CHAPTER 16 INSIDE THE MANSION

Mr. Butterworth, the second-hand dealer, scarcely knew what to make of Penny’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 head sideways 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 explained patiently. “You’re the only person to get in so far as I know. I’ll venture 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 of importance. “Did Mrs. Marborough sell you something?”

“Maybe so, maybe not,” the second-hand man answered, climbing into his overloaded car. “You ask her.”

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

“What’s the matter, Penny?” she inquired, roving over to the porch. “How do you feel this morning?”

“Lower than the center of the earth. I’ve lost my reputation with Dad, my allowance, and my initiative. If I had a nickel I’d go drown myself in a coke!”

“What you need is a nice adventure,” Louise said mischievously. “How about 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 those loose bricks, you’ll just forget about them?”

“Why not?” Penny demanded wildly. “Dad won’t let me leave the house at night any more without a six thousand page report on where I am going. If I so much as mention Mrs. Marborough’s well, he’ll clap on a double punishment.”

“You can manage it somehow,” Louise declared with confidence. “I’ll meet you tomorrow night about eight-thirty.”

“Maybe,” Penny said gloomily.

Throughout the day she tried to win favor with both Mrs. Weems and her father by doing small things to please them. When the housekeeper came home from church, dinner awaited her. Penny insisted upon doing the dishes. She straightened the kitchen, she brought her father his bedroom slippers, 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 all day Sunday and until after dinner on Monday. Then came the denouement upon 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 house for 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 a lengthy 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. At eight-thirty I hope to be at Louise’s house. Eight thirty-four should find me on Adams Street, moving southward. At eight thirty-eight I pass Gulbert Park—”

“Never mind,” Mr. Parker interrupted. “I see by this lengthy document that your ultimate destination is Mrs. Marborough’s estate. Isn’t it rather late to pay a social call?”

“Eight-thirty?”

“What does this X on the map represent?” the publisher asked, his interest shifting.

“Oh that?” smiled Penny. “Merely one of the fixtures in Mrs. Marborough’s yard. Louise and I think treasure may be hidden there.”

Amused by what he took to be his daughter’s whimsy, Mr. Parker returned the 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 tall tales about falling into wells!”

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

“We’ll have to be especially careful,” Louise warned as they approached the old wishing well. “She might return at any moment and find us.”

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

“Do be careful,” Louise said anxiously. “If you should fall you might kill yourself.”

“You think of the most cheerful things,” Penny muttered, climbing nimbly down the swaying ladder. “I’m not taking any chances though. I’ll tie myself to the ladder with this extra piece of rope.”

After she had gained the position she desired, Louise handed down the flashlight. 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 with her. By means of it, she easily pried one of the bricks loose. Pushing her 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 large pile 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 to come out. Now, the flashlight again.”

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

“I’m going to try to get in there!” she called to Louise. “Toss me a life preserver 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 the hole.

“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. Penny helped 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 places had escapes made so that in time of war or Indian attacks, the householders could get away. Never heard of a tunnel opening into a well though!”

The bricked passageway was so low that for the first twelve feet the girls were forced to crawl on hands and knees. Gradually, the tunnel deepened 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 of age. It did not move easily, but together, the girls were able to swing it open.

“Where in the world are we?” Louise murmured in perplexity.

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

“It looks as if we’re at the end of the trail,” Louise remarked in disappointment.

“This must be part of the Marborough house,” Penny declared, descending the 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.

Wandering about the room she began to explore the walls, and Louise followed her example. Their search was rewarded, for presently they discovered a small brass knob embedded in the rough board paneling. Penny pulled on it and a section of wall slid back.

“Now we’re really in the Marborough house!” she whispered excitedly. “The basement, I think.”

Stepping through the opening, the girls made no sound as they tiptoed around in the dark, damp room. Penny’s flashlight revealed that the walls had been boarded over, but there was no solid foundation beneath their feet, 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 that well again.”

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

“The coast is clear,” Louise whispered. “I’m sure Mrs. Marborough isn’t here.”

Penny stepped across the threshold, tense with anticipation. Ever since Mrs. Marborough’s arrival in Riverview she had longed to see the interior of 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 the room. There were several pictures in massive gold frames, leading her to think that she had entered a library or living room. Systematically, she continued to move the light about in search of furniture. So far as she could 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 doorway opening 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 revealed were a chair and a table drawn close to the fireplace.

“What can this mean?” Louise gasped. “The house always has been furnished. Now everything is gone.”

Penny did not answer. The sound of shuffling feet on the front porch caused both girls to freeze against the wall. Before they could retreat to the basement stairs, the living room door opened. Light from a street lamp 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?”