The Haunted Fountain by Margaret Sutton

  CHAPTER VI

  A Diamond Clue

  “A clue, did you say? Now we’re looking for clues,” Lois said with alaugh as she followed Judy toward what they now felt almost sure wasthe broken and deserted fountain.

  “It’s a shame, isn’t it?” asked Judy. “It used to be so beautiful.”

  “You remember it in the summer,” Lois reminded her again. “Now it’swinter. Things naturally change with the changing seasons.”

  “Not this much,” Judy objected. “It isn’t the same at all. There shouldbe steps—”

  “There are!” Lois interrupted.

  Lorraine found them and almost bumped into one of the stone lionsbeside them. He seemed to have a startled expression on his face.

  “You should have said, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Lion!’” Lois teased her.

  “This is the fountain all right,” declared Judy. “Those stone lionsused to have water spurting out of their mouths. Now there’s nothingbut a rusty old water pipe.”

  “So that’s what gives Mr. Lion such a startled expression?” Lois cockedher head to one side and made a face at the statue.

  “Is that Mrs. Lion on the other side?” asked Judy. “They look exactlyalike. There should be eight of them guarding the four flights of stepsleading up to the pool. I remember running up and down those steps andmeeting all the lions. Shall we do it again?”

  “Let’s!” cried Lois, seizing Judy’s hand.

  “Wait!” urged Lorraine. “Stop acting like children. I think there’sstill a little water in the main fountain, and if there is, I intend tomake my wish.”

  “So _we’re_ acting like children?”

  Lois looked at Judy and giggled, but Lorraine was serious. She walkedsedately up the steps to the circular pool and peered over the edge.

  “You can’t wish,” Judy called, “unless you shed a tear. The spirit saidso.”

  “The spirit is gone, and so is most of the water,” declared Lois.

  “All the better for exploring. I would like to see what’s over there.Do you think I can make it?” asked Judy.

  “You can try,” Lois told her. “We’ll follow you if you don’t get yourfeet wet.”

  “I won’t. I wore my rubbers. Anyway, there’s a thin coating of ice overwhat little water there is left in the pool. I’ll just skate over tothe center fountain and have a look.”

  It was not quite as easy as it sounded. Judy had some difficultyclimbing over the edge of the pool and sliding down into its nearly drybottom. The ice turned out to be nothing but melting slush from anearlier snowfall. She waded through it to the smaller circle of cementimmediately surrounding the pedestal which was ornamented with cupids.At their feet she found a pool that had not been drained. A cap thatlooked like the nozzle of a watering pot covered another rustywaterpipe that seemed to be clogged with dead leaves. Judy peered intoa cave behind the cupids, trying to see what was there.

  “What have you found?” called Lois, seeing something in Judy’s hand.

  “A sprinkler, I guess. There’s a cave that seems to go down underneaththe fountain. I can’t see anything in it but rusty pipes. Could thespirit voice have come from there?”

  “It seems logical, doesn’t it?”

  “You sound like Peter,” laughed Judy. “There’s nothing logical about aspirit that lives in a fountain. I’m a little disappointed that it’sall so ordinary, now. Maybe we shouldn’t have come.”

  “Let’s go then,” Lorraine suggested. “I can’t wish if there isn’t anywater—”

  “There is a little. I don’t know why it wouldn’t work just as well,especially if you shed a tear.”

  “I can’t turn my tears on and off like a faucet,” Lorraine objected.“Couldn’t we throw in a coin or something?”

  “People toss coins in wishing wells. Shall we try it?” asked Lois.

  “Come on over and try it if you think it will do any good,” Judyinvited them.

  “It does seem a shame to throw perfectly good money away. Would a pennydo?” Lois asked after she had helped Lorraine across. “I suppose youhave to feel enchanted.”

  “I did.” Judy stopped and listened. “Do you hear anything? Maybe thevoice will still speak to us if we’re perfectly quiet.”

  “Out of a dry fountain? Oh, Judy!” Lorraine cried. “I did so want towish. It’s the only thing left to do.”

  “Why?” asked Lois.

  “That’s what everybody keeps asking,” Lorraine replied in a rush ofsudden emotion. “Why? Why? And I keep asking myself the same question.Maybe it was silly of me to think I could wish away a problem asserious as this, but I have to do something. I can’t go on like this,holding it all back and pretending—”

  “Then don’t hold it back. Tell us, dear!” Judy urged her.

  “Oh, if only I could! If only I could cry my heart out and tell youeverything!” sobbed Lorraine.

  And suddenly, as she leaned over the little pool that was left aroundthe fountain she did shed a tear that splashed in the water and maderipples all around the spot where it fell.

  “Wish! Wish!” Judy and Lois cried both together.

  They were so excited that they heard only part of what Lorrainewhispered into the fountain.

  “... it wasn’t Arthur,” the wish ended and then, as the ripplesvanished, Lorraine sobbed, “Oh, but it was! It was! How can I keep onloving him if I can’t trust him? Judy, could you love Peter if—if youthought he was a—a _cheat_? Could you?”

  “I wouldn’t think it—even with proof. I mean it,” declared Judy. “I’velearned my lesson. Once I did doubt him, and then when I found out whatwas really happening I was so ashamed. No matter what happened now, I’dkeep on trusting him because I love him, and loving him because I trusthim. The two go together—”

  “It looks—like a diamond!” gasped Judy]

  Suddenly Judy stopped speaking. She had been idly dabbling her hand inthe pool as she talked. Now she felt something small and hard at thebottom. “Like a small gravel stone,” she thought as she took it betweenher thumb and forefinger to examine it.

  “Have you found another clue?” asked Lois. “What is it this time?”

  “It looks—like a diamond!” gasped Judy. “But it can’t be. What would adiamond be doing in an old deserted fountain?”

  “It could be a piece of ice,” Lorraine ventured.

  “A frozen tear, perhaps,” Lois put in whimsically. “Maybe the tear youshed, Lorraine, turned into a diamond. Maybe there are more diamonds inthe pool. Maybe we’ll walk home with our hands full—”

  “We’ll walk home dripping wet if we aren’t careful! The fountain isbeginning to bubble!” cried Lorraine as she seized her friend’s handand pulled her away from the water. Judy stood spellbound watching thetransformation as if a miracle had taken place. Finally Lois expressedthe obvious.

  “Someone has turned it on!”

  “Someone in the tower,” guessed Judy.

  “Or down underneath,” Lorraine whispered. “Judy, I’m scared. This wasplanned, somehow. I think we’re being watched!”

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