The Mystery of Arnold Hall Read online

  CHAPTER IV THE ALLEY GANG

  As Anne opened the door and started down a long hall, from which roomsopened on either side, a short, dark little girl, whose round brown faceinstantly reminded one of a pleasant hazel nut, appeared from a room atthe very end of the corridor.

  "Anne, darling!" she shrieked, dashing along the passage and throwingherself upon Anne so violently that Anne staggered and fell back againstJane, who had to grasp one of the pillars quickly to save herself fromfalling.

  "Don't be so rough, Fran!" gasped Anne, but as she spoke, Francestransferred her embraces to the other two girls in turn, while Patriciastood beside the door watching, until Anne led her forward and beganintroductions.

  "This roughneck is Frances Quinne, who lives at the end of the alley. Yousee, this corridor is so long and narrow we call it 'The Alley' and theeleven girls who live here are known as The Alley Gang. Kath come yet?"she inquired, as Frances shook hands with Patricia.

  "Yes, she's upstairs. You might tell me your friend's name; that's onlycommon politeness."

  "Your welcome literally knocked me out," laughed Anne. "She's PatriciaRandall, and is going to be in our class, and live here."

  "Here?" demanded Frances in surprise.

  "Yes; and, what's more, right in the _alley_!" cried Jane, triumphantlyholding up a card which she had picked out of a pile on the hall table.While the others were talking, Jane had been busily rummaging among thecards of room assignments.

  "Let's see," said Anne, taking the bit of pasteboard from Jane. "No. 5.Right, next to me!"

  "And across from us," added Jane. "Has Ruth come yet?"

  A slight little girl with big shy black eyes and a boyish bob ran downthe stairs and approached the group.

  "What do you mean by being up there when I come?" demanded Jane, shakingher room mate affectionately.

  The girl's pale face flushed slightly as she replied in a soft littlevoice: "I went up to see if Clarice had all of her things out of No. 14."

  "No excuse at all," declared Jane. "This is my room mate, Ruth Maynard;Patricia Randall, a new member of our Gang."

  "What about Clarice, Ruthie?" asked Anne curiously, after Ruth hadsilently shaken hands with Patricia.

  "She's moving down here to No. 4," replied Ruth quietly.

  "Good night!" ejaculated Hazel, sitting down violently upon one of thetrunks which lined the hall.

  "Oh, boy! Oh, boy!" exclaimed Jane dramatically.

  "Down _here_!" repeated Anne. "How come? Don't know whether or not Ifancy her for an opposite neighbor."

  "Nobody knows why she's been moved," contributed Frances excitedly. "Shewent to her old room as a matter of course when she came this morning,and then we found her card had No. 4 on it."

  "I think that's just fierce!" cried Hazel. "She's so noisy andnotorious--"

  "Now, Hazel," protested Jane, "there's nothing really bad about Clarice.She got herself talked about last year, it is true, but--"

  "Maybe the Powers-that-Be think we'll reform her," suggested a gentlevoice behind the group.

  Everybody turned to face a fair, plump girl with braids of honey-coloredhair wound around her shapely head, despite the prevailing fashion ofshort locks.

  "Mary Taylor!" cried Hazel, joyfully kissing her room mate.

  "Hail, Hail, The Gang's All Here!" chanted a brisk voice, as its owner, atall, finely developed girl with red cheeks and brown skin, which bespokea love for out-of-doors life, jumped from the third last step to the hallbelow and encircled with her long arms as many of the girls as she could.

  "Katharine, you hoyden!" exclaimed Anne. "Let me present PatriciaRandall."

  "This noisy creature is my room mate," added Hazel, as Katharine gavePatricia a regular man's grasp of the hand.

  "One of the Gang is missing," commented Anne. "Where's Betty?"

  "'Boy Friend' is bringing her down by auto after dinner," said Katharine.

  "She must be going to be Patricia's room mate," offered Anne.

  "She is," announced Jane. "I saw her card."

  "What room did she have last year?" whispered Patricia to Anne.

  "No. 4; but she felt quite abused at not having a room mate, so I imagineshe'll be delighted to move in with you. Here comes Dolly," she added inan undertone, as the front door opened and a medium sized woman of abouttwenty-eight entered, followed by a short rather heavy girl whoserestless black eyes missed no detail of the group before her.

  "Well, girls," said Mrs. Vincent, smiling patronizingly upon them, "howare you all? Glad to get back?" Without waiting for a reply, she went on:"You'll find some changes here this fall. Clarice," laying her hand onthe girl's arm, "is to be down here with us in No. 4. We also have a newmember of our household, Miss Patricia Randall," crossing the hall toshake hands with Patricia. "I do hope you'll like us all, and be happyhere." Then she continued, without stopping for Patricia's reply, "We'reto have a new maid--"

  "Oh, where is Lizzie?" asked Jane.

  "She got married this summer," replied Mrs. Vincent; "and, my dears, youshould have seen the beautiful presents she received! Our new maid's nameis Rhoda Hurd, and the Dean says she comes highly recommended. She'll behere some time tonight. You had better all unpack now, and get ready fordinner. Arnold Hall girls will take the southwest end of the dining room,as usual. Come, Miss Randall, I'll show you your room. Of course it looksrather bare now," she added, when they stood on the threshold, "butyou'll soon change all that. My room is No. 1, right back of thereception room. If you want anything, don't hesitate to come to me."

  When Patricia found herself alone, her glance traveled from the day bedson either side of the room to the two dressers flanking the doorway andto the writing tables in the big bay window. In spite of its bare floorand curtainless windows, the room had distinct possibilities; for thefurniture was Early American, and the woodwork was good.

  "Why," she demanded of Anne, who came in at that moment, "do they havethat heavy barred wire outside of the windows? It reminds me of a prison,or makes me feel as if I were in a cage."

  "It is, a sort of a prison," laughed Anne. "You see, some of the girlslike to stay out later than 10:30, and if it were possible to climb inthe windows, nobody knows what time they would come in. The Black Bookwouldn't be of any use then."

  Patricia looked puzzled. "The 'Black Book?'" she repeated.

  "Yes; beside the telephone booth in the front hall, near Dolly's room, isa table upon which rests a big, black blank book. Whenever you go out orcome in after dinner, you must register in it your name and the hour. Thegirls take turns looking after it, and at bed time, Dolly inspects itbefore she makes the round of the rooms. And, by the way, whenever theoutside door at the back of the hall is opened, it rings a bell inDolly's room, right under the bed. So you see how good your chances areof staying out nights."

  "Tell me something about Clarice," begged Patricia, sitting down on oneof the beds. "Why do all the girls dislike her so very much?"

  "They don't really dislike her," replied Anne, plumping down besidePatricia. "She's lots of fun, and generous to a fault; but she has such aloud laugh, and doesn't care what she does or says. A good time appealsto her a whole lot more than does study, and last year she played aroundtoo much with a boy upon whom the authorities frowned. The girls on thisfloor have always been so congenial, and have had no demerits forconduct; so naturally they rather resent the introduction of Clarice. Ithink, though, that there is really a lot of good in the girl, if onecould only develop it. Let's go down the hall and see if Kath has a dressyou could wear to dinner. Mine would be too large for you."

  Just as they stepped out into the hall, the doorbell rang.

  "I'll bet that's Dolly's boy friend," whispered Anne, pausing to peeraround one of the pillars, and catching sight of the top of a man's hatshowing in the door pane. "Wait a minute, I want you to get a look athim. He's a special student here, and years younger than Doll."

  The door
leading to the cellar opened suddenly, and a black-gowned maidappeared and hurried down the hall to answer the bell.

  "Apparently Rhoda has arrived. Isn't she pretty?" breathed Anne softly.

  When the door was opened, a low-toned conversation ensued, of which theeavesdroppers could hear nothing. Then Rhoda admitted the blond youth,who stood waiting while the maid came down the hall toward the two girls.

  "Some one to see Miss Randall," she announced.

  Patricia clutched Anne's arm in a frenzy. "You've got to come with me,"she whispered.

  "Are you expecting a bag?" inquired the boy gravely, fixing his greatgrey eyes upon Patricia when she reached the door.

  "Yes," she faltered; "I left it on the bus."

  "The driver was going to bring it down on the six," volunteered Anneirrelevantly.

  "He did," said the youth, "and asked me to deliver it. I have it in thevestibule." Opening the door, he secured the bag and handed it toPatricia.

  "I am very grateful to you," said Patricia a bit stiffly. "It was good ofyou to bring it."

  "No trouble at all. I was down at the shelter waiting for some one--" hebroke off suddenly, as if fearing he had said too much, and bowed himselfsolemnly out.

  "Well!" exclaimed Anne. "Of all things! You seem fated to get mixed upwith that young man."

  "Don't I? I suppose Mike remembered that he was on the bus with us, andjust naturally gave the bag to him on that account."

  "Probably. Anyhow, now you won't have to borrow a dress. You'd betterhurry, though; it's after six, and we dine--mark, I said _dine_--atsix-thirty."

  Dinner was quite an experience for Patricia, who had never before seen acollege dining room. The big low room was bare and unattractive initself, but the long tables, each surrounded by twenty girls in prettydinner gowns, the bright lights, and the orange-clad waitresses made upfor lack of decorations elsewhere.

  "My ears will grow at least a yard long here," she observed to Anne, whosat next to her.

  "What on earth do you mean?" inquired that young lady, reaching for theolives.

  "Why, there are so many interesting conversations going on all around me,that I want to hear them all."

  Anne laughed. "This is nothing; just wait until classes are in fullswing. Then child psychology, music theory, library cataloguing, artappreciation, domestic science, and half a dozen other subjects are allbeing discussed simultaneously."

  That evening most of the girls had unpacking and settling to finish, buta few members of the Alley Gang gathered in Anne's attractive room tovisit. Betty Grant had just arrived, and she and Patricia had approved ofeach other at the first glance.

  "Tell me, Betty," Anne was saying, "is the Boy Friend coming down weekends, as he did last year?"

  "No; this year, I'm going to work--_hard_."

  Everybody laughed.

  "Well, I am. I told Ed he could come only twice during this term--"

  "And a few times in between," finished Hazel.

  "By the way," began Betty, in a different tone. "I saw the queerestthing, just as Ed and I drove up. There was a fellow standing in front ofthe laundry window, right under your room, Hazel, evidently talking tosome one inside."

  "Come now, Betty," protested Katharine, "you're making that up to changethe subject."

  "Honest to goodness, I'm not! I saw him plain as daylight. I didn't sayanything to Ed, because he would have wanted to investigate, and I've nofancy for having him get into an argument with strange men. He might havehad a gun, for all I know."

  "Heavens, Betty! We'll all be afraid to go to sleep tonight," shudderedMary. "Hazel, you'll have to push your bed up close to mine so you canprotect me."

  "What did the man look like?" asked Jane.

  "I couldn't see his face, but he was slight, of medium height and wore agrey suit and hat."

  "The blond youth!" whispered Anne to Patricia.

  "But what would he be doing prowling around here?" asked Patricia,frowning.

  "Search me! Oh, hello, Lu, where have you been all the evening?"

  "In the laundry part of the time. I came on here right from a houseparty, and my clothes are in a fine state."

  Jane, Anne, Hazel, and Patricia glanced significantly at one another.

  "Sure you were pressing, Lu?" asked Hazel mischievously.

  Before Lucile had a chance to reply, Betty leaned forward and inquired,"Did _you_ see the man, Lu?"

  "What man?"

  "The man who was looking in the laundry window."

  Lucile laughed, a bit loudly for her. "Nobody around the place while Iwas there," she replied, with marked carelessness, "only Rhoda."

  "What was _she_ doing?" asked Anne.

  "Pressing her uniforms."

  A discussion of the new maid and her predecessor followed, and thesubject of the mysterious man was dropped.