The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels

by Mildred Benson

  “Don’t you ever patronize a filling station?” Louise inquired as her chum headed the automobile down the street.

  “Oh, now and then,” Penny grinned. “After that cheque I wrote for the Breens’ rent, I’m feeling rather poor. Dad is much better able to buy gasoline than I, and he won’t begrudge me a couple of gallons.”

  “You certainly have your family well trained,” Louise sighed. “I wish I knew how you get by with it.”

  The car toured through Riverview and presently arrived at the entrance of the Dorset Tourist Camp. An attendant stopped the girls, but allowed them to drive on when he learned that they did not wish to make reservations for a cabin. Penny drew up not far from where the Breen trailer was parked.

  “A light is still burning there,” Louise observed. “We’ll have to be careful if we don’t want to be seen.”

  As Penny lifted the heavy basket from the rear compartment of the automobile, she noticed another car standing not far away. It looked somewhat familiar and in studying it more intently she noted the license plate.

  “Why, it’s that same Texas car!” she exclaimed. “Those men must still be here.”

  “What car? What men?”

  “Oh, this evening two strangers inquired the way to this tourist camp,” Penny explained briefly. “They said they were looking for Ted Wiegand.”

  “Friends of his?”

  “I don’t know who they were or what they wanted. It struck me as odd though, that they would come from such a long distance.”

  “Whoever they are, they must be at the trailer now,”Louise said after a moment. “Should we leave the basket on the doorstep or wait until they’ve gone?”

  “We can’t very well wait, Lou. They might decide to stay half the night.”

  Carrying the basket between them, the girls moved noiselessly toward the trailer. Blinds had not been drawn and they could see Mr. and Mrs. Breen, Rhoda, and the two men seated at the table carrying on an animated discussion.

  “I wish I knew why those Texas fellows came here,”Penny remarked thoughtfully. “If we wanted to find out—”

  “I’ll not listen at any window!” Louise cut her short.

  “I was merely thinking we could. Of course, I never would do such an ill-bred thing.”

  “I’m sure you won’t,” Louise replied with emphasis. “For a very good reason too! I shall take you away before temptation sways you.”

  Depositing the basket of food on the trailer doorstep, she forcibly pulled Penny to the waiting car.

  CHAPTER 6

  A WISH FULFILLED

  At school the next morning, both Penny and Louise eagerly awaited some indication from Rhoda Wiegand that the basket of food had been discovered by the Breen family. The girl had failed to appear at five minutes to nine, and they began to wonder if she intended to absent herself from classes.

  “Oh, by the way, what did Mrs. Weems say about last night’s little episode?” Louise asked her chum curiously.

  “Entirely too much,” Penny sighed. “She sent me three thousand words on the budget problems of a housekeeper! If you don’t mind, let’s allow the subject to rest in peace.”

  It was time for the final school bell, and the two girls started toward the assembly room. Just then Rhoda, breathless from hurrying, came into the hallway. Her eyes sparkled and obviously, she was rather excited.

  “Girls, something strange happened last night!” she greeted Penny and Louise. “You’ll never guess!”

  “We couldn’t possibly,” Louise said soberly.

  “Two baskets of food were left at the door of our trailer! It’s silly to say it, I know, but it seems as if my wish at the old well must have had something to do with it.”

  “Did you say two baskets of food were left?” Louise questioned, gazing sideways at Penny.

  “Yes, one came early in the evening. Then this morning when Mrs. Breen opened the door, she found still another. You don’t suppose any of the members of the Palette Club did it, do you? We shouldn’t like to accept charity—”

  “I’ll ask the girls if you want me to,” Penny offered hastily. “If any of them did, nothing was said about it to me.”

  “Maybe the old well granted your wish, Rhoda,”Louise added. “You know, folks say it has a reputation for doing good deeds.”

  The ringing of the school bell brought the conversation to an abrupt end. However, as Louise and Penny went to their seats, the latter whispered:

  “Who do you suppose left that second basket on the Breen doorstep?”

  “Probably one of the other club members had the same idea you did,” Louise responded. “Anyway, the Breens will be well fed for a few days at least.”

  At recess Penny made a point of questioning every member of the Palette Club. Not one of the girls would admit having carried the basket to the trailer park, but all were agreed that Rhoda should be invited to join the art organization. Without exception, they liked the girl after becoming acquainted with her.

  “The mystery deepens,” Penny commented to Louise as they wandered, arm in arm, about the school yard. “If no one in the Palette Club prepared the basket, then who did do it?”

  “I guess we’ll have to attribute it to the old wishing well after all,” Louise chuckled. “Let me see your ears, my pet.”

  “What for? Don’t you think I ever wash them?”

  “I merely want to see if they’ve grown since we were at the Marborough place. Why, goodness me, I believe they are larger!”

  Before Penny could think of a suitable retort, Rhoda joined the girls. Curious to learn more of the two Texas men who had arrived in Riverview, they gave the newcomer every opportunity to speak of it. As she remained uncommunicative, Penny brought up the subject by mentioning that two strangers had asked her how they might locate the trailer family.

  “Yes, they found us all right,” Rhoda replied briefly. “Mr. Coaten came to see Ted.”

  “An old friend, I suppose,” Louise remarked.

  “Not exactly. I can’t figure out just why he did come here.”

  Rhoda frowned and lapsed into silence. Penny and Louise did not question her further, and a few minutes later recess ended.

  The affairs of the Breen family concerned Penny only slightly. Although she kept wondering why Mr. Coaten and his companion were in Riverview, she gave far more thought to the stone which had been dug up on the Gleason farm. Directly after school she proposed to Louise that they drive into the country and interview the farmer.

  “I don’t mind the trip,” her chum said, “but why are you so interested in an old rock?”

  “Oh, Dad thinks the whole story may be a hoax. I’d like to learn the truth, if I can.”

  Mindful that in the past Penny had brought the Riverview Star many an important “scoop,” Louise was very willing to accompany her on the trip. Four-thirty found the two girls at the Gleason farm in conversation with the old farmer.

  “I’ve been pestered to death ever since that rock was found here,” he told them somewhat crossly. “There’s nothing new to tell. I was plowing in the south field back of the barn, when I turned it up. I didn’t pay much attention until Jay Franklin come along and said the writing on it might interest the museum folks. He gave me a couple of dollars, and paid to have old man Crocker haul it to town.”

  “I didn’t know Jay Franklin had an interest in the stone,” Penny remarked. “You say he gave you two dollars for it?”

  “That’s right,” the farmer nodded. “I was glad to have the rock hauled off the place.”

  Satisfied that they could learn no more, Penny and Louise inspected the hole from which the stone had been removed, and then drove toward Riverview.

  “Mr. Gleason seemed honest enough,” Penny commented thoughtfully. “If the rock was deliberately planted on his farm I don’t believe he had anything to do with it.”

  “He isn’t sufficiently clever to plan and carry out an idea like that,” Louise added. “Maybe the writing on the rock
is genuine.”

  “The curator of the museum thinks it may be. All the same, I’ll stack Dad’s opinion against them all.”

  The car approached the old Marborough place, and Penny deliberately slowed down. To the surprise of the girls, they observed two automobiles parked in front of the property.

  “It looks as if Mrs. Marborough has guests today,”Penny commented. “Shall we stop and say hello?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” Louise replied doubtfully as the car drew up at the edge of the road. “We’re not really acquainted with her, and with others there—”

  “They’re leaving now,” Penny said, jerking her head to draw attention to a group of ladies coming down the walk toward the street.

  The visitors all were known to the two girls as women prominent in Riverview club circles. Mrs. Buckmyer, a stout, pompous lady who led the procession, was speaking to the others in an agitated voice.

  “In all my life I never was treated with less courtesy! Mrs. Marborough at least might have invited us into her house!”

  “I always understood that she was a queer person,” contributed another, “but one naturally would expect better manners from a Marborough.”

  “I shouldn’t object to her manners if only she would allow the Pilgrimage Committee the use of her house,” added a third member of the group. “What a pity that she refuses to consider opening it during the Festival Week.”

  Still chattering indignantly, the women entered their separate cars and drove away.

  “What did you make of that?” Louise asked in perplexity.

  “Apparently Mrs. Marborough gave them the brush off,” Penny chuckled. “I know Mrs. Buckmyer heads the Pilgrimage Committee.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Haven’t you heard about it, Louise? A group of club women decided to raise money by conducting a tour of old houses. In this community there are a number of places which date back over a hundred years.”

  “And people will pay money to see them?”

  “That’s the general idea. Festival Week has been set for the twenty-sixth of this month. During a five-day period the various homes are open, gardens will be on display, and costume parties may be held at them.”

  “There’s only one colonial house that I’d care about getting inside,” Louise said. “I should like to see the interior of Rose Acres.”

  “Maybe we can do it now. Mrs. Marborough invited us to visit her again.”

  “Yes, but did she really mean it?”

  “Why not find out?” Penny laughed, swinging open the car door.

  Entering the grounds, the girls saw that very little had been done to the property since their last visit. A half-hearted attempt had been made to rake one side of the lawn and an overgrown lilac bush had been mercilessly mutilated. Shutters on the house remained closed and the entire place had a gloomy, deserted appearance.

  Penny rapped on the door. Evidently Mrs. Marborough had noted the approach of the two girls for she responded to their knock immediately.

  “Good afternoon,” Penny began, “we were driving by and thought we would drop in to see you again.”

  “How nice of you,” Mrs. Marborough smiled. “Look over the garden as much as you please.”

  “The garden—” Louise faltered, gazing quickly at Penny.

  “Or make wishes at the well,” Mrs. Marborough went on hastily. “Go anywhere you like, and I’ll join you as soon as I get a wrap.”

  The door closed gently in their faces.

  “Who wants to see a tangle of weeds?” Louise demanded in a whisper. “Why didn’t Mrs. Marborough invite us into the house?”

  “Why indeed?” echoed Penny, frowning thoughtfully. “There can be but one reason! She has a dark secret which she is trying to hide from the world!”

  CHAPTER 7

  PENNY’S DISCOVERY

  “Hiding a secret, my eye!” laughed Louise. “Penny Parker, sometimes I think that every person in Riverview suggests mystery and intrigue to you!”

  “Then you explain why Mrs. Marborough doesn’t invite us into her house!” Penny challenged her chum. “And why did she turn the members of the Pilgrimage Committee away?”

  “Oh, probably the place isn’t fixed up the way she wants it yet.”

  “That’s no reason. No, she has a different one than that, Lou, and I’m curious to learn what it is.”

  “You’re always curious,” Louise teased, taking Penny by the arm. “Come along. Let’s get a drink at the well.”

  While the girls were lowering the bucket into the bricked cavern, Mrs. Marborough joined them, a woolen shawl thrown over her head and shoulders.

  “I’ve not had time to get much work done yet,” she apologized. “I really must hire a man to clean up the grounds.”

  “Then you have decided to make your home here?”Louise inquired eagerly.

  “For the present, I may. Much depends upon how a certain project turns out.”

  Penny and Louise waited hopefully, but Mrs. Marborough said no more. Changing the subject, she inquired about Rhoda Wiegand and the other members of the Palette Club.

  “I like young people,” she declared brightly. “Do tell your friends to come to Rose Acres whenever they wish.”

  “A rather strange thing occurred yesterday,” Penny said suddenly. “Rhoda made a wish here at the well, and it came true.”

  “What was the wish?” the old lady inquired with curiosity.

  “That the people with whom she lives might have more food. Two baskets were left at the trailer camp. Louise and I were responsible for one of them, but we can’t account for the other.”

  “Very interesting,” Mrs. Marborough commented. “In years past, a great many wishes which were made here, apparently came true. So I can’t say that I am surprised.”

  “To what do you attribute it?” Louise asked quickly.

  “Chance perhaps,” Mrs. Marborough smiled. “One cannot explain such things.”

  A chill, penetrating wind blew from the direction of the river. Shivering, Louise drew her jacket collar closer about her neck, remarking rather pointedly that the weather was turning colder. Even then, Mrs. Marborough did not suggest that the girls enter the house. A moment later, however, she excused herself and went inside, leaving them alone in the garden.

  “It does seem odd that she acts so secretive,” Louise commented. “I’m inclined to agree with members of the Pilgrimage Committee that her manners aren’t the best.”

  “Perhaps you’ll finally decide that I am right!”Penny said triumphantly. “Take my word for it, there’s something inside the house she doesn’t want anyone to see!”

  Louise started slowly toward the road, only to pause as her chum proposed that they walk to the river and call upon Truman Crocker, the stonecutter.

  “You intend to tell him who stole his chicken?” Louise asked in surprise.

  Penny shook her head. “No, I’ll let him discover it for himself. I want to talk to him about that big rock he hauled to the museum.”

  Louise could not imagine what useful information her chum might expect to gain, but she obediently trailed Penny through the rear yard of Rose Acres, down a sloping path which led to the river.

  “I hope you know the way,” she remarked dubiously as the going became more difficult, and they were forced to move slowly.

  “Oh, we can’t miss the cabin. Crocker’s place is the only one near here,” Penny responded.

  The trail was a narrow one, so infrequently used that bushes and vines had overgrown it in many places. Finally emerging on an open hillside, the girls were able to gaze down upon the winding river. Recent rains had swollen it to the very edges of the banks, and from a distance Truman Crocker’s shack appeared to be situated dangerously close to the water.

  “Wouldn’t you think he would soon be flooded out?” Louise commented, pausing to catch her breath. “I shouldn’t care to live so near the river.”

  “Oh, the water never comes much higher,”
Penny rejoined. “A few years ago the city built some sort of river control system which takes care of the spill should there be any. Anyway, Crocker’s place wouldn’t represent much of a loss if it did wash away.”

  The girls regained their breath, and then started down the slope. Penny, who was leading the way, did not pay particular attention to the rutty path. Suddenly catching her shoe in a small hole, she tripped and fell sideways.

  “Ooh, my arm!” she squealed. “I struck it on a big rock!”

  Louise helped Penny to her feet, brushing dirt from the girl’s skirt.

  “You’ve ripped your stocking,” she said sympathetically.

  “I guess I’m lucky it wasn’t my head,” Penny returned gazing ruefully at the tear. “Let’s sit down and rest a minute.”

  Seating herself on the large smooth rock, she gingerly examined a bruised place on her elbow. Louise stood beside her, plucking burs from her chum’s sweater.

  “I’m all right now,” Penny said a moment later, getting up. “Why, Lou! Do you see what I’ve been sitting on?”

  “A rock, my pet.”

  “A stone that looks exactly like the one at the museum!”Penny cried excitedly.

  “All rocks are pretty much alike, aren’t they?”

  “Certainly not,” Penny corrected. “There are any number of varieties. This one is quartz unless I’m mistaken and it does resemble the one at the museum.”

  “Maybe you can find some writing on it,” Louise teased. “The rock only weighs two or three hundred pounds. Shall I lift it for you so you can see the under side?”

  “Don’t bother,” Penny retorted, eagerly examining the stone. “I’ve already found it.”

  “Found what?”

  “The writing! I knew this stone looked like the one at the museum!”

  Louise was certain that her chum merely pretended to have made such an important discovery. However, as Penny continued to examine the rock in an intent, absorbed way, she decided to see for herself.

  “Why, it’s true!” she exclaimed incredulously. “There is writing on the stone!”