“We can pretend to keep on searching. Maybe if we prowl about this place for a few days, we’ll have luck.”
“The pearls were hidden near the wishing well. We have that much to go on.”
“They may have disappeared years ago,” Penny contributed pessimistically. “To tell you the truth, I don’t feel very hopeful about ever finding them.”
Leaving the tunnel by means of the easier exit, the girls emerged into the basement. They were preparing to climb the stairs to the first floor when Mrs. Marborough’s voice reached their ears almost as plainly as if she were in the cellar.
“Louise! Penny! Are you all right?”
Startled by the clearness of the call, the girls paused on the stairway.
“Why, her voice came through as plainly as if she were in this room!” Louise exclaimed. “You don’t suppose Mrs. Marborough has ventured into the passageway?”
Thoroughly alarmed, the girls raced up the stairway and out of the house into the yard. To their relief they saw Mrs. Marborough standing by the wishing well, peering anxiously down.
“Oh, here you are!” she murmured as they ran up. “I was beginning to get worried. The last time I called you did not answer.”
“We were down in the basement,” Penny explained. “Mrs. Marborough, your voice came through to us as plainly as if you were in the passage.”