Penny Nichols and the Mystery of the Lost Key Part 14

"Such a house I never saw! First it's music--then a scream! It's enough to send one into hysterics."

Penny and Rosanna could not refrain from smiling, for Mrs. Leeds looked ridiculous in her curlers which were sticking out from her head at all angles. Before they could answer, Alicia joined her mother.

"I should think you could go to your room and let folks sleep!" she said irritably. "You've been running up and down the hall all night."

"You're wrong there," Penny returned. "This is the first time Rosanna or I have stirred from our room. We got up to investigate the mysterious music."

"Then you heard it too?" Mrs. Leeds breathed in awe. "I thought perhaps I had imagined that part of it."

"No, you heard music all right," Penny told her grimly.

"It isn't--you don't think the house is haunted?" Alicia stammered nervously. "That old man--what's his name--was trying to tell us about someone having died in a room on the upper floor!"

"Well, the music seemed to come from the third floor," Penny informed, relishing the effect which her words produced. "As for the scream, I can account for that. I tripped and fell. Now I think we may as well all go back to bed. There's been so much commotion that I rather judge our 'ghost' has been frightened away for the time being."

"I can't sleep a wink after all this has happened," Mrs. Leeds declared.

"I shall sit up until morning."

"As you wish," Penny said indifferently. "I'm going to bed."

As she walked down the hall to her own room she glanced rather sharply at the door of Max Laponi's room. It was still tightly closed.

"Our friend appears to be a sound sleeper," she remarked to Rosanna.

In the privacy of their bedroom, Rosanna demanded to know exactly what had happened.

"Well, I didn't see much," Penny admitted. "But I did learn one interesting thing. There's a pipe organ installed in this house. I might have discovered who was playing it too only I tripped over a rope which had been strung up in front of the door."

"Placed there deliberately, you think?"

"Of course. It startled me so that I let out that wild yell. I don't care to do any more investigating tonight, but in the morning I mean to have a good look at that room upstairs."

"You have more nerve than I," Rosanna declared admiringly.

Penny carefully locked the outside door before turning out the light. It was twenty minutes after twelve by her wrist watch.

"I shouldn't call it nerve exactly," she replied thoughtfully, climbing into bed. "The truth is, I'm a little afraid, Rosanna."

"Then why do you go up there again?"

"Oh, I don't mean that. It isn't the music that has me frightened."

"But what else is there to be afraid of?" Rosanna persisted.

"It's just a feeling, I guess," Penny admitted. "I can't explain--only it seems to me that some sinister plot is brewing in this old house."

"I have the same sensation," Rosanna confessed. "Let's leave in the morning."

Penny laughed softly and settled herself more comfortably in the pillows.

"Never!" she retorted. "I'm the daughter of a detective you know! This is our own special mystery case, and unless that ghost gets me first, I intend to get him!"

With that threat, Penny rolled over and lost herself in sleep.

The warm sun was streaming in at the windows when the girls aroused themselves. They dressed and went downstairs, finding the house quite deserted. Apparently Mrs. Leeds, her daughter and Max Laponi had gone to the village for breakfast.

"I wish they had vanished for good but there's no use hoping that," Penny commented. "I doubt if even a ghost could keep Mrs. Leeds from remaining until the estate is settled."

The girls cooked their own breakfast, utilizing supplies which they had purchased at the nearby town. As they washed the dishes and stacked them away, Rosanna mentioned again that she did not feel comfortable about making such free use of her unknown uncle's property.

"Perhaps it isn't just the thing to do," Penny acknowledged, "but the situation isn't a normal one either. If Mr. Eckert says it is all right for us to stay on, I don't think we should worry."

"Will it do us any good to remain?" Rosanna pondered in a troubled tone.

"If Mr. Eckert can't tell us what became of my uncle, who could?"

"That's just the point, Rosanna. I believe he knows more than he lets on."

Penny's gaze wandered to the tiny log cabin set back in the pine woods.

Wisps of thin smoke curled from the chimney. That meant that Caleb must be at home.

"Let's walk down there and talk with him," she proposed impulsively.

"It's time he answers a few of our questions."

Caleb did not come to the door to answer their timid knock. Instead he called out a hearty, "Come in," which they instantly obeyed.

Caleb was the picture of comfort, sitting propped back in his chair by the window, puffing at an old pipe. He arose reluctantly and dusted off two camp stools for the visitors.

"We thought perhaps you might furnish us with a little information,"

Penny began pleasantly.

Her eyes roved swiftly about the room. She noticed the open bookcase with four rows of well-thumbed volumes. The t.i.tles were impressive. Caleb Eckert, despite his rough appearance, seemingly had a liking for intellectual books.

"Well, what is it you want to know?" Caleb demanded, not unkindly. "I've told you before that I'll have nothing to do with this muddle over Mr.

Winters' property."

"I've given up all hope of inheriting any of the estate," Rosanna said.

"But I should like to hear about my uncle. What was he like?"

"Some folks said he was the queerest man on Snow Mountain. I liked him because he attended to his own business. He was considered a remarkable sportsman by some."

Penny's eyes traveled to a huge bear skin which hung on the cabin wall.

Caleb followed her gaze.

"Mr. Winters gave me that skin last year when he came back from his trip north. A mighty nice specimen."

"Do you have a picture of Mr. Winters?" Penny asked, abruptly changing the subject.

Caleb shook his head. He began to talk about the bear skin again. Rosanna listened eagerly, but Penny sensed that the old man was trying to monopolize the conversation and thus keep her from asking questions which he did not care to answer.