“Now remember,” she cautioned the Brownies. “We mustn’t disturb anything. But we’re free to use this cottage as a meeting place while we’re at Silver Beach. We can have our exhibition of shells here too.”
The girls moved from room to room, admiring the clever carpenter work. Rosemary noticed that the floors were all pegged instead of having been nailed together.
“Want to see the old Bible?” Connie asked the other Brownies. “With the notation about Captain Tarwell’s son?”
The girls all were eager to read what had been written so many years before. However, when Connie searched for the Bible she could not find it.
“I guess Captain Tarwell must have taken it away,” she said at last. “He probably didn’t want strangers reading about his son being lost at sea.”
Miss Gordon, Vevi and Jane had wandered on into the tiny kitchen. It had been built very neatly with high shelves on three of the walls. The stove was an old fashioned wood burner.
The Brownie Scout leader noticed at once that wood had been burned there recently. When she touched one of the stove lids it was faintly warm.
“Captain Tarwell may have been here last night,” she remarked. “He likely burned a little wood to take off the chill.”
“Someone slept here again too,” Connie declared. She had noticed a mussed blanket lying on a bunk in an adjoining room.
“That’s odd,” remarked Miss Gordon. “Captain Tarwell has a very comfortable room at Silver Beach. I shouldn’t think he would care to stay here at night.” “Especially when the cottage is so dusty,” added Vevi. “I don’t think it was Captain Tarwell at all!”