“Never mind! Don’t worry about that. Let us run down and get the book out of the closet. And don’t dare leave this house, either of you!” she commanded, running down the back stairs.
Barnabetta helped her father back to his room. Then she went down the front flight and met the excited Ruth and the quite amazed Agnes in the dining room. Ruth had the heavy kitchen poker.
“What under the sun are you going to do with that poker, Ruth Kenway?” demanded Agnes.
“Oh, Aggie! Think of it! That old album is locked in that closet.”
“Well! didn’t I just begin to believe so myself?” ejaculated the second Corner House girl.
Ruth waited for no further explanation. She pressed the heavy poker into the aperture between the lock of the door and the striker, pushing as hard as she could, and then used the strong poker as a prize. The door creaked.
“You’ll break it!” gasped Agnes.
“That’s what I mean to do. We can’t unlock it,” said Ruth, with determination.
The next moment, with a splintering of wood, the lock gave and the door swung open. Ruth flung down the poker and dived into the bottom of the closet.
Up she came with her prize. Unmistakably it was the album Agnes had found in the garret.