“What about the third character, the one who passed us in the car?”
“I never saw him before,” declared Lois. “Did you, Lorraine?”
Her silence was answer enough. She had seen him before, but she was afraid to say so. If he lived on the estate, Judy decided it might be a good idea for them to do their exploring before he returned.
“I wouldn’t care to have him catch us, would you?” she questioned.
Lorraine finally agreed to Judy’s plan, and they started back up the narrow road. They had not walked far when they came to the sign that Lois had chosen to ignore the first time.
NO TRESPASSING, it warned them in big black letters. ALL PERSONS ARE FORBIDDEN TO ENTER THESE PREMISES UNDER PENALTY OF THE LAW.
“We can’t walk right past it,” Lorraine objected as they stopped to read the sign.
“I don’t see why not. We drove right past it,” Lois returned with a defiant toss of her head. “Who cares about their old sign, anyway? I’m sure the Brandts wouldn’t forbid us to come here. They may even thank us for it.”
These puzzling words only partially convinced Lorraine. But Judy was beginning to enjoy the adventure. She studied the NO TRESPASSING sign a moment more and then began to laugh.
“It says ALL PERSONS,” she told her friends as they walked deliberately past it, searching for the path to the fountain. “Who is permitted to enter, I wonder—ghosts?”