"Oh, we said howdy to each other when we'd meet, but that was the size of it. The old lady didn't like me none and I thought the same of her. She never wanted my chickens runnin' over her yard. Ain't it a pity she can't see 'em now?"

With a throaty sound, half chuckle, half sneer, the man arose and walked with the girls around the house.

"If you want to look inside, there's a shutter off on the east livin'

room window," he informed. "Everything's just like the old lady left it."

"You don't mean the furniture is still in the house!" Rhoda exclaimed incredulously.

"There ain't nothing been changed. I never could figure why someone didn't come in an' haul off her stuff, but it's stood all these years."

Their curiosity aroused, the girls hastened to the window that Truman Crocker had mentioned. Flattening her face against the dirty pane, Penny peered inside.

"He's right!" she announced. "The furniture is still covered by sheets!

Why, that's funny."

"What is?" inquired Louise impatiently.

"There's a lady's hat lying on the table!"

"It must be quite out of style by this time," Louise laughed.

"A _new_ hat," Penny said with emphasis. "And a purse lying beside it!"

At the other side of the house, an outside door squeaked. Turning around, the group of girls stared almost as if they were gazing at a ghost. An old lady in a long blue silk dress with lace collar and cuffs, stepped out onto the veranda. She gazed beyond the girls toward Truman Crocker who leaned against a tree. Seeing the woman, he straightened to alert attention.

"If it ain't Priscilla Marborough!" he exclaimed. "You've come back!"

"I certainly have returned," the old lady retorted with no friendliness in her voice. "High time someone looked after this place! While I've been away, you seemingly have used my garden as a chicken run!"

"How did I know you was ever coming back?" Crocker demanded. "Anyhow, the place has gone to wrack and ruin. A few chickens more nor less shouldn't make no difference."

"Perhaps not to you, Truman Crocker," Mrs. Marborough returned with biting emphasis. "You know I am home now, so I warn you--keep your live stock out of my garden!"

Penny and her friends shared the old stonecutter's chagrin, for they too were trespa.s.sers. Waiting until the woman had finished lecturing Crocker, they offered an apology for the intrusion.

"We're very sorry," Penny said, speaking for the others. "Of course we never dreamed that the house was occupied or we wouldn't have peeped through the window. We came because we wanted to sketch the old wishing well and your lovely home."

Mrs. Marborough came down the steps toward the girls.

"I quite understand," she said in a far milder tone than she had used in speaking to the stonecutter. "You may look around as much as you wish.

But first, tell me your names."

One by one they gave them, answering other questions which the old lady asked. She kept them so busy that they had no opportunity to interpose any of their own. But at length Penny managed to inquire:

"Mrs. Marborough, are you planning to open up your home again? Everyone would be so happy if only you should decide to live here!"

"Happy?" the old lady repeated, her eyes twinkling. "Well, maybe some people would be, and others wouldn't."

"Rose Acres could be made into one of the nicest places in Riverview,"

declared Louise.

"That would take considerable money," replied Mrs. Marborough. "I've not made any plans yet." Abruptly she turned to face Truman Crocker who was staring at her. "Must you stand there gawking?" she asked with asperity.

"Get along to your own land, and mind, don't come here again. I'll not have trespa.s.sers."

"You ain't changed a bit, Mrs. Marborough, not a particle," the stonecutter muttered as he slowly moved off.

Truman Crocker's dismissal had been so curt that Penny and her friends likewise started to leave the grounds.

"You needn't go unless you want to," Mrs. Marborough said, her tone softening again. "I never could endure that no-good loafer, Truman Crocker! All the stepping stones are gone from my garden, and I have an idea what became of them!"

The group of girls hesitated, scarcely knowing what to do or say. As the silence became noticeable, Penny tried to make conversation by remarking that she and her friends had been especially interested in the old wishing well.

"Is it true that wishes made there have come true?" Rhoda Wiegand interposed eagerly.

"Yes and no," the old lady smiled. "Hundreds of wishes have been made at the well over the years. A surprising number of the worthwhile ones have been granted, so folks say. Tell me, did you say your name is Rhoda?"

"Why, yes," the girl responded, surprised that the old lady had remembered. "Rhoda Wiegand."

"Wiegand--odd, I don't recall the name. Have your parents lived many years in Riverview?"

"My mother and father are dead, Mrs. Marborough. My brother and I haven't any living relatives. Mr. and Mrs. Breen took us in so we wouldn't have to go to an orphans' home. They have three children of their own, and I'm afraid we're quite a burden."

"Where do the Breens live, my child?"

"We have a trailer at the Dorset Tourist Camp."

"I've always thought I should enjoy living that way," Mrs. Marborough declared. "Big houses are entirely too much work. If I decide to clean up this place, it will take me weeks."

"Can't we all help you?" suggested Louise impulsively. More than anything else she longed to see the interior of the quaint old house.

"Thank you, my dear, but I shall require no a.s.sistance," Mrs. Marborough replied somewhat stiffly. Obviously dismissing the girls, she added: "Do come again whenever you like."

During the bus ride to Riverview, the members of the Palette exchanged comments, speculating upon why the old lady had returned to the city after such a lengthy absence. One by one they alighted at various street corners until only Rhoda, Penny, and Louise remained.

"Rhoda, you'll have a long ride to the opposite side of the city," Penny remarked as she and Louise prepared to leave the bus. "Why not get off here and let me drive you home in my car? It won't take long to get it from the garage."

"Oh, that would be too much trouble," Rhoda protested.

"I want to do it," Penny insisted. Taking the girl by the elbow, she steered her to the bus exit. To Louise she added: "Why not come along with us?"

"Perhaps I will, if you'll drive your good car--not Leaping Lena."

Penny was the proud possessor of two automobiles, one a handsome maroon sedan, the other a dilapidated, ancient "flivver" which had an unpleasant habit of running only when fancy dictated. How she had obtained two cars was a story in itself--in fact, several of them. The maroon model, however, had been the gift of Penny's devoted father, Anthony Parker, publisher of Riverview's leading daily newspaper, _The Star_. He had presented the car to her in grat.i.tude because she had achieved an exclusive story for his paper, gaining astounding evidence by probing behind a certain mysterious _Green Door_.

Delighted with the gift, Penny promptly sold Leaping Lena only to become so lonesome for her old friend that she had bought it back from a second-hand dealer. In towing the car home she was involved in an accident, and there followed a chain of amazing events which ultimately brought the solution of a mystery case known as _Clue of the Silken Ladder_. Leaping Lena and trouble always went together, according to Louise, but Penny felt that every one of her adventures had been worth while.

"I don't mind taking the maroon car," she replied to her chum. "In fact, Lena hasn't been running so well lately. I think she has pneumonia of the carburetor."