“I don’t believe Mrs. Marborough ever will change her mind.”
“Neither do I,” Penny agreed gloomily.
Two days elapsed during which nothing happened, according to the viewpoint of the girls. From Rhoda they learned that Ted was well established in his new job, and that Mr. Coaten seemed displeased about it. Mr. Parker reported that Jay Franklin had made progress in his efforts to sell the Marborough stone to the Riverview Museum. Other than that, there was no news, no developments of interest.
“Louise, let’s visit Truman Crocker again,” Penny proposed on Saturday afternoon when time hung heavily.
“What good would it do?” Louise demurred. “You know very well he doesn’t like to have us around.”
“He acted suspicious of us, which made me suspicious of him. I’ve been thinking, Lou—if the writing on those two stones were faked, it must have been done with a chisel—one which would leave a characteristic mark. Every tool is slightly different, you know.”
“All of which leads you to conclude—?”
“That if Truman Crocker did the faking he would have a tool in his workshop that would make grooves similar to those on the stones. An expert might compare them and tell.”
“Do we consider ourselves experts?”
“Of course not,” Penny said impatiently. “But if I could get the right tool, I could turn it over to someone who knows about such things.”