A Mystery To Be Solved

A Simple Explanation

"I'm sorry to have caused such inconvenience to you, my dear children, but we really meant no harm with any of it," said the man who called himself Ratan.

"Will you please tell us who on earth both of you are?!" Kartike said, very irritated now, his glass of juice lying untouched before him.

"Without further ado! I am Ratan, the owner of this mansion and all its treasures." He paused for effect, watching the children's faces with obvious amusement. "You must have seen the painting on the first-floor corridor. I belong to the same person's family. That is my ancestor, who was once the King of Indore. Barwaha used to come under his rule, too. He built this mansion here in secret, and gifted it to his children so they could stay here protected from the British and any other enemies they made. Let me not bore you with my family history, and just tell you that I am one of his descendants."

The children stared at the man, wide-eyed.

"You see, I only spent my childhood here and then was sent abroad for studies. Later, I returned to the country but married in another city, where I was also working, so I never got the chance to come back to my ancestral home again. At last, when I came here after my wife passed away, the place was in a shambles, and none of my other cousins were alive any longer to take care of it.

'So, I started with taking a round of the full mansion, and discovered areas that I had never explored as a child. In one of them, I found a clue that hinted to a family treasure, a kind of heirloom of the King's children which they were to receive when they grew up but apparently, never did because the King was killed before he could reveal its location to them or any other trusted member of his family.

"It was then that I took in Natwar under my wing. He has been a resident of the village all his life, just like his own ancestors. Thus, he knew this house very well. But I wanted to keep my suspicions to myself before we actually found something of the sort we were looking for, but Natwar once, quite absent-mindedly, told one of our servants the secret of the heirlooms. Somehow, word got out and a band of robbers attacked the mansion at a time when we were both not here to guard it.

"Fortunately, we tracked the robbers down on our own and handed them over to the police, but we still didn't have any clue of the whereabouts of the supposed treasure.

"That's why we decided to spread the word that this bungalow was in fact, haunted so no one would disturb us in future again. Of course, now we keep a strict guard." He finished.

Rohit suddenly had a thought. "Well, did you find the treasure after all?"

The old man's face darkened. "No, unfortunately not. We're still searching for clues, but the fact that this mansion is so big is not a help at all," he admitted.

The four friends looked at each other with glee. Avantika spoke up, "Do you know that we already found your treasure?"

Ratan's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets! 'What? When?? How did you...?"

"Ratan ji, I am sorry, but this evening while I was watching the footage of the grounds, I felt a slight headache and went to take a pill. But I think I took the wrong one because I started feeling very sleepy and slept right at my desk," Natwarlal confessed, rubbing his head in embarrassment. "That must be when these children came in,"

The four grinned at each other. "We'll show you where the treasure is, but we still have a few questions for you," Pooja said.

"Ask anything! But make it quick, please!" Ratan exclaimed.

"Why did the eyes in your armour glow red?" asked Pooja to Natwarlal. "Oh, that is a special costume. The visor of the helmet is in-built with two led lights whose colours can change from red to blue to green to yellow..." Natwar explained patiently.

He would have gone on with the colours if Rohit didn't intercept him. "Ratan ji," he said, giving the old man his due respect, "Where do you live right now? And where is the rest of your family?"

"Oh, I live in this house, too, along with Natwar. In fact, you're right in my bedroom," he chuckled and then resumed his speech. "As for my family, well, I only had a son and he, in turn, had a daughter who ran away in her teens to marry a boy from the city. My son would not think of contacting his daughter again but he was surely not a happy man after the incident, and about ten years back he passed away, followed by his wife." He ended on a lower tone than at the one he had begun, and everyone in the room shared his agony.

"But what about your granddaughter? Where is she?" Kartike asked.

"I don't know, to be honest. I only saw her last when she was twelve, but she must be a full-grown woman now, how would I even recognize her, after she married and, possibly, changed her surname?" he said, dejectedly.

At that instant, a girl's voice came from the door. "But don't you think she would remember you?"

Everyone turned dramatically to see Aisha standing at the door!

"But...you...you look just like Indu!" Ratan stammered on seeing Aisha so suddenly.

"Of course, I do, great-grandfather," Aisha said, tears glistening in her eyes as she rushed forward to touch the feet of Ratan!

"Wait, what's going on?" Kartike voiced the thought of everyone else, watching the girl and the old man embrace, dumbstruck.

Aisha spoke up now. "I am Indu's daughter...my mother was his granddaughter who ran away to Delhi to marry my father, because her own father would not let her."

"But, beta, how did you reach Barwaha? Surely your mother didn't remember her ancestral home!" Ratan said, still surprised at the turn of events, but at least more recovered than the rest of us.

"She didn't remember, but she knew it was here somewhere...and she always wanted to get in touch with you, great-grandfather, because she knew she hadn't done any wrong by marrying my father. One day she was looking through her old belongings when she found an old diary of my grandfather, who had written the stories of this house that you had narrated to him. I secretly read that diary and resolved to take mom back to her roots, and my friends..." pausing, she glanced toward the four children, "My friends gave me the perfect opportunity to come to our village and hunt down this precious family heirloom, and now, since I have found you, too, I'm going to surprise Mom with two gifts at once!!" she concluded happily.