“Now who was right?” Vevi demanded of the crestfallen Jane.
“Oh, I guess the cottage is real enough,” Jane admitted grudgingly. “I was only teasing.”
“It looks as if it had come from the pages of a picture book!” declared Sunny. “How wonderful if no one owns it! Then we could use the place for our shell exhibitions.”
“And sleep here overnight,” Connie added. “It has bunks and everything.”
“Wait until you see the inside!” Vevi laughed.
Eager to show the other Brownies, she raced on ahead.
At the entrance, she halted suddenly. The door remained closed as she and Connie had left it the previous afternoon.
But there had been a change.
Across the crack of the door had been placed a metal bar. With a sinking heart, Vevi realized she never would be able to show the Brownies the inside of the cottage. For attached to the metal bar was a huge padlock which had been snapped shut.