First, where were the pearls? Who had taken them? Second, who had played the part of ghost? Why? Or was there such a thing as an unhappy ancestral spirit that wandered around at times? This was not the first time Jannet had asked herself these questions, and now once more she examined her desk, going over every inch of it to make sure that she had not omitted any secret drawer, had not missed any little spring. Again she opened the drawer where the lovely case and pearls had lain. Regret was almost a pain when she saw it so empty.
It certainly could not have been her uncle, though it was possible. How about Paulina? Cousin Andy,—impossible! Cousin Di, likewise impossible. Yet the pearls were gone. Could her uncle have taken them out by a sudden thought of surprising her with them some time? He might think that she could not have found that most secret of drawers. Jannet exhausted in thought the whole range of possibility. Perhaps some one had seen her open the drawer,—from the balcony! But her back was toward the balcony,—no, she had put on the necklace and gone to her mother’s picture and around the room.
But who would climb the balcony, other than Jan or Chick or some other boy? Perhaps a burglar,—yet nothing else was missed, to her knowledge. It certainly was a mystery. Perhaps she would tell her uncle the next morning. Jannet rather dreaded that interview. For she was used to ladies, her teachers, and knew scarcely any gentlemen except the lawyer in Philadelphia, Lina’s father, and now these relatives.
After her musings and searchings at the desk, Jannet went all over her room again, looking closely at the paneled walls, and examining the chimney and mantel. She even ran her hands down the boards, to see if there were a spring, and again peered among the sooty bricks inside the great chimney. There was a small closet at one side of the chimney, where tongs and shovel or any necessary paraphernalia might be kept. This was clean and bare and gave no evidence of an opening.
Thinking it likely that Mrs. Holt might be back by this time, Jannet went by the long corridor to where Mrs. Holt slept, but there was no answer to her knock. Then she wandered downstairs again; but Cousin Diana was doing errands and did not get home until after dinner. She was in fine spirits, telling laughingly things that the boys had said before their departure and displaying to Jannet some of the pretty articles which she had bought.
Jannet went with her to her room to help her with her packages. “Did the boys tell you to ask Nell and me if the ghost walked last night?” queried Jannet on an impulse.
“Why?” quickly returned Mrs. Holt. “Were they playing tricks on you and Nell?”
“We think that perhaps they were.”
“I heard what Jan calls the ‘Dutch Banshee,’” said Jan’s mother, “but I imagine that it is only the wind, whistling in the chimney, or in some odd corner. You don’t worry about ghosts, do you Jannet?”
“No, Cousin Diana. And that makes me think of what I wanted to ask you this morning. I want to poke around a little and see everything, and I asked Uncle Pieter if he cared. He said he didn’t and that you or Paulina would give me keys. I’d like to see again the front room on my hall, and the attic, too, and anything else that is interesting.”