He’d talk to Gramps about it, that’s what he’d do. But when he arrived home he found the door to his grandfather’s room closed and no light showing from underneath.
He climbed the stairs and headed for his room. Phil was in his own room, in his pajamas, and lying on his bed with a pile of old comic books at his side. A wild idea hit Ronnie suddenly and he poked his head into Phil’s room. “Have you been in the house all evening?” he demanded. Maybe, just maybe, Phil was playing tricks on them and he had been in the padlocked house!
Phil looked at his brother in surprise. “What’s the matter—the heat got you or something? Sure I was here all the time.”
“OK. I was just wondering.”
Phil dropped his comic book and sat up. “Say, something real interesting must have happened to you down in the village, or you wouldn’t be putting me on the witness stand. Come on, out with it.”
“Nothing happened. You’re imagining things, that’s all.” Ronnie hurried down the hall, hoping that Phil wouldn’t have the energy to follow him.
Phil didn’t. Ronnie ducked into his room and closed the door. Then he went over to the window and looked out.
The valley was in complete darkness. Even the lights in Mr. Caldwell’s cottage were out. The deserted village was asleep.
Chapter 8
After breakfast the following morning Ronnie looked for Gramps in his room, but there was no sign of him there nor anywhere about the house. It was Mrs. Butler who told Ronnie where his grandfather had gone. “Why, seems to me I saw him headed out the door a while back,” she said. “Went off toward the orchard, I’d guess.”