"Old Fontainebleau friend----" Billie called over the telephone. Then she put up the receiver. "The clerk will call us when he has delivered the message," she explained. "But I'm scared, Nancy. I have a premonition of evil."
The two girls waited breathlessly for five minutes. The telephone bell rang out.
Then she turned quite pale, and placing her hand over the mouthpiece, she whispered: "It's old Stony-face. Come quick. You can hear."
Even across the room Nancy caught some of those vibrant base tones, and with her ear against the telephone, she heard every word he said.
"A friend of my daughter's, you say? An old school friend, eh? Humph----"
Billie had not said that, but she made no denial.
"Campbell the name. Are you aware that my daughter is about to be married?"
"Oh, yes," called Billie. "That's why I wanted to see her. I--er--you know----"
"Oh, Nancy, what shall I say? I'm so frightened."
Nancy had a brilliant idea, and one most characteristic.
"I do so want to see her trousseau," Billie repeated.
There was a deep laugh, which shook the wires like the roar of a lion.
"Girls are all alike," he said. "They love finery. Evelyn has got the finest trousseau that money can buy. I suppose you have heard of it. I'll have you connected with her room."
Evidently, Mr. John James Stone had spoken to Wilhelmina from the office, where he had made careful inquiries: five ladies in a motor car registering from the East; chaperone very distinguished looking.
Billie waited at the telephone. The ordeal of conversing with John James Stone had brought beads of moisture to her forehead. But she was still not sure that the danger was over. A man like that would be capable of keeping himself connected so as to overhear the conversation. The notion flashed into her mind, just as a sweet voice said, "Yes?" and she determined to take no chances.
"This is Wilhelmina Campbell"--there was a long pause--"Billie Campbell," she repeated. "Evelyn, have you forgotten that day at Fontainebleau?"
Billie had played her trump card now. There was nothing else she could do. But she was glad she had not mentioned Prairie Inn, for instantly the bass voice interrupted with--"I thought you said school friend?"
"How angry she must be," thought Billie, "to have her father eavesdrop on her like this."