Mystery Behind the Wall
Mystery Behind the Wall
GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER
Illustrated by David Cunningham
ALBERT WHITMAN & Company, Chicago, Illinois
Contents
CHAPTER
I
don’t know what to do with myself,” exclaimed Benny one day.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say that, Benny Alden!” said his older brother, Henry. “What’s the matter with you?”
“I tell you I don’t know,” repeated Benny. “I’ve got a whole summer vacation and I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve used up one week already. I don’t like just to sit around.”
He slid down in his chair.
Jessie, Benny’s sister, nodded. She said, “You are right, Benny. You worked hard at school all year. And you don’t know what to do with a vacation because your friends have gone away. You’re lonesome.”
“Well, maybe,” Benny said doubtfully.
Grandfather Alden said nothing. He liked to let his four grandchildren settle their own problems. He was always there if they needed help. But even Mr. Alden was surprised to hear Mrs. McGregor, the family’s housekeeper, put in a word.
Mrs. McGregor had worked for Grandfather Alden for many years. She was there long before the four Alden children came to live with their grandfather. She was a short little woman with grayish-brown hair done in a knot on the back of her head. She never paid any attention to style. She just did the cooking and looked out for the four children and their grandfather.
Now she said to Grandfather Alden, “I know what is the matter. Benny is lonesome, even with a brother and two sisters and a grandfather and a dog and a cat. What he wants is something new and exciting. And I have thought of something.”
Grandfather Alden smiled and said, “Let’s hear it, Mrs. McGregor. Anything you have to say will interest me, whatever it is.”
“Well, as you know, I have a sister living in Canada. She is always writing to me about a neighbor boy who is lonesome, too. He is ten years old now, and an only child. Very few people come out to his place. He seems to be lively, always thinking up something new to do. He works hard, too, to help his father. If he came here for a visit, he’d think this house was wonderful. You wouldn’t have to take him anywhere outside these four walls. He’d find plenty to do all by himself.”
Benny gave a little jump on one foot. He had a big smile.
“Look at that!” Jessie Alden said. “Benny isn’t lonesome anymore.” She smiled at Benny. “You have saved the day, Mrs. McGregor.”
“What’s the boy’s name?” asked Violet.
“His name is Roderick, but no one uses it. Everybody calls him Rory,” Mrs. McGregor answered. “If you called out ‘Roderick,’ he wouldn’t even turn his head. His last name is Beaton.”
“That’s a good name—Rory,” said Benny. “I like Rory better than Roderick myself.”
The Alden family acted as if Rory Beaton was coming that very day. And he hadn’t even been invited!
Jessie said thoughtfully, “Where would you put him, Mrs. McGregor? That empty room next to Benny’s is not really a boy’s room. The wallpaper has roses, and the pictures are old-fashioned.”
“I’ll take care of that,” replied Mrs. McGregor. “There’s a red bedspread I can put in there. Maybe he won’t even look at the pictures. He’s a busy boy who is forever moving around, doing something. He may tire Benny out.”
“A ten-year-old boy tire me out?” demanded Benny. “I’d like to see him do that!”
Then Grandfather put in a word. “You have to fix up his room, Mrs. McGregor, but Benny and the others can help you.”
“Let’s go,” Benny said.
“We’d love to do it,” Violet said. “It’s fun to fix up a room for company. Let’s go now. It will make the time go faster.”
Mr. Alden said, “Wait. Might as well finish this business at once. Maybe Rory’s parents won’t let him come.”
“I think his mother will be glad to let him come. She knows I’ll be right at hand to take care of him,” replied Mrs. McGregor.
The four Aldens smiled to see their grandfather go at once to the telephone. He always did things at once, or not at all.
Mrs. McGregor gave Grandfather the telephone number. Soon he said, “How do you do. Is this Mrs. Beaton?”
Benny could not hear Mrs. Beaton’s reply, but he knew his grandfather was pleased. That must mean Rory could come.
Mr. Alden said, “Just as soon as you receive his airplane fare, send Rory along. We will meet him at the airport. Yes, Mrs. McGregor is fine. In fact, she was the one who thought of this plan.”
When Mr. Alden put the phone down, he said, “You must remember that the boy comes from Canada and he will not talk exactly the way we do. You will have to be careful about that.”
“Oh, we will be,” said Violet, “no matter how he talks.”
“How soon do you think he’ll get here?” Benny asked.
“Three or four days, perhaps,” his grandfather answered. “The Beatons will let us know when to expect him.”
“Let’s get things ready right now,” Benny said.
So everyone, even Henry, ran upstairs to fix a room for their Canadian visitor.
“If Rory has the room next to mine,” Benny said, “we can rap on the wall for signals.” He was making big plans already for his guest.
They opened the door and looked in. “Not much of a room for a boy,” said Jessie.
“Not much of a guest room, either,” added Violet. “Look at the old-fashioned wallpaper with roses all over it.” She pulled up the shades at the windows and the sun shone in.
“That wallpaper has been here for ages,” Jessie said. “It was here when we came to live with Grandfather, and it was old then.”
Henry said, “I haven’t looked around in here for a long time. I think that this was once a girl’s room.”
Violet nodded. “I have a funny feeling about this room. It seems so sad to me. I don’t know why. I guess perhaps it’s because it is usually shut up.”
Benny was looking at a picture hanging on the wall near the bed. He said, “Look at this old photograph! It’s a girl and her family on the front walk of a house.”
“Let me look,” Henry said. “Why, Benny! It’s
this
house—look, you can see the front door and the steps.”
“Yes, but—” Benny said. “Our house is much bigger and it has another part over at the side. And the trees and bushes are bigger.”
“That picture was taken years ago,” Henry said.
Jessie said, “Let’s ask Grandfather about it. Maybe the house was changed after this picture was taken.”
Violet looked at the picture and the girl. Then she stared at one of the windows in the picture. She saw something no one else had noticed. There was a poster in the window.
“Look!” she said. “There’s a poster that says ‘Coolidge for President.’ Now when was that?”
Henry said, “Well, President Coolidge was elected, let me think, before 1929.”
“So that little girl must be pretty old now,” Benny said. “I wonder what became of her.”
Just then Mrs. McGregor came in with the red bedspread and everyone forgot about the photograph.
Mrs. McGregor said, “Here. Rory will like this, I think.”
Jessie said, “That’s right. It will make this look more like a boy’s room. But Mrs. McGregor, do you remember when Grandfather bought this house?”
“Well, he had it for a short time before I came to work here. I was just a girl myself. I can hardly believe it, but it must have been forty years ago.”
Mrs. McGregor shook her head and added, “Time goes by fast when you’re busy.”
“And slowly when you’re waiting for someone,” Benny said.
Everyone laughed. Benny and Grandfather were alike—neither of them liked to wait.
T
he four Aldens went to the airport to meet Rory. Their grandfather and Mrs. McGregor went along, too. Everyone was excited, wondering what Rory would be like.
“There he is!” exclaimed Benny, waving. “He sees us!”
“My, he’s bigger than I thought he would be,” Mrs. McGregor said.
Rory proved to be a sturdy boy of about ten and also a great talker.
Henry drove, and Rory sat beside him. Rory said, “You’re a good driver, Henry. I’m too young to drive a car, but I drive the tractor on our farm.”
Benny leaned over the front seat. He said, “How can you drive if you are only ten?”
“It’s only at home I drive. Just in the fields. I can’t drive a car. I. can drive and pull the power-disc harrow and the seeder. But I can’t drive a plain car.”
Benny laughed. He said, “I should think a plain car would be easy for you.”
“Likely it would,” agreed Rory. “But I could not run it on the highway. I don’t know how to drive in traffic.”
The Aldens did not ask about Rory’s Canadian speech. It was the other way around. Almost the first thing Rory said was, “Benny, you talk funny. You say ‘about the house,’ and I say ‘aboot the hoose.’”
The Aldens laughed. It was true they and Rory said some words differently. But that just made it more interesting to have a Canadian friend.
“What else do you do on the farm?” asked Benny.
“I help Dad when he has to cut down a tree. After the tree has fallen, I chop off small branches. Then I work with Dad to get the stump out.”
“Why?” Benny asked.
“Well, we cut the tree down to make our garden bigger. The stump is in the way. We have a flower garden and a grand vegetable garden, too.”
Henry said, “That sounds like hard work.”
“Aye, it is,” replied Rory. “I mean yes,” he added. “My dad is Scottish, you know.”
“Like Mrs. McGregor,” said Jessie. “She used to call Violet a wee bit of a girl.”
“Here we are!” Benny said. “This is where we live, Rory. Everybody out!”
Grandfather said, “Have a good time, Rory. I’ll see you at dinner.”
Henry and Benny carried Rory’s things upstairs.
Benny said, “Want me to help you hang up your clothes?”
“Aye, that I do,” replied Rory. He sat down in a big rocking chair and began to rock. He looked around his new room.
“Nice wallpaper,” he said. “I like roses. And I like that red bedspread. That is a jolly big closet for one boy. And what’s the picture of the house and that pretty little girl?”
Benny laughed. “Rory, you’re interested in everything, aren’t you? Probably Grandfather can tell you the answers. I don’t know.”
“Really, I am interested in almost everything,” Rory said thoughtfully. He didn’t mind having Benny laugh. “I like to know about things,” he added.
“Yes, that’s what Mrs. McGregor said,” Benny replied. Benny took one of Rory’s jackets and hung it in the closet. He took a coat and put it in the closet, too.
“That closet looks funny to me,” Rory said. “I don’t understand it.”
“What’s wrong with it?” asked Henry, who was going down the hall.
“Well,” Rory said, “I thought that closet would be long and go way back. But it doesn’t. It’s almost square inside.”
Benny knocked on the back wall of the closet. It was a wooden wall, not a plastered one.
“I can tell you about that myself,” Benny said. “You see my room is next door. My closet backs up to yours. This wooden wall divides the space. Here, I’ll draw you a little map.”
“I see,” said Rory. “The R is for my room and the B is for your room.”
