The Indian Burial Ground Mystery

good-bye, “that would be nice.”
    She skipped down the veranda steps thinking what a wonderful summer it
was going to be. An archaeological dig! Wait till I tell Mart! she
thought happily. Then a slight frown flickered across her face as she thought
about Charles Miller. He certainly seemed unpleasant, but Trixie didn’t care.
She wasn’t going to let a grouch like him interfere with an exciting summer
like this one!



2 * A Change of Plans
     
    “Moms! ” Trixie wailed as she threw herself full-length on
the comfortably worn sofa in the Belden living room. “I can’t believe you won’t
let me work on the dig with Professor Conroy. I just can’t believe it.”
    “I never said you couldn’t, Miss Smarty-Pants,” Mrs. Belden said with a
wry smile as she watched her daughter’s theatrical misery. Helen Belden had
heard nothing but “dig, dig, dig” for the last four days. Even Bobby Belden had
been forced to listen to Trixie’s tales about how “wonderful” the dig was going
to be. “I only said that you can’t let them down at the hospital. You know they
depend on their volunteers each year. I would be most distressed if a daughter
of mine went back on her word.”
    “But, Mother,” Trixie moaned, “I can’t miss the dig. Brian and Mart will
be there, since they’ll be working only mornings at the Historical Society. And
Honey’s parents said she could join in, too.”
    “Well, perhaps you can work something out, Beatrix,” Mrs. Belden
answered. “But until you’ve spoken to Mrs. Beales at
the hospital, I don’t think you should make any plans.”
    Despite the fact that her mother had called her Beatrix—her real name,
which she hated —Trixie brightened at the thought that it might be possible to
arrange something. She’d do anything to work on the dig with Professor Conroy!
Springing into action, she flung herself off the couch and ran for the
telephone to call Mrs. Beales . Mart, who was lounging
in an armchair and lazily scratching the top of Reddy’s head, watched her
scramble out of the room. The Irish setter’s tongue lolled out happily with
pleasure.
    Honey was sitting quietly in the window seat. “I hope she can work it
out,” she said with a shake of her head. “If Trixie can’t work on the dig, I
won’t either.”
    “Brian and I can’t help it if we arrange our lives properly,” Mart called
after Trixie. “We just have a knack for living well, I guess.”
    A faint Bronx cheer came from the hall, followed by the sound of the
phone being dialed.
    “She’ll work it out,” Brian said quietly. “All Beldens have a knack for living well.”
    “Perhaps,” Mart sniffed loftily, “but some of us have a more developed
sense of—”
    “The ridiculous,” Honey finished. “Trust Trixie to fix this one. Mrs. Beales always liked her best of all the candy stripers. By
the way, Jim isn’t changing his plans. He’s still going to work at camp this
summer. He says he wants the experience.”
    “But he has higher goals than we do,” Mart said seriously. “After all,
if he’s going to start a home for orphaned boys after he gets out of college,
he’s going to need all the practice he can get.”
    Jim Frayne was Honey’s adopted brother. The orphaned nephew of James
Winthrop Frayne, he had been adopted by the Wheelers after Trixie and Honey had
helped solve the mystery of his inheritance. That was the summer that Honey had
moved to Sleepyside.
    When Honey first came to Sleepyside she had been painfully shy and
frail. But after being friends with Trixie for a summer, she was healthy and
outgoing. Honey had convinced her parents to let her go to public school with
all her new friends. The Wheelers were so pleased with the change in their
daughter, they’d happily agreed.
    Trixie, Jim, Honey, Mart, and Brian had formed a semisecret club—the
Bob-Whites of the Glen. Jim had taught the Bob-Whites a special secret whistle.
It was the bobwhite birdcall, and it had inspired their club’s name. The club
was devoted to helping others and to having fun. Diana Lynch and Dan Mangan were also members.
    Di Lynch came from a wealthy family who lived in a mansion not far from
Crabapple Farm. She was known as the prettiest girl in school, with her long,
black hair and large violet eyes. Like Honey, Di had been very lonely until she
was befriended by Trixie and the Bob-Whites.
    Dan Mangan , the newest Bob-White, was the
nephew of Bill Regan, the Wheelers’ groom. He worked as an