Tranquility House and Sally Simms Adventures It by Augusta Seaman

In Tranquility House, Mr. Benham lives next door to Connie and Elspeth.  The girls regard Mr. Benham as an honorary uncle and spend lots of time in his home.  One day Connie falls down the stairs, breaking her ankle and damaging a bit of the woodwork near a window seat.

Elspeth finds an old box under the window seat and takes it to Uncle Benham, who seems disturbed by the contents.  Uncle Benham becomes ill, and meanwhile, his secretary, Mr. Cookson, appears to be searching for the box.  Elspeth and Connie hide the box while they wait for Uncle Benham to get well.

This book starts out slow and uninteresting.  The story finally captured my interest around pages 70 to 80.  The rest of the story is quite suspenseful.

In Sally Simms Adventures It, Sally travels to Bermuda as the paid companion of Miss Miranda, who is a crotchety old woman.  Miss Miranda prevents Sally from having any fun and makes certain that Sally must wait on her constantly with few breaks.  Miss Miranda also complains endlessly about how awful Sally is.

Sally becomes friends with a lively boy named Andy, who finds a hidden cave and clues to a possible treasure.  Later, Mr. and Mrs. Amory are brought into the secret, and they run interference with Miss Miranda so that Sally can have time to help Andy find the treasure.

This story reminds me of Charlotte Cross and Aunt Deb.

The very best and funniest parts of the story are the letters that Miss Miranda writes to her friend, who is apparently Miss Miranda's only friend.  Miss Miranda has a completely twisted view of everything, and her version of events is hilarious.

The book has lots of limericks in it, composed by Andy.  They are actually pretty good and enjoyable to read!

This is a very good book.