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looked from the photograph to Henry and back again. “But what does it mean?”
    “The arrow’s pointing up ,” Henry said. “And it’s — ”
    Jessie drew in her breath. “And it’s carved into the trunk of the tree!” she said, finishing Henry’s sentence.
    Violet and Benny stared at Jessie. They looked totally confused.
    “The clues weren’t leading us to that trunk in the attic at all,” Henry concluded, a smile spreading across his face.
    Jessie agreed. “They were leading us straight to the old tree house.”
    “So is that the answer to the riddle?” Benny was getting more excited by the second. “Is the answer a tree house?”
    “I’m sure of it.” Henry nodded. “Remember what you called the box Fran found?”
    “A shadowbox,” Benny said. “Because it’s filled with shadow elephants.”
    Henry nodded. Then he began to recite, “ The thing you hold/ Is the thing you seek .” He looked over at his brother and sisters. “Violet was right. The riddle was telling us to seek another shadowbox.”
    Jessie settled into a chair. “That makes sense. The tree house is shaped like a box. And it’s half hidden in the shadows of the tree.”
    “So it’s a shadowbox, too!” cried Benny. “We were holding a shadowbox, and we were supposed to look for a shadowbox.” The youngest Alden did a little dance. Figuring out clues was always fun.
    Jessie sank back against a cushion. “There’s only one problem.”
    Violet looked over at her. “What’s that?”
    “We’ll never find the third riddle.” Jessie sounded very sure.
    “Why not, Jessie?” Benny asked her.
    “Remember, Benny?” she said. “The tree house was destroyed.”
    “Ouch!” Henry winced. “You’re right, Jessie. If the third riddle was hidden somewhere inside the tree house, it’d be lost, too.”
    Benny sighed with disappointment. “That means we’ve come to a dead end.”
    “Maybe not, Benny,” Violet said, smiling a little. “Maybe not.”

CHAPTER 7
The Ghost Chase
    “What are you thinking, Violet?” Jessie asked.
    “I have a hunch the next clue is right here in the house.”
    “But, Violet,” Benny protested, “the arrow was pointing to the tree house. Remember?”
    “That’s true, Benny,” Violet said. “But the name of the tree house is Little St. Ives. What if that’s the clue to follow?”
    “What do you mean, Violet?” Jessie asked.
    “Come and see!” Violet led the way to Fran’s workroom. After flipping on the light, she made a beeline for the framed verses on the wall. “This one is called A Little St. Ives Rhyme ,” she said, pointing.
    The others went to take a closer look. “What does it say?” Benny wanted to know. The youngest Alden was just learning to read.
    Henry read aloud over Violet’s shoulder:
    “As I was going to St. Ives
    I met a man with seven wives,
    Every wife had seven sacks,
    Every sack had seven cats,
    Every cat had seven kits,
    Kits, cats, sacks, wives,
    How many were going to St. Ives?”
    “Hey, it’s a riddle!” cried Benny, his voice rising with excitement.
    “And that’s not all,” added Violet. “There’s even a border of pressed buttercups around it.”
    “The mysterious box was covered with buttercups, too,” Benny realized.
    “I think you might be onto something, Violet.” Henry sounded just as excited as his brother.
    “Yippee!” Benny let out a cheer. “We found the third riddle!”
    “Sure looks that way,” agreed Henry.
    “Way to go, Violet!” Jessie gave her sister an affectionate nudge.
    “But … what’s the answer to this riddle?” Benny wondered. “There sure are a whole lot going to St. Ives.”
    Jessie thought for a moment. “Well … seven wives … plus seven sacks … plus seven cats … plus — ”
    “Hold on a minute, Jessie,” Henry interrupted. “It says every wife had seven sacks. That makes it seven wives and forty-nine sacks!”
    Jessie nodded. “You’re right, Henry.”
    “So how many does that