Tree House Mystery by Gertrude Warner

Author:Gertrude Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2010-08-06T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Behind the Round Window

Mr. and Mrs. Beach were hardly in the house when Jeffrey and Sam told them about the round window.

“That is a mystery,” said Mr. Beach. “I can’t remember any round window. And Max and I never saw it from the tree house we built.”

The boys took their father out and showed him how they could see the window from the tree house. Mr. Beach looked at the tree and then he said, “I know why Max and I never saw that window. There was a big branch in the way. See? There is a scar where the branch was cut off.”

“May we ask Benny and the others and go up in the attic now?” Sammy asked. “The Aldens didn’t want to come in without asking you.”

“Yes, it will be all right,” Mr. Beach answered. “I haven’t time to help you.”

Jeffrey telephoned the Aldens, and Benny said he would come right over. Jessie and Henry were away, but he and Violet could come.

It was late afternoon when the two Aldens and the Beaches climbed the attic stairs.

Violet said, “I just can’t understand where that window can be when no one knows anything about it.”

Jeffrey explained, “The attic is so big it has been made into rooms. It is really more like a third floor than an attic. The walls are plastered and papered. You’ll see.”

Benny looked all around at the top of the stairs. That side of the attic had been made into two rooms. The first room was large, but it was empty.

“I think someone lived up on this floor,” Benny said. “You can see the nail holes at the windows where there were rods for curtains.”

Violet said, “There’s some wallpaper, too.”

Jeffrey said, “But there aren’t any electric lights up here.”

Sammy said, “We think the house was built before there were electric lights. People must have used lamps or maybe candles.”

Violet looked at the dark corners of the empty room. It was certainly a spooky place. Violet noticed that everyone was beginning to whisper. The air was dry and stuffy.

The four children went into the next room. They found only some old boxes and chairs. They were dusty and faded.

“Never mind this side of the house,” said Jeffrey. “The round window is at the back of the house.”

Sammy said, “There’s a very large clothes closet. It’s almost as big as a room.”

“That’s what we want to see,” said Benny.

There was a door to the closet. It had a glass doorknob. Jeffrey opened it and they all went in.

“Oh, look at the wallpaper!” Violet exclaimed. “I never saw anything like it.”

It was beautiful old paper with pictures of toys on it: balls and horns and drums. The colors were still bright. There was one big window, but it was not round. Mrs. Beach had hung some dresses on a row of hooks on the wall, and there were piles of old books and boxes on the floor.

Sammy said, “Those are hatboxes. Mom’s winter hats are in them. I carried them up for her, but I didn’t look at the wallpaper.

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