The Gatehouse Mystery

inside the cottage and stared up at the ridgepole. "We'll have to cut away the vines and start all over again," he said. "What I mean is, we can patch up the leaks with heavy tar paper. That stuff is so tough you can even use it instead of concrete for making small swimming pools."
    "It also costs money," Trixie pointed out. "Where are we going to get the money for repairs?"
    "We're going to work for it, of course," Mart said. "How else do you get money, dope?"
    "Oh, dear," Honey said. "Trixie is saving every cent she earns so she can buy that colt. Couldn't Jim and I pay her share?"
    "No, you couldn't," Mart said. "And I think that, even though you and Jim are loaded with the stuff, you'll have to pretend you're as broke as the other members of the club. 'Rosie O'Grady and the colonel's lady' is the idea. We'll all be brothers and sisters in poverty, or it wouldn't be any fun."
    "You're absolutely right, Mart," Honey said quickly. "It was very silly of me to say what I did. How will we earn the money for repairing the clubhouse?"
    Mart stared up at the sloping lawns and the flower beds. "Brian and I are right handy with a lawn mower," he said. "I have a feeling Nailor could be kept busy enough with the flowers, so we could pick up some change after school and weekends."
    "Of course," Honey cried. "And the vegetable garden. It's full of weeds, and the tomatoes and things are rotting because nobody picks them or anything. Miss Trask would be thrilled to death if you and Brian would take over the lawns, Mart."
    "I'll contribute whatever you think is fair from the five dollars a week Dad pays me," Trixie offered.
    "Good girl." Mart clapped her affectionately on the shoulder. "And I know how much you want that colt, Trix."
    "But what'll I do?" Honey wailed. "I can't do anything really well."
    "Not much you can't," Mart said. "You sew like a dream. I'll bet Moms would be glad to pay you something just for keeping Bobby in shoulder straps."
    "Oh, oh!" Honey's hazel eyes were wide with delight. "Do you really think she would, Mart? It would be so wonderful to earn money. You don't know how I've envied Trixie."
    "There's nothing like it," Mart agreed. "Now, there's one little hitch. Jim may want the job of mowing the lawns or working in the vegetable garden, or both, and we can't do Nailor out of a job, or can we?"
    "Don't worry about Nailor," Honey said hastily. "There's enough to do around here to keep two men like him busy. And as for Jim, I know he's been dying to do something about the vegetable garden, but Gallagher wouldn't let him go near it. Gallagher wouldn't let him mow the lawns or do anything. He was awfully dog-in-the-mangerish about his job, although he didn't do it properly."
    "That's the answer, of course," Mart said. "Gallagher was afraid that Jim would show him up. Won't Nailor feel the same way?"
    "I don't think so," Honey said. "He hasn't been here quite long enough to feel that he owns the place, the way Gallagher did. Nailor is already complaining about how much work there is. I think he'd be glad if he had nothing to do but putter around with the flowers and shrubs. Heaven knows, there are enough of them; and they almost all need more care than they get."
    "That's true," Trixie said. "Even I know that the chrysanthemums should have been pinched back long » ago, and as for the delphiniums, Mother would burst into tears if she saw how they've been neglected."
    "Why don't you get the job of flower-tending?" Mart asked. "Your thumb has grown green this summer!
    Last year you didn't even know the difference between forget-me-nots and sunflowers."
    Trixie grinned. "I learned the hard way, working for Moms. Boy, she's a slave driver when it comes to the care of little growing things."
    "And your place," Honey said, "is always as neat as a pin. Now that you're back from camp, won't you have to mow your own lawn, Mart?"
    He snapped his fingers. "Oh, that! Brian and I can polish it off before breakfast once a week. It's the size of a pincushion compared to yours."
    "Don't mention that word," Trixie said with a shudder. "I wish Honey would go right home now and get a mending job from Moms. It might give her an excuse for checking up on the diamond." She giggled and gave Honey a little push. "Go on, and tell Moms you'll take care of everything in her basket. She'll hire you on the spot. Brian and Mart probably brought home a dozen pairs of socks that need darning."
    "All right," Honey said soberly. "I love to