CHAPTER XVIII
UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES
Uncle Pieter and Cousin Andy were no less interested than Janet in the notes which she had found in the secret room, now no longer a secret from the family. But Mr. Van Meter had given direction that all entrances should be closed and that the affair should not be made the matter of gossip.
Having before deciphered the often blurred writing on the old paper, Jannet was commissioned to read the messages to her uncle and cousin in the library. She did so, and they lost none of their point by being read by the still excited Jannet. She had often been told at school that she read with expression, but she did not see the approving, smiling glance with which her uncle looked at her cousin, as she read.
When she had finished, her uncle said, “It all fits in nicely with the genealogy so far as we have it. This house, the old one, I mean, was finished about the time of the Revolution and this room may have been an afterthought, very convenient for the owner, as it happened. I know that it was often headquarters for our troops, and probably it harbored the necessary spies. I will commission you, Jannet, to look carefully through all the trunks for old letters or messages of any sort that may tell us more of the history than we already know. From some source your mother knew much about the old stories, but I can not think that she knew of this secret way.”
“She would have told you,” said Jannet.
“I am not so sure,” said Mr. Van Meter, soberly. “She would have told my father, perhaps.”
A rap on the door interrupted the conversation at this point. It was Old P’lina who entered at Mr. Van Meter’s invitation of “Come in.”
Paulina stood unbendingly just inside the door. “I saw the woman Hepsy sent me to and she says that Vittoria was not there last night. Then I went to see Herman at the shop and he acted as though it was none of my business where Vittoria was. That was all.”
Without waiting for comment or question, Paulina turned and went away. Andy, looking at Jannet, smiled at her. “You can scarcely get used to our gentle P’lina, can you, Jannet?’
“She is certainly the most sudden person I ever saw!”