CHAPTER XI
JANNET BEGINS HER SEARCH
It must not be supposed that "Jannetje Jan Van Meter Eldon" wasfrightened into leaving her room and fleeing into the newer part of thegreat house. She felt decidedly uncomfortable after the visitation, orthe ghostly phenomena, to which she and Nell Clyde had been subjected.Had Jannet been brought up in the midst of superstition, she might nothave been so sure that there was a human cause back of themanifestations, but she was more determined than ever to find out howthese things had happened. She was inclined to suspect Jan, though thefact that he had not arrived at the time the blue comforter haddisappeared was an objection there.
"If the boys _did_ do it," said Nell, that next morning, "it was meanof them, and I don't see how I ever could forgive Chick for frighteningme so."
"It was possible for one of them to get into the window, I suppose,"answered Jannet, "and you remember that there was a short time beforewe got to their door. Jan could have let himself down from the balconyand gotten into his own window in a jiffy. Perhaps he could have thrownthe light on the wall in some way, and he certainly could have madethose noises, only I scarcely see how they could have come from thedirection they seemed to come from unless Jan knows how to throw hisvoice."
"I'm sure that he doesn't," said Nell. "_I_ think that it was Paulina!"
"_That_ could be," said Jannet. "She looked awfully queer, and she hadheard it all, and she wanted us to think that it was 'Her.' But I can'timagine why she would do it. She is so mortally sensible andmatter-of-fact about everything else."
"That's the very kind," insisted Nell. "I don't think that Paulina isso very smart; besides, Jan and Chick say that she is 'queer in thebean'."
Jannet laughed at this expression. "That sounds like Jan. He has allsorts of slang for every occasion. But I'm not so sure. Paulina mayhave been scared by things like this long before any of us came here,and you know how stories grow. I'm going to talk to Paulina myself. I'mnot going to let this go and not try to find out about it. I may talkto Uncle Pieter, too, but not yet."
"Your courage is not quite up to that yet?" laughed Nell.
"Not quite, Nell."
The girls did not have a chance to see how the boys looked and actedthat morning, for Paulina called them so late that they missed the boysaltogether. Chick had gone home, to meet Jan at the train later, andMrs. Holt had driven off with Jan, intending to do some errands for himbefore he started back to school. The maid who helped Paulina gave Nelland Jannet a good breakfast, after which Nell rode home, warning Jannetin farewell not to "do anything rash."
Jannet, bare-headed, stood in the rear of the house, waving goodbye toNell. Then she slowly sauntered up the path which led to the pergola,under her own windows and those of the room in front. "I'm going inthere first," she said to herself.
Accordingly, she decided to get permission from headquarters, and asshe had seen her uncle go into the house a short time before, shecrossed the court to the rear of the new building and entered it. Heruncle was just coming out of his library when she met him.
"Uncle Pieter," she began, and he stopped in front of her with the airof being in a hurry. "Excuse me, sir,--but I have just one littlequestion."
Mr. Van Meter smiled a little. "Well, Jannet, you need not be afraid toask it. I'll not bite."
This made Jannet feel more at home with him and she laughed. "UnclePieter, do you care if I go around the old house and find out all aboutit? I'd like to go into some of the rooms and into the attic, too,perhaps."
"You are not afraid of Paulina's ghosts, then?"
"Not so very."
"Go anywhere you please, my child. Get the keys from Diana, or fromPaulina. I'm rather pleased that you should take the interest."
"Oh, _are_ you, Uncle Pieter? Thank you _so_ much. I'll not hurtanything."
"From what I have noticed about you, I feel sure that you will not. AndJannet, I have been wanting to talk to you about the plans for oursummer and other things. Come into the library after supper. No, therewill be some people here. I will see you to-morrow morning about teno'clock."
"Yes, sir," Jannet replied, and Mr. Van Meter hurried on his way downthe hall, into the back entry and outdoors again.
Her uncle had confidence in her then, and he had noticed her, and shecould go anywhere,--hurrah! Jannet felt like performing a jig then andthere, but somebody might see and be shocked. It would be better toreserve such performances for her own room, whither Jannet spedimmediately to think out the campaign.
First, where were the pearls? Who had taken them? Second, who hadplayed the part of ghost? Why? Or was there such a thing as an unhappyancestral spirit that wandered around at times? This was not the firsttime Jannet had asked herself these questions, and now once more sheexamined her desk, going over every inch of it to make sure that shehad not omitted any secret drawer, had not missed any little spring.Again she opened the drawer where the lovely case and pearls had lain.Regret was almost a pain when she saw it so empty.
It certainly _could_ not have been her uncle, though it was possible.How about Paulina? Cousin Andy,--impossible! Cousin Di, likewiseimpossible. Yet the pearls were gone. Could her uncle have taken themout by a sudden thought of surprising her with them some time? He mightthink that she could not have found that most secret of drawers. Jannetexhausted in thought the whole range of possibility. Perhaps some onehad seen her open the drawer,--from the balcony! But her back wastoward the balcony,--no, she had put on the necklace and gone to hermother's picture and around the room.
But who would climb the balcony, other than Jan or Chick or some otherboy? Perhaps a burglar,--yet nothing else was missed, to her knowledge.It certainly was a mystery. Perhaps she would tell her uncle the nextmorning. Jannet rather dreaded that interview. For she was used toladies, her teachers, and knew scarcely any gentlemen except the lawyerin Philadelphia, Lina's father, and now these relatives.
After her musings and searchings at the desk, Jannet went all over herroom again, looking closely at the paneled walls, and examining thechimney and mantel. She even ran her hands down the boards, to see ifthere were a spring, and again peered among the sooty bricks inside thegreat chimney. There was a small closet at one side of the chimney,where tongs and shovel or any necessary paraphernalia might be kept.This was clean and bare and gave no evidence of an opening.
Thinking it likely that Mrs. Holt might be back by this time, Jannetwent by the long corridor to where Mrs. Holt slept, but there was noanswer to her knock. Then she wandered downstairs again; but CousinDiana was doing errands and did not get home until after dinner. Shewas in fine spirits, telling laughingly things that the boys had saidbefore their departure and displaying to Jannet some of the prettyarticles which she had bought.
Jannet went with her to her room to help her with her packages. "Didthe boys tell you to ask Nell and me if the ghost walked last night?"queried Jannet on an impulse.
"Why?" quickly returned Mrs. Holt. "Were they playing tricks on you andNell?"
"We think that perhaps they were."
"I heard what Jan calls the 'Dutch Banshee,'" said Jan's mother, "but Iimagine that it is only the wind, whistling in the chimney, or in someodd corner. You don't worry about ghosts, do you Jannet?"
"No, Cousin Diana. And that makes me think of what I wanted to ask youthis morning. I want to poke around a little and see everything, and Iasked Uncle Pieter if he cared. He said he didn't and that you orPaulina would give me keys. I'd like to see again the front room on myhall, and the attic, too, and anything else that is interesting."
"I used to like to poke around in attics, too," said Mrs. Holt, "but Ioutgrew that long before I came here. Perhaps there are boxes of yourmother's in the attic, and there may be chests of bygoneancestors,--who knows? But you wouldn't want _me_ to go there with you,would you? I'm not fond of cobwebs and low ceilings to bump my head."
How nice Cousin Di was! She knew what girls liked to do
. "Oh, no," saidJannet, "I'll go by myself. I would love it if there were old chestsand trunks that I could look into. But they would be locked, too,wouldn't they?"
"I suppose that they will be."
Cousin Diana went to her desk and soon handed to Jannet a jinglingbunch of keys marked "Attic Keys." "There are more of them than Irecalled. Keep them as long as you want them, but lock everything upwhen you leave the attic, please, and elsewhere, too."
"I will," promised Jannet, receiving more keys.
"Not many of the help are in the house at night, but any of them mighttake a notion to rummage around there by day; and while there can notbe anything of any great value there, we do not want to lose what hasbeen thought worthy to keep. I feel a sense of responsibility, now thatI am temporarily in charge."
"Has Paulina keys?"
"Yes, I believe so. I have never directed her to clean the attic."
"If Paulina wanted to, I don't believe that she would need to bedirected."
Cousin Diana answered Jannet's mischievous look with a smile. "I seethat you already appreciate Paulina," she remarked.
After leaving her cousin, Jannet went straight to the front room whosegreat fireplace was a duplicate of hers. Unlocking the door, shestepped inside, finding herself in a large, shadowy room, whose shadeswere down and whose furniture was draped in coverings. From theseswathed chairs, perhaps, came that smell of moth balls.
A large mirror between two windows revealed dimly her own figure.Jannet put up the shades and opened a window. She intended to lookthoroughly for any evidences of the "ghost." Here was a possibility.Perhaps from this side there could be found some opening. There hadbeen funny noises in that wall, at any rate.
But never did walls look more innocent. She scanned them closely.
There was a little closet which corresponded to the one in her room.Another, high and deep, corresponded to her clothes closet. Theycertainly were large closets, the depth of the big chimney, shesupposed.
Jannet examined the walls of the closets and of the room. She evenlooked at the ceiling for a possible trap door, though how the ghostcould have flown so quickly out of her own room she could not imagine.This was a fine old room, but it offered no solution of her problems,so far as she could see. One thing, however, confirmed her in her ideaof some secret passage,--the space between the rooms, the size of thatgreat chimney.