Babs. “And how it brought about our relationship. Isn’t this too wonderful,” she impulsively threw her arms around Babs, “to have cousins! We are going to be cousins——”

“Sampler cousins,” joked Babs, who was almost as dazed as was Miss Isabel. But she had never for a moment lost faith in Nicky, so the establishment of his honesty did not at all surprise her. The idea of the twins stealing their own boat model! That was funny!

“And just wait until you see mine,” she told the ladies. “You won’t be the only ones in _our_ family,” she stressed the pronoun, “with a model of Columbus’ ship. _Our_ artists are making me one.”

“And I’ll have them make me the _Pinta_,” declared Cara. “You know, the companion ship to the _Santa Maria_.”

“And maybe we can complete the fleet by getting me the Nina,” joined in Dr. Hale, laughing heartily.

“The _Santa Maria_!” said the twins.

“The _Nina_,” said Dr. Hale.

“And the _Pinta_,” finished Cara.

“The whole float,” chuckled Nicky. “Sure we can make them. Ben’s good at ship models.”

Cara was thrilled, she admitted.

“I never had so much fun in all my life,” she told Babs, enthusiastically. “I just can’t wait to see the other girls’ faces when they hear. Them and their black handers,” she choked, swinging around toward Nicky who was at the door.

“Here!” called out one of the twins, “you must wait for tea. It won’t take a minute. Come back here, Nickolas——”

“I gotta go,” sang back the boy who was waiting for nothing, neither tea, cookies, nor even an auto ride. He was flying back to camp with the five-dollar bill crammed into the peach pit.

“Talk about society,” whispered Cara to Babs, as a little later they sipped their tea from the beautiful old china cups, with the deep garnet gold-rimmed bands, “this beats even a house party. Aren’t the twinnies lovely?”

“But wasn’t that a wonderful surprise? To find the model just where it belonged, and to think that any one could ever suspect——”

“Your Nicky,” finished Cara. “That was mean. But we knew, didn’t we?” she insisted loyally, glancing around her happily, for the scene with the old ladies and the doctor was what Ruth would have called “quaint.”

And speaking of Ruth, it was she who led the cheering squad next day at the Community House when first prize was awarded to the Misses Davis’ entry, the ship model of the famous old Columbus boat, the _Santa Maria_.

Nicky was there but no one saw him. He was perched on the piece of lattice where the vines were so thick he had to tear them apart to peek into the room. And if he had stirred suddenly he might have spilled himself in, for the queer window was built high in the side wall of the room, and it was wide open. No one could possibly have seen Nicky—he had a grandstand seat, only he had to stand up.

It took a long time to settle all the prizes for quilts and cushions and lamp shades, and as Cara said, it was a real blessing they had not thought of nightgowns. Or maybe it was Ruth who said that, but at any rate, the girls’ department had a good laugh over the idea, for such a show would indeed have been too funny for words. Imagine the big muslin high-necked, long-sleeved gowns in these days of dainty silks and cobwebby lingerie.

“There comes your sampler,” Esther told Barbara, as one of the ladies stepped forward with the framed sampler in her hand.

The chairwoman, Mrs. Winters, took it and made quite a speech about its wonderful handwork. She declared it was a magnificent sample of early American needlework, and that it was well worthy of a first prize. This she then awarded the blushing Barbara, and just as Barbara turned again towards the audience a cheer, a boyish cheer, came in through the window.

“Hurrah!” shouted Nicky, and every one turned around.

The next moment a boy came tumbling down! For Nicky, in his enthusiasm had put his head in too far!

“Land sakes!”

“Mercy me!”

“What’s that!”

“A boy!” came in a succession of exclamations from the astonished women. They scurried around as if a mouse had crawled into the room.

“Nicky!” screamed Barbara, “look out for Mrs. Brownell’s table.”

“I’m in me bare feet,” answered the embarrassed boy, “an’ they can’t scratch.”

Then Dr. Hale dragged Nicky forward—he had to drag him literally, for the boy wanted very much to escape. He told the astonished crowd something of the recent history of the Marcusi family and Nicky’s brilliant prospects.

“And you know his father,” Barbara reminded the speaker so that every one in the room could hear her. “The Washington authorities have promised to release Nicky’s father,” she managed to say. “They have found him innocent,” she declared indignantly. “He never should have been—have been taken from his family,” she insisted, as she always had done when jail or prison might have been the word to choose.

“Hump!” grunted Nicky, “nobody never would have knowed that if it hadn’t a-been for you!”

“Nicky!” Barbara tried to hush him.

“He’s right,” sang out Cara’s voice. “Barbara Hale has been working all summer to help this Marcusi family and we girls were so stupid we didn’t even——”

“You did as much as I did,” interrupted Babs, insisting upon paying the compliment to Cara, in about the way girls insist upon paying each other’s carfare while the conductor waits.

But the ladies didn’t wait; they clapped.

END

This Isn’t All!

Would you like to know what became of the good friends you
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SALLY FOUND OUT

A GIRL CALLED TED

TED AND TONY, TWO GIRLS OF TODAY

CLEO’S MISTY RAINBOW

CLEO’S CONQUEST

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BARBARA HALE’S MYSTERY FRIEND
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NANCY BRANDON’S MYSTERY

CONNIE LORING
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CONNIE LORING’S GYPSY FRIEND
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GLORIA AT BOARDING SCHOOL

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