The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House by Laura Lee Hope : Danny's Ring

None

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter twenty of The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House. This is
a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
The Bobbsey Twins Keeping House by Laura Lee Hope read

(00:24):
by Andrea. Chapter twenty, Danny's ring. Bert knew that he
must be very careful and cautious this time. Not only
must he watch out for the open trap door, but
he must take care that Danny neither saw nor heard him,

(00:44):
for if he hears me, said Bert to himself, he'll
run out, and then I can't find why he came
in here. Danny's smart, but I've got to be smarter.
Moving slowly across the vestibule door and looking back to
see that his basket of groceries was safe, Bert soon

(01:05):
reached a place where he knew the trap door to be.
It's closed. He told himself. That's good. No danger now
of falling down. And I hope nobody else comes in here.
They might take the things in my basket, and Nan
and the others would go hungry. But I guess I'd

(01:26):
have to go back to the store and get more
silently chuckled Bert. Having made sure that the trap door
down which he had fallen on his previous visit to
the church, was closed. Bert stood near it for a
while and listened. He could hear Danny moving about upstairs,

(01:47):
as you might call it, though really it was in
the gallery of the church. This gallery held the big
pipe organ, which made such thunderous music on Sundays, and
in this gallery the choir singers also had their places.
The remainder of the balcony was given over to pews

(02:08):
for the congregation to sit in when the pews on
the main floor of the church were filled. The boys
always liked to sit up in the balcony, for they
seemed off by themselves when they did this. But the
ushers and some of the deacons did not like the
boys to go to the gallery, for fear the lads
would cut up. And sometimes this very thing happened, and

(02:31):
you may easily guess that Danny Rugg was among the
cut ups. Maybe that's the reason he's going up there now,
thought Bert to himself. Maybe he's getting ready to place
some trick in church next Sunday. He and Sam Todd.
He couldn't be coming up to mend the broken window.

(02:52):
He wouldn't know how to put in all the different
pieces of colored glass, and anyhow he didn't have any
glass with him. And when he came in here, Bert
thought that Danny might be preparing for some trick to
be played in church. The following Sunday came about because
once before, about a year ago, Danny and Sam had

(03:15):
hidden a little dog up in the gallery one Saturday night,
and the following Sunday, when the minister was preaching, the
dog crawled out from beneath a pew, walked downstairs and
up the middle aisle of the church, much to the
amusement of Danny and his cronies. But the deacons and

(03:35):
the minister did not like this, for it disturbed the congregation.
And of course it was a wrong thing for Danny
to have done. Because of that trick, the boys had
been forbidden to go up in the gallery unless their
parents were with them. All this Bert thought of as
he stood in the silent church trying to find out

(03:58):
what it was that Danny had come in about. I'll
follow after him as easy as I can, said Bert
to himself. Maybe I can watch him, but I mustn't
let him see me. Bert wore his rubber boots, so
for that matter did Danny rug, For the snow was

(04:19):
so deep that boots were needed. But Bert walked more
softly in his boots than did Danny, who tramped around
in the balcony as if he did not care who
heard him. Bert went on his tiptoes, and the rubber
soles of his boots made very little noise. Up the
balcony stairs. The bobbsey boy followed the other lad. It

(04:43):
was very still and quiet in the church, and the
footsteps of Danny echoed with a strange, hollow sound. On
account of the snow covering the ground outside, there was
no noise of rattling wagons or trucks, so the church
was even more quiet than usual. How different it was

(05:05):
from Sundays, when the people were coming in or going out,
when the place was lighted, and when there was organ
music and singing. I don't like church on weekdays, thought Bert.
But he had come in for a special purpose and
he was going to carry it out. Step after step

(05:25):
he went up to the gallery floor, making no noise.
He could still hear Danny moving about. At last Bert
reached a place where in the dim light that came
through the stained glass window. He could see Danny walking
along between the rows of pews. He's right near the

(05:45):
broken window, whispered Bert to himself. And he's looking on
the floor for something. I wonder what it is. He
can't be looking for the broken bits of stained glass
to put them back. They were picked up long ago.
I wonder what it is he's looking for. Danny was

(06:06):
certainly looking for something. He bent over and let his
eyes rove about the floor, right under the window that
had been broken. Closely and carefully, Danny searched. Then, almost
as if someone had shouted it at him. There came
into Bert's mind the thought, Danny's looking for his lost

(06:31):
birthday ring. It must have slipped off his finger in
one of the snowballs he threw that day of the
first storm. The gold ring stuck in the snowball, and
Danny threw the snowball at the window. The ball broke
the glass and came inside the balcony. Here, and Danny
must know that he hasn't found his ring anywhere else,

(06:55):
and he knows it must have been in that snowball.
The idea excited Bert and made his heart beat faster.
When the snowball melted, thought Bert, still watching Danny eagerly,
the ring would drop out on the floor and stay there.
It's his ring that Danny's searching for. Bert grew so

(07:18):
excited at this thought that he made a sudden movement.
His foot slipped and banged against a pew. What's that,
cried Danny, jumping up. Who's there? Bert was quick enough
to dodge down behind one of the pews so that
when Danny looked up, he saw no one. But though

(07:39):
Danny saw no one, he was frightened because of the noise,
and not stopping any longer to search for his lost
ring or whatever it was he was looking for, he
darted out of the balcony and down the stairs with
many a clatter of his rubber boots. Say he's running

(08:00):
like a scared rabbit, chuckled Bert to himself. I wish
I'd dared yell at him so he'd know who it
is that's looking at him, But I guess I better not.
I want to see if his ring is here. Pausing
not to look back, Danny ran down to the main
floor and out of the side door. I hope he

(08:20):
doesn't take my basket of groceries, thought Bert, but he
remembered he had set it over in a dark corner
where it would not be likely to be seen. And
as a matter of fact, Danny Rugg was so frightened
that he thought of nothing but taking his own basket
of food and hurrying out of the church. Bert heard

(08:42):
the door slam after the other boy and then the
Bobsy Lad began to wonder what was the best thing
to do. If Danny's ring is there and I find it,
I can prove that he threw the snowball that broke
the window, said Bert to himself. But even if I
pick up the ring on the balcony floor, Danny might

(09:05):
say I found it somewhere else and put it there.
I ought to have some one with me when I
find it. If I do, and whoever's with me can
say I didn't put it there, I've got to get
someone to help me. Bert remembered that mister Harry Ander,
one of the church deacons, a good and kindly man

(09:26):
who was well acquainted with the Bobbsey family, lived close
to the church. I'll go and get mister Ander before
I look for the ring, decided Bert. He started down
the balcony stairs, though he was more than anxious to
look for the lost ring, for the finding of that
would clear Bert's name from the suspicion of having broken

(09:48):
the window. But knowing that the plan he had made
was best, Bert kept on. As he was crossing the
dim vestibule on his way to the side door, Bert
heard someone coming in. I hope that isn't Danny coming back.
Bert whispered, it was not. It was mister shall Well. Bert,

(10:11):
what in the world are you doing here, asked the
sexton in surprise. Are you trying to fall down the
trap door again? No, sir, answered the boy. You couldn't
very well anyhow, went on the janitor. For the door
is closed. I didn't come in here for that, said Bert. Listen,
mister shall do you remember when the church window was broken?

(10:35):
I should say I do remember it, Bert. They said
you did it, but I have my doubts of that.
I didn't do it, said Bert. But I know who did.
It was Danny Rugg and I can prove it if
I can find his gold ring on the floor. It
was in the snowball he threw. And Danny was in

(10:56):
here just now trying to find his ring. Bert told
all that had happened. I want to get mister Ander
went on the bobbsey boy. If he and you see
me find the ring, you'll know I didn't throw that snowball.
It's a good idea, Bert exclaimed. The sexton, go get

(11:17):
the deacon and we'll look for the ring together, all
three of us. Mister Ander was surprised a few minutes
later when Bert, much excited, poured out the story of
the snowball, the broken window, and the lost ring. All right, Bert,
he said at length, I'll go with you and look

(11:37):
for the ring, and if we find it, i'll take
it and give it to mister Rugg with Danny there
looking on, and I'll take you with me. We'll clear
you of the charge of having broken the window. A
little later, the eager excited boy and the two men
almost as eager as Bert himself, were looking over the

(11:59):
floor beneath the broken window. The sexton got his electric flashlight,
and the sharp beams of this glinted over the floor.
Look I see something glittering like gold, cried Bert, pointing
to a crack under a pew. See if that's the ring.
The sexton focused his light on the object. Mister Ander

(12:22):
took out his knife and with the blade of it
pried the shining object out of the crack. It's a
gold ring, all right, he said, holding it up to
the light, see if it has any initials on it,
suggested Bert. Hold the light closer, mister Shall, said the deacon.
When this had been done, he slowly said, it's got

(12:44):
the letters d R on it. This ring has. Then
it's Danny Rugg's ring, cried Bert. It was in the
snowball that broke the window. That's what he was up
here looking for. Oh, I'm so glad we've found it.
End of Chapter twenty