"You'd better be giving the key to me," said Mrs. Gilligan. "We can't stand out here talkin' all night. Besides, the door probably has an old-fashioned lock on it, and they ain't a lock anywhere that can fool me."
Billie meekly handed over the key, and Mrs. Gilligan marched majestically before them up to the front door. She bent down to examine the lock, then fitted the key into it.
With a groaning and squeaking of rusty hinges, the heavy door swung inward, and the girls found themselves staring into a black well of hallway that seemed to have no windows anywhere.
"Gracious! did anybody think to bring matches?" asked Laura in an awed whisper.
"Sure and I did," Mrs. Gilligan's matter-of-fact voice reassured her. "Five whole boxes I brought. But I've got something even better than that for the present occasion."
She drew from the pocket of her coat a small electric torch and flashed it into the interior of the house. The bright light showed them glimpses of queer chairs standing about in odd corners and finally lighted up a broad stairway.
"It's the hall," announced Mrs. Gilligan. "Now forward march, and we'll soon find out where the lights are."
"There must be a push button somewhere," suggested Violet, and even in their present nervous state the other girls laughed at her.
"A push button!" cried Laura. "Do you expect to find electric lights out in this wilderness?"
"We're lucky if we find a chandelier somewhere," added Billie. "I hope we don't have to burn candles or lamps. They aren't just exactly what you might call cheerful."