儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Singing Ghost CHAPTER 5 The Mysterious Dress

Suddenly, Benny sniffed 1. “I smell something sweet … like perfume.”



“I smell it, too,” Jessie said.



“It’s like roses,” Henry said.



“It’s coming from the living room,” Violet said.



The children hurried into the living room. There they saw something they didn’t expect. On the mantel was a vase with three fragrant 2 yellow roses in it.



“These weren’t here yesterday,” Violet said, startled.



“Maybe Mr. Farley took some from his garden and put them in here,” Jessie said thoughtfully.



“Maybe, but how would he have gotten in? We always lock the door when we go,” Henry said. “Let’s go ask him.”



The Aldens went outside. Mr. Farley was still working in his yard.



“Mr. Farley,” Benny called out.



Mr. Farley stopped weeding as the children approached. “Yes?” he said.



“Did you put any roses in the living room in the Roth house?” Violet asked.



Mr. Farley snorted. “Of course not. I don’t grow roses, and I sure wouldn’t waste money buying flowers for an empty house.”



“Well, someone did,” Jessie said. “Come look.”



Mr. Farley followed the Aldens into the house and into the living room. He looked at the roses on the mantel. “Well, you’re right. They sure are roses.”



“Maybe Mrs. Carter put them here,” Henry said.



“She and her husband went off early this morning,” Mr. Farley said, “and they haven’t come home yet.”



The Aldens were silent.



“I told you there were funny things going on in this house. Now maybe you’ll believe me,” Mr. Farley said. “Celia used to love roses. I remember that. She grew them in her garden.” Then he turned and went back to his house.



“Mr. Farley is right. There are strange things going on,” Violet said.



“Violet, there are good explanations for everything,” Jessie said, but she didn’t sound too sure.



“I know what we should do,” Henry said. “We’ll go to the library in the morning and see what we can find out about the Roths from old newspapers.”



“Great idea,” Jessie said.



“I think we should tell Grandfather what’s going on,” Benny said.



“Benny is right,” Violet said.



Jessie hesitated. “We don’t want him to think we’re just foolish kids.”



Henry shook his head. “Grandfather would never think that. He knows we aren’t.”



At the table that night, they all ate Mrs. McGregor’s delicious meal of lamb chops, baked potatoes, and string beans. Then she brought in a big bowl of cut-up fresh fruit and a plate of spice cookies. She put the bowl in front of Henry to serve. As he dished out the fruit for his family, he said, “Grandfather, there’s something we want to talk to you about.”



Grandfather looked concerned. “There’s nothing wrong, is there?”



“It’s about the Roth house,” Benny said. “It’s a funny house.”



“Funny?” Grandfather asked.



“Well,” Violet began. “Benny is right. There are funny things in the house and funny people outside the house.”



Jessie said, “The things in the house can all be explained, I’m sure. Like a window shade suddenly fell on the floor. And we heard a girl singing upstairs. And roses appeared in the living room. The shade was probably blown off the window by the wind. Henry thinks the singing came from outside the house. I guess someone put the roses in the house, but who?”



Grandfather smiled. “Probably Mrs. Thaler did, to make the house look pretty.”



“I never thought of her,” Violet said. “But what about the funny people?”



“How are they funny?” Mr. Alden asked.



Benny said, “Well, Mr. Farley, the next-door neighbor, is always saying the house is haunted.”



Violet added, “And the other neighbor, Mr. Carter, doesn’t want to have neighbors.”



Henry said, “And there’s this man, an artist named Thomas Yeats, who is upset because the house will be fixed 4 up. He’s painting a picture and doesn’t want the house changed.”



“And there’s Terry Evans. She’s writing a book. She thinks the house should be a landmark,” Jessie said.



“These people don’t sound so odd to me, except maybe Mr. Farley,” Grandfather said. “But he probably just has a big imagination. I think you children do, too. I suggest you forget about Mr. Farley’s ghost and have fun fixing up the house. Joe and Alice will be so pleased.”



“You’re right, Grandfather,” Jessie said. “That’s just what we’ll do. We all do have big imaginations.”



But in the morning, the Aldens went to the library anyway. Ms. Gary, the librarian, smiled at them. “Can I help you?” she asked.



Jessie smiled back at her. “We wonder if you have any old Greenfield newspapers that go back to 1917?”



“We have some on microfilm. Is there anything in particular you’re looking for?” Ms. Gary asked.



“Well, we’d like to read about when Celia Roth disappeared. Our cousins are buying the old Roth house,” Violet said.



“That was a long time ago,” Ms. Gary said.



“It was August,” Benny said. “Mr. Farley told us that.”



“Well, that’s a help,” Ms. Gary said as she left the room. “I’ll be right back.”



She returned soon with two rolls of microfilm. “This is the Greenfield paper from August 1917. Do you know how to use the microfilm machine?” she asked. “It’s upstairs.”



“I know how. We learned in school,” Jessie said.



“Ours is an old machine,” Ms. Gary said. “Not like the newest ones.”



“So is the one in school,” Jessie replied. The Aldens ran up the stairs, and Jessie put the film into the machine and started moving the film through. “I’ll yell when I get to something,” she said, looking at the screen.



The other children were silent while Jessie looked. After a while she shouted, “Here! Here’s something.”



“Let me see,” Violet said. “The date is August 4th. It says, Celia Roth is missing.”



“What else does it say?” Benny asked excitedly.



Violet read. “Seventeen-year-old Celia Roth has vanished from her father’s house. Mr. Robert Roth has refused to discuss the disappearance 5 with reporters. The Greenfield police have questioned Mr. Roth and they also refuse to be interviewed.”



“Let me look, too,” Henry said. He took Violet’s place at the machine. “Here’s more. On August thirty-first it says, The Greenfield police are no longer investigating the case of Celia Roth.”



“That’s funny,” Jessie said. “Keep looking.”



Henry looked for another five minutes. “There’s nothing else,” he said.



The Aldens went downstairs, returned the film to Ms. Gary, and left the library.



Benny said, “Well, we don’t know anything more than we did before.”



They all got on their bikes. “Let’s go to the house and do some more work,” Jessie said. “Before we know it, Joe and Alice will be here.”



When they got to the house, Thomas Yeats was across the street. His easel was set up and he was busy working on his painting of the Roth house.



Benny waved and called out, “Hi, Mr. Yeats. Can I look at your painting?”



Mr. Yeats looked across the street at Benny. “No, you can’t,” he replied gruffly.



“It’s probably a rotten painting anyway,” Benny grumbled 6.



“He sure is an unfriendly man,” Jessie said.



“Let’s just ignore him,” Violet said. “I know what needs cleaning very badly … the big bathroom in the master bedroom.”



“Ugh,” Benny said. “I don’t want to clean a bathroom.”



“Okay, Benny,” Henry said, “you can clean the inside of the big bedroom’s windows. I’ll help Jessie and Violet with the bathroom.”



The Aldens carted cleanser, soap, a bucket, and rags up to the bathroom. Jessie and Violet scrubbed the sink and the tub while Henry washed down the tiles. Little by little the bathroom began to look white instead of gray.



In the bedroom, Benny sprayed window cleaner on the panes 7 of glass and carefully wiped them with a soft rag. The sun sparkled on the panes and Benny cried out, “You should see what a good job I’m doing!”



“I’m sure you are,” Violet called back to Benny. “We’ll come and look.”



The Aldens gathered around Benny and admired his hard work. Then Jessie pointed 8 to a closet door. “We never looked in there.”



Henry walked over and pulled open the heavy wooden door. He peered into the closet. “There are a few boxes in here.”



The other children came over to him and looked into the closet, too. Violet said, “There are books in those boxes. Lots of books.”



“We’ll have to go through them some time,” Jessie said. “That should be fun.”



“Like when we cleaned up that old library,” Benny said.



“Maybe there are boxes of things in the other closets,” Violet said. “I’ll go look in the next bedroom.”



In a few minutes the children heard her cry out, “Come here! Look what’s on the bed.”



Benny, Henry, and Jessie ran into the next room. Violet pointed to the single bed that was against a wall and stretching into the room. What they saw surprised them even more than the roses had. There was a dress on the bed. A pale pink, long dress. The hem 3, neckline, and wrists were trimmed with a delicate lace. It was a beautiful dress, and the children could tell that it was very old.



“That dress wasn’t here yesterday,” Violet said.



“It wasn’t here any day we were in this room,” Henry added.



“Where do you suppose it came from?” Jessie asked.



“I’ll bet it was once Celia’s dress,” Benny said.



“It looks like it might have been. And I’ll bet this was her room,” Violet said.



The Aldens were silent, each thinking about how the dress could have gotten into the room.



“I’m going to call Grandfather,” Violet said. “I want him to come here and see what we see. Then he won’t think we just have big imaginations.”



“There’s no phone in this house,” Benny said. “How are you going to call him?”



“I’ll go next door and ask the Carters if I can use their phone. I know they’re home because I saw their car in the driveway,” Violet said firmly.



“I don’t know if we should bother Grandfather at work with this,” Jessie said thoughtfully.



“Grandfather won’t mind,” Benny said. “He always tells us we should call him anytime if we need him.”



Henry said, “That’s true, but do we really need him to come to look at an old dress?”



“It isn’t just an old dress, Henry,” Violet said. “You know that. It’s a very old dress that just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I want Grandfather to see it.”



“Okay,” Jessie said. “Let’s go and call him.”



The Aldens hurried next door to the Carters’ house and knocked at the door. Soon Mrs. Carter appeared. She smiled when she saw the children. “Hi. Can I do something for you?”



“We’d like to use your phone, if we could,” Violet said. “I want to call my grandfather.”



“I hope nothing is wrong,” Mrs. Carter said, looking very curious.



“Well, I’m not sure,” Violet replied. “Something very strange just happened to us.”



“Do you want to tell me about it?” Mrs. Carter asked.



“First I want to call Grandfather,” Violet said.



Mrs. Carter led the Aldens into the house. “There’s a phone in the kitchen that you can use,” she said, pointing to a room to her right.



Violet took the receiver off the kitchen wall and dialed a number. “I’d like to speak to Mr. Alden, please,” she said. “This is his granddaughter Violet.”



Soon Mr. Alden’s voice boomed over the phone. “Violet! Are you all right? Is something wrong?”



“We’re fine, Grandfather,” she said. “Don’t be upset. But something just happened at the Roth house, and I’d like you to come over. A dress appeared, an old dress, out of nowhere.”



Grandfather hesitated. “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, dear. But you do sound upset. I’ll be with you as soon as I can drive over there.”



Violet hung up. Mrs. Carter was leaning against the sink, looking very interested in Violet’s conversation. The other Aldens were standing 9 near the doorway 10.



“How about if I give you children some milk and cookies while you’re waiting for your grandfather?” Mrs. Carter said.



“I think that’s a very good idea,” Benny said.



“Are you sure it isn’t any trouble?” Jessie asked.



“It will be a pleasure,” Mrs. Carter answered.



Just then Mr. Carter came into the kitchen. “I thought I heard a lot of strange voices,” he said.



Mrs. Carter looked at him with a funny expression on her face. “It’s just the Alden children. They’re going to have milk and cookies while they wait for their grandfather.”



“Why is he coming?” Mr. Carter asked. “Aren’t there enough people here?”



Mrs. Carter laughed nervously 11. “Don’t mind my husband, children. He really isn’t as grumpy as he sounds.”



She opened the refrigerator door and took out a large carton of milk. She filled four glasses and set them on the kitchen table. “Sit down. I’ll put out some cookies, too.”



The Aldens sat around the table, and Mr. Carter left the room. Mrs. Carter filled a plate with chocolate chip cookies and placed it in the center of the table. “They aren’t homemade but they are still good,” she said, smiling.



The Aldens drank and ate in silence. Then Benny slowly said, “Did you know Celia Roth?”



Mrs. Carter laughed. “No. She lived here way before I did. But I’ve certainly heard a lot about her from Mr. Farley.”



“Do you believe in ghosts, Mrs. Carter?” Benny asked.



“Of course she doesn’t,” Henry said quickly.