The disclosure did not seem to surprise the widow, for she smiled and said:
“I’ve always known that sound carried from the well to the house. In fact, in past years I found it amusing to listen to conversations carried on by persons who never dreamed that their words were overheard.”
“Then that explains why so many wishes which were made here at the well came true!” Penny cried. “You were the Good Fairy behind it all.”
“Oh, now and then, if it pleased my fancy, I arranged to have a wish granted,” Mrs. Marborough acknowledged, smiling grimly. “That was in the days when I had money—” she broke off and ended—“more than I have now, I mean.”
“Mrs. Marborough, you must have heard those wishes we made the day of your return to Riverview,” Penny said after a moment. “Were you responsible for sending a basket of food to Rhoda’s people?”
“I am afraid I was.”
“And did you grant Rhoda’s second wish?” Louise asked quickly. “Did you have anything to do with getting her brother, Ted, a job?”
“Judge Harlan is an old friend of mine,” Mrs. Marborough explained. “I merely wrote him a note suggesting that he would do me a favor by helping the boy if he found him worthy.”
Although the widow’s admission cleared up much of the mystery which had surrounded the old wishing well, Louise and Penny were dumbfounded, nevertheless. Never once had anyone in Riverview connected Mrs. Marborough with a particularly charitable deed.
As if guessing their thoughts, the woman said sharply: