The Pilgrim Village Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “And we checked it with a mirror, just like Eric showed us,” Jessie added.

  They were very disappointed. After all their hard work, their poster was a mess.

  Henry pulled the tray out of the press and looked at it. The blocks of type were all mixed up. “We’ll have to do it over again,” Henry said. “I wonder what happened.”

  Eric was just as puzzled as the children about the mix-up with their poster. “It seems as if someone took all the type out of the tray and rearranged it.”

  “But you closed the shop right after we finished it,” Jessie said.

  “Do you think someone came in?” Henry asked.

  “Why would someone want to ruin our poster?” Benny wanted to know.

  The children noticed that Eric had a strange look on his face, but he didn’t answer their questions.

  “I guess we’d better get back to work,” said Jessie.

  By noon the children had fixed the type and printed several copies of their poster.

  “You’ve done a great job,” Eric told them. “Now, why don’t you go see some more of Pilgrim Village?”

  “Are you trying to get rid of us?” Benny asked.

  “No, no, of course not.” Eric forced a smile. “I just wouldn’t want you to miss out on all the other things here.”

  “Let us know if you need any more help,” Jessie said as the Aldens removed their aprons and headed out onto the green.

  “It’s such a beautiful day,” Violet said. “I feel like a picnic.”

  “Let’s go to the snack bar and get some sandwiches,” Jessie suggested. The snack bar was one of the few places in the village where people could buy things they didn’t have long ago — like hot dogs and hamburgers.

  After they finished their lunch, the children went to the pottery shop to see if they could give Shelly a hand.

  The pottery shop was set back off the green, surrounded by tall pine trees. When the children entered the building, they found Shelly sitting in a chair, reading a book. She was dressed in a colonial costume, a long blue skirt and full white blouse with an apron on top, and a white bonnet on her head.

  “Hello,” Henry called out.

  Shelly looked up and smiled at the children. “Welcome to the pottery shop. What can I do for you?”

  “We’re here to make some pots,” said Benny.

  “I’m sorry. You can’t make any today. The clay’s all dried out,” Shelly said.

  “How did that happen?” Violet asked.

  “It seems someone left the bags open, and now the clay’s ruined. I’ve ordered more, but it won’t be delivered for a week.”

  “Couldn’t you add water to the clay to remoisten it?” Jessie asked.

  “Add water? Oh, uh, yes … I suppose you could but …” Shelly paused. “It’s too late, anyway. I’ve already thrown the clay away.” Shelly could tell the children were very disappointed to hear this news.

  “Even though you don’t have any clay, can you show us how the potters would sit at the pottery wheel while they worked?” Violet asked. She liked doing all kinds of art, but had never tried pottery.

  “Oh, yes, um …” Shelly looked at the wheel and the small stool next to it. “They’d sit sort of like this.” She sat down and leaned forward awkwardly over the wheel. “See?” When the children all nodded, she got up quickly and led the children to the back of the shop. “The kiln is back here.”

  “What’s that?” Benny asked.

  “It’s a big oven that bakes the clay until it’s hard,” Shelly explained.

  “How hot does the kiln get?” Henry asked.

  “Very hot,” Shelly said with a smile. “Much hotter than a regular oven.”

  “What temperature?” Jessie asked.

  “What temperature?” Shelly repeated. “Oh, uh … let me just check my notes over here …” She hurried over to a table in the corner. “What temperature,” she muttered to herself as she shuffled through the pages. “Isn’t that funny. I can’t seem to find it.” She flipped through the pile one more time. At last she said, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give you the answer.”

  “What —” Benny began, but Shelly cut him off.

  “This is silly, since I don’t have any clay to demonstrate for you. Why don’t you kids come back later this week and I’ll show you how to make a pot,” Shelly said.

  “But I just wanted to ask —” Benny started again when the door of the shop opened and a couple entered.

  “More visitors!” Shelly said. “Excuse me. See you in a few days!” She hurried to greet the new visitors, her skirt swishing as she moved.

  The children left the pottery shop feeling puzzled.

  “What is it about this place?” Henry asked as they walked back toward the center of the village. “It seems everyone wants to get rid of us!”

  “And another thing,” Jessie pointed out. “Shelly didn’t seem to know very much about pottery.”

  “She didn’t look very comfortable sitting at the pottery wheel,” Benny remarked.

  “I was surprised she had to check her notes to answer our questions,” Violet added.

  “I can’t help wondering,” said Henry, “who left the bags open so the clay would dry out?”

  The children had now reached the middle of the green.

  “A lot of things in this village just don’t make sense,” Jessie said.

  “What’s this?” Benny asked as the Aldens passed a large yellow building.

  “The sign says it’s Thomas Heathcliff’s farmhouse,” Jessie said.

  “Remember, Linda told us that he lived there with his family a long time ago,” Henry reminded them. “The building next to it must be the stable. She said he really loved his horses.”

  There was a yard beside the stable surrounded by a split rail fence. In the yard stood a beautiful chestnut horse. As soon as Benny saw the horse, he ran over and climbed up on the fence. “Hello, horsey!”

  “That’s Betsy,” said a man in overalls coming out of the stable. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

  “She sure is,” said Benny.

  “I’m Roger,” the stable man introduced himself. “How would you kids like to help me out in the stable?”

  “That’d be great!” Benny said eagerly. The Aldens spent the rest of the afternoon with Roger, helping him care for the horses.

  CHAPTER 5

  Violet Sees Something

  The next morning, the children joined Linda for a delicious bacon and egg breakfast at the tavern.

  “What are we going to do today?” Benny asked when they were finished eating.

  “How about the candlemaker’s?” Linda suggested.

  “That sounds fun,” Jessie said.

  Minutes later the children were entering a small building that smelled of melted wax.

  “Hello, I’m Martha. Would you like to learn how to make candles?” asked a pretty woman in a long flowered dress. Her soft brown hair was pulled back in a thick braid down her back.

  “We sure would,” said Benny, always eager to learn something new.

  “Great! Here’s what you do. Take a wick,” Martha said, handing each of the children a short stick with a piece of string tied in the center. “Hold your stick and dip the wick into this pot of melted wax. Be careful — the wax is very hot.”

  One by one, the Aldens did as Martha said. When the wicks were pulled out of the hot wax, each one was coated in a thin layer of wax.

  “This doesn’t look like a candle,” Benny complained.

  “Wait a couple of seconds for the wax to cool and harden a bit. Then dip it in again. It takes a while before you build up enough wax to make a candle.” The children dipped and cooled their candles again and again while Martha told them about colonial times. She explained how the colonists made the wax by melting down animal fat in a big pot. They might add scents by mixing in different kinds of berries. But this was only done for special occasions and holidays, because so many berries were needed, and collecting
all those berries took a long time.

  “I like picking berries,” Benny said, thinking of the wild raspberries they sometimes found in Grandfather’s backyard.

  “Yes, and you also like eating them,” added Jessie.

  At last Benny pulled out his string and saw that the glob of wax on it was becoming round and thick. “Now it looks like a candle.”

  Martha smiled at him. “Yes it does. Hang it on this rack.” Benny followed her instructions. “When the wax has cooled and hardened you’ll be able to cut the wick off the stick. Then you’ll have a candle.”

  “What’s this?” Henry asked, picking up a metal object with lots of long hollow tubes.

  “It’s a candle mold. If you want to make a lot of candles, that’s a much easier way to do it. You pour the hot wax into the tubes and let it cool. When you take the candles out of the mold, they are much smoother and more even than the hand-dipped kind,” Martha explained.

  “Why did they need so many candles?” Benny asked.

  “They didn’t have electricity back then, Benny,” Martha told him. “So they needed candles to see by at night.”

  While Martha was talking, she was slowly stirring the pot of wax with a large spoon. Violet sat beside her, watching the wax swirl around in the pot. Suddenly she spotted something. “What was that?” she said almost to herself.

  “What was what?” Martha asked.

  “I think I saw something floating in the wax,” Violet said.

  “Are you sure?” Martha looked puzzled. “There shouldn’t be anything in there but wax.”

  “I saw a lump,” Violet said.

  “It was probably just a lump of wax,” Martha said.

  “No, it looked different,” Violet insisted.

  The other Aldens came over as Martha slowly pulled the spoon through the thick wax and peered into the pot.

  “Yes, there it is!” Violet cried out.

  “Now I see it,” Martha said, carefully scooping something up in the spoon and taking it out of the pot. “Watch out, that wax is very hot,” she said as she dumped the spoonful on the wooden counter. The children gathered closer to see what had been in the pot. As the wax dripped away, they saw that it was a pin, the kind that might be worn on a man’s tie or a woman’s blouse.

  “That’s very odd.” Martha ran a hand over her thick braid. “What’s that doing in my pot of wax?”

  “May I see it?” Jessie asked.

  Martha handed the pin to Jessie, who turned it over carefully in her hand.

  “Do you think it belongs to a man or a woman?” asked Henry.

  “I don’t know,” said Jessie. “But this design looks familiar. I’ve seen it somewhere before, but I can’t remember where.”

  “How could that pin have gotten into the wax?” asked Violet.

  “I can’t imagine,” said Martha. “I just made up this batch of wax yesterday afternoon. A few people came by and made candles, but I was standing right here the whole time. I’d have seen if anything fell in the pot.”

  “Unless someone came in later, after you’d gone,” said Henry.

  “Why would someone come in here after hours?” asked Martha. “This is very strange. I’ll have to report it to Linda. Would you children like to make any more candles?”

  “No,” said Henry. “But thanks for showing us how.”

  “That’s what I’m here for,” Martha said. She cleaned the wax from the pin and wrapped it in her handkerchief. “I’ll go show this to Linda later on.”

  “Hey, what’s happening on the green?” called Benny from the window.

  “It’s Tuesday, the day of the farmer’s market,” Martha said.

  The other Aldens looked outside and saw a lively market in the center of the village. While they had been working on their candles, local farmers and bakers had set up tables where they were selling all kinds of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and baked goods.

  “You should get something to eat,” Martha suggested. “Everything is always fresh and delicious.”

  “Yes, let’s!” Benny said.

  “Don’t forget to come back later and pick up your candles once they’ve cooled,” Martha called after the Aldens.

  The children bought fruit and cheese and a loaf of bread and sat on the green eating their picnic lunch. “The vegetables those farmers are selling look so fresh,” Jessie said. “We could buy some and make our own dinner tonight.”

  “What a good idea,” said Henry. “We’ll cook just the way the colonists used to.”

  First the children stopped in Linda’s office to make sure it was okay that they cooked in the cabin.

  “As long as you’re careful and clean up everything,” Linda said. “And one other thing.”

  “What?” asked Violet.

  “You invite me,” Linda said with a smile.

  “Please come for dinner,” Violet said.

  “Yes, we would love that,” said Jessie. “Could we use your phone to call Grandfather and invite him, too?”

  Mr. Alden was eager to eat at his grandchildren’s cabin. He knew what good cooks they were.

  Linda lent them some pewter dishes and utensils, and told them they could use the big kettle in the fireplace.

  After speaking with Grandfather, the children were ready to start shopping. They bought carrots, onions, potatoes, and some fresh green herbs at the outdoor market, and also a jug of cider to drink and some fruit for dessert. Then they walked up the street to a modern grocery store to get some meat.

  “I’m glad we don’t have to hunt for meat the way the early colonists would have,” said Henry.

  Back at the cabin, Jessie took some logs from the woodpile in back of the cabin and made a fire in the fireplace. Benny and Violet washed and peeled the potatoes and carrots and cut them into small pieces. Henry chopped the beef into chunks. Then he cut up the onions, and their strong smell made his eyes water.

  Once the fire was going, Jessie put a little bit of oil in the kettle and browned the chunks of beef. Violet added the vegetables and some water, and seasoned the stew with the herbs.

  While the stew cooked, the children straightened up the cabin and set the table. Jessie gathered the potato and carrot peelings and the onion skins and threw them away. Henry placed the plates and glasses around the table and laid the silverware. Violet picked some wildflowers and put them in a little jar in the middle of the table. Benny went to the candlemaker’s shop to pick up their candles.

  Then there was nothing to do but wait for the stew to finish cooking. The children sat on the front step of their cabin while they waited. Every once in a while Jessie would tend the fire, or Henry would stir the stew with a long wooden spoon.

  Mr. Alden and Linda arrived promptly at six, and were impressed with how pretty the table looked in the little cabin.

  “Something smells good,” said Grandfather.

  “Beef stew!” Benny said. “And we made it just the way they did a long time ago.”

  “It’s getting dark,” said Jessie. “I’ll light some candles.” She took two pewter candlestick holders from the mantle and put in two candles they had dipped themselves that morning. Then she placed the candlesticks in the middle of the table and lit them. A soft glow filled the room.

  “We made those candles ourselves, Grandfather,” Benny said proudly.

  “You did? That’s wonderful,” Mr. Alden said.

  Violet poured a large glass of apple cider for everyone. Henry spooned beef stew onto everyone’s plate. “Let’s eat,” Benny said.

  Mr. Alden was the first to take a taste. “This is delicious.”

  “It’s as good as the beef stew Red serves at the tavern,” Linda said.

  Linda and the Aldens talked and ate, enjoying the tasty stew.

  “Martha, the candlemaker, came to me today, and said you’d found something in the wax, Violet.” Linda said.

  “A pin,” said Violet.

  “In the wax?” Grandfather asked.

  “Yes,” s
aid Linda. “That’s what’s so strange. Martha doesn’t know how it got there.”

  “Someone must have come in after she left for the night,” said Jessie.

  “But why would anyone do that?” asked Linda.

  “You know, something strange happened in the print shop, too,” Jessie recalled. “We had arranged the type for a poster and left the tray on the counter overnight. In the morning the type was all jumbled up.”

  “Maybe someone had come in after the shop was closed, knocked over the tray, and then just put the type back in any which way,” Henry said.

  “Who would be sneaking into the shops at night?” Linda said. “And why?”

  “Well, it doesn’t sound too serious so far. No one’s reported anything missing, have they?” Grandfather asked.

  “No,” said Linda. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. If anything else happens, I might have to get a security guard at night.”

  As the candles burned lower, Jessie sliced some pears, and Linda set out a tin of shortbread she had brought. Everyone munched on the delicious cookies and juicy slices of pear.

  After dessert, Violet and Benny cleared all the dishes and silverware from the table. Grandfather helped Henry wash the dishes and Linda helped Jessie dry them. Soon everything was clean.

  Benny let out a big, loud yawn, which made everyone laugh.

  “I think it’s time somebody got to bed. We’d better go,” Grandfather said.

  “Thanks for the delicious meal,” said Linda.

  When their guests had left, the children washed up and put on their pajamas. Then they snuggled into their cozy beds and were soon asleep.

  CHAPTER 6

  Angry Voices

  When the children woke up the next morning, they dressed in their colonial costumes and then stopped at the bakery for muffins.

  “Let’s go to the weaving shop today,” Violet said. “I’d like to learn how to spin thread and make cloth.” Violet enjoyed sewing and was very handy with a needle and thread.

  Benny made a face. “I want to go see the horses again.”

  “We did that yesterday,” Violet said.

  “Yes, but —” Benny began.