The Gatehouse Mystery

hardly stand it," he told Honey. "But I always say, no matter how old a horse is, it should always have some exercise." He nearsightedly peered at Brian and Mart. "Why, hello, boys. Back from camp, eh?"
    "That's right," Brian said. "Did you have a nice summer, sir?"
    Belle stumbled to a stop on the other side of the country road and hung her head dejectedly. "Well, yes and no," Mr. Lytell answered Brian. "It's been so hot Belle and I only ride early in the morning or late in the evening." He gave Honey and Jim a sharp glance. "You kids been camping out in that old caretaker's cottage on the edge of your property?"
    "Why, no," Honey said. "What made you think so?"
    "Saw lights flickering' in there Tuesday night," he said. "Any of you kids drive cars?"
    "I can drive," Brian said, "but I'm not old enough, yet, to get a license. Why?"
    "I was just wondering," the old storekeeper said. "Saw a jalopy parked by the road near your cottage, Honey, that same night. And then, early Wednesday morning, I saw it drive away."
    "That's interesting," Trixie put in. "When you saw it leave Wednesday morning, Mr. Lytell, were there two men in the car or one?"
    He stared at her suspiciously. "Who said there were any men in the car at ail?"
    Trixie laughed airily. "I never heard of a car driving off by itself before, Mr. Lytell. And it's obvious that someone who had engine trouble was forced to spend Tuesday night in the cottage."
    "It isn't obvious at all," he said sourly. "A person with engine trouble—a decent person—would have gone up to the big house and asked permission to stay in the cottage until it was light enough to repair the engine."
    "You forget, Mr. Lytell," Brian said quietly, "from the road, no one would have the vaguest idea that the cottage belonged to the Wheeler estate. If you can see it at all, it looks as though it's just an abandoned shack in the woods."
    "I'm surprised you knew it was there," Jim added.
    A pale flush spread up over Mr. LytelTs prominent cheekbones. "I notice things," he mumbled. "And I happened to notice that there was only one person in the car when it drove away early Wednesday morning.
    And, if you kids weren't camping out in the cottage Tuesday night, that person must talk to himself." He picked up the reins and nudged the old horse into a walk. "Belle and I heard voices when we rode by there just as it was getting really dark. Loud voices."
    No one said a word until he disappeared from view. Then Trixie said triumphantly, "It's beginning to look as though my theory wasn't so dumb. Loud voices means quarreling."
    "But, Trixie," Honey pointed out, "your theory was that both men drove away after the fight." Suddenly she turned white. "Oh, I get it. The body of the other man was in the trunk of the jalopy."
    "Let's leave corpses out of this," Brian said sternly. He shook his finger at Trixie. "We'll all have scary nightmares."
    "I never brought corpses into it," Trixie told him tartly. "Take your stubby finger and shake it at Honey. My latest theory is that one of the men was knocked out during the fight. When he came to, his pal had already left in the car, so he had to hitchhike his way to wherever they were going."
    "You know," Mart said thoughtfully, "it does sound like someone double-crossed his buddy and realized too late that he had departed without the loot."
    "It doesn't make sense to me," Brian retorted. "If you had something I wanted, I'd knock you out and take it from you before I departed."
    "Oh, for pete's sake," Trixie interrupted. "Don't be idiots. Don't you realize that the diamond was only part of the loot? I think the two men had just robbed a safe or something. They got to quarreling when they started to divvy up what they had stolen. That's when the diamond got ground into the mud floor of the cottage."
    "I see what you mean," Honey said. "The diamond was probably in a ring and fell out of the setting during the fight. It looks like the kind of stone that belongs in an engagement ring." She frowned. "But then it wouldn't have been in a safe, Trixie. Ladies usually wear their engagement rings all the time, no matter how valuable the stone may be."
    Trixie sighed. "Your mother wears hers all the time, but ours doesn't. Before she works in the garden, she always takes it off. Anyway," Trixie continued, "Mr. Rubber Heels knocked his partner out and drove away with the loot. Later he discovered that the diamond wasn't in the setting of the ring, so he drove back to the