the road towards sunny Acres. Abruptly his emotions seemed to have performed an about-turn.
âTo heck with the ghost!â he said. âIâm sick and tired of itâfor the moment, anyway. There are other things I want to know.â
âSuch as?â
âAbout you, for instance. All I know about you is that you come from Manchester, own a castle with a spook, and are mighty independent. What other information have you got?â
They settled under the shadow of a giant oak and Vera said:
âMy parents are dead, the Blitz took care of that.â
âOh! Iâm sorry, Vera. Iâm in the same boat. The Southampton air raids got my people.... Well, anything else? Is there any genuine boy friend hanging about who is keeping me out?â
âNo,â Vera answered. âIâm quite truthful about that, Dick. You are the only boy with whom Iâve ever had such close acquaintanceâand for a first attempt, itâs pretty satisfactory. Iâm the kind of girl, though, who likes to weigh things up, and for that reason I prefer you on...on approbation, so to speak.â
âAll rightâbut donât forget that it works both ways. All the time you are summing me up, Iâm returning the compliment. Iâm not looking for an angel, because I know they donât existâbut I was looking for a girl who behaves like a girl without making an idiot of herself. Far as I can see, Iâve found her!â
Vera glanced at her watch and switched the conversation.
âI think itâs about time we started back,â she decided. âJust in case your feelings run away with you....â
Dick smiled and got to his feet, held down his hand to help her up.
* * * * * * *
It was nearly five oâclock when they reached Sunny Acres again, and they decided to stroll around the grounds. The further they moved into the unkempt jungle of weeds and massive trees, the more they could appreciate Sunny Acresâ imposing outline.
âAll else apart, Vera, youâve got a nice property here.â Dick commented, surveying the gray battlements and stained-glass windows. âThese grounds, too, properly cultivated, could be made very beautiful. Iâve got plenty of ideas about landscape gardening which I could turn to account.â
âYou are expecting to be around a lot!â Vera murmured, slanting a provocative blue eye.
âI hope to earn the rightâas the fruits of the victory we shall achieve!â Dick said. Then he ceased his banter while he studied the castle.
âLetâs see now. Which is the haunted room?â
They surveyed the east wing of the great place from the driveway.
âThat empty west wing takes up a good deal of space too,â Dick mused. âAs you remarked, the place would make a first-class institution of some sort. Say, isnât that the ghost room?â
He pointed up to a recess in the castleâs outlines, where a massive stained-glass window lay in the shadows of the watch tower opposite to it, a parapet running round the outjutting section of stonework. It was this watchtower, they remembered, that contained the bathrooms.
âYes,â Vera assented, âthatâs it. And precious little it tells us. Ivy all the way up the wall and a sheer drop of about thirty feet to the drive.â
âYes. In the shadow, tooâat present. Wonder if that means anything?â
âSuch as?â
âI donât knowâbut June 21 is the longest day in the year, and the 20 th and 22 nd are only slightly different. It might mean something.â
Vera thought it out but arrived at no conclusion. She sighed.
âThe ideas you get!â Vera said. âAfter dinner weâll see if we really can discover something about that confounded room.â
They went inside and once upstairs separated to their respective rooms. When they met again in the dining hall, Mrs. Falworth was present as
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