“Can you both keep a secret?”
“Oh, yes!” said Connie.
“A Brownie’s word is as good as gold,” added Vevi. “Tell us your secret, Hanny.”
“It belongs to Uncle Peter as much as to me. You’re sure you can keep the secret if I tell you?”
“Brownie’s honor,” said Connie soberly.
“Then wait here,” directed Hanny. “I will be back in a minute.”
She ran off to the house. Vevi and Connie could not imagine what she was after. Soon she came flying back, something clutched in her hand.
She opened her fingers to show Connie and Vevi that the object was a tiny padlock key.
“Come with me,” she bade her friends. “But you must never, never tell what I am going to show you. Not until after next week at least. Then it will not matter.”
Connie and Vevi became rather excited at the thought of seeing inside the locked house. They could not guess what Hanny’s uncle kept hidden there. It made them feel very important to think that Hanny trusted them enough to let them share her secret.