Mystery Behind the Wall

  Rory ran his finger around the small nail. It wiggled a bit, just like a loose tooth. He tried to pull the nail out, but it was a little rusty.

  “Here,” Benny said. “Use the pliers to hold the head of the nail. Maybe if you try that it will come out.”

  And the nail did! After that it was easy to pull the narrow board away. There was the empty space that held the coin case and the sheets of the journal Stephanie had written. The hiding place was near enough to the hole the boys had made to let them reach into it.

  Benny looked thoughtfully at the loose board. He said, “I guess Stephanie must have discovered this hiding place and decided to use it for a secret place of her own.”

  “And somebody else found it and took out the coins,” said Benny. “Too bad.”

  “I tell you what we can do,” said Rory. “Let’s look all around my room before we go to dinner.”

  Benny began to smile. He said, “You are right, Rory. If a board was loose in the closet, maybe there’s some other hiding place.”

  The boys got down on their hands and knees. They began to crawl along the floor, looking for a loose board.

  “Can we roll up the rug?” Rory asked.

  “Sure,” Benny said.

  But there were no loose boards.

  “We could see if anyone had nailed a loose board down,” Benny said thoughtfully. “I think the nail would be different. But how about under the bed, Rory?”

  “It’s probably all dusty,” Rory said.

  Benny laughed. “You don’t know Mrs. McGregor then! Come on, help me push the bed over. You’ll see.”

  “It’s more fun to crawl under the bed,” Rory said. “Hold up the edge of the spread.”

  “Here we go,” Benny said.

  Pretty soon there were two pairs of boys’ shoes sticking out from under the bed.

  “See anything?” Benny asked.

  “Not even dust,” Rory said. “You’re right about Mrs. McGregor.”

  “No dust, no sneezes,” Benny said. “And no hiding place for coins, either.”

  The boys crawled back out from under the bed. They stood up and stretched.

  “Where else shall we look?” Rory asked.

  “I think the furniture is new,” Benny said. “At least I think Grandfather had it put in here.”

  “But what about the picture?” Rory asked. “That is old.”

  Benny said, “You’re right. Maybe there’s a secret place in the wall behind the picture.”

  Rory went over and looked. Then he said, “Oh, Benny, you’re trying to fool me! You know there is nothing to find. We would have seen anything when we looked at the picture the other day.”

  But the boys took the picture down again just to be sure.

  “Look,” said Benny, “the little nails that hold the cardboard backing for the picture are all rusted.”

  “Well, let’s hang the photograph back on the wall,” said Rory. “Where can we look now?”

  Benny shook his head. “I give up,” he said. And that was something that Benny Alden almost never said about anything.

  CHAPTER 5

  A New Clue

  Violet came to the door of Rory’s room. She had put Stephanie’s journal away. It was time to call Benny and his guest to dinner.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “You two boys look as if you haven’t a friend in the world.”

  Benny said, “We thought maybe Stephanie had some other hiding places in her room. But we can’t find a thing.”

  “Not even any dust under the bed,” Rory said.

  “Well, it was a long time ago,” Violet said. “I’m not surprised. But dinner is ready. Maybe you’ll have some ideas later.”

  But no one had any new ideas even though they talked about the mystery at dinner.

  Jessie said, “I wonder who Miss Rachel was. Do you suppose she’s still living in Greenfield?”

  “I guess she’d be an old lady now,” Benny said.

  Mr. Alden smiled at Benny and Rory. “Why don’t you boys go for a bike ride and forget about mysteries?” he asked. So the boys did that.

  But the next morning Rory and Benny began to think about hidden coins again.

  The boys stood around in Rory’s room.

  Suddenly Benny said, “Rory! There might be something we missed.” He rushed back to the closet.

  Rory stared. He didn’t have any idea what Benny meant.

  “Let’s push the clothes out of the way,” Benny said. “Now where’s that loose board? Here it is.”

  Rory watched while Benny poked his fingers up into the space. The boys had already looked in the space below the hole. But they hadn’t tried to reach up. Now Benny was reaching upward instead of downward.

  Henry came in Rory’s room just then. “Need help?” he asked.

  “Ouch!” Benny said. “I’ve hurt my finger. Something got under my fingernail.”

  “Be more careful,” Henry said.

  “Something’s up there where I can just reach it,” Benny said. “Something with a sharp corner, I’d guess.”

  Before anyone could stop him, Benny was trying again to move his fingers around in the small opening. All at once he touched something.

  “It’s a little card!” Benny exclaimed as he pulled a small piece of cardboard out of the wall.

  “A card,” said Rory. “Is anything written on it?”

  “Don’t rush me,” said Benny, breathing hard. “I have to get the card in the light.”

  Rory and Henry crowded around Benny. They all looked at the card. The message written on it said, “Ask Miss Rachel for blue cloth.”

  “That’s Stephanie’s writing,” Benny said. “It’s like the writing in the journal.”

  Henry said, “Maybe she wrote that to remind herself to buy the cloth for the coin case.”

  Benny read the message again. He shook his head. “I don’t think she would write a message to herself. She would remember that cloth.”

  “Yes, she would,” Rory agreed.

  “Does the card have anything on the other side?” Henry asked.

  Benny turned it over. “Something was written and erased,” Benny said. “I can’t read it.”

  Henry asked for the card and looked at it. He shook his head.

  “Let me look at the card again,” Benny said, holding out his hand.

  He looked at the front, then he turned the card over. He walked to the desk in Rory’s room and sat down. He pulled open a drawer and took out a pencil.

  “What are you going to do?” Rory asked.

  “Watch,” Benny said. He scribbled over the card with the pencil, working very lightly.

  As the others looked over his shoulder, they saw the outline of white letters begin to show.

  “See?” Benny said. “Stephanie pressed hard when she wrote on this side of the card. She erased the writing, but the hard strokes stayed. I think we can read what she wrote.”

  “You’re right,” Henry exclaimed.

  Soon Benny read slowly, “L.S. First clue. Go to 5 Birds.”

  For a moment the boys were too surprised to talk. Then Henry said, “The words ’First clue’ sound like a puzzle. Didn’t Stephanie say she was going to make a puzzle?”

  Benny said, “L.S. Now what could that mean?”

  Rory spoke up. “I have an idea. I think the S. is for Shaw. Now I wonder about that L. Let’s ask Granda. He’s still home.”

  When Grandfather looked at the letters he said, “Yes, I think the S. stands for Shaw. Stephanie’s father was named Leland Shaw. That would be your L.S.”

  “That’s right!” Benny exclaimed. “Stephanie wrote in her journal that she was going to make a puzzle for her father. He told her to make up a puzzle, and she thought he might as well play, too. Her father isn’t around to get this note, so now the clue is meant for us. That’s what I think.”

  “Well,” agreed Henry, “let’s try it.”

  “You know what this reminds me of?” said Benny. “It rem
inds me of an old game we used to play, a treasure hunt.”

  “We have treasure hunts in Canada,” Rory said. “I know what you mean. Somebody hides a treasure but gives the hunters a note saying ’Look in the hole in the oak tree.’ Then the players look in that hole and find another note. No treasure. Just a note that says ’Look under the cushion in the porch rocker.’”

  Benny interrupted, “Then there is another note that says ’Look in the top drawer in the kitchen.’ And then—”

  Henry smiled at Benny. “We know that game, and this does remind me of it. Maybe that’s where Stephanie got the idea.”

  Benny said, “So Stephanie planned a treasure hunt for her father. Perhaps she didn’t know they were going away. She left all the notes, and there was nobody to find them.”

  Rory said, “But what does this clue mean? It says go to five birds. It doesn’t make any sense. How can we do that? Those birds can’t be alive today—even if there were any then.”

  “Why do you think Stephanie erased that clue?” Henry asked.

  “I think the clue was too easy,” said Benny. “She had to think up a harder one for her father.”

  “This one sounds hard enough for me,” said Jessie. “I certainly can’t think what five birds would mean. Stephanie ought to have given her father some address.”

  “Hey!” said Henry suddenly. “That’s just what this is—an address!”

  “You might be right, Henry,” said Jessie. “Five birds. It does sound like an address.”

  “Well, suppose it is an address,” said Benny. “I’ve never heard of it. Greenfield is such a small town, and I thought I knew every street in it.”

  “But I think I have seen it, Ben,” Henry said thoughtfully. “One day when I was riding my bike, I was looking for a shortcut across town. Well, I turned into a short, narrow street that had only two stores on it. I think the street was called Birds Lane. I remember the name because it was so different and because one of the stores was called the Wren Shop. The Wren Shop and Birds Lane go together, so it is easy to remember.”

  The family agreed, laughing.

  Suddenly Grandfather said, “Possibly you can find your Miss Rachel there, even if the name is Wren.”

  “You know something, Granda!” exclaimed Rory. “You know something we don’t. What is it?”

  “Go and see for yourself,” said Mr. Alden. “You all need exercise.” And with that, Mr. Alden would not say more.

  “Well, let’s find Violet, and we’ll all ride our bikes to the other side of town,” said Jessie. “We have to look for Birds Lane.”

  Rory and Benny ran to find Violet. The boys explained about the clue on the little card.

  Violet said, “Wait a minute, Benny. Don’t be in such a big hurry. What blue cloth do you think Stephanie meant?”

  Jessie said, “I’d guess the same kind of cloth she used for the coin cases. But I can’t imagine anyone would have any of that left. It was years ago.”

  Benny shook his head. “I know. But it won’t do any harm to go and see where 5 Birds Lane is. Maybe someone will remember Miss Rachel. We can try.”

  Rory added, “It’s the only clue we have. We have to try it.”

  Violet said, “If Stephanie meant that special blue cloth, let’s take the coin case along. Just in case we need it. I’ll get it.”

  In a very short time the Aldens and Rory were pedaling down the broad main street of Greenfield. They looked at every street sign, hoping to find Birds Lane.

  It was a beautiful day, and not too hot to enjoy a long bike ride across town. But none of the children were thinking about the pleasant ride. Every one of them was thinking about old money, money made of copper and silver, brass and tin.

  CHAPTER 6

  Jenny Wren

  It did not take the Aldens and Rory very long to get to the other side of town. But once they got there, Henry did not find his way so easily. This was the older section of Greenfield, and the children had not been there very often.

  Henry led the way and the others followed, up one narrow street and down another.

  “We’ll never find it,” said Rory.

  “Oh, yes we will!” said Benny. “We’ll find Birds Lane if it takes all day.”

  Suddenly Henry called out, “Wait! I think we are close by. Look at that big old house with its windows boarded up. I remember seeing that before. I think Birds Lane is only a block or two ahead.”

  Benny raced up the street ahead of the others. When he got to the corner, he hopped off his bike. He called out, “You are right, Henry. Here it is. The street sign says Birds Lane.”

  Benny waited for everyone to catch up, and then he started down the narrow street. The first address he saw was 3 Birds Lane. It was a doctor’s office. Then came 5 Birds Lane.

  “Why, look at that sign!” Violet exclaimed. “It’s the Jenny Wren Shop. What fun to have a name like that on Birds Lane!”

  In a minute the Aldens were opening a door to a shop filled with yarn, cloth, and all sorts of sewing supplies.

  A young woman smiled at the children and asked, “What can I do for you?”

  Jessie and Violet had been looking all around the tiny shop. But now Violet stepped to the counter and said, “We’ve come for some special blue cloth, like this.” She took out the coin case.

  The young woman picked up the coin case. She looked at it curiously.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said. “No one has had cloth like that for a long time.”

  Jessie said, “That’s true. We think this is about forty years old, at least.”

  “Wait here,” the young woman said. “I’d like to show this to someone. Is that all right with you?”

  The Aldens nodded, and the young woman disappeared through a door at the back of the shop. Soon she came back and a small older lady was with her. She had white hair and she walked a little slowly.

  The young woman said, “Aunt Rachel, these are the children who brought this blue cloth in. Maybe they can tell you where it came from.”

  Benny said, “Excuse me, but are you Miss Rachel?”

  The lady smiled and said, “Yes, I am, but I haven’t been called that for years. I’m Mrs. Wren now. This is my niece, Jenny Wren.”

  But Benny was still bothered. He said, “You did have a shop here one time in the past, didn’t you?”

  Mrs. Wren answered, “Yes, I did. I just called it ’Number 5 Birds Lane.’ I sold cloth and thread and needles to everyone in Greenfield.”

  “Then—then do you remember a little girl named Stephanie Shaw?” Benny asked, almost holding his breath.

  “Oh, indeed I do!” Mrs. Wren’s voice was trembling. “Poor little thing! She would be fifty years old by now—if she had lived. Did you know that she had died?”

  “No, we didn’t. How sad,” replied Jessie. “Our grandfather is James Alden. Perhaps you know him?”

  “Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Wren quickly. “Mr. Alden is a fine gentleman. Of course he doesn’t come to the shop, but Mrs. McGregor comes to buy dish towels and we talk together. I know that Mr. Alden bought the Shaw house long ago.”

  Benny said, “We found this coin case hidden in our house. And we found a note Stephanie Shaw wrote that said ‘Ask Miss Rachel for blue cloth.’ But I guess it doesn’t do any good. You don’t have that cloth anymore.”

  Mrs. Wren said, “Little Stephanie did buy that blue cloth from me to make cases for coins. She loved to come in and talk to me. Of course I was just a young woman then.”

  “Did you hear from her after she went to France?” asked Jessie.

  “Oh, yes, she wrote the loveliest letters. She would have been a writer if she had lived. I’m sure of that. She and her family died in a railroad accident—there was no one left. But oh, I am so glad you came in. You don’t know!”

  “Why?” asked Benny, smiling. “Three boys and two girls to buy half a yard of cloth that you don’t even have.”

  “I’ll show you,” Mrs. Wren said
. She took down an old-fashioned sewing box and opened it. There were old buttons, some bits of lace, and scraps of yarn. She took out a folded piece of paper and gave it to Jessie. “That’s why,” she said.

  The paper was yellow with age. Jessie unfolded it carefully. She read aloud “Give this note to anybody who comes in to buy blue cloth for a coin collection. S.S.”

  “Now, what do you think of that?” Benny said in amazement. “And you kept this all these years?”

  Mrs. Wren smiled a little. She said, “Well, I really loved that pretty child. I kept this just to remind me of her. Old ladies do things like that, you know.”

  Rory said, “But that can’t be all. There must be more of a message.”

  “Look on the back,” said Mrs. Wren.

  Jessie turned the paper over and read, “Attic, dollhouse.”

  “Does that mean anything to you?” asked Mrs. Wren. “I’ve read it a hundred times. I didn’t know who was ever coming in nor what Stephanie meant about a dollhouse.”

  “Oh, it means something, all right,” Benny answered. “You see, Stephanie really had a fine coin collection and it’s been lost. She hid it somewhere. Some people thought it was stolen. We hope to find it.”

  “This may be the clue we need,” Jessie said. “Oh, it’s so lucky you saved this piece of paper all these years.”

  Benny was nearest to the shop door. He looked as if he were going to run out.

  “Thank you!” he said. “Thank you, Mrs. Wren!”

  Mrs. Wren and her niece smiled. “I know you want to get back and explore the attic,” the white-haired lady said. “I understand. Do let us know if you find anything.”

  “We will,” Violet promised.

  The Aldens left the little sewing shop and got on their bikes. They headed toward the street that would take them back to their own neighborhood.

  “I hope we find Stephanie’s dollhouse in the attic,” Jessie said as she rode along. “But I can’t remember seeing a dollhouse up there.”

  “The attic has a lot of dark corners,” Henry told her.

  Benny said, “It would be just too bad if we had this much of Stephanie’s puzzle and never found the coins at all.”