"Then forget it, as soon as you can. Trust me, Milly. I'll do all I can to keep suspicion from Wynne. But, do this, Milly. Use all your powers of persuasion with Professor Hardwick, and make him give up his plan of getting that detective up here. That Wise is a wise one indeed! He'll find out every thing we don't want known, and more, too! Will you, Milly, _will_ you,--if only for Wynne's sake--try to keep that man away?" "I'll try, Rudolph, oh, of course I will! But what can I do, if the Professor has made up his mind? You know how determined he is." "Get the girls to help. Don't breathe to them a word that you overheard Peterson say, but manage to make them do all they can to keep that detective off. If you all band together, you can do it. Wynne won't want him; I don't; I don't think Mr. Tracy will; and if you women are on our side, Hardwick will be only one against the rest of us, and we _must_ win the day! Milly, that Wise must _not_ come up here,--if you value your peace of mind!" "Oh, Rudolph, you frighten me so. I will do all I can, oh, I _will_!" CHAPTER XIII Pennington Wise When Mary Pennington married a man named Wise, it was not at all an unusual impulse that prompted her to name her first born son after her own family name, and so Pennington Wise came into being. Then, of course, it followed, as the night the day, that his school chums should call him Penny Wise, which name stuck to him through life. Whether this significant name was the cause of his becoming a detective is not definitely known, but a detective he did grow up to be, and a good one, too. Eccentric, of course, what worthwhile detective is not? But clear cut of brain, mind and intelligence. And always on the lookout for an interesting case, for he would engage in no others. Wherefore, his persistence in desiring to investigate the strange mysteries of Black Aspens won the day against Milly's endeavours to prevent his coming. She had done all she could, and most of the house party had aided her efforts, but Professor Hardwick had become imbued with the idea that there was human agency at work, and that his belief in spiritual visitation, honest though it had been, was doomed to a speedy death, unless further proof could be shown. Norma, too, was rather inclined to welcome a specialist in the solving of mysterious problems, and in conference with the Professor agreed to do all she could to help the Wise man in his work. Norma was still of the opinion that the two tragic deaths were the work of evil spirits, but if it were not so, she wanted to know it. But the principal reason why Pennington Wise came to Black Aspens was his own determination to do so. He had never heard of such an unusual and weird mystery, and it whetted his curiosity by its strange and almost unbelievable details.