The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels (226 page)

“This only keeps away bad sickness,” the woman retorted, with a slight accent which nevertheless made her words hard to understand. “A good
ouange
. Now that my master is away, you are not to tell me what to do.”

“Lorinda, don’t plague her,” Mrs. Rhett said wearily. “We have enough trouble as it is. Let her wear the charm, or a dozen of them, if it gives her any satisfaction.”

Lorinda subsided into injured silence, while Celeste flashed a triumphant smile.

Mrs. Rhett turned again to Penny. In a tone which could be interpreted only as a final dismissal she said:“I am sorry, Miss Parker, that I cannot help you. At present I do not know my husband’s whereabouts or why he went away. If you will excuse me now, I shall go to my room for a rest.”

With dignity she crossed the living room to a handsome circular stairway with a railing of polished mahogany. Her head held proudly, she presented a regal figure as she slowly climbed the steps.

But half way up, she suddenly halted, her body jerking taut. Uttering a low cry which was almost a scream, she stared at an object lying on the step in front of her.

“Why, Mother! What’s wrong?” cried Lorinda.

With Penny and Celeste, she hastened to the staircase. Mrs. Rhett’s face was as colorless as if she had seen a ghost. Her lips trembled. Without speaking, she pointed to the stair carpet.

There at her feet lay two burnt match ends tied together with a bit of scarlet string.

“An
ouange
! An evil
ouange
!” whispered Celeste in horror.

Lorinda turned upon her angrily.

“Celeste, don’t say such things! You know how nervous Mother is, and how easily she becomes upset! If this is one of your charms—”

“No! No!” the woman protested. She stared fixedly at the object on the floor. “This charm is not mine and it is not Antón’s!”

“Then how did it get here?”

“I do not know. It is a sign of evil—a sign of death.”

“Superstition!” exclaimed Lorinda.

Mrs. Rhett started on up the stairs, but as she would have stepped over the burned matches, Celeste seized her by the skirt, pulling her backwards. Frightened, the woman screamed and fell heavily against the wall.

Celeste kept her from collapsing, all the while muttering words Penny could not understand.

“Stop that gibberish!” Lorinda commanded.

Mrs. Rhett broke away from Celeste, and with an hysterical cry, moved down the stairway and into the library. Though she closed the door behind her, the girls could hear her sobs.

“Now see what you’ve done!” Lorinda accused Celeste.

The woman paid no attention to her. Bending over the match sticks, she swayed back and forth as she muttered a strange chant. As Lorinda sought to pick up the charm, Celeste struck her wrist a sharp blow.

“Fool!” she exclaimed. “Would you let your mother die a slow and painful death? Do not touch this thing of evil until I have finished! If she had stepped over it, nothing would have saved her.”

Celeste kept on with her mutterings until at last she was through. “I have done all I can,” she said with a deep sigh. Gingerly she picked up the match ends and, dropping them into the living room fireplace, saw them consumed by flame.

“Now what is all this stupidity about Mother dying a slow death?” Lorinda demanded sternly. “How did that thing get into this house, and what does it mean?”

“How it came here I do not know,” replied the woman. “Its meaning is simple. In the jungles such symbols are sometimes placed on new graves, that the departing spirit may kindle a little fire and warm its cold hands in the other world.”

“That’s enough!” interrupted Lorinda. “Don’t tell me any more. It’s all so silly.”

“It is the truth.”

“Well, true or false, Mother is not to be told such nonsense. She’s upset enough as it is.”

“Your mother already knows,” said the housekeeper. “That is why she weeps. She fears that even now the spell is upon her.”

“Celeste, you must be out of your mind!” Lorinda cried in exasperation. “You never said such dreadful things or acted like this when Father was here. What has taken possession of you?”

“I fear for the family. It bodes ill that my master should remain away. If only the Zudi drum were out of the house—destroyed—”

Lorinda’s patience had been overtaxed. “The Zudi drum!” she cried. “Oh, Celeste, you’re impossible! Go find Antón and if you must, talk such nonsense to him! But not another word of it before us! Do you understand?”

Celeste stood facing the two girls defiantly. Her eyes burned with an angry fire, and Penny expected her to make a bitter retort to Lorinda. Instead, she seemed to withdraw into herself, and with downcast head, scurried toward the kitchen.

CHAPTER 6

MATCHES AND STRING

After Celeste had gone, Lorinda went quickly to the library. Speaking soothingly to her mother, she urged her to go upstairs and lie down.

“That dreadful thing on the steps!” Mrs. Rhett exclaimed with a shudder. “Celeste jerked me back to keep me from walking past it, didn’t she? The charm has an evil significance—perhaps that I shall have a long lingering illness or die.”

“You know better than that, Mother. It’s all superstitious rot! What ever gave you such an idea?”

“Why, I don’t really know, Lorinda. I suppose Hamilton told me about the charm long ago. When I saw it on the step it gave me a deep shock and I seemed to realize that it had been put there for me alone to find. Lorinda, what if it should be a native death charm?”

“Mother, I won’t allow you to even think of such foolishness! You’re just upset because Father isn’t here.”

“Yes, that must be it,” Mrs. Rhett declared with a heavy sigh. “I have such a headache. I’ll go to my room now and try to sleep.”

Lorinda took her arm and helped her up the stairway. As they came to the step where the burnt matches had been, Mrs. Rhett glanced down and shivered. Then she laughed apologetically.

“It really is silly of me to let a little thing upset me so,” she declared. “I’ll be myself again as soon as I have slept.”

After helping her mother into bed, Lorinda returned to the living room where Penny had waited.

“I do hope you won’t put any of this in the paper,” she began earnestly. “People wouldn’t understand.”

“I’m afraid I don’t myself,” said Penny. “For instance, what did Celeste mean when she spoke of the Zudi drum? And who is she anyhow?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you! Celeste and her husband Antón, are a couple my stepfather brought to this country after spending a year studying ancient cult practices. Celeste befriended him, I believe, and helped him gain information about the tribesmen. Anyway, Father took a fancy to her, and persuaded the couple to come with him.”

“That was before he married your mother?”

“Oh, yes. After the wedding, my stepfather was unwilling to let Celeste and Antón go, so Mother agreed that they might work here. Antón is a worthless servant. He allows the grounds to run down shamefully, and the only time he ever really works is when someone stands over him!”

“And Celeste?”

“Oh, she is a hard worker, but I confess I don’t understand her,” Lorinda replied. “We disliked each other on sight. In a way, I’m a little afraid of her.”

“Why?”

“I can’t explain.” Lorinda stirred restlessly. “She makes me feel uneasy whenever I am near her—almost as if I were in the presence of Black Magic.”

At Penny’s expression of astonishment, she amended hastily: “Oh, I don’t mean that exactly. Celeste is devoted to my stepfather and I’m sure only means to be helpful. But the truth is, she’s steeped in a mysterious and not too wholesome past. Superstition is the breath of life to her.”

“How did the match ends get on the stairway?”

“I wish I knew.” Lorinda’s forehead wrinkled with anxiety. “Celeste may have told the truth when she said neither she nor Antón had anything to do with it.”

“Then how was the charm brought into the house?”

“My stepfather had enemies. Something tells me all this may have a connection with the Zudi drum.”

“Didn’t Celeste suggest that idea to you? She hinted that the drum—whatever it is—should be removed from the house.”

“I can see myself getting rid of the Zudi drum! Why, it is my stepfather’s most prized trophy! He took it from a native tribe, and as you might imagine, there was plenty of trouble!”

“Your stepfather didn’t steal the drum?”

“Not exactly, though tribesmen may have regarded it that way. The drum was used in ceremonials and was highly treasured by natives. Father tried to buy it. When he couldn’t, he left money and trinkets and carried off the drum. Natives pursued him for more than a hundred miles, but he got away.”

“And your stepfather has the drum now?”

“Yes, we keep it in the library wall safe. Want to see it?”

“I’d love to, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“The truth is I want to check to be certain the drum is still here,” Lorinda replied, leading the way into the adjoining room. “What Celeste said made me uneasy.”

“You think your stepfather may have removed the drum from the wall safe?”

“I can’t imagine him doing that. However, his long absence is puzzling, and finding the burnt match charm gives the whole situation a sinister slant. It’s barely possible some of those tribesmen followed him here, hoping to recover the Zudi drum.”

“Why, that seems fantastic!”

“Not if you understand tribal customs. From all my stepfather told me of his experiences, I am sure members of the Zudi cult would stop at nothing in trying to recover their ceremonial drum.”

Penny inquired if Mr. Rhett ever had received threats against his life.

“Oh, dozens of them, but that was years ago. Since he married Mother, I’ve not heard of any. But then, my stepfather was self-contained and rather strange in many ways. If he had received threats, he might not have told her.”

Becoming more interested in the story minute by minute, Penny longed to ask if Mr. and Mrs. Rhett ever had had serious disagreements. However, the question was a difficult one, and she knew of no way to phrase it without risking offense to Lorinda.

“I’d never admit it to Celeste,” the Rhett girl went on, carefully drawing heavy draperies across the arched doorway of the library and closing another door which opened toward the stairs. “But seeing that match and string
ouange
gave me an unpleasant moment. I’m afraid my stepfather’s enemies may have picked up his trail. In that case—well, the charm really could become an omen of evil.”

“You’re becoming morbid,” laughed Penny. “What is there to fear in two burnt matches tied with a string?”

“Nothing perhaps,” replied Lorinda, though without firm conviction. “Let’s hope the Zudi drum is still here. I wish it had never been brought into the house.”

A large painting of a Dutch windmill hung low on the north library wall. To Penny’s surprise, Lorinda gave one of its long gold cords a jerk. The picture swung back to disclose a cleverly hidden safe.

“Now I hope I haven’t forgotten the combination,”Lorinda murmured.

Thinking a moment, she whirled the dials with an expert touch. The safe failed to open. With an exclamation of annoyance, she tried again. This time there was a sharp little click and as she turned the handle, the circular door swung back.

Lorinda thrust her arm deep into the opening. “It’s here all right!” she exclaimed.

From the safe she drew forth a bowl-shaped drum, perhaps eight inches in diameter at the opening. An animal skin was stretched over the framework and the sides were decorated with symbols.

“This probably is my stepfather’s most valuable trophy,” Lorinda declared. “He treasures it above all else, because there is no other exactly like it. But the drum never should have been taken from the native tribe.”

With her fingers, the girl tapped out a rhythm on the drum. The first three notes were slow and heavy, with a series of triplets coming as a light splutter at the end.

Penny, who had a keen sense of the ludicrous, began to sway to the jungle rhythm. Lorinda drummed with more energy, and they both burst into laughter.

But suddenly for no apparent reason, the mirth died from Lorinda’s lips and abruptly she ended the tapping.

Tossing the Zudi drum into the wall safe, she closed the heavy door and spun the dials. With another swift movement, she swung the picture into place.

Penny started to speak, but a significant glance from her companion served as a warning to remain silent.

Lorinda darted across the room, and jerked aside the heavy brocade curtains which framed the arching doorway. Crouching behind the protective folds was the same dark-skinned servant who had talked to Penny from the upstairs window!

CHAPTER 7

WHISPERING WALLS

“Antón!” Lorinda exclaimed in disapproval. “Why were you listening?”