Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery; Or, The Christmas Adventure at Carver HouseThe Project Gutenberg eBook of The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery; Or, The Christmas Adventure at Carver House This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery; Or, The Christmas Adventure at Carver House Author: Hildegard G. Frey Release date: February 25, 2012 [eBook #38983] Most recently updated: January 8, 2021 Language: English Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38983 Credits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan, J. Ali Harlow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY; OR, THE CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE AT CARVER HOUSE *** Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan, J. Ali Harlow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery or, THE CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE at CARVER HOUSE By HILDEGARD G. FREY AUTHOR OF The Camp Fire Girls Series A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York THE Camp Fire Girls Series A Series of Stories for Camp Fire Girls Endorsed by the Officials of the Camp Fire Girls Organization By HILDEGARD G. FREY The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods or, The Winnebago's Go Camping The Camp Fire Girls at School or, The Wohelo Weavers The Camp Fire Girls at Onoway House or, The Magic Garden The Camp Fire Girls Go Motoring or, Along the Road That Leads the Way The Camp Fire Girls' Larks and Pranks or, The House of the Open Door The Camp Fire Girls on Ellen's Isle or, the Trail of the Seven Cedars The Camp Fire Girls on the Open Road or, Glorify Work The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit or, Over The Top With the Winnebago's The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery or, The Christmas Adventures at Carver House The Camp Fire Girls at Camp Keewaydin or, Down Paddles Copyright, 1919 By A. L. Burt Company THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY CHAPTER I THE EMPTY HOUSE Katherine Adams stepped from the train at Oakwood, glanced expectantly up and down the station platform, hesitated a moment, and then, picking out a conspicuous spot under a glaring arc light, deposited her suitcase on the ground with a thump, mounted guard beside it and patiently waited for Nyoda to find her in the surging crowd. It was two days before Christmas, and travel was heavy. It seemed as though the entire population of Oakland was either coming home, departing, or rushing madly up and down before the panting train in search of friends and relatives. Katherine was engulfed in a tidal wave of rapturous greetings that rolled over her from every side, as a coachful of soldiers, home for Christmas, were met and surrounded by the waiting lines of townspeople. Katherine stood still, absorbed in watching the various reunions taking place around her, while the tidal wave gradually subsided, receding in the direction of Main Street. The principal stream had already flowed past her and the crowd was rapidly thinning out when Katherine woke to the realization that she was still unclaimed. There was no sign of Nyoda. The expectant smile faded from Katherine's face and in its place there came a look of puzzled wonder. What had happened? Why wasn't Nyoda there to meet her? Was there some mistake? Wasn't this Oakwood? Had she gotten off at the wrong station, she thought in sudden panic. No, there was the sign beside the door of the green boarded station; its gilded letters gleamed down reassuringly at her. Katherine stood on one foot and pondered. Was this the day she was supposed to come? What day was it, anyway? The thick pad calendar beside the ticket seller's window inside the station proclaimed it to be the twenty-third. All right so far; she hadn't mixed up the date, then. She had written Nyoda that she would come on the twenty-third, on the five-forty-five train. The train had been on time. Where was Nyoda? Katherine was assailed by a sudden doubt. Had she mailed that letter? Yes, she was certain of that. She had run out to the mail box at ten o'clock at night especially to mail it. What had gone wrong? Why wasn't there someone to meet her? She looked around at the walls as if expecting them to answer, and her roving eye caught sight of the lettering on a glass door opposite. The telephone! Goose! Why hadn't she thought of that before? Of course there was some mistake responsible for Nyoda's not meeting her, but in a moment that would be all straightened out. She sprang across to the booth and picked up the directory hanging beside the telephone. Then a queer, bewildered look came into her eyes and she stood still with the book hanging uncertainly from her fingers. She had forgotten Nyoda's name! She twisted her brows into a pucker and made a frantic effort to recall it. No use; it was a fruitless endeavor. Where that name used to be in her mind there was now a blank space, empty and echoless as the original void. It was _too_ ridiculous! Katherine gave a little stamp of vexation. It was not the first time a name had popped out of her mind at a critical moment. And sometimes--O horror! it didn't come back again for days. Was there ever anything so utterly absurd as the plight in which she now found herself? She knew Nyoda's name as well as her own. M. M. It certainly began with an M. After nearly an hour's exasperated wracking of her brains she gave it up in disgust and stalked out of the station. Not for worlds would she have confided to anyone her plight. "People will think you're an escaped lunatic," she told herself in terrified wrath. "They might put you in an asylum, and it would serve you right if they did. You aren't fit to be out without a guardian. After this you'll have to have your destination written out on a label tied to your ankle, like a trunk." She had one recollection to guide her. The house Nyoda lived in stood on top of a hill. The name of Carver House and the address on Oak Street had faded along with Nyoda's name. "I'll walk until I come to a house on the top of a hill," she decided, "and find it that way. There can't be many houses on hills in this town, it seems to be all in a valley. Come along, Katherine, what you haven't got in your head you'll have to have in your heels." No one, seeing the tall, clever looking girl stepping briskly out of the station and turning up Main Street with a businesslike tread, would have guessed that she was a stranger in a strange town and hadn't any idea where she was going. There was such an air of confidence and capability about |