The Mystery on Cobbett's Island by Kathryn Kenny Read Free Book Online Page A

settled on the island, and it had been in his family ever since.
    â€œUnfortunately, Uncle Jasper, who was the last to live here before we came, was sort of an oddball.” Peter chuckled as he continued. “He wasn’t interested in the house or the gardens, and he had just enough repairs done to keep things halfway livable. He spent all his time on some research project. I think it was about the eating habits of some remote African tribe, but he never even got around to writing the book about it. So the place went to pieces while he lived here.”
    â€œWhat are those rocks over there?” asked Di, pointing to some crudely carved stones under a huge oak tree.
    â€œThat’s a slave cemetery,” Peter answered. “We found it last year when the tree surgeons were working on that old oak, and later, Dad found a list of the slaves in an old ledger.”
    The driveway made a graceful curve a little farther on and revealed the house, set among stately trees andbushes of syringa and lilac. It was a two-story house with an enormous central chimney. The only thing about it that was not perfectly simple was the main doorway which was dark red and flanked on each side by narrow leaded windows. Overhead was an arched panel bearing a beautifully carved eagle.
    â€œOh, how lovely!” cried Honey as they went through the gate of the picket fence. “I can hardly wait to see the inside.”
    Peter called his mother who came into the large central hall to meet them and be introduced.
    â€œI’m so glad to see all of you. It’s always a pleasure to have Peter’s friends here, and I want you to feel welcome at any time,” she said with a warm smile which was very much like her son’s. “And now if you will excuse me, I’ll let Peter give you what he calls the fifty-cent tour of the house. I’m trying to get ready for a garden party I’m giving later this week, but the storm has really put a quirk in my plans.” With a friendly wave, she was gone.
    â€œA garden party! What a perfect place for one,” said Trixie, “but the storm surely came at the wrong time.”
    â€œI’ll say it did!” said Peter. “We’ve been working for days to clean up the gardens, and we’d hoped to get the old gazebo in shape before the party, but I’m afraid nowwe’ll have to let that go and just get this fallen stuff cleared up. I guess Mother will have to serve tea on the porch.”
    â€œLook, I have an idea,” said Trixie, her eyes shining. “Why can’t the Bob-Whites help you clear up? We haven’t a thing planned, and we’d love to repay you for all the help you gave us this morning.”
    â€œI’m all for it!” cried Jim. “How about it, Peter? When can we start?”
    The others joined in enthusiastically as they crowded around Peter with suggestions and offers of help.
    â€œGosh, that’s great of you, and you don’t have to repay me for a thing. But this party is to raise money for a new town library, so on behalf of the Library Building Fund Committee, I gratefully accept your offer,” he said, making a theatrically low bow. “You know, if word gets around that more of the gardens have been opened up and the gazebo restored, more people will come to see them.”
    â€œMore people,
ergo
, more money,” said Mart gleefully. “Right?”
    â€œI don’t know anything about ‘
ergo
,’ ” said Trixie, “but ‘money’ I understand. When do we start?”
    â€œWe can start as soon as I show you the rest of thehouse,” Peter said, leading them into the sitting-room. He pressed one of the little rosettes on the mantle, and to everyone’s surprise, one of the panels above the fire-place slid slowly back revealing a hiding place behind.
    â€œThere wasn’t a thing in it except some old copies of
Youth’s Companion
,” said