"Oh, it"s monstrous to think that dear old place should come down!" she exclaimed bitterly. "Can"t something be done to save it? Is there no way of buying it in?"
"I"m afraid we couldn"t keep it, even if we could save it," Granny replied. "We need the money it would bring. But as it is now, we are unable to prove t.i.tle to it, and it will go and be forgotten," she sighed pathetically. "I can stay here while I live, they have allowed me that, but d.i.c.k and Betty will be left homeless when--"
She did not finish that prophecy, but they all knew what she meant, and instantly they secretly determined to help her some way; how, they did not know.
But in a flash Sim imagined herself handing the long lost deeds to Granny Howe and then becoming a heroine. The plot had magic influence on them all.
It was Dorothy who brought them back to the present. "Was it Nathaniel Greene the workmen thought they saw the other day? But it couldn"t have been Patience on the bed," she demurred. "Of course, the workmen didn"t know anything about these war stories."
"There is an old tradition," Granny resumed, "that Nathaniel appears in his tattered uniform and with his head bandaged whenever the old house, or anyone in it, is in danger.
"Sometimes, so the story goes, and you may believe it or not, as you choose," Granny smiled whimsically, "the ghost of Patience Howe is seen wandering about the old house. Certainly she would have good reason to come back here now. Not that _I_ believe in such things," she hurried to declare, rather unreasonably.
The girls politely agreed, but did not want to interrupt the stirring narrative. Patience Howe"s story was simply fascinating.
"As for the figure on the bed, Patience died there when she was an old woman. Her horse fell, breaking his leg, and she was mortally injured.
She died in her red cloak there on the old four-poster." A reverent pause followed that statement. "But we are becoming too sad. All those things are over and done with. Won"t you have some more tea, my dear?" Granny quickly asked, addressing Sim.
"The story holds such strange historic interest," Sim replied, accepting her second cup of tea. "May we go through the Hall sometime?"
"Whenever you like," Granny consented. "But I advise you to do it soon.
That Callahan will have a new batch of workmen here by the end of the week, and you won"t have the house to yourselves after that. I must say he is very determined. Don"t let those ghost stories frighten you-the house is really very interesting, and the door is always open ... to you," and the hostess included them all with a bright smile and a graceful wave of her gentle hand.
It was almost dark now, and the girls, realizing this, drew themselves up with a start.
"We want to thank you for a most pleasant afternoon," said Sim smilingly.
"We must be going now; Moselle will be worried to death, and look-it"s beginning to snow!"
The first feather-like flakes were floating down to be lost in the brush below. Arden sprang up and impulsively kissed the old lady they had all come to love. She gave Arden a little hug in return, and asked them all to stop and see her whenever they could, declaring she had had a wonderful afternoon, herself. Then, gathering their things quickly, they left the little white house behind them. As they drove away the merry snowflakes were making little jabs at their happy, willing faces.
"Oh, wasn"t it great!" sighed Arden.
"I feel like a live history of the American Revolution," declared Sim.
"And I feel like the latest authority on military ghosts. But I hated to have the soldier die before he married Patience," sighed romantic Terry.
"We might even be able to fix that up if we get friendly enough with the ghosts," teased Arden, which seemed like a very good idea to all of them.
CHAPTER IX A Warning
The air was brisk now, and the countryside had taken on that hushed feeling that comes just before a snowstorm. At the moment the roads seemed quite deserted, and their little roadster hummed along with all its prideful speed and importance.
Suddenly Arden spoke. "Let me off near the library, Sim, will you?" she asked. "I"ll get a cab back. I"m going to see if I can"t find a book with something about Jockey Hollow. I"ve heard so much, I"m greedy for more."
"We can wait for you, Arden," Sim answered. "It"s not so very late, and it"s only beginning to snow. You might not get a cab handy."
"No, I"d rather you didn"t," Arden objected. "I want to take my time.
Besides, you"ve got the top down, and Moselle will be worried. You go along and I"ll come later," she insisted, pulling her collar up closer around her neck.
Sim finally agreed and turned toward the village, where she dropped Arden at the corner nearest the library, so she wouldn"t have to turn around.
Sim was not yet an expert driver and often went blocks out of her way to avoid turning. Arden stood at the corner and waved goodbye as her friends continued on their way. The corner drugstore was brilliantly lighted, and the usual group of men was hanging about the entrance, leaning up against the window, talking and laughing. They were the least desirable element in the town, lazy and shiftless and, somehow, they always gathered together.
t.i.tus Ellery was in this group, Arden noticed, as she hurried along. A thin man, unshaven and carelessly dressed, Arden gave him a glance out of the corner of her eye. His booming voice rang out on the night air, for he made no effort to control it, and Arden could not help hearing him say:
"Swears he don"t know a thing about it. But there"s a chance to pick up some easy money. If we can do it. Thing is to find the stuff. It"s around there some place, I"ll bet. That old Mrs. Howe ain"t as dumb as she looks. You got the job all right, Nick?"
Arden started. Could she stop and learn some more, or would they become suspicious and stop talking? She thought suddenly of a plan and, entering the store, bought some powder she did not need, emerging just in time to hear the man called "Nick" laugh rancorously and say: "That Callahan"s got his job cut out for him. Every darky in Pentville"s scared to death.
I didn"t have no trouble gettin" him to hire me."
"Good!" exclaimed Ellery. "Then tomorrow--"
But Arden could linger no longer and so continued reluctantly down the street to the library, although she was now anxious to get back and tell the others what she had heard. She reasoned nothing could be done that night, so she would try again to locate the books in which she hoped to find important details.
It was almost closing time when she reached the library, and the place was deserted except for a young girl putting books back on the shelves.
Arden approached her. "Are you Betty Howe?" she asked impulsively.
The girl looked at her coldly. "No, she"s not here this afternoon. May I help you?" She flashed a brief professional library smile.
Arden felt rebuffed and explained that she had come for a book on the history of Jockey Hollow.
"We haven"t very much on the subject. Most of the papers and maps telling about it were destroyed in a fire years ago. There is this book, though,"
she said, and going to a shelf took a thin red book from it. "They say Richard Howe, the old one, that is, refused to trust his papers to anyone but himself and they were lost when a fire broke out in Sycamore Hall while he was still living. Betty says the deeds to the old place were lost then also."
Arden took the book eagerly. It was pitifully small, she thought regretfully, but thanked the librarian and, after having it stamped, left to get one of the rickety village cabs and tell the girls all about it.
It was odd though that Betty Howe was not there, and she had not appeared at tea, either. "Oh, well," thought Arden, "perhaps she"s gone into New York or some place." And holding the precious book close to her, she climbed into old Pop Warner"s car and told him to take her to Sim"s house. He was a talkative old man, and he knew Arden and her friends quite well. He seemed to know a lot about them, in fact, and asked her question after question as he drove her to Sim"s. She squirmed with impatience and then sat bolt upright as he asked in his squeaky voice:
"Heard you was chased by a ghost in Sycamore Hall! What would your dad say if he knew you was galavantin" around there? No place for young ladies, I"ll say! Stay on your own side of the railroad tracks." Then he lapsed into silence as he turned into the driveway.
"What do you mean, Mr. Warner?" Arden asked quickly. "Who told you we were there?"
"I hear things in this business. People always talk when they"re riding along. There"s bound to be fire where there"s smoke," he chuckled. "If I was you, I"d let well enough alone. Hannah Howe is a smart woman," he managed to say as the car stopped with a jerk. "That"ll be fifty cents."
He took the money and started away after a curt, "G"afternoon."
Arden felt rather suffused with the day"s adventures. There had been Granny"s story; then the overheard remarks from those men at the drugstore, and last but not least, the insinuations of the old cab driver.
At any rate, she had news for the girls, and she hurried up the drive and into the house to give it to them. This historical study was fast becoming a deep-dyed mystery, decided Arden.
CHAPTER X The Missing Man