The Secret of the Mansion (13 page)

But there was nothing of value in either the guest rooms or the sewing room, and the low-ceilinged attic was completely bare. At the end of a hot, dusty,

discouraging hour even Trixie was willing to give up.

“No will, no nothing,” she told Honey as she climbed backward down the ladder. I guess that crazy old miser must have burned everything.”

“You were up there so long I was beginning to be afraid something had happened. Be careful of that missing rung,” Honey cautioned.

Jim appeared at the window with a big, black book in his hand. I thought I might as well bring this old Bible along,” he said as he started down. “It was

on a bedside table in one of the guest rooms. I haven’t any other family possessions except my mug, so I don’t think Uncle James would mind my having it.”

“Watch out for the broken place,” both Trixie and Honey cried together. And then they dodged as the heavy Bible slipped from Jim’s hand and hurtled past

149 132 their heads. A piece of paper flew from the pages of the book and landed at Trixie’s feet. She leaned over to pick it up.

“Golly, golly!” she shouted. “It’s a will, Jim. The will!”

150 133

Jed Tomlin’s Colt

Trixie handed the yellowed legal paper to Jim. “Read it quickly,” she begged. “Are you the heir? The sole heir?”

Jim read the will carefully before he answered. “Yes, I am, if this is the latest will. It’s only a copy. It says here that a Mr. George Rainsford is the

executor; so I imagine he has the original. Do you know who he is, Trixie?”

Trixie shook her head. “Never heard of him.”

“He might very well be dead by now,” Jim said. “This will was drawn up right after my aunt died when Uncle James was still rich.”

“I still think he is rich,” Trixie said firmly.

“Well,” Jim said slowly, “the only person who would know about that would be Mr. Rainsford.”

“George Rainsford,” Honey repeated to herself. “That name sounds sort of familiar to me.”

Jim slipped the will back into the Bible with a rueful chuckle. “I’m heir apparent to ten thousand dollars’ worth of land, but it won’t do me any good until

I’m twenty-one. There won’t be anything left by then-

151 134 ,see to that. If only I could have got here a day Jonesy”, Uncle James would, at least, have told me earlier! Mr. Rainsford is still alive, and

he might when they’ve tried to have another guardian appointed.” even h; ‘t give up hope,” Honey begged. “Your uncle

44 D

isn’t d ad Yet-Maybe he’ll pull through after all.”

“I doubt it. Not at his age. But I’ll stick around here a few more days, just in case.”

Trixie felt a huge lump rising in her throat. “And Th-” then she got out. “And then I’ll start looking for a job.” The boy’s broad shoulders drooped disconsolately.

“There goes college aria fly dream, but it can’t be helped. I wouldn’t live another ,year with Jonesy for all the money in the world.”

“you mustn’t quit school now!” Honey was on the verb a of tears. “Please wait till Dad gets back from Canada next week, and let me tell him the whole story.

Maybe-bi3 lawyers can do something.”

“I Wouldn’t risk it,” Jim said soberly. “The first thing ther would feel he had to do would be to notify Jonesy. then I’d be right back where I started.”

he turned away as though he wanted to be alone with his problem, and the girls started down the ladder.

“We’ve got to do something,” Trixie said mournfully.

152 135 “I hate to think of Jim wandering around the country without any money. And I’m not too sure he can get a job at a boys’ camp without his stepfather’s

permission. Dad wrote several letters and went to see the head of the camp where Brian and Mart are before it was all settled.”

“I know,” Honey agreed. “Jim realizes that. And you know what? He told me if he had any trouble, he’d get a job on a cattle boat. If he does that, we may

never see him again.” She sighed. “I like Jim an awful lot, Trixie. I like him just as much as if he were my own brother. I wish we could fix things so

Dad could adopt him.”

“I wish so, too.” She tossed a pebble into the woods. “I think we ought to keep right on looking for that money. I’ve got one of your premonitions about

it. I’m sure it’s there somewhere, and I don’t think Jim really looked hard, enough, because he doesn’t believe in it.”

“He couldn’t possibly have gone through every one of those boxes and barrels in such a short time,” Honey agreed. “Let’s all give the downstairs another

thorough search tomorrow.”

“Great!” Trixie waved good-by as Honey got on her bicycle. “Have fun on your ride this afternoon.” “Thanks,” Honey called over her shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

153 136 Trixie’s parents were upstairs with Bobby when she got home. From the downstairs hall, Trixie could hear her father’s voice droning on and on, so

she guessed that he was probably reading Bobby to sleep.

While Trixie stood there listening, her mother came quietly down the stairs with a tray of empty dishes. “Sh-h,” she whispered to Trixie as they went out

into the kitchen. “Bobby’s had his lunch, and I think he’ll fall asleep in a few minutes. A good long nap would do him a world of good.”

Trixie nodded. “If anyone can read him to sleep, it’s Dad. I can remember when I was Bobby’s age and had mumps and measles, he used to tell me stories or

read to me. His voice is so soothing, I used to fall into sort of a stupor right away, although I tried like anything not to.” She gave her mother an impulsive

hug. “Oh, Moms, I’m so glad I was born into this family. I feel so sorry for people like Honey and Ji-” She stopped herself just in time, and added hastily:

“Honey just never seems to have any fun with her father and mother the way Bobby and Brian and Mart and I do. I’m so glad we’re not rich.”

“So am L” Mrs. Belden said with a smile. “It’s much more fun to work for the things you want than to have them given to you on a silver platter. Speaking

of which,” she added with a chuckle, “will you rinse and

154 137 dry our silver platter? Dad will be down in a few minutes to carve the turkey.”

“Yummy-yum,” Trixie said sniffing. “It smells dee-licious, Moms. I hope you put a lot of onions in the stuffing.”

“I did,” Mrs. Belden said as she took a big green glass bowl from the cupboard. “Let’s not bother with cooked vegetables. If we eat all we want of the turkey

and stuffing we won’t have room for more than a tossed green salad.”

“Yummy-yum,” Trixie said again, in full agreement. “You fix that special salad dressing of yours, Moms, and I’ll slice tomatoes and peppers and leeks and

shred the lettuce.”

“Fine,” Mrs. Belden said. “We make a good team, Trixie. While we work, please tell me more about your new friend. I’m very interested in Honey. I think

she’s a lovely girl, but, of course, I don’t know her as well as you do.”

“She is just lovely in every way,” Trixie cried enthusiastically. “I wasn’t crazy about her at first, Moms. I thought she was a sissy. But she isn’t. She’s

scared and nervous about a lot of things because she isn’t used to living in the country. I mean, she’s sure that every ropelike vine is a snake and all

leaves are poison ivy, and

155 138 things like that. And, of course, not having had any brothers makes an awful difference.” Trixie scooped the core and seeds out of a big green pepper

and began to slice it on the wooden chopping board. “I guess I never realized before,” she said thoughtfully, “how important brothers are. Brian and Mart

drive me wild sometimes

because they’re forever teasing me, and Bobby, well, he’s darling but he can be an-an-“

“An awful nuisance,” Mrs. Belden finished cheerfully. “But, Trixie, if you ever had to be separated from him for very long, you’d find that you missed him

dreadfully. Brian and Mart have found that out while they’ve been at camp. With every letter they write me they enclose a note full of funny drawings for

Bobby.”

“I know,” Trixie said. “Oh, Moms, let’s not tell them about Bobby and the copperhead. Brian and Mart would just die from worry, and the worst is over now.

He really is going to be all right, isn’t he, Moms?”

“He’s-fine,” Trixie’s mother said emphatically. “And all due to you, Trixie. No. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to keep Bobby’s accident a secret from Brian

and Mart, Trixie. I’m going to write them a long letter telling them what an important part you played. They’ll be very proud of you.”

Trixie’s father came tiptoeing into the kitchen then.

156 139 “Whew!” he sighed, “I thought His Royal Highness would never give up and close those big blue eyes of his.” He washed his hands at the kitchen sink

and then he deftly transferred the turkey from the oven pan to the gleaming silver platter. He winked at Trixie and said, “If there’s one thing I like

better than turkey with your mother’s onion stuffing, it’s more turkey with more stuffing. Let’s eat right here in the kitchen.”

“I’d like that,” Mrs. Belden said gaily. “And I’m sure Trixie would, too. She’s going to have to clean up when we leave for our drive and listen every now

and then at the bottom of the stairs, too, to make sure Bobby is still asleep. I’m all in favor of saving unnecessary steps during an emergency like this.”

She and Trixie set the kitchen table while Mr.

Belden carved. It was much more cozy than eating in the dining-room, and in between mouthfuls, Trixie told her parents about her riding lessons.

“Regan says I’m doing very well,” she finished. “Honey told me this morning that he’d probably let me do some lumping in another couple of weeks.

“Fine,” her father said-“but don’t rush things, Trixie. We don’t want another invalid around here until

Bobby is back on his feet.” He grinned. ‘Although I suppose that imp is really less trouble when he’s in bed than

158 140 he is when he’s running around loose, getting into mischief every step he takes.”

“For your sake, Trixie,” Mrs. Belden added, “I hope Bobby sleeps all afternoon. But if he does wake up around three, you might give him some pineapple juice

and a few cookies. He didn’t eat much lunch.” She went

upstairs then to take off her cotton house frock and don a cool, white sharkskin suit.

“I want your mother to get a change of scene,” Mr. Belden said to Trixie. “Bobby has kept her pretty tied down. We’ll drive up the river and have tea somewhere

on the road. It’ll do her good.”

“I know,” Trixie agreed as she rinsed the dishes and stacked them in the sink. “Don’t hurry back, Dad. I’ll keep Bobby good and quiet. After we’ve read

the comics we can cut out the animals and play games with them. He likes that.”

Trixie waved good-by to her parents from the terrace, then she tidied up the kitchen, washed and dried the dishes. She had hardly finished putting the last

fork away in the silver drawer when Bobby woke up and yelled at the top of his lungs:

“I’m thirsty-and hung-gry! Help!”

“Okay, Bobby,” Trixie called up to him. “I’ll be with you in a sec.” Hastily she put a glass of pineapple juice

159 141 and a plate of chocolate cookies on a tray and hurried upstairs.

Bobby greeted her with a fretful frown. “Straws,” he said disdainfully. “You know I have to have straws.” Trixie laughed. “Here’s a whole box of colored

straws which your friend, Miss Trask, sent you. Red, green, blue, yellow, every color in the rainbow, Bobby. Take your choice.”

Bobby squealed with delight. “I’ll take a orange one and a labbender one,” he said happily. “Labbender is sometimes almost always my very favorite color.”

As he munched cookies and sipped the ice-cold juice, Bobby insisted upon hearing what Trixie and Honey had discovered up at the old Mansion.

“Nothing much,” Trixie replied evasively. “The rooms are all filled with piles of junk. You can see it through the windows,” she added quickly, so that

Bobby wouldn’t guess they had gone inside the house. You never could tell how long Bobby could keep a secret, and Trixie wasn’t at all sure, now, that

her father would approve of her having climbed in through the window that first day. “He’d probably give me the dickens,” she reflected, “even though I

did it just to lock up the place.”

She picked up Peter Rabbit and began to read, but Bobby interrupted.

160 142 “What’d you want the flashlight for, Trixie?” he demanded suspiciously. “Did you find a pirate’s cave or something?”

Trixie laughed. “No, of course not, Bobby. Don’t you want me to read?”

Bobby shook his head up and down. “Well, then, stop interrupting.”

“I want to know why you borrowed my flashlight,” the little boy insisted, his red lips beginning to pout. “You said it was my see-crud and your see-crud,

but you won’t tell me anything!”

Trixie sighed. “All right, but you’ve got to promise to keep this secret.”

“I always keep see-cruds,” Bobby boasted.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Trixie corrected him. “Remember when I showed you the present I got for Mummy last Christmas? You promised not to let her guess what