The Mystery at Maypenny's

environmentalist. She wasn’t sure she liked what she saw. He was tall—so tall that the top of his head almost brushed the doorframe as he walked into the room. But he was much too thin. His patched and faded blue jeans seemed to hang from his body, and his chest looked sunken under his blue work shirt. His hair was dark blond and straight. It hung below his ears and was kept off his face by a band around his forehead. The hiking boots he wore were scuffed and mud-caked. He looked tired and underfed and dirty.
    “Would you like some stew?” Mr. Maypenny asked, as if he, too, had been struck by how thin the young man was.
    “Yes, thank you,” Score said.
    “I’ll get it.” It was the first time Dan had spoken since they’d begun to eat. He got up quickly and went outside, as if he were eager for an excuse to get away.
    “Well, now,” Mr. Maypenny said, “I guess we should introduce you around. These young folks over here are the Beldens—Trixie, Brian, and Mart.”
    “We live at Crabapple Farm, right near here,” Trixie volunteered. “You stopped by last week and talked to our mother.”
    “And this is Honey Wheeler and her brother, Jim,” Mr. Maypenny said.
    “Wheeler?” John Score repeated, sounding startled.
    “That’s right,” Jim said quietly. “Matthew Wheeler is our father.”
    Mr. Maypenny laughed at John Score’s confused look. “Matt Wheeler is a mite pigheaded sometimes, but he has two fine young children. I’m proud to call them my friends.”
    “There seems to be something going on here that I’m not quite following,” David Maypenny said, puzzled.
    Mr. Maypenny turned to his nephew. “That’s right. I suppose you would be getting a little lost. You remember that International Pine company I told you about—the one that wanted to buy part of my land here?” Mr. Maypenny waited until his nephew nodded. “Well, this young man belongs to a group that’s trying to stop them from expanding. And more power to him, I say.“
    “Thank you,” John Score said, as much to Mr. Maypenny as to Dan, who had just handed him a bowl of stew. “I’m glad you support what we’re doing. One of the reasons I came to see you tonight is to tell you that we support you, too. We’re willing to give you any sort of help you need.”
    “What kind of help might that be?” Mr. Maypenny asked.
    John Score shrugged. “Sometimes these big companies can get pretty tough when there’s a piece of land they want but can’t get their hands on. If you need a lawyer, we’ll help you pay for one. If you want to start looking at some ways to protect your land for future generations, we can help with that, too.”
    “You mean there’s a way to see to it that International Pine can’t get my land, even after I’m gone?” Mr. Maypenny asked.
    “There might be,” John Score said. “We’d have to check into it, as I said. But under certain conditions, you can leave your land to the state with the understanding that it be kept as a game refuge or nature center or whatever. That will protect it.”
    “That sounds very interesting, Mr. Score,” David Maypenny said. “Are you a lawyer?”
    “No, I’m not. I’ve just picked up a little information about the law here and there,” Score said.
    “It seems to me that somebody once said, ‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.’ ” David Maypenny’s voice was mild, but John Score reacted as though he’d been slapped.
    “The dangerous thing is letting our environment be destroyed by large companies,” Score retorted.
    David Maypenny held his hands up in front of him in a peacemaking gesture. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t support International Pine. I do care about my uncle. I don’t want his land taken away—by big business or the state.”
    “What have you been doing since you came to Sleepyside, Mr. Score?” tactful Honey interjected quickly.
    John Score put down his bowl of stew, which Trixie noticed he’d scarcely touched, before he replied. “Mostly I’ve been talking to the people in the community, trying to decide if there’s enough grass roots support to stop the expansion through the force of public opinion. I’ve also been discussing the issue with one or two members of the town council, to try to find out what our legal recourse is.”
    “Oh,” Honey said. She looked at Trixie, wide-eyed.
    “I didn’t understand him, either,” Trixie said helplessly.
    “Let me translate,” Brian said, laughing. “If he