With a throaty sound, half chuckle, half sneer, the man arose and walked with the girls around the house.
“If you want to look inside, there’s a shutter off on the east livin’ room window,” he informed. “Everything’s just like the old lady left it.”
“You don’t mean the furniture is still in the house!”Rhoda exclaimed incredulously.
“There ain’t nothing been changed. I never could figure why someone didn’t come in an’ haul off her stuff, but it’s stood all these years.”
Their curiosity aroused, the girls hastened to the window that Truman Crocker had mentioned. Flattening her face against the dirty pane, Penny peered inside.
“He’s right!” she announced. “The furniture is still covered by sheets! Why, that’s funny.”
“What is?” inquired Louise impatiently.
“There’s a lady’s hat lying on the table!”
“It must be quite out of style by this time,” Louise laughed.
“A new hat,” Penny said with emphasis. “And a purse lying beside it!”
At the other side of the house, an outside door squeaked. Turning around, the group of girls stared almost as if they were gazing at a ghost. An old lady in a long blue silk dress with lace collar and cuffs, stepped out onto the veranda. She gazed beyond the girls toward Truman Crocker who leaned against a tree. Seeing the woman, he straightened to alert attention.
“If it ain’t Priscilla Marborough!” he exclaimed. “You’ve come back!”
“I certainly have returned,” the old lady retorted with no friendliness in her voice. “High time someone looked after this place! While I’ve been away, you seemingly have used my garden as a chicken run!”
“How did I know you was ever coming back?”Crocker demanded. “Anyhow, the place has gone to wrack and ruin. A few chickens more nor less shouldn’t make no difference.”
“Perhaps not to you, Truman Crocker,” Mrs. Marborough returned with biting emphasis. “You know I am home now, so I warn you—keep your live stock out of my garden!”
Penny and her friends shared the old stonecutter’s chagrin, for they too were trespassers. Waiting until the woman had finished lecturing Crocker, they offered an apology for the intrusion.
“We’re very sorry,” Penny said, speaking for the others. “Of course we never dreamed that the house was occupied or we wouldn’t have peeped through the window. We came because we wanted to sketch the old wishing well and your lovely home.”
Mrs. Marborough came down the steps toward the girls.
“I quite understand,” she said in a far milder tone than she had used in speaking to the stonecutter. “You may look around as much as you wish. But first, tell me your names.”
One by one they gave them, answering other questions which the old lady asked. She kept them so busy that they had no opportunity to interpose any of their own. But at length Penny managed to inquire:
“Mrs. Marborough, are you planning to open up your home again? Everyone would be so happy if only you should decide to live here!”
“Happy?” the old lady repeated, her eyes twinkling. “Well, maybe some people would be, and others wouldn’t.”
“Rose Acres could be made into one of the nicest places in Riverview,” declared Louise.
“That would take considerable money,” replied Mrs. Marborough. “I’ve not made any plans yet.”Abruptly she turned to face Truman Crocker who was staring at her. “Must you stand there gawking?” she asked with asperity. “Get along to your own land, and mind, don’t come here again. I’ll not have trespassers.”
“You ain’t changed a bit, Mrs. Marborough, not a particle,” the stonecutter muttered as he slowly moved off.
Truman Crocker’s dismissal had been so curt that Penny and her friends likewise started to leave the grounds.
“You needn’t go unless you want to,” Mrs. Marborough said, her tone softening again. “I never could endure that no-good loafer, Truman Crocker! All the stepping stones are gone from my garden, and I have an idea what became of them!”
The group of girls hesitated, scarcely knowing what to do or say. As the silence became noticeable, Penny tried to make conversation by remarking that she and her friends had been especially interested in the old wishing well.
“Is it true that wishes made there have come true?”Rhoda Wiegand interposed eagerly.
“Yes and no,” the old lady smiled. “Hundreds of wishes have been made at the well over the years. A surprising number of the worthwhile ones have been granted, so folks say. Tell me, did you say your name is Rhoda?”
“Why, yes,” the girl responded, surprised that the old lady had remembered. “Rhoda Wiegand.”
“Wiegand—odd, I don’t recall the name. Have your parents lived many years in Riverview?”
“My mother and father are dead, Mrs. Marborough. My brother and I haven’t any living relatives. Mr. and Mrs. Breen took us in so we wouldn’t have to go to an orphans’ home. They have three children of their own, and I’m afraid we’re quite a burden.”
“Where do the Breens live, my child?”
“We have a trailer at the Dorset Tourist Camp.”
“I’ve always thought I should enjoy living that way,” Mrs. Marborough declared. “Big houses are entirely too much work. If I decide to clean up this place, it will take me weeks.”
“Can’t we all help you?” suggested Louise impulsively. More than anything else she longed to see the interior of the quaint old house.
“Thank you, my dear, but I shall require no assistance,”Mrs. Marborough replied somewhat stiffly. Obviously dismissing the girls, she added: “Do come again whenever you like.”
During the bus ride to Riverview, the members of the Palette exchanged comments, speculating upon why the old lady had returned to the city after such a lengthy absence. One by one they alighted at various street corners until only Rhoda, Penny, and Louise remained.
“Rhoda, you’ll have a long ride to the opposite side of the city,” Penny remarked as she and Louise prepared to leave the bus. “Why not get off here and let me drive you home in my car? It won’t take long to get it from the garage.”
“Oh, that would be too much trouble,” Rhoda protested.
“I want to do it,” Penny insisted. Taking the girl by the elbow, she steered her to the bus exit. To Louise she added: “Why not come along with us?”
“Perhaps I will, if you’ll drive your good car—not Leaping Lena.”
Penny was the proud possessor of two automobiles, one a handsome maroon sedan, the other a dilapidated, ancient “flivver” which had an unpleasant habit of running only when fancy dictated. How she had obtained two cars was a story in itself—in fact, several of them. The maroon model, however, had been the gift of Penny’s devoted father, Anthony Parker, publisher of Riverview’s leading daily newspaper, The Star. He had presented the car to her in gratitude because she had achieved an exclusive story for his paper, gaining astounding evidence by probing behind a certain mysterious Green Door.
Delighted with the gift, Penny promptly sold Leaping Lena only to become so lonesome for her old friend that she had bought it back from a second-hand dealer. In towing the car home she was involved in an accident, and there followed a chain of amazing events which ultimately brought the solution of a mystery case known as Clue of the Silken Ladder. Leaping Lena and trouble always went together, according to Louise, but Penny felt that every one of her adventures had been worth while.
“I don’t mind taking the maroon car,” she replied to her chum. “In fact, Lena hasn’t been running so well lately. I think she has pneumonia of the carburetor.”
“Or maybe it’s just old age sneaking up on her!”Louise added with a teasing laugh.
Reaching the Parker home, Penny ran inside to tell Mrs. Weems, the housekeeper, that she was taking Rhoda to the trailer camp. Returning a moment later, she backed the maroon car from the garage with dazzling skill and further exhibited her prowess as a driver.
“Penny always handles an automobile as if she were enroute to a three-alarm fire!” Louise assured Rhoda. “A reporter at the Star taught her how to drive.”
Presently, the car arrived at the Dorset Tourist Camp, rolling through an archway entrance into a tree-shaded area.
“Our trailer is parked over at the north side,” Rhoda said, pointing to a vehicle with faded brown paint.
Penny stopped the car beneath a large maple tree. Immediately three small children who had been playing close by, rushed up to greet Rhoda. Their hands and faces were very dirty, frocks unpressed and torn, and their hair appeared never to have made contact with comb or brush.
“Are these the Breen youngsters?” inquired Louise.
“Yes,” Rhoda answered, offering no apology for the way the children looked. “This is Betty, who is seven. Bobby is five, and Jean is our baby.”
Penny and Louise had no intention of remaining at the camp, but before they could drive away, Mrs. Breen stepped from the trailer. She came at once to the car, and Rhoda introduced her.
“I’ve always told Rhoda to bring her friends out here, but she never would do it,” the woman declared heartily. “Come inside and see our trailer.”
“We really should be going,” Penny demurred. “I told our housekeeper I’d be right back.”
“It will only take a minute,” Mrs. Breen urged. “I want you to meet my husband—and there’s Ted.”
The woman had caught a glimpse of a tall young man as he moved hastily around the back side of the trailer.
“Oh, Ted!” she called shrilly. “Come here and meet Rhoda’s friends!”
“Don’t bother about it, Mrs. Breen,” Rhoda said in embarrassment. “Please.”
“Nonsense!” the woman replied, and called again. “Ted! Come here, I say!”
With obvious reluctance, the young man approached the automobile. He was tall and slim with many of Rhoda’s facial features. Penny felt certain that she had seen him before, yet for a minute she could not think where.
“How are you?” the young man responded briefly as he was presented to the two girls.
“Ted found a little work to do today,” Mrs. Breen resumed proudly. “Just a few minutes ago he brought home a nice plump chicken. We’re having it for dinner!”
Ted gazed over the woman’s head, straight at his sister. Seeing the look which passed between them, Penny suddenly knew where she had seen the young man. Mrs. Breen’s remark had given her the required clue. Unquestionably, Ted Wiegand was the one who had stolen the chicken from the old stonecutter!
CHAPTER 3
CHICKEN DINNER
The discovery that Rhoda’s brother had stolen food was disconcerting to Penny. Saying good-bye to Mrs. Breen, she prepared to drive away from the trailer camp.
“Oh, you can’t go so soon,” the woman protested. “You must stay for dinner. We’re having chicken and there’s plenty for everybody!”
“Really we can’t remain,” Penny declined. “Louise and I both are expected at home.”
“You’re just afraid you’ll put me to a little trouble,”Mrs. Breen laughed, swinging open the car door and tugging at Penny’s hand. “You have to stay.”
Taking a cue from their mother, the three young children surrounded the girls, fairly forcing them toward the trailer. Ted immediately started in the opposite direction.
“You come back here, Ted Wiegand!” Mrs. Breen called in a loud voice.
“I don’t want any dinner, Mom.”
“I know better,” Mrs. Breen contradicted cheerfully. “You’re just bashful because we’re having two pretty girls visit us. You stay and eat your victuals like you always do, or I’ll box your ears.”
“Okay,” Ted agreed, glancing at Rhoda again. “It’s no use arguing with you, Mom.”
Neither Penny nor Louise wished to remain for dinner, yet they knew of no way to avoid it without offending Mrs. Breen. Briskly the woman herded them inside the trailer.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” she asked proudly. “We have a little refrigerator and a good stove and a sink. We’re a bit crowded, but that only makes it more jolly.”
A man in shirt sleeves lay on one of the day beds, reading a newspaper.
“Meet my husband,” Mrs. Breen said as an afterthought. “Get up, Pop!” she ordered. “Don’t you have any manners?”
The man amiably swung his feet to the floor, grinning at Penny and Louise.
“I ain’t been very well lately,” he said, as if feeling that the situation required an explanation. “The Doc tells me to take it easy.”
“That was twenty years ago,” Mrs. Breen contributed, an edge to her voice. “Pop’s been resting ever since. But we get along.”
Rhoda and Ted, who had followed the others into the trailer, were acutely embarrassed by the remark. Penny hastily changed the subject to a less personal one by pretending to show an interest in a book which lay on the table.
“Oh, that belongs to Rhoda,” Mrs. Breen responded carelessly. “She brought it from the library. Ted and Rhoda always have their noses in a book. They’re my adopted children, you know.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Breen have been very kind to us,”Rhoda said quietly.
“Stuff and nonsense!” Mrs. Breen retorted. “You’ve more than earned your keep. Well, if you’ll excuse me now, I’ll dish up dinner.”
Penny and Louise wondered how so many persons could be fed in such a small space, especially as the dinette table accommodated only six. Mrs. Breen solved the problem by giving each of the three small children a plate of food and sending them outdoors.
“Now we can eat in peace,” she remarked, squeezing her ample body beneath the edge of the low, anchored table. “It’s a little crowded, but we can all get in here.”
“I’ll take my plate outside,” Ted offered.
“No, you stay right here,” Mrs. Breen reproved. “I never did see such a bashful boy! Isn’t he the limit?”
Having arranged everything to her satisfaction, she began to dish up generous helpings of chicken and potato. The food had an appetizing odor and looked well cooked, but save for a pot of tea, there was nothing else.
“We’re having quite a banquet tonight,” Pop Breen remarked appreciatively. “I’ll take a drumstick, Ma, if there ain’t no one else wantin’ it.”
“You’ll take what you get,” his wife retorted, slapping the drumstick onto Penny’s plate.
Louise and Penny made a pretense of eating, finding the food much better than they had expected. Neither Ted nor Rhoda seemed hungry, and Mrs. Breen immediately called attention to their lack of appetite.
“Why, Ted! What’s the matter you’re not eating? Are you sick?”
The boy shook his head and got to his feet.
“I’m not hungry, Mom,” he mumbled. “Excuse me, please. I have a date with a fellow at Riverview, and I have to hurry.”
Before Mrs. Breen could detain him, he left the trailer.
“I can’t understand that boy any more,” she observed with a sad shake of her head. “He hasn’t been himself lately.”
The younger members of the Breen family quite made up for Ted and Rhoda’s lack of appetite. Time and again they came to the table to have their plates refilled, until all that remained of the chicken was a few bones.
Penny and Louise felt quite certain that Rhoda realized what her brother had done and was deeply humiliated by his thievery. To spare the girl further embarrassment, they declared that they must leave. However, as they were presenting their excuses, there was a loud rap on the door of the trailer. Peering from the curtained window, Mrs. Breen immediately lost her jovial manner.
“He’s here again,” she whispered. “What are we going to tell him, Pop?”
“Just give him the old stall,” her husband suggested, undisturbed.
Reluctantly, Mrs. Breen went to open the door. Without waiting for an invitation, a well-dressed man of middle age entered the trailer. Penny immediately recognized him as
Jay Franklin, who owned the Dorset Tourist Camp. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Breen,” he began, his manner falsely cheerful. “I suppose you know why I am here again?”
“About the rent?”
“Precisely.” Mr. Franklin consulted a small booklet. “You are behind one full month in your payments, as of course you must be aware. The amount totals eight dollars.”
“Pop, pay the gentleman,” Mrs. Breen commanded.
“Well, now, I ain’t got that much on me,” her husband rejoined, responding to his cue. “If you’ll drop around in a day or two, Mr. Franklin—”
“You’ve been stalling for weeks! Either pay or your electric power will be cut off!”
“Oh, Mr. Franklin,” pleaded Mrs. Breen, “you can’t do that to us. Why, with our refrigerator on the blink, the milk will sour. And I got three little children.”
The man regarded her with cold dislike.
“I am not interested in your personal problems, Mrs. Breen,” he said, delivering his ultimatum. “Either settle your bill in full by tomorrow morning, or move on!”
CHAPTER 4
A RECORD ON ROCK
“What’ll we do?” Mrs. Breen murmured, gazing despairingly at her husband. “Where will we get the money?”
Penny stepped forward into Jay Franklin’s range of vision. Observing her for the first time, he politely doffed his hat, a courtesy he had not bestowed upon the Breens.
“Mr. Franklin, have you a cheque book?” she inquired.
“Yes, I have,” he responded with alacrity.
“Then I’ll write a cheque for the eight dollars if that will be satisfactory,” Penny offered. “The Breens are friends of mine.”
“That will settle the bill in full, Miss Parker.”
Whipping a fountain pen from his pocket, he offered it to her.
“Penny, we can’t allow you to assume our debts,”Rhoda protested. “Please don’t—”
“Now Rhoda, it’s only a loan to tide us over for a few days,” Mrs. Breen interposed. “Ted will get a job and then we’ll be able to pay it back.”
Penny wrote out the cheque, and cutting short the profuse thanks of the Breens, declared that she and Louise must return home at once.
The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels Page 69
