“Can you tell who it is?” Penny murmured.
“Not from here. Dare we move closer?”
“Let’s risk it,” Penny said, and led the way through the open gateway.
Taking the precaution to keep tall bushes between themselves and the wishing well, the girls quietly stole closer. Soon they were near enough to distinguish that someone in dark clothing was kneeling on the ground, face turned away from them. Apparently the person was trying to lift one of the flagstones which formed a circular base about the covered well.
“Who can he be?” Penny whispered, pausing. “And what is he doing?”
At that moment the figure straightened, and the lantern was lifted from the ground.
“It’s a she, not a he!” Louise observed in an undertone.
“Mrs. Marborough!”
“It looks like her from here,” Louise nodded. “But what can she be doing at the well?”
Completely mystified, the girls remained motionless, watching. Mrs. Marborough raised one of the flagstones and peered beneath it.