Yes, the door was locked, and there was no vestige1 of a key. Joyce was suddenly inspired with an idea.
"Let's try the keys of the other doors! I noticed that they most all had keys in the locks. Perhaps one will fit this." They hunted up several and worked with them all, but not one made the slightest impression on this obstinate2 lock.
"Now isn't this provoking!" exclaimed Joyce. "The only room in the house that we can't get in, and the most interesting of all, I'm certain! What shall we do?" Cynthia made no reply, but looked at her little silver watch.
"Do you know that it's quarter-past six?" she asked quietly.
"Mercy, no! We've got to go at once then. How the time has gone!" Reluctantly enough they hunted up Goliath, who in thorough boredom3 had returned to his place on the hearth-rug in the big bedroom, gathered together their candles, and found their way to the cellar. Cynthia had thoughtfully requested a tin biscuit-box from the grocer, and in this they packed their candles, thus protecting them against the ravages4 of mice, and left them in the cellar near the window. Then they clambered out.
"To-morrow's Saturday," said Joyce. "In the morning we'll go to the library and look up that book of costumes. After lunch we'll go back to the B. U. H. and finish exploring. There's the attic5 yet, and maybe we can find that key, too!" With a gay good-by they separated each to her home, on opposite sides of the Boarded-up House.
The result of their researches in the library, next morning, was not wholly satisfactory. They found that the most recent fashion of hoop-skirts or crinolines had prevailed all the way from 1840 to 1870, or thereabouts. And while these dates limited, to a certain extent the time of the mysterious happening, it did not help them very much. They felt that they must look for some more definite clue.
That afternoon they entered the Boarded-up House for the third time. They found Goliath already in the cellar, owing, no doubt, to the fact that Bates's pup was patrolling the front yard. So they invited him to accompany them, an invitation which he accepted with arched back and resounding6 purr. Deciding to explore the attic first, they found that a door from the upper hall opened on a stairway leading to it.
At any other time, or in any other house, they would have found this attic of absorbing interest. In its dusky corners stood spinning wheels and winding-reels. Decrepit7 furniture of an ancient date had found a refuge there. Antique hair trunks lined the sides, under the eaves, and quaint8 garments hung about on pegs9. The attic was the only apartment in this strange house that received the light of day, for the two little windows like staring eyes were not boarded up. So dim were they, however with dirt and cobwebs, that very little daylight filtered through.
But the attic had no great holding interest at present, since it was evident that it contained no clue to help them in the solution of the mystery. And they soon left it, to search anew every room below, in the hope of coming upon the missing key.
"These old-fashioned keys are so immense that it hardly seems possible that any one would carry one off—far," conjectured10 Joyce. "But why in the world should just that room be locked, anyway? What can be hidden there? I'm wild,—simply wild with impatience11 to see it all!"
The search for the key was not exactly systematic12. Neither of the girls felt at liberty to open bureau-drawers or pry13 into closets and trunks. Besides, as Cynthia wisely suggested, it was not likely that any one would lock a door so carefully and then put the key in a drawer or trunk or on a shelf. They would either carry it away with them or lay it down, forgotten, or hide it in some unusual place. If it had been carried away, of course their search was useless. But if it had been thoughtlessly laid aside somewhere, or even hidden away in some obscure corner, there was a possibility that they might come upon it.
With this hope in mind, they went from room to room, searching on desks, chairs, and tables, poking14 into dark corners, peeping into vases and[Pg 61] other such receptacles, and feeling about under the furniture; but all to no purpose. They came at last to the great bedroom where were so many signs of agitation15 and hurried departure, deciding that here would be the most likely field for discovery. Goliath had evidently preceded them, for they found him once more curled up on the soft rug before the fireplace. He seemed to prefer this comfortable spot to all others, but he rose and stretched when the girls came in. Joyce went straight for the chimney-place.
"I'm going to poke16 among these ashes," she announced. "A lot of things seem to have been burned here, mostly old letters. Who knows but what the key may have been thrown in too!" She began to rake the dead ashes, and suddenly a half-burned log fell apart, dropping something through to the bottom with a "chinking" sound.
"Did you hear that?" she whispered. "Something clinked! Ashes or wood won't make that sound. Oh, suppose it is the key!" She raked away again frantically17, and hauled out a quantity of charred18 debris19, but nothing even faintly resembling a key. When nothing more remained, she poked20 the fragments disgustedly, while Cynthia looked on.
"See there!" Cynthia suddenly exclaimed. "It isn't a key, but what's that round thing?" Joyce had seen it at the same moment and picked it up—a small, elliptical disk so blackened with soot21 that nothing could be made of it till it was wiped off. When freed from its coating of black, one side proved to be of shining metal, probably gold, and the other of some white or yellowish substance, the girls could not tell just what. In the center of this was a curious smear22 of various dim colors.
"I can't imagine. Whatever it was, the fire has pretty well finished it. You can see that it must have been rather valuable once,—there's gold on it. Here's another question to add to our catechism: what is it, and why was it thrown in the fire? Whatever it was, it doesn't help much now. If it had only been the key!— Good gracious! is that a rat?" Both girls jumped to their feet and stood listening to the strange sounds that came from under the valance hanging about the bottom of the great four-poster bed. It was a curious, intermittent24, irregular sound, as of something being pushed about the floor. After they had listened a moment, it suddenly struck them both that the noise was somehow very familiar.
"Why, it's Goliath, of course!" laughed Cynthia. "This is the second time he has scared us. He has something under there that he's playing with, knocking it about, you know. Let's see what it is!" They tiptoed over and raised the valance.
Cynthia was right. Goliath was under the bed, dabbing25 gracefully26 with one paw at something attached to a string or narrow ribbon. Despite the rolls of dust that lay about, Joyce crawled under and rescued it. She emerged with a flushed face and a triumphant27 chuckle28. "Goliath beats us all!! He's made the best find yet!"
"Is it the key?" cried Cynthia.
"No, it's this!" And before Cynthia's astonished eyes Joyce dangled29 a large gold locket, suspended on a narrow black velvet30 ribbon. In the candle-light the locket glistened31 with tiny jewels.
"Do you recognize it?" demanded Joyce.
"Recognize it? How should I?"
"Why, Cynthia! It's the very one that hangs about the neck of our Lovely Lady in the picture down-stairs!" It was, indeed, no other. Even the narrow black velvet ribbon was identical.
"She must have dropped it accidentally, perhaps when she took it off, and it rolled under the bed. In her hurry she probably forgot it," said Joyce, laying it beside the curious disk they had raked from the fireplace. "Isn't it a beauty? It must be very valuable." Cynthia bent32 down and examined both articles closely.
"Did you notice, Joyce," she presently remarked, "that those two things are exactly the same shape, and almost the same size?"
"Why, so they are!" exclaimed Joyce. "Oh, I have an idea, Cynthia! Can we open the locket? Let's try." She picked it up and pried33 at the catch with her thumb-nail. After a trifling34 resistance it yielded. The locket fell open and revealed itself—empty. Joyce took up the disk and fitted it into one side. With the gold back pressed inward, it slid into place, leaving no shadow of doubt that it had originally formed part of this trinket.
"Now," announced Joyce, "I know! It was a miniature, an ivory one, but the fire has entirely35 destroyed the likeness36. Question: how came it in the fire?" The two girls stood looking at each other and at the locket, more bewildered than ever by this curious discovery. Goliath, cheated of his plaything, was making futile37 dabs38 at the dangling39 velvet ribbon. Suddenly Joyce straightened up and looked Cynthia squarely in the eyes.
"I've thought it out," she said quietly. "It just came to me. The miniature was taken out of the locket—on purpose, to destroy it! The miniature was of the same person whose picture is turned to the wall down-stairs!"
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1
vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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14
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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smear
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| v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑 | |
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23
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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dabbing
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| 石面凿毛，灰泥抛毛 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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30
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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pried
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| v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的过去式和过去分词 )；撬开 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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35
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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38
dabs
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| 少许( dab的名词复数 )； 是…能手； 做某事很在行； 在某方面技术熟练 | |
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39
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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