The Gatehouse Mystery

to know that the last man he worked for is a very good friend of Dad's. Dad showed me that letter of recommendation. And as for Nailor, he's not what you'd call a landscape gardener, but he has lived in Sleepyside all his life and has a very good reputation. He has clipped the hedges and tended the flowers for leading citizens for years."
    But Trixie wasn't listening. She was staring, open-mouthed, at the back terrace of her house. Two tall, tanned boys were standing by the kitchen door.
    "Brian," she yelled. "Mart! Jim, look. They're home from camp already."
    Trixie's brothers jumped over the low stone wall of the terrace to meet her as she raced toward them. After she had hugged them both, she dragged them to the chicken coop, where Jim was waiting to be introduced. Brian shook hands with him and said, "Gee, it's great news that you live up in the Manor House. Trixie wrote us about you and Honey."
    " 'Scribbled' is the word, Jim," Mart said with a grin. "It took us hours to decipher her message, but when we did, we decided we were missing too much fun at home. So, here we are."
    "But your jobs," Trixie said. "I thought camp didn't close until tomorrow."
    "It doesn't," Brian told her. "But the nursery group left yesterday afternoon. With the small fry gone, there wasn't anything for us to do but pack up the things they left behind." He sighed. "Our little charges were all about Bobby's age, so you can imagine the junk they collected."
    "By the time we finished cleaning the cabins," Mart added, "we decided that we'd never be junior counselors again. Our boss took pity on us; and, since he had to drive through Sleepyside on his way home, he dropped us off here last night."
    "Boy, am I ever glad to see you two," Jim said enthusiastically. "Maybe you can talk your wacky sister into turning the diamond she and Honey found over to the police."
    "Wacky, yes," blond Mart jeered, "but the finder of diamonds, no. When her imagination gets going, a piece of coal becomes a priceless ruby overnight."
    "Truer words were never spoken," Brian agreed. "When you've known Trixie as long as we have, Jim, you'll stop listening to her tall tales."
    "I'm beginning to catch on," Jim said, grinning. "Last night she heard a mysterious prowler that nobody else heard, and she suspects our new chauffeur and gardener."
    "A man or a mouse," Mart said, shaking his head, "it makes no diff to Trixie. They're all crooks if they so much as poke their noses out of their lairs after dark."
    "Is that so?" Trixie demanded. "Mice don't live in lairs, smarty. We did so find a valuable diamond. Wait until you see it."
    Just then Honey appeared at the top of the path. "Trixie! Jim!" she yelled as she raced down the hill. When she caught sight of Brian and Mart, she skidded to a stop and added shyly, "Oh, your brothers came home from camp sooner than they expected."
    "That's right," Trixie said. "The one on my left with the funny-looking crew cut is Mart. The other odd-looldng creature is Brian. I hate them both at the moment. They don't believe we found a real diamond, Honey."
    Honey shook hands with the boys, smiling. "But it is a read diamond," she told them. "You can see for yourselves. I brought it with me." She reached into the pocket of her shorts and brought out the stone. The facets glittered in the early morning sunlight as she handed it to Brian.
    "Holy cow," Mart gasped. "I asked for bread and she gave me cake. Where on earth did you girls ever find it?"
    "That's not so important now," Honey said soberly, "as where were going to hide it. I don't dare keep it in xny jewelry box any longer."
    "Why not?" Trixie asked. "What's happened?"
    "Nothing's happened," Honey said. "Not yet. But when I woke up this morning, I remembered what you'd said yesterday that gave me goose pimples. You said that Nailor might be one of the gang that stole the diamond. Why, Trixie, if he is, he could have sneaked into my room last night when we were asleep and taken it. The jewel box, I mean. If he knew the diamond was in it, it wouldn't take him long to find the secret compartment."
    "Wait a minute, puh-leeze," Mart interrupted. "You're moving too fast for me. Let's start with where you found the diamond and then decide where we're going to hide it."
    "Oh," Trixie cried excitedly, "then you don't think we ought to turn it over to the police?"
    "Not me," Mart said, arching his sandy eyebrows. "If there's a mystery lying around loose waiting to be solved, I want a crack at