Grumbling at the decision, Penny went to her own room. She did not feel equal to a spirited discussion with her father that night.
“Here, I’m on the verge of solving a great mystery,” she grieved. “Perhaps the most stupendous of my life! And now I’m told I must stay away from Fenestra’s farm. It’s enough to turn my hair gray.”
Penny overslept the next morning, barely awakening in time to reach school by nine o’clock. A surprise oral history quiz caught her completely unprepared. She missed three questions in succession, and was told that she must remain after school for a special study session.
Released at four-thirty, Penny hastened to the Star office. Neither her father nor Jerry were there, nor could anyone tell her when they would return. Discouraged, she sought Louise who as usual was working at the Times plant.
“Such luck as I am having,” Penny complained. “Mrs. Weems says I can’t go to Fenestra’s farm without Dad’s permission, and he’s hiding from me.”
“I wish you would forget that storm cave and the octopus tattoo,” said Louise unsympathetically. “Maybe then we could get out another issue of this old paper.”
Penny gazed at her rather queerly. “You’re sick of it, aren’t you?” she asked.
“No,” Louise denied, “it’s been fun, and we’ve learned a lot. But there’s so much work. It never ends.”
“It will soon,” replied Penny quietly. “Our advertisers are dropping off one by one. Sales are falling, too.”
“We always can quit,” said Louise cheerfully.