The Yellow House Mystery by Gertrude Warner Read Free Book Online

you’re right, Benny,” said Jessie in excitement. “What would we ever do without you? Let’s see what Joe and Alice think.”
    Joe and Alice had finished their letter when the children rushed in and began to tell their story.
    “So Dave Hunter built this house, did he?” said Joe. “That must have been a long time ago, for it’s an old house.”
    “Joe, Joe! I have an idea,” cried Henry. “Look around you at this house. Now—all of you pretend for a minute you’re in the little yellow house on Surprise Island.” He pointed around him as he went on, “There’s the fireplace of the little yellow house, and there’s the door, and there’s the window.”
    “Of course,” said Violet, “there’s the bedroom.”
    “And there’s the kitchen,” yelled Benny. “I guess Bill could just build one kind of house.”
    “Why, this old house is exactly the same as the little yellow house!” cried Jessie; “the same front door with two windows on one side and one on the other.”
    “The same chimney!” shouted Benny.
    “And the same front steps,” said Alice slowly. “Last night I felt as if I were sitting on the steps of the little yellow house.”
    “So that’s what it was!” cried Joe. “I felt that way, too. We sat there so many times after supper on our wedding trip.”
    They all looked at each other.
    “Now, let’s see how this was,” Henry said, excitedly. “Bill lived here first. Then he went to work for Great-grandfather Alden. Then he married Mrs. McGregor, and they lived on Surprise Island where he took care of the horses.”
    “They lived in the little yellow house,” said Benny.
    “That’s right,” said Henry. “He built it, Grandfather said, with the help of his brother.”
    “Oh, that brother, Sam!” cried Joe. “He was not much good. I think Sam is the clue to this mystery.”
    “So do I,” said Henry. “Remember Bill sold two race horses and went away without giving Mr. Alden the money.”
    “Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Joe. “That’s why Bill disappeared.”
    “But why didn’t he let his wife know where he was all those years?” asked Violet gently. “He loved Margaret.”
    “I don’t know,” said Henry. “That’s the mystery. Maybe his brother wouldn’t give the money back, and Bill wouldn’t go home without it.”
    Then Violet said softly, “Joe!”
    “What is it?” asked Joe quickly.
    “Do you suppose Bill’s brother hid the money in this house?”
    “Maybe,” said Joe, thinking. “But it’s not a yellow house.”
    “Of course he did!” said Benny. “That’s why Bill took the rowboat that night and came up here. I bet those mean-looking men were the friends, and they were looking for the money, too. Remember Rita said they had a fight?”
    “Good, Benny,” said Joe. “I guess they tried to make Bill give them the money, and Bill couldn’t find it himself.”
    “And there’s the mystery all solved,” said Alice laughing.
    “Well,” said Henry, “I’m sure now that Dave Hunter is Bill. But where’s the money, and where’s the tin box?”
    “Let’s hunt,” said Benny. “How about the chimney?”
    “Not the chimney,” said Henry. “Bill would have found the money if it were in the chimney.”
    “That’s right,” Benny answered.
    “Not much to see,” said Jessie. “A chest and a few chairs. And our cots.”
    “Do you think we ought to talk with the hermit, Joe?” asked Henry.
    “No, not yet,” answered Joe. “I don’t think he would talk.”
    “Well, I’m not going to sit here,” said Benny. “Let’s do something.”
    “O.K.” said Henry, getting up. “We can hunt for clues in the chest. There might be a secret drawer in it.”
    “Let me see,” began Jessie. “The chest has three drawers. Joe and Alice can look in one drawer, Henry and Benny in another, and Violet and I in the third.”
    Soon the whole family was busy. First they took the old dusty papers out of the drawers. They tapped each