“How’s this?” asked the man.
“Oh, wonderful! Those beams, they slant just like the story books say,” declared Nora, ecstatically.
“Good enough to give you the right sort of nightmare, eh? Well, that’s nice. Ted is always after the cobwebs, but I don’t let her spoil them if I’m around. You see, cobwebs have a lot to do in my business.”
“Cobwebs?” Nora poked her little head in between two chummy beams. “What do cobwebs do in surveying?”
“They make a cross line on my object glass. I’ll show you when I get around to it,” replied Jerry. “Now see here, here’s the secret chest,” he was opening a big wooden box, “and by a miracle,” he continued, “it does hold clothes, duds, et-cet-tee-ra.”
“The people who had this place gave a big party, I believe,” explained Mrs. Ted, “and they left a lot of their costumes here. We have never had any chance to make use of them,” she finished, slapping her hands on the work apron that partly covered her own mannish costume. Apparently she disdained the frivolous things.
“But just look!” Nora was almost in the big cedar chest; in fact, nothing more than a bump of white, ending in two small brown spots that waggled like sandaled feet, was visible. Presently the curly head emerged in a cloud of brilliant, spangly stuff, very evidently the costumes. “Aren’t these just wonderful!”
“Oh yes,” agreed Jerry, “they’re nice and shiny. But just look at this spook cabinet. Do you know what a spook cabinet is, Nora?”
“No, what?” She dropped the costumes back into the big chest instantly.
“They’re just a box of tricks. But this is the box empty. See here,” Jerry opened, with some difficulty, the long narrow closet that was built in a corner of the attic room. “I have always wondered why this had a ventilator at the top——” he began.