The Hudson River Mystery

about, and his own life and death.”
    ”Don’t you think I know that? That’s why it’s so— Oh, Loyola! Loyola, wait a minute!” Trixie left Honey’s side to corner Loyola near her locker. She felt that Brian’s lab partner should know about his illness.
    Loyola’s first reaction to Trixie’s brief summary was to say, ”Gee, I’m really sorry to hear that.” Then she smiled slightly. ”He was my only competition around here! Tell him to take it easy and not to worry about our project. I can handle it on my own till he gets back.”
    ”I will,” promised Trixie, breaking into a run to get to her homeroom on time.
    By the following afternoon, when Trixie and Mart came home from school, Brian was already home from the hospital. His two siblings rushed up to his room without even taking their jackets off.
    ”Brian, how do you feel?” Trixie asked breathlessly. ”Gleeps, you look wonderful!”
    Brian was sitting up in bed, his dark eyes twinkling. ”Personally, I feel ready to climb Mount Everest, although you know Dr. Ferris. He has me eating and sleeping more for a few days before he’ll say I’m back to normal. I sure feel like a different person already, though.”
    ”Naturally,” said Mart. ”You, of all people, would take that ’physician, heal thyself’ stuff pretty seriously.”
    The phone rang, and Mrs. Belden called out that it was for Mart. When he left, Trixie moved closer to Brian’s side and leaned forward with an anxious air.
    ”Physician?” she asked him gently.
    Brian winked back at her.
    ”Oh, Brian, you mean you really want to be a doctor again? I mean—jeepers, that sounds like I’m trying to talk you out of it! What I mean is, it was just the poison that was making you sound like such an idiot,-wasn’t it? No offense, if you know what I mean—”
    ”Relax, sis. Now that I can think straight again, I realize how much I must have worried you.”
    ”If that isn’t just like you!” Trixie exclaimed. ”To be worried about me when you’re the one in trouble!”
    ”Well, I’m not in trouble anymore. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I can see how everything that’s gone wrong lately is a direct result of that poison. My car accident, my crankiness, doing poorly on that test, my selfdoubts, everything. Because my body was giving me so much trouble and I couldn’t figure out why, I was making myself into a nervous wreck. But I believe that, deep down inside, I wasn’t really losing sight of my life’s goal. There were just a few clouds in the way, that’s all.”
    ”Yipes, I’m so relieved,” Trixie sighed. ”Now, we’re just going to have to figure out what it was that poisoned you.”
    Brian frowned. ”I’ve been wracking my brain over that, too. I’m supposed to keep a record of everything I eat, and then go back for some more tests soon. It’s really a puzzle to me, though, how I’m the only one in the family to come down with this.”
    It finally occurred to Trixie to take off her jacket. ”Oh, before I forget,” she said, ”I’m supposed to tell you that Loyola said for you to take things slow. She’ll keep your project moving till you’re well again.”
    ”I’m well now,” said Brian. ”And I plan to keep our appointment to meet at the river on Sunday.”
    Trixie was only half listening. ”You know, there’s something kind of mysterious about Loyola.”
    ”I’d love to meet the person you didn’t think was mysterious!”
    ”Well, I wouldn’t,” Trixie said with a chuckle. ”Who wants to meet boring people? Anyway, she didn’t seem as upset as I thought she’d be when I told her about you. All she was worried about was the project. As if that were more important than you!”
    ”It is very important, Trix. Try to get that through your head. Loyola wants to become a top-notch scientist, and competition in her field is very intense. A project like ours will mean a lot to her future. To mine, too.”
    ”Competition,” Trixie repeated. ”Loyola said something about that, too—that you were her only competition. Well, I think that’s odd! I mean, it’s so—so cold-blooded to think of people in those terms—as competition if they’re well, and burdens if they’re sick.”
    ”Aren’t you getting just a little carried away?” Brian demanded. ”Loyola is going into a field where good grades and good jobs don’t come easy. That doesn’t make her a monster.”
    ”Doesn’t she seem kind of inhuman to