CHAPTER VI Introducing Granny
The girls just stood there, shocked by the wrecker's vehement manner. Thedoor was still open, and suddenly, without warning, a face appearedthere.
"Oh!" came in a surprised murmur from Arden and her chums as they huddledcloser.
Then the brown, weather-beaten countenance of an old woman broke into aqueer wrinkled smile. It was an old woman--not a ghost. The girls nowrealized this.
"Are they gone?" The voice was young and full of amusement as an oldlady, wearing a dress which was neat but quaint and old-fashioned,stepped inside the hall.
"Yes, they're gone," answered Sim, the first to fall under the charm ofGranny Howe, for it was she coming to investigate, apparently.
"I came up to see what the trouble was, but I didn't want to meet thatCallahan man," she declared. "He's got such a temper, always havingtrouble with his men." Then, as though she had just thought of it, sheasked who the girls were, what they were doing there, and scarcely givingthem time to answer, she told them who she was. Then, still interrupting,Granny Howe guessed they were the "young ladies who had been riding withDick: he had told her one of them had red hair," she quaintly revealed.
Terry blushed a little at that and then smiled; it was impossible to takeoffense at Granny's gentle ways.
"Yes, Dick took us in here yesterday," Terry answered. "We werefrightened away by----"
"Ghosts, I suppose," the old lady chuckled. "Dick told me about it." Shelaughed heartily. "Everybody but me seems to think this place is haunted.Nonsense!"
"But there is something queer about it, isn't there?" pressed Arden."I'll be so disappointed if you can explain it all naturally. We havejust got to be thrilled, you know."
"My dear," Granny answered, "you're just like Betty, my granddaughter.She loves to think that Nathaniel Greene or Patience Howe has come backin spirit form to defend the old place."
"Who were they?" Dorothy stepped forward. "Won't you tell us somethingabout them? I'm studying architecture, and, even with the little I know,I can tell that Sycamore Hall must have been designed by a fine artist."
"Dick told us it would soon all be torn down," Sim supplemented. "We'reawfully sorry, and we're not just curious. If there is anything we coulddo to help----"
Granny's blue eyes swam with tears; she shook her head and looked at eachof them in turn, pathetically.
"You're dear young things. I can see that. But I'm afraid we'll have tolet Sycamore Hall go." She sighed and patted the wall beside her. "Mygrandfather and his father before him were queer men. Never had muchfaith in banks. If they had, the deed or whatever claim papers we need,would not be missing today, and Betty could go on gallivanting aroundlike you girls, instead of sitting cooped up all day in the town library.And Dick could be in college----" She left the sentence unfinished andlooked away sadly.
Terry decided to change the subject. The old lady seemed so broken. Itwas too bad, really, that no one could help her.
"Who was the girl in the picture downstairs? I think she is lovely,"Terry pointed out brightly.
"She was Patience Howe, an ancestor of mine. She lived here inWashington's time. She was a modern girl for those times: brave andstrong. She kept that horse of hers right in this house when some of theContinental soldiers tried to steal it," Granny answered Terry, her headhigh now with a touch of ancestral pride.
"Could we--would you--" Sim faltered--"would you let us come to see yousometime--just to talk? Or would you rather not tell us things? I canunderstand that the present condition of this old place must make youvery sad, and if you can't bear to think about it, we'll know just howyou feel." Sim was trying to be diplomatic, but at the same time shehoped the old lady would answer "yes."
"Dick told us a little of your misfortune, though we had to drag it outof him," Terry added. "That was yesterday, when we heard the footsteps."
"Footsteps!" echoed Granny. "That would be Nathaniel Greene walking inhis delirium from the wound in his head. Poor fellow! He loved Patience,and she nursed him a long time, but he died." The old lady was once morelost in ancient memories.
The girls didn't know how to proceed now. Sim's request was stillunanswered, and they did so want to learn more. In their hearts they allwanted to help this charming lady and save Sycamore Hall. That would aidBetty and Dick also.
With a brave effort, Granny checked her dreaming, and putting a tannedold hand on Sim's arm said: "Of course you may come to see me--if yourparents will let you. I'm considered somewhat of a recluse by many folkaround here. But I'll be glad to have you to tea tomorrow afternoon. Allof you. You'll be perfectly safe, and it will brighten things up for me.Do you know where I live?" she asked briskly.
The girls said that they did not and began thanking her and assuring herthat no one would in the least object to their visit. They were alltalking at once, so Granny smiled and held up a gentle restraining hand.
"You sound so alive and gay--I know what you're trying to tell me. It'sall right. I'll enjoy having you. But now I must go back. We are bakingtoday, and I stayed longer than I should have." She stood at the door asif indicating to them that they too must leave.
The girls were glad enough to walk out into the sunshine, and presentlythey climbed back into the car. Granny chuckled as they squeezed in andwaved "good-bye" as Sim backed away.
"There, Dot, how did that strike you?" Arden breathlessly asked when theywere safely on their way. "Do you still think it's a put-up job on ourpart?"
"Arden, I'm sorry," answered the girl. "I'm entirely convinced, and I'mon your side. Wasn't she fascinating?"
"Just like someone out of a play," Terry exclaimed. "Isn't it a shame?Taking her own house and land away from her! If I were a ghost I'd cometo her rescue, too! Even if I did have to break up a wrecking gang."
"What could those men have seen?" Sim wondered aloud. "They certainlywere scared."
"When we get home we'll have to consider each person, the way detectivesdo, and reason out who would be likely to know, or be responsible forthose manifestations," Arden suggested. "Shall we? Let's write itout--and see if we can solve the mystery systematically."
This suggestion met with whole-hearted approval, and all the rest of theway home the girls talked of the best method of "detecting." Sim steppedon the gas and bounced the girls unmercifully, she was so anxious to gethome, but they clung together and didn't complain.
They had something new to do now and could hardly wait to begin. Afirst-rate mystery to be unraveled, in the most up-to-date detectivefashion. It would be through the method of clues and eliminations ofclues, and the girls were "all for it."