The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (40 page)

Maggie looked at the little girl. “Well,” she said, “I don’t think there’s a thing the matter with her.”

“But why does she stay in bed, then?”

“She isn’t strong enough to get up now,” Maggie answered. “There’s nothing for her to live for. So she doesn’t care about living. I suppose that’s why she won’t eat.”

“Well, we are going to eat,” said Jessie.

“I’m hungry now,” said Violet.

“Let’s go down to the kitchen, then,” said Jessie.

As they went downstairs, Maggie said kindly, “You girls make yourselves right at home.”

When they came to the kitchen, Maggie took one look out the window. She saw the horse still standing by the back door.

“Mercy! I forgot the horse!” she cried. And she rushed out of the door, leaving the girls alone.

It was then that Violet turned to look at her aunt’s door. It was shut.

“Look, Jessie,” she whispered. “Aunt Jane must have shut that door. It means that she can get out of bed if she really wants to.”

L
et’s not wait for Maggie,” Jessie said, in her businesslike way. “Let’s get dinner.”

Soon, Violet was busy beating eggs in a bowl. Jessie put butter in a big pan and set it on the stove. The girls put pieces of dry bread in the eggs and milk, and Jessie began to brown them in the pan.

“My, that smells good!” cried Maggie, coming into the kitchen.
“She
going to eat this?”

“No,” said Jessie. “I’m just going to give her something to drink. But we’ll eat first.”

Violet had found a pretty blue cloth and some white flowers. She had set three places with fine old blue plates. A knife and fork were at each place, and a glass of milk.

“All ready!” Jessie said, with a smile. “Come on, Maggie, and sit down. I hope you’ll have enough to eat tonight.”

“It’s the most I have had for two weeks, anyway,” said Maggie. “You are a good cook for a young girl.”

They did not hear a sound from the bedroom. At last, even Maggie couldn’t eat any more.

“Now for Aunt Jane,” said Violet, getting up. She opened the lunch box and took out an orange.

“I could drink that myself!” Violet said, watching Jessie mix the orange juice with a beaten
egg.

Jessie knocked gently on the bedroom door.

“Well, come in!” said Aunt Jane. “Don’t stand there knocking!”

Her voice was cross, but Jessie thought she had been lying there waiting for something to happen. She put the glass on the table. Then she went over to the bed, and bent over the tiny little lady.

“Aunt Jane, this is delicious,” she said. “Violet and I made it just for you.”

Jessie went on, “Now I’m going to lift you up higher in the bed, so you can drink better.”

To the old lady’s surprise, Jessie lifted her in her strong arms as if she were a child. Then she took the glass and sat down by the bed.

“Drink it slowly,” she said. “As Benny would say, ‘Don’t rush it.’”

“Who is this Benny?”

“Well,” began Jessie. “Benny is—” she stopped. “It’s so hard to tell you about our brother Benny.”

Violet came in, folding up the blue tablecloth. She acted as if she had always lived there.

She said, “Benny is the funniest boy you ever saw, Aunt Jane, and he is good, too. He can always make people laugh. He loves our dog, Watch. Benny and Watch almost talk to each other. Benny always looks for Watch if things go wrong.”

Jessie noticed that her aunt was drinking the egg and orange; and not very slowly, either. She seemed to be very hungry.

“Who else is in your family?” asked Aunt Jane.

“Well, there’s Henry,” said Jessie. “He’s our oldest brother. He is very clever, and very kind and thoughtful. He can make Benny mind, too, without being cross.”

“If your brothers are like you, I’d like to see them, too. Take the glass now, and go. I’m tired.”

Jessie bent down again and lowered the little lady from her high pillows.

“Call Maggie now,” said Aunt Jane.

The girls went out quietly and called Maggie. They finished washing the dishes. Then they waited in the front room for Maggie.

“You see how she is,” said the tired woman. “First she wants me, and then she doesn’t. I think she is finally settled for the night. You might as well go to bed, too.”

“A fine idea,” said Jessie. “Where do you sleep?”

“In this room off the kitchen,” said Maggie. “If you want anything in the night, you can come down.”

“Thanks, Maggie,” said Jessie. “We won’t feel so strange here, knowing that.”

“Well, thank you both,” she answered. “It’s wonderful to have someone nice to talk to.”

The girls went up to their big room. They climbed into bed and talked awhile.

“How beautiful the stars are!” Violet said. “They seem so near.”

“I have never seen stars so bright before,” said Jessie. “It’s because there are no other lights at all.”

Just as they were going to sleep, Jessie laughed and said, “Violet, where do you suppose that young man went? The one on the train.”

“I can’t think,” answered Violet. “He just disappeared in the air!”

“A Mystery Man really,” said Jessie.

And so they fell asleep.

S
am, the neighbor, woke the girls the next morning, bringing the milk. The girls could hear Maggie in the kitchen, “Shh, Shh! Sam Weeks! You’ll wake those girls.”

“I want to wake them,” said Sam. “I want to see them.” He began to whistle.

The girls laughed while they washed their faces in the big wash bowl in their room. They dressed quickly. They wanted to see Sam, too.

“Well, well!” he said, as they came into the kitchen. “I hear you came to see your Aunt Jane. Are you planning to stay here all summer?”

“Sam!” cried Maggie. “How do they know?”

“We really don’t know how long we’ll stay,” said Jessie. “We don’t know how long Aunt Jane will want us.”

“I’m worried about you,” Sam said. “I’m afraid you won’t get enough food. Maggie had to eat at our house when she got real hungry.”

“Well,” answered Jessie, dropping some eggs into hot water, “We can buy food. Grandfather gave me some money.”

“I hope your aunt will let you eat it after you get it,” said Sam. He turned to go.

He stopped at the door and turned to Maggie.

“A stranger got off the train last night,” he said.

“Yes, we know!” cried both girls.

“That’s right, you would know,” said Sam.

“We call him our Mystery Man,” said Jessie.

“He’s a mystery, all right,” said Sam. “I noticed him because not very many people get off that fast train.”

Sam watched the three people sit down at the pretty table. He turned and walked quickly out the kitchen door.

Jessie smiled as she poured hot milk on a piece of toast.

“A little salt,” she laughed, “and Aunt Jane’s breakfast is ready.”

She carried the plate into Aunt Jane’s bedroom.

“More food, I suppose,” said Aunt Jane.

“That’s right,” said Jessie. “It’s milk toast. Delicious! Now, while you eat, I’ll tell you our plan. Maggie is taking us to the store this morning to buy food. And while we are near the station, we’ll send a telegram to Grandfather. We’ll tell him we are having a fine time.”

“A fine time? Pooh!” said Aunt Jane.

“But it’s true, Aunt Jane,” said Jessie quietly. “We love the ranch already. It’s a beautiful place!”

“I’m the only person who has ever really liked this ranch,” her aunt said. She began to eat her breakfast. Jessie watched her.

“She seems almost starved. If she is hungry, why doesn’t she want to eat?” Jessie said to herself.

Jessie picked up the empty plate and left the room quietly.

When Jessie came into the kitchen, she saw Maggie at the back door with the horse and wagon. To her surprise, Violet was already on the seat.

“Don’t we lock the door?” she asked.

“No, we never do. Nobody ever comes here,” said Maggie. “Go on, old boy!”

As the horse walked slowly along, the girls made up a telegram to send to their grandfather. Tom Young, the station agent, sent the telegram.

“A telegram every day. Quite an exciting town!” he said.

Just then they heard a train whistle. “The train goes the other way every morning,” said Maggie. “Do you want to watch it come in?”

They saw the train come into the station. Nobody got on and nobody got off.

“That’s the way it always is,” said Maggie. “Soon the train won’t stop at Centerville any more. It doesn’t pay.”

Maggie and the girls went to the store. They bought enough groceries to last a week and loaded them into the wagon. The old horse walked even slower than usual going home, because of the load.

When they came back to the ranch, they found Aunt Jane very cross.

“Humph!” she said to Maggie. “You go off riding all over the country and leave me here alone so that anything can happen!”

“But, Miss Jane,” Maggie said, “what could possibly happen to you out here?”

“I was nearly fooled into selling this ranch! That’s what could happen,” the little old lady answered.

“Now, Miss Jane, this must be another one of your strange ideas,” Maggie said.