Penny returned to the cottage to eat supper with Mrs. Weems.
“Now that Anchor Joe has gone, I may as well go home tonight,” declared the housekeeper. “I can’t leave, though, until I’ve cleaned the cottage and set it to rights.”
“How much longer will it take?”
“Oh, an hour or two.”
“While I am waiting I may walk over to Peter Fenestra’s place,” Penny remarked. “I shouldn’t mind seeing Tillie Fellows again.”
“You’ll be cautious in crossing the river?”
“Of course,” laughed Penny. “I won’t be gone long.”
She washed the dishes for Mrs. Weems and then set forth for the Fenestra farmhouse. Frogs croaked as she crossed the swaying bridge, and far upstream she heard the faint chug of a motorboat. Otherwise, the night was unusually still.
Emerging from among the trees, Penny saw a light glowing in the distance. Knowing that it came from the Fenestra house, she used it as a beacon to guide her.
Passing the barn, she climbed a fence and entered the yard. The house was dark save for a single light burning in the kitchen. She could see Tillie Fellows moving about.