“And the Remembrance Room!” screamed Mrs. Meeching.
As there was still no sign of anyone even hearing them, much less minding, Mrs. Plumly drew her two evil knitting needles from a carpetbag. “Move away, if you don’t want to feel the points of these!”
But even as she was spitting out the words, the hands of Aunt Twice and Tilly, Kipper and Emily, Mrs. Poovey and Mrs. Loops and all the other old people were dipping into the bags Kipper had given them.
“Are you ready, Mrs. Loops?” Mrs. Poovey was heard to say.
“Quite ready, Mrs. Poovey,” replied Mrs. Loops.
“Then heave ho, and aim!” cried Mrs. Poovey.
And then all at once, a storm of puffy, tempting, tantalizing, delicious, pink-and-white-striped peppermint drops, become stinging hailstones in the hands of the outraged residents of Sugar Hill Hall, burst through the parlor at Mrs. Plumly and Mrs. Meeching.
“Fiends!” screeched Mrs. Meeching.
“Vultures!” screamed Mrs. Plumly.
Faces contorted with hatred and fury, the two ladies were driven back across the parlor by the hailstorm of stinging peppermints.
“Quick, the kitchen!” hissed Mrs. Meeching. But by the time they had headed for that escape route, it was too late. From behind them, as well as through the front door, were already pouring a dozen policemen with chains, nets, and clubs. It was but a matter of a few moments for Plumly and Meeching, Inc. to be chained up, locked, and removed from Sugar Hill Hall forever.
Still, with all of that, Emily did not feel entirely satisfied until Uncle Twice finally stepped through the door with Kipper’s Pa. But when she saw the look on Uncle Twice’s face as his eyes found Aunt Twice, and saw her run into his arms laughing and crying at the same time, then Emily was truly happy at last. For it was clear that Uncle Twice found Aunt Twice to be more beautiful than ever!
So everything was now solved, and everything settled. Sugar Hill Hall was returned to its rightful owners. Uncle and Aunt Twice would live there with Emily, whose great wealth would help keep them until Uncle Twice should regain his own fortune. And Emily’s dear friends, Mrs. Poovey, Mrs. Loops, Mr. Bottle, Mr. Dobbs, Mrs. Quirk and all the other old people would live there too, enjoying warm, cozy rooms, splendid meals, and the joy of playing with Clarabelle to their heart’s content.
With so much happiness, why should anyone weep? And yet, standing forlornly in one corner of the parlor was Tilly, her pale eyes flooded with tears. Emily ran to her at once.
“Tilly, what’s the matter? Why are you crying when everything is all happiness now?”
“It ain’t all happiness for me!” sobbed Tilly. “Us orphings was getting to be good friends. Now y’r a hairess, Emily, and you ain’t going to wants me ’round no more.”
“What a foolish thing to say!” exclaimed Emily. “Why not?”
“ ’Cause—’cause I ain’t been as good a friend as I oughts when you was poor, pinching you and all that ’cause I was greener than any pea with envy on ’count o’ you havings y’r Aunt Twice, and me not havings nobody. But worse than that, I stoled from you, Emily!”
“Stole from me?” said Emily. “What did you steal, Tilly?”
“This!” said Tilly miserably. From the pocket of her dress she pulled Emily’s bedraggled white fur tamo’-shanter. It was worn almost to the skin from having been rubbed to death.
“Why, Tilly,” said Emily promptly, “you didn’t steal that from me. You only borrowed it, don’t you remember?”
“I dids?” said the amazed Tilly.
“Yes, and I’m certain as can be that one day you were going to return it to me,” said Emily firmly.
“I were?” said the astonished Tilly, beaming. “You means we can go on being friends, Emily?”
“Of course!” declared Emily. “And you shall not only have your very own fur tam-o’-shanter now, Tilly, but all the pretty things you want. And you shall move upstairs from the cellar to live next to me, and we shall have lessons together, and—”
“Lessons?” said Tilly faintly. She looked like a bird whose owner has just set it free only to turn around and put an arrow through its heart.
“Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” said Emily quickly. “But if you do, you may, and we shall always remain the best of friends!”
After this happily received speech, Emily ran back to Aunt and Uncle Twice, to be hugged again by one and swung, laughing, into the air by the other. Then she skipped over to Kipper, who was standing nearby with Pa. Both faces were alight with cheerful grins.
“Just think, Kipper!” she cried. “Never again will there be shadows in Sugar Hill Hall, just sunshine and peppermints in the parlor for everyone, forever!”
After long moments of silence, in which neither Kipper nor Pa could think of anything grand enough to say to this joyful pronouncement, Kipper finally came up with a speech.
“Dingus, Emily!”
“As Kipper always says,” concluded Pa happily.
Test your detective skills with these spine-tingling Aladdin Mysteries!
The Star-Spangled Secret By K. M. Kimball
Mystery at Kittiwake Bay Scared Stiff By Joyce Stengel
Scared Stiff By Willo Davis Roberts
O’Dwyer & Grady Starring in Acting Innocent By Eileen Heyes
Ghosts in the Gallery By Barbara Brooks Wallace
The York Trilogy By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Shadows on the Wall
Faces in the Water
Footprints at the Window
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS BY BARBARA BROOKS WALLACE
The Barrel in the Basement
Ghosts in the Gallery
Miss Switch Online
Miss Switch to the Rescue
Peppermints in the Parlor
Secret in St. Something
Sparrows in the Scullery
The Trouble with Miss Switch
The Twin in the Tavern
Don’t Miss These Fun Animal Adventures from
BILL WALLACE
UPCHUCK AND THE ROTTEN WILLY
Cats and dogs just can’t be friends—or can they?
Iowa Children’s Choice Award Master
