“Here I go!” she called to Louise. “You and Joe stay where you are and keep watch.”
Penny crawled through the narrow opening and swung herself down to the cellar floor. She landed with a thud beside a laundry tub. The room was dark. Groping her way toward a stairway, she tripped over a box and made a fearful clatter.
“I’ve certainly advertised my arrival!” she thought ruefully.
At the top of the stairway Penny found a light switch and boldly turned it on. The kitchen door was not locked. She opened it and stepped out into another semi-dark room.
A doorbell at the front of the house began to ring. Penny was dumbfounded. Then she became annoyed, thinking that Louise and the cab driver were trying to get in.
Groping her way through the house, she unlocked the door and flung it open.
“For Pity Sakes!” she exclaimed, and then her voice trailed off.
A uniformed messenger boy stood on the porch.
“Mrs. Botts live here?” he asked, taking a telegram from his jacket pocket.
Penny did not know what to answer. Thinking quickly, she replied: “This is the Deming estate.”