In the end it was Fred who knocked on the Hinkle’s door. The girls all became shy and wouldn’t do it. Even Jan, who usually could be counted on to take the lead, hung back.
“You are all just chicken, cluck, cluck, cluck,” Fred squawked as he flapped imaginary wings.
He looked so foolish that the girls had to laugh. But none of them would knock on the door.
“Oh, all right, here goes.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. Then he took the porch steps two at a time and boldly knocked on the door. The girls followed at a safe distance.
It was a neat looking little house, painted white. Jan remembered seeing farm houses that looked the same, sort of like a capital letter ‘L’. The large porch wrapped around the front of the house.
Then footsteps could be heard inside. The next moment the door was opened by a small plump woman. She had short curly gray hair and might have been one of the children’s grandmothers, Jan thought. Except for the frown she had just now.
“Well, what can I do for you?” she asked in a snappy voice.
“Oh, we thought ... that is, does Mr. Hinkle live here?” Jan answered instead of Fred. She forgot shyness in her surprise at a woman answering their knock.
“Yes, he does. Why do you want to know? If you’re selling something, he can’t be bothered with it. That’s my job, to see he’s not bothered too much.”
“No, no, we’re not selling anything. We’ve just come to ask ... I mean we wanted to know if ...?” Jan’s words trailed away. She looked at the others for help.
Fred came to her rescue. “What Jan is trying to say, Ma’am, is that we have come to ask Mr. Hinkle if we can play in his barn. We’re going to have a club there if he says it’s O.K.”
“Oh, I don’t think so...,” the woman began doubtfully.
“Martha, who is at the door?” a wavery voice came from inside.
“Some children who want to play in your barn, Mr. Hinkle. Should I send them away?”
Jan held her breath. Then Mr. Hinkle said, “Of course not. Invite them in. Invite them in. You know I enjoy young people.”
The woman held the door open although she still looked disapproving.
The children filed into the dim entry. They followed her into the next room. This was an old-fashioned sitting room. At least that’s what Jan thought it was.
It looked like pictures she had seen of olden days. The furniture was all of an older style except a large comfortable rocker. In this sat a very old man. He was so thin that blue veins stood out on his hands and his legs were covered with a blanket in spite of the warm day. There were only wisps of white hair left on his head. One of his hands rested lightly on a cane, and the fingers that held it were bent and knobby.
“Come in, come in,” he was saying in that wavery voice. “What is this about my barn? No fire out there is there, Martha?”
“No, no, of course not, Mr. Hinkle.” Jan was surprised how soothingly the woman spoke to him.
“Then what can I do for you young folks? Martha, see if we have some lemonade or something for our guests.”
She hesitated a minute, then shrugged and went away.
“Well,” he said, “why don’t you sit down and tell me why you’ve come. Call me ‘Gramps’, by the way. Most people do, except Martha, that is, Mrs. Ray.” His eyes were twinkling as he said this last.
Encouraged by his kind words, Jan found her voice. “I’m Jan Davidson and this is my twin, Julie. They are Fred and Susan Baker. We live down behind you in those new houses.”
Suddenly everyone felt more relaxed. They all tried to tell Gramps at one time about the barn and the idea they had for a club. In the middle Mrs. Ray came in with a tray of frosty glasses of lemonade and a bowl of pretzels. She had stopped frowning and seemed to accept Gramps’ guests.
After awhile Gramps held up one hand for silence. He chuckled a bit as he said, “Nothing like young people to chatter, is there, Martha?” He didn’t want an answer as he went on, “Now what you want is to use my barn for your club, eh?”
The children nodded. Jan held her breath.
“Well, I don’t see any harm in that. I have just one rule. Two actually. First, please don’t leave a bunch of papers and trash lying around. Looks messy and I’m too old to clean it up, all right?”
Everyone agreed.
“Second, and this is most important, no fires. Everything is dry this time of year. Fires have a way of getting out of hand too. Worries me every summer. When I was a youngster like you, I got caught in a brush fire. I thought sure my time was up. Been careful of fire ever since. So no fires. I’ll not let you come around if I find out there have been any fires started. Do you understand?”
“We understand, Sir,” Fred spoke for all of them. “I don’t know about the twins, but our parents don’t allow us to start fires when they are not around anyhow.”
Jan and Julie said, “Ours either.”
“Good, good,” said Gramps. He was quiet for several moments. He seemed lost in his own thoughts.
Jan was beginning to think he had forgotten they were there when all at once he spoke. “I have a story I might tell you. Thinking about the barn puts me in mind of the things my Grandad used to tell me when I played there. That is if you would like to hear?” Jan saw the twinkle was back in his eyes. She was beginning to really like the old gentleman.
“Oh, please do, Gramps,” she cried. “We would really like to hear.” The others added their pleas to hers.
Gramps chuckled, “One thing I like about young people is their excitement about things.
“Well, now this story goes back many years to the time in 1855 when my Grandad bought this house and the barn. There was more land with it in those days than there is now. Where your houses are was part of the old farm.”
He was thoughtful for a few minutes. When he spoke again it was very slowly. “Those were very bad times for our country. Soon there would be Civil War. Signs that war was coming were everywhere. Northern men hated the slavery in the South. Southern men believed they had the right to own other men as slaves. Tempers flared. Unwise laws were passed by the United States Congress.” Gramps shook his head thinking about those hard days.
“People were not happy. Some men broke the laws they thought were not fair. Other men just broke the law because they were not honest people.
“My Grandad bought this property at a public auction. After he had lived here awhile, he asked the few neighbors that lived here, about Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts was the man who owned this place before. Grandad naturally felt a little curious about him.
“It seems that Mr. Roberts lived alone, and he kept pretty much to himself. That is, he didn’t make friends of his neighbors. But things went on here at night. Wagons and people came and went in the dark. Lights could often be seen near the barn.
“The neighbors wondered, but no one said anything. ‘After all,’ they told Grandad, ‘a man has a right to his own business.’
“Suddenly, one day, Mr. Roberts was arrested. Before his case could be tried, he sickened and died. His property was auctioned off to pay his debts.”
“But Gramps, what was he arrested for?” Jan wanted to know.
“That is a mystery, Jan. Grandad couldn’t seem to find anyone who knew or would say.
“People had their ideas. There were some pretty wild notions, I can tell you. One man had it that Mr. Roberts was making counterfeit money in the barn.” Gramps chuckled. “I guess that’s what comes of not making friends with the neighbors.
“When I was a boy,” Gramps went on after a pause, “I was certain I could discover why Mr. Roberts had been arrested. The barn seemed always to be part of those old stories. I searched that old place over from top to bottom. But I never even found a clue.” Gramps eyes held a far away look remembering.
“Wow, a mystery!” Jan’s eyes were shining. She could feel a tingle go up her back.
Gramps chuckled and nodded. “That will give you something to think about when you are playing in the barn.”
Soon after the children said their good-byes and promised to come again to visit.
The tingly feeling was still with Jan when the children started home. She looked at the barn with new eyes as she passed it. Maybe, just maybe, she and the others could solve that old mystery. Right then she promised herself that she would try.
The children reached the Davidson’s house a few minutes later. Before parting, they agreed to go to the barn right after breakfast the next morning.
Jan and Julie burst into the kitchen where Mom was cooking supper. They were so excited that they both tried to talk at once.
“Easy, easy. Now what is all this?” Mom laughed. “Goodness, you two are popping up and down like popcorn.”
“It’s the barn...” the twins said together. Then they had to laugh too.
Mom said, “Why don’t we talk about it while we have supper? Maybe by then you two will have calmed down a bit. Scoot into the bathroom and wash up. Then come set the table for me. These pancakes are about ready.”
Lord’s Day supper was a light meal. The Davidsons often had pancakes or waffles. The smell of pancakes frying reminded Jan that she was hungry.
Soon she and Julie had the table ready. Mom brought a platter of pancakes to the table. There were also hot slices of ham and cold milk.
As they ate the twins took turns telling the family Gramps Hinkle’s story. Even Candy listened.
“You’re so spoiled,” Steve said with envy in his voice.
“Why is that, Stevie-boy?” Julie used her old pet name for him.
“It’s the mystery, of course. I wish I had a mystery.”
He looked so downcast that Candy said, “Maybe we will have a miss-tree too, Steve. Ask Daddy to get us one.”
This brought shouts of laughter from the rest of the family. Candy always did her best to make Steve happy.
“The word is mys-ter-y, Candy,” Dad said the word slowly. “What Mr. Hinkle told the twins about Mr. Roberts and the barn is like a puzzle. Only so far no one has been able to find the answer.”
“You girls know how interested I have always been in the history of North Falls,” Mom said. “You remember also that I have told you the best place to find answers to questions about history is the library.”
The girls did remember.
“Some day this week when we go out to do errands, we will all go to the library. Perhaps we’ll find some clues there.”
“Right now we had better finish up here. It is nearly time to leave for the evening gospel meeting,” Dad reminded them.
There was no more time to talk about the mystery the rest of the day. But Jan’s last thoughts were about it when she fell asleep that night. “I wonder what Mr. Roberts could have been doing in his barn,” she thought sleepily. “Counterfeiting?” The idea gave her funny little shivers up her back. But it didn’t keep her awake, for the next minute she was sound asleep.