“Why, yes, if you like,” Miss Swenster returned with only the slightest hesitation.
Entering the study, the girls looked with one accord toward the place where John Swenster’s picture had hung. A bright square of wallpaper marked the former spot. Miss Swenster had not replaced the picture.
“I wonder what she did with it?” Cara whispered.
Madge shook her head, raising a finger to her lips in mute warning that Miss Swenster could easily hear from the next room.
They silently went about the dusting, bent upon getting it done as quickly as possible. Cara directed her attention to the bookcases while Madge made an attack upon the paneled mahogany desk. She dusted the top and polished off the curved legs. Then her cloth swept across one of the panels.
Madge heard a sharp click. To her amazement, the panel dropped down, revealing a small opening!
CHAPTER X
The Secret Compartment
“Well, blow me down!” Madge exclaimed, relapsing into comic-strip slang as she always did when greatly excited. “A spring panel!”
Cara had rushed to her side and was staring wide-eyed at the secret compartment revealed in the desk.
“There’s something inside!” she cried. “Oh, I hope it’s the pearls!”