Free The Hidden Window Mystery by Carolyn Keene Page A

furniture. Bess glanced at its bookless shelves and shuddered inwardly. The room, a dark one, was eerie looking.
    Sheila hurried her guests out of it, led them through a modern pantry and kitchen, then out onto a screened porch off the dining room. Here, she said, they spent a great deal of time in mild weather.
    “I would, too,” Nancy commented, glancing at the comfortable lounge chairs.
    Annette pointed out the old slave quarters, a hundred and fifty feet away, now tumble-down and covered with ivy. “That’s where all the cooking was done in the old days,” she explained.
    “How interesting!” Bess murmured.
    Sheila sighed. “The gardens are dreadful, but we have no help. I put every cent we could spare into buying the place, and the upkeep—” She stopped speaking. Apparently a thought she did not want to put into words had come to her.
    “Mother and I are sort of camping out here,” Annette said in her direct way. “Even if we could afford it, I doubt that we could find servants willing to come here. We had one and she spread talk of the house being haunted.” Then she added with a smile, “I hope you girls don’t mind having simple meals.”
    “Oh, we’ll be glad to help,” Bess offered.
    George laughed. “If you make Bess chief cook, you can be sure of always having a real feast.”
    Next, Sheila and Annette showed the girls the rambling second floor of Ivy Hall, with its six bedrooms and two baths. Undoubtedly it, too, had once been very beautiful, but now it needed redecorating. The mahogany woodwork was scarred and the long hall carpet threadbare.
    “This will be your bedroom,” Sheila told the girls, throwing open a paneled door. “It overlooks the old slave quarters.”
    The room was large, its windows adorned with faded but lovely damask draperies. A huge canopied bed and a cot with a flowered quilt stood along one wall. The other furniture was simple.
    After lunch Nancy, Bess, and George unpacked. They spent the rest of the day with Annette, wandering around the estate. Nancy was particularly interested in a closed stairway at the end of the second-floor hall. It led to the attic.
    “It may come in handy to know about this,” she said half-jokingly, winking at George.
    By suppertime the girls had thoroughly memorized the layout of the house and the grounds.
    “I could almost find my way around in the dark,” Nancy said, but Sheila assured her that this would not be necessary. There were electric lights everywhere except the attic.
    When the visitors said good night at ten o’clock and went upstairs, Annette followed them into their room and sat down to chat. She asked about River Heights and the girls’ friends. Nancy described their home town briefly, and Bess spoke enthusiastically of Ned, Burt, and Dave. Then Nancy mentioned the young man she had seen on the Pattersons’ porch that morning.
    “Is he someone you date?” she asked Annette.
    The girl looked blank for a moment. Then she said, “Oh, you mean Luke Seeny.”
    Bess giggled. “Is he a real cowboy?”
    “Yes, he is—from Oklahoma. I met him at a dance. Luke’s been trying to date me for over a week, but I don’t care for him. All he does is brag about his wealthy family back home.”
    “Where does he stay here?” Nancy inquired.
    “At a hotel in Charlottesville.”
    This information surprised Nancy and her friends, who had expected to hear that Luke lived with Mr. Honsho at Cumberland Manor.
    “What is Luke doing in Charlottesville?” George asked.
    “Oh, nothing special, I guess,” Annette answered. “Just sightseeing.”
    The other girls exchanged glances. Luke’s story about doing nothing in particular did not ring true, but they did not mention this to Annette. Presently she rose, said good night, and wished them pleasant dreams.
    “I wish so, too,” said Bess, after Annette had closed the door. “Ivy Hall gives me a funny feeling. It’s hard to describe, but even if I hadn’t heard that the place