“Oh, do try to see,” begged Babe eagerly. “You know Father Morton said you could learn a lot from this house. I wish we knew for sure that she was in there and”—Babe choked a little—“all right.”
“Knock hard on the wall,” suggested Mr. Blake. “Maybe she’ll hear that better than our talking, and answer it.”
Regardless of priceless wall-hangings Babe seized a pair of brass tongs and pounded on the wall as if she meant to break it down.
“Go easy, Babe,” advised Madeline, but Babe only pounded harder.
“If she’s in there we want to know that she’s all right,” declared Babe hotly. “And then we’ve got to get her out if we have to batter down this wall to do it.”
“How will you know Betty’s knock from a ghost’s?” demanded Madeline flippantly, but no one paid any attention to her because just at that moment a faint knock did sound on the other side of the wall.
Babe gave a little cry of relief. “Then she isn’t suffocated! That story has just been haunting me. Now, Mr. Watson, you know how a house is built, to quote Father Morton. You must find how to get to her.”
Jim looked as if he wanted to use the tongs as a battering-ram, but he refrained. “I’ll try up-stairs,” he said. “Maybe the entrance is there.”
“I’ll show you which rooms are over these,” volunteered John.
But there was no opening up-stairs.