Chapter 10 MEMORIES

However, Doris was to learn no more that night, for as she moved softly down the stairs the two men pushed back their chairs.

"You'd better be gettin' out of here before those old gals find out what we're doing," he warned. "I'll let you out the back way."

They moved on to the kitchen and Doris, made bold by her knowledge of the underhanded scheme, came down into the living room. She heard the back door close as Ronald Trent hurriedly departed. A moment later, as the gate creaked, Wags gave another savage yelp.

Not until she heard Henry starting up the back stairs to his own quarters, did Doris dare venture to the door. Waiting until everything was still again, she quietly let herself out of doors.

Wags whimpered joyfully as she stooped down to unfasten him, and lifted up his paws. Doris picked him up, and holding him close, stole back into the house. She closed and locked the door behind her and listened. The coast seemed clear.

"Don't you dare bark!" she whispered to Wags.

Tiptoeing up the stairway, she anxiously wondered if she could reach her room without being discovered.

"Azalea and Iris are probably asleep by this time," she thought.

In this supposition she was not correct. The Misses Gates were at that moment lying wide awake in their adjoining rooms in the left wing, recalling vivid memories of their girlhood when each hoped to be the bride of the handsome John Trent.

Only a few close friends had understood why Doris's uncle had gone away without marrying either of the twins, for by turns he had appeared in love with each of them. Some people had jokingly remarked that he could not tell them apart and that this was his reason for giving them up. At any rate, he had never been able to choose between them and had gone away, leaving heart-breaks behind. For Azalea and Iris the locked gates at the front entrance to the mansion were symbolic of a past which could never be forgotten.

With the passing of the years, the Misses Gates clung tightly to their memories, and the appearance of John Trent's son had only served to freshen them. Perhaps in Ronald Trent they saw their lover of old. At any rate, they doted upon him and were flattered by his extravagant compliments. Believing that he was indeed the son of John Trent, they could not see his cheapness or his crude devices for gaining their favor. They regarded him indulgently, as a mother might her son.

Shut away from the world by their own wishes, Azalea and Iris lived only for their dreams. Wickedness was to them nebulous and unreal. They had trusted Ronald Trent because it was in their nature to trust.

As Doris stole quietly up the stairway with Wags snuggled in her arms, her thoughts were bitter. What right had Ronald Trent to ingratiate himself with Azalea and Iris, only to trick them? Obviously, his motive was money.

"He won't get away with anything if I can help it!" she told herself.

As if to punctuate the thought, she unthinkingly gave Wags a tiny squeeze. He promptly yelped. Alarmed, Doris stopped and listened, but she could hear no one moving in the house. Quieting Wags, she continued up the stairs and down the long dark hall to her bedroom.

Letting herself in, she dropped Wags on the bed with a sigh of relief.

"I thought you never were coming," Kitty whispered. "What in the world made you take so long?"

"Lots of things," Doris told her impressively.

"I was scared to death here by myself."

"It was sort of scarey down where I was too, Kit. Listen! I have the most astonishing news!"

In a few terse sentences she then told her chum all she had overheard.

"Why, the mean old scamp!" Kitty exclaimed. "So you think he is after their money?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Do you suppose they have a lot?"

"I don't know, but I should think so. This house must be worth plenty."

Kitty and Doris were both ignorant of real estate values and did not know that if Locked Gates were placed upon the auction block, it would bring only a comparatively small sum. The house was not modern and had fallen into a general state of dilapidation.

"At least, I'm pretty sure that man isn't my cousin," Doris declared, "although Henry Sully did call him Trent."

"I knew there was something wrong with that man the minute I saw him," Kitty insisted.

Doris had finished undressing and slipped into bed. Wags snuggled down between the girls and they permitted him to remain, for his presence made them less afraid of the unseen dangers of the old mansion.

"What do you mean to do now that you've discovered that those men are plotting against Azalea and Iris?" Kitty asked.

"I don't know," Doris admitted doubtfully. "If they learn what we've discovered, there is no telling what they might do to us. They already suspect that I may try to make trouble. They called me a red-head! I'll show 'em a thing or two before I get through!"

"Will you tell the twins what you have learned?"

"Not right away. I want to get all the proof I can before I say anything to them. If I should make a mistake, they never would forgive me. You know, Kitty, I even hate to hear that man Trent laugh."

"To be honest with you, Dory, I do too."

"It seems so insincere."

"Yes," agreed Kitty. "Whenever he bursts out into one of those loud guffaws of his one just can't help but feel that he is doing something for effect-that there is not real honest effort back of anything he is planning or doing."

At this moment Wags, as if to comfort the two girls and to protect them from sinister wiles of those around them, stretched forth his little red tongue and tried to bestow a wet kiss on an ear of each of the girls.

"Dear little Waggsie, you are our friend, aren't you, even though we are not sure of the rest of them in this house?"

Wags gave a yawn of contentment, and snuggled closer between the girls.

"What do you suppose this Trent does to earn a living?" ventured Kitty.

"I can't imagine what he does, but he surely is well dressed, and has a snappy car."

"Dave said that car was a special imported model from France. They are very expensive-cost plenty, besides the transportation charges from the other side," replied Kitty.

"I wonder if Uncle John Trent was anything like this Ronald. Perhaps Uncle Ward never mentioned Ronald to me, because he was so loud and coarse. However, if Uncle really never knew he existed, he won't approve of him in our family circle now. This is really a dreadful thing to discover," and Doris sighed disconsolately, as she pushed back her soft hair that was massed over the pillow.

"Well, Doris, I think we're in for an adventure."

"It certainly looks like trouble after that conversation I just overheard between Trent and Henry," replied Doris.

"It was surely lucky they didn't see you in the dark hallway-that would have been unfortunate," and Kitty drew the coverlet over her bare, white arm, and shook her pillow into a more comfortable position.

Wags snored contentedly as if bored with hearing his bed-fellows chattering so late into the night.

"I'm not a bit sleepy, Kitty."

"Neither am I," responded her chum; "this has been such an exciting and thrillingly adventurous day, with your playing detective and getting information, that I can't go to sleep. I'm thinking about it too much."

"When do you suppose we'll hear why we are here to visit?" inquired Doris of Kitty.

"Well, maybe the Misses Gates will tell us soon, and that will be helpful to place the motive."

Far into the night the girls continued to talk, but at length, from sheer weariness, they turned over on their sides and tried to sleep.

"Hope no one finds Wags here," Doris murmured drowsily as she closed her eyes. "We must wake up early in the morning and get him out of the house before any one is up."