They were obliged to look out for bumps upon their heads in places, but finally they reached what was Jannet's chief objective, the great chimney between her room and the front bedroom. There were the bricks, rough and red. But that whole end of the attic was boarded off with a rough partition. "I _thought_ so!" exclaimed Jannet. "Now for a door!"
But there was no sign of a door in the boards. Certainly, if there had been a secret passage there, it could not have been concealed, the girls thought. "If Jan or somebody got in your room, Jannet, it must have been by the window," said Nell.
"All the same," declared Jannet, "there is _something_ in my wall. It may not connect with the attic. I suppose now that it doesn't. But I believe that if _we_ can't find it out, Uncle Pieter will let a carpenter take away the panels on that side, to satisfy me, and himself, too. He looked awfully interested, Nell."
"The queer thing," said Nell again, "is that it all seemed to begin in the attic and then come nearer. Could it _really_ be ghosts, that can go in or out of walls?" Nell half believed it, Jannet thought.
"What ghost would carefully take a blue comforter through walls and finally deposit it neatly, well folded, in the closet where it belongs?"
"Well," laughingly declared Nell, "Paulina told you that ghost _did_ take one once, you said."
It took some time to go over the attic, although if there were some connection between the attic and Jannet's room, it could only be in a certain part, the girls thought, and there they spent some time. They looked dubiously at various piles of boards not far from the partition. Some old carpet close to it Jannet with great effort drew aside till she could see how the floor looked at the angle. The girls grew a little tired. What was the use of doing it all to-day? Jannet suspected the big cupboard that stood against the partition, but their combined strength could not move it, and there was no indication of a way through it and the partition.
"Let's go down, have our supper, and give this up till to-morrow, Nell. We had too much fun dressing up first. Besides, we ought to have some one help us move the heavy stuff. I'll ask Uncle Pieter."
Nell, who was quite ready for something different, assented. Gradually they made their way back to the trunks, though they did pause again to examine anything that seemed worth while to know about. If their hands had been soiled before, they were "filthy" with the "dust of ages," Nell declared,--"with all apologies to Paulina, Jannet."