"You're crazy too, Polly. Well, give me the pin; let me see if I can discover its great value. Perhaps if I rub it a Slave of the Pin will appear, to grant my wishes!" "Here it is, Miss Iris," and Polly drew a pin from her bodice, "but for the land's sake be careful of it! Do, now!" "I will, honest, I will," and Iris smiled as she took the common pin from the trembling fingers of the old woman. "Lemme keep it for you, Miss Iris, dear. Won't you?" "Maybe I will, later, Polly. I'll enjoy my valuable possession awhile, myself, first." Iris went around the lawn toward the side door of the house. As she went, she looked curiously at the pin and then stuck it carefully in her shirtwaist frill. As she neared the side door, she noticed a small motor car standing there. It was empty, and even as she looked, someone came up stealthily behind her, threw a thick, dark cloth over her head, picked her up and lifted her into the little car, and drove rapidly away. She tried to scream, but a hand was held tightly over her mouth, and try as she would she could make no sound. She felt the familiar curve as they drove through the gateway, and turned off on the road that led away from the village, and Iris realized she was being kidnapped. CHAPTER X FLOSSIE When Iris failed to respond to the summons for dinner, Miss Darrel waited a few moments and then took her own place at the table. "Go and find Miss Clyde," she said to Agnes; "I do wish people would be prompt at meals, especially when they're guests." Lucille never allowed any one of her household to forget that she was now mistress of Pellbrook, and she longed for the time when the mystery would be cleared up and she might be left to the possession of her new home. Being Sunday, it was a case of midday dinner, and, as Iris was usually prompt, Lucille was surprised at the length of time Agnes remained out of the room. At last she returned with the word that she could not find Miss Clyde anywhere in the house. "But," she added, "maybe she went away in the little car that was here a while ago." "What little car?" demanded Lucille. "I don't know whose it was, and I don't know that Miss Iris was in it, but I just caught sight of it as it whizzed through the gate." "When?" "About an hour ago. I didn't think much about it. I saw a man driving it, and I think there was a lady on the back seat----" "Agnes, you're crazy! Miss Clyde wouldn't go out anywhere on Sunday morning without telling me. She didn't go to church?" "Oh, no, ma'am, it was much too late for that." "Well, that was some stranger's car. You didn't see Iris in it?" "No, ma'am, I didn't." However, as there was no Iris on the premises, Lucille Darrel concluded she had gone off on some sudden and unexpected errand--perhaps to see Winston Bannard. So Miss Darrel ate her dinner alone, with no feeling of alarm, but a slight annoyance at the episode.