Jimmy Jones' Puzzles

They had reached the hedgerow which separated the park from the front lawn of the mansion. It wasn’t much further from here. They only needed to cut over the lawn, follow the path on the other side through the park, cross the bridge over the river and then back onto the road. From there it was only a few minutes to their houses. After a few yards, the darkness brightened a little. They had walked onto the lawn in front of the mansion. The wind was strong and the evening was cold, and by now it had started to rain. Vanessa stepped a bit closer to Ronnie. “Wasn’t he afraid to live here all by himself?” she whispered to Ronnie. “I’m sure he got used to it” said Ronnie” Anyway, he was mostly away hunting for his antiques” “Besides he had the caretaker Dave staying in one of the outbuildings, see that is him there where the light is lit” added Ronnie. She saw a little window in a distance with the light on and felt better. A dark and unlit mansion seemed very frightening and scary to her, but the light in the nearby caretaker’s house was giving little life to the dark scenery. “What about him, is he not afraid?” she asked. “Who, caretaker Dave? You’re still on about that?” asked Ronnie. “Well, I’m scared of him, he looks so .... Odd” Vanessa hesitated. “Not a big deal” said Ronnie “He’s just weird, that’s all, same as Mr Doughty was. Now stop being silly.” “Shush” said Vanessa and squeezed Ronnie’s hand even harder. But he did not hear anything but the wind howls that were overcoming all other sounds around them. -What is she on about? - He wondered. And then he understood. He saw a light on the first floor of the mansion. It was flashing in the room above the main entrance .There was a row of ten big sash windows and huge balcony supported by six pillars. Light flashed on the right side, then moved slowly all the way to the left and disappeared. “But, the mansion has been sealed off by the officials “said Ronnie with an uncertain tone in his voice. “Yyyeess” said Vanessa. She was trembling all over and this time it was for real. “Thieves! Someone has broken in!” shouted Ronnie. He took Vanessa by her hand dragged towards the building where caretaker was staying. “We have to tell Dave.” “That wasn’t thieves, it was a ghost” she said, clearly frightened. “Hey mister, mister, thieves!” shouted Ronnie. They stopped outside the door and it opened almost instantly. A big figure emerged from the doorway. He had a big bushy beard, small hump on his back and longish grey hair. ”What’s the problem?” He grumbled, looking at them. Ronnie explained quickly about the lights they had seen in one of the windows of the old mansion. He was standing there listening in dismay to Ronnie’s story. When they finished he went back in, took his torch and went outside. The children followed him around the building as he checked all of the doors, windows and shutters. There was no sign of a break-in .Only then he looked at them and said “You must have imagined it kids” his voice was bitter and chilling. But Ronnie and Vanessa clearly saw light and movement inside, and didn’t understand why he didn’t believe them. “Maybe it was ghosts “whispered Vanessa. Dave looked at her carefully then he glanced at the mansion and said “That’s where the library is” he said slowly” That is where Mr. Doughty spent most of his time when he was at home” he added, deep in thought. “And what do you think?” asked Vanessa “Maybe he’s still there” said the caretaker giving them a strange look. Vanessa felt a shiver down her back.