Alice kept looking at the painting and then she got even more animated, “Do you see something else, Tina? This part of the house looks like it is today, not they way it looked in the 18th century.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Remember, I’ve been to both places and I can definitely see the difference.” Alice rubbed her hands in excitement. “Oh, it’s like a treasure hunt and here’s the hint, the grove. There’s something hidden in the ground around the oak trees.”

They found couple of small shovels in the tool shed and went to the grove. After a few hours of digging they were both covered in dirt, soaking in sweat and empty handed. And this is how Kit found them when she came to the mansion with promised groceries.

“Oh my God, you two look like wet dirty rats. Did you even find anything?”

“No,” Tina replied with frustration. “I really thought there was something here.”

“Tina, I was thinking,” Alice said, wiping sweat mixed with dirt of off her forehead. The grove is only significant to Elizabeth and Christina. This is where they had their first kiss. She wouldn’t hide anything here.”

“Now you telling me?” Tina laughed.

Alice and Tina cleaned themselves up while Kit prepared dinner. As they sat down to eat, Alice began brainstorming again. “Bette put the clue on the drawing…seek and you will find. This must mean something, something memorable to the two of you.”

“Well, the painting shows the back side of the house and the grove,” Tina said pensively. The grove doesn’t have any meaning to us so it must be the house.”

“But we’ve searched every room in the house not so long ago and we’ve found nothing,” Kit pointed out.

“True…but just like Tina said last night. It was almost a month ago. I’m sure Bette had plenty of time to stash something inside by now.” Alice was still full of enthusiasm. She looked at Tina and nodded, “We just need to figure out what room in the house is special to Bette and you, and private enough so the hidden object wouldn’t be discovered for 120 years.”

Alice and Tina stared at each other in silence for a moment when suddenly they both screamed in unison, “The closet.”

“Why the closet?” Kit asked.

“This where Bette and I saw each other for the first time.”

They hurried to the bedroom and began searching the closet again. Tina pushed the clothes to the side and knocked on the walls, listening to the hollow sound. “There’s nothing.”

Alice moved to the other side of the large space and floor squeaked beneath her feet. She dropped down, felt the floor around her and whispered dramatically, “Wait a minute. There’s a loose floorboard, like a hidden panel or something.”

Tina kneeled beside her and removed a small plank in the corner, hidden right under the shoe rack. She reached down and grabbed a little package, wrapped in thin cloth and tied with a pink ribbon. She gently unfolded the flimsy material and found several letters, yellow and fragile.

“Careful, Tina. They look like they are going to fall apart,” Alice said.

They carried the found treasure into the kitchen and placed the letters on the table. Tina took the first one out of the pile and read,

“My dearest Tina…”