The Gatehouse Mystery

pet him and make friends."
    "That's hard to believe," Mart said. "Why, Reddy is such a dope he'd lead a burglar right to the place where you keep the family silver, Honey."
    "A burglar, yes; but Nailor, no," Trixie said. "Like Mr. Lytell, I notice little things like that. And the dogs adore Dick. They positively fawn on him. It's disgusting. All because he bought them some bones in the village."
    "Speaking of which," Jim said to Honey, "did you get the mail today? I expected a book on how to train pointers."
    "Oh, I forgot," Honey gasped. "It was my turn, wasn't it?" She grabbed Trixie's hand. "Run down to the mailbox with me, won't you? I'm scared to go way down to the road alone now that it's dark."
    "Skip it," Jim said. "Miss Trask probably got the mail. She usually does before dinner if we forget."
    "Before dinner?" Brian asked. "That mailman is a regular diller-dollar, ten o'clock scholar. He used to arrive in the morning; then it was changed to late afternoon, and now it's in the evening?"
    "He still brings the mail, with the Sleepyside Sun, around five," Trixie told him. "Honey and Jim are supposed to take turns getting it, but Honey never remembers. When she forgets, Miss Trask goes down to the box for it just before dinner."
    "I'll bet she didn't today," Honey said. "She was awfully busy. I'll go down now, Jim, if Trixie will come with me."
    Jim grinned. "All right, it might help you remember.
    It just might. Here's the flashlight." He unlatched the door for them.
    The girls hurried down the driveway to the mailbox at the foot of the hill. Honey yanked it open. "My stars," she said. "It's full of mail. Miss Trask was too busy, for once. And I guess this is the book Jim was waiting for."
    They raced back up the hill and dumped the letters and packages on the kitchen table. "Ah, my book," Jim cried. "This will keep me awake all night."
    "Is there anything there that'll keep us awake, Honey?" Trixie asked. "I just know Dick is going to come sneaking back at midnight."
    Miss Trask called then from the top of the back stairs. "It's time you were all in bed. Come on up now. Leave that light burning over the sink, Jim; but turn out the others."
    "Okay," Jim said. "Is Patch up there with you, Miss Trask?"
    "No," she said. "I haven't seen him since you fed him." Jim whistled a few times, and then they heard the puppy scratching and whining on the other side of the screen door. When Jim opened the door, Patch bounded in, slipped on the waxed linoleum, and skidded across the floor with a look of astonishment.
    "He's just like Reddy," Trixie said, laughing. "Reddy does that every time. Is he going to sleep in your room tonight, Jim?"
    "No, he sleeps on the porch," Jim said. "It almost completely encircles the house, you know; so if any stranger tried to get in through the doors or windows, Patch would hear him."
    "Hm," Trixie said thoughtfully as they trooped upstairs. Later, when she and Honey were in bed, she said, "Jim must know that our prowler wasn't a stranger. Whom does he suspect?"
    "I really don't know," Honey said sleepily. "As you keep saying, Patch would have barked his head off if any stranger had tried to get into the house last night. But I know Jim doesn't suspect Dick. On account of that letter from Mr. Whitney, you know."
    "I've been thinking about that," Trixie said. "It was your turn to get the mail on Wednesday, wasn't it?"
    "Uh-huh," Honey murmured.
    "Did you get it?" Trixie asked.
    But Honey was sound asleep. In a few minutes, try as she did to stay awake, Trixie, herself, was sound asleep. When she awoke, it was morning, a steaming hot morning with the threat of rain hanging heavy in the air. She and Honey put on swimsuits and, as had been prearranged, met the boys down at the boathouse.
    "Did anything happen last night?" they asked Jim in one breath.
    "Not a thing," he said, "except that Dick hasn't come back yet. And is Regan furious!"
    "Regan," Brian explained, "was already in the lake when we got down here. Trying to cool off in more ways than one. He just went up to get dressed. He's got to go in to town for the maids and the laundress."
    They swam out to the raft, and then Honey said, "Dick is going to be fired as soon as Daddy gets back. If you think Regan is angry, think what kind of a mood Daddy would be in if he knew the new chauffeur was AWOL so soon after being hired."
    "And all on account of one little black eye," Mart added. "What a sissy that guy must be."
    "Don't be silly," Trixie