"There"s nothing doing at the Hall now," said d.i.c.k when the horses had been turned in the direction of Jockey Hollow.
"What do you mean?" asked Sim.
"I mean Callahan has called all the work off."
"Why is that?" Arden wanted to know.
"Perhaps new and worse ghosts," suggested Dorothy quizzically.
"No, that isn"t it," the young groom answered. "I believe he couldn"t get the right kind of men to work, it"s so near Christmas. They would work half a day and then want to stop. I didn"t hear anything more about the ghosts-not since my sister found what she thought was a dead man in the cellar," and d.i.c.k laughed, recalling that incident.
"That certainly was something to find," murmured Arden. "Poor Betty! She was so frightened. I"ll never forget how she shook."
"She"s all over it now, though," her brother declared. "But it did give her quite a shock. She talked about it a lot afterwards. No, I don"t believe in that ghost business myself. It"s just a lot of tricks those workmen think funny," he suggested boyishly.
"Tell him about the scream you heard, Harry," suggested Dorothy to the young man she was riding beside. As if _that_ might change d.i.c.k"s opinion.
"No, I think I"d better not," Harry answered. "I want to find that screamer first. _Then_, I"ll tell the big story."
They broke into a brisk canter. It was a splendid ride in the friendly snow, and in due time they reached the old Hall.
"h.e.l.lo!" exclaimed d.i.c.k as he saw the now almost obliterated footprints leading into the mansion. "Somebody has been here after all. I wonder if any of the men can be working, after what Callahan told me?"
"Probably just some curiosity-seeker went in," suggested Harry with a warning look at the girls. "Only one man, according to footprints," he said.
"I guess that"s right," d.i.c.k agreed. "Well, it shouldn"t worry me. This place doesn"t belong in our family any more." He could not repress a little sigh of regret as they rode on past the historic place that had been in the possession of the Howes so many years.
"How does this ghost business affect your grandmother"s cousin, Mrs.
Tucker?" asked Arden of d.i.c.k.
"Oh, Cousin Viney? She just laughs at it. Doesn"t believe in it at all.
She"s bitter, though, at us losing the place. Rants about the carelessness of some ancestor who either lost the deeds or else hid them so well neither he nor anybody else was ever able to find them-deeds, a missing will, or whatever papers are called for in a case like this,"
d.i.c.k said, a little confused in attempting to make that complicated speech.
"So Cousin Viney doesn"t believe in ghosts?" asked Harry in an offhand sort of way.
"No more than Granny does. Anyhow, Cousin Viney is away now. She goes and comes, visiting around among various relatives. She went away this morning-didn"t say when she would come back."
"It"s just as well," said Sim to Dot. "Then we won"t have to ask her to Granny"s little party. And I don"t like Cousin Viney very much, anyhow."
"She did rather give me the creeps," Dot said, "so sharp and "sa.s.sy.""
They rode on into Jockey Hollow while the snowflakes continued to sift down upon them, almost hiding the ghostly Hall behind a thin, shifting, white curtain.
CHAPTER XXIII Mistletoe
There were many historic spots in Jockey Hollow. Arden had found out some facts from the library book, and d.i.c.k knew others gleaned in various ways. As they rode along they talked about it all.
d.i.c.k pointed out rows of chimney stones where once had stood the log huts that housed the 10,000 men of Washington"s army camped in the Hollow that winter of 1779. Washington himself had a mansion in a near-by town long famous in history, d.i.c.k took pleasure in reminding them.
d.i.c.k located a grove of locust trees, shrouded now in white where, he said, several hundred men of the unfortunate Continental Army had died and were buried along the banks of Primrose Brook which now was frozen over and covered with downy snow.
"Well, when they get the park laid out and finished," suggested Arden, "I suppose they"ll put up a bronze tablet somewhere around here to commemorate the valiant men."
"A pity they can"t keep the old Hall standing. That would be a fine monument," suggested Sim. "It could be a memorial hall."
"The Hall is doomed," said d.i.c.k sadly. "We have given up all hope." He urged his horse ahead briskly.
"He doesn"t know what you are going to tell Granny!" whispered Dorothy to Harry.
"I hope something comes of it," he remarked in a low voice. "At least, the whole matter will be thoroughly gone over, and if there is anything in her claim, and any money due her that can be paid, my lawyers will arrange it. They are smart men, I am sure of that."
It was almost dark when the riders returned to Sim"s house. d.i.c.k and the other groom went back with the horses. The ride had been enjoyable for all of them.
"Don"t forget to let me know when you want to go out again," d.i.c.k called with gay freedom. "If I can get money enough for an education out of my commissions from Ellery, that will be fine," he suggested as he rode happily away.
Terry was eagerly waiting for her friends when they got back.
"What, no ghosts?" she exclaimed when they trooped in to tell her of their ride.
"Not a ghost-not even scolded by Viney Tucker. She should have told us that we rode too long," laughed Arden. "Viney, by the way, is out of the way."
"Where?" Terry asked.
"Off visiting, so d.i.c.k says. Oh, but I"m hungry!" cried Sim. "Where is Moselle? You"ll stay to dinner, of course, Harry?"
"Thanks, but I"m afraid I can"t. I want to get in touch with the lawyers on the telephone, and Dr. Thandu, to make sure that there will be no hitch in the plans for Granny"s Christmas party. And I shall probably need to put in calls and wait for answers. I"d be jumping up from the table off and on. No, I"ll go back to the hotel. I can phone nicely from there. But I"ll keep this invitation in reserve, if I may."
"Of course. Any time. This will keep."
Terry"s ankle was much improved by morning, though the doctor said she must not yet step on it.
"In another day you may be able to hobble about the house on a cane," he had said.
"She will be an invalid with a most interesting limp," declared Dot.
That day Harry telephoned to say that matters connected with the legal aspects of Granny"s case were coming along most satisfactorily.
"You will be able to a.s.sure her at the Christmas party," he told Arden, "that she has the best chance she ever had to get something out of the estate. At any rate, if we fail, she will have the satisfaction of knowing that all that could be done has been done."
"And if it fails," asked Arden, "will she and the young folks have to give up hope?"
"I"m afraid so. But it"s better to give up a hope than to have it linger forever, isn"t it?"
"I suppose so. Oh, I do hope it turns out all right!"