XXIV
It Fits!
AT these words my heart sank. "There goes all our good resolutions andpromises!" I thought. For of course I knew that we'd never go straighthome now!
"Digging up the garden!" cried Eve. "How d'you know?"
"I saw it this morning when I stopped to have a look for my flashlightwhich I mislaid the night I was--ah--pinched! The door was locked, andI couldn't get into the house. On my way out I noticed that somebody'dbeen at work in the garden in a new place."
"Then that creature hasn't left the country at all," Hattie May cried."It's just as I suspected, he's still after the treasure!"
We were approaching the house. "Want to stop and have a look?" Michaelinquired teasingly. "Might pick up a clue--collar button or whatnot!Don't you think?"
"Oh, no, I don't think we'd better," I began hurriedly, though I knewas I said it that it was useless.
"Of course we must stop," Hattie May declared. "Hamish would neverforgive me if I neglected a single clue!"
"We-ll," said Eve doubtfully, "I don't suppose it would really do anyharm just to run in for a minute. So long as we don't have to catch thebus," she glanced doubtfully at me.
I shrugged. "Do just as you like," I said, "but don't expect me toexplain things to Aunt Cal!"
"Leave Aunt Cal to me!" Eve laughed lightly and began to climb downfrom the wagon. Without enthusiasm I followed her and once more foundmyself making my way over the wall, across the yard toward the tangledgarden. It was getting to be a habit, I reflected. It almost seemed asif some unknown force kept drawing us back to the old house and itssecrets.
Michael pointed out the place where a new hole had been dug nearbywhere we had discovered the first one, and apparently hastily filled inagain. Could it be that Bangs had returned?
"You'd hardly think he'd dare hang around," Eve said thoughtfully.
"It just shows how badly he wants that treasure," Hattie May cried."He's willing to take any risk."
"Wish I could think of a way to get my flashlight," Michael said,glancing toward the house. "I think I'll just have a try at thosecellar windows on a chance," he added. "Be right back."
"They're all nailed fast," Eve called after him. But he strode on.
We sat down on the edge of the fountain. The statue of Circe still laywhere we had left it, reclining in the leaf strewn bowl. Hattie Maybegan poking with a stick in the newly filled hole. Several minuteswent by and Michael did not return. "He must have got in after all,"Eve said, glancing a little apprehensively I thought, toward the thickgrowth of bushes that obscured our view of the rear of the house.
As she spoke our attention was caught by the sound of a car coming upthe hill. Automobiles passed that way so seldom that we all jumped upinstinctively. To our surprise it appeared to be slowing down in frontof the house. Then suddenly I recognized Miss Blossom's little coupeand saw that lady's ample bulk at the wheel. A woman beside her wasleaning over and peering out.
I groaned as I looked. "Aunt Cal! If that isn't just our luck!"
Hattie May giggled. "Look, the fat lady is waving!"
"Come on," Eve started for the wall. "I'll explain everythingsatisfactorily to Aunt Cal."
We climbed back over the wall. Miss Blossom beamed upon us. "We're outjoy riding," she explained. "I told Cal she needed a little relaxationfrom her responsibilities. We've been doing forty miles an hour beforewe struck the hill!"
"We thought," Aunt Cal remarked pointedly, "that we might meet youcoming home!"
"Oh," I said confusedly, "we are--I mean we're going on directly--we'rejust waiting for Michael."
But Aunt Cal did not seem to be listening to my halting excuses.Instead, I saw that her eyes--and her thoughts with them, Iguessed--had strayed beyond me toward the house dreaming there in thesoft sunset light.
"My, how sweet it smells!" exclaimed Miss Blossom. "I wonder if thosetea roses are still blooming? Do you remember them, Cal? They were thesweetest ones I ever knew! What d'you say we take a peek around?"
Aunt Cal seemed to come back with a start. "Get out if you wish, Rose,"she said. "I hardly think I care to do so."
"Oh, come on," Miss Blossom urged. "Stretch your legs a little." Shebegan, as she spoke, lowering her massive bulk onto the running board.We gave her a hand over the wall, though she was surprisingly agile forone of her size. The tall grass fell away before her as at the advanceof a steam roller. "My," she exclaimed, "what a jungle!" She turnedagain, "Come on, Cal," she urged.
Aunt Cal seemed to hesitate. And then I saw that she, too, was gettingout of the car. We came, all five of us, back to the garden. Michaelwas still absent. Miss Blossom sank panting on the edge of thefountain. "My land! It's just a crime to let a place run down likethis!" she commented. "'Member the time we went wading in thisfountain, Cal?"
But Aunt Cal, if she remembered, did not say so. She was standingerect, gazing about her. And it was not so much sorrow at the sight ofthe neglect and decay that I read in her face as regret for somethingthat is past and gone forever.
Suddenly Michael came advancing toward us. "Hullo, there," Miss Blossomcalled. "Is the house unlocked? Could we go inside?"
To my amazement Michael nodded. "Yes," he said, "it's unlocked."
"But I thought you said," Eve began and then stopped.
"Good!" said Miss Blossom. "Then we can take a look around."
"Oh, no, Rose!" Aunt Cal spoke up sharply. "Not inside!"
"But why not?" returned the other matter-of-factly. "If the agent's socareless as to leave the place unlocked, he couldn't object to ourgoing in. I'd just love to see how the old place looks--I hear it'sjust about as Carter left it."
"It isn't much to see," Michael remarked. "Just a musty old place."
"Michael Gilpatrick," Miss Blossom demanded accusingly, "is there somereason why you don't want us to go in. Out with it--what mischief haveyou been up to?"
Michael's brown face reddened at the memory of last Saturday night. "Ionly went after my flashlight," he said a trifle lamely. "I left itsomewhere around----"
Miss Blossom jumped up spryly. "Well, anyway, I'm going in," shedeclared. "Come on, Cal, don't be sentimental!"
I got up too. I found myself suddenly sharing Miss Blossom's curiosity.Eve and Hattie May followed us and, as we reached the door, I saw AuntCal and Michael reluctantly bringing up the rear. Aunt Cal wore astrange expression as if some inner force were compelling her againsther will.
Miss Blossom pushed open the door and advanced into the kitchen. "My,"she snorted, "what a stuffy place! What this house needs is a goodairing and"--she glanced sharply around--"a good scrubbing with strongsoap and plenty of elbow grease. Look at that range, Cal!"
But Aunt Cal did not look at the range. She was staring ahead at theopen door and at the wide hall beyond it. It was as if she expected tosee someone advancing out of the shadows.
Then Hattie May's high-pitched voice broke in. "Listen," she said,"what's that noise!"
"I don't hear anything," I said. "And I guess you don't either, it'sjust your imagination."
"But I did, I tell you. There! There it is again!"
For an instant we all stood listening. And sure enough, there wassomething, a gentle tapping noise coming from far down the hall. "Myland, the place is haunted!" Miss Blossom giggled nervously. "Oh,girls, I'm scared!"
Eve looked at Michael. "Do you know what it is?" she demanded.
He shook his head. "No, but I think it's time I found out!" He walkedtoward the open hall door as he spoke.
To my amazement, Aunt Cal hurried after him. She was just behind him ashe put out his hand for the handle of the parlor door. "Be careful,Cal!" Miss Blossom called in a whisper. "I wouldn't----"
Aunt Cal paid no heed. And as Michael opened the door she advanced withhim across the threshold. From where we stood in the middle of the hallwe heard a startled exclamation. Then suddenly, like a breath of freshair, came Michael's
clear ringing voice breaking from surprise intolaughter. "Hamish! What on earth----?"
We all crowded forward. In the middle of the shuttered parlor stoodHamish, looking very much like a small boy caught stealing jam. Hisface was flushed, his shirt rumpled and I noticed a filigree of cobwebclinging to his hair. "Just a little private investigating I beendoin'," he offered the explanation sullenly as we all clusteredwonderingly about him. "But of course," he added petulantly, "I can'tget anywhere with a lot of folks bustin' in on me!"
"Hamish Lewis, what are you doing in this house?" Hattie May demandedshrilly. "Look at your shirt and that tear in your trousers!"
Hamish regarded his sister coldly. "All a girl thinks about isclothes," he muttered.
I was scarcely listening to this interchange. Ever since I had enteredthe room I had been conscious of something which had not been therebefore. This was a curious odor, a heavy, sweet aromatic smell. A smellwhich reminded me of the East and vaguely, too, of something else, thatawakened a hazy memory.
"Mercy, what smells so funny!" Miss Blossom was sniffing the air.
"Guess you mean that jar that got spilled." Hamish, still with a highlyinjured air, pointed to where a small bronze jar lay overturned infront of the fireplace. "I moved that cabinet a little," he added, "andthat jar fell out and spilled. It had that funny smelling stuff inside."
Aunt Cal went over to where the jar lay and, stooping, began gatheringup the scattering of dried brown particles and stuffing them back."It's the jar of myrrh," she murmured, "that Uncle Judd brought backfrom Arabia."
It was then that I suddenly found myself saying a thing for which I wastotally unable to account. The words seemed to come out of themselves,almost as if another person had spoken them. "The cabinet," I said,"doesn't belong there anyway." And I added inconsequentially, "It'sright in the way of the cupboard."
"Cupboard?" Eve looked at me strangely. And Hattie May said, "I don'tsee any cupboard. What on earth are you talking about?"
"The cupboard there by the fireplace," I insisted.
"Sandy," said Eve anxiously, "what's the matter with you? There isn'tany cupboard. You can see that."
"Yes there is," I returned positively. "It's where they kept the chinaduck."
Of course they were all staring at me now as if they thought I hadbecome light-headed. "It's very close in here," I heard Miss Blossommurmur. "Don't any of these windows open?" And Eve asked, "Do you feelall right, Sandy?"
Then Aunt Cal said a surprising thing. "I do seem to recall a cupboardthere at the right of the fireplace," she said slowly. "I had forgottenit entirely," she looked at me oddly. "I can't think how you knew," sheadded.
Hamish, saying nothing, now walked over to the fireplace and beganfeeling along the pink rosebud wallpaper which edged it. Suddenly hebegan to tear at it. "Sufferin' sunfish! I b'lieve you're right, Sandy!I believe there is a cupboard there--see, there's the edge of the door!And me lookin' in the chimney!"
"Looking for what?" Eve demanded. But Hamish did not answer her. He wastoo busy tearing away strip after strip of the rosebuds. We allgathered around to watch. Nobody seemed to care at all that thewallpaper was being ruined.
As for me, my heart was beating strangely as the outline of thecupboard came into view. Inch by inch it was revealed. But how had Iknown?
At last the paper was all off and we were gazing at a good sized doorset in the wall about four feet above the floor. There was no handle orknob, that had evidently been removed when the paper was put on. Hamishtook out his knife and thrust it into the keyhole. "Locked," heannounced.
"Well don't that just beat all!" Miss Blossom cried. "How long do youcalculate it's been covered up, Cal?"
Aunt Cal shook her head. "It must have been done after Uncle Judddied," she said. "I remember hearing that Carter had some of the roomspapered before he went away."
Miss Blossom nodded. "Like as not the paper hanger did it himselfwithout consulting anybody. If it was that Jed Button from Millport Iwouldn't put it past him! I remember the time he did ma's room----"
But no one seemed to be listening to Miss Blossom. We were all intenton watching Michael as he tinkered with the lock. "Guess it's no usebotherin' with it," Hamish remarked. "I guess it's getting prettylate." He took out his watch.
Michael looked at him suspiciously and went on tinkering. Then suddenlyEve gave a gasp. "Why," she cried, "the key! Where's the key? The onewe found in the tobacco tin?"
"Why of course," almost screamed Hattie May. "Why didn't we think of itbefore? Hamish, you're the one who took it! Where is it?" Thenaccusingly, "You've been keeping it back on purpose, you wanted to waittill we were gone!"
To this accusation Hamish's only answer was a shrug and a sigh as heplunged his hand into his trousers' pocket and drew out the key. With agrin Michael took it and thrust it into the keyhole. There was a clickand Hattie May gave another scream. "It fits!" she cried. "It fits!"
But the lock was rusty and the key refused to turn. "Needs oiling,"Michael remarked.
"There's an oil can in my car," Miss Blossom suggested. "We've just gotto get this cupboard open before we go! Like as not we'll find thefamily skeleton in it or something!" she added with a laughing glancetoward Aunt Cal. Aunt Cal did not say a word.
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