"Well, let's start on the road to happiness," said Mr. Blackford, with a smile. "We haven't found the ghost, but perhaps it is just as well."
"Did you ever see any queer manifestations while you were here?" asked Mollie of the girl.
"I was here only part of one day," she said. "I am glad it was not dark—I should have been afraid. Oh, it must have been terrible for you to have been caught by—by that man!" she said to Mollie. "Who could he have been?"
"I am just wondering if it could have been your guardian," said Mollie, a strange look on her face. "He said something about me having 'come back.' Girls, I'm sure that was it!" she cried. "He took me for Carrie, with my long hair——"
"We are coming on!" cried Mr. Blackford. "We will soon have this mystery solved."
"What sort of a looking man was the one who caught you?" asked Carrie.
"I could not see—he had on long white garments."
"Well, let us get under way. The lawyers will be the best ones to settle this affair," resumed Mr. Blackford, as he started for the waiting auto.
They left the strange mansion behind. Whether it was "haunted" or not they had failed to establish. But they had gotten on the trail of another mystery.
It was while autoing toward the town of Franklin, on their way to Deepdale, that the girls saw on the road a farmer standing beside a carriage with a broken axle. The man was ruefully contemplating the damage.