"P'raps he did," Penny agreed. "But I'll look at his shoes when I get the chance... I don't know, Jon, but it looks new to me."

Her cousin knelt down and looked at the footprint more closely.

"You're right, Penny. It must be fairly new because there's hardly any fresh dust over it."

"Somebody's been up here before we came," Penny persisted. "And I'm sure it's all very sinister, Jon. Auntie said this was our secret place and that everybody had been told not to interfere with us."

Jon laughed. "Mother said that there was only one key, didn't she? Meanwhile, you'd better fix on a plan for looking at everybody's shoes! I'll leave that to you, Penny. You're best at shoes."

"Well, you can laugh, but I still bet it's sinister," she said as she swept all round the footprint. "I shall remember that pattern anyway."

So while Penny swept and polished, Jon laid and lit the fire, so that the flames were soon flying up the wide chimney and the glowing embers falling to the stone hearth from the high iron bars. Then he went down again for the lamp and a hook, while Penny fetched the kettle and saucepan and a basket covered with a white cloth.

Jon made a few more journeys while she was laying one end of the big table. He brought up some notebooks and a pile of his own books, besides a big pitcher of water and some glasses which Penny had forgotten. On the last trip he met Mr. Grandon, who smiled at him curiously, while Jon tried to look as if it was quite a normal thing for him to carry a jug full of water in one hand and two glasses in the other down the hotel corridor at this time.

The meal was great fun and they soon forgot the mood of a few hours ago when Mrs. Warrender had left them. The rain had stopped now and the sun shone fitfully over the rooftops and through their narrow window, making strange, wavy shadows on the floorboards. The logs in the fire spluttered and crackled, and their scent and the pleasant warmth of the flames helped to make the old room a friendly place.

At last they pushed the remains of the meal to the far end of the table, rolled back the cloth and lifted up the black box again well into the light.

"We've got to have plenty of room to spread things out," Jon said as he put the key in the lock; and "Oh, gosh," Penny shuddered, "p'raps it's a skull and some mouldering bones!"

The lock clicked and the lid swung open easily enough, but there were no bones - just some bundles of papers and a few old books and some rolls which looked as if they might be maps.

Jon moved Penny aside. "We've got to do this properly. Sit down and let's look at everything in turn."