The interior, with its lovely hand-hewn rafters and paneled walls was a delight to the eye, and even better, it was easy to take care of. Allen Lodge suggested nothing but comfort. No one knew of its secret room except the Allens and their newly made friend.
They had heard when they first came here that the house was haunted, but it had not taken them long to discover that the ghost was only Adra Prentice, a very nice girl whom they had discovered hiding in the secret room. Adra, who was eighteen years old, had “haunted” the Allen’s house when she had run away from her kidnappers. Their adventures and the way they solved the mystery is told in Penny Allen and the Mystery of the Haunted House. The four Allens were now ready for a new adventure and they felt that their own house was the best place to find it.
“Those old trunks aren’t filled with junk,” Marjorie was saying to Jimmy. “Penny and I looked into one of them and it’s positively overflowing with fascinating old dresses that would be wonderful if we give a masquerade. And there’s an old jewelry box—”
“Filled to the brim,” Penny finished, smiling, “with costume jewelry not worth a cent.”
“See?” Jimmy demanded, grinning at Marjorie. “Junk.” He turned to Phil. “Pat asked me to plant some beans in his garden behind the cabin the Donahues are going to occupy. If you don’t need me, I’ll go do it now.”
“Go ahead,” Phil said. “It won’t take long.”
Pat Ryan, who had been Uncle John’s guide and the caretaker of the Lodge, had just married Ann Mary. He and his new wife had voluntarily taken over the responsibility of helping the Allens. Philip and Penny realized they would be lost without the Ryans in this undertaking. As Philip said, “They’ve completely spoiled us. I wouldn’t think of doing anything without first consulting Pat. He seems to know everything about everything and as luck would have it, we know next to nothing about anything. Fate must have brought us together, or better yet, Uncle John must have had us in mind when he first got Pat to work for him.”
Penny agreed wholeheartedly with Phil.
“Pat’s orders,” she told Jimmy before he started off to plant beans, “must always be obeyed.” She pointed gaily to the blankets that were swaying and billowing in the sunny June breeze. “See what I’ve done with our household chattels! To think I might have gone through life only knowing about readin’, writin’ and ’rithmetic if Ann Mary hadn’t taken me in hand and shown me how to run a house.”
“Don’t feel so cocky, Sis,” said Jimmy, an impish grin on his face. “You probably have lots more to learn. All I can say is, you’d better hurry up and acquire the missing knowledge before Peter gets here.”