Penny Nichols and the Mystery of the Lost Key

ap of

or. Hearing a murmur of voices from the direction

man say in an insistent tone. "Think it over and I know you'll see how easily

Max Laponi's voice. So he was plotting against them! Undoubte

t with whom he is tal

. Leeds and Max Laponi were sitting at the desk, examining some document which

Penny said casually. "I d

ore graciously than was her custom. "Mr. Laponi

ith a slight smirk. "She lives in Napl

n from smiling. She pretended to s

ad discovered the will,"

no!" Mrs. Lee

"Ha! Ha! Even a ferret couldn't find o

dly, trying to make up their minds if she had overheard anything. She dared

droom. "Laponi is trying to get Mrs. Leeds involved in some scheme to steal th

disgraceful actions in all my life. As far as I'm concerned, I'd rat

s. Leeds and Laponi get through. It's pretty

enny. If only I hadn't lost

nny said cheerfully. "Let's keep our eyes and

of the mysterious music which had disturbed the household. Penny suggested that while Mrs. Leeds and Laponi were occupied in the lib

ding. The hall was dark and dusty; cobwe

eading from the hall were all closed. She was certain

and turned it. The door d

nny," Penn

at

s door was un

the other one,"

to try the second door. It

ntained. "I started to go in and tripped over something.

ss we can't learn anything," Ro

. She bent down to pee

ing?" Rosa

is something up against the far

might see for herself. Rosanna agreed that the s

all right," Penny said excite

nny closed the stairway door she noticed that it had a key. Upon impulse s

a few nights," she remarked. "I'll show t

ieved she would lie down for a half hour. The events of the

you. I think I'll go downstairs and see

all to the living room. Heavy draperies screened the arched doorway. As Penny pulled them aside to enter, she saw Mrs. Leeds s

She held a paper in her hand. Deliberately, she tore i

ily entere

"How you startled me, Miss Nichols! You

the hearth. "How nice to have a fire,

aid nervously. "I was cold. I think

charred piece of paper from the hearth. It was the only s

ny words missing were visible. The

e writing: "Last will and testam

"Mrs. Leeds probably found it somewhere in the house and decid

ay. Had Mr. Winters written Rosanna's name? If only she had entered the living

actually found the missing will. Since her arrival at Raven Ridge she had spent most of her time p

and see if it's still

and tried the drawer

mented grimly. "Ju

a glance that it had been broken by a sha

confident of it. And it must have been drawn up in Rosa

e was deeply disturbed over the discovery, realizing that Mrs. Leeds, by destroying the doc

the present I'll not even tell Rosanna. It would only

with the arrogant society woman. She had ignored snubs and many unkind remarks. Now she felt tha

y mean to gain their ends by any possible means. But since they're sto

ed it at once but thinking that her friend was absorbe

er daughter Alicia chanced to select the same cafe. All during the meal, Penny noticed the

speak with you a mome

course," Ros

an al

anced at Penny. The latt

am sure that anything Mrs. Leeds may wish

dence has reached me today which proves conc

low without the qu

e, may I ask,

t, Miss Winters. Certainly not in the

ctly a stranger,

ignoring the orphan's remark. "By your own admission you have no creden

as you," Rosanna faltered. "Eithe

Winters," Penny added significantly. "I

eyed her

hat you want me to

oth should lea

our way," Penny interposed sweetly.

the arm and urged

ing. "Unless you leave immediately you will receive no part of the fortune. If you go without mak

telling us,"

car door and

hey returned to the house on Snow Mountain. "If it's true that the property ha

ded in getting you away from here, Rosanna. I detest that woman.

dence she referred

idence. However, she refrained from mentioning the burned will, realizing that Rosanna, in her present depressed state of mind, would be greatly disturbed by

scene until she had answered seve

hough the orphan had lost the key, they had found the door of the Winters' mansion unlocked. Close upon the heels of their arrival, Mrs. Leeds, her

lieve that everything can be fitted together if only I

Leeds and her daughter retired to their rooms shortly after eight o'clock for it gave them an opportunity to talk. A

her head touched the pillow. Hours later she was a

" Penny mumb

reverberated with the sof

he started toward the door, then returned to grope in the drawer of the dres

anna asked anxiously, drawing t

and stood listening. The door leading to the third floor was closed. She could hear

d the door. It

find the door unlocked. She had been so confident that b

t pass through this door?" she debated. "That ghost mus

ad attended to it the last thing before retiring, knowing that Max Laponi could

thought uncomfortably. "I'll have to go up there." He

n the stairway door, a shrill

ouched back against