The Secret of the Stone House by Judith Silverthorne

Author:Judith Silverthorne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mother issues, Timeslip, settlement fiction, ancestors, girls, pioneer society, grandmother, hidden treasure
ISBN: 9781550508857
Publisher: Coteau Books

CHAPTER NINE

“Emily, how could you know where to look?” Aunt Liz asked her sharply, sinking to the floor beside her.

“Just a good guess,” Emily said as she pushed on one of the stones.

“You are one strange kid,” Aunt Liz squeezed in beside her.

Her mom knelt on the other side, looking at a fine crack in the mortar around one of the stones. “It has to be right here, about where Emily is.”

“It probably hasn’t been moved for years. I don’t recall Mom or Dad ever showing us this or opening it,” said Aunt Liz.

They struggled to move the stone, but nothing worked.

“Maybe we need a crowbar?” suggested Kate.

“No,” Emily exclaimed. “That would wreck it!”

“I think she’s right,” Aunt Liz said. “There don’t seem to be any pry marks on the surface.”

“It’s another one of those mystery latches, I suppose,” Kate said in exasperation.

Emily moved along the base of the fireplace, pushing and prodding all the stones, but nothing budged the one she knew covered the secret opening.

“Maybe Ian was wrong!” Kate said, sitting back on her heels.

“He seemed pretty certain,” said Aunt Liz, tapping at the stones.

“This has to be it!” Emily declared.

“How could you know that?” Kate demanded.

“I just do!” Emily wasn’t about to explain.

They searched every inch of the fireplace, on the surface, on the mantel, and inside the firebox, looking for some kind of latch or trigger, but after another half-hour passed, they gave up.

“Maybe we should call Ian again,” Kate suggested.

“He told us all he knew,” said Aunt Liz. “He had no idea how it worked, just where it was supposed to be. He doesn’t even know if there’s anything inside it.”

Emily groaned. Wasn’t anyone in her family curious? How could they not know some of these things? She stared again at the fireplace. Everything was solid and immovable. How had her great-grandfather designed the hidden space? All at once, Emily’s face brightened. She could go back in time and find out.

“Maybe it’s written down somewhere,” proposed Aunt Liz.

“We went through all the papers quite thoroughly,” Kate answered. “I don’t see how we’d have missed something like that.”

“Maybe because we weren’t looking for it,” Aunt Liz chided. “I know exactly where the papers are. I’ll get them.”

Kate followed Aunt Liz out of the room to a second-floor bedroom. Emily had other plans.

“I’m going out for a walk before bed,” she called up to them, determined to find out how to open the hidden compartment. She just hoped the new plan would work to get her there faster.

“Don’t be gone long!” her mother yelled back.

I don’t plan on it, Emily thought to herself as she whisked out the door and headed for the special hole in the foundation. She didn’t waste any time, grubbing through the flower bed getting to the wall in search of Geordie’s carved bird.

She peered into the dark hole and at first saw nothing. Picking up a small stick from the ground, she prodded gently inside. If the bird was there, she didn’t want to come into direct contact with it.

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