CHAPTER 1 AN UNINVITED GUEST

“Mrs. Weems, what can be delaying Dad? He promised faithfully to be home by three o’clock and it’s nearly five now. Unless we start soon we’ll never get to Sunset Beach tonight.”

Penny Parker, in blue slacks and a slightly mussed polo shirt, gazed disconsolately at the over-loaded automobile standing on the gravel driveway of the Parker home. Aided by Mrs. Weems, the family housekeeper, she had spent hours packing the sedan with luggage and camping equipment. Though the task long had been finished, Mr. Parker failed to arrive.

“Your father is a very busy man,” Mrs. Weems responded to the girl’s question. “No doubt he’s been held up at the office.”

“Then why doesn’t he telephone? It’s driving me crazy to wait and wonder.”

Penny’s freckled little face twisted into a grimace of worry. For weeks she and her father, editor-owner of the Riverview Star, had planned a vacation camping trip to the nearby seashore resort, Sunset Beach. Twice the excursion had been postponed. Penny, who knew well her father’s habit of changing his mind, was fearful that even now something would cause another vexing delay.

“I’m going to call the Star office this minute!” she declared, starting for the house.

Mrs. Weems busied herself gathering up loose odds and ends that had blown about the yard. She was cramming waste paper into a box when Penny banged out the door, her eyes tragic.

“I couldn’t reach Dad!” she announced. “He left the office more than an hour ago.”

“Then he should have been home before this,” Mrs. Weems agreed.

“Something’s happened. Maybe he’s been run down by a car—”

“Now Penny, stop such wild talk,” the housekeeper interrupted sternly. “You know better.”

“But Dad was struck by an automobile last winter. What else could delay him?”

“A dozen things,” Mrs. Weems replied. “Probably a business engagement.”

“In that case, wouldn’t he have telephoned me?”

“Perhaps not. Now do stop fretting, Penny. Your father will be here before long.”

“He’d better be,” Penny said darkly.

Sitting down on the stone step by the door, she scuffed the toe of her tennis shoe back and forth in the gravel. Mrs. Weems who had cared for the girl ever since the death of Mrs. Parker, gazed at her sternly.

“Now do stop grieving!” she chided. “That’s no way to act just because you’re impatient and disappointed.”

“But I’ve been disappointed three times now,” Penny complained. “We planned on starting early and having a picnic lunch on the road. Dad promised faithfully—”

A car drove up to the curb at the front of the house. Penny sprang hopefully to her feet. However, it was not her father who had arrived. Instead, her chum, Louise Sidell, alighted and came running across the yard.

“Oh, I’m glad I’m not too late to say goodbye to you, Penny!” she cried. “How soon are you starting?”

“I’d like to know the answer to that one myself. Dad hasn’t put in an appearance. He was due here at three o’clock.”

“Why, I saw him about twenty minutes ago,” Louise replied, turning to inspect the over-loaded sedan. “My, how did you accumulate so much luggage?”

Penny ignored the question to ask one of her own. “Where did you see Dad, Lou?”

“Why, riding in a car.” Louise’s dark eyes sparkled mischievously as she added: “With a beautiful brunette too.”

“You’re joking.”

“I am not. Your father was riding with Mrs. Deline. She’s a widow, you know, and has lived in Riverview less than a month.”

Mrs. Weems, who had overheard the conversation, came over to the steps.

“Mrs. Deline, did you say?” she inquired, slightly disturbed. “I’ve heard of her.”

“And so have I!” declared Penny with biting emphasis. “Why, that woman would make the Merry Widow look like a dead number! She’d better not try to sink her hooks into Dad!”

“Penelope!” the housekeeper reproved sternly.

“Well, you know what everyone says—”

“Please don’t repeat idle gossip,” Mrs. Weems requested. “I’m sure Mrs. Deline is a very fine woman.”

“She’s the slickest serpent that ever free-wheeled into Riverview!” Penny said heatedly. “I saw her in action last week-end at the Country Club. Why, she simply went out of her way to cultivate any man who had an income of more than twenty-five thousand a year.”

“Penny, your father is a sensible man,” the housekeeper reproved. “Unfortunately, it’s a quality I’m afraid you didn’t inherit.”

Louise, unhappy to have stirred up such a hornet’s nest, said hastily: “Maybe it wasn’t Mrs. Deline I saw. The car went by so fast.”

“Oh, I’m not worried. Dad can handle a bigger package of dynamite than Mrs. Deline. It just makes me irritated because he doesn’t get here.”

Tossing her head, Penny crossed to the loaded automobile where she switched on the radio. She tuned it carelessly. After a moment a blurred voice blared forth:

“Attention Comrades!”

Penny turned quickly to glance at the dial, for she realized that she did not have the local station WZAM.

“Attention Comrades!” the announcer commanded again. “This is the Voice from the Cave.”

There followed a strange jibberish of words which were in no language that Penny ever before had heard.

“Mrs. Weems! Louise!” she called excitedly. “I think I’ve tuned in an outlaw short wave station! Just listen!”

Louise and the housekeeper hastened over to the car. Penny tried desperately to tune the station in more clearly. Instead she lost it completely.

“Did you hear what that announcer said?” she asked eagerly. “Most of it I couldn’t understand. I’m sure it was in code!”

“Code!” Mrs. Weems exclaimed in amazement.

“I’m sure I didn’t have one of the regular stations! It must have been a short wave broadcast beamed at a particular group of persons. The announcer began: ‘Attention Comrades!’”

“Can’t you tune in again?” Louise demanded.

Penny twisted the dial without success. She was still trying when a taxi cab drew up at the front door.

“There’s your father now!” Louise declared.

“And see who’s with him!” Penny added, craning her neck. “It is Mrs. Deline.”

Mrs. Weems, decidedly flustered, hurriedly removed her apron. In an undertone she warned Penny to be polite to the unexpected visitor.

Mr. Parker, a tall, lean man with hair only touched by gray, stepped from the taxi. The woman he assisted was attractively slender, and dressed in an expensive tailored suit. Her face was cold and serene, but so striking that it commanded instant interest. Penny’s spirits sagged as she observed that the widow came equipped with luggage.

“Now what?” she muttered.

Mr. Parker escorted Mrs. Deline across the yard, introducing her first to Mrs. Weems and then to the girls.

“Mrs. Deline is riding with us to Sunset Beach,” he explained to Penny. “She intended to go by train but failed to get a reservation.”

“Coaches are so unbearable,” Mrs. Deline said in an affected drawl. “It was so nice of Mr. Parker to invite me to share your car.”

“I’m afraid it may not be so pleasant for you,” Penny replied. She tried to speak cordially but the words came in stiff little jerks. “There’s not much room.”

“Nonsense!” said Mr. Parker. “Mrs. Deline will ride up front. Penny, you’ll have to battle it out with the luggage.”

By the time Mrs. Deline’s suitcase and hat boxes were stowed away, there was indeed little room left in the rear seat for a passenger. Penny’s face was very long. For weeks she had planned on a vacation trip with her father, and now all her plans had been shattered.

“Will you be staying long at Sunset Beach?” she asked the widow politely.

“Probably a week,” Mrs. Deline replied. “I’ve engaged a suite at the Crystal Inn. I’m sure I couldn’t endure a camping trip. Mosquitoes—hard beds—cooking over a camp fire—it all seems rather difficult to me.”

“Oh, it will be fun to camp!”

“I’m not so certain of it myself.” Mr. Parker assisted the widow into the front seat. “Penny, why don’t we ditch this camp stuff and try a hotel ourselves?”

“No!” answered Penny fiercely.

“It would be a far more sensible arrangement.”

“But I don’t want to be sensible,” Penny argued. “We’ve planned on this trip for weeks, Dad.”

“Oh, all right, if that’s the way you feel about it,” he gave in willingly enough. “Only I never did care much for the rough and tumble life myself. Are we ready to start?”

“Just a minute,” Penny requested. “I have to get my pocketbook from the house.”

She went indoors, her face as dark as a summer rain cloud. Mrs. Weems and Louise followed her in, corraling her in the kitchen.

“Now Penny, just a word of advice,” the housekeeper cautioned. “Mrs. Deline seems like a very nice woman. I trust that you’ll be pleasant to her.”

“I don’t see why Dad had to invite her! It’s ruined everything!”

“Aren’t you being selfish?”

“Maybe I am,” said Penny. “But why should I be crammed back with the pots and pans and luggage while she sits up front with Dad?”

“Mrs. Deline is your guest.”

“She’s Dad’s guest,” Penny corrected. “Furthermore, I suspect she invited herself.”

“Whatever you think, I hope you’ll keep your thoughts to yourself,” Mrs. Weems said severely. “I’m really ashamed of you.”

The deep scowl disappeared from Penny’s face and she laughed. Wrapping her arms about the housekeeper’s ample waist she squeezed until it hurt.

“I know I’m a spoiled brat,” she admitted. “But don’t worry. I’ll pretend to like Mrs. Deline if it kills me.”

“That’s much better, Penny. At any rate, you’ll not be troubled with her company long. You’ll reach Sunset Beach by nightfall.”

Penny made no reply. She turned to say goodbye to Louise.

“Wish you were going along,” she said wistfully. “A vacation won’t seem fun without you.”

A staccato toot of the auto horn reminded Penny that her father and Mrs. Deline were waiting. Hurriedly she gathered up her purse.

“Have a nice time,” Louise said, kissing her goodbye. “And don’t let Mrs. Deline get in your hair.”

Penny turned to make certain that Mrs. Weems was beyond hearing.

“Don’t worry about that, Lou,” she whispered. “Mrs. Deline’s already in my hair. What I’m really worried about is keeping her from building a nest in it!”