The Black Jacket Mystery

but there was no doubt that he had read her expression and resented it.
    She gasped a moment later as a second person came up the bus steps close behind the boy.
    It was Mr. Maypenny, dressed in "store clothes.” He didn’t look at all comfortable in them. The shirt collar seemed to be choking him, and he had evidently put on some weight since he had last worn the suit, because the coat was open and it was easy to see that it couldn’t possibly be buttoned.
    Mr. Maypenny glanced toward the rear of the bus, and both Trixie and Honey smiled and waved to him. But he merely nodded briefly and looked back toward the boy with him. “Sit down,” he said.
    He pointed to a seat up close to the driver, and when the boy had silently obeyed, Mr. Maypenny sat down beside him and faced forward as the bus started toward Sleepyside.
    “For goodness’ sake, where did he find that?” Trixie whispered. She could still feel the sting of the look the strange boy had given her.
    Honey, her eyes still on them, looked puzzled. “Maybe it’s somebody who’s going to help him with the work. I heard Dad say a couple of times that Mr. Maypenny needed a helper, especially in the winter, when the feeding stations have to be filled so often for the deer. It’s too much work for one man alone.”
    “He doesn’t look like an outdoor character to me,” Trixie sniffed. “That black leather jacket! Ugh! I expected to see some crazy club name on the back of it when he sat down!”
    “That’s strange.” Honey looked startled. “I did, too!” Then she giggled. “I guess we’ve seen too many movies about tough kids in leather jackets!” Trixie nodded and grinned. Then she frowned. “You know, I get the funniest feeling about him. I feel as if I have seen him before somewhere. And still, I know I haven’t.”
    She was still puzzling about it when the bus arrived at Sleepyside High and everyone got out. Mr. Maypenny and the boy headed directly toward the principal’s office, without stopping to speak to the girls. Trixie was really stumped.
    “It looks as if Mr. Maypenny’s friend is going to enroll in our school,” Di said as the three strolled toward their homeroom. “He’s sort of good-looking, isn’t he?”
    Trixie sniffed. “Thr-r-rilling, I’m sure!”
    Di looked hurt, but Honey laughed and patted her arm. “Don’t mind Trixie. She’s just teasing you. She thinks he’s stunning.”
    Trixie flashed her friend a reproachful look and stalked away with her nose high. She didn’t like the strange boy, no matter what Honey or Di thought about him. And she wished that she could think of whom he reminded her!
     

The Rebel ● 7
     
    BY LUNCHTIME there was scarcely a cloud left in the sky. The storm had swept south, leaving only a few inches of soft new snow in the valley, but the air from the north was cold and crisp. It made the girls step along briskly on their way to the cafeteria.
    “Feels good,” Trixie said happily. “No signs of a thaw. I hope it keeps up this way.”
    They had filled their lunch trays at the cafeteria counter and taken them to the usual table in one comer of the lunchroom when they saw Mart come in with the new pupil. “Look at what’s coming with Marti” Trixie whispered. “Our friend!”
    Di Lynch and Brian had sat down a few moments earlier and had started to eat. “Why the whispering, Miss Sherlock Holmes?” Brian asked. Then he caught the direction of their eyes, and he stared, also.
    Most of the other pupils either stared openly or took furtive glances at the newcomer. Mart saw it, and his face reddened, but he continued to lead the new boy toward the table where his friends were sitting.
    Now that Trixie could get a full look at the newcomer, she was less impressed by him than before. He was wearing the black leather jacket and had his cap tucked under his arm, but the thing that made her gasp was the style of shoes he was wearing. She hadn’t noticed them on the bus. They were cowboy boots.
    She craned her neck to be sure she was seeing right There was no mistake. They were pointedtoed boots with a high heel, and they were black and highly polished.
    Mart and the dark boy were at the table now. “Hi, family and such! This is Dan Mangan. Dan, here are some of the characters you’ll have to put up with in Sleepyside High.”
    Brian was cordial. He rose and shook hands soberly with Dan Mangan, and the solemn-faced Dan managed a smile and a brief “Hi,” in return.
    But in