Читать книгу Mystery Behind Dark Windows - Mary C. Jane - Страница 9

A LOUD bong from the grandfather’s clock in the hall downstairs made Ellie Pride close her book and lay it in her lap. She tilted her head and listened hopefully for some sound from her brother’s room. Wasn’t Tony ever going to finish his homework? It was eight-thirty. If he didn’t get done soon there wouldn’t be time to play Canasta or even have a game of checkers before they had to go to bed.

The house was utterly silent after the chime of the clock had died away. Outdoors the October wind was rising to a howl. It struck the walls of the Pride mansion in gusts and made the windows rattle. There was a sharp tick, tick of dry leaves scraping against the glass. It sounded as if a storm was blowing up.

Ellie turned out her light and pressed her nose against the windowpane. Was the sky cloudy or were the stars shining? She couldn’t see well enough to tell, because the tall columns that rose from the porch floor to the overhanging roof, and the trees at the corners of the house, shut off her view of the sky.

Right on a level with Ellie’s eyes a row of dark windows stared blankly at her from the empty buildings of the mill across the street. She hated those buildings with their rows of staring eyes, even if Grandfather Pride had built them. No men were left in the Pride family now to manage Darkwater Mill. It had been idle for years.

If Aunt Rachel would only sell the mill and the hulking warehouse building on the slope above it, everybody in Darkwater Falls would be happy, and Ellie would be the happiest of all. Then perhaps Aunt Rachel could forget the tragic things that had happened in the past. The Pride mansion might become a cheerful place to live in, as it must have been long ago.

She shook her head. It was no use dreaming that her aunt would ever sell the mill, though it made Ellie’s gray-green eyes light up just to think of it.

She heard footsteps in the hall, a few minutes later, and lifted her head expectantly. Tony must have finished his homework. There would be time for a game, after all.

But when her brother stepped into her room the brightness faded from her face. He had his jacket on, and his dark eyes were excited.

“You’re going out,” she said, with a note of disappointment in her voice.

“Just a little while. I’m going uptown to meet some kids I know. You don’t need to tell Aunt Rachel, unless she happens to miss me.”

“Oh, Tony, you ought to ask her. What if she doesn’t want you to go?” Ellie protested.

But he was already on his way. He peered back into the room with his impish grin. “Be a sport, Ellie. You know I’d never get out if I asked her every time.”

She listened nervously while he tiptoed down the hall and the back stairs. When she heard the door close she shook her head until the short dark red curls fell over her cheeks. She whispered furiously, “Oh, he makes me so mad!”

It wasn’t fair of Tony. It really wasn’t. Now she would have to spend the rest of the evening alone, and she would have to worry every minute until he got back. If Aunt Rachel found out about him—if she knew how many nights he slipped out of the house like this—what would she do?

“Elinor!”

Her aunt’s voice came so clearly to her ears it made her jump. What if she asked for Tony?

She ran into the hall and leaned over the railing. Her aunt was at the foot of the stairs, gazing anxiously upward.

“Have you seen Kim?” she asked. “Is he up there with you?”

Ellie’s pounding heart quieted. Kim was Aunt Rachel’s Siamese cat, whom she loved more than she seemed to love anyone in the world, except maybe Tony.

“I haven’t seen him,” she replied. “He isn’t up here.”

“He might be in Tony’s room,” her aunt suggested.

“I’ll look.”

Ellie ran into her brother’s room. It was empty, as she had known it would be.

“Kim’s not there, either,” she said.

She started down the stairs. “I’ll help you look for him, Aunt Rachel.”

“He came in at dinnertime and I haven’t let him out since then. But I can’t find him anywhere.”

Ellie was alarmed. Could the cat have slipped out when Tony opened the back door? She ought to step outside and call him, but if she did that, Aunt Rachel would wonder why.

“I’ll find him,” she said reassuringly.

She hurried through the big rooms that were arranged in a gloomy row, one behind the other, in this old house. If she could get far enough ahead of her aunt, she might have a chance to give a quick call or two from the back door.

Kim wasn’t in the kitchen, although it was his favorite room.

“I’ve looked out here already,” Aunt Rachel said, right at her elbow.

Ellie opened the door of the pantry and snapped on the light. She noticed with thankfulness that the night wind was blowing in through the small window.

“Oh, Aunt Rachel,” she cried. “Kim must have climbed out there!”

Her aunt frowned. “I should have remembered to close that. Will you go out on the porch and call him?”

Eagerly, Ellie stepped into the windy darkness of the back lawn. She called and called to Kim, but the rising storm seemed to blow the sound of her voice away. If Kim heard it, he made no response. In spite of herself, Ellie felt anxious. The sleek cat loved warmth and comfort. It wasn’t like him to wander away on such a blustery night.

Shivering, she turned back to the lighted kitchen.

“I don’t know where he can be,” she said.

Aunt Rachel’s pale face darkened.

“I didn’t dream he had gone out or I would have called him long ago,” she said. “I hope nothing has happened to him.”

“Let me look for him,” Ellie pleaded. “I won’t go far. Just up and down the sidewalk a little way.”

Her aunt hesitated. “Tony could go with you—”

“Oh, I don’t need him. I’m not afraid of the dark.”

She dashed to the hall closet faster than her aunt could follow, pulled on her jacket, and was out the door in half a minute.

“Oh, Kim,” she cried, “where are you? Come, Kim.”

The wind billowed her coat and ruffled her hair as she followed along the iron fence in front of the Pride mansion. She went downhill past the gas station and the lighted windows of Miller’s Variety Store as far as the bridge. Then she retraced her steps and went on until she passed the unused church on the hill with the row of tall poplar trees in front of it. The loud whispering of millions of fluttering leaves was a ghostly sound in the darkness.

She tried not to think of the empty mill and the warehouse across the street, and of the lonely alley that ran between them. Surely Kim wouldn’t go there!

Even by daylight Ellie hated to walk down Mill Alley. The walls of the buildings rose straight up on each side of it, without a lawn or a bit of yard to give a person breathing space. The alley was like a vise that might close in on you at any minute.

Yet she did want to find Kim. If she didn’t, Aunt Rachel might decide to search upstairs. She would discover that Tony had gone out. Ellie didn’t want that to happen.

Hadn’t she seen an old tomcat snoozing on the steps of the mill when she went down that way last week? Maybe cats liked company. Even proud, silent Kim might get lonesome sometimes, just as she did herself.

She stood on the curb and waited uncertainly while a noisy truck dragged itself up the hill. Then, with a determined toss of her head, she started across Main Street toward the entrance of Mill Alley. She only hoped Aunt Rachel wasn’t watching as she passed under the street light and disappeared in the shadows between the huge buildings.

It was quiet here. The sound of traffic was dimmed and the wind, though it swooped overhead, had no leaves or window shutters to rattle. Ellie’s voice, calling to Kim, echoed in the shadows.

By the time she reached the main entrance to Dark-water Mill, she was getting used to the dimness. She could see the wide front steps, but no cats were huddled upon them. With a disappointed sigh she decided that she might just as well go back home. It was then, of course, that she heard a familiar me-ow right at her heels.

She turned and scooped the cat into her arms, with an excited gasp. “Oh, Kim! Thank goodness I’ve found you.”

Relief made her forget her nervousness and her worry about Aunt Rachel and Tony. She paused to settle the cat in her arms and to draw a few thankful breaths.

Suddenly, from behind her and from somewhere far over her head, there came a frightening sound. It was so frightening, in this dark, deserted alley, that she almost dropped Kim in her alarm.

Inside the echoing mill building that had been empty and locked up for years, something banged loudly—exactly as if a heavy door had slammed shut!