Disappearing Staircase Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  He tiptoed down one flight of stairs but didn’t hear a thing. One room was locked. Raising his hand, Henry knocked on the door.

  “Who’s there?” Nan yelled out, but she didn’t open the door.

  “It’s Henry. Can I come in?”

  “No, I’m painting in here,” Nan snapped. “All the woodwork is wet with paint. Go finish your wallpapering.”

  Henry started to say something but stopped himself. “Okay.”

  When he got back to the other children, he explained what had happened. “You know what? I didn’t smell a bit of paint coming from that room. I wonder why Nan locked herself in there.”

  Violet looked at Henry with her big blue eyes. “Did you hear my music box?”

  Henry shook his head. “I’m not sure where that sound came from. I didn’t hear it from where Nan was, anyway. But she may have heard my footsteps and closed the music box.”

  “What are we going to do now?” Violet asked.

  “I guess we’ll clean up, then go downstairs to see if there are other jobs for us,” Jessie answered.

  “Can I climb up on there?” Benny asked when he saw Henry about to fold the stepladder. “I want to be tall.”

  Henry smiled. “Sure. We need to be careful around ladders. So lean against the wall with your right hand. I’ll hold you and the ladder steady.”

  “Now I’m taller than you!” Benny said when he stood on top of the stepladder. He looked up at the ceiling and noticed something. “Know what? There’s a little knob on the ceiling that sticks out.”

  Henry held his arms out for Benny. “Here, jump down. I want to get a closer look. Jessie, hold the stepladder steady for me, okay?”

  Jessie held the ladder firmly as Henry stood on top.

  “Good eyes, Benny,” Henry said when he saw something on the ceiling, too. “From down there you can’t really see that knob. I wonder if it’s part of a folding staircase like Aunt Jane had at her ranch house. I can’t quite reach it.”

  Jessie squinted up. “Oh, I see what you’re talking about. The knob blends into the carvings on the ceiling.”

  The knob was just a couple of inches out of Henry’s reach. “Know what?” he said. “I’m going to stand on the floor instead. If I put Soo Lee on my shoulders, she can pull the panel open a couples of inches. Then I can pull it down the rest of the way.”

  Soo Lee always loved sitting on Henry’s shoulders. She was even more excited now to help her cousins open the secret door. She looked down at the other children after Henry put her on his shoulders. “Now I’m tall, too!”

  “Okay, Soo Lee, just tug that knob a teeny bit,” Jessie said, looking up.

  A moment later, the children were startled when a figure appeared in the hallway.

  “May I ask what you children are doing?” Louella Gardiner demanded in a sharp voice. “Why is that child sitting on your shoulders?”

  Henry reached up for Soo Lee and helped her down.

  Soo Lee came to the rescue. “We were listening to see if there was a mouse on the roof.”

  “A mouse? On the roof?” Louella said. “This is exactly why I told Mabel Hart that children should not be volunteers. Now I’d like you all to go work outside with my husband. There’s still a lot of yard work to be done. You’ll do less damage out there than inside.”

  “But we finished wallpapering,” Henry began, “like Nan told us to.”

  Now Louella looked even more annoyed. “That one! A more scatterbrained leader I’ve never seen than Nan Lodge—always with her nose in a book or scribbling down jobs to do instead of doing them. Why, I told her the wallpapering job was nearly complete yesterday. And it certainly wasn’t a job for children. Now go find Mr. Gardiner outside.”

  After the children went downstairs, something kept bothering Jessie. “Did any of you see or hear Louella come up the stairs? Didn’t it seem as if she just appeared out of nowhere on the third floor?”

  “I know,” Henry agreed. “I just hope she doesn’t look up and notice that secret panel in the ceiling.”

  “Unless she already knows about it,” Jessie added.

  CHAPTER 7

  A Crash in the Dark

  Late that night in the middle of the night, the little playhouse where the Aldens were camped out shook in the wind.

  Jessie reached over and tapped Henry’s shoulder. “Henry are you awake?”

  “I’m glad you’re up, Jessie,” Henry whispered back. “I hope all this wind and rain doesn’t wake up the others. And that the roof on the playhouse doesn’t leak, either.”

  Just as Henry sat up, he and Jessie heard a huge boom outside.

  All at once, the younger children woke up, too.

  “What was that big crash?” Soo Lee asked. She snuggled close to Jessie’s sleeping bag.

  “There, there, Soo Lee,” Jessie said. “It’s a storm. Henry is going to check on what that noise was.”

  Henry grabbed his flashlight and stepped outside. As soon as he opened the playhouse door, the rain and wind slapped against him. He beamed his flashlight across the property. A huge tree branch had crashed to the ground just a few feet from the playhouse. Then he saw another beam of light cross with his. “Who’s out there?” he yelled, but the wind carried his words away.

  The flashlight grew closer. Brian was holding it. “Gather up the other kids to bring them to the main house,” Brian told Henry. “We’re asking all the volunteers camping on the property to move indoors. Bring your sleeping bags and whatever else you need—especially flashlights. We’ve lost all electricity and heat in the house.”

  With that, Brian disappeared into the rain and darkness.

  Henry stepped back inside the playhouse. He left his flashlight on. “Okay, everybody. Brian just told us that everyone who’s camping out has to go to the main house during the storm. Get your flashlights and jackets. Jessie and I will help you roll up your sleeping bags.”

  A few minutes later, the wind and rain died down a bit. “Okay,” Jessie said. “There’s a break in the storm. Let’s make a run for it to the main house. Ready, everybody?”

  “Ready!” Benny said. He was excited to be up in the middle of the night, even if things were crashing around them. “It’s okay, Soo Lee. You can hold Jessie’s hand. And I’ll hold Henry’s hand.”

  Jessie grabbed the camp light and led everyone out.

  “Wow, what a huge tree branch!” Henry said when the children stepped over it. “We were lucky it wasn’t any bigger. It sure left a big empty spot up there. Hey, look!” he said, pointing up. “Did you notice that skylight before—there, up on the roof near the nursery wing? See?”

  Jessie looked up, even though all she wanted to do was get inside where it was warm and dry. “I don’t remember seeing any room with a skylight in that part of the house before. I guess the tree branch that fell hid it from view. There’s a light moving around in there, too—like somebody’s flashlight. Let’s go inside.”

  When the Aldens finally stepped into the Bugbee House, it was pretty dark and buzzing with people. Several volunteers beamed their flashlights at the children when they came inside.

  “Hey, Aldens!” one of the volunteers said after he recognized the children. “That was a pretty scary noise!”

  “We weren’t scared,” Benny answered. “Well, maybe just a little bit.”

  Mabel arrived just then and came over to the Aldens.

  “You are very brave children,” she said. “Nan told me there was quite a crash when that tree limb came down. She called me immediately. I told her to round up everyone who was camping on the property. I’m glad she got you in here so quickly.”

  The Aldens were puzzled.

  “Brian was the one who came over and told us to come into the main house,” Jessie told Mabel. “Not Nan.”

  Mabel looked puzzled and a little annoyed. “Oh, dear. I must say, Nan and I are always crossing messages. Well, never mind. The most important thing is that you children are out of harm’s way.�
� Mabel put one arm around Soo Lee and the other around Benny. “The second most important thing is that this house is out of harm’s way, too. At least I think so. I expect Brian and the Gardiners are checking the house to make sure we didn’t lose any windows or roof shingles.”

  “Or skylights,” Jessie whispered to Henry.

  “The heat just went off,” Mabel continued. “But since warm air rises, it will stay toastier for a while on the upper floor. So why don’t you go find an empty room upstairs to sleep in? The third floor has a working bathroom, so try there first. Would you mind that?”

  “Not a bit,” Jessie said.

  “Good,” Mabel said. “Now I wonder where my leaders have gone off to. I must say, I’m not quite as alert in the middle of the night. If you see the Gardiners or Nan or Brian around, tell them to find me.”

  “Sure thing,” Jessie told Mabel. “See you in the morning.”

  “This is the morning,” Benny said. “But the dark part.”

  The children carried their sleeping bags all the way to the third floor.

  “It’s a lucky thing Mabel sent us up here,” Henry said in a whisper. “She said we can find a room. While we’re up here, maybe we can figure out where that skylight room is.”

  “And who was in it,” Jessie said. “Don’t forget that.”

  But when the children checked the doors on the third floor, they discovered all of them locked except for the bathroom.

  “Let’s try the second floor.” Henry walked back down a flight of stairs. “There’s one room unlocked down here,” he called up to the other children. “Come on down.”

  The unlocked room was small and snug—just big enough for the children’s sleeping bags. In no time, they arranged their bags on the floor.

  The sleeping bags were ready for sleeping, but the Aldens weren’t.

  “I’m not tired,” Benny announced. His blue eyes were as wide as if it were the middle of the day, not the middle of the night.

  “We should try to get some sleep,” Jessie said. “We need our rest so we can work hard tomorrow.” Jessie turned off the camp light.

  “Hey, someone’s in the hallway,” Benny whispered a few minutes later.

  The door opened, and a light shone in. The children couldn’t see who was there. They pretended to be asleep.

  “Did you see who that was, Henry?” Benny asked.

  “No,” Henry said, “but the footsteps are going away. Whoever it was is gone.”

  The Aldens always enjoyed whispering to one another before falling asleep—especially in strange new places.

  “I wish we could go see where those secret stairs in the ceiling go to,” Benny said in the dark.

  Jessie wriggled in her sleeping bag. “I was just thinking the same thing. I suppose we could take a peek now that everyone else is asleep downstairs. Maybe those stairs lead to the room that has the skylight.”

  One by one the Aldens slipped out of their sleeping bags and into the hallway.

  Soo Lee was in her bare feet. “This floor is wet,” she said when she came out of the room.

  Jessie bent down to touch the floor. She slipped out of her shoes so she could feel the floor. “Let’s follow these wet spots,” Jessie whispered. “Somebody must have come up here from the outside. If we follow these footprints, maybe we can figure out where the person went.”

  “Good thinking,” Henry said to Jessie. “Lead the way.”

  Jessie and Soo Lee tracked the wet footprints to the third-floor hallway.

  When the footprints stopped, so did the Aldens. They found themselves directly under the ceiling panel they had discovered the morning before.

  Henry aimed his flashlight upward. “Who wants a boost up on my shoulders?” Henry whispered. “I need Soo Lee or Benny to tug the knob.”

  Before Benny or Soo Lee could decide, the children heard a creak coming from the ceiling. The panel started to open right where the Aldens were standing!

  Jessie motioned to the nearby bathroom and opened the door. The other children squeezed in behind her. They climbed into the claw-footed tub and hid themselves behind an old shower curtain. Jessie put her finger up to her lips so no one would speak.

  A couple of minutes later, the children heard a springy sound, followed by a faint thud, then another springy sound. Some footsteps came close to the bathroom where the children were hiding. The door opened. A dim light swept over the bathroom.

  The Aldens could barely breathe. What if the person found them huddled behind the shower curtain? The children stood as still as statues. Eventually they heard footsteps going downstairs. They waited in the tub for several minutes. Finally they felt safe enough to climb out.

  “I think whoever that was is gone now,” Henry whispered. He stuck his head out and checked the dark hallway. “Which way, guys? Follow the person down the regular staircase or go up the disappearing staircase?”

  The other children looked at one another.

  “We might not get another chance to go up there alone,” Jessie pointed out.

  Violet looked up at the staircase panel in the ceiling. “Maybe my music box is up there.”

  “And who knows what else we might find?” Henry said. “After we get a look around, we can keep a watch out for anyone else we find up here.”

  “Let’s go,” Benny said, following the beam of Henry’s flashlight down the dark hall.

  CHAPTER 8

  The Disappearing Staircase Appears

  The Aldens tiptoed into the hallway behind Henry. They stood under the secret ceiling panel.

  Jessie beamed her flashlight upward. “Hey look. Whoever was up here didn’t close the panel all the way. It’s hanging open partway. I think we can reach it from the stepladder. Bring it over.”

  Jessie was right. Even though she was two inches shorter than Henry, she easily reached the knob from the top of the stepladder. The panel made a springy sound and came down a couple of feet. “All I have to do is unfold the steps the rest of the way,” Jessie said, doing just that.

  Henry caught the steps before they landed on the floor. He didn’t want to make any extra noise.

  The disappearing staircase filled the hallway. The Aldens got in line, eager to go up.

  “I’ll stay down here to keep a lookout in case that person comes back,” Henry said. “We could solve two mysteries at the same time—finding some missing treasures and whoever knows about them. Good luck.”

  As Henry stood by, the other children carefully climbed the wooden steps.

  “I hope this attic is filled with treasures,” Violet whispered when she reached the top step.

  Violet wasn’t disappointed. “There’s another playroom above the nursery! Only smaller,” she said in a whisper.

  The children flashed their flashlights around the room. The child-sized space had low ceilings and shelves. Everywhere their flashlight beams landed, the children saw toys—heaps of them. Beautiful old dolls and stuffed animals stared back at the Aldens from the shelves. Toy trucks, wagons, old-fashioned roller skates, and even a train track filled another side of the room.

  “Wow, that train set is huge!” Benny said in a loud whisper. “Too bad the electricity isn’t on to make all those train cars go around.”

  Jessie opened the doors of a cabinet. “Look! More old trucks—lots of them,” she said.

  Violet and Soo Lee went over to a large dollhouse displayed on its own special table.

  “It’s a miniature model of the Bugbee House,” Violet said in her soft voice, “only the way it must have looked when the Bugbee children lived here. It even has a secret playroom just like the one we’re standing in.”

  The Aldens gathered around the dollhouse. It was completely furnished right down to many of the very toys the children could see in the actual playroom. For a few seconds, no one spoke. The dollhouse, all furnished and complete with a family of little plastic people, looked like such a happy place. To the Aldens, the real Bugbee House now seemed empty and sad.
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  Jessie noticed something else about the dollhouse. “Look. There’s a tiny skylight just like the one we saw where the tree branch fell down.”

  The children looked up at the playroom ceiling.

  “But there’s no skylight in here,” Violet said. “In the dollhouse, the skylight is in a different space—in a room that’s behind the third-floor bathroom.”

  “You’re right, Violet,” Jessie said. “But I didn’t notice any other entrances in the bathroom before. We’d better go back and check.”

  “Oh, dear, one other thing.” Violet pointed to something else in the dollhouse. “Look, there’s a miniature music box in the dollhouse playroom with a tiny bear on it! Maybe that means…” She turned around to face the actual shelf in the actual playroom.

  “My music box!” she said in an excited whisper. She picked it up. “It’s the very one I bid on. There’s even a price sticker on it.”

  “Then take it,” said Jessie. “We’ll tell Mabel we found it after all, then you can pay for it. We have to let her know about this room and all these valuable old toys. Whoever was up here is keeping it a secret, so it’s up to us to tell her.”

  Violet picked up the music box with the dancing bear. “I won’t play it right now. Someone might hear the music just like we did. I wonder who was up here.”

  “That’s what we need to find out.”

  The children took one last look around the hidden playroom. Then, one by one, they climbed down the disappearing staircase to the bottom, where Henry was still keeping a lookout.

  “Okay,” he said after everyone was back down in the hallway again. “Let’s push these stairs back up into the ceiling. Benny and Soo Lee, you two be my lookouts in case anyone comes up here.” Henry folded the steps, then gave the panel a firm push. “Abracadabra. Staircase, disappear.” And so it did!

  “Violet has something special to show you,” Jessie whispered to Henry.

  “The attic up there is really a secret playroom full of old toys,” Violet explained to Henry. “Somebody hid my music box there.”