And then, suddenly, as is the way with summer storms, the rain stopped and the sun came out. The shadows at the end of the hall grew less black as the new light shone dimly down through dirty windows above. Anne, who had been staying right at the edge of the doorway, stepped out at once and called to her brother. But Giles shook his head.
‘No, wait a minute, Anne,’ said he. ‘Now we are in the Haunted Inn, let’s look around a little. After all, there’s nothing to be afraid of that I can see.’
‘I’m not afraid of what we can see,’ said Anne. ‘It’s what we can’t see that I’m afraid of. How about the ghosts, Giles?’
Her brother had now walked into one of the big rooms off the passage. It seemed to have been a dining-hall in its day. A long broken table stood in the middle of the room and there was an enormous fireplace in the centre of one wall.
‘Ghosts?’ said Giles as he strode across the floor. ‘What rubbish, Anne! I don’t believe anyone ever really saw a ghost. And even if there were some here, what harm would they want to do us? Ghosts indeed! Poof!—Oh, my gracious! What was that?’
A curious scratching sound had suddenly come from behind a cupboard door.
‘Giles, something tells me we should be going,’ said Anne.
‘No, now just a minute,’ said her brother. ‘We’ve been brave enough to get in here, even if we did come by accident. And we’ve been brave enough to stay here for a while. Now the question is: are we brave enough to open that cupboard door?’
‘Well, you can soon settle that,’ said Anne. ‘Go over and open it.’
‘Why shouldn’t you open it?’ asked Giles.