“Yes indeed,” Miss Townsend chimed in, “if any body in Long Leigh has heard me say I was worried about Brother Elmer’s money affairs,” she sort of hesitated before framing that term, “I just want them to know now that we’ve made more money by Mr. Sanders investment in six months, than we would make in six years in this little store.”
A burst of applause followed this. And presently every one seemed to be talking at once. The formality of the occasion was lost in a round of enthusiastic interest; the men demanding to know more about the invention, while the women and girls were keen to hear all about the cistern.
Sibyl was glad to tell them about the curious little work shop under the ground, and she soon had a group of the young folks listening to her story.
“I thought it was awful, at first,” she explained, “but, of course, I’m used to father’s peculiar experiments. He has invented some wonderful instruments,” she said this in a properly restrained voice. “They are being used in the college observatories, where they make weather predictions, you know,” she pointed out.
“And I did notice some little pipes sticking out of the sides of that cistern box,” Nancy now remembered. “I might have known, but I was too surprised to investigate,” she admitted frankly.
“Really girls,” Sibyl went on, “Dad has that cistern furnished like a room. You walk down a little ladder, and sit on a regular chair—”
“But isn’t it dark?” Ruth wanted to know.
“Oh, no. One whole side of the cover is glass, a side that is back away from the opening,” Sibyl told them. “No one would ever notice the glass there. And besides that, father had cut the concrete away, over on one side of the bowl, and there he made a little skylight. You would never notice that either, as there are bushes all around it,” she said.
By this time Ted and Buster were demanding to be heard. They had tried to get a hearing with the older folks, but according to Ted “the buzzing there was worse than a bee fight.”
“And say, Nan,” he called out now, “I just want to know about—about what Nero was after down the cellar, you know.”