The girls wandered to the wishing well, and then made a complete tour of the grounds. Mrs. Marborough was nowhere in the yard.
“Shall we go?” Rhoda asked.
“I’ll knock on the door just once more,” Penny said. “I can’t help feeling that she is here.”
Circling the house to the side entrance, the girls again rapped and waited.
“Listen!” commanded Penny suddenly.
“I don’t hear anything,” declared Rhoda, startled by the manner in which her companion had given the command.
“I thought someone called or groaned—the sound came from inside the house.”
“You must have imagined it.”
“Maybe I did,” Penny acknowledged, “but I don’t think so.”
Testing the door, she found it unlocked. As it swung back a tiny crack, she called loudly: “Oh, Mrs. Marborough, are you at home?”