“What’s the matter?” called Peggy anxiously.
“Oh, I’m just too big to get into this hole!” she answered disgustedly.
“Well, come back up here, then. Give up this foolishness while you’re all in one piece.”
“What! Give up when I’m this near? I should say not!” Jo Ann’s voice was emphatic.
She began wriggling and twisting more determinedly than ever, and at last, after repeated efforts, she managed to stretch herself across the broad ledge, with her feet dangling in the air. After resting a moment, she worked herself around till she faced the mysterious room.
Immediately she felt cold air against her face and caught whiffs of a dank, musty odor.
Her heartbeats quickened as she realized how near she was to solving the mystery. What secret lay concealed within these walls?
Unfastening the flashlight from her belt, she threw its rays around in the darkness. Blank walls, stained with age, loomed before her. As nearly as she could judge, this tiny, high-ceilinged room was only about six by ten feet, and the window in which she lay, about fifteen feet from the floor.
The room appeared perfectly bare. Not an object of any sort was to be seen. For what had it been used? Since it had at one time been connected with the rest of the house, there was bound to have been some reason for its construction.
“Peggy and Florence’ll have the laugh on me if there’s nothing in this room and I’ve had all this work for nothing,” she thought. “There ought to be something to show what it was used for.”