The Secret of the Haunted Mirror - M. V. Carey [7]
Mrs. Darnley put her hand to her throat. “He went . . . through the looking-glass?”
“Like Alice,” said Jean. It was barely a whisper.
“I … I cannot believe that,” said Mrs. Darnley.
“So you say now,” declared Santora. “But you know the rest. The man who travelled to Madrid sold the glass to a student at the university, a student named Diego Manolos. Soon after, Manolos left Spain and returned to the place where he had been born. It is a place that you know, Señora Darnley, a tiny island of a country called Ruffino. There he married a lady who was your friend and who is still your friend. What does your friend say about the mirror?”
“She didn’t like it,” said Mrs. Darnley. “She thought it ugly, which it certainly is.
She would have given it to me years ago, but her husband wouldn’t part with it. But she never said she saw anything in the glass. Manolos had it for more than thirty years, and she never saw any spirit in it.”
Santora leaned towards her and his voice was very low, so low that Jupe found himself straining to hear. “The glass is cursed,” he said. “Chiavo curses any who possess it, unless they are of his blood.”
“But Diego Manolos wasn’t cursed,” insisted Mrs. Darnley. “He was very successful. He was an adviser to the president of Ruffino.”
“Perhaps the curse fell upon his wife,” suggested Santora. His dark eyes were fixed upon Mrs. Darnley, unblinking. “Tell me, Señora Darnley, about your friend who married Manolos. Was she a happy woman?”
Mrs. Darnley turned her head away. “Well . . . no. I think Isabella Manolos was not a happy woman when her husband was alive. I think he always treated her badly.
But now he is dead, and …”
“And the first thing his widow did after his death was to send you the mirror,”
Santora reminded her.
“She knew I wanted it.” Mrs. Darnley shook herself as if waking from a bad dream, and she stood up. “Señora Santora you have told me a tale which I cannot believe. No one can disappear into a mirror. But if you are indeed a descendant of Chiavo, there must be documents – records of births and marriages. If the mirror is really the property of your family, I will not keep it from you. But you must prove it.”
Santora stood up, too, and took his parcel from the table. “It has taken many years to find the mirror,” he said. “My father followed the trail from Madrid to Barcelona and back to Madrid. I followed it to Ruffino, and when I reached the widow of Manolos it was too late. Now I am here. It will take still more time to get the documents you ask for, but I have the time. I will send to Spain.”
“I will wait,” said Mrs. Darnley.
“Yes, Señora, and while you wait, be careful. The glass is dangerous.”
He went out of the library, and the boys heard the front door open, then close behind him.
“What a tale that was!” exclaimed Pete. He looked a bit shaky.
“A beautifully constructed scare story,” said Jupiter Jones.
“He must have been lying,” declared Mrs. Darnley. She spoke as if she were trying to convince herself. “He couldn’t be a descendant of Chiavo and … and no one can disappear into a mirror. If he is really a descendant of Chiavo, why didn’t he say so right away, when he first came here more than a week ago?”
“Perhaps,” said Jupiter Jones, “it just occurred to him to mention it today.”
Chapter 4
Jupiter Scents a Mystery
BEFORE THEY LEFT THE Darnley house, Jupiter Jones gave Mrs. Darnley one of the business cards of The Three Investigators. “Our telephone number is on the back of the card,” he said. “If we can be of any assistance to you, we will be very pleased.”
THE THREE INVESTIGATORS
“We Investigate Anything”
? ? ?
First Investigator – Jupiter Jones
Second Investigator – Peter Crenshaw
Records and Research – Bob Andrews
She took the card, almost absent-mindedly, and folded it in half. “No one can disappear into a mirror,” she insisted again.
“I shouldn’t think so,” said Jupiter, “but it will be interesting to see what documents Señor Santora can produce to support his story.”
She nodded