The Wishing Well Page 17

  CHAPTER 16 _INSIDE THE MANSION_

  Mr. Butterworth, the second-hand dealer, scarcely knew what to make ofPenny's abrupt request.

  "Tell me how the house looks inside," she requested as he remained mute."Is it as handsome as folks say?"

  "You are a friend of Mrs. Marborough?" the man inquired, cocking his headsideways as he regarded the girl.

  "Of course."

  "Then why do you not ask Mrs. Marborough that question?"

  "Because she never invites anyone into her house," Penny explainedpatiently. "You're the only person to get in so far as I know. I'llventure she sold you something. Am I right?"

  "Maybe so," Mr. Butterworth grinned. "My lips, they are sealed."

  "Sealed?"

  "I promise Mrs. Marborough I tell nothing of what I see in the house."

  "Then there is something mysterious going on there!" Penny exclaimed."Tell me, why did you go to the house?"

  "Mrs. Marborough sent for me."

  "But why?" Penny demanded, exasperated because she could learn nothing ofimportance. "Did Mrs. Marborough sell you something?"

  "Maybe so, maybe not," the second-hand man answered, climbing into hisoverloaded car. "You ask her."

  Penny watched him drive away, and then returned to her own doorstep. Shewas listlessly throwing acorns at a squirrel when Louise Sidell came downthe street, dressed in her Sunday best.

  "What's the matter, Penny?" she inquired, roving over to the porch. "Howdo you feel this morning?"

  "Lower than the center of the earth. I've lost my reputation with Dad, myallowance, and my initiative. If I had a nickel I'd go drown myself in acoke!"

  "What you need is a nice adventure," Louise said mischievously. "Howabout a trip out to Mrs. Marborough's tomorrow night?"

  "I've had enough of wells!"

  "Penny, you don't mean it!" Louise grinned. "After discovering thoseloose bricks, you'll just forget about them?"

  "Why not?" Penny demanded wildly. "Dad won't let me leave the house atnight any more without a six thousand page report on where I am going. IfI so much as mention Mrs. Marborough's well, he'll clap on a doublepunishment."

  "You can manage it somehow," Louise declared with confidence. "I'll meetyou tomorrow night about eight-thirty."

  "Maybe," Penny said gloomily.

  Throughout the day she tried to win favor with both Mrs. Weems and herfather by doing small things to please them. When the housekeeper camehome from church, dinner awaited her. Penny insisted upon doing thedishes. She straightened the kitchen, she brought her father his bedroomslippers, and refrained from turning on the radio while he was reading.The schedule was a trying one for her, but she kept it up faithfully allday Sunday and until after dinner on Monday. Then came the denouementupon which she pinned her hopes.

  "Dad," she said demurely, leaning on the chair arm and stroking his hair,"with your kind permission I should like to absent myself from the housefor a few minutes."

  "Where do you plan to go?" he asked, trying to act stern.

  Penny was prepared for the question. From her pocket she whisked alengthy typewritten paper, handsomely decorated with a diagram.

  "What's this?" Mr. Parker asked, his lips twitching slightly.

  "Merely a report on my proposed movements for the next hour. Ateight-thirty I hope to be at Louise's house. Eight thirty-four shouldfind me on Adams Street, moving southward. At eight thirty-eight I passGulbert Park--"

  "Never mind," Mr. Parker interrupted. "I see by this lengthy documentthat your ultimate destination is Mrs. Marborough's estate. Isn't itrather late to pay a social call?"

  "Eight-thirty?"

  "What does this X on the map represent?" the publisher asked, hisinterest shifting.

  "Oh that?" smiled Penny. "Merely one of the fixtures in Mrs. Marborough'syard. Louise and I think treasure may be hidden there."

  Amused by what he took to be his daughter's whimsy, Mr. Parker returnedthe diagram to her.

  "Do I have your permission to leave the house?" she asked anxiously.

  "Yes, you may go," he agreed. "But mind, no late hours. And no more talltales about falling into wells!"

  Louise was waiting for Penny in the Sidell yard and the girls went asquickly as they could to the Marborough estate. The house was completelydark, leading them to believe that the widow might have absented herselffor the evening.

  "We'll have to be especially careful," Louise warned as they approachedthe old wishing well. "She might return at any moment and find us."

  Penny had brought the silken ladder, extra rope, a flashlight and a suitof warm coveralls which her father used when he worked on the car.Donning the bulky garment, she prepared to descend a few feet into thewell.

  "Do be careful," Louise said anxiously. "If you should fall you mightkill yourself."

  "You think of the most cheerful things," Penny muttered, climbing nimblydown the swaying ladder. "I'm not taking any chances though. I'll tiemyself to the ladder with this extra piece of rope."

  After she had gained the position she desired, Louise handed down theflashlight. Penny carefully inspected the brick wall.

  "I believe it is an opening!" she reported jubilantly. "I really do.Here, take this flash. I can't work and hold it."

  While Louise directed the beam from above, Penny tugged at the bricks.Unable to move them, she called for a tool which she had brought withher. By means of it, she easily pried one of the bricks loose. Pushingher arm through the opening, she encountered only empty space.

  "It's a little tunnel I think!" she shouted to Louise. "Take this brick,and I'll try to pry out others!"

  Within ten minutes Penny had handed up enough of them to make a largepile beside the flagstones.

  "Do you realize you're practically destroying Mrs. Marborough's well!"Louise said uneasily. "How will we ever explain this?"

  "I can put the bricks back again," Penny assured her. "They were meant tocome out. Now, the flashlight again."

  Balancing herself precariously on the ladder, she directed the lightthrough the opening she had created. A long narrow tunnel which shejudged to be about five feet below the ground, extended as far as shecould see.

  "I'm going to try to get in there!" she called to Louise. "Toss me a lifepreserver if I fail!"

  Calculating the space, Penny swung her feet from the ladder to the ledge.Retaining an arm hold on the ropes, she edged herself backwards into thehole.

  "It's much easier than it looks," she called encouragingly to her chum."Come on, if you want to explore."

  Louise hesitated, and then daringly climbed down into the well. Pennyhelped her from the ladder into the tunnel.

  "Where do you suppose this leads?" Louise gasped.

  "Maybe to the house," Penny speculated. "I know lots of these old placeshad escapes made so that in time of war or Indian attacks, thehouseholders could get away. Never heard of a tunnel opening into a wellthough!"

  The bricked passageway was so low that for the first twelve feet thegirls were forced to crawl on hands and knees. Gradually, the tunneldeepened until they were able to walk in a stooped position.

  "We're coming to the end of it," Penny presently announced.

  Directly in front of her was a heavy door which showed the effects ofage. It did not move easily, but together, the girls were able to swingit open.

  "Where in the world are we?" Louise murmured in perplexity.

  Penny flashed her light directly ahead. A series of four steps led downfrom the tunnel into an empty room which barely was six feet across. Sofar as she could see it had no exit.

  "It looks as if we're at the end of the trail," Louise remarked indisappointment.

  "This must be part of the Marborough house," Penny declared, descendingthe steps into the tiny room.

  "But there's no way out of it except through the tunnel!"

  "There must be if we can find it," Penny insisted.
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br />   Wandering about the room she began to explore the walls, and Louisefollowed her example. Their search was rewarded, for presently theydiscovered a small brass knob embedded in the rough board paneling. Pennypulled on it and a section of wall slid back.

  "Now we're really in the Marborough house!" she whispered excitedly. "Thebasement, I think."

  Stepping through the opening, the girls made no sound as they tiptoedaround in the dark, damp room. Penny's flashlight revealed that the wallshad been boarded over, but there was no solid foundation beneath theirfeet, only a hard dirt floor. A steep stairway led up from the basement.

  "Do you suppose Mrs. Marborough is here?" Penny whispered, listening.

  There was no sound from above.

  "Shall we go upstairs, or back the way we came?" she asked her chum.

  "Let's risk being caught," Louise decided after a moment's hesitation."I'd rather be sent to jail for house breaking than to climb into thatwell again."

  Huddling together, the girls crept up the stairway. The landing wasblocked by another door. Penny tested it, and finding it unlocked, pushedit gently open. Again they listened.

  "The coast is clear," Louise whispered. "I'm sure Mrs. Marborough isn'there."

  Penny stepped across the threshold, tense with anticipation. Ever sinceMrs. Marborough's arrival in Riverview she had longed to see the interiorof the grand old mansion. And now, through a strange quirk of adventure,her ambition was to be gratified.

  Slowly she allowed the flashlight beam to play over the walls of theroom. There were several pictures in massive gold frames, leading her tothink that she had entered a library or living room. Systematically, shecontinued to move the light about in search of furniture. So far as shecould see there was none.

  "The room is empty!" Louise whispered at her elbow.

  A board squeaked beneath their weight as the girls tiptoed to a doorwayopening into a still larger room.

  "This must be the living room," Penny decided, observing a beautiful,circular stairway which rose to the second floor.

  "But where is the furniture?" demanded Louise in bewilderment.

  Penny's light cut squares across the room, but the only objects revealedwere a chair and a table drawn close to the fireplace.

  "What can this mean?" Louise gasped. "The house always has beenfurnished. Now everything is gone."

  Penny did not answer. The sound of shuffling feet on the front porchcaused both girls to freeze against the wall. Before they could retreatto the basement stairs, the living room door opened. Light from a streetlamp cut a path across the bare floor.

  Mrs. Marborough stood framed in the doorway. The girls had made no sound,yet the mistress of Rose Acres seemed to sense that she was not alone.

  "Who is it?" she called sharply. "Speak up! Who is hiding here?"