Under the Fountain
Judy reached the fountain ahead of Horace. It looked even more forsaken
than it had the day before. When they finally stood together beside the
circular wall that enclosed the dry pool, even Judy could feel no
enchantment.
“It’s gone—whatever it was,” she said mournfully.
“The water’s gone. I can see that much. They must have a good drainage
system,” Horace commented.
“For the big pool, yes.” Judy could not shake off the feeling of
disappointment. “There may be a little water in the center fountain,”
she added more hopefully. “Shall we go across?”
“Might as well,” Horace agreed, following her. Blackberry, who had
reappeared, remained at the edge of the pool watching. There were no
fish. Thus the fountain held no charms for him.
“Come here, Horace!” Judy called presently to her brother. “You said
you wanted to fish for diamonds. Well, this is the place.”
Horace found the little pool in the center of the fountain very
uninteresting and said so. There was nothing in the water but sticks
and dead leaves. Furthermore, it was icy cold.
“Now I understand your frozen tear story a little better,” Horace
continued. “I suspect Lorraine has more to cry about than she told you.
If she doesn’t trust Arthur, she has a reason—”
“Perhaps an imagined one. She is jealous. You remember how hard she
made it for me in high school—and afterwards. Of course,” Judy
admitted, “Arthur did like me, and I thought I was in love with him. He
is romantic-looking and I was too young to realize that true love is
more than going places with someone who makes a nice impression. Peter
makes a nice impression, too. But not a romantic one. You sort of feel
his strength. Oh, Horace! I wish I’d told him about this before we
came. I should have called him instead of going to that movie with
Honey.”
“I’m afraid we won’t find out much, anyway. You say the fountain spoke
to you—”
“Yes, but not until I’d made my wish. Yesterday it was only a moaning
sound. I did think it said, ‘Go away!’ but maybe you were right,
Horace. Maybe it was just a noise in the pipes. I’d feel a little
foolish speaking to it now.”
“More foolish than usual?” Horace teased.
“Just for that I will! Oh, fountain!” Judy began. “Speak—”
A noise in the holly thicket interrupted her. A policeman poked his
head through the bushes and shouted, “Hey! What are you doing here?”
“We’re just exploring,” Judy replied calmly. “If we find anything we’ll
let you know.”
“Oh, it’s you,” the policeman said and withdrew to go into conference
with his companion. Judy heard something in a low voice about previous
mysteries she had solved.
“Chief Kelly says he’ll never forget the day he met Judy Bolton,” she
heard. “After emptying a bag of jewels on his desk, she invited him to
a ghost party. He tells me she’s been chasing ghosts ever since.”
“Think that’s what _we’re_ doing?”
“It looks that way. Let Judy and her brother explore the woods if they
want to. They’re better at finding jewels than we are. There were none
in the safe. Mrs. Cubberling was only too glad to have us look there.
Who knows? Maybe they’ll turn up in a hollow tree.”
[Illustration: “Hey! What are you doing here?”]
“Did you hear that?” Judy whispered. “They’re looking for jewels. They
think maybe we can find them because we did find the loot from that
other robbery. Listen!”
There was more conversation as the voices drifted away. Peter’s name
wasn’t mentioned but, because the policemen seemed to approve of what
Judy was doing, she felt sure Peter would, too.
“We’re trespassing,” she told Horace a little later, “but the law
doesn’t mind. I heard them say they’d made a mistake, but did they?
They didn’t do much searching around this fountain.”
“If there’s a story here, we’ll just have to uncover it ourselves,”
declared Horace. “I’d like to explore that tower over there. If there
are stairs inside, we could climb them. We’d have quite a view from
those peepholes.”
Judy saw the peepholes he meant. They were about halfway up the tower.
She suspected the police had already viewed the estate from up there
and found nothing suspicious. She had not told them about the diamond
she had found in the fountain, nor did she intend to tell them until
after she had talked the whole matter over with Peter. Apparently only
Stanley, the butler, and Mrs. Cubberling had been at home when the
house was searched.
“Cubby is probably her husband,” Judy decided. It had been a fairly
young voice that had called from upstairs. “But where does Roger
Banning fit in?” she asked Horace. “Do you think he could be here as a
plumber’s helper? His father is supposed to be a plumber.”
“There are plenty of pipes here. Someone must have to keep them in
working order. They’ve even got them in the lions’ mouths.”
Judy giggled. “Lois noticed them before. She said it gave Mr. and Mrs.
Lion a startled expression, as if they were saying, ‘_Oh!_’”
“Maybe they’ve found the jewels those policemen are looking for,”
Horace suggested with a laugh. “Apparently Cubby, as you call him, and
Roger Banning made themselves scarce on purpose—”
“And that other man, whoever he was,” Judy put in. “He really
frightened Lorraine. Did I tell you she lost the ring Arthur gave her?
I mean she lost it unless it was stolen. She didn’t want to tell us
about it, but when we found the diamond I looked to see if it came out
of my ring, and then I noticed Lorraine wasn’t wearing hers. She acted
guilty about it, too. Oh dear!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Is that the
police car driving away?”
“Sounds like it,” agreed Horace. “I felt safer with them here, didn’t
you?”
“Oh, I feel safe enough,” Judy replied carelessly. “Blackberry will
protect us. He’s up there on the wall keeping watch—”
“Of what?” asked Horace. “Birds?”
“Of course not,” retorted Judy. “I trained him not to catch them.”
“What about fish?”
There was a twinkle in Horace’s eye as he asked this question. He had
not forgotten the room with the fish tanks. How Blackberry happened to
be there was still a mystery. The house, as well as the grounds,
puzzled Judy.
“Something is going on here. Something—fishy.” She laughed and then
shivered. There was a chill about the deserted fountain that made her
wish she had worn warmer clothing. Her hands were especially cold.
“If it’s news,” Horace said, “it’s being well kept from us. Shall we
explore below?”
“Let’s,” agreed Judy. “It can’t be any colder down there than it is up
here, and I am curious. Come on, Blackberry!” she called to her cat.
“Don’t you want to help us explore?”
“It’s too damp for him,” explained Horace when the cat refused to come.
Together Horace and Judy edged in between the cupids. Judy giggled at
the pipes running up their backs to the bowl of the fountain. Exploring
underneath, they found a dark opening which Horace bravely entered.
“No dragons,” he announced, peering about with the help of his
flashlight. “It’s wet and slippery down here, and there are holes where
a person could break a leg. Watch it, Judy!”
The warning came just too late. Judy tripped on something that turned
out to be a removable drain cover and fell into what seemed to be a
tunnel.
“This would make a good hideout for a gang of thieves,” commented
Horace when he had helped Judy to her feet. “I hope we’re not getting
into something we can’t handle. Shall we proceed?”
“Of course.” Judy was determinedly cheerful in spite of a scraped
elbow. “There’s nothing dangerous down here.”
Horace was not so sure. Cautiously, he led the way along the tunnel,
which seemed to be leading directly under the fountain. Suddenly, in
the circle of light from Horace’s flash, they saw a closed door.
“Maybe this is where Mr. Banning lives!” exclaimed Judy. “Wouldn’t it
be exciting to live right under a fountain? He could really take care
of the pipes—I mean if he is a plumber. It’s locked,” she added,
trying the door. “Shall I knock?”
“What’s the use?” asked Horace. “Nobody would answer.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” declared Judy, rapping loudly on the door.
“I told you,” Horace began, but stopped suddenly as the same moaning
voice Judy had heard before called out, “Please, go away!”
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