The secret of the Mansion

second-story window after another without success, for the windows had apparently not been opened for years.
    "Of course they’re all locked," Trixie said in disgust. "Nobody would be dumb enough to board up die staircase without first locking all the windows up there."
    "Well, I’m not going to break in," Jim said stubbornly. "And," he finished, "I won’t have to. This one’s stuck but not locked. I can pry it loose with a hammer and chisel."
    "Greatl" Trixie cried. "I can hardly wait to see what’s up there."
    Jim started down backward, and halfway to the ground there was a rending, splintering sound as one rung in the old ladder split in two under Jim’s weight. He struggled wildly to regain his balance, and, although the girls used all their combined strength to hold the ladder in place, it swung slowly but surely away from the wall.
    It seemed like hours that it swayed in midair and then crashed to the ground, pinning Jim beneath its weight
     

A Precious Piece of Paper • 11
     
    OH, oh," Honey shrieked. "His back’s broken. I know it is!"
    Trixie felt a scream rising in her own throat as she stared dazedly at the crumpled form of the boy. Every freckle stood out in the whiteness of his face. His hair was a bright splotch of red against his pale forehead. Then, as he let out an involuntary moan, she began tugging at the heavy ladder. Between them, the girls finally lifted and pushed the ladder away, and Jim looked up with a sickly grin.
    "Golly, I know now what a drowning man goes through," he said. "Everything that ever happened to me flashed through my mind while that ladder was deciding what it was going to do." He stretched his arms and legs tentatively, slowly flexing his wrists and ankles. "No bones broken, thank goodness." He sat up. "I made myself go limp as soon as I realized I was going to fall."
    "I was pretty limp myself," Trixie said and grinned.
    Jim scrambled to his feet, rubbing the back of his head. "I’ll have a lump the size of yours," he told Trixie. "It was lucky I didn’t crack my skull." He laughed ruefully. "Jonesy always said I was hard-headed, and I guess he’s right."
    "That makes three of us," Honey declared. "First I cut my knee, then Trixie hit her head on a rock, and now you topple off a ladder. What’s going to happen next?"
    "Nothing," Trixie said. "Bad things always go in threes, so the jinx is over."
    "I’m not so sure of that." Honey was counting on her fingers. "Jupiter ran away with you. I almost got run over by the laundry truck, and the dog chased us down along the lake."
    "Well, that’s just another set of threes," Jim said cheerfully.
    "How about the dog running after me a little while ago?" Honey demanded. "Doesn’t that start off still another set?"
    Trixie shrugged. "Have it your own way. Two more awful things are going to happen to us." Honey looked hurt and said quietly, "What I’m
    trying to say is that I don’t think Jim ought to climb up that ladder again today. He might get dizzy after such a bad fall."
    "You’re right." Jim shook his head vigorously. "I can still hear bells ringing in my ears. Anyway, the light’s fading. It’ll be pitch black up there with the windows as coated with dirt as they are. We wouldn’t be able to see a thing."
    "That’s right." Trixie was sorry she had made fun of Honey. "I really ought to go home and help Moms with supper. I’ll bring up a couple of flashlights, and we can explore tomorrow morning."
    As the girls strolled down the path to the hollow, Honey said, "I know you think I’m silly to be so superstitious, but—"
    "I don’t," Trixie interrupted hastily. "I’m pretty superstitious myself. I wouldn’t walk under a ladder for anything, and, as for black cats," she said laughingly, "one ran across the road in front of our car once, and Dad went into a ditch trying to avoid it. He broke a spring, so now we’re all superstitious about black cats."
    "It’s more than that with me," Honey said solemnly. "I just have the most peculiar feeling that something awful’s going to happen. I don’t really believe in premonitions or dreams, but, after all, I had a nightmare about something attacking me, and something did."
    Trixie glanced at her curiously. "That’s so," she admitted. "What’s this peculiar feeling like? What do you think’s going to happen?"
    Honey shivered. "I don’t know. But it’s connected with that creepy old house, somehow. All the time I’m up there, I feel like looking over my