Margaret laughed merrily.
“Wouldn’t it be amusing, though, if one did have a solemn, serious caller, a deacon or someone like that, who happened to sit on this chair and suddenly disappear? You had better keep it, Babs, it may come in handy.”
But the little housekeeper vigorously shook her head. “No, my mind is made up once for all. Every bit of this foreign furniture is going to be stored in an outhouse until the rightful owner claims it, and I am going to Douglas when you girls return to V. M. Ranch and buy just the things that I would enjoy having.”
“I wonder why Betsy doesn’t come back,” Margaret remarked. She had been intently watching the trap door to see what would happen next.
The three girls knelt and called in chorus: “Betsy! Are you down there? Why don’t you bring the elevator chair up again?” There was no reply. Not a sound from below could they hear. The girls tried to open the trap-door, but the contrivance that secured it was underneath the floor.
“What if the machinery doesn’t work?” Margaret said, looking up in sudden dismay, “Betsy might smother down there.”
“Who is talking about me?” a merry voice called. The astonished girls sprang to their feet and whirled around. There was the laughing Betsy standing back of them.
The other three crowded about. “Did you make any new discoveries? Tell us what happened!”
“Well, when I reached the cellar,” Betsy began, “I hunted about to find the other knob, the one that would lift me again to this room, but lo and behold, it appeared to have lost its magic. I pulled on it and pushed, but the chair did not move. I could hear you calling to me, although your voices sounded faint and far. I replied but I was sure that you could not hear. Then I sat for a few moments thinking what I ought to do next. Of course I knew that you would soon call for help if I did not return and that Peyton would break open the trap. When my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, I thought I saw a door at the far side of the room. Groping my way toward it, I found that it opened easily. Just beyond was a spiral stairway which I ascended. At the top was another door, but it was locked. I was about to pound upon it, when I happened to touch a key which I turned and here I am.”
“Oh!” Virginia exclaimed. “I remember that door. It is the one I tried to open last night when the candle blew out, but I found it locked. Peyton said he supposed that it led into a store room but he had never been curious enough about the matter to investigate.”