The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels (106 page)

“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?”

CHAPTER 17

THE MARBOROUGH PEARLS

In frightened voices Penny and Louise acknowledged their presence in the dark room. Greatly relieved that the intruders were girls, Mrs. Marborough struck a match and lighted three half-burned candles which were set in a huge glass candelabra.

“Oh, so it’s you!” she exclaimed as the flickering light fell upon their faces. “May I ask why you have broken into my house?”

“We’re thoroughly ashamed of ourselves, Mrs. Marborough,”Penny said apologetically.

“Indeed we are,” added Louise. “When we started to investigate the wishing well we didn’t intend to enter the house.”

“Suppose you explain,” suggested the mistress of Rose Acres.

“It’s a long story,” sighed Penny. “May we sit down somewhere?”

The request embarrassed Mrs. Marborough. She hesitated, and then indicated that the girls were to follow her. To their surprise she led them through another empty room to the kitchen, there lighting a candle. Its soft illumination revealed an old oil stove, several chairs, a porcelain table and a cot which obviously served both as a day couch and bed.

Mrs. Marborough offered no explanation or apology. Taking wood from a box, she piled it into the fireplace, and soon had a cheerful blaze on the hearth.

Drawing their chairs to the fire, Penny and Louise explained how they had entered the old mansion. Mrs. Marborough listened attentively to their story but did not appear especially surprised.

“I’ve always known about that old tunnel,” she said when they had finished. “It was built by the first owner of this house, many, many years ago, and I doubt if it ever was used. I tried to find the entrance from the basement a few days ago, but was unable to locate it.”

“We saw you with your lantern at the wishing well,” Louise confessed. “That was what aroused our curiosity.”

“I was looking for the other tunnel entrance. I found it without much trouble, but it was so deep down in the well that I dared not risk trying to get into it. Although I considered hiring a man, I hesitated, because I knew it would cause talk.”

Penny and Louise were feeling much more at ease, sensing that the mistress of Rose Acres no longer was irritated by their actions. Eagerly they waited for her to reveal more.

“I suppose you think me a queer old lady,” Mrs. Marborough resumed. “Perhaps I am, but I have a very good reason for some of the things I do. I came to Riverview to search for something which has been lost many years.”

“Something hidden during the Civil War?” inquired Louise breathlessly.

“No, my dear, an object secreted by my sister, Virginia. Since you girls already have learned so much I will tell you all. Perhaps you have heard of the Marborough pearls?”

Penny and Louise shook their heads.

“I forget that you are so very young,” Mrs. Marborough said. “Your mothers would remember. At any rate, the necklace was handed down in our family for many generations, always to the daughter who was the first to marry. Virginia, my younger sister, dreamed and hoped that the pearls would go to her. Naturally, I shared a similar desire. As it came about, I was the first of the family to marry.”

“Then you received the necklace?” Louise commented.

“It should have gone to me, but my sister was determined I never should win such a victory over her. In a fit of anger she hid the pearls. Father tried to force her to tell what she had done with them, but she was very headstrong. She ran away from home, married a scamp, and sailed with him to South America. She died there less than two years after my own marriage.”

“What became of the pearls?” Penny asked eagerly.

“Our family believed that she took the necklace with her. For many years we assumed that Virginia’s worthless husband had obtained possession of it. He denied any knowledge of the pearls, but we never accepted his story as true. Then, a few weeks ago, a letter came from South America. It had been written by Virginia’s husband shortly before his death.”

“He confessed to the theft of the necklace?” Louise asked, trying to speed the story.

“No, indeed. He merely enclosed a letter written by Virginia years before. It was addressed to me, and had never been sent, because her husband deliberately withheld it. Just selfish and cantankerous, that man was! The letter told where the pearls had been hidden. I imagine that Virginia’s husband had planned to gain possession of them someday, but fate defeated him. So on his death bed he sent me the original letter which I should have received forty years earlier.”

“Where were the pearls hidden?” Penny questioned, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. “You haven’t found them yet?”

“No, and I doubt that I ever shall,” Mrs. Marborough sighed. “Virginia’s letter was not very definite. She begged my forgiveness for having caused so much trouble, and said that she had hidden the necklace near the old wishing well.”

“Didn’t she tell you where?” Louise asked in disappointment.

“There were several words which had been blotted with ink. I suspect Virginia’s husband did it to prevent anyone but himself from learning the hiding place. Then when he finally sent the letter to me, he may have forgotten what he had done. That’s only my guess, of course. As the letter reads, my only clue is that the pearls were hidden near the wishing well.”

“That explains why you were removing the flagstones the other night,” Louise remarked.

“Yes, I’ve searched everywhere I can think of except in the old tunnel. When you girls went through it tonight, did you notice anything unusual?”

“No hiding place,” Penny replied. “Of course we weren’t looking for anything of the sort. If we could explore the passageway by daylight—”

“Can’t we help you find the pearls, Mrs. Marborough?”Louise interrupted. “It would be such fun searching for them.”

“I’ll be very happy to have your help,” the old lady said, smiling. “Upon one condition. You must tell no one. Already I am the laughing stock of Riverview and if this latest story should get around everyone would talk.”

Penny and Louise promptly assured her that they would tell no one about the pearls.

“Another thing—” Mrs. Marborough hesitated and then went on. “I suppose you understand now why I never invited you into the house. It wasn’t that I meant to be inhospitable.”

“Because the place isn’t fixed up?” Louise came to her aid. “Why, Penny and I would have thought nothing of it. This is a cozy kitchen with a cheerful fire. I think it’s nice.”

“I probably shan’t be here long. My purpose in returning to Riverview was to find the pearls. I’ve nearly made up my mind that they are lost forever.”

“Oh, don’t say that!” Penny cried. “Tomorrow, with your permission, Louise and I will explore the tunnel. We may have luck.”

“I shall be very glad to have your help, my dear.”Again Mrs. Marborough groped for words and finished awkwardly: “Please, I beg of you, don’t tell anyone what you have seen tonight, particularly the barren state of this house.”

“We understand,” Penny said gravely.

The fire had burned low. Mindful that they must be home early, the girls bade Mrs. Marborough goodbye, promising to return the following day. Once outside the mansion, they paused beside a tree so that Penny might remove the heavy coveralls which she still wore over her frock.

“What a night!” she murmured happily.

“For once, Penny, one of your crazy adventures turned out beautifully,” Louise praised. “We’ll have a wonderful time searching for that necklace! She’s certainly queer though.”

“Mrs. Marborough?”

“Yes, imagine being so sensitive about how the interior of her house looks. Who would expect it to be fixed up nicely after standing empty so many years?”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Penny asked. She hopped grotesquely on one foot as she extricated the other from the coveralls.

“Forgetting what?” Louise demanded, puzzled.

“Remember that first day we peeped into the house through the window?”

“Why, yes, what about it?”

“Your memory isn’t very good, Louise. Don’t you remember the sheet-draped furniture we saw?”

“That’s right! I had forgotten. What became of it?”

“If I had just one guess, I’d say—Mr. Butterworth.”

“Who is he, Penny?”

“A second-hand dealer who buys old furniture, newspapers, rubber tires—everything except bottles.”

“Not that funny looking man we saw enter this house the other day!”

“The same. Louise, it’s my guess that Mrs. Marborough sold all of her valuable antiques—probably for a fraction of their true worth.”

“How foolish of her. Why would she do that?”

“Don’t you understand?” Penny asked patiently. “There can be but one explanation. Mrs. Marborough isn’t wealthy any more. She’s living in dire poverty and trying to keep people from learning the truth.”

CHAPTER 18

SIGNBOARD INDIANS

The realization that in all likelihood Mrs. Marborough had sold her valuable antiques to the second-hand dealer was disconcerting to Louise as well as Penny. They did not believe that Mr. Butterworth would pay a fractional part of the furniture’s true value, and apparently the widow’s only reason for parting with her treasures was an urgent need for money.

“Of course, I may have guessed wrong about it,”Penny admitted as she and Louise started toward home. “Just to check up, I’ll call at Mr. Butterworth’s shop tomorrow and see what I can learn.”

“I wish we dared tell someone about the condition of the house,” Louise said thoughtfully. “Why, if Mrs. Marborough is in need, Mother would help.”

“So would Mrs. Weems,” added Penny. “But we gave our promise not to reveal anything we saw. For the time-being, our hands are tied.”

The events of the night had made the girls eager to return again to Rose Acres to search for the missing pearl necklace. They agreed that immediately after school the next afternoon they would call upon Mr. Butterworth and then keep their appointment with the widow.

“Remember, we mustn’t tell anyone what we have learned,” Penny warned as she parted company with her chum. “Not even Rhoda.”

Throughout the following day, both girls were so excited that they found it all but impossible to study. When the closing bell finally brought release, they bolted from the school building before any of their classmates could detain them.

“I have the address of Mr. Butterworth’s shop,”Penny said, consulting a paper. “It’s not far from here.”