"Robby, why are you leading us on this wild goose chase, anyway?" Mary Lou asked, annoyed. He ignored her as they walked to Hattie’s old room.

"The nursery suite was Mary Lou’s parents’ room. The girls and Nanny had lived in what is now your parents’ bedroom. The library half was the boys’ room. The rooms changed. Now there’s a water closet in place of my sister’s bed," Hattie said.

"Hattie, we had to add bathrooms to the hotel when the town got water lines. I would think that the key would be closer to your half of the room, anyway," Mary Lou said.

Hattie examined the room. The walls were covered in dark green wallpaper with old-fashioned, blue flower prints. The bed had an overstuffed down comforter with a green duvet cover. Dark wood furniture filled the once-childlike room. "I used to always look out this window. I could see all the carriages below! There used to be a big maple tree, bigger than any maple I had ever seen."

Mary Lou examined the window. "This lock— it’s— it’s different. I’m going to find a screwdriver," Mary Lou said as she ran out of the room. She was gone awhile and came back with a screwdriver.

"Mary Lou, what are you doing?" Robby asked.

"Hattie loved this window. Now I remember hearing about how some people claimed to see a curly-headed child standing in front of it. The key must be hidden under this green lock," she said as she started pulling screws out. The lock was the same green as the rest of the room. On the other side, as Mary Lou found when she removed it from the window, were the initials H. M. E. crudely carved into the brass.

"Oh my goodness— I was right! I solved the mystery of the hidden key." Mary Lou slid the lock and screws into her jeans pocket and walked hurriedly to the kitchen.