The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels (270 page)

“But ain’t it a little harsh for a girl? She’s only a kid—”

“Only a kid!” Father Benedict’s voice rose in mockery. “From the hour we came here she has been a thorn in my side. If it hadn’t been for her interference, we would have been away from here yesterday!”

“Okay, if those are your orders. Are you sure the girl has skipped?”

“Certainly I am. I found the window open, and there are the footprints in the snow!”

“Maybe she won’t be back.”

“She will,” Father Benedict said grimly. “You see, so long as we have her—”

He broke off to listen intently. From the direction of the cloister a silver bell had chimed.

“The signal for the processional!” Father Benedict exclaimed, interrupting himself. “I must go!”

In the doorway he apparently paused, for Penny heard him say to Julia:

“Start dishing up the soup ready to serve as soon as the ceremony is over! A bowl and four crackers to each person!”

“Is that all they’re getting to eat?” Winkey inquired. “We’re in for a lot of squawks!”

“You forget that the members of our sect have taken a vow of poverty and abstinence,” retorted the monk with heavy sarcasm. “If there are any complaints, I know how to handle them.”

“You sure do,” agreed Winkey, his laughter crackling. “I’ll hand you the gold plated medal for that!”

Voices of the two men died away, informing Penny that they had gone. As she huddled in the cramped quarters, she could hear Julia moving about the kitchen. The woman sighed heavily and once muttered:“Woe is me! Wisht I was dead, I do!”

Minutes elapsed and the girl became increasingly uncomfortable and impatient. Old Julia showed no inclination to leave the kitchen.

“I’ve got to get out of here or I’ll miss the entire ceremony!” Penny told herself. “Well, here goes! If Julia screams, I’m a cooked goose!”

Opening the cupboard door a tiny crack, she peered out.

Old Julia had lighted candles. In their flickering light she could be seen with her back to Penny, stirring the soup. On the table beside her were ten wooden bowls.

“It’s now or never!” the girl thought. “Julia may give me away, but I’ll have to chance it!”

Opening the door wider, she moved noiselessly out and glided across the floor. A board creaked. But as Julia turned her head, Penny reached out and covered her mouth with her hand.

Seeing her, the old woman’s eyes dilated with fear, but she could not speak.

“Don’t try to scream! Don’t say a word!” Penny warned. “I won’t hurt you! I’m here to help you.”

The old woman tried to break from the girl’s grasp. Penny kept talking to her in a soothing tone until gradually she relaxed.

“Will you keep quiet if I release you?” she finally demanded.

The old woman’s head bobbed up and down.

Penny removed her hand, expecting the worst. But Julia did not scream. Instead, she stared fixedly at the girl.

“Julia, I must see the ceremony, and Father Benedict isn’t to know I am here,” Penny whispered. “Will you keep my secret?”

Again Julia’s head inclined, but the look of terror remained in her eyes.

“Go!” she whispered, pointing to the window. “Leave while there is time!”

“Not until I’ve seen the ceremony. Julia, I need a robe. Where can I find one?”

So stupidly did Julia stare at her that Penny was certain the woman did not understand. However, after a moment she shuffled to one of the storage cupboards where linen was kept. Returning with a white cotton robe, she placed it in the girl’s hands.

Penny put the garment on over her coat, pulling the hood well down over her blond curls.

Then, with another whispered warning to Julia not to reveal her presence, she left the kitchen. The disguise gave her renewed confidence, for in the shadowy halls she felt that only at close range would anyone recognize her.

Three stone steps led up to the cloister. Approaching with great caution, Penny observed that it too had been lighted with candles.

In the center of the cloister near the old fountain, Father Benedict’s crystal globe had been set up. On either side stood stately rows of tall candles.

Impressive as was the sight, Penny had no time to admire it, for a door had opened. Winkey came in, dragging a girl by the wrist.

With a shock Penny recognized her as the same girl she had seen while visiting the monastery with Mr. Ayling.

“And she’s the same one Louise and I picked up in our car!” she thought.

The girl struggled to free herself from the hunchback’s firm grasp.

“Let me go!” she cried, kicking at him. “Let me go!”

“Oh, no, you don’t!” he taunted her. “This time you’ll have to pay for sneaking out of the house and coming back!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” the girl retorted. “I’ve not been out of this house tonight! If I could get away, I’d bring the police and have you arrested! You can’t mistreat me! Let go my wrist!”

Before Winkey could answer, another door opened to admit Father Benedict. Walking straight toward the hunchback he exclaimed harshly:

“Fool! Don’t bring her in here! The ceremony is starting! Lock her up and be quick about it!”

CHAPTER 17

THE CULT CEREMONY

As Penny watched from behind a pillar in the cloister, Winkey pulled the struggling girl through a doorway and out of sight.

Father Benedict then adjusted his long robe and rang a silver bell. With stately tread he retired to a position behind the crystal globe.

An instant later from the far side of the cloister, a door was flung open. A procession of ten persons in white robes moved slowly into the shadowy room.

As far as Penny could tell, all who participated were women, many of advanced age. Leaders of the strange procession carried banners embroidered in silver and gold symbols.

The white robed figures moved slowly along the passageway, and Penny saw that they would pass the pillar where she stood.

Fearing detection, she shifted position slightly to avoid being seen.

But as the mumbling, chanting group passed her, she was overcome with a sudden impulse to join the procession.

“If I can get up close, I’ll be able to hear what is said!” she thought. “Maybe I’ll learn the secret of Father Benedict’s strange power over these people!”

As the procession passed the pillar, Penny attached herself to the rear. With bowed head, she followed the others who formed a semicircle about the fountain.

The monk began a chant in Latin which Penny could not understand. However, his gestures were eloquent, and despite herself, she was impressed.

Presently he spoke in English, quoting the White Lady of Sir Walter Scott’s “The Monastery.”

“Mortal warp and mortal woof

Cannot brook this charmed roof;

All that mortal art hath wrought

In our cell returns to naught.

The molten gold returns to clay,

The polish’d diamond melts away;

All is alter’d, all is flown,

Naught stands fast but truth alone.

Not for that thy quest give o’er;

Courage! prove thy chance once more.”

Eloquently, the monk then praised the frugal life, assuring his listeners that those who gave of their treasure to the cult society would receive untold spiritual values.

“As you file past the fountain cast your jewels into the basin,” he bade the group. “You will be rewarded three-fold.”

Slowly the robed women circled the fountain. The one leading the procession dropped a bracelet. The woman following fumbled beneath her robe and reluctantly gave a cameo broach.

“It was the last gift of my dear departed husband,” she whispered tearfully. “I do so dislike to part with it—”

“You shall have your reward,” the monk assured her. “Later, in the crystal globe, you will see the face of your husband!”

“So that’s how he rules them!” thought Penny. “He plays upon their emotions and then pretends to conjure up visions of departed relatives!”

Another woman stripped a diamond ring from her finger, and cast it into the bowl of the fountain. The one who followed her, stood empty handed.

“Where is your contribution?” demanded the monk.

“I have none, O Master! At the last ceremony, I gave all!”

“Those who have no gift for the celestial spirits receive no rewards,” Father Benedict said sharply.

“Please—”

“Pass on!” ordered the monk.

Realization now came to Penny that in another moment she too would be expected to drop her contribution into the fountain. What could she give?

On her third finger the girl wore a silver colored ring with a red glass stone. She had won it several days before at a church party fish pond, and despite the fact that it obviously had been bought in a dime store, had kept it.

As Penny’s turn came she removed the cheap ring and let it fall into the basin of the fountain. Keeping the hood well over her face, she mumbled in a disguised voice: “I give my precious ruby ring!”

“Blessings upon you, my good woman!” said the monk approvingly. “The celestial spirits will remember your generosity.”

Father Benedict now led the procession to the refectory where supper was to be served.

The room was drafty and barren except for one long table and benches. Old Julia had set out the wooden bowls of soup, and crackers, thoughtfully remembering to set an extra one for Penny. No other food was in evidence.

“Soup again?” asked one of the cult members in bitter disappointment. “We are hungry!”

“We’ve had little more than soup since we came here!” exclaimed another old lady plaintively.

“Are you so soon forgetting your vows?” chided Father Benedict. “Material things have no true meaning.”

Grumbling a little, the women sat down at the table and began to eat. Penny took an empty place near the door. She tasted the soup and nearly gagged.

Father Benedict did not join the group. After lingering a few minutes he quietly slipped away. This offered Penny an opportunity to leave without arousing the monk’s suspicions.

“I must learn more about that girl who is locked up here somewhere!” she thought. “Perhaps I can help her escape!”

Still wearing the white robe, Penny started back to the cloister. The cult ceremony which she had witnessed greatly disturbed her.

“Father Benedict is taking unfair advantage of these people,” she told herself. “He accepts their jewels and gives nothing in return. Furthermore, he is cruel!”

Voices in the cloister directly ahead warned the girl to proceed cautiously. Keeping close to the wall and holding her robe tightly about her, she crept closer to the fountain.

The candles had all been extinguished. However, Father Benedict and Winkey were there, working by the light of a lantern.

“Fish out the jewels and be quick about it!” the monk ordered his servant. “We must be finished before they’re through in the refectory.”

The hunchback scrambled down into the bowl of the fountain, and groped with his hands for the trinkets the cult members had thrown away.

“Did the old lady kick in with the sapphire tonight?”Winkey asked as he worked.

“No!” the monk answered. “She sent word that she was too sick to leave her room! I suspect that girl put her up to it!”

“You goin’ to let her get by with it?”

“I’ll talk with her later tonight,” Father Benedict said. “If she doesn’t come across by tomorrow, we’ll find ways to persuade her.”

“You been saying that ever since she came here! If you ask me, we won’t never have any luck with her until we get rid of the girl! She’s been a wrench in the machinery from the start.”

“I’m afraid you are correct, Winkey,” sighed the monk. “But I do so dislike violence. Well, if it must be, so be it. You assigned her to the room with the canopied bed?”

“I locked her in like you said.” Winkey, having gathered all of the trinkets, scrambled out of the stone basin onto the tiled cloister floor.

“What have we here?” asked the monk eagerly.

Winkey spread the contributions on a handkerchief. Father Benedict held the lantern closer to inspect the articles.

“Junk! Trash!” he exclaimed. “Only the diamond has any value.”

“How about this ring?” demanded Winkey, picking up Penny’s dime store contribution.

“Glass!” In fury, the monk hurled the ring across the cloister.

Penny suppressed a giggle. But Father Benedict’s next words sent a shiver down her spine.

“This settles it!” he said. “I’ll talk to the old lady now! If she refuses to give up the sapphire, then you know what to do with the girl!”