第6章

Jonas Prim loved his daughter.There was nothing, within reason, that money could buy which he would not have given her for the asking; but Jonas Prim's love, as his life, was expressed in dollar signs, while the love which Abigail craved is better expressed by any other means at the command of man.

Being misunderstood and, to all outward appearances of sentiment and affection, unloved had not in any way embittered Abigail's remarkably joyous temperament.

made up for it in some measure by getting all the fun and excitement out of life which she could discover therein, or invent through the medium of her own re-sourceful imagination.

But recently the first real sorrow had been thrust into her young life since the half-forgotten mother had been taken from her.The second Mrs.Prim had decided that it was her 'duty' to see that Abigail, having finished school and college, was properly married.As a match-maker the second Mrs.Prim was as a Texas steer in a ten cent store.It was nothing to her that Abigail did not wish to marry anyone, or that the man of Mrs.

Prim's choice, had he been the sole surviving male in the Universe, would have still been as far from Abigail's choice as though he had been an inhabitant of one of Orion's most distant planets.

As a matter of fact Abigail Prim detested Samuel Benham because he represented to her everything in life which she shrank from--age, avoirdupois, infirmity, baldness, stupidity, and matrimony.He was a prosaic old bachelor who had amassed a fortune by the simple means of inheriting three farms upon which an indus-trial city subsequently had been built.Necessity rather than foresight had compelled him to hold on to his prop-erty; and six weeks of typhoid, arriving and departing, had saved him from selling out at a low figure.The first time he found himself able to be out and attend to busi-ness he likewise found himself a wealthy man, and ever since he had been growing wealthier without personal effort.

All of which is to render evident just how impossible a matrimonial proposition was Samuel Benham to a bright, a beautiful, a gay, an imaginative, young, and a witty girl such as Abigail Prim, who cared less for money than for almost any other desirable thing in the world.

Nagged, scolded, reproached, pestered, threatened, Abigail had at last given a seeming assent to her step-mother's ambition; and had forthwith been packed off on a two weeks visit to the sister of the bride-groom elect.After which Mr.Benham was to visit Oakdale as a guest of the Prims, and at a dinner for which cards al-ready had been issued--so sure was Mrs.Jonas Prim of her position of dictator of the Prim menage--the engage-ment was to be announced.

It was some time after dinner on the night of Abigail's departure that Mrs.Prim, following a habit achieved by years of housekeeping, set forth upon her rounds to see that doors and windows were properly secured for the night.A French window and its screen opening upon the verandah from the library she found open."The house will be full of mosquitoes!" she ejaculated men-tally as she closed them both with a bang and made them fast."I should just like to know who left them open.

Upon my word, I don't know what would become of this place if it wasn't for me.Of all the shiftlessness!"and she turned and flounced upstairs.In Abigail's room she flashed on the center dome light from force of habit, although she knew that the room had been left in proper condition after the girl's departure earlier in the day.

The first thing amiss that her eagle eye noted was the candlestick lying on the floor beside the dressing table.

As she stooped to pick it up she saw the open drawer from which the small automatic had been removed, and then, suspicions, suddenly aroused, as suddenly became fear; and Mrs.Prim almost dove across the room to the hidden wall safe.A moment's investigation revealed the startling fact that the safe was unlocked and practically empty.It was then that Mrs.Jonas Prim screamed.

Her scream brought Jonas and several servants upon the scene.A careful inspection of the room disclosed the fact that while much of value had been ignored the bur-glar had taken the easily concealed contents of the wall safe which represented fully ninety percentum of the value of the personal property in Abigail Prim's apart-ments.

Mrs.Prim scowled suspiciously upon the servants.

Who else, indeed, could have possessed the intimate knowledge which the thief had displayed.Mrs.Prim saw it all.The open library window had been but a clever blind to hide the fact that the thief had worked from the inside and was now doubtless in the house at that very moment.

"Jonas," she directed, "call the police at once, and see that no one, absolutely no one, leaves this house until they have been here and made a full investigation.""Shucks, Pudgy!" exclaimed Mr.Prim."You don't think the thief is waiting around here for the police, do you?""I think that if you get the police here at once, Jonas, we shall find both the thief and the loot under our very roof," she replied, not without asperity.

"You don't mean--" he hesitated."Why, Pudgy, you don't mean you suspect one of the servants?""Who else could have known?" asked Mrs.Prim.The servants present looked uncomfortable and cast sheep-ish eyes of suspicion at one another.

"It's all tommy rot!" ejaculated Mr.Prim; "but I'll call the police, because I got to report the theft.It's some slick outsider, that's who it is," and he started down stairs toward the telephone.Before he reached it the bell rang, and when he had hung up the receiver after the conversation the theft seemed a trivial matter.In fact he had almost forgotten it, for the message had been from the local telegraph office relaying a wire they had just received from Mr.Samuel Benham.