The Black Jacket Mystery

wherever he came from!” Trixie decided. “He’s told everybody in school how tough he is, and I guess he wasn’t lying.”
    “I bet they’re in a closet at Mr. Maypenny’s right now!” Honey’s eyes were wide with excitement.
    “Maybe we can steal a look tomorrow, if we can wangle Moms into letting us ride out to see how Mr. Maypenny is getting along!” Trixie plotted eagerly.
    It wasn’t too much of a job next morning getting Mrs. Belden to agree. She thought the old gamekeeper might like some crab-apple jelly, so she promised to pack a half dozen jars of it for Trixie to carry to him after school.
    As the two girls were starting to get Bobby ready to catch his school bus, the telephone rang. It was Miss Trask, and she wished to speak to Honey.
    Honey danced back from the phone, her eyes sparkling. “Dad and Mom are flying in this afternoon, and I’m to meet them. Tom will pick me up at school!” She was delighted. “They’ll be here for the carnival. Isn’t that wonderful?”
    Trixie nodded, trying to be as happy about it as Honey, but it was a lost effort. She was going to miss her houseguest, even though they saw each other every day.
    Mrs. Belden zipped Bobby into his overcoat and put his hand in Trixie’s. “Better run along ahead with him,” she told Trixie. “His bus is almost due. I’ll help Honey pack her things.”
    Bobby pulled away from Trixie’s hand and ran to hug Honey. “Don’t go away!” he pleaded. “I’ll let you pet my new kitty when Trixie catches it for me!” So Honey had to promise she would be back to share Trixie’s room very soon and pet the kitty when it arrived. And only then did Bobby agree to run for the bus, hand in hand with Trixie.
    It wasn’t until they were settled in their favorite seats on the next bus that Honey remembered their plan to go see Mr. Maypenny and do some private investigating. “Oh, dear! Now I won’t be able to go with you!” she moaned.
    “I know,” Trixie said glumly. “I’ll go by myself, and if I get a chance to snoop around and I find those boots,” she promised, “I’ll phone you the minute I get home!”
    Regan wasn’t around when she went to get Susie and saddle her, after school. The boys had gone to the lake in Brian’s car with some more lumber odds and ends they were making into a little entrance booth where she could sit and hand out the tickets in return for the school books that were to be the price of admission. Jim had already started another batch of posters, and he had also managed to salvage a lot of the others without too much repainting.
    Susie was full of life and wanted to run in the brisk winter breeze, so Trixie arrived at the lake in a very short time. She bad intended to do some more practicing with Honey, but now that it was impossible for that day, she took only a few turns around to convince her brothers that she was serious about it. Then she took off her skates and dropped them into the saddlebag next to Mr. Maypenny’s jelly.
    She led the beautiful young mare across to where the boys were erecting the ticket booth. “Guess I’ll give Susie a good workout today,” she told them casually. “Want me to drop by and see how Mr. Maypenny is getting along?”
    Brian, his face grimy and one thumb bandaged after a slight accident with a hammer, told her, “That’s a genius idea, Sis. And if that Dan character isn’t doing right by him, come back and tell us. I think if he tried real hard, your nuisance brother here could change the bandage for the old boy. I’m—” He held up the bandaged finger.
    “—incapacitated physically,” Mart finished the sentence. “And if I couldn’t put on a neater bandage than the one you hung on Mr. Maypenny last night, I’d go in for boiler-making instead of surgery!” He ducked behind the booth with a grin as Brian grabbed up a plank and threatened him playfully with it.
    “Hey, quit clowning, clowns!” Jim called from the lumber pile. “And help me carry some planks!” While they were doing it, Trixie mounted and turned Susie’s nose in the direction of the uphill trail that led to Mr. Maypenny’s cabin.
    She rode through the snow-prettied woods, under a clear, pale-blue winter sky, and thought how good it was to have a fine horse to ride—even if Susie wasn’t really her own personal property. She was practically her own, because the Wheelers had bought the little mare so Trixie could ride with Honey.
    She wasn’t paying much attention