“I’m going to have a private talk with Dad,” announced Patsy. “I’m going to ask him not to speak to Carlos about the ghost story, but to let him alone and see what happens next. If he really has a grudge against us he’ll be sure to do something else to bother us. We’ll be on the watch and in that way we’ll catch him at it. Then maybe Dad can make him tell what he wouldn’t tell us.”
“But what about your aunt, Patsy?” conscientiously reminded Eleanor. “She’s going to ask your father to speak to Carlos, you know.”
“I’ll see Dad first and explain things. I’ll ask him to tell Auntie, when she mentions Carlos to him, that he thinks it would be a good idea to let Carlos alone for the present and watch him. It is a good idea, and I know Dad will agree with me. I’d say so to Auntie myself if I were sure she wouldn’t mind. She would, though, because she’s not in sympathy with us when it comes to mysteries.”
“If any more queer things happen, Miss Martha will have to admit that there is a mystery hanging over Las Golondrinas,” Bee predicted. “I forgot to add Dolores to the list. She’s another mystery.”
“She surely is, but she doesn’t belong to the Carlos puzzle,” returned Patsy. “Never mind, give us time and we’ll put all the pieces of all the puzzles together. We’re determined to do it. That’s half the battle.”
“We may even find the secret drawer,” supplemented Mabel hopefully.
This remark was received with derisive chuckles. Her companions had come to regard the mythical secret drawer as a huge joke.
“Laugh at me if you want to. When I find it, then it will be my turn to laugh at you,” Mabel emphasized.
“When you do, we’ll stand in line and let you laugh at us,” jeered Eleanor.
“I’ll remember that,” retorted her sister. “I’m going to the sitting-room now to patiently pursue my indefatigable investigations. Ahem! ‘Never despair’ is my motto.”