The Cry at Midnight — Themes and Context

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In Category - Childrens Adventures

Authors: Wirt, Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine), 1905-2002 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2010 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Adventure and adventurers -- Juvenile fiction; Mystery and detective stories; Parker, Penny (Fictitious character) -- Juvenile fiction; Women detectives -- Juvenile fiction Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 43,467

Reading time 189 min

Text sections 7

This digital edition of The Cry at Midnight — Themes and Context is described by source-level measurements including 43,467 words, 3 hr 9 min estimated reading time, and 7 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 10.3 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Adventure and adventurers -- Juvenile fiction,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #34441

In this 1947 Penny Parker mystery, a midnight ski run leads to a locked monastery, a crystal ball, and a cult ceremony. Penny's reporter instincts clash with cryptic warnings and vanishing footprints as she investigates behind the 'No Trespassing' sign.

Editorial Edition Score 4.7/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

Calculated from edition completeness, EPUB availability, text structure and catalogue metadata. Not a user rating.

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg34441

Read the Text

Louise was staring hard at an upstairs window of the distant building.

"Penny!" she exclaimed. "I saw a moving light just then!"

Louise pointed to the window high on the stone wall of the monastery.

"I don't see anything," replied Penny. "You must have imagined it."

"I did not! The light is gone now. But I saw it plainly. It may have been from a lantern. Someone was moving from room to room!"

"Maybe it was a reflection of moonlight then." Undisturbed, Penny removed her skis. Carefully placing the running surfaces together, she threw them over her left shoulder.

Far away, in the city of Riverview, a tower clock began to chime the hour of midnight.

"Penny!" insisted Louise in a half-whisper. "I did see a light! Maybe the old monastery is haunted--"

"Now hush!" Penny silenced her. "What are you trying to do? Work up a case of nerves?"

"Just climb out of those skis and come on, my pet." Penny moved briskly away. "We're late now."

"Wait for me!" Frantically, Louise fumbled with her ski irons. "Don't leave me here alone!"

"Then not another word about ghosts!" Penny chided.

However, she waited patiently until her chum had removed the skis. The two girls then walked rapidly toward the roadside where the car had been parked. No longer could they see the friendly campfire in the valley. As they drew closer to the monastery, towering pines blotted out the moonlight.

Like a powerful magnet, the old stone building drew their gaze.

Deep snow, glittering with an eerie blue lustre, lay heavy on the high boundary wall. In the deserted garden beyond the gatehouse, several statues also were covered with soft white shrouds.

Louise clutched her chum's hand and urged her to a faster pace.

Then suddenly, with one accord, the girls halted.

Directly ahead, at the front entrance to the monastery, a big rusty gate stood slightly ajar!

"It's open!" whispered Louise. "Why, never before have I seen that gate unlocked!"

For an instant, Penny too was slightly unnerved. But she replied steadily: "What of it? Perhaps someone has moved in."

While Louise watched uneasily, she walked to the gate, fingering the rusty chain which dangled in the snow.

Then boldly, she pushed the gate farther open.

"Don't go in there!" Louise warned, her voice sharp with anxiety. "Please come on."

Penny's ears were deaf to the plea. She stared intently at a trail of footprints which led from where she stood to a circular stone gatehouse only a few yards away. The marks were very large and had been made by a man's heavy boot.

"Lou--" she began, but the words froze on her lips.

From inside the monastery came a shrill, piercing scream. As the girls huddled together, the sound died slowly away.

Then a silence, even more terrifying, fell upon the grounds.

CHAPTER 2 _"NO TRESPASSING"_

"Someone _is_ inside that building!" Penny exclaimed, recovering from startled surprise.

Tensely, the girls waited, but the sound was not repeated.

"It was a woman's scream," Louise whispered after a moment. Nervously, she clung to her chum's hand as they stood in the shadow of the big iron gate. "What can be happening in there?"

Penny stared at the dark monastery, uncertain what to do. Nowhere was a light visible, yet she felt that not only was the building occupied, but also that alert eyes were watching them from somewhere in the gloomy interior.

"Someone may be in trouble and need help," she said in an unsteady voice. "Let's rap on the door and ask."

"At this time of night?" Louise tugged at her chum's hand, trying to pull her away. "Let's go, Penny! It's really none of our affair what goes on here."

"But someone may be ill and in need of a doctor."

"It wasn't that type of scream," Louise replied with a shiver. "That cry gave me the creeps!"

Penny allowed herself to be pulled from the gate, only to pause and gaze again at the darkened windows of the ancient monastery.

The only daughter of a newspaper owner, she had been trained to inquire the who, when, why, where, and how of anything unusual. Penny never willingly passed up an opportunity to obtain a good news story for the _Riverview Star_. She knew that if the old monastery were occupied after standing deserted so many years, the readers of her father's paper would be interested.

Furthermore, she reasoned, a scream from a darkened house, always called for investigation.

"Louise," she said with sudden decision. "We can't leave without trying to find out what's wrong here! I'm going inside!"

"Oh, Penny--please don't! This place is so far from other houses. If anything should happen--"

"Something _has_ happened," replied Penny grimly. "You wait here, Lou. I'll be right back."

Continue Reading →

The opening chapter of The Cry at Midnight drops the reader into a moonlit ski run, not a detective's office. Penny Parker and Jerry Livingston race down Knob Hill, their skis carving 'herring-bone tracks' in the snow. The scene is brisk and sensory—'snow crystals were brilliant with light'—before a cry at midnight shifts the mood. The catalog subjects list 'Adventure and adventurers' and 'Women detectives,' but the excerpts show Penny first as an athlete, not an investigator. Her physical confidence on skis, her banter with Jerry, and her easy access to the Riverview Star newsroom establish a capable, connected protagonist. The mystery emerges gradually: a stranger, a forbidden monastery, and a crystal ball on page 44. The evidence suggests the story builds its suspense through setting and atmosphere rather than immediate action.

Ski Tracks and Newsroom Politics

The excerpts reveal two distinct worlds that Penny Parker navigates with equal ease. On the slopes, she is physically adept, executing 'graceful, curving Christiania turns' and a 'spectacular jump-turn.' The snow is described with care—'unmarked save for the herring-bone tracks'—and the cold air feels present. In the newsroom, she shifts to a different kind of agility: negotiating with Editor DeWitt, who 'scowled as he rapidly scanned copy' and slashed pages with 'long scissors.' The contrast is sharp. Penny must convince DeWitt to assign her a story that two reporters have already failed to get. He agrees, but with a condition: 'Your father know you’re going?' The exchange is terse and professional, showing that Penny’s independence is not absolute. The carpenter Jake Cotton later provides another perspective, dismissing the monastery’s repairs as 'trivial things' while more important work waits. These details ground the mystery in everyday practicalities.

The Monastery as a Locked Box

The monastery in The Cry at Midnight is less a religious house than a puzzle box. The excerpts never describe its interior in detail, but they hint at its secrets through small, telling details. Jake Cotton, the carpenter, mentions that the 'monks' had him fix a trivial item first, suggesting priorities that are not what they seem. The cult ceremony is mentioned but not explained; the 'high monkey-monk' (a dismissive nickname from a reporter) bars entry. Penny’s plan to get inside again implies she has already been there once, but the excerpts do not reveal what she saw. The crystal ball appears in the chapter list ('A Crystal Ball') and is referenced in the frontispiece caption, but its role is unclear. The setting is wintry—snow, footprints, a crevasse—and the chapter titles promise a descent into a crypt and a 'Chamber of the Dead.' The evidence suggests the monastery is a stage for hidden rooms and forbidden rituals, but the excerpts leave its true nature ambiguous.

The Limits of the Catalog Subjects

The catalog subjects label The Cry at Midnight as a 'Mystery and detective story' featuring 'Women detectives' and 'Adventure and adventurers.' The excerpts support this, but they also reveal gaps. Penny is a high school student who works for her father’s newspaper, not a professional detective. Her methods are those of a reporter: asking questions, observing, and pushing past barriers. The 'adventure' is largely verbal—negotiating with editors, questioning a carpenter—rather than physical, though the chapter titles promise action later. The subject 'Parker, Penny (Fictitious character)' is accurate but reductive; the excerpts show her as a character defined by her relationships (with Jerry, her father, the housekeeper Mrs. Weems) and her environment (the snowy hills, the newsroom). The catalog does not capture the book’s atmospheric winter setting or its slow-burn suspense. Readers expecting a fast-paced detective story may be surprised by the emphasis on skiing and domestic scenes.

The Cry at Midnight rewards attention to small details: the carpenter’s offhand comment, the editor’s eyeshade, the way snow is described as 'brilliant with light.' The excerpts offer a partial view, but they suggest a mystery that unfolds through observation and persistence rather than sudden revelations. Penny Parker is a protagonist who moves between worlds—the slope, the newsroom, the home—and the monastery is another world she must learn to read. The evidence does not reveal the full plot, but it establishes a tone of wintry curiosity and quiet determination.

There’s something about Penny skiing past that monastery gate that reminds me of Dorothy’s drifting dream—both girls crossing into a place where the rules of daylight don’t quite hold. I found myself thinking of that older story’s gentle strangeness, how it lingers like frost on a windowpane. Some mysteries, even quiet ones, seem to call across the years, don’t they? A Flight with the Swallows; Or, Little Dorothy's Dream — Story, Setting & Ideas holds that same hush.