Shortly afterthe boys left in the station wagon for their camping trip, Marjorie said to Judy: “Let’s look at that map again. Penny could be wrong. Maybe it does show exactly where treasure is buried.”
“Let’s,” Judy agreed. “And maybe we held it upside down or something. Maybe the big red cross doesn’t mark the spot where Pat planted his potatoes.”
They raced into the Lodge and down the hall to the storage room. During the excitement of Peter’s arrival they had left the map, still pasted in the lid of the jewelry box, on one of the old trunks. Again they took it over to the window and studied it thoughtfully.
“Let’s see,” Judy said after awhile. “When you’re facing north, west is on your left isn’t it?”
Marjorie nodded. “So there’s no point in looking atthis darn thing any longer. If it isn’t a phony, the treasure is buried under the potato hills.”
“I give up,” Judy said with a sigh. “We may as well go down to the beach and try to find some rare shells. I suppose that’s the only buried treasure I’ll have the luck to find.”
During the next few days they filled a bucket with shells which they hoped were collectors’ items, but which Phil and Peter told them were worthless.
“That is the worst about being a girl!” Judy Powell said in a moment of disgust. “The boys will come back with wonderful stories about how many fish they caught and the rapids they ran—and everything!” Judy’s ideas of what the boys were doing ran out.
Marjorie and Judy were sitting in their favorite spot on the pier, dangling their feet in the water. They wore their bathing suits and had just watched the cruiser take off with a group of the younger guests, exclusive of themselves. They had not wanted to go since Mal had promised to take them on a picnic in the woods. Just at this moment they were in the old familiar throes of not knowing what to do next.
“Let them rave,” said Marjorie. “We’ve things to tell the boys, too.”
“They wouldn’t think thatwedo anything,” said Judy rather crossly.
“Maybe we could think up something different,” said Marjorie, a little worried. “Aren’t you having a good time, Judy?”
“My, yes! I didn’t mean that,” Judy said quickly. “I was just thinking what a grand time they must be having. I’d like to shoot rapids.”
“Come up again next summer and we’ll get Pat and Mal to take us on a canoeing trip.”
“You probably couldn’t get my mother to say yes.” Judy laughed. “Let’s go back to the house and see if we’re missing anything.” Just as they started back toward the Lodge they heard the loud honking of a car on the drive.
“Oh,” cried Judy, “I’ll bet the boys have come home. I wonder what made them come back before the week was out.”
“Something awful must have happened to one of them,” Marjorie gasped as they began to run as fast as they could.
Sure enough, the station wagon was parked in front of the Lodge and the boys were tumbling out of it.
“They certainly don’t look as though anything awful had happened to them,” Judy panted.
“Hi, everybody,” Jimmy was shouting to the crowd that had gathered on the porch. When the girls reached the steps they heard him say quietly to Penny and Phil:
“Say, how about calling a meeting of the Board of Directors right away?”
“We can’t, Jimmy,” Penny said. “Everyone is busy.”
“Well, then,” he said. “A meeting of the Allens in the office. I’ve got something in my pocket which I think the rest of the family ought to know about as soon as possible.”
Penny could tell from the sober expression on Jimmy’s tanned face that this was not a joke. She beckoned to Phil and Marjorie and led the way into the office.
“On second thought,” Jimmy said as he followed her, “let’s get Peter in on this. I’d like to hear hisopinion of the whole thing. Besides,” he added in a low teasing voice, “he’s practically family anyway.”
Penny’s cheeks flamed. “Jimmy,” she said, mildly scolding, “you never can be serious for more than five minutes at a time.”
“I’m pretty darn serious now,” Jimmy said. When they had all gathered around the desk, he closed the door and produced the scrap of paper which Brook had found in the old coat.
After one swift glance, Penny said, “Why, Peter, the handwriting looks just like the one on the fragment Marjorie found. Where on earth did you find it, Jimmy?”
Jimmy explained and Penny frowned as she listened. “Brook had no business taking that envelope out of a coat he found,” she said.
Peter chuckled. “Maybe he didn’t have any right to take it, Penny, but in my opinion it was put where it was so that no boy could resist the temptation.”
Penny thought for a minute. Again she read the blurred words, more carefully this time.
We’ll meet athe lasand look for the treI’m sure it’s buriedold shed neahas long runThen she pulled out of her desk drawer the fragment Marjorie had found in the green bottle. The two pieces fit together as perfectly as a jigsaw puzzle. Now they could all read the complete page:We’ll meet at the Log cabinthe last week in Augustand look for the treasure again.I’m sure it’s buried near theold shed near a well thathas long run dry.“Oh, oh,” Jimmy moaned. “That means more digging. I guess we didn’t dig deep enough.”“But what about the map?” Marjorie demanded. “It showed that treasure was buried behind the Donahues’ cabin.”“None of it makes any sense,” Peter said calmly. “And you kids may as well accept the fact right now that the map and the two fragments aren’t clues. They’re obviously red herrings, deliberately planted to keep us busy looking for buried treasure.”“I don’t get it,” Jimmy said frankly.“It’s this way,” Phil explained. “Peter, Penny and I figure that thereissomething valuable hidden around here. Somebody who obviously isn’t honest knows where it is. He wants to keep us from finding it.”“Oh golly,” Marjorie broke in, “wait until I tell Judy about this. We’ll spend the rest of the summer going over the whole place with a fine-tooth comb.”“Oh, no, you won’t,” Penny said, laughing. “I have a better idea, and one that won’t drive our guests out of their minds.”Peter stared at her in amazement. “Have you been keeping secrets from me?” he asked, pretending that his feelings were hurt.“Oh, no,” Penny told him hastily. “The idea just came to me this minute. Actually, the words, ‘last week in August’ gave it to me.” Her cheeks flushedwith excitement, she went on. “One morning last week when I was out in the kitchen discussing menus with Ann Mary, she suggested that we give a masquerade party. There are plenty of grand costumes in the old trunks for all of the ladies, and you men can rig up outfits from old curtains and stuff in our boxes.”“A swell idea,” Jimmy said. “But what’s it got to do with finding hidden treasure?”Penny smiled at him patiently. “If you’d only let me finish! Ann Mary and I decided that the last Friday in August would be a good time for the party. Most of the guests will be leaving early in September, so it would be sort of a last fling.”Jimmy began to sing, “After the ball is o-ver. After the guests have gone.”“Stop interrupting,” Marjorie said, glaring at him. “Let Penny finish.”“Well,” Penny went on, “we planned the party just for ourselves and our guests. But now I think we should issue a blanket invitation to all the merchants in town. It will be our way of expressing our appreciationof the way they cooperated with us all summer. Now,” she finished, “you can all guess the rest.”“Not me,” Marjorie said, rapidly blinking her blue eyes.Jimmy clutched his dark hair wildly. “I follow you as closely as though you’d had a million-mile head start.”Peter was staring at Penny with frank admiration. “Youaresmart,” he said. “Don’t you see?” he asked Jimmy and Marjorie. “Our Mr. X, or our Messrs. X, for there may be more than one, will certainly be among those present at the masquerade. With everyone coming masked and in costume, he wouldn’t miss the chance. He’ll come out sure that he can get whatever he’s after and depart before the unmasking.”“Holy cow,” Jimmy exploded. “Pennyissmart. Instead of our wearing ourselves out looking for hidden treasure, he’ll lead us right to it.”Marjorie gave her sister an impulsive hug. “It’s the grandest idea anyone ever invented,” she cried.“And,” Jimmy put in, suddenly remembering the main reason why they had persuaded Pat to cut thecamping trip short, “I’m pretty sure there’s only one Mr. X.”“Don’t be a dope,” Marjorie said. “I’m sure there are two. One of them put the bottle where he was sure Judy and I would find it while we were looking for shells. And the other put the coat where you boys couldn’t miss it.”Jimmy shrugged. “Maybe so, but the same Mr. X who left his footprint under the floor of the shed planted the coat.”“Yipes,” Peter moaned. “What’s all this about a footprint under the shed? I thought it was a garage filled with cars.”“It is now,” Penny explained with a chuckle. “Before we converted it, someone ripped up part of the floor and left a footprint in the dirt.”“That’s right,” Jimmy said. “And he also left footprints in a clearing back where Brook found the coat. Footprints,” he finished triumphantly, “with rubber heels made by the same manufacturer.”“Why, Jimmy Allen,” Marjorie gasped admiringly, “you’re so smart you ought to get a job with the FBI.”But Penny laughed. “Now all the red herrings fittogether like the pieces of this paper. Don’t you see, Jimmy? Mr. X deliberately left that footprint in the shed in plain view so I might believe that he had had something to do with my accident. Right, Peter?”“Right,” Peter said. “As soon as Mr. X heard you had fallen down the well, he wrote the letter which you received the next day. Then that evening he sneaked out to plant evidence which he hoped would back up his threat.”“Oh, gosh,” Jimmy said disconsolately. “We’re right back where we started. But at least we can be pretty sure that there’s only one Mr. X.”“We can’t be sure of anything,” Phil said soberly. “Except that whoever it is really does mean business. The very fact that one of them jumped on Mal that night when we chased him away proves that. An ordinary night prowler would have tried to sneak away without being seen.”“Well,” Marjorie said cheerfully, “we mean business now, too. And we’re sure to catch him the night of the masquerade when he comes here to get the treasure.”“Wa—ait a minute,” Phil said cautiously. “What’sto prevent Mr. X from getting by with his scheme? We can’t be everywhere at once in a place as big as this, especially when so many people will be milling around.”“And,” Peter added, “how will we know whom to keep an eye on?” He smiled at Penny. “You planned, of course, to have police detectives here in costume, too.”“No, I didn’t,” Penny admitted. “I thought it would be more fun if we set a trap and caught Mr. or Messrs. X ourselves.”“What sort of a trap?” Phil asked, frowning.“I don’t know exactly,” Penny admitted. “But I think it ought to have something to do with the secret room. For one thing, Ann Mary and I planned that just before the unmasking we might spring it on our guests as a surprise. None of them except Adra has any idea where it is.”Marjorie felt very uncomfortable at that moment. She opened her mouth to confess that she had showed it to Judy, but decided against interrupting Penny until she had finished.“When we open the door,” Penny went on, “thosewho want to go down into the room will have to take turns, because it’s too small to hold them all at the same time. I thought that if anyone had been acting suspiciously before that, we might be able to lure him down alone and then we could quickly press the button and lock him in.” She added, turning to Peter, “Then you can call in the police.”He shook his head worriedly. “Youare not going to be the one to lure him down into the room alone.”“Of course not,” Jimmy said quickly. “Iwill.”“No, you won’t,” Phil told him emphatically. “The man may be armed and I’m the only one who has a pistol license. I’ll go down with him and one of you can close the door. If he’s really been acting suspiciously, I’ll suggest that he unmask. If he’s the man we want, he’ll refuse. Then I’ll produce my gun and keep him there while I knock on the door. That will be the signal that our scheme worked.”“I don’t like the idea of your being locked down there with him,” Penny objected.“It’s the only answer,” Phil insisted. “Once he has any idea that we suspect him, he may make a wild dash for safety, and that would frighten some of our guestsvery badly. Besides, he might escape. With all those people wandering in and out of the Lodge, I wouldn’t dare use my gun.” He turned to Peter. “What do you think of the plan?”“It’s okay except for one thing,” Peter said. “What if Mr. X doesn’t do anything to make us suspect him? Up until the unmasking we won’t have any way of knowing whether he is one of the village merchants or not. And by that time he will certainly have disappeared.”“Oh, he’s bound to do something to make him stand out from the others,” Marjorie put in. “And he’ll probably be very careless because he won’t have any idea that we plan to catch him in a trap.”“That’s true,” Peter admitted.“Sometimes,” Jimmy said with a teasing grin, “the gal makes sense.”Phil stood up. “If we’re all agreed, I may as well go down to the village now and spread the word about the party.”“And I,” said Penny, rising, too, “had better go through the stuff in the storage room and see what wehave. I thought it might be fun to decorate the secret room so it’ll look good and scary.”“I’ll help,” Marjorie said. “I know where there’s one of those old paper skeletons that we used to hang up on Hallowe’en.” She slipped her arm through Penny’s. “Oh, isn’t it going to be fun? Even if we don’t catch Mr. X, the masquerade will be the best event of the whole summer.”“I hope so,” Penny said. “And I hope we do catch him. Even if he’s just a crank and isn’t after anything valuable, he’s annoyed us enough. It’s time we put a stop to it.”She glanced back over her shoulder at Peter who was still sitting at the desk.“Oh, dear,” she thought reading the anxious expression on his face. “He still thinks we ought to get help from the police.” She shivered involuntarily. “Maybe before the party is over we’ll be sorry we didn’t follow his advice.”CHAPTER 12SETTING THE TRAPThe nexttwo weeks were busy ones for everyone connected with the Lodge. From morning to night there was a terrific amount of hustling and bustling around the house, inside and out. Everyone was loaning something or borrowing something to wear at the last big party of the season.Brook, Alf and Jimmy, all amateur but experienced electricians, extended wires from the house to the trees so that the lawn would be bright with lanterns.“Just in case there’s no moon,” Phil said.“If it rains, I’ll die,” Marjorie said nervously.She and Judy were helping the boys, and Judy insisted upon knowing what each one planned to wear.“We’re all going as cowboys,” Jimmy called down from the fork of a tall tree.“How original of you,” Marjorie said sarcastically. “And it shows how lazy you are too. All you have todo is stuff the legs of your jeans in boots, tie bandannas around your necks, and borrow toy guns and holsters from kids in the village.”“So what?” Alf demanded. “With masks on nobody will recognize us, not even you two.”“We wouldn’t even try,” Judy informed him airily. “There’ll probably be so many cowboys here that night it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”“I hope Mr. X wears something more original,” Marjorie said without thinking.“Who?” Judy demanded.“Er—nobody,” Marjorie said hastily. The Allens, at Peter’s suggestion, had decided not to share their secret with any of the other guests.“If too many people know that we’re planning to set a trap,” he had said, “it won’t be long before Mr. X knows too.”To change the subject Marjorie said to Brook: “Phil and Penny wrote to New York and they heard today that I can get into that small boarding school I told you about. It’s up on the Hudson. Golly, I hate to think of going away from here.”“I know how you feel,” Brook said sympathetically. “But just the same I’m glad you’re going to a school that isn’t very far from mine. When we have dances, you’ll come as my guest, won’t you?”Marjorie blushed. Shedidlike Brook, and it would be fun to go to school dances with him, but she wished he hadn’t asked her when Jimmy was around. Jimmy thought it was fun to tease Judy Powell, but Marjorie knew that he thought girls were a nuisance. He also thought that boys who asked girls to parties were dopes. She waited tensely for the caustic remark she knew was coming.To her surprise, Jimmy said nothing. He climbed down from the fork of the tree and gave her a look which said plainer than words:“Watch your step, stupid. You almost let the cat out of the bag.”And then Marjorie realized to her dismay that all of the others were staring at her curiously. Every one of them had heard her blurt out: “I hope Mr. X wears something more original.” They were overcome with curiosity but they were all too polite to ask any more questions.Hastily Marjorie said, “Aren’t you all starving? I’ll go ask Ann Mary if I can’t fix some lemonade and raid the cooky jar.”She was off without waiting for their replies, but Judy raced after her. Marjorie’s heart sank. As soon as they were out of earshot of the boys, Judy’s curiosity would get the better of her good manners. She would demand an explanation of Marjorie’s unfortunate remark.Then Marjorie had an idea. “You know,” she said casually, “I’ll bet a lot of people come to the party disguised as the ghost who’s supposed to haunt the Lodge. I think of him as Mr. X and he wears a long gray beard. It would be hard to see through that disguise. I mean, a long flowing white robe, a wig and a mask with a long gray beard.”Judy looked disappointed but Marjorie knew that her curiosity was satisfied. “It would be a perfect disguise,” Judy said. “And much more original than a cowboy outfit.”Back in the Lodge they found all the other guests busy making final decisions about their costumes. The ladies had all enjoyed going through the trunks, spendingone entire day rummaging, to the great delight of the younger fry. Some of the people had gone into town to get extra things for their costumes from the local stores. They reported that the townspeople, too, were all excited about the party and that a great many of them were planning to come.At last it was the day of the big event, and to Marjorie’s delight the sun shone brightly in an almost cloudless sky.Penny had decided to wear the old wedding dress from the trunk. It was beautiful even though it had yellowed with age. Adra was wearing a green silk dress with matching slippers from the same old trunk. Penny and Marjorie helped each other fix their costumes, and Marjorie suggested to Penny that she should wear the veil that went with the dress and thus really look like a bride.“Because, Sis,” Marjorie said unashamedly, “youaregoing to be a bride pretty soon. You might as well start getting used to the idea.”Penny’s cheeks flamed. Then she suddenly threw her arms around Marjorie. “Oh, honey, if only I could besure. There’s no sense in my trying to hide fromyou that I love Peter. But how can I be sure that he loves me?”Marjorie sniffed. “Penny, you idiot! It’s written all over his face whenever he looks at you. And when you’re not around he mopes, except when he’s shooting daggers with his eyes at Charles Curtis.”Penny couldn’t help smiling. Then she frowned. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll be a bride very soon. Peter may love me, but neither of us has enough money to start in housekeeping. Maybe,” she added wistfully, “that’s why Peter doesn’t tell me now that he loves me.”“Pooh.” Marjorie snorted. “You can live on love. Besides, we must have made a lot of money on the Lodge this summer.”“Not really,” Penny told her. “We had to hire an awful lot of help, you know. And this whole month the laundry has been so huge we had to pay Mr. Taggart twice as much as he estimated in the beginning. It had to be taken into the village four times a week.” She sighed. “And the girls we originally hired to come out only to wait on the tables and help with the ironing had to work full time.”“Never mind,” Marjorie said consolingly. “It’s been fun.”Penny brightened. “Oh, I don’t mean that we didn’t make any money. There’s enough to see you and Jimmy through school. But Phil and I want you to go to college. Both of you.”“We won’t go,” Marjorie said stanchly. “Not if it means you can’t marry Peter when he asks you to. After the experience we’ve had this summer we can both get jobs.” She pirouetted around the room. “Don’t you think I’d make somebody a wonderful secretary?”“Wonderful.” Penny giggled. “But not a very dignified one. No, honey,” she went on seriously, “don’t you worry your pretty head about getting a job just yet. Things will work out somehow. I know they will.”To herself she added, “If Peter asks me to marry him, I’ll say yes.Togetherwe can work things out.”“I tell you what let’s do,” Marjorie cried. “Let’s have dress rehearsal right now. Here, in your room. Just us and Judy ’cause she’s going to be my twin.And Ann Mary so she can give our costumes a final inspection.” She danced away.In a short while they were all crowding into Penny’s room, laughing and making fun of each other.Marjorie and Judy were dressed alike in little Swiss peasant girl costumes. Jimmy made a very handsome cowboy and Philip was a swashbuckling pirate. A banquet was to be served at midnight after the unmasking, and since this was the event of the summer, Ann Mary had included all her specialties in the menu. She stayed at the dress rehearsal only long enough to assure them that they all looked wonderful, then hurried away.In spite of last-minute preparations, the Allens and Peter made time for a final conference in the office.“Let’s try to have as much fun as possible,” Peter said, “but we mustn’t forget for one minute that we’re all detectives.”“That’s right,” Phil agreed. “If any one of us notices a guest acting suspiciously, he or she must report at once to the others. There’ll be over a hundred people here tonight, so we’ve all got to be on our toes. Every minute,” he added soberly.Jimmy nodded. “Every minute until the unmasking anyway. Which means between the hours of ten and midnight. Not many people will arrive before ten even though we invited them to come at nine-thirty.”Penny was sketching a floor plan of the Lodge on a large sheet of paper. “Whatever Mr. X is after,” she said, “it obviously isn’t buried on the grounds. If it were, he wouldn’t have planted those red herrings. Therefore, it’s probably in the house. If it’s upstairs, all we have to do is make sure that nobody but our house guests and help goes up without our knowing it. We all know what costumes they’ll be wearing so that’s easy. But it will be Peter and Marjorie’s job to keep an eye on the back stairs; Jimmy and I, the front.”Everyone nodded, and Penny went on. “If it’s downstairs, Mr. X will know that he hasn’t got a prayer of searching for it, unless it’s in the office or the storage room, and I’ve locked those doors securely, so he can’t slip in and out unnoticed. The other downstairs rooms will be filled with people all the time, including the kitchen. The logical time for him to try tofind whatever he plans to steal will be when everyone is gathered in one room.”She smiled up at Peter. “In order to be sure we catch Mr. X in our trap, I have carefully dropped hints throughout the village that at eleven-thirty on the dot we’re going to show our guests the secret room. Don’t you think he’ll choose that time, when everyone’s attention will be concentrated on one spot, to do something which will attract our attention?”“I certainly do,” Peter said. “He’ll be the one guest at that moment who won’t crowd into the alcove to see how the secret door works. Unless,” he added thoughtfully, “whatever he happens to be after is in the secret room itself.”“I thought of that,” Penny said. “And since he can’t possibly know how the secret doors works, he’ll wait until after that part of the evening’s entertainment is over. Then he’ll try to sneak back and go down into the room while we’re unmasking.” She chuckled. “In that case, he’ll walk right into our trap. After the last guest has left, Phil can stay behind and hide in the alcove. If Mr. X sneaks back and goes down into theroom, all Phil has to do is fasten the door from the outside, once Mr. X is safely down the stairs. Then we can call the police, for obviously no honest person would go into the secret room without our permission.”“I object,” Jimmy said. “According to that scheme, we’ll catch Mr. X, but we still won’t know what he was trying to steal.”“I agree with Jimmy,” Phil said. “So instead of hiding in the alcove after the guests have all seen the secret room, I’ll hide down in the room itself. Behind the black draperies you’ve hung on the walls. If he sneaks back, I’ll stay there untilafterhe’s got whatever he’s trying to get. Then at the point of my gun I’ll make him turn it over to me and—”Penny interrupted with a frown: “I still don’t like the idea of your being down in the room alone with someone who may be a dangerous criminal, Phil.”“Oh, Penny,” Marjorie cried impulsively, “Phil can take care of himself. Besides, Mr. X won’t have any idea that he’s hiding behind the black curtains. Also,” she added, “what Mr. X wants may not be in the secret room after all.”“That’s true,” Penny admitted reluctantly.“Then the scheme is this,” Peter said, summing it up. “If you and Marjorie see a stranger sneak upstairs before the unmasking, you’re to report at once to Phil, Jimmy and me. We’ll follow him and catch him in the act. If no one does anything suspicious, Phil will remain in the secret room after the guests have seen it. Pat, who will open the door, will close it when everyone has left the alcove. Then we’ll all go into the big room for the unmasking and wait until Phil signals that he has caught a rat in his trap. You can do that, Phil,” he finished, “as we already agreed, by banging on the door.”And so the final arrangements were made. But Penny, as she hurried upstairs with Marjorie to dress for the occasion, knew that Peter was worried. He didn’t like the idea of Phil being locked in the secret room with Mr. X any more than she did.“But,” she realized suddenly, “Phil won’t belockedin after all. Even though we may deliberately play into Mr. X’s hands by showing him how to get into the secret room, he won’t know where the spring is that closes the door on the other side.”And, as Marjorie pointed out while they helped each other with their costumes: “The whole thing may be a flop. We don’t know for sure that there is anything valuable hidden in the Lodge, or that Mr. X will be among those present tonight.”CHAPTER 13PHILIP TRAPS A THIEFPeter Wylandknew that Penny would be coming down the back way when she was ready, instead of down the stairs from the balcony. When he was in his costume he waited at the foot of the back stairs. The large room at the bottom of the steps was dimly lit.Presently Penny, a sweet vision, appeared at the top of the steps. She gathered her draperies for the descent, unconscious of anyone’s presence. The veil, which Marjorie had persuaded her to wear, floated behind her, caught back from her face by pins and a white rose.When she was halfway down, Peter stepped into the light. “Penny,” he said in a low voice, “you look lovely. I should have been waiting here with a minister!”Peter was beside the surprised Penny in a moment, leading her down the few remaining steps to the roomwhere he tenderly put his arms around her and kissed her. “I can’t wait any longer, Penny, to tell you how I love you!” Peter’s voice was a little nervous. What he had intended to say deserted him. “Will you—will you wear a dress like this for me, soon?”Penny, who had not had a chance to utter a word, and whose breath was taken away by the surprise of having Peter kiss her, merely said, “Oh,—why, Peter,” as he led her to a little sofa in the corner of the room.“Sit here with me just a minute, Penny. I’ve been waiting to ask you for so long, only I’ve never known whether you were just being kind and sweet to me because you’re that way with everyone, or whether you could like me well enough to marry me. I saw that there was Charles Curtis—but if you were engaged to him, I figured Phil would tip me off. I am sort of a coward where you are concerned, Penny. Don’t tell me that you like Charley best! Do you love me a little?”Peter’s voice was low and eager. He held one of Penny’s hands tightly in his.Penny was not the sort to keep the man she loved in a state of uncertainty. “Did you know you’ve lovedme all summer, Peter? I wish you’d told me sooner, because you see, I’ve been in love with you, too.” It was all right at last. “I knew last year that I loved you Peter, but I couldn’t very well let you know it!” Penny’s hand was almost crushed as Peter’s face lit up with joy. He swept her into his arms again for another kiss, and Penny said, “I could stay here and forget all about my duties to my guests, but we mustn’t forget about Mr. X. And I’ll have to go upstairs again, Peter. See how you have mussed this veil.”“Not beyond repair, I hope,” he said, smiling. “Penny, before you go, say you’ll marry me this fall, as soon as the guests leave?”“Silly man! You take my breath away,” Penny laughed. “But it is wonderful that you are silly about me, Peter. I can’t think straight right this minute, but we’ll talk about it later. Marjorie and Jimmy are going to school in September. Phil is going to New York to work for Mr. Prentice and to go to school nights. He wants to be near Adra. Mercy—I’m all mixed up. There will be so much to see to. Could you—could we have our honeymoon right here?”“I can’t think of a more wonderful spot,” Peter said.“Our life is going to be all honeymoon from now on. As long as I know we love each other that’s enough to make me walk on air the rest of the evening. What a pity we can’t be by ourselves. I’ll be thinking of you every single minute, darling.”Peter waited until Penny went back to her room to repair damages. It took her but a few minutes and when she made her appearance in the living room, she was immediately surrounded and admired by everyone.With the keen eye of an experienced hostess, she glanced around to see that everyone was being entertained in some fashion. She recognized most of the guests regardless of their masks, and she noted that there was quite an assembly of townspeople whom she could not recognize because of their disguises. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were dressed as George and Martha Washington and they looked very distinguished. They were talking to Marjorie just now and saying something that made her laugh. There was Charles Curtis dancing with a lovely girl who had spent several weekends at the Lodge and had come back for the masquerade. When he danced by Penny hestopped for a minute and said, “I’ll wager that this is our fair hostess. Shall I telephone the parson? It’s hard to resist such a bride!”“You are incorrigible, Charles,” Penny reported.“And you look radiant tonight, Penny.” And off he danced with his partner. It was hard for Penny to get her mind on anything else except Peter. Dear, eager, wonderful Peter. But she had many things to do. The tables in the dining room had to be checked, and then she had to return and take part in the party. She looked around at the guests once more trying to place some of those who did not look familiar. There was one masquerader in particular who caught her eye. He was dressed as the bearded ghost that was supposed to wander about the Lodge, but aside from the long beard and white wig he seemed to be quite young, vigorous and active. He was too heavy for Alf who had once said something about dressing up as a graybeard. He was with Adra a good deal of the time but mingled with the rest and danced well.All the guests had arrived and the party was in full swing. It was nearly time for Philip to announce that he was going to show everybody the secret room.Peter came into the room just a few minutes before this and slipping an arm around Penny, he said, “Congratulate me, Phil, I’m going to be your brother-in-law.”Philip stared a moment, then put a hand on Peter’s shoulder and told him there was no one to whom he’d rather hand over Penny. “Good work, Peter,” he said. “Congratulations. Even if she is my sister, I must say you’re getting a wonderful girl.”“Nobody knows that better than I,” Peter said humbly.“Stop it, you two,” Penny cried. “I’ll get a head too big for my shoulders if you keep it up. By the way, do either of you recognize that man over there disguised as Graybeard?”“I think that’s Mr. Sanders. He said something about wearing such a costume when Alf gave up the idea,” said Peter.“No, it isn’t Mr. Sanders,” Penny said. “But there’s something very familiar about him. I’m sure I know him but I can’t quite put my finger on who he is.”“Has he done anything suspicious?” Phil asked.“Not a thing,” Penny admitted. Then she laughed.“But he has been paying quite a lot of attention to Adra. You’d better watch out, Phil.”Phil frowned. “I’ll be glad when this evening is over. I’ve hardly had a chance to speak to Adra since breakfast. And—and, well I guess you two know how I feel about her.”“We do,” Penny told him, smiling. “But the question is, does she?” She gave him a fond pat on the cheek. “Faint heart never won fair lady, Phil.”“That’s right,” Peter said, grinning. “Once you get used to the idea, Phil, proposing to the girl you love isn’t so difficult.”“I suppose not,” Phil said dubiously, “but if I rush matters I might ruin my chances with Adra.”Marjorie joined them then. “Nobody’s done anything suspicious at all,” she complained. “The whole scheme is a flop.”“The evening isn’t over yet,” Penny reminded her. She tucked her hand in the crook of Peter’s arm, blushing. “We’re going to announce our engagement at the banquet. And if Phil takes my advice, he’ll propose to Adra before the party is over.” She smiled at Marjorie. “Isn’t that enough excitement for you?”“Oh, oh,” Marjorie cried, hugging Penny. “I’m so glad. Wait until I tell Judy.” She was off, completely forgetting to congratulate the bridegroom-to-be.A short while after that Penny went upstairs with Adra and told her that she and Peter were engaged.“I’m so happy for you both,” Adra said, rather wistfully.Penny said nothing, but she guessed that when Phil did propose, the answer would be yes. She hurried downstairs again for, from the balcony, she could see that the guests were already crowding into the alcove.Most of the younger men, as Marjorie had predicted, were dressed as cowboys, complete with bandannas, chaps and guns in their holsters. Penny had not been able to pick out Brook and Alf, but she knew that Jimmy was the tallest cowboy of them all.He was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs. “Everybody’s all set,” he told her. “Pat’s pressing the button that moves the bookshelves now.” When Adra came down from the balcony he added, “Let’s wait out here. It’ll only add to the confusion if we, who have already seen the secret room, join the crowd in the alcove.”“All right,” Adra said, sitting on the bottom step. “I’m exhausted. Mr. Graybeard is a wonderful dancer, but he never wants to stop for a rest.”“Who is that guy anyway?” Jimmy asked. “He looks familiar, but I can’t place him.”“Neither can I,” Penny said. “But then I can’t place a lot of the people here.” She pointed to two cowboys who were standing just outside the alcove. “For instance, are those two guests Alf and Brook? I wouldn’t know.”And then Penny saw something that made her turn and race up the stairs. The guns that those two cowboys were slipping from their holsters were not toy pistols. Even at that distance she could see that they were small, but deadly-looking automatics.In the meantime, Philip, in the alcove, was making his little speech to the assembled guests.“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said and waited a moment for attention.“There is one little feature of Allen Lodge that has not been on exhibit, a place we call the secret room.” Philip paused again, for effect this time, and a murmur of interest ran around the room.“When we first moved into this Lodge we found it accidentally and we decided to surprise you with it tonight. This room has a curious entrance and when I open the door you will see the little wall safe that has held your money and jewelry. We are sorry to say there is no other treasure down there. Believe me, when we heard of the rumors about buried treasure, we turned the place upside down to see if we could find it, without success.”Philip deliberately assumed a very disappointed look on his face and the guests all laughed. Then he went on, “But maybe the Allens didn’t look in the right places, and possibly Mr. Graybeard, the ghost I see here tonight, may find some treasure for us. Masks and costumes are appropriate to our mysterious visit to a mysterious room. Look for treasure! We will have to go down in groups since it is a small room. The people immediately surrounding me can come down first and perhaps Mr. Graybeard will lend atmosphere by posing near the safe.”“I’d be delighted,” Mr. Graybeard said.Philip glanced at him, thinking: “His voice is familiar, but I’m sure he isn’t any of the merchants inthe village we deal with.” Aloud he continued his speech:“When we come back up from the secret room we’ll unmask and go into the big dining room for the banquet. I hope you have all been keeping a list of the people whom you think you have recognized. As you know, we’re going to gather up your lists as you enter the dining room. During the banquet, prizes will be awarded to the guests who have guessed the largest number of people correctly.”After the applause that followed Philip’s speech, Pat pressed the button that moved the bookshelves aside. From then on Philip was kept busy leading one little party after another down into the secret room.Mr. Graybeard went with the first group and added to the ghostly atmosphere by posing near the safe. Behind him the paper skeleton dangled precariously from the ceiling.When the last guest had inspected the little room and had gone back up the stairs to the alcove, Philip said to Graybeard, “Thanks for helping us out. You make a swell ghost. Who are you anyway?”“Never mind,” said a cold, crisp voice. “Turnaround and come down the steps with your hands up.”With one swift gesture, Philip released the spring that closed the secret door. Then he turned to face the gun Graybeard was pointing at him.Philip was caught in his own trap, but at least the man and his pistol could neither harm nor frighten the people on the other side of the door.Philip came slowly down the steps. “So you’re our mysterious Mr. X,” he said coolly.“Call me anything you like,” Graybeard said, taking Philip’s own pistol from his pocket. “Now open that safe.”Philip shrugged. “Anything to oblige.” he said.“And don’t try to pull any tricks,” Graybeard warned him. “Upstairs, two men I hired for the occasion are at this very moment relieving your guests of their excess jewelry and cash.”So it was a planned robbery! And Graybeard’s henchmen had probably come disguised as cowboys, carrying real pistols in their holsters!For a moment, Phil was paralyzed with worry about the girls. Penny and Marjorie were so impulsive!Would they submit quietly to a holdup? And Adra?He felt sure that the older women, although they would be frightened at the sight of guns, would do nothing which might arouse the anger of armed criminals. But the girls!The voice behind the mask repeated menacingly, “Open that safe!”Philip quickly obeyed. There was nothing else to do. Peter had been right all along: They should have called on the police for help.Philip twirled the dial and opened the door of the safe. “Help yourself,” he said curtly.“I am very much engaged in watching you,” replied the man. Philip had no choice. He emptied the safe and handed its contents to the masked burglar.There was a good sum of money, the payments of the guests for the week. It was mostly in checks and a great deal of the jewelry had been removed from the safe for the occasion. Philip was thanking his lucky stars that they didn’t keep too much cash, valuable articles or important papers. Philip tried to get a good look at the man’s face under his beard, but it and themask over his nose and eyes completely hid his features.Could this really be the mysterious Mr. X? No, Philip decided. Graybeard was nothing but a common ordinary burglar. And yet there was something familiar about him.The man tucked the money into his pocket, then looked contemptuously at the bit of jewelry but put it into another pocket. Philip listened to hurrying footsteps overhead and could see that Graybeard was perturbed by them. But there was no catching this man off guard. He held the gun close to Philip every minute. He again ordered Philip to put his hands into the air, while he felt around the inside of the safe. Philip could not help but think what a curious picture this man with his long gray beard made, as he searched through the empty safe with one hand and kept his pistol pointed at Philip with the other. What on earth was he searching for?Then Philip heard a little click, and suddenly a drawer on two little steel rods dropped down from inside the top of the safe.“Missed that part of it, didn’t you?” Graybeard sneered. “Empty that drawer and hand me the stuff.”Philip was so surprised he stood there with his mouth open for a full minute, then with great interest he looked at this drawer that he had never seen before. It was wide and shallow and full of papers. Evidently a little hidden spring had released the rods that held the drawer in place. Could this be the place where the rumored treasure was supposed to be hidden? Philip mentally kicked himself for not having thought of such a possibility before. Much good it would do them now. Idiot that he had been not to have taken ordinary precautions that night. What fools they had all been not to follow Peter’s advice!No wonder Mr. X Graybeard had planted red herrings guaranteed to keep Jimmy and Marjorie searching everywhere for hidden treasure except in their own safe.“Quit stalling,” Graybeard growled, poking Philip with his gun. “Come on, hand over that stuff and make it snappy. The boys upstairs must be about ready to go.”Philip took from the drawer two packages of old papers that looked like receipted bills, and a large, bulging Manila envelope. This Graybeard snatched from Phil’s hand and pocketed it with a satisfied air. He glanced at the old papers and said, “You can throw those away. What I want is bound to be in this envelope.” He went on in a patronizing voice, “Thanks, sonny boy. If you hadn’t played right into my hands, I might have had to use some ‘soup’ to blow the lock off that safe. Messy stuff, ‘soup,’ and noisy. When I heard you were going to throw this ball and show your guests the secret room, I decided to let one of you dopey Allens open it for me.” He patted the pocket into which he had stuffed the old Manila envelope. “What I have here is much more valuable than all the money and jewels the men I hired have taken from your guests. They can keep whatever they collected as their pay.”“Just what is in that old envelope?” Phil asked, stalling for time. The man, in the boasting, triumphant mood he was now in, might be caught momentarily off guard.Graybeard chuckled evilly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”“I certainly would,” Philip said and added shrewdly, “I should think you’d like toknowtoo. After all, it may be stuffed with nothing but more old receipted bills.”The man, struck by this thought, glared at Philip through his mask. “Never thought of that,” he muttered and hastily shifted the gun from his right hand to his left so he could reach into his pocket and open the envelope.In that split second, Philip went into action. Before Graybeard knew what was happening the pistol had been knocked from his hand. At the same moment, Philip’s fist crashed against his jaw. Graybeard went limp and toppled to the floor.Phil leaped over his unconscious body to retrieve the gun. Then he took his own pistol from Graybeard’s pocket.“Now the tables are nicely turned,” Phil chuckled. He quickly tore strips from the black draperies on the wall and tied the man’s hands and feet together. Heworked fast because he was worried about what was going on upstairs.Then he heard sounds on the other side of the door at the top of the steps. Phil held his pistol ready. One of the gunmen, worried by the prolonged absence of Graybeard, might be coming down to see what was happening in the secret room.The door swung open, and, to Phil’s relief, Pat leaped down the stairs. Phil met him halfway. “What happened?” he asked nervously. “The girls—are they all right?”“Everybody’s just fine,” Pat said, grinning. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Let’s see what you have here first.”He bent down and yanked the beard and mask from the unconscious man’s face.“Whew!” Pat and Phil whistled in one breath. “Our nice cheap laundry man!”For it was Mr. Taggart, and, as he regained consciousness, glaring with rage up at Phil, his face was anything but pleasant.
We’ll meet athe lasand look for the treI’m sure it’s buriedold shed neahas long run
Then she pulled out of her desk drawer the fragment Marjorie had found in the green bottle. The two pieces fit together as perfectly as a jigsaw puzzle. Now they could all read the complete page:
We’ll meet at the Log cabinthe last week in Augustand look for the treasure again.I’m sure it’s buried near theold shed near a well thathas long run dry.“Oh, oh,” Jimmy moaned. “That means more digging. I guess we didn’t dig deep enough.”“But what about the map?” Marjorie demanded. “It showed that treasure was buried behind the Donahues’ cabin.”“None of it makes any sense,” Peter said calmly. “And you kids may as well accept the fact right now that the map and the two fragments aren’t clues. They’re obviously red herrings, deliberately planted to keep us busy looking for buried treasure.”“I don’t get it,” Jimmy said frankly.“It’s this way,” Phil explained. “Peter, Penny and I figure that thereissomething valuable hidden around here. Somebody who obviously isn’t honest knows where it is. He wants to keep us from finding it.”“Oh golly,” Marjorie broke in, “wait until I tell Judy about this. We’ll spend the rest of the summer going over the whole place with a fine-tooth comb.”“Oh, no, you won’t,” Penny said, laughing. “I have a better idea, and one that won’t drive our guests out of their minds.”Peter stared at her in amazement. “Have you been keeping secrets from me?” he asked, pretending that his feelings were hurt.“Oh, no,” Penny told him hastily. “The idea just came to me this minute. Actually, the words, ‘last week in August’ gave it to me.” Her cheeks flushedwith excitement, she went on. “One morning last week when I was out in the kitchen discussing menus with Ann Mary, she suggested that we give a masquerade party. There are plenty of grand costumes in the old trunks for all of the ladies, and you men can rig up outfits from old curtains and stuff in our boxes.”“A swell idea,” Jimmy said. “But what’s it got to do with finding hidden treasure?”Penny smiled at him patiently. “If you’d only let me finish! Ann Mary and I decided that the last Friday in August would be a good time for the party. Most of the guests will be leaving early in September, so it would be sort of a last fling.”Jimmy began to sing, “After the ball is o-ver. After the guests have gone.”“Stop interrupting,” Marjorie said, glaring at him. “Let Penny finish.”“Well,” Penny went on, “we planned the party just for ourselves and our guests. But now I think we should issue a blanket invitation to all the merchants in town. It will be our way of expressing our appreciationof the way they cooperated with us all summer. Now,” she finished, “you can all guess the rest.”“Not me,” Marjorie said, rapidly blinking her blue eyes.Jimmy clutched his dark hair wildly. “I follow you as closely as though you’d had a million-mile head start.”Peter was staring at Penny with frank admiration. “Youaresmart,” he said. “Don’t you see?” he asked Jimmy and Marjorie. “Our Mr. X, or our Messrs. X, for there may be more than one, will certainly be among those present at the masquerade. With everyone coming masked and in costume, he wouldn’t miss the chance. He’ll come out sure that he can get whatever he’s after and depart before the unmasking.”“Holy cow,” Jimmy exploded. “Pennyissmart. Instead of our wearing ourselves out looking for hidden treasure, he’ll lead us right to it.”Marjorie gave her sister an impulsive hug. “It’s the grandest idea anyone ever invented,” she cried.“And,” Jimmy put in, suddenly remembering the main reason why they had persuaded Pat to cut thecamping trip short, “I’m pretty sure there’s only one Mr. X.”“Don’t be a dope,” Marjorie said. “I’m sure there are two. One of them put the bottle where he was sure Judy and I would find it while we were looking for shells. And the other put the coat where you boys couldn’t miss it.”Jimmy shrugged. “Maybe so, but the same Mr. X who left his footprint under the floor of the shed planted the coat.”“Yipes,” Peter moaned. “What’s all this about a footprint under the shed? I thought it was a garage filled with cars.”“It is now,” Penny explained with a chuckle. “Before we converted it, someone ripped up part of the floor and left a footprint in the dirt.”“That’s right,” Jimmy said. “And he also left footprints in a clearing back where Brook found the coat. Footprints,” he finished triumphantly, “with rubber heels made by the same manufacturer.”“Why, Jimmy Allen,” Marjorie gasped admiringly, “you’re so smart you ought to get a job with the FBI.”But Penny laughed. “Now all the red herrings fittogether like the pieces of this paper. Don’t you see, Jimmy? Mr. X deliberately left that footprint in the shed in plain view so I might believe that he had had something to do with my accident. Right, Peter?”“Right,” Peter said. “As soon as Mr. X heard you had fallen down the well, he wrote the letter which you received the next day. Then that evening he sneaked out to plant evidence which he hoped would back up his threat.”“Oh, gosh,” Jimmy said disconsolately. “We’re right back where we started. But at least we can be pretty sure that there’s only one Mr. X.”“We can’t be sure of anything,” Phil said soberly. “Except that whoever it is really does mean business. The very fact that one of them jumped on Mal that night when we chased him away proves that. An ordinary night prowler would have tried to sneak away without being seen.”“Well,” Marjorie said cheerfully, “we mean business now, too. And we’re sure to catch him the night of the masquerade when he comes here to get the treasure.”“Wa—ait a minute,” Phil said cautiously. “What’sto prevent Mr. X from getting by with his scheme? We can’t be everywhere at once in a place as big as this, especially when so many people will be milling around.”“And,” Peter added, “how will we know whom to keep an eye on?” He smiled at Penny. “You planned, of course, to have police detectives here in costume, too.”“No, I didn’t,” Penny admitted. “I thought it would be more fun if we set a trap and caught Mr. or Messrs. X ourselves.”“What sort of a trap?” Phil asked, frowning.“I don’t know exactly,” Penny admitted. “But I think it ought to have something to do with the secret room. For one thing, Ann Mary and I planned that just before the unmasking we might spring it on our guests as a surprise. None of them except Adra has any idea where it is.”Marjorie felt very uncomfortable at that moment. She opened her mouth to confess that she had showed it to Judy, but decided against interrupting Penny until she had finished.“When we open the door,” Penny went on, “thosewho want to go down into the room will have to take turns, because it’s too small to hold them all at the same time. I thought that if anyone had been acting suspiciously before that, we might be able to lure him down alone and then we could quickly press the button and lock him in.” She added, turning to Peter, “Then you can call in the police.”He shook his head worriedly. “Youare not going to be the one to lure him down into the room alone.”“Of course not,” Jimmy said quickly. “Iwill.”“No, you won’t,” Phil told him emphatically. “The man may be armed and I’m the only one who has a pistol license. I’ll go down with him and one of you can close the door. If he’s really been acting suspiciously, I’ll suggest that he unmask. If he’s the man we want, he’ll refuse. Then I’ll produce my gun and keep him there while I knock on the door. That will be the signal that our scheme worked.”“I don’t like the idea of your being locked down there with him,” Penny objected.“It’s the only answer,” Phil insisted. “Once he has any idea that we suspect him, he may make a wild dash for safety, and that would frighten some of our guestsvery badly. Besides, he might escape. With all those people wandering in and out of the Lodge, I wouldn’t dare use my gun.” He turned to Peter. “What do you think of the plan?”“It’s okay except for one thing,” Peter said. “What if Mr. X doesn’t do anything to make us suspect him? Up until the unmasking we won’t have any way of knowing whether he is one of the village merchants or not. And by that time he will certainly have disappeared.”“Oh, he’s bound to do something to make him stand out from the others,” Marjorie put in. “And he’ll probably be very careless because he won’t have any idea that we plan to catch him in a trap.”“That’s true,” Peter admitted.“Sometimes,” Jimmy said with a teasing grin, “the gal makes sense.”Phil stood up. “If we’re all agreed, I may as well go down to the village now and spread the word about the party.”“And I,” said Penny, rising, too, “had better go through the stuff in the storage room and see what wehave. I thought it might be fun to decorate the secret room so it’ll look good and scary.”“I’ll help,” Marjorie said. “I know where there’s one of those old paper skeletons that we used to hang up on Hallowe’en.” She slipped her arm through Penny’s. “Oh, isn’t it going to be fun? Even if we don’t catch Mr. X, the masquerade will be the best event of the whole summer.”“I hope so,” Penny said. “And I hope we do catch him. Even if he’s just a crank and isn’t after anything valuable, he’s annoyed us enough. It’s time we put a stop to it.”She glanced back over her shoulder at Peter who was still sitting at the desk.“Oh, dear,” she thought reading the anxious expression on his face. “He still thinks we ought to get help from the police.” She shivered involuntarily. “Maybe before the party is over we’ll be sorry we didn’t follow his advice.”CHAPTER 12SETTING THE TRAPThe nexttwo weeks were busy ones for everyone connected with the Lodge. From morning to night there was a terrific amount of hustling and bustling around the house, inside and out. Everyone was loaning something or borrowing something to wear at the last big party of the season.Brook, Alf and Jimmy, all amateur but experienced electricians, extended wires from the house to the trees so that the lawn would be bright with lanterns.“Just in case there’s no moon,” Phil said.“If it rains, I’ll die,” Marjorie said nervously.She and Judy were helping the boys, and Judy insisted upon knowing what each one planned to wear.“We’re all going as cowboys,” Jimmy called down from the fork of a tall tree.“How original of you,” Marjorie said sarcastically. “And it shows how lazy you are too. All you have todo is stuff the legs of your jeans in boots, tie bandannas around your necks, and borrow toy guns and holsters from kids in the village.”“So what?” Alf demanded. “With masks on nobody will recognize us, not even you two.”“We wouldn’t even try,” Judy informed him airily. “There’ll probably be so many cowboys here that night it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”“I hope Mr. X wears something more original,” Marjorie said without thinking.“Who?” Judy demanded.“Er—nobody,” Marjorie said hastily. The Allens, at Peter’s suggestion, had decided not to share their secret with any of the other guests.“If too many people know that we’re planning to set a trap,” he had said, “it won’t be long before Mr. X knows too.”To change the subject Marjorie said to Brook: “Phil and Penny wrote to New York and they heard today that I can get into that small boarding school I told you about. It’s up on the Hudson. Golly, I hate to think of going away from here.”“I know how you feel,” Brook said sympathetically. “But just the same I’m glad you’re going to a school that isn’t very far from mine. When we have dances, you’ll come as my guest, won’t you?”Marjorie blushed. Shedidlike Brook, and it would be fun to go to school dances with him, but she wished he hadn’t asked her when Jimmy was around. Jimmy thought it was fun to tease Judy Powell, but Marjorie knew that he thought girls were a nuisance. He also thought that boys who asked girls to parties were dopes. She waited tensely for the caustic remark she knew was coming.To her surprise, Jimmy said nothing. He climbed down from the fork of the tree and gave her a look which said plainer than words:“Watch your step, stupid. You almost let the cat out of the bag.”And then Marjorie realized to her dismay that all of the others were staring at her curiously. Every one of them had heard her blurt out: “I hope Mr. X wears something more original.” They were overcome with curiosity but they were all too polite to ask any more questions.Hastily Marjorie said, “Aren’t you all starving? I’ll go ask Ann Mary if I can’t fix some lemonade and raid the cooky jar.”She was off without waiting for their replies, but Judy raced after her. Marjorie’s heart sank. As soon as they were out of earshot of the boys, Judy’s curiosity would get the better of her good manners. She would demand an explanation of Marjorie’s unfortunate remark.Then Marjorie had an idea. “You know,” she said casually, “I’ll bet a lot of people come to the party disguised as the ghost who’s supposed to haunt the Lodge. I think of him as Mr. X and he wears a long gray beard. It would be hard to see through that disguise. I mean, a long flowing white robe, a wig and a mask with a long gray beard.”Judy looked disappointed but Marjorie knew that her curiosity was satisfied. “It would be a perfect disguise,” Judy said. “And much more original than a cowboy outfit.”Back in the Lodge they found all the other guests busy making final decisions about their costumes. The ladies had all enjoyed going through the trunks, spendingone entire day rummaging, to the great delight of the younger fry. Some of the people had gone into town to get extra things for their costumes from the local stores. They reported that the townspeople, too, were all excited about the party and that a great many of them were planning to come.At last it was the day of the big event, and to Marjorie’s delight the sun shone brightly in an almost cloudless sky.Penny had decided to wear the old wedding dress from the trunk. It was beautiful even though it had yellowed with age. Adra was wearing a green silk dress with matching slippers from the same old trunk. Penny and Marjorie helped each other fix their costumes, and Marjorie suggested to Penny that she should wear the veil that went with the dress and thus really look like a bride.“Because, Sis,” Marjorie said unashamedly, “youaregoing to be a bride pretty soon. You might as well start getting used to the idea.”Penny’s cheeks flamed. Then she suddenly threw her arms around Marjorie. “Oh, honey, if only I could besure. There’s no sense in my trying to hide fromyou that I love Peter. But how can I be sure that he loves me?”Marjorie sniffed. “Penny, you idiot! It’s written all over his face whenever he looks at you. And when you’re not around he mopes, except when he’s shooting daggers with his eyes at Charles Curtis.”Penny couldn’t help smiling. Then she frowned. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll be a bride very soon. Peter may love me, but neither of us has enough money to start in housekeeping. Maybe,” she added wistfully, “that’s why Peter doesn’t tell me now that he loves me.”“Pooh.” Marjorie snorted. “You can live on love. Besides, we must have made a lot of money on the Lodge this summer.”“Not really,” Penny told her. “We had to hire an awful lot of help, you know. And this whole month the laundry has been so huge we had to pay Mr. Taggart twice as much as he estimated in the beginning. It had to be taken into the village four times a week.” She sighed. “And the girls we originally hired to come out only to wait on the tables and help with the ironing had to work full time.”“Never mind,” Marjorie said consolingly. “It’s been fun.”Penny brightened. “Oh, I don’t mean that we didn’t make any money. There’s enough to see you and Jimmy through school. But Phil and I want you to go to college. Both of you.”“We won’t go,” Marjorie said stanchly. “Not if it means you can’t marry Peter when he asks you to. After the experience we’ve had this summer we can both get jobs.” She pirouetted around the room. “Don’t you think I’d make somebody a wonderful secretary?”“Wonderful.” Penny giggled. “But not a very dignified one. No, honey,” she went on seriously, “don’t you worry your pretty head about getting a job just yet. Things will work out somehow. I know they will.”To herself she added, “If Peter asks me to marry him, I’ll say yes.Togetherwe can work things out.”“I tell you what let’s do,” Marjorie cried. “Let’s have dress rehearsal right now. Here, in your room. Just us and Judy ’cause she’s going to be my twin.And Ann Mary so she can give our costumes a final inspection.” She danced away.In a short while they were all crowding into Penny’s room, laughing and making fun of each other.Marjorie and Judy were dressed alike in little Swiss peasant girl costumes. Jimmy made a very handsome cowboy and Philip was a swashbuckling pirate. A banquet was to be served at midnight after the unmasking, and since this was the event of the summer, Ann Mary had included all her specialties in the menu. She stayed at the dress rehearsal only long enough to assure them that they all looked wonderful, then hurried away.In spite of last-minute preparations, the Allens and Peter made time for a final conference in the office.“Let’s try to have as much fun as possible,” Peter said, “but we mustn’t forget for one minute that we’re all detectives.”“That’s right,” Phil agreed. “If any one of us notices a guest acting suspiciously, he or she must report at once to the others. There’ll be over a hundred people here tonight, so we’ve all got to be on our toes. Every minute,” he added soberly.Jimmy nodded. “Every minute until the unmasking anyway. Which means between the hours of ten and midnight. Not many people will arrive before ten even though we invited them to come at nine-thirty.”Penny was sketching a floor plan of the Lodge on a large sheet of paper. “Whatever Mr. X is after,” she said, “it obviously isn’t buried on the grounds. If it were, he wouldn’t have planted those red herrings. Therefore, it’s probably in the house. If it’s upstairs, all we have to do is make sure that nobody but our house guests and help goes up without our knowing it. We all know what costumes they’ll be wearing so that’s easy. But it will be Peter and Marjorie’s job to keep an eye on the back stairs; Jimmy and I, the front.”Everyone nodded, and Penny went on. “If it’s downstairs, Mr. X will know that he hasn’t got a prayer of searching for it, unless it’s in the office or the storage room, and I’ve locked those doors securely, so he can’t slip in and out unnoticed. The other downstairs rooms will be filled with people all the time, including the kitchen. The logical time for him to try tofind whatever he plans to steal will be when everyone is gathered in one room.”She smiled up at Peter. “In order to be sure we catch Mr. X in our trap, I have carefully dropped hints throughout the village that at eleven-thirty on the dot we’re going to show our guests the secret room. Don’t you think he’ll choose that time, when everyone’s attention will be concentrated on one spot, to do something which will attract our attention?”“I certainly do,” Peter said. “He’ll be the one guest at that moment who won’t crowd into the alcove to see how the secret door works. Unless,” he added thoughtfully, “whatever he happens to be after is in the secret room itself.”“I thought of that,” Penny said. “And since he can’t possibly know how the secret doors works, he’ll wait until after that part of the evening’s entertainment is over. Then he’ll try to sneak back and go down into the room while we’re unmasking.” She chuckled. “In that case, he’ll walk right into our trap. After the last guest has left, Phil can stay behind and hide in the alcove. If Mr. X sneaks back and goes down into theroom, all Phil has to do is fasten the door from the outside, once Mr. X is safely down the stairs. Then we can call the police, for obviously no honest person would go into the secret room without our permission.”“I object,” Jimmy said. “According to that scheme, we’ll catch Mr. X, but we still won’t know what he was trying to steal.”“I agree with Jimmy,” Phil said. “So instead of hiding in the alcove after the guests have all seen the secret room, I’ll hide down in the room itself. Behind the black draperies you’ve hung on the walls. If he sneaks back, I’ll stay there untilafterhe’s got whatever he’s trying to get. Then at the point of my gun I’ll make him turn it over to me and—”Penny interrupted with a frown: “I still don’t like the idea of your being down in the room alone with someone who may be a dangerous criminal, Phil.”“Oh, Penny,” Marjorie cried impulsively, “Phil can take care of himself. Besides, Mr. X won’t have any idea that he’s hiding behind the black curtains. Also,” she added, “what Mr. X wants may not be in the secret room after all.”“That’s true,” Penny admitted reluctantly.“Then the scheme is this,” Peter said, summing it up. “If you and Marjorie see a stranger sneak upstairs before the unmasking, you’re to report at once to Phil, Jimmy and me. We’ll follow him and catch him in the act. If no one does anything suspicious, Phil will remain in the secret room after the guests have seen it. Pat, who will open the door, will close it when everyone has left the alcove. Then we’ll all go into the big room for the unmasking and wait until Phil signals that he has caught a rat in his trap. You can do that, Phil,” he finished, “as we already agreed, by banging on the door.”And so the final arrangements were made. But Penny, as she hurried upstairs with Marjorie to dress for the occasion, knew that Peter was worried. He didn’t like the idea of Phil being locked in the secret room with Mr. X any more than she did.“But,” she realized suddenly, “Phil won’t belockedin after all. Even though we may deliberately play into Mr. X’s hands by showing him how to get into the secret room, he won’t know where the spring is that closes the door on the other side.”And, as Marjorie pointed out while they helped each other with their costumes: “The whole thing may be a flop. We don’t know for sure that there is anything valuable hidden in the Lodge, or that Mr. X will be among those present tonight.”
We’ll meet at the Log cabinthe last week in Augustand look for the treasure again.I’m sure it’s buried near theold shed near a well thathas long run dry.
“Oh, oh,” Jimmy moaned. “That means more digging. I guess we didn’t dig deep enough.”
“But what about the map?” Marjorie demanded. “It showed that treasure was buried behind the Donahues’ cabin.”
“None of it makes any sense,” Peter said calmly. “And you kids may as well accept the fact right now that the map and the two fragments aren’t clues. They’re obviously red herrings, deliberately planted to keep us busy looking for buried treasure.”
“I don’t get it,” Jimmy said frankly.
“It’s this way,” Phil explained. “Peter, Penny and I figure that thereissomething valuable hidden around here. Somebody who obviously isn’t honest knows where it is. He wants to keep us from finding it.”
“Oh golly,” Marjorie broke in, “wait until I tell Judy about this. We’ll spend the rest of the summer going over the whole place with a fine-tooth comb.”
“Oh, no, you won’t,” Penny said, laughing. “I have a better idea, and one that won’t drive our guests out of their minds.”
Peter stared at her in amazement. “Have you been keeping secrets from me?” he asked, pretending that his feelings were hurt.
“Oh, no,” Penny told him hastily. “The idea just came to me this minute. Actually, the words, ‘last week in August’ gave it to me.” Her cheeks flushedwith excitement, she went on. “One morning last week when I was out in the kitchen discussing menus with Ann Mary, she suggested that we give a masquerade party. There are plenty of grand costumes in the old trunks for all of the ladies, and you men can rig up outfits from old curtains and stuff in our boxes.”
“A swell idea,” Jimmy said. “But what’s it got to do with finding hidden treasure?”
Penny smiled at him patiently. “If you’d only let me finish! Ann Mary and I decided that the last Friday in August would be a good time for the party. Most of the guests will be leaving early in September, so it would be sort of a last fling.”
Jimmy began to sing, “After the ball is o-ver. After the guests have gone.”
“Stop interrupting,” Marjorie said, glaring at him. “Let Penny finish.”
“Well,” Penny went on, “we planned the party just for ourselves and our guests. But now I think we should issue a blanket invitation to all the merchants in town. It will be our way of expressing our appreciationof the way they cooperated with us all summer. Now,” she finished, “you can all guess the rest.”
“Not me,” Marjorie said, rapidly blinking her blue eyes.
Jimmy clutched his dark hair wildly. “I follow you as closely as though you’d had a million-mile head start.”
Peter was staring at Penny with frank admiration. “Youaresmart,” he said. “Don’t you see?” he asked Jimmy and Marjorie. “Our Mr. X, or our Messrs. X, for there may be more than one, will certainly be among those present at the masquerade. With everyone coming masked and in costume, he wouldn’t miss the chance. He’ll come out sure that he can get whatever he’s after and depart before the unmasking.”
“Holy cow,” Jimmy exploded. “Pennyissmart. Instead of our wearing ourselves out looking for hidden treasure, he’ll lead us right to it.”
Marjorie gave her sister an impulsive hug. “It’s the grandest idea anyone ever invented,” she cried.
“And,” Jimmy put in, suddenly remembering the main reason why they had persuaded Pat to cut thecamping trip short, “I’m pretty sure there’s only one Mr. X.”
“Don’t be a dope,” Marjorie said. “I’m sure there are two. One of them put the bottle where he was sure Judy and I would find it while we were looking for shells. And the other put the coat where you boys couldn’t miss it.”
Jimmy shrugged. “Maybe so, but the same Mr. X who left his footprint under the floor of the shed planted the coat.”
“Yipes,” Peter moaned. “What’s all this about a footprint under the shed? I thought it was a garage filled with cars.”
“It is now,” Penny explained with a chuckle. “Before we converted it, someone ripped up part of the floor and left a footprint in the dirt.”
“That’s right,” Jimmy said. “And he also left footprints in a clearing back where Brook found the coat. Footprints,” he finished triumphantly, “with rubber heels made by the same manufacturer.”
“Why, Jimmy Allen,” Marjorie gasped admiringly, “you’re so smart you ought to get a job with the FBI.”
But Penny laughed. “Now all the red herrings fittogether like the pieces of this paper. Don’t you see, Jimmy? Mr. X deliberately left that footprint in the shed in plain view so I might believe that he had had something to do with my accident. Right, Peter?”
“Right,” Peter said. “As soon as Mr. X heard you had fallen down the well, he wrote the letter which you received the next day. Then that evening he sneaked out to plant evidence which he hoped would back up his threat.”
“Oh, gosh,” Jimmy said disconsolately. “We’re right back where we started. But at least we can be pretty sure that there’s only one Mr. X.”
“We can’t be sure of anything,” Phil said soberly. “Except that whoever it is really does mean business. The very fact that one of them jumped on Mal that night when we chased him away proves that. An ordinary night prowler would have tried to sneak away without being seen.”
“Well,” Marjorie said cheerfully, “we mean business now, too. And we’re sure to catch him the night of the masquerade when he comes here to get the treasure.”
“Wa—ait a minute,” Phil said cautiously. “What’sto prevent Mr. X from getting by with his scheme? We can’t be everywhere at once in a place as big as this, especially when so many people will be milling around.”
“And,” Peter added, “how will we know whom to keep an eye on?” He smiled at Penny. “You planned, of course, to have police detectives here in costume, too.”
“No, I didn’t,” Penny admitted. “I thought it would be more fun if we set a trap and caught Mr. or Messrs. X ourselves.”
“What sort of a trap?” Phil asked, frowning.
“I don’t know exactly,” Penny admitted. “But I think it ought to have something to do with the secret room. For one thing, Ann Mary and I planned that just before the unmasking we might spring it on our guests as a surprise. None of them except Adra has any idea where it is.”
Marjorie felt very uncomfortable at that moment. She opened her mouth to confess that she had showed it to Judy, but decided against interrupting Penny until she had finished.
“When we open the door,” Penny went on, “thosewho want to go down into the room will have to take turns, because it’s too small to hold them all at the same time. I thought that if anyone had been acting suspiciously before that, we might be able to lure him down alone and then we could quickly press the button and lock him in.” She added, turning to Peter, “Then you can call in the police.”
He shook his head worriedly. “Youare not going to be the one to lure him down into the room alone.”
“Of course not,” Jimmy said quickly. “Iwill.”
“No, you won’t,” Phil told him emphatically. “The man may be armed and I’m the only one who has a pistol license. I’ll go down with him and one of you can close the door. If he’s really been acting suspiciously, I’ll suggest that he unmask. If he’s the man we want, he’ll refuse. Then I’ll produce my gun and keep him there while I knock on the door. That will be the signal that our scheme worked.”
“I don’t like the idea of your being locked down there with him,” Penny objected.
“It’s the only answer,” Phil insisted. “Once he has any idea that we suspect him, he may make a wild dash for safety, and that would frighten some of our guestsvery badly. Besides, he might escape. With all those people wandering in and out of the Lodge, I wouldn’t dare use my gun.” He turned to Peter. “What do you think of the plan?”
“It’s okay except for one thing,” Peter said. “What if Mr. X doesn’t do anything to make us suspect him? Up until the unmasking we won’t have any way of knowing whether he is one of the village merchants or not. And by that time he will certainly have disappeared.”
“Oh, he’s bound to do something to make him stand out from the others,” Marjorie put in. “And he’ll probably be very careless because he won’t have any idea that we plan to catch him in a trap.”
“That’s true,” Peter admitted.
“Sometimes,” Jimmy said with a teasing grin, “the gal makes sense.”
Phil stood up. “If we’re all agreed, I may as well go down to the village now and spread the word about the party.”
“And I,” said Penny, rising, too, “had better go through the stuff in the storage room and see what wehave. I thought it might be fun to decorate the secret room so it’ll look good and scary.”
“I’ll help,” Marjorie said. “I know where there’s one of those old paper skeletons that we used to hang up on Hallowe’en.” She slipped her arm through Penny’s. “Oh, isn’t it going to be fun? Even if we don’t catch Mr. X, the masquerade will be the best event of the whole summer.”
“I hope so,” Penny said. “And I hope we do catch him. Even if he’s just a crank and isn’t after anything valuable, he’s annoyed us enough. It’s time we put a stop to it.”
She glanced back over her shoulder at Peter who was still sitting at the desk.
“Oh, dear,” she thought reading the anxious expression on his face. “He still thinks we ought to get help from the police.” She shivered involuntarily. “Maybe before the party is over we’ll be sorry we didn’t follow his advice.”
The nexttwo weeks were busy ones for everyone connected with the Lodge. From morning to night there was a terrific amount of hustling and bustling around the house, inside and out. Everyone was loaning something or borrowing something to wear at the last big party of the season.
Brook, Alf and Jimmy, all amateur but experienced electricians, extended wires from the house to the trees so that the lawn would be bright with lanterns.
“Just in case there’s no moon,” Phil said.
“If it rains, I’ll die,” Marjorie said nervously.
She and Judy were helping the boys, and Judy insisted upon knowing what each one planned to wear.
“We’re all going as cowboys,” Jimmy called down from the fork of a tall tree.
“How original of you,” Marjorie said sarcastically. “And it shows how lazy you are too. All you have todo is stuff the legs of your jeans in boots, tie bandannas around your necks, and borrow toy guns and holsters from kids in the village.”
“So what?” Alf demanded. “With masks on nobody will recognize us, not even you two.”
“We wouldn’t even try,” Judy informed him airily. “There’ll probably be so many cowboys here that night it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
“I hope Mr. X wears something more original,” Marjorie said without thinking.
“Who?” Judy demanded.
“Er—nobody,” Marjorie said hastily. The Allens, at Peter’s suggestion, had decided not to share their secret with any of the other guests.
“If too many people know that we’re planning to set a trap,” he had said, “it won’t be long before Mr. X knows too.”
To change the subject Marjorie said to Brook: “Phil and Penny wrote to New York and they heard today that I can get into that small boarding school I told you about. It’s up on the Hudson. Golly, I hate to think of going away from here.”
“I know how you feel,” Brook said sympathetically. “But just the same I’m glad you’re going to a school that isn’t very far from mine. When we have dances, you’ll come as my guest, won’t you?”
Marjorie blushed. Shedidlike Brook, and it would be fun to go to school dances with him, but she wished he hadn’t asked her when Jimmy was around. Jimmy thought it was fun to tease Judy Powell, but Marjorie knew that he thought girls were a nuisance. He also thought that boys who asked girls to parties were dopes. She waited tensely for the caustic remark she knew was coming.
To her surprise, Jimmy said nothing. He climbed down from the fork of the tree and gave her a look which said plainer than words:
“Watch your step, stupid. You almost let the cat out of the bag.”
And then Marjorie realized to her dismay that all of the others were staring at her curiously. Every one of them had heard her blurt out: “I hope Mr. X wears something more original.” They were overcome with curiosity but they were all too polite to ask any more questions.
Hastily Marjorie said, “Aren’t you all starving? I’ll go ask Ann Mary if I can’t fix some lemonade and raid the cooky jar.”
She was off without waiting for their replies, but Judy raced after her. Marjorie’s heart sank. As soon as they were out of earshot of the boys, Judy’s curiosity would get the better of her good manners. She would demand an explanation of Marjorie’s unfortunate remark.
Then Marjorie had an idea. “You know,” she said casually, “I’ll bet a lot of people come to the party disguised as the ghost who’s supposed to haunt the Lodge. I think of him as Mr. X and he wears a long gray beard. It would be hard to see through that disguise. I mean, a long flowing white robe, a wig and a mask with a long gray beard.”
Judy looked disappointed but Marjorie knew that her curiosity was satisfied. “It would be a perfect disguise,” Judy said. “And much more original than a cowboy outfit.”
Back in the Lodge they found all the other guests busy making final decisions about their costumes. The ladies had all enjoyed going through the trunks, spendingone entire day rummaging, to the great delight of the younger fry. Some of the people had gone into town to get extra things for their costumes from the local stores. They reported that the townspeople, too, were all excited about the party and that a great many of them were planning to come.
At last it was the day of the big event, and to Marjorie’s delight the sun shone brightly in an almost cloudless sky.
Penny had decided to wear the old wedding dress from the trunk. It was beautiful even though it had yellowed with age. Adra was wearing a green silk dress with matching slippers from the same old trunk. Penny and Marjorie helped each other fix their costumes, and Marjorie suggested to Penny that she should wear the veil that went with the dress and thus really look like a bride.
“Because, Sis,” Marjorie said unashamedly, “youaregoing to be a bride pretty soon. You might as well start getting used to the idea.”
Penny’s cheeks flamed. Then she suddenly threw her arms around Marjorie. “Oh, honey, if only I could besure. There’s no sense in my trying to hide fromyou that I love Peter. But how can I be sure that he loves me?”
Marjorie sniffed. “Penny, you idiot! It’s written all over his face whenever he looks at you. And when you’re not around he mopes, except when he’s shooting daggers with his eyes at Charles Curtis.”
Penny couldn’t help smiling. Then she frowned. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll be a bride very soon. Peter may love me, but neither of us has enough money to start in housekeeping. Maybe,” she added wistfully, “that’s why Peter doesn’t tell me now that he loves me.”
“Pooh.” Marjorie snorted. “You can live on love. Besides, we must have made a lot of money on the Lodge this summer.”
“Not really,” Penny told her. “We had to hire an awful lot of help, you know. And this whole month the laundry has been so huge we had to pay Mr. Taggart twice as much as he estimated in the beginning. It had to be taken into the village four times a week.” She sighed. “And the girls we originally hired to come out only to wait on the tables and help with the ironing had to work full time.”
“Never mind,” Marjorie said consolingly. “It’s been fun.”
Penny brightened. “Oh, I don’t mean that we didn’t make any money. There’s enough to see you and Jimmy through school. But Phil and I want you to go to college. Both of you.”
“We won’t go,” Marjorie said stanchly. “Not if it means you can’t marry Peter when he asks you to. After the experience we’ve had this summer we can both get jobs.” She pirouetted around the room. “Don’t you think I’d make somebody a wonderful secretary?”
“Wonderful.” Penny giggled. “But not a very dignified one. No, honey,” she went on seriously, “don’t you worry your pretty head about getting a job just yet. Things will work out somehow. I know they will.”
To herself she added, “If Peter asks me to marry him, I’ll say yes.Togetherwe can work things out.”
“I tell you what let’s do,” Marjorie cried. “Let’s have dress rehearsal right now. Here, in your room. Just us and Judy ’cause she’s going to be my twin.And Ann Mary so she can give our costumes a final inspection.” She danced away.
In a short while they were all crowding into Penny’s room, laughing and making fun of each other.
Marjorie and Judy were dressed alike in little Swiss peasant girl costumes. Jimmy made a very handsome cowboy and Philip was a swashbuckling pirate. A banquet was to be served at midnight after the unmasking, and since this was the event of the summer, Ann Mary had included all her specialties in the menu. She stayed at the dress rehearsal only long enough to assure them that they all looked wonderful, then hurried away.
In spite of last-minute preparations, the Allens and Peter made time for a final conference in the office.
“Let’s try to have as much fun as possible,” Peter said, “but we mustn’t forget for one minute that we’re all detectives.”
“That’s right,” Phil agreed. “If any one of us notices a guest acting suspiciously, he or she must report at once to the others. There’ll be over a hundred people here tonight, so we’ve all got to be on our toes. Every minute,” he added soberly.
Jimmy nodded. “Every minute until the unmasking anyway. Which means between the hours of ten and midnight. Not many people will arrive before ten even though we invited them to come at nine-thirty.”
Penny was sketching a floor plan of the Lodge on a large sheet of paper. “Whatever Mr. X is after,” she said, “it obviously isn’t buried on the grounds. If it were, he wouldn’t have planted those red herrings. Therefore, it’s probably in the house. If it’s upstairs, all we have to do is make sure that nobody but our house guests and help goes up without our knowing it. We all know what costumes they’ll be wearing so that’s easy. But it will be Peter and Marjorie’s job to keep an eye on the back stairs; Jimmy and I, the front.”
Everyone nodded, and Penny went on. “If it’s downstairs, Mr. X will know that he hasn’t got a prayer of searching for it, unless it’s in the office or the storage room, and I’ve locked those doors securely, so he can’t slip in and out unnoticed. The other downstairs rooms will be filled with people all the time, including the kitchen. The logical time for him to try tofind whatever he plans to steal will be when everyone is gathered in one room.”
She smiled up at Peter. “In order to be sure we catch Mr. X in our trap, I have carefully dropped hints throughout the village that at eleven-thirty on the dot we’re going to show our guests the secret room. Don’t you think he’ll choose that time, when everyone’s attention will be concentrated on one spot, to do something which will attract our attention?”
“I certainly do,” Peter said. “He’ll be the one guest at that moment who won’t crowd into the alcove to see how the secret door works. Unless,” he added thoughtfully, “whatever he happens to be after is in the secret room itself.”
“I thought of that,” Penny said. “And since he can’t possibly know how the secret doors works, he’ll wait until after that part of the evening’s entertainment is over. Then he’ll try to sneak back and go down into the room while we’re unmasking.” She chuckled. “In that case, he’ll walk right into our trap. After the last guest has left, Phil can stay behind and hide in the alcove. If Mr. X sneaks back and goes down into theroom, all Phil has to do is fasten the door from the outside, once Mr. X is safely down the stairs. Then we can call the police, for obviously no honest person would go into the secret room without our permission.”
“I object,” Jimmy said. “According to that scheme, we’ll catch Mr. X, but we still won’t know what he was trying to steal.”
“I agree with Jimmy,” Phil said. “So instead of hiding in the alcove after the guests have all seen the secret room, I’ll hide down in the room itself. Behind the black draperies you’ve hung on the walls. If he sneaks back, I’ll stay there untilafterhe’s got whatever he’s trying to get. Then at the point of my gun I’ll make him turn it over to me and—”
Penny interrupted with a frown: “I still don’t like the idea of your being down in the room alone with someone who may be a dangerous criminal, Phil.”
“Oh, Penny,” Marjorie cried impulsively, “Phil can take care of himself. Besides, Mr. X won’t have any idea that he’s hiding behind the black curtains. Also,” she added, “what Mr. X wants may not be in the secret room after all.”
“That’s true,” Penny admitted reluctantly.
“Then the scheme is this,” Peter said, summing it up. “If you and Marjorie see a stranger sneak upstairs before the unmasking, you’re to report at once to Phil, Jimmy and me. We’ll follow him and catch him in the act. If no one does anything suspicious, Phil will remain in the secret room after the guests have seen it. Pat, who will open the door, will close it when everyone has left the alcove. Then we’ll all go into the big room for the unmasking and wait until Phil signals that he has caught a rat in his trap. You can do that, Phil,” he finished, “as we already agreed, by banging on the door.”
And so the final arrangements were made. But Penny, as she hurried upstairs with Marjorie to dress for the occasion, knew that Peter was worried. He didn’t like the idea of Phil being locked in the secret room with Mr. X any more than she did.
“But,” she realized suddenly, “Phil won’t belockedin after all. Even though we may deliberately play into Mr. X’s hands by showing him how to get into the secret room, he won’t know where the spring is that closes the door on the other side.”
And, as Marjorie pointed out while they helped each other with their costumes: “The whole thing may be a flop. We don’t know for sure that there is anything valuable hidden in the Lodge, or that Mr. X will be among those present tonight.”
Peter Wylandknew that Penny would be coming down the back way when she was ready, instead of down the stairs from the balcony. When he was in his costume he waited at the foot of the back stairs. The large room at the bottom of the steps was dimly lit.
Presently Penny, a sweet vision, appeared at the top of the steps. She gathered her draperies for the descent, unconscious of anyone’s presence. The veil, which Marjorie had persuaded her to wear, floated behind her, caught back from her face by pins and a white rose.
When she was halfway down, Peter stepped into the light. “Penny,” he said in a low voice, “you look lovely. I should have been waiting here with a minister!”
Peter was beside the surprised Penny in a moment, leading her down the few remaining steps to the roomwhere he tenderly put his arms around her and kissed her. “I can’t wait any longer, Penny, to tell you how I love you!” Peter’s voice was a little nervous. What he had intended to say deserted him. “Will you—will you wear a dress like this for me, soon?”
Penny, who had not had a chance to utter a word, and whose breath was taken away by the surprise of having Peter kiss her, merely said, “Oh,—why, Peter,” as he led her to a little sofa in the corner of the room.
“Sit here with me just a minute, Penny. I’ve been waiting to ask you for so long, only I’ve never known whether you were just being kind and sweet to me because you’re that way with everyone, or whether you could like me well enough to marry me. I saw that there was Charles Curtis—but if you were engaged to him, I figured Phil would tip me off. I am sort of a coward where you are concerned, Penny. Don’t tell me that you like Charley best! Do you love me a little?”
Peter’s voice was low and eager. He held one of Penny’s hands tightly in his.
Penny was not the sort to keep the man she loved in a state of uncertainty. “Did you know you’ve lovedme all summer, Peter? I wish you’d told me sooner, because you see, I’ve been in love with you, too.” It was all right at last. “I knew last year that I loved you Peter, but I couldn’t very well let you know it!” Penny’s hand was almost crushed as Peter’s face lit up with joy. He swept her into his arms again for another kiss, and Penny said, “I could stay here and forget all about my duties to my guests, but we mustn’t forget about Mr. X. And I’ll have to go upstairs again, Peter. See how you have mussed this veil.”
“Not beyond repair, I hope,” he said, smiling. “Penny, before you go, say you’ll marry me this fall, as soon as the guests leave?”
“Silly man! You take my breath away,” Penny laughed. “But it is wonderful that you are silly about me, Peter. I can’t think straight right this minute, but we’ll talk about it later. Marjorie and Jimmy are going to school in September. Phil is going to New York to work for Mr. Prentice and to go to school nights. He wants to be near Adra. Mercy—I’m all mixed up. There will be so much to see to. Could you—could we have our honeymoon right here?”
“I can’t think of a more wonderful spot,” Peter said.“Our life is going to be all honeymoon from now on. As long as I know we love each other that’s enough to make me walk on air the rest of the evening. What a pity we can’t be by ourselves. I’ll be thinking of you every single minute, darling.”
Peter waited until Penny went back to her room to repair damages. It took her but a few minutes and when she made her appearance in the living room, she was immediately surrounded and admired by everyone.
With the keen eye of an experienced hostess, she glanced around to see that everyone was being entertained in some fashion. She recognized most of the guests regardless of their masks, and she noted that there was quite an assembly of townspeople whom she could not recognize because of their disguises. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were dressed as George and Martha Washington and they looked very distinguished. They were talking to Marjorie just now and saying something that made her laugh. There was Charles Curtis dancing with a lovely girl who had spent several weekends at the Lodge and had come back for the masquerade. When he danced by Penny hestopped for a minute and said, “I’ll wager that this is our fair hostess. Shall I telephone the parson? It’s hard to resist such a bride!”
“You are incorrigible, Charles,” Penny reported.
“And you look radiant tonight, Penny.” And off he danced with his partner. It was hard for Penny to get her mind on anything else except Peter. Dear, eager, wonderful Peter. But she had many things to do. The tables in the dining room had to be checked, and then she had to return and take part in the party. She looked around at the guests once more trying to place some of those who did not look familiar. There was one masquerader in particular who caught her eye. He was dressed as the bearded ghost that was supposed to wander about the Lodge, but aside from the long beard and white wig he seemed to be quite young, vigorous and active. He was too heavy for Alf who had once said something about dressing up as a graybeard. He was with Adra a good deal of the time but mingled with the rest and danced well.
All the guests had arrived and the party was in full swing. It was nearly time for Philip to announce that he was going to show everybody the secret room.Peter came into the room just a few minutes before this and slipping an arm around Penny, he said, “Congratulate me, Phil, I’m going to be your brother-in-law.”
Philip stared a moment, then put a hand on Peter’s shoulder and told him there was no one to whom he’d rather hand over Penny. “Good work, Peter,” he said. “Congratulations. Even if she is my sister, I must say you’re getting a wonderful girl.”
“Nobody knows that better than I,” Peter said humbly.
“Stop it, you two,” Penny cried. “I’ll get a head too big for my shoulders if you keep it up. By the way, do either of you recognize that man over there disguised as Graybeard?”
“I think that’s Mr. Sanders. He said something about wearing such a costume when Alf gave up the idea,” said Peter.
“No, it isn’t Mr. Sanders,” Penny said. “But there’s something very familiar about him. I’m sure I know him but I can’t quite put my finger on who he is.”
“Has he done anything suspicious?” Phil asked.
“Not a thing,” Penny admitted. Then she laughed.“But he has been paying quite a lot of attention to Adra. You’d better watch out, Phil.”
Phil frowned. “I’ll be glad when this evening is over. I’ve hardly had a chance to speak to Adra since breakfast. And—and, well I guess you two know how I feel about her.”
“We do,” Penny told him, smiling. “But the question is, does she?” She gave him a fond pat on the cheek. “Faint heart never won fair lady, Phil.”
“That’s right,” Peter said, grinning. “Once you get used to the idea, Phil, proposing to the girl you love isn’t so difficult.”
“I suppose not,” Phil said dubiously, “but if I rush matters I might ruin my chances with Adra.”
Marjorie joined them then. “Nobody’s done anything suspicious at all,” she complained. “The whole scheme is a flop.”
“The evening isn’t over yet,” Penny reminded her. She tucked her hand in the crook of Peter’s arm, blushing. “We’re going to announce our engagement at the banquet. And if Phil takes my advice, he’ll propose to Adra before the party is over.” She smiled at Marjorie. “Isn’t that enough excitement for you?”
“Oh, oh,” Marjorie cried, hugging Penny. “I’m so glad. Wait until I tell Judy.” She was off, completely forgetting to congratulate the bridegroom-to-be.
A short while after that Penny went upstairs with Adra and told her that she and Peter were engaged.
“I’m so happy for you both,” Adra said, rather wistfully.
Penny said nothing, but she guessed that when Phil did propose, the answer would be yes. She hurried downstairs again for, from the balcony, she could see that the guests were already crowding into the alcove.
Most of the younger men, as Marjorie had predicted, were dressed as cowboys, complete with bandannas, chaps and guns in their holsters. Penny had not been able to pick out Brook and Alf, but she knew that Jimmy was the tallest cowboy of them all.
He was waiting for her at the foot of the stairs. “Everybody’s all set,” he told her. “Pat’s pressing the button that moves the bookshelves now.” When Adra came down from the balcony he added, “Let’s wait out here. It’ll only add to the confusion if we, who have already seen the secret room, join the crowd in the alcove.”
“All right,” Adra said, sitting on the bottom step. “I’m exhausted. Mr. Graybeard is a wonderful dancer, but he never wants to stop for a rest.”
“Who is that guy anyway?” Jimmy asked. “He looks familiar, but I can’t place him.”
“Neither can I,” Penny said. “But then I can’t place a lot of the people here.” She pointed to two cowboys who were standing just outside the alcove. “For instance, are those two guests Alf and Brook? I wouldn’t know.”
And then Penny saw something that made her turn and race up the stairs. The guns that those two cowboys were slipping from their holsters were not toy pistols. Even at that distance she could see that they were small, but deadly-looking automatics.
In the meantime, Philip, in the alcove, was making his little speech to the assembled guests.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said and waited a moment for attention.
“There is one little feature of Allen Lodge that has not been on exhibit, a place we call the secret room.” Philip paused again, for effect this time, and a murmur of interest ran around the room.
“When we first moved into this Lodge we found it accidentally and we decided to surprise you with it tonight. This room has a curious entrance and when I open the door you will see the little wall safe that has held your money and jewelry. We are sorry to say there is no other treasure down there. Believe me, when we heard of the rumors about buried treasure, we turned the place upside down to see if we could find it, without success.”
Philip deliberately assumed a very disappointed look on his face and the guests all laughed. Then he went on, “But maybe the Allens didn’t look in the right places, and possibly Mr. Graybeard, the ghost I see here tonight, may find some treasure for us. Masks and costumes are appropriate to our mysterious visit to a mysterious room. Look for treasure! We will have to go down in groups since it is a small room. The people immediately surrounding me can come down first and perhaps Mr. Graybeard will lend atmosphere by posing near the safe.”
“I’d be delighted,” Mr. Graybeard said.
Philip glanced at him, thinking: “His voice is familiar, but I’m sure he isn’t any of the merchants inthe village we deal with.” Aloud he continued his speech:
“When we come back up from the secret room we’ll unmask and go into the big dining room for the banquet. I hope you have all been keeping a list of the people whom you think you have recognized. As you know, we’re going to gather up your lists as you enter the dining room. During the banquet, prizes will be awarded to the guests who have guessed the largest number of people correctly.”
After the applause that followed Philip’s speech, Pat pressed the button that moved the bookshelves aside. From then on Philip was kept busy leading one little party after another down into the secret room.
Mr. Graybeard went with the first group and added to the ghostly atmosphere by posing near the safe. Behind him the paper skeleton dangled precariously from the ceiling.
When the last guest had inspected the little room and had gone back up the stairs to the alcove, Philip said to Graybeard, “Thanks for helping us out. You make a swell ghost. Who are you anyway?”
“Never mind,” said a cold, crisp voice. “Turnaround and come down the steps with your hands up.”
With one swift gesture, Philip released the spring that closed the secret door. Then he turned to face the gun Graybeard was pointing at him.
Philip was caught in his own trap, but at least the man and his pistol could neither harm nor frighten the people on the other side of the door.
Philip came slowly down the steps. “So you’re our mysterious Mr. X,” he said coolly.
“Call me anything you like,” Graybeard said, taking Philip’s own pistol from his pocket. “Now open that safe.”
Philip shrugged. “Anything to oblige.” he said.
“And don’t try to pull any tricks,” Graybeard warned him. “Upstairs, two men I hired for the occasion are at this very moment relieving your guests of their excess jewelry and cash.”
So it was a planned robbery! And Graybeard’s henchmen had probably come disguised as cowboys, carrying real pistols in their holsters!
For a moment, Phil was paralyzed with worry about the girls. Penny and Marjorie were so impulsive!Would they submit quietly to a holdup? And Adra?
He felt sure that the older women, although they would be frightened at the sight of guns, would do nothing which might arouse the anger of armed criminals. But the girls!
The voice behind the mask repeated menacingly, “Open that safe!”
Philip quickly obeyed. There was nothing else to do. Peter had been right all along: They should have called on the police for help.
Philip twirled the dial and opened the door of the safe. “Help yourself,” he said curtly.
“I am very much engaged in watching you,” replied the man. Philip had no choice. He emptied the safe and handed its contents to the masked burglar.
There was a good sum of money, the payments of the guests for the week. It was mostly in checks and a great deal of the jewelry had been removed from the safe for the occasion. Philip was thanking his lucky stars that they didn’t keep too much cash, valuable articles or important papers. Philip tried to get a good look at the man’s face under his beard, but it and themask over his nose and eyes completely hid his features.
Could this really be the mysterious Mr. X? No, Philip decided. Graybeard was nothing but a common ordinary burglar. And yet there was something familiar about him.
The man tucked the money into his pocket, then looked contemptuously at the bit of jewelry but put it into another pocket. Philip listened to hurrying footsteps overhead and could see that Graybeard was perturbed by them. But there was no catching this man off guard. He held the gun close to Philip every minute. He again ordered Philip to put his hands into the air, while he felt around the inside of the safe. Philip could not help but think what a curious picture this man with his long gray beard made, as he searched through the empty safe with one hand and kept his pistol pointed at Philip with the other. What on earth was he searching for?
Then Philip heard a little click, and suddenly a drawer on two little steel rods dropped down from inside the top of the safe.
“Missed that part of it, didn’t you?” Graybeard sneered. “Empty that drawer and hand me the stuff.”
Philip was so surprised he stood there with his mouth open for a full minute, then with great interest he looked at this drawer that he had never seen before. It was wide and shallow and full of papers. Evidently a little hidden spring had released the rods that held the drawer in place. Could this be the place where the rumored treasure was supposed to be hidden? Philip mentally kicked himself for not having thought of such a possibility before. Much good it would do them now. Idiot that he had been not to have taken ordinary precautions that night. What fools they had all been not to follow Peter’s advice!
No wonder Mr. X Graybeard had planted red herrings guaranteed to keep Jimmy and Marjorie searching everywhere for hidden treasure except in their own safe.
“Quit stalling,” Graybeard growled, poking Philip with his gun. “Come on, hand over that stuff and make it snappy. The boys upstairs must be about ready to go.”
Philip took from the drawer two packages of old papers that looked like receipted bills, and a large, bulging Manila envelope. This Graybeard snatched from Phil’s hand and pocketed it with a satisfied air. He glanced at the old papers and said, “You can throw those away. What I want is bound to be in this envelope.” He went on in a patronizing voice, “Thanks, sonny boy. If you hadn’t played right into my hands, I might have had to use some ‘soup’ to blow the lock off that safe. Messy stuff, ‘soup,’ and noisy. When I heard you were going to throw this ball and show your guests the secret room, I decided to let one of you dopey Allens open it for me.” He patted the pocket into which he had stuffed the old Manila envelope. “What I have here is much more valuable than all the money and jewels the men I hired have taken from your guests. They can keep whatever they collected as their pay.”
“Just what is in that old envelope?” Phil asked, stalling for time. The man, in the boasting, triumphant mood he was now in, might be caught momentarily off guard.
Graybeard chuckled evilly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I certainly would,” Philip said and added shrewdly, “I should think you’d like toknowtoo. After all, it may be stuffed with nothing but more old receipted bills.”
The man, struck by this thought, glared at Philip through his mask. “Never thought of that,” he muttered and hastily shifted the gun from his right hand to his left so he could reach into his pocket and open the envelope.
In that split second, Philip went into action. Before Graybeard knew what was happening the pistol had been knocked from his hand. At the same moment, Philip’s fist crashed against his jaw. Graybeard went limp and toppled to the floor.
Phil leaped over his unconscious body to retrieve the gun. Then he took his own pistol from Graybeard’s pocket.
“Now the tables are nicely turned,” Phil chuckled. He quickly tore strips from the black draperies on the wall and tied the man’s hands and feet together. Heworked fast because he was worried about what was going on upstairs.
Then he heard sounds on the other side of the door at the top of the steps. Phil held his pistol ready. One of the gunmen, worried by the prolonged absence of Graybeard, might be coming down to see what was happening in the secret room.
The door swung open, and, to Phil’s relief, Pat leaped down the stairs. Phil met him halfway. “What happened?” he asked nervously. “The girls—are they all right?”
“Everybody’s just fine,” Pat said, grinning. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Let’s see what you have here first.”
He bent down and yanked the beard and mask from the unconscious man’s face.
“Whew!” Pat and Phil whistled in one breath. “Our nice cheap laundry man!”
For it was Mr. Taggart, and, as he regained consciousness, glaring with rage up at Phil, his face was anything but pleasant.
Pat swiftlyuntied Taggart’s feet. “Get up,” he ordered. “Your pals are waiting for you in a nice shiny prowl car in front of the Lodge.”
“The police,” Phil gasped. “But how—?”
Pat grinned. “The whole hold-up was a washout. Oh, some of the ladies got a little scared when we all suddenly found ourselves facing those cowboys and their guns. And I was pretty worried about you myself when I saw the door close and guessed you were trapped down here with the ringleader.” He chuckled. “Penny saved the day. Just before the hold-up was to take place, she happened to notice that two of the cowboys, who were loitering out in the hall, were carrying real guns. She raced upstairs and called the police.” He laughed at the chagrined expression onTaggart’s face. “The police arrived shortly after our friend’s pals had collected their loot. In fact, they walked out of the door and right into the arms of two of the biggest cops I’ve ever seen.”
“Those fools,” Taggart snarled. “I told Jerry and Rick not to let anyone out of their sight once the secret door was open.”
Pat, as he deftly emptied Taggart’s pockets, told him, “They didn’t exactlylether dash upstairs to the phone in her room. She went so quickly and so quietly they didn’t even know she wasn’t among those present downstairs. When it finally dawned on them that none of their victims was dressed as a bride, I imagine they guessed that the game was up and decided to scram without waiting to see what had happened to their boss.” He gave Taggart a push. “Get going,” he said gruffly. “There’s a nice shiny pair of bracelets waiting for you.”
It was after one when the men returned from the precinct station after preferring charges against the three men. The girls were waiting excitedly for them on the porch.
“Oh, Phil,” Marjorie yelled, running down the steps. “To think that Graybeard was Mr. Taggart our laundryman, and none of us saw through his disguise.”
“Well,” Phil said, “it was a good disguise for one thing, and he was careful to spend most of his time with Adra who had never seen him.”
Adra smiled rather shamefacedly. “I’m such a lazybones! He usually came in the morning before I was up. When he did come later in the day I guess I was always off somewhere having a good time while you Allens worked.”
“That’s what you were supposed to be doing,” Penny said, smiling. “You’re our guest, remember?”
“Never mind about that,” Marjorie interrupted impatiently. “What I want to know is whether or not Mr. Taggart was Mr. X.” She tugged Phil’s arm, leading him to a seat beside her on the porch glider. “Did he plant the clues we found and write us the threatening letters?”
Phil nodded. “The other men were merely hired by him for the evening to keep the guests out of hishair while he looked for a secret drawer in the safe. He made a complete confession before we left the police station.”
“Oh, oh,” Marjorie cried jumping up. “Then the mystery is solved. Tell us everything, Phil, right now.”
He patted her hand affectionately. “Not now, honey. First we must think of our guests. Family affairs can come later.”
Once everybody was in the dining room, its light and decorations made a gay setting for the return to normal feelings. As Philip followed the last guest into the room, Penny said, “Adra and I were just sick with worry over you, Phil. I want to know every single thing that happened as soon as possible! Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine,” Phil assured her.
Jimmy, too, caught Philip and said. “Good work, Phil. When do I get to hear the whole story?”
“As soon as the guests have all gone home or to bed in the Lodge,” Philip said. “It’s a long story.” He turned to Penny, “And it was your quickwittedness that made it have a happy ending.”
“I didn’t do anything but dash up to my room and call the police,” Penny said. “You’re a hero, Phil.”
By now, of course, everyone had removed his mask and all the faces were familiar ones.
Philip moved on to a space at the central table where he and Adra were going to sit together. He held her hand in a firm clasp and her fingers twined in response. Peter smiled at him and clapped his hands together for order.
“Speech! Speech!”
Philip smiled at everybody and didn’t seem at all nervous or upset after his experience of the evening.
“I’m very sorry,” he began, “that robbers chose us for their victims tonight, and that I could not prevent your disagreeable experience.”
“It was fun,” Judy interrupted impulsively. “For the longest time I thought it was just an act Jimmy and Alf were putting on. What I’ll have to tell the girls when I get back to Cincinnati!”
Philip smiled at her and continued: “I hope that you all can forget the unpleasant part of the evening and that you will enjoy the feast Ann Mary prepared. I have here the jewelry and wallets and handbags thearmed cowboys took from you. As I hold up each item will the owner please come and get his or her property?”
While the food was being served, Philip distributed the stolen articles to their owners.
“I was much too surprised to be frightened at first,” said Mrs. Curtis, calmly pouring cream into her coffee. “Indeed, like Judy, I thought for quite a while that it was some stunt the boys had thought up. The young people today are always doing some crazy thing.”
“I was nearly speechless at those guns,” said Mrs. Powell. “I don’t know what the country is coming to! But it was all over so quickly I don’t suppose I was much more frightened than I would have been trying to get across a busy street.”
“That, my dear, is slightly underestimating it—at least for me,” said Mr. Powell. “I was just plain worried one of those guns would go off.”
“I certainly hated to see my jewelry gathered in,” remarked Mrs. Sanders.
The prizes were awarded, and there was music afterwards. Some of the older people retired soon, butas this was the last general celebration, the younger set preferred to linger.
Philip, whose duties as host had been accomplished, wasted no time, but took Adra to a moonlit walk and pretty nook on the shore where they sat on the sand and talked.
Philip told Adra of his feeling of responsibility for his brother and sisters. “Now Penny is engaged to Peter as I suppose she told you. This summer’s venture will see Jimmy and Marjorie through school.” He hesitated. “And, er, college. At last, Adra, I feel I have a right to say, well, that the only treasure I ever wanted is you!”
Adra’s blush was most becoming and gave Philip courage to go on. “Could you possibly care for me, Adra? You know your father has invited me into his office and I want to go on with my college education evenings, but somehow, whatever I decide to do depends on you. If you care, I think we can—”
“Manage the rest,” finished Adra calmly, though her heart was beating fast. “Yes, Phil, I care enough.”
Two happy young people walked back to the Lodge about half an hour later. As Phil and Adra enteredthey found most of the guests gone and Marjorie and Jimmy curled up in big chairs on the porch, sound asleep.
“Those two wouldn’t dare go to bed for fear they’d miss something.” Adra and Philip laughed and went back to find Peter and Penny raiding the pantry for a snack.
“Ha!” cried Phil. “More burglars!”
“Yes; come join us,” replied Penny, unwrapping some brick ice cream.
“Delighted,” returned her brother. “We need to celebrate. Adra and I have just reached a momentous decision and this Lodge can hardly contain me, big as it is.”
“Honest? Oh, Adra, you perfect dear!” and Penny dropped the ice cream to hug Adra with enthusiasm. And Peter, who had caught the ice cream on his plate, shook hands with Philip after carefully setting down his burden.
“You know,” said Peter slyly, “Philip was going to tell us what Mr. Taggart said when he confessed, but I guess Adra has made him completely forget it.”
“That she has,” answered Philip. “Anything elsethat happened tonight is very unimportant by comparison with this. After all, that’s over. Exciting enough while it lasted, but not nearly as interesting as plans for my future life with Adra.”
“Listen to the hero make little out of his great adventure,” cried Penny. “Phil, I can’t stand it another minute. Begin at the beginning and tell us every word Mr. Taggart said when he confessed. How did he know there was a secret drawer in the safe, and what was in the drawer?”
For answer, Peter led the way to the porch. “Wake up, Sleepy Heads,” he said, nudging Marjorie and Jimmy. “Wake up and hear a bedtime story about hidden treasure!”
“Hidden treasure,” Marjorie repeated, instantly wide awake. “Phil! You’ve been keeping something important from us.”
“I told you it was a family matter,” Phil said, putting his arm around Adra. “And before I told the tale I wanted to be sure that Adra as well as Peter will soon be members of our family.”
“I knew it,” Marjorie cried, giving Adra a hug. “I told you so, Jimmy.”
“Congratulations, you two,” Jimmy said. “I mean, you four. Now, can we hear what went on in the secret room tonight, Phil?”
“The story,” Phil began, “goes back to about twenty years ago when Uncle John was a very rich man and living in New York City. At that time he invested $20,000 in a small company belonging to one of his friends who told him that the stock was sure to go up. But the stock didn’t go up. It went down and finally its name disappeared from the Stock Exchange boards and from the newspaper stock lists. Naturally, Uncle John thought his certificates were worthless, but, lucky for us, he didn’t destroy them.”
“Golly, Phil,” Jimmy cried enthusiastically. “When you say ‘lucky for us’ do you mean the old stock is worth something? Can I have a sailboat after all?”
Phil grinned. “Let me finish, puh-leeze. About five years ago, the company started paying dividends, but it couldn’t locate a great many of its stockholders, among them, Uncle John. He had changed his address several times before he settled down here. So the company officials turned the matter over to aspecial detective agency which specializes in tracking down owners of forgotten stocks. Notices also appeared in newspapers throughout the country, and Mr. Taggart saw one of the notices.
“With forged credentials, he got a job with the detective agency and was assigned the duty of finding Uncle John. Guessing that Uncle John was dead, he planned to get hold of the stock certificates, and, with more forged credentials, prove that he was his sole heir.”
Phil turned to Penny who was holding hands with Peter. “If it hadn’t been for you, Taggart might well have succeeded. A girl not quite so level-headed might have screamed when she saw those ‘cowboys’ drawing real guns from their holsters.”
Peter squeezed her hand more tightly. “I can’t bear to think about what might have happened if those gunmen had seen you darting up the stairs.”
“Stop it, both of you,” Penny protested, blushing. “Get on with the story, Phil!”
“Okay,” Phil said, smiling. “Taggart finally traced Uncle John to the Lodge only to find that he was dead and that we had started our business venturehere. He had hoped to find the Lodge deserted so he could search undisturbed for the certificates. He knew that people leave old stocks and bonds in all sorts of places. Sometimes they slip them under the paper lining of bureau drawers or cupboards, or between the pages of books. False-bottom trunks and secret drawers in old safes, and so forth, and so forth. Taggart realized that one of us, while we were getting the Lodge ready for guests, might come across the certificates. So the first thing he did was to try to frighten us away.”
“That was silly of him,” Marjorie said with a sniff. “He might have known that the Allens don’t frighten easily.”
“Be quiet, imp,” Jimmy said. “He didn’t know anything about us then.” He added to Philip: “So it was Taggart who wrote the two threatening letters? And left his footprint on the ground under the shed floor?”
“That’s right,” Phil told him. “He confessed that he wrote the one to Pennyaftershe fell down the well. And he also confessed that he was our night prowler. Actually he did a lot of prowling we didn’tknow about, trying to find out if his anonymous letters had any effect. The first night he came snooping around he listened outside the living room window and heard us joking about digging in the well for buried treasure. That gave him the idea of keeping us busy digging outside, instead of searching around inside.”
“I can guess what he did next,” Marjorie said with a rueful laugh. “He wrote that note on an old piece of paper, put one half in the bottle Judy and I found down on the beach, and the other half in the pocket of the old suit Brook found when the boys were out camping.” She stopped suddenly, her blue eyes wide with amazement. “But how and when did he manage to put that map in the lid of the costume jewelry box?”
“I can answer that one,” Penny said with a sigh. “The day our first guests arrived, I heard someone rummaging around in the storage room. I thought it was you, Marjorie, and thought you were fibbing later when you insisted you were out in the Donahues’ cabin helping Ann Mary count their laundry.” She laughed. “I owe you an apology, honey. While youand Ann Mary were busy, and Phil and I were upstairs hanging curtains, Taggart must have sneaked into the storage room and pasted that map behind the rotten lining of the old jewelry box.”
“You’re both two jumps ahead of me,” Philip said, laughing. “Taggart did put the map where you found it, but first he had to have some excuse for coming out here. He heard in the village that we were looking for someone who would take the soiled linen in to the laundry-mat and applied to Penny for the job.”
Penny moaned, covering her pretty face with both hands. “Oh, why did I fall into his trap so easily? I should have guessed when he offered to do it so cheaply, that something was wrong.”
“Not at all,” Peter said protectively. “Taggart did handle the laundry situation in a very satisfactory manner, so I don’t think anyone can blame you for not suspecting him of an ulterior motive.”
Phil nodded. “That’s right, Penny, nobody blames you. The trouble was that no one paid much attention to him when he came out here. I imagine Ann Mary didn’t always have the bundle ready, or his pay when he brought out the clean wash. Once when she lefthim alone in the kitchen he slipped down to the beach and stuck the bottle containing half the note under a rock.”
“We made everything so easy for him,” Marjorie groaned. “He was there in the kitchen, I remember, the day Ann Mary suggested that Judy and I search for rare shells. He was also there the time I asked her if it would be all right for us to spend the first rainy day rummaging through the old trunks in the storage room.”
“And,” Penny added, “he knew exactly when the boys left on their camping trip. Remember? Ann Mary told him he had to bring back their clean shirts before they left. I imagine it was simple for him to find out from her where they were going.”
“Uh huh,” Phil said. “Verysimple. Ann Mary had no reason to suspect him. He followed them to Uncle John’s fishing camp only to find that they had moved deeper into the woods. He saw the Bronc’s tire tracks and followed them to the lake. Early in the morning before Brook’s adventure, he rigged up the coat with the other half of the note in the pocket. He could count on the fact that one of the boys, while outcanoeing, would be sure to notice what looked like the torso of a human body.” Phil smiled. “Taggart also knew that Jimmy, like Marjorie, was sure treasure was buried around here and was looking for clues.”
“And,” Peter added, “the man knew that no boy could resist going through the pockets of an old coat he found.”
Jimmy’s tanned cheeks were very red. “Well,” he said, “that clears up all the mysterious clues and letters. And we certainly all played right into his hands when we issued invitations to the masquerade.”
“And,” Penny added, “when I dropped hints all over the village that we were going to show our guests the secret room that night.” She sighed. “What I don’t understand is how Taggart knew there was a secret drawer in the safe.”
“Because,” Philip explained, staring at Marjorie, “one day when he was out here he caught a glimpse of the safe. Not only is he a notorious forger, but, in between sessions in jail, he’s made an exhaustive study of safes. He knew that the particular style and make of the one in the secret room had a hidden drawer in the top. Since we obviously hadn’t foundthe certificates while we were cleaning up the Lodge, he guessed that they might be in the secret compartment of the safe.”
“But,” Jimmy interrupted. “When on earth did he get a glimpse of the safe? Up until tonight—I mean last night—nobody but you and Pat ever went into the secret room. And I’m sure neither of you was careless enough to open the door unless you were sure no one was lurking around.”
It was now Marjorie’s turn to cover her red cheeks with both hands. “I can answer that one,” she confessed miserably. “One day when Mr. Taggart was here, I showed Judy how the door opened. He must have been hiding in the alcove when the bookshelves moved back. I heard someone moving down the hall just before we left, and thought it was Ann Mary with a bundle of soiled laundry. But I guess there’s no doubt that it was Mr. Taggart.” She raised her face, on the verge of tears. “Thinking back, I remember now that he was in the kitchen, and Judy and I had just left there when she begged me to show her how the secret door worked. Oh,” she finished, “how can I be so dumb?”
“’Tain’t easy,” Jimmy said, grinning. “You’ve got to have a lot of practice before you can be as hopeless as you are!”
“Never mind, honey,” Penny said to Marjorie in a comforting voice. “After all, in a way you helped to set the trap that caught Mr. X.” She turned to Philip. “We’re all trying to tell your story for you, and I, for one, am getting confused. Once Taggart got a glimpse of the safe and knew how to get into the secret room, why did he wait until the masquerade to go in there?”
Phil chuckled. “Because he didn’t know the combination of the safe. He could, of course, have sneaked out here at night after we’d all gone to bed and used dynamite to open the safe, but that would have been pretty risky. Soon after he saw the safe and the room, we issued blanket invitations to the masquerade and you slyly hinted that part of the evening’s entertainment would be a visit to the secret room. Taggart promptly decided that the safest way of getting what he wanted was to let us lead him right to it.”
“In other words,” Peter added, “while we were setting our little trap, Mr. X was setting one of hisown. While his gangster friends were holding up the rest of the party, he planned to force one of you Allens to accompany him into the secret room and open the safe.”
“That’s right,” Philip said. “And I made things easy for him when I asked him to lend atmosphere by posing by the safe; and then, to cap the climax, I stayed behind after everyone else had left. The only thing I can say for myself,” he finished, “is that I did have the presence of mind to close the door as soon as I realized I’d walked into the trap we had set for him. And even that,” he admitted, “was sort of a reflex action.”