The Gatehouse Mystery

leave." She sat rigidly in her seat and tried to concentrate on the short subject, but could think of nothing but Jim.
    Jim hadn't telephoned Miss Trask to get permission to have a crew cut and supper in the village.
    Jim had just had a haircut last week.
    Jim didn't like to eat in the dog wagon. Jim liked to raid the icebox.
    Jim had said he would be waiting for them in the lobby at seven thirty. Jim was prompt. And they had been late, because Miss Trask had had to stop for gas on the way in.
    When last seen, Jim had gone off for a driving lesson with Dick. Dick. Dick.
    On a lonely country road.A lonely country road. A lonely country road.
    It became a maddening little tune that shut out all other sounds. "Dick and a lonely country road. Dick and a lonely country road."
    Then Trixie remembered something else that made her sit up even straighter. Bobby had probably told Dick that Honey and Jim had switched rooms. And he must have told him, too, that the "boxlike thing" had not been switched.
    Dick would know that he could not hope to sneak into the house at night and steal the jewelry box if Jim were sleeping in Honey's old room. Therefore, Dick somehow had to get rid of Jim. That was why he had offered to give Jim driving lessons—on a lonely country road. That was why Dick had planned his whole day so that nothing would interfere with the driving lesson.
    Trixie shivered. She nudged Honey's arm. "Come out to the rest room with me," she whispered. "I'm so worried about Jim I can't stand it."
    There was no one else in the little powder room when the girls got there. Honey's hazel eyes widened when Trixie told her what she had been thinking all during the movie.
    "But, Trixie," she gasped. "You forgot one thing. Dick knew that we were all going to the early show and wouldn't be back until after nine thirty. He also knew that Celia and the cook would have their eyes glued to their TV all evening, and that Regan would be stuck in his easy chair once those wrestling matches started. Between nine and nine thirty this evening would be a perfect time for Dick to go in and get my jewelry box. He didn't have any reason to get rid of Jim during that time, because he knew Jim was going to the movies."
    Trixie jumped. "Oh, my goodness, I never thought of that!" She leaned over to look at the watch on Honey's wrist. "The wrestling matches don't start for another half hour. Dick wouldn't dare try to sneak out of the garage and into the house before then. Regan might hear him." She sighed disappointedly. "You've got to call Regan right away, Honey, and tell him everything. Well have to let him catch Dick in our trap."
    But Honey wasn't listening. "I think I know where Jim is," she said slowly. "He's so smart, he must have figured out long ago that Dick would try to get the diamond out of my jewelry box while we were at the movies. Don't you see, Trixie? Jim got Dick to leave him off in the village after the driving lesson, and then he walked home. He's probably hiding in the closet of my old room right now."
    "But Jim doesn't suspect Dick. We do," Trixie cried impatiently.
    "I think he does now," Honey said. "I didn't want to tell you before, because I thought you might be cross with Mart. But while you were telephoning your father before lunch, Mart looked at the crumpled sheets of paper we threw into Jim's scrap basket. He knew right off that we'd been trying to prove how easily Dick could have forged Mr. Whitney's signature. Jim was very impressed when he saw how the M and W in my name were slightly blurred. I have a feeling that he decided, then and there, to look at that reference. If he did, and found traces of carbon on the signature—"
    "Honey," Trixie interrupted. "That must be just what happened. While we were having a swim before lunch, Jim must have found out that Mr. Whitney's signature looked suspicious. Remember how quiet he was dining lunch? The rest of us did a lot of kidding, but he hardly spoke a word."
    Honey nodded. "I think he was planning then to catch Dick in our trap. That's why he didn't come home after the driving lesson. Jim wanted to make sure that Dick knew that he was out of the way."
    Trixie shook her head. "That wasn't exactly necessary. I mean, Jim getting Dick to leave him off in the village. If Jim had left for the movies with us in the station wagon, Dick would have seen him and would have thought that Jim would be out of the way between nine and nine thirty. Jim could have gone inside the