Mystery of Drear House

by Virginia Hamilton

  Her mama was there with Mr. Pluto on one side of her and Great Mother Jeffers on the other. Next in line were Mr. and Miz Small.

  The Darrow men, River Lewis and the boys, including Macky, who’d never known the treasure existed, walked down the ramp like sleepwalkers. They were staring at the stalactites as if they’d dreamed them. They avoided touching the monstrous things. Stalagmites rose from the floor, seeming to guard what had to be one of the greatest discoveries ever uncovered: the great cavern, the stupendous treasure-house of Dies Eddington Drear.

  River Lewis Darrow moved along as in a trance. His sons stumbled behind him, jostling one another and tripping over their own feet. He kept slapping back at them weakly. But none of them, not even Macky, said a word. Without even thinking about it, they all knew that they must not make loud noise in a cave this size.

  They stared dumbly at everything. Mr. Pluto stood beside the Renaissance desk that commanded the approach to the cavern. He rested one hand on the polished top. His brown woolen throw over his shoulders made him look like a king: King Pluto of the Drear Underground.

  The Darrows had reached a rampart arch in the downslope of the ramp. Here they could stand almost level. And here they paused to gape.

  The barrel-shaped cavern ceiling rolled up and up over them. It was half a football field long. High up, on all sides, hung Persian carpets and rich tapestries. Their colors glowed in the flame light of Mr. Pluto’s torches, grouped in the center. On the cavern floor between the hangings were whole painted canoes and finely crafted totem poles. Tens upon tens of bureaus and breakfronts, inlaid with delicate woods, had drawers packed with small treasures. There were scores of barrels bursting with silken and embroidered materials set in rows between canoes and poles. Riches spilled from kegs and crates—gold coins and gold watches, pearls and other jewelry that sparkled and nearly blinded their eyes. The astonishing hoard went on and on, practically as far as the eye could see.

  Thomas thought he saw light and mist in Darrow’s eyes as River Lewis came closer. But Darrow blinked again twice, and the glinting was gone.

  Through the corridors of grandeur and wealth walked several strangers. There was the whir and click of a camera, a flash of light. A man and woman came up the ramp toward the Darrows. The man had been taking photographs of the cavern wealth for half an hour. Now he was ready to take shots of these new people making their way down. The Darrow men were tall, light-skinned, and rather sinister-looking. In their astonishment they made quite a picture.

  “You’re Mr. River Lewis Darrow?” the woman said, keeping her voice down. Everybody looked up at Darrow. “I’m a reporter, Nancy Enders, from the Springville Star. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Darrow.” The woman extended her palm. River Lewis shook her hand mechanically up and down twice.

  “This is my photographer, Jeremy Johns,” she said. “Could you tell us what you think about your wife’s helping to discover this cavern?” She pushed a key of her tape recorder and held the recorder out toward River Lewis.

  Darrow stared at the woman in disbelief. It was then that Mr. Small spoke quickly before River Lewis had time to think.

  “Morning, Mr. Darrow,” he said pleasantly, as though he greeted Darrow every day. He moved closer as Darrow took a step back in surprise at the greeting.

  “There are people from the area newspaper here,” Walter Small said. “I expect there will be more later. They’ll all want to talk to you. And the folks over there are the people who run the foundation that owns Drear property. They are looking over all the treasure.”

  Right on that Mr. Pluto spoke, came forward with Mattie, his hand at her elbow. The gold she had held in her hands was now magically on the grand desk. There sparkled a discreet pile of nuggets, pretty and golden as you please.

  “Wouldn’t you know it would happen like this?” Pluto was saying, nearly in a whisper. He knew it was what he wouldn’t say, the words he left out, that would make his point to Darrow. “And like nobody, Mattie come in, and stare at that wall of my cave. I stare at that wall every day. She look at me; I look at her. Something about that wall we see different. Wouldn’t you know it would happen like that? So unexpected, out of the blue! That wall move, and ... all this here.”

  There. He said his part. It was only part little white lie or even part huge lie. There were places left out between the words he’d said. It didn’t matter that later Darrow might realize again what he always knew: that it would take considerable time to discover a great treasure. For now it was over. All of it gone, the enormous cavern, all taken from him Pluto, and Darrow, too, for that matter. Pluto wouldn’t protest, wouldn’t make a fuss over what Mr. Small had done. How could he? I’m an old man, Pluto thought. I’ve no real right to the property, the treasure-house.

  Mr. Small had convinced him that a cave-in could happen, that the great cavern belonged truly to—what had Small called it?—“posterity,” the future of them all.

  Mayhew will take care of me. He’s my own son, doing well for himself now. But I’ve never had to depend on someone. Never!

  Tall and lean, Mayhew Skinner, Mr. Pluto’s son, moved to the other side of his father from Mattie and put his arm around him. He saw the gloom spread over Pluto’s face. “Hey, it’s okay, don’t worry,” he murmured to his father. Mayhew had known Darrows all his life. Even when he had moved away from Drear land and the town, he’d never forgotten them and had kept tabs on them. Mattie Darrow had always been strange, always out of place. But he’d thought kindly of her because his father had cared about her welfare and what she cared about—keeping safe the underground. Now Mayhew tightened his hand on his father’s shoulder as a comfort. There was a grim, faint smile on his lips. His eyes glinted hard yet amused at River Lewis and his “boys”—grown men, all.

  Thomas watched the scene unfold, transfixed by the sight of so many people, friend and foe and even strangers. The daring of his father’s plan was just so fantastic. It all was happening the way it was supposed to happen.

  Thomas went up the ramp a few feet, and for the first time he wasn’t nervous around Darrows. He walked around the Darrow men to stand next to Pesty, right by Macky. He folded his arms and held his head high.

  “It’s the only way,” he remembered his papa’s telling Mayhew last night. “We bring Darrow inside the cavern. Up front where everybody can see him.”

  “But why?” Mayhew demanded to know.

  “Because”—Thomas had said; his papa’s plan made good sense to him—“the best place to keep a secret safe is to bring it and the enemy of it out in the open. That way there can’t be harm in either of them ever again.”

  “Mr. Darrow,” the reporter was saying, “can we get a picture of you and your wife … and Pluto—er, Mr. Skinner?” She had not waited for Darrow to answer her first question. Seeing that he was so stunned by all the people and commotion, the great cavern itself, she had asked this next question of him. She smiled and politely pulled Mr. Pluto with Mattie Darrow over to River Lewis. She placed them so Mattie stood between Pluto and Darrow. Darrow was like a pillar of stone that couldn’t be moved. Mayhew stood close by, not trusting Darrow near his father.

  Mattie stared into River Lewis’s face. “You stand on my side,” she told him. He looked at her, confused but realizing why she was there. His face worked in dismay. His eyes had blackened in anger and grief as he surveyed what he’d lost. His own wife had helped in the great discovery. More’s the pity!

  Great balls afire! he raged inside. Here was what he’d longed for most of his life, and his father before him, and his before him. His poor Mattie was in on it, too! And they taken it from me. They!

  Wasn’t going to be his at all!

  It ain’t fair! Inside, River Lewis moaned in sorrowing anger. Damn your soul, Walter Small, you and your do-right!

  Cameras flashed, clicked. The reporter wouldn’t go away. She had tried to interview Mattie and had found her impossible. Now she really had to have answers to a few things more from the
husband, at least, to round out her story. All these people, living half in the light and out.

  “What do you think you and your wife will do with her part of the reward?” she asked. “The foundation states it is considering seriously giving a reward to the discoverers of the treasure.”

  Darrow tried to hide his shock at the news. “Have to think about that,” he mumbled, fidgeting there in the limelight. But it was clear from the gleam in his eyes that a reward of money had caught his attention.

  A moment later Mr. Small asked everyone to leave the cavern. “There’s more to be seen,” he announced in a quiet voice to everyone. He started up the ramp past Darrows, leading the way. He talked softly as he went, like a museum guide with a sore throat, Thomas thought. “Granted, the next discovery is not as grand and rich as this formidable place,” he continued. “Yet its history is very significant all the same.” He hoped that no one would notice he’d not said who had made the next discovery. No need to get Mattie involved again. “There’s a story of an Indian maiden in these parts”—he hurried on—”and the tale is connected to another natural underground area.”

  “Wish he wouldn’t go do that,” Pesty said, watching her mama. Mrs. Darrow’s face was like a storm. She had heard what Mr. Small had said about the Indian maiden. She turned hard, slashing eyes on him.

  “Now, Mattie,” Mr. Pluto said, “it will be all right. Let Mr. Small alone.

  “She’s going to be all right,” Pluto said to Mr. Small. “You can go ahead.”

  Her mama’s hands were shaking, Pesty saw. “Wish he wouldn’t tell,” she said. Thomas heard her. His papa began telling the Indian maiden tale.

  “He has to tell it, Pesty,” he whispered. “The orphans’ place is real … history. The other room down there is, too. There can’t be secrets now.”

  “But what about my mama?” she said in anguish.

  Thomas hadn’t thought about how much the underground rooms had become Mattie Darrow’s life. He would have to think about it.

  Outside in the air, Pesty took hold of her mama’s hand. “It’s all right, Mama,” she said. Mattie looked all around, patted River Lewis on his cheek. It was such a loving touch, Thomas thought. And then Pesty led her away.

  “Mattie,” River Lewis called. He stood near the plank doors of Pluto’s cave. His big sons were right on his heels. Macky was the last to step outside.

  “Taking her home,” Pesty called to River Lewis.

  “Hello!” Mattie called to him, saying goodbye.

  River Lewis stared after Pesty and Mattie. He wouldn’t leave, not now.

  But Macky would, Macky walked away toward his mama and his sister. He kept his head down.

  That’s that, Thomas thought. Pesty and Macky, Mrs. Darrow, they don’t care anything about treasure. He stood around at the side of Pluto’s cave. There were two cars waiting on the far side of the clearing. The foundation people and Mr. Pluto now gathered, going in one car, careful of trees. Then the newspaper folks went by themselves, following the first car. The rest of them—Darrows, Mayhew Skinner, Thomas,, and his papa—went quickly on foot toward the Drear house. It wasn’t far, and they would be only a few minutes behind the automobiles.

  Mr. Small walked briskly alone. After him, Thomas walked beside Mayhew. River Lewis and his boys brought up the rear. It was sure different having Darrows around all of a sudden, Thomas thought. Before, River Lewis and his sons were the last people I’d want to see, except for Macky. Still are, too, I guess.

  He didn’t like their cold, calculating silence. Didn’t like taking them onto Drear lands, taking them home. Taking them into our house.

  Darrows, who early on had crept through the house to scare his family away. They had come, not like Mattie, who couldn’t help herself from wandering, but sneakily, like thieves in the night.

  The final part of his papa’s plan was to take the Darrows and the others through the hidden places of the house. Show them everything. So that all would be known and seen and done at last.

  21

  THEY WERE SNOW-COVERED MOUNDS behind the shed. Their only movement was when they stuck out their tongues to taste the snowflakes and when their snow-filled eyelashes blinked. Pesty had brought along the blanket Mr. Small had lent Mattie and snuggled inside it.

  It was Sunday. Maybe his folks and everybody would go to church, but Thomas didn’t think so. Not with all that had happened to them since Wednesday. It was the fourth day after what became known to him and his family and Pesty as THE EVENT, “in capital letters,” his mama had said. And so it, THE EVENT, still waved banner-high in Thomas’s thoughts. Because of it, they all had become “some famous,” as Great-grandmother Jeffers put it.

  Thursday evening the headline in the local Springville Star had been: DREAR PROPERTY YIELDS VAST TREASURE—AN UNDERGROUND CAVERN OF SPLENDOR IS UNCOVERED. A FURNISHED NINETEENTH-CENTURY UNDERGROUND ROOM AND SLAVE ORPHANS’ SLEEPING QUARTERS UNDISTURBED FOR OVER A CENTURY. A long account of the THE EVENT followed.

  Pesty was happy to be famous but sad that everything had changed so. She worried about what her mama might do when she discovered her underground sitting room was going to be crawling with people of the foundation. And what would Mr. Pluto do without the great cavern? Do is already done, she thought, do, done, and gone. She moved, shedding snow. “If this keeps up, it’s going to pack good when it turns colder,” she said.

  “Then, tomorrow, we’ll make some snowpeople,” Thomas told her.

  To their amazement, they were in the Thursday evening paper on the third page, where the account ended. On the front page was a picture of Pluto, Mattie, and River Lewis, with the cavern to their backs. River Lewis looked furious and stunned both at the same time. The photograph appeared more than once in forty-eight hours and in more than one paper. The photo on the third page showed Martha and Walter Small and Great-grandmother Jeffers. Great-grandmother was holding a slave ledger up for everyone to see. In the foreground of the picture knelt Thomas and Pesty. They were smiling. Held between them was a cast-iron pot full of gold. Mr. Pluto had rummaged around until he found something to put the gold in that would show it off. “Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow,” the paper said.

  Thomas got his picture taken two more times. In one of them he was sitting on an orphan’s bed, with the whole cave room viewed behind him, lit by flashbulbs. In the other he held up one of the gold triangles from the box of them.

  The identity of each person was given under every picture and separate from the news story. The articles all said that Mr. Pluto and Mattie Darrow were the discoverers.

  “Still more secrets, though,” Thomas said out loud. He had meant to keep it to himself. But it didn’t matter that it slipped out.

  Pesty looked at him hard. “Oh, you mean …”

  “Yeah,” he said. “About your mama and Mr. Pluto and their discovery.”

  “How it’s not true,” she said.

  “The real secret is that we’ve known about the cavern for a long time and kept it from your father and the foundation.”

  “And Mr. Pluto knew the longest,” she said. “I sure hated keeping it from Daddy.”

  “Do you know why your mama kept the underground rooms from him?” he asked.

  “My daddy has a way of taking over things,” she said.

  “Well, your mama sure didn’t keep the great cavern from your daddy,” Thomas said.

  “No, she didn’t ever know about that,” Pesty said. “Mr. Pluto told me never to tell anyone about that, so I didn’t.”

  “Ump, ump, ump,” Thomas murmured. “You were just such a little girl when you first knew about the cavern. I guess maybe that’s why you could keep it in. Some little kids are like that. You kept it this long; you should be proud. It’s all sure something!”

  “Yeah, and my brothers are mad they didn’t get their pictures taken.”

  “Macky, too?”

  “Macky the most,” she said. “He acts like he thinks you and me planned to get fa
mous. He’s been asking me when I’m going to see you. Like he wants me to ask him to come along.” She waited for Thomas to say something.

  He’d almost given up on Macky, but down deep he still had a little hope left. A little place saved for friendship.

  It was said that Drear treasure was worth millions. They were even on cable television. There was Thomas’s papa on the six o’clock news, shown in his office in the college and, next, explaining about the treasure from inside the cavern. The history of everything. There were shots of the house of Dies Drear, Thomas’s own home. Thomas couldn’t believe it. Television trucks and people all over the place. And the whole town and everybody for miles seeing them, too.

  “That’s really me!” Thomas had said.

  It had been reported that there would be a reward for Mrs. Darrow and Mr. Skinner but that the foundation wouldn’t say how much. River Lewis got to talk about his family and how they knew there had to be treasure.

  “Your daddy still keeping the reward amount a secret?” Thomas asked.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Guess he has to have his own secret.”

  Thomas sighed. “Wish we could ask Mr. Pluto. But Papa says you just don’t ask someone how much they got for something.”

  “I don’t see why,” Pesty said. “Anyway, I already know.”

  “Pesty, you do? Tell me!” Thomas exclaimed.

  “I found out just last night,” she said.

  “Well …” He was going to say, “Well, how much?” But then he thought about what his papa had said. Somebody would tell you only if that person wanted to.

  She grinned at him. Leaning very close to his ear, she whispered.

  “Ten thousand dollars” He mouthed the words silently.

  “Uh-huh,” she said, talking softly. “Daddy told it to Mama. They brought around a check for her. I was in the closet; I had to wait until Daddy left.”

  That’s another secret, Thomas thought fleetingly. His papa had never told the foundation or River Lewis, either, about the way from Mattie’s bedroom to the underground rooms. “Let them discover it for themselves. See how long it takes them. Maybe forever,” his papa had said. It hurt his papa, too, to give up everything to what he called posterity.