Ghost of the Chattering Bones by Gertrude Chandler Warner

CHAPTER 1
The Haunted Bridge
    “What kind of mystery is it, Mrs. McGregor?” asked six-year-old Benny. The youngest Alden couldn’t keep still. He was bouncing up and down with excitement in the backseat of the family van.
    Mrs. McGregor, who was sitting up front beside Grandfather Alden, looked over her shoulder and smiled. “It’s Norah’s story to tell, Benny,” she said. “Not mine.”
    Henry gave his little brother a playful nudge. “Hold your horses, Benny,” he said. “It won’t be long before we’re at Eton Place.” At fourteen, Henry was the oldest of the Aldens.
    “I guess I can hold my horses a little bit longer,” said Benny. He didn’t like to wait.
    Norah Eton, a good friend of the Aldens’ housekeeper, had invited Mrs. McGregor and the four Alden children to come for a visit in the country. There was an old mystery that needed solving, and Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny were eager to hear all about it. There was nothing the Aldens liked better than a mystery. And together they’d managed to solve quite a few.
    Twelve-year-old Jessie looked up from the map she was studying. “We make a left at the next road, Grandfather,” she told him. Jessie was the best map reader in the family. She always knew how to get where they were going.
    “Oh, now I remember!” Mrs. McGregor nodded. “It’s been so long since I’ve been out this way, my memory’s a bit foggy.”
    “How long has it been, Mrs. McGregor?” Grandfather Alden asked, as they turned off the highway onto a gravel road full of twists and turns.
    “Let me see, now … Norah’s great-niece, Pam, was just a toddler the last time I saw her,” said Mrs. McGregor. She thought for a moment “Now she would be about Violet’s age.”
    At the mention of her name, ten-year-old Violet turned away from the window. “Will Pam be staying with her great-aunt Norah all summer?” she wanted to know.
    “Oh, I imagine so,” Mrs. McGregor answered. “She usually does. You see, her parents own an antique store in the city. They spend their summers traveling all over the country hunting for treasures.”
    Benny’s eyebrows shot up. “Treasures?”
    “Interesting old things to sell in their store,” explained Mrs. McGregor. “They stop at every flea market and swap meet they can find.”
    That sounded like fun to Benny. “Why doesn’t Pam go along?”
    “Travel can be tiring,” put in Grandfather, who often went away on business.
    “Yes, indeed,” agreed Mrs. McGregor.
    “I imagine Pam would much rather spend her summers with her great-aunt Norah.”
    “That makes sense,” said Henry.
    Mrs. McGregor went on, “When Norah and I were young, we loved exploring Eton Place—all the fields and the streams and the woods. The property’s been in the Eton family for a long time. As a matter of fact,” she added, “Norah’s putting together a history of the Eton family. She even hired a college student to help with the research.”
    “That must be interesting,” said Jessie. “I’d like to put together a history of the Alden family sometime.”
    Benny tapped on his sister’s shoulder to get her attention. “Don’t forget to mention Watch, Jessie,” he reminded her. Watch was the family dog.
    “Oh, Benny!” Jessie laughed. “I’d never forget Watch.”
    “How about our boxcar?” asked Benny.
    “I’d never forget our boxcar, either,” Jessie told her little brother. “Our old home is an important part of our family history.”
    After their parents died, Jessie, Henry, Benny, and Violet had run away. They found an old boxcar in the woods and stayed there for a while. Then James Alden found his grandchildren and brought them to live with him in his big white house in Greenfield. He even gave the boxcar a special place in the backyard. The children often used their former home as a clubhouse.
    “I’m glad I brought my camera along,” said Violet. “We can take pictures of our trip to go in our family