“Surely you don’t expect me to sleep here, Miss Nichols. The room is dirty. Positively filthy.”
“Look at that long cobweb hanging from the ceiling!” Alicia added indignantly. “I’d have hysterics if I slept here.”
“Perhaps the adjoining room is better,” Penny commented.
An inspection revealed that if anything it was even more neglected.
“I’m afraid you’ll just have to make the best of it for tonight,” Penny declared, “unless you care to drive on to the next town.”
“We’ll stay,” Mrs. Leeds decided instantly. “I’d prefer to sit up all night, rather than brave those horrible mountain roads again.”
“We slipped into a ditch coming here,” Alicia informed. “That’s what made us so late. We’ve had a terrible time.”
In a closet at the end of the hall, Penny and Rosanna found blankets and linen. As they made up the beds, neither Mrs. Leeds nor her daughter offered to assist. It was after one o’clock when the girls went back to their own room.
“Mrs. Leeds means to make trouble about the inheritance,” Penny remarked in an undertone as they snapped out the light once more. “I wonder if by any chance she could have picked up your letter and key?”
“Oh, I doubt it,” Rosanna returned. “I remember when we were at Mt. Ashland she dropped the hint that she was going to Raven Ridge. At least, she acted strangely when we mentioned the place.”