Disappearing Staircase Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page B

Lodge or Brian Carpenter instead. I’m afraid we simply cannot have children underfoot.” She walked away.
    Henry tried to cheer up the other children. They were surprised that Louella had been so cross with them. “There’s plenty to do besides working on the auction. Let’s go see if Brian or Nan could use some Alden elbow grease.”
    Soo Lee and Benny checked their elbows.
    “My elbows aren’t greasy, Henry,” Soo Lee said.
    Henry picked up Soo Lee. He gave her a twirl until she giggled. “Elbow grease just means hard work, Soo Lee.”
    Brian Carpenter and Nan Lodge were looking over some papers when the Aldens came over.
    “I’m in charge of repairs,” Brian told Nan in a sharp voice. “I can’t have volunteers running all over the house before the major repairs are done. I would suggest that you keep your workers busy with outside work until my crew finishes the heavy work on the upper floors. Then your volunteers can get on with the painting and such.”
    The Aldens stepped forward just as Nan stomped away.
    “If you need help, Henry and I are pretty good at repairing things,” Jessie told Brian. “You can check our boxcar in the backyard to see how we fixed it up.”
    Brian stared at Jessie before answering. “I’ll let you know. This isn’t a playhouse like your boxcar. It’s a real house. I need a grown-up crew for now.”
    The children looked at one another, then walked away.
    “Gee,” Henry said. “The Gardiners don’t want us to help out at the auction. Now Brian only wants grown-ups for his group. That leaves Nan Lodge.”
    The Aldens tracked down Nan in Grandfather’s den. She was looking through some of his old books about Greenfield. She didn’t hear the children enter.
    “Sorry,” Jessie said when Nan seemed startled to see the Aldens. “Can we help you find something?”
    Nan put down the book she had been reading. “I was checking for some information Mabel needed. But I didn’t find it. I’m going to get some tea.” With that, Nan suddenly got up and returned to the living room.
    “Let’s wait to talk with the leaders when they’re not so busy,” Jessie suggested after Nan left. “I wonder why Nan was looking through Grandfather’s old books.”
    They went out to the living room, too. Everyone seemed to be buzzing with stories about the Bugbee family.
    “Well, my uncle told me Mr. Bugbee and his family left Greenfield in disgrace. Something to do with unpaid taxes or some such thing,” a volunteer said.
    “What are taxes?” Benny whispered to Henry.
    “It’s money that people pay to the government,” Henry answered. “Money that helps run the town of Greenfield and lots of other things.”
    “Oh!” Benny whispered. “That’s important.”
    “Can you imagine just leaving your whole house and everything in it?” the volunteer went on. “The Bugbees must have been in some kind of big trouble.”
    The Aldens noticed how upset Brian and Nan looked when they heard this. Nan’s face had turned white. Brian’s was nearly as red as his flannel shirt. Both of them stared at the volunteer, who kept right on talking about the Bugbees.
    Just in time, Grandfather joined the group. “No one really knows why the Bugbees left Greenfield. They were private people. I know they ran into difficulties and had to leave their home. That could happen to anyone.”
    The Alden children looked at one another without saying anything. They had left their own home after their parents died. Yes, leaving home could happen to anyone.

CHAPTER 2
Gloomy Rooms
    “I never saw this rusty old gate open before,” Henry said when the Aldens arrived at the Bugbee estate a few days later.
    The children stared up at the gate. They had passed it often, but it had always been locked before. Now it was open. The two stone lions on each side of the gate almost seemed to be guarding the entrance to the estate.
    Violet shivered. “I wish it wasn’t such a gloomy day. It will be too dark and wet