Read Online Mystery of the Runaway Ghost by Gertrude Chandler Warner - Free Book Online

potato salad. “Not without Buttercup to lead us to it.”
    The four Alden children were busy in the kitchen. They had offered to prepare the picnic supper while Grandfather and Fran sat outside and chatted about old times.
    “I wish the runaway ghost would give us a clue,” Benny added.
    Henry looked up. “Wait a minute!” he said. “You might be onto something, Benny.”
    “Ghosts don’t exist, Henry,” Violet said. “Remember?”
    “Yes, but Fran’s painting of the runaway ghost is real,” explained Henry.
    “Of course!” Jessie said. She jumped out of her seat and gave Henry a high five. “Maybe that’s where the third riddle is leading us!” The four Aldens made a beeline for Fran’s living room.
    No one spoke for a moment as they stared up at the bell around Buttercup’s neck. Then Violet said, “Fran’s hunch was right. The mystery really is connected to Buttercup.”
    “I don’t understand,” Benny said. “Where’s the treasure?”
    Violet looked thoughtful. “Maybe the painting is the treasure,” she said.
    Henry shook his head. “I doubt it. Fran says the painting’s not worth very much.”
    “There must be something we’re not seeing,” insisted Violet.

    “Maybe Lottie was right,” Jessie suggested.
    “About what?” Benny asked.
    “About the mystery just being a parlor game,” said Jessie. “Maybe Anne just made it up to entertain her children, and there isn’t a real treasure at the end.”
    “And maybe the clues just lead to the painting of their treasured pet,” Henry said slowly, figuring it out as he talked.
    “Then Buttercup’s the treasure?” Benny looked confused.
    Henry shrugged a little. “It’s beginning to look that way.”
    But Violet wasn’t so sure. She had a nagging feeling there was more to it than that. Could the answer lie somewhere in the painting itself?
    “Wow, there sure are a lot of people here,” Benny said as he looked around the park.
    Everyone was enjoying the beautiful evening. But no one was enjoying it more than the Aldens and their friends. With the band playing nearby, they ate their supper and talked and joked. Even Nelson, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, was all smiles. People said hello as they passed, and many of them knew Fran and Nelson by name.
    After they had finished eating, Grandfather headed over to the covered stage to listen to the music with Cora and Reese. Fran went for a stroll along the creek with her son. Henry, Jessie, and Benny started a game of croquet.
    Violet decided to sit it out. She wanted to look at the gallery brochures she’d brought with her. She thumbed through them quickly, then settled on one about great American artists. The painting on the cover of the brochure caught her attention. “Hey, look!” she called to the others. “Here’s a painting of a croquet game!”
    Benny, Jessie, and Henry crowded around to study the picture. Three young ladies in hats and long dresses were playing croquet. A young man in a brown jacket and beige trousers was on one knee, placing a croquet ball on the grass. He was wearing a straw hat, and he had a mustache.
    Benny giggled. “They’re dressed just like the people in Fran’s photo of Homer.”
    “I guess that was the style back then,” Henry said.
    Violet leaned in for a closer look at the people’s faces. Then she gasped. “That’s them!” she said.
    “Who?” asked Jessie.
    “That’s Selden and Anne!” Violet said, excitedly. “They look just like that in the missing photograph.”
    Jessie took another look at the painting. “Now that you mention it,” she said, “that man does look a lot like Selden.”
    “And see the lady in the background?” put in Violet. “The one in the brown dress? She sure looks like Anne, don’t you think?”
    “Why isn’t Homer in the painting?” Benny wanted to know. “He was in the photograph.”
    Henry, who was sprawled out on the blanket, propped himself up on one elbow. “This is getting stranger and