The Secret of Dinswood

by Ellen Alexander

  After the unit on ballroom dancing concluded, the next several weeks seemed to fly by. March and midterms came and went, and before Emma knew it, spring had arrived; the winter snows were now nothing but a distant memory. The days grew warmer and longer, and the trees began to bud. The spring rains restored the grass of the front lawn to a vibrant green, and the jonquils and Easter lilies began to bloom along with the forsythia bushes that lined the front driveway. No mention had been made of the treasure since Christmas vacation. They had all been so busy with schoolwork and their hobby classes that they hadn’t had a chance to figure out a way to get a look at Lord Dinswood’s books. The fact that Mr. Hodges continued to watch the four of them suspiciously whenever they were in the library didn’t help matters either. Oh well, Emma thought with a sigh, finding anything useful in Lord Dinswood’s book collection had been a long shot anyway. Emma got the feeling that the others had given up on ever finding the treasure. She was on the brink of giving up herself when that fateful day arrived.

  It was the last Saturday in April. Emma, Martha, and Sebastian were all seated in the dining hall enjoying breakfast. Doug had spent the night with his dad and hadn’t come down to eat yet. When he did arrive, Emma could tell from his expression that something was terribly wrong. He came directly over to where they were sitting without getting his tray first.

  “Doug, what’s wrong?” Emma asked worriedly as Doug took his seat next to Sebastian. Martha and Sebastian, who’d been discussing the paper that Miss Grimstock had assigned the class, stopped talking and looked at Doug with evident concern.

  As if to emphasize the gravity of what he was about to tell them, Doug looked at each of them in turn before responding. Then with genuine sadness in his tone, he said, “Dad just told me that they’re going to have to close the school at the end of the semester.”

  Martha gasped, and Sebastian’s eyes opened in surprise, but Emma merely sat there in shock; her worst fears had just been confirmed. Nothing was said for a moment, and then Martha and Sebastian started talking at once.

  “They can’t do that!” Sebastian almost shouted.

  “You’ve got to be kidding!” Martha said, not wanting to believe the awful news but knowing in her heart that Doug would not tease about something like this.

  “Keep it down, guys,” Doug warned them. “Dad doesn’t want the rest of the student body to know just yet.”

  “There’s got to be something we can do,” Sebastian said, being careful to keep his voice down this time.

  “There is,” Emma, who had been silent up till now, said quietly. Although she’d spoken in a tone barely above a whisper, she suddenly had their full attention.

  Martha and Sebastian looked at her curiously, but Doug already seemed to know what Emma had in mind. Nodding his agreement, Doug said, “We can find the treasure!”

  Sebastian groaned. “How are we supposed to do that? We’ve already done everything we know to do. We’ve gone over that riddle thousands of times.”

  “Obviously, we’ve missed something. At the very least, we can go through the passageway again,” Doug said. Then another thought occurred to him. “We could do it the night of the junior-senior ball. Everyone will be in the ballroom at the opposite end of the hall, and it should be easy to slip into the library undetected. I can get the key like I did before, and if we do it while the ball is going on, we won’t have to worry about the security guards or any noise we might make.”

  Doug waited while the others mulled the idea over in their minds. It could actually work. The ball was in a couple of weeks, so there’d be plenty of time to work out a plan. What Doug had said about everyone being in the ballroom wasn’t exactly true, but it was true that everyone’s attention would be focused on the ballroom. Although the underclassmen could not attend the ball, they were allowed to observe the goings-on from the terrace. At any rate, the library would be closed the night of the ball.

  Sebastian was the first to break the silence with another question. “I don’t mean to be negative, but if we didn’t find anything in the passage the first time, what makes you think we’ll find anything this time?”

  Martha answered this objection. “It’s better than doing nothing, Sebastian. We’ve got to do something. I don’t want Dinswood Academy to close, do you?”

  “Of course not!” Sebastian replied, offended that Martha would even suggest such a thing.

  Another thought occurred to Emma. “We still have the book Martha bought at Cal’s store. We ought to go through it again too. Maybe we’ve overlooked something in the book.”

  Sebastian shook his head and sighed. He thought both activities would be a waste of time, but Martha was right. He didn’t want the school to close, and as he had no other solutions to offer, he guessed it was better than doing nothing.

  Doug agreed with Emma. They had found the riddle in that book. There had to be another clue in that same book that would help them find the treasure. Running a hand through his hair in frustration, he thought back to earlier that morning. “Dad was pretty upset when he told me the news. I thought I’d spend some time with him this morning, you know, to help take his mind off things, at least for a little while.” Doug paused and then looked up and added, “Why don’t we go over the book in the lounge after lunch?”

  Everyone agreed, and so after breakfast, they parted ways. Doug went upstairs to his dad’s suite; Sebastian went outside to play croquet with Phil and Tom, and Martha and Emma went to the lounge. Reggie was in the lounge when they entered, but Clarice and Susie were nowhere to be seen.

  “Where are Clarice and Susie?” Martha couldn’t help asking.

  “Oh, they’ll be here before long,” Reggie said. “Clarice needed to get something from her room, and Susie went with her.”

  Martha nodded her understanding but didn’t reply. Once settled in comfortable chairs, Emma began reading a book, and Martha began working on the word scrambles in the Saturday paper. Martha loved to do puzzles of any sort, but she wasn’t as good at them as Reggie. Every day, the paper gave six words to unscramble and then a riddle to solve using circled letters from each of the unscrambled words. Martha got the first five words rather quickly, but she was having trouble with the last one. The word consisted of seven letters, and after trying every combination she could think of, Martha finally decided to ask Reggie, who was still waiting patiently for Clarice to appear. “Reggie, come over here and see if you can get this word for me,” Martha called.

  “Are you doing the word scrambles in the paper?” Reggie asked as he got up.

  “Yeah, and I can’t get this last one.”

  Reggie came around behind Martha’s chair, so he could look over her shoulder. Martha pointed to the one that she was having trouble with, and within seconds, Reggie had the solution. “The word is surface,” Reggie said proudly.

  Martha looked at the letters, and sure enough, Reggie was right. “You’re amazing, Reggie! I don’t know how you do it.”

  Beaming with pleasure, Reggie returned to his seat and said, “It’s a gift. I just have a way with words.”

  “You sure do,” Martha replied with a smile. Just then, Clarice and Susie came in, and Reggie’s attention was diverted. Tired of puzzles for the time being, Martha put the paper down and asked Emma if she’d like to go outside for a while.

  Emma glanced out the window and readily agreed. It was a beautiful, sunny day with the temperature in the low sixties. It just wouldn’t be right to waste a day like that on the indoors. After grabbing their jackets from their room, they went outside. They spotted Sebastian just as he was attempting to hit his croquet ball through a wire wicket. Drawing his club back and then sharply forward, he sent the ball skipping across the grass and cleanly through the wicket.

  “Great shot!” Martha exclaimed.

  Startled, Sebastian looked up. He’d been so engrossed in the game, he hadn’t noticed their approach.

  “Do you care if we watch?” Martha asked.

  “N
ot a bit,” Sebastian answered, pleased that Martha had witnessed his great shot. “In fact, you guys can play as soon as we finish this game. There’re plenty of clubs, and it’s more fun when you have more people playing.” As Sebastian said this, he looked over at Phil and Tom for confirmation.

  “Yeah,” Tom readily agreed, “the more the merrier.”

  The morning passed quickly as they played croquet under a cloudless sky. Sebastian won the game he’d been playing when Emma and Martha had arrived; Phil won the next game, and then Tom won the last one. Although Emma and Martha didn’t win any of the games, they still had a lot of fun. Emma was amused at how attentive Sebastian was to Martha, showing her how to hold the club and set up her shots. Emma had long suspected that Sebastian was sweet on Martha, and his behavior today confirmed it. She was left to wonder if Martha returned his feelings; as of yet Martha hadn’t confided in her. As they put the croquet set away, Emma decided to leave well enough alone. Martha would talk to her if and when there was anything to tell.

  After lunch, Emma and Martha went to their room to get the book about the castle. “Let’s get a notebook too, so we can jot down any ideas that come to us,” Emma suggested.

  “Good idea,” Martha said, grabbing the notebook that was sitting on her nightstand.

  When they got to the lounge, they saw Reggie sitting all alone by the fireplace. Doug and Sebastian weren’t there yet. As she had earlier that day, Martha asked, “Where are Clarice and Susie?” The two girls hadn’t been in the dorm room when Emma and Martha were there, and they hadn’t met them on their way to the lounge either.

  “They went to freshen up in the ladies’ room,” Reggie said, shrugging his shoulders in a manner that indicated he didn’t understand girls. “They both looked fine to me, but what do I know?”

  Trying not to laugh, Martha said, “I’m sure they’ll be here in a minute.”

  Just then, Doug and Sebastian entered, and it was time to get down to the business at hand. Pulling up four chairs in a circular arrangement, they all sat down. Martha opened the notebook, ready to write down anything that might come to them as they looked through the book and riddle. Emma held the book in her lap and looked at the front cover. In the lower right-hand corner was a stamp bearing the name Cal Thrabek and the name and address of the bookstore. Before opening the book, Emma took a deep breath and sent up a short prayer that this time they would find something useful in it. Then she opened the book to the front inside cover and looked at Lord Dinswood’s signature and the reference to Matthew 7:7. It seemed like ages ago since they’d first opened the book that rainy day in Windland.

  They were all so focused on the book that they didn’t notice Reggie’s approach. “What are you guys looking at?” Reggie asked as he looked over Martha’s shoulder in an attempt to see what Emma was holding.

  Startled, Martha jumped. Reggie had spoken directly behind her. Before any of them could come up with a logical reply, Reggie dropped the first of two bombshells. “Blackheart,” he said proudly.

  “What?” Martha asked in surprise.

  Emma felt a chill run up her spine. How did Reggie know about Bart the Blackheart? Before she could ask him about it, Reggie was answering Martha.

  “Your word scramble,” Reggie said pointing to the notebook Martha was holding. “It’s Blackheart, but isn’t that two words?”

  Still thoroughly confused, Martha looked down at the notebook. The page was blank except where she had doodled the name Cal Thrabek. She was just processing the fact that Cal’s name was an anagram for Blackheart when Reggie dropped his second bombshell.

  “Well, what do you know about that?” Reggie said, pointing to the open book in Emma’s lap.

  This time, no one said anything as Reggie came to stand behind Emma’s chair. Leaning over Emma’s shoulder, Reggie pointed at the book and said, “It’s that portrait of Lord Dinswood that’s in the library.”

  Realizing that Reggie would begin to get suspicious if they all continued to sit there like statues, Emma managed to say in casual tones, “That’s right, Reggie. This is a book on the history of the castle. It’s got pictures of what the castle looked like before it became a school. I’m doing my paper for Miss Grimstock on the history of Dinswood Castle.”

  Emma might just as well have saved her breath as Reggie wasn’t listening but continued to look at the picture in the book with a frown on his face. “That portrait is hanging in the library now, but according to the caption in this book, it’s supposed to be hanging above the fireplace in here.”

  Emma felt the hair rising on the back of her neck as she began to read the caption under the picture of Lord Dinswood’s portrait. The caption stated that the picture was painted as Lord Dinswood relaxed in his favorite room. Confused, Emma looked up at Reggie and asked, “What makes you think this picture is supposed to be in here instead of the library?”

  Reggie heaved a big sigh as if the answer to Emma’s question should have been obvious. “Don’t you remember? Miss Grimstock told us that the lounge was Lord Dinswood’s favorite room in the castle when she took us around the school the first day we got here.”

  Now that Reggie mentioned it, Emma did recall Miss Grimstock saying something like that. Still not convinced, she said, “She could have been mistaken. After all, she wasn’t around when Lord Dinswood was living here, so how would she know what his favorite room was?”

  Reggie shook his head in a manner that made Emma feel like an idiot. Sighing once again, he pointed to the lower right-hand corner of the picture. “Look, you can see the corner of the table in front of the fireplace, and if you look a little bit closer, you can see the edge of a chessboard on the table and some chess pieces. Miss Grimstock said Lord Dinswood loved to play chess and always kept a chess board set up in the lounge.”

  All was quiet as they each tried to make sense of this new revelation. If Reggie was right, the picture had been moved. Why would anyone move the picture from the lounge to the library? With her heart pounding, Emma wracked her brain in an effort to come up with a logical explanation. When they had first arrived at Dinswood back in September, Miss Grimstock had told them that the school had once been a castle, and that it had been extensively renovated upon Lord Dinswood’s death. The most likely explanation for this discrepancy in the portrait’s location was that the portrait had been taken down to keep it from being ruined during the renovations and then unintentionally rehung in the wrong room. The mistake was understandable, as the fireplaces in both the library and the lounge were identical. When Lord Dinswood left his riddle, he could not have known that the picture would be moved. Emma looked up wide-eyed as she realized that the reason they hadn’t found the treasure was because they’d been looking in the wrong passageway. There was another passageway in the lounge’s fireplace, and it led to treasure!

  Emma looked at Martha and Doug and could tell from their expressions that they had come to the very same conclusion. It was probably a good thing that Clarice and Susie entered the lounge at that moment, because upon seeing the two girls, Reggie left them. Had he seen the look of astonishment on their faces, he most certainly would have become suspicious. As it happened, he left totally unaware of the bombshell he’d just dropped.

  Emma waited until Reggie was out of earshot before she cried excitedly, “Do you know what this means?”

  Doug and Martha were nodding their understanding, but Sebastian was still looking confused. “No! What does it mean?” he asked, looking at each of them in turn.

  Doug was the first to take pity on him. “It means that there must be another passageway in the lounge fireplace. We didn’t find the treasure before, because we were looking in the wrong passageway.”

  They all watched as Sebastian processed what Doug had told him. You could almost see the wheels of his mind turning. Then his eyes widened in understanding. “You’ve got to be kidding!” he almost shouted in his excitement.

  “Hold it down!” Martha warned in a loud whisper.


  At that, they all began looking around to make sure they hadn’t drawn the attention of the other students in the lounge. Fortunately, there were only a few students in the lounge at the moment, and none of those present seemed to be paying them any attention. Reggie had left with Susie and Clarice before Sebastian’s outburst. Emma was glad that they were in the lounge when they made the discovery instead of the library. Mr. Hodges would surely have noticed their strange behavior. A chill ran down Emma’s spine just at the thought of Mr. Hodges and his beady eyes, which always seemed to be watching them.

  Emma was brought back to the present when Doug said, “We’ve got some planning to do, but I don’t want to do it in here. Let’s go outside and see if we can find a quiet spot where no one can overhear us.”

  Everyone agreed, and after fetching their jackets from their rooms, they headed outside. One of the benches under an oak tree in the front lawn was currently unoccupied. Without a word, Doug led the group over to it. Once seated, they all began talking excitedly.

  “I can’t believe it! The answer was under our noses all the time!” Martha exclaimed.

  “Yeah. Good old Reggie. If it hadn’t been for him, we’d still be looking through that stupid book and planning to go through the wrong passage again,” Sebastian said.

  “Somehow I knew Reggie was going to be the key to solving the riddle,” Emma agreed.

  “Don’t get too excited yet. We still have to get into the passageway and find the treasure,” Doug said soberly, bringing them all back down to earth.