“What are you going to do?” Rosanna asked anxiously, drawing the bedclothes closer about her.
Penny already had gone. Stealing quietly down the dark hall she reached the end of it and stood listening. The door leading to the third floor was closed. She could hear the music more distinctly than before and knew for a certainty that it came from above.
She gently tried the door. It was still locked.
Penny was momentarily baffled. She had half expected to find the door unlocked. She had been so confident that by taking the key she could put a stop to the ghost music.
“How did the organist reach the third floor if he didn’t pass through this door?” she debated. “That ghost must be quite a clever fellow if he can enter without keys.”
The entire house had been carefully locked up for the night. Penny and Rosanna had attended to it the last thing before retiring, knowing that Max Laponi could come in later by using his own pass key. They had secured every door and window.
“Well, I won’t learn anything by standing here,” Penny thought uncomfortably. “I’ll have to go up there.” Her usual courage was at low ebb. She dreaded the ordeal.
However, before she could open the stairway door, a shrill scream echoed down the hall.
Terrified, Penny crouched back against the wall and waited.
CHAPTER X
The Wall Safe
Recovering from her fright, Penny reached up and snapped on the light. She heard a door open down the hall. Mrs. Leeds, a dressing gown clutched about her unshapely figure, stumbled toward the girl.
“There’s something in my room! It struck my face while I was sleeping! Oh, oh, such a horrible house!”
“Control yourself,” Penny advised, taking her by the arm. “We’ll see what it is.”
Mrs. Leeds jerked away, assuming an attitude of tense listening. For the first time she had paid heed to the organ music from above.
“There it is again!” she whispered in awe. “This house is haunted.”
Rosanna came down the hall, joining the two at Mrs. Leeds’ door. Alicia huddled nearby, too frightened to speak a word.
Penny opened the door and groped for the electric switch. As the room was flooded with light, she looked quickly about. Everything was in disorder but that was because Mrs. Leeds had done no straightening or cleaning since her arrival.
Suddenly Penny began to laugh.
“Pray what do you find that is so humorous?” Mrs. Leeds demanded indignantly.
“Bats!” Penny answered, laughing again.
There were four of them blinded by the light, cowering in the corners of the room. Penny opened a window and with Rosanna’s help drove them out into the night.
“They must have come in through an open window,” she said to Mrs. Leeds.
“I didn’t have a window open,” the woman retorted. “I can’t bear to sleep in this room again. Tomorrow I shall move into another. Come Alicia, we’ll sit up until morning in the living room.”
Returning to her own room, Penny listened for the organ music. It had ceased as mysteriously as it had begun. She glanced curiously toward the room occupied by Max Laponi. The door was closed. He alone of the entire household seemed undisturbed by the strange things which went on about him.
“I’d like to know if he really is in his room,” Penny thought.
She hesitated by the door but did not have the courage to try the knob. After a moment she followed Rosanna to their bedroom at the other end of the hall.
Morning found Mrs. Leeds even more upset than upon the previous night. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face sallow, her clothes unpressed. She quarreled with her daughter and ignored Penny and Rosanna. However, when Max Laponi came down the stairs looking as dapper as ever, her attitude instantly changed. She spoke to him in a softer tone.
“We were beginning to wonder if the ghost made off with you last night,” she said archly.
“What ghost?”
“You mean to say you didn’t hear the music?”
“Not a sound,” Laponi told her. “I am a very hard sleeper.”
He seemed disinclined to listen to Mrs. Leeds’ account of all that had transpired, and very shortly drove away in his automobile, ostensibly to have breakfast in a nearby town.
After straightening their room and making the bed, Rosanna and Penny went for a short walk. They sat down by the cliff where they could see the river below, discussing the situation.
“I don’t see that it’s doing a particle of good to stay here,” Rosanna insisted. “I don’t feel right about letting you waste so much time and money.”
Rosanna was thinking of the expensive meals which they bought at Andover. Because her own supply of cash had run so low, Penny paid for everything. Rosanna meant to settle the debt and it steadily grew larger.
“Now don’t worry,” Penny advised kindly. “I’m staying on here largely because I’ve determined to discover the identity of our ghost. Then, too, I can’t bear to see Mrs. Leeds gain what doesn’t belong to her.”
“I’d be glad to stay if I thought it would do the slightest good—”
“I think it will Rosanna. I have a scheme which I intend to try. It will take a few days before we can work things out.”
Penny then explained a part of what was in her mind. She was not certain as to all the details of her plan, but little by little it was taking shape.
After a time the girls walked down to Caleb Eckert’s cabin. He was not at home. They sauntered leisurely back to the house on the cliff.
Neither Mrs. Leeds’ car nor the one belonging to Max Laponi was on the driveway.
“I guess we’re the only ones here this morning,” Penny commented.
They entered by the front door. From the direction of the living room they heard a muffled exclamation of impatience. Signaling for silence, Penny tiptoed toward the velvet curtains which hid the living room from view. She parted them.
Caleb Eckert was working at the dials of a wall safe which had been concealed in a secret panel behind a large oil painting.
Although the girls had made no sound, Caleb sensed their presence. He turned and faced them.
“Why, Mr. Eckert, doesn’t this call for some explanation?” Penny asked in bewilderment. “Surely you have no right to tamper with Mr. Winters’ safe.”
The old man plainly was embarrassed. He moistened his lips, looked away, then said gruffly:
“I didn’t come here to steal. I came because I wanted to protect Mr. Winters’ valuables. There’s folks in this house that I don’t trust.”
“But how does it happen you know the combination of the safe?” Rosanna inquired.
“Mr. Winters gave it to me before he left. You see, he was my best friend. Jacob trusted me.”
“He must have,” cut in a sneering voice from directly behind.
Everyone turned to see Max Laponi standing in the doorway. His sharp little eyes moved swiftly about the room taking in everything. They came to rest upon the wall safe.
Caleb spun the dials. He hastily pressed a concealed button and the picture swung back into place, hiding the safe.
“Neat little device,” Laponi commented dryly. His eyes narrowed. “Trying to steal the Winters’ booty, were you?”
“Certainly not,” Caleb retorted angrily.
Laponi caught him roughly by the shoulder, forcing him back against the wall.
“You know a lot more than you let on,” he accused. “Tell me, is that where old Winters hid his ivory collection?”
“I’ll tell you nothing,” Caleb snapped.
“You’ll tell or I’ll—”
“Mr. Laponi, you’re hurting him!” Rosanna cried.
“Perhaps we should call the police if there’s to be trouble,” Penny added cunningly.
At the mention of police, Laponi instantly released his grip on Caleb. He laughed harshly.
“We’ll let it go this time,” he said, “but I’m warning you, Eckert, stay away from this house and this safe if you know what’s good for you.”
“You might take that advice to yourself, too,” the old man retorted, edging toward the door.
From the window the girls watched him hurry down the path to his own cabin. His departure was almost flight. Obviously, Caleb was afraid.
Penny did not know what to believe. An hour before she would have taken oath that he was strictly honest, devoted to the interests of Jacob Winters. Now she could not be sure.
Max Laponi lingered in the living room. Suspecting that he intended to investigate the wall safe the instant he was alone, Penny and Rosanna settled themselves for a long stay. They pretended to read.
After an hour, Laponi grew tired of the game, and went off, grumbling to himself.
“We outlasted him that time,” Penny chuckled. “However, we’ll have to be on the lookout or he’ll sneak back sometime when we’re gone. I wonder if Mr. Winters did leave his ivory collection in the safe?”
“Laponi seems to think so,” Rosanna commented. “I’m glad he doesn’t know the combination. I distrust him even more than I do Caleb.”
“So do I, but I intend to watch them both,” Penny responded thoughtfully. “I’m convinced there’s a deep plot brewing—something far more sinister than we’ve suspected.”
CHAPTER XI
A Night Adventure
Since taking leave of Mr. Nichols at Mt. Ashland, Penny had received no word from her father. She did not worry actively, yet it was a great relief when later in the afternoon a uniformed messenger boy delivered a telegram into her hand.
“Remain as long as you wish,” her father wired. “Am enjoying good rest here.”
From an upstairs window Mrs. Leeds had noted the arrival of the messenger boy. She came hurrying down to see if the message was for her. While Penny read the communication, the woman eyed her suspiciously.
At last her curiosity could no longer be restrained. She asked carelessly: “I don’t suppose your wire has anything to do with Jacob Winters or the estate?”
“Only indirectly,” Penny responded mischievously.
To avoid further questioning, the girls went outdoors.
“Let’s see if Caleb is at home,” Penny proposed.
They rapped several times upon the door of the cabin and were about to turn away, when the old man opened it.
“Sorry to bother you,” Penny apologized. “I wanted to ask a few more questions about Mr. Winters.”
Caleb looked ill at ease. “Questions!” he fumed. “Well, what is it you want to know this time?”
“Tell me, isn’t there a pipe organ on the third floor of Mr. Winters’ house?”
“Certainly. Jacob was a talented musician. He installed the organ nearly fifteen years ago. But what of it may I ask?”
“We’d like very much to see the organ.”
“Well, why don’t you look at it then?”
“We can’t because the door is locked.”
“Locked?” Caleb seemed surprised. “That’s funny. I didn’t know Mr. Winters ever locked up his conservatory.”
“Then you haven’t a key?” Penny asked.
“Why should I have a key?” Caleb snorted. “You act as if I’m the caretaker of that house. It’s nothing to me what goes on there, except that I don’t like to see folks overrun the place and steal Mr. Winters’ fine things.”
“You needn’t look at us so accusingly,” Rosanna said with surprising spirit. “We wouldn’t take or damage one single thing in that house.”
Caleb’s face softened.
“I didn’t mean to suggest that you would. I believe you two girls aren’t like those others. But you were speaking of the organ. Why are you so interested in it?”
“Because we’ve been hearing music at night,” Penny informed. “It seems to come from that room on the third floor.”
Caleb regarded her in awe. “Then it’s true, the things they say.”
“What things?” Rosanna asked impatiently.
“That the house is haunted. If Mr. Winters really is dead it may be——”
“Nonsense!” Penny cut in. “Rosanna and I don’t believe in ghosts. And what’s more, I doubt if you do, Caleb Eckert! That so-called ghost is a very live one. If you won’t help me, I’ll solve the mystery alone!”
And with this declaration, Penny stalked from the cabin, followed by the faithful Rosanna.
“Perhaps you’ve antagonized him now,” the latter said as they went back to the house on the cliff.
“I don’t care if I have! Caleb knows a great deal more than he pretends. He could help us if he wanted to!”
No one was stirring on the lower floor of the Winters’ house when the girls entered. To Penny it seemed an admirable time to institute a search of the premises.
“We’ll let Mrs. Leeds hunt for the will,” Penny declared, “but we’ll look for something which may prove equally valuable.”
“What?” Rosanna asked curiously.
“A picture of Jacob Winters.”
“I can’t see what good it will do to find one except that I’d like to have a photo of my uncle as a keepsake.”
“If my plans work out I’ll have a more important use for it,” Penny smiled mysteriously.
“I should think we could find one somewhere in the house,” Rosanna declared. “Most people have old photographs stuck around in odd places.”
For nearly an hour the girls poked about in drawers and clothes closets until Rosanna protested that she felt as prying and sneaking as Mrs. Leeds.
“This is in a better cause,” Penny laughed.
“It looks that way to us because it’s my cause,” Rosanna smiled. “Still, I’d never examine private papers or locked drawers.”
Penny made no response for in a lower table drawer she had come upon an old album. She displayed her discovery and page by page the girls went through it, laughing a little at the strange old-fashioned costumes and the stiff poses of the subjects. Names were written under a few of the photographs but Rosanna recognized only one or two as relatives.
“I never knew many of my relation,” she admitted. “If Mrs. Leeds and her daughter are samples, perhaps it’s just as well.”
“The people in this album look nice, Rosanna. I suppose most of them are dead by this time.”
Penny turned a page and stared blankly down at an empty folder.
“Why, here is your uncle’s name,” she cried, indicating a signature at the bottom of the page. “But the photo is gone!”
“Oh, how disappointing.”
“Someone removed the photo, Rosanna. Perhaps deliberately too.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I only said it. I have no evidence of course. Oh, all my plans will be upset if I don’t find the photograph!”
The arrival of Mrs. Leeds cut short the conversation. The girls hastily returned the album to the table drawer but not quickly enough to avoid being detected. Mrs. Leeds triumphantly pounced on the leather bound book.
“Only an old-fashioned album,” she said in disappointment, tossing it aside.
“Did you think it was the will?” Penny chuckled as she and Rosanna departed.
The girls impatiently awaited the coming of night. Penny had determined to make a supreme effort to discover the cause of the mysterious organ music. At first Rosanna had been enthusiastic over the plan but as nightfall approached she tried to dissuade her friend.
“It’s too dangerous,” she insisted. “Please give up the scheme.”
Penny shook her head. She had made up her mind to spend the night on the third floor. Soon after the household retired she intended to steal upstairs and establish herself by the door of the conservatory.
Evening came. At nine Mrs. Leeds and her daughter shut themselves into the bedroom which they had selected since their upsetting experience with bats. At eleven Penny heard Max Laponi’s door close.
She looked out into the hall. It was dark and deserted.
“Please don’t attempt it,” Rosanna shivered. “What if something should happen?”
“I hope it does,” Penny said grimly. “It won’t be any fun to sit up half the night without any purpose. I’ll be disappointed if our ghost fails to provide his usual midnight concert.”
“If anything goes wrong scream for help,” Rosanna urged. “I’ll run for assistance.”
Penny promised. While Rosanna stood at the bedroom door watching, she tiptoed down the hall, past Mrs. Leeds’ room, past Laponi’s chamber to the third floor stairs.
There she hesitated. Without a light the region above looked even more dark and awe-inspiring than she had remembered it.
“Coward!” she accused herself, and quietly went up, leaving the door unlocked behind her.
All was quiet on the third floor. Penny tried the door to the conservatory expecting to find it locked. To her astonishment it opened. The discovery disconcerted her for an instant. A minute later she mustered her courage and stepped inside the room.
In the darkness she could make out objects only vaguely. The organ with its huge pipes occupied one end of the room. Sheet-draped chairs gave everything a ghostly atmosphere not at all conducive to a peaceful state of mind.
After making a brief inspection of her quarters Penny sat down on the floor with her back against the outside door. She riveted her eyes upon the organ.
Time dragged slowly. When it seemed to Penny that several hours must have passed, she heard a clock downstairs striking eleven-thirty.
“At least another half hour to wait,” Penny thought, shifting into a more comfortable position.
She grew drowsy. Several times she caught herself on the verge of napping. She aroused herself only to find her eyes growing heavy again. It became increasingly difficult to watch the organ.
“I wish that ghost would hurry up and come,” she mused impatiently. “Perhaps after all my trouble this won’t be one of his working nights!”
That was the last thought of which she was aware. Suddenly she heard soft organ music rolling and swelling about her. With a start she aroused herself. She had been sleeping.
It took an instant for Penny to gather her wits. She was still sitting with her back to the conservatory door. Yet at the far end of the great room, she distinctly could see a shadowy figure seated at the organ.
Penny scrambled to her feet, starting forward. The floor creaked alarmingly.
Penny halted, but too late. She had given warning of her presence.
The shadowy figure at the organ jerked into alert attention. There was a discordant crash of chords, then silence.
Penny blinked. She thought she had heard a sharp click as if a secret panel had opened and closed. That was all.
And the organist had disappeared.
CHAPTER XII
A Suspicious Act
Penny caught herself shivering. She decided that she had seen quite enough for one night.
She turned toward the door, but with her hand on the brass knob, stood tensely listening. Someone was tiptoeing along the hall. It occurred to her that the mysterious organist might have escaped from the music room by means of a secret panel which opened directly into the adjoining corridor. Even now he could be effecting his escape to the lower floor.
Crouching against the wall, Penny waited. She was startled to hear the footsteps coming closer. Then the door opened a tiny crack and the beam of a flashlight slowly circled the room.
“Penny!” an anxious voice whispered. “Where are you?”
Penny laughed in relief as she reached out to grip Rosanna’s hand.
“Oh! How you startled me!” the girl gasped. “I’m so glad you’re safe, Penny. You stayed up here so long that I was frightened.”
“I had to wait for the ghost.”
“I heard the music,” Rosanna said in awe. “It broke off so suddenly.”
“That was because I frightened the ghost away. At first I thought perhaps I had dreamed it all, but if you heard the music too then it must have been real.”
“It was real enough. But it lasted only a minute or two.”
“When the organist saw me I suspect he slipped out of the room by means of a secret panel,” Penny reported. “But where he went is a mystery. You didn’t see anyone as you came up the stairs to find me?”
“No, I’m sure no one was in the hall, Penny.”
“I’m as certain as anything that this room has a secret entrance. Give me your flashlight and we’ll see what we can discover.”
“Not tonight,” Rosanna shivered, pulling her friend toward the door. “We can come back in the morning.”
“The room may be locked again then.”
“That’s so.”
“Let’s take advantage of the opportunity while we have it.”
Rosanna handed over the flashlight and together they crossed the room to the big organ. They inspected it with interest and Penny ran her fingers lightly over the keys. However, no sound came forth.
“That’s queer,” Rosanna whispered.
“I think someone has to pump air,” Penny said. “It’s probably shut off.”
She next turned her attention to the walls in the immediate vicinity of the organ. She could locate no hidden panel although in one place it seemed to her that when she rapped on a certain sector it emitted a hollow sound.
“It’s too dark to see anything tonight,” Rosanna protested nervously.
“I guess we may as well give it up until morning,” Penny agreed.
The girls stole quietly down the stairs to the lower floor. However, an unpleasant surprise awaited them. As they opened the door into the main passageway they found themselves face to face with Mrs. Leeds and Alicia.
“So I find you here again!” the woman exclaimed. “I suspected before that you girls were at the bottom of these nightly disturbances. Now I have the proof.”
Penny was too annoyed to even try to explain why she had visited the third floor. She would have ignored the woman and passed on to her own room had not Rosanna been so distressed by the ridiculous accusation.
“We’ve had absolutely nothing to do with the queer things which have been going on in this house,” the orphan maintained indignantly.
“Then why were you upstairs at this time of night? Only a minute or two ago Alicia and I heard music.”
“We were trying to learn what caused it, Mrs. Leeds.”
“A likely story!” Alicia said with a toss of her head.
“You may believe it or not, just as you wish,” Penny returned coldly.
“It seems to me, Miss Nichols, that you are taking it upon yourself to do entirely too much investigating,” Mrs. Leeds said cuttingly. “This isn’t your home and you’re not a relative of Jacob Winters.”
“And unless I’m sadly mistaken there are others here who are similarly situated!” Penny retorted.
“Do you mean to suggest that Alicia and I are not related to Jacob Winters?”
“I’m not suggesting anything,” Penny replied evenly. “However, since you brought up the matter of an investigation, I might ask you about that paper which I saw you burn in the living room fireplace.”
Mrs. Leeds’ face changed color and she grew confused.
“Why, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know well enough, but we’ll let it pass for the time being. Come on, Rosanna.”
The two girls walked down the hall and entered their own room, closing the door firmly behind them.
“You held your own with her that time,” Rosanna chuckled. “My, I wish I could talk up to people the way you can.”
“I talk entirely too much. But she made me provoked when she accused us of causing all the disturbance in this house.”
“What did you mean by asking about a paper she had burned?” Rosanna asked curiously.
“Oh, I just wanted to throw a scare into her,” Penny responded evasively as she snapped out the light and crept into bed. “I really have no proof of anything.”
Long after Rosanna had fallen asleep she lay awake thinking. Proof! The word seared itself into her brain. If only she could secure some evidence which would aid Rosanna!
“The entire affair seems unreal,” she mused. “Almost like a movie. It’s obvious that someone is playing at being a ghost, trying to frighten the occupants of this house. But what can be the purpose behind it all?”
Although Penny had been careful to make no such admission to Rosanna, she was becoming increasingly troubled. Nor were her worries confined solely to the hide-and-seek organist. She feared that the time was fast approaching when Mrs. Leeds or Max Laponi would make a legal claim to the Winters’ property.
“The chances are that Mrs. Leeds destroyed the will,” she reasoned. “In that event, Rosanna may lose everything.”
Penny felt baffled, yet she was unwilling to admit defeat. Certainly not until Mrs. Leeds had thrown all her cards on the table. Events were fast approaching a crisis. Penny sensed that from the woman’s attitude of increasing hostility and assurance.
“I’m not defeated yet,” she thought grimly as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve!”
When Rosanna and Penny descended the stairs the next morning they heard a murmur of voices in the library. The door was closed.
“I imagine Laponi and Mrs. Leeds are having another one of their secret conferences,” Penny commented. “They’re up to some mischief.”
“Why not leave this place today?” Rosanna demanded, “I don’t care about the fortune any more. I’m so tired of all this plotting and scheming. I’d rather just go away and let them have it.”
“Now don’t look so distressed,” Penny smiled. “The battle of wits has only begun.”
“But I don’t like to battle. It isn’t my nature.”
“I’m your appointed gladiator, Rosanna. You have no idea how much pleasure it would give me to see these grasping imposters exposed.”
“We haven’t any proof they’re imposters,” Rosanna said soberly. “After all, they had letters and keys to the house. I haven’t even that much.”
“It’s too bad they were lost, but you mustn’t let it worry you,” Penny chided. “Right now I’m more concerned over another matter.”
“The mysterious ghost?”
“Yes, although I wasn’t thinking of that at the moment. It’s Mr. Winters’ photograph. Who tore it out of the album?”
“For all we know it may have been removed years ago.”
“Yes, that’s so, but somehow I have a hunch it disappeared at a far more recent date. If I don’t find a picture of Jacob Winters, I’m afraid my little plan will fall through.”
“You haven’t told me much about this secret plan of yours, Penny.”
“That’s because I haven’t worked it out clearly in my own mind yet. But unless I find the photograph there simply won’t be any.”
“We might search the house again.”
“I intend to do that if we can ever find a time when Mrs. Leeds and Max Laponi are both gone. Just now I’m eager to make another inspection of the organ room upstairs. This is our chance while those two are closeted in the library.”
Rosanna was not especially anxious to visit the third floor again, but she offered no objection to the suggestion. Penny led the way up the creaking stairs.
The door of the music room was unlocked as they had left it the previous evening. However, the window shades were all drawn and the room was dark. Penny raised the blinds to admit light.
Curiously, the girls gazed about them. Everything was covered with a thick coating of dust and cobwebs hung in misty veils from the corners of the room. Penny crossed over to the organ. She indicated the bench in front of it.
“I guess that proves whether or not our ghost was real.”
“You mean the imprint on the dusty surface of the organ bench?” Rosanna asked doubtfully.
“Yes, you can see where the organist sat.”
“Perhaps one of us brushed off the dust without realizing it. You tried to play a few notes on the organ, you know.”
“Yes, but I didn’t sit down on the bench, Rosanna.”
Losing interest in the organ, Penny began to search for the secret panel through which she was firmly convinced that the “ghost” had disappeared. As her eyes moved swiftly over the smooth wall, she suddenly uttered a low exclamation.
“See, Rosanna! The imprint of a man’s hand!”
The marking upon the wall was so faint that at first the other girl did not see it. But she too became excited as Penny pointed it out.
“How do you suppose it came to be there?” she asked in awe.
“I suspect our friend the organist was groping about in the dark searching for the secret panel. No doubt his hand was dusty and when he pressed it against the wall it left a faint imprint.”
“If you’re right, we have a valuable clue as to the location of the panel!”
Penny nodded eagerly. Already she was exploring the wall with her hand.
“It’s funny,” she murmured impatiently. “I’m as sure as anything that the panel is here——”
She broke off suddenly as her fingers touched a tiny round object which was hidden under the wall paper.
“I believe I’ve found it!” she exclaimed gleefully pressing the button.
The girls heard a faint click. But the panel did not open.
“The stubborn thing!” Penny cried impatiently. “Why doesn’t it open?”
She pushed with both hands against the section of wall where she felt convinced the panel was located. To her own surprise and the horror of her companion, it suddenly gave way.
Penny plunged headlong through the opening. And before Rosanna could recover from the shock of seeing her friend disappear, the panel fell back into place.
“Penny, Penny,” she cried anxiously, pounding upon the wall. “Are you hurt?”
For several minutes there was no answer. Then Rosanna heard a smothered little giggle.
“All my bones are still together I guess. But I seem to have tumbled down a flight of stairs. Come on in.”
“I don’t know how to get in. The panel slammed shut when you fell through.”
“It’s hinged at the top I think. Find the little button and press on it. Then when you hear a click push on the panel. Only push easy or you’ll take a tumble the way I did.”
In a minute Rosanna had located the button. She pressed upon it as she had seen Penny do. Then as the lock clicked, she cautiously pushed against the panel. Light as was her touch the sector of wall swung instantly back and she stepped through the opening. So concerned was she over Penny that she failed to hear the panel close behind her.
At first Rosanna could see nothing. Then as her eyes became accustomed to the gloomy interior she made out a long flight of stone steps leading downward into inky blackness.
She felt reassured when Penny grasped her hand.
“Come on, Rosanna! Isn’t it exciting? Let’s explore!”
“Oh, it’s too dark!” Rosanna whispered nervously. “What if we should run into that dreadful man—the organist?”
“Well, perhaps it would be wiser to go back for a flashlight,” Penny conceded. “Only we mustn’t let Mrs. Leeds or Max Laponi suspect what we’re up to. We must keep this discovery strictly to ourselves.”
She returned to the head of the stairs but although she groped her hand carefully along the wall she could find no hidden button or spring which controlled the panel. By this time Rosanna had grown frightened.
“Don’t tell me we’re locked in!”
Penny forced herself to speak calmly. She knew that it would never do to let Rosanna realize that she too was alarmed.
“For the moment I’m afraid we are,” she admitted quietly. “But don’t give up hope. We’ll get out of here somehow.”
CHAPTER XIII
The Secret Stairs
Ten minutes of unrewarded search convinced Penny that they were only wasting their time in attempting to locate the hidden spring without a light.
“Let’s follow the steps down and see where they lead,” she suggested. “Surely there must be another exit.”
Rosanna permitted Penny to lead her down the steep flight of stairs. They presently reached the bottom. It was too dark to see very much but by feeling along the damp stone wall they discovered that they were in a narrow passageway. As they moved cautiously forward a breath of cold air struck Penny’s face.
“This must be the way to the exit,” she declared cheerfully. “We’ll soon be out of here now.”
“It can’t be too soon for me,” Rosanna chattered.
Hand in hand they groped their way along the subterranean passage. Soon they came to the end of it but instead of an exit they found another flight of steps leading downward at a steep angle.
“Careful or you’ll fall,” Penny warned as they began the treacherous descent. “Some of the stones are loose.”
“I wish we had a light,” Rosanna complained. “Where do you suppose we’re going anyway?”
“Maybe to the center of the earth,” Penny chuckled. “It seems like it anyway.”
“Unless I’m mixed up in my directions we’re moving toward the lake.”
“It seems that way to me too,” Penny readily agreed. “But we’ve twisted and turned so many times I couldn’t be sure of anything.”
By this time the girls were convinced that they were underground for they had made a long, straight descent. The walls were moist and damp; the air chilly. Yet one thing puzzled them. If they actually were traveling toward the lake that meant that the tunnel had been bored into the side of the cliff. But such a feat obviously was nothing less than an engineering enterprise.
At length the girls reached the bottom of the second flight of stairs only to find themselves in another passageway. It was much larger than the other and lighter.
“Do you think we could be in an abandoned ore mine?” Penny suddenly demanded, pausing to inspect the walls.
“It does look a little like it. Only I never heard of stone steps in a mine.”
“No, they have shafts. But it strikes me that the steps may have been added later, if you noticed, the upper passage was much smaller than this one.”
“As if it had been dug out to join with this one,” Rosanna added eagerly.
“Exactly. It’s my theory that some person knew about this old mine and decided to connect it with a smaller tunnel which would lead up into the house.”
“But who do you suppose conceived such a plan?”
“I can’t answer that one,” Penny laughed. “But come on, let’s see if we aren’t approaching the exit.”
Eagerly they moved forward, guided by the streak of light. A minute later Penny who was in the lead, gave a joyous shout.
“We’ve come to the end of it! I can see trees!”
“Thank goodness,” Rosanna sighed in relief. “I was afraid we’d never get out alive.”
Penny parted the bushes which barred the exit and they peered out.
“You were right, Rosanna. We did travel toward the lake. We’re almost in it for that matter!”
The water came within a few yards of the entrance and during a storm the girls imagined that it must flood the lower passageway. Penny noticed a rowboat tied up in a clump of bushes.
“I suppose that’s how our ghost makes his quick get-away,” Penny remarked dryly.
“We might take a ride on the lake,” Rosanna proposed.
“Don’t you think it might advertise that we’ve discovered this tunnel? Especially if the ghost should happen to see us using his boat.”
“Of course, I didn’t stop to think. Oh, Penny if only we knew the identity of this person who annoys the household!”
“It shouldn’t be so hard to learn it now,” Penny declared in satisfaction. “At night we’ll station ourselves here by the mouth of the tunnel and watch.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it should turn out to be Max Laponi,” Rosanna remarked. “He never seems to be in his room at night.”
Penny offered no response.
Fearing that their long absence from the house might have aroused suspicion, the girls hurriedly left the scene. They found a trail which wound along the base of the cliff and which presently took them toward the house on the hill.
As they passed the Eckert cabin they saw the old man cleaning fish by the back door. They greeted him perfunctorily and would have walked on had he not seemed in a mood to talk.
“Out early this morning, aren’t you?” he questioned.