The Mystery at Maypenny's

know that nothing has changed since I’ve been gone. Yoxrre as mystery crazy as ever.”
    Trixie started to giggle, too. “I guess I am, Di,” she admitted.
    “Anyway,” Di said, drawing the conversation to a close, “I’m glad you got me all caught up. I have to go study some more. My mother is driving me in to school early tomorrow so I can meet with a couple of my teachers. I’ll see you at lunch, though. Okay?”
    “Okay,” Trixie agreed. “Welcome back, Di.” As she hung up the phone, she thought about what Di had said. “There has been a lot going on,” she said aloud. “I just hadn’t realized it because none of it has involved solving any mysteries, except the mystery of why people act the way they do. That one I never can figure out.”

    The next morning, as she got ready for school, Trixie remembered what Di had said about going to visit her parents’ friends in Minnesota. “That will be something interesting to talk about on the bus this morning,” she said into the mirror as she combed her sandy curls.
    But when the Bob-Whites were settled on the bus, it was again Dan who had news to report. “David Maypenny left last night,” he said.
    There was a shocked silence, followed by a barrage of questions. When had he left? Why? Had he been called back to New York?
    Dan shook his head to answer the last question and held up his hand to silence the others so he could explain. “Mr. Maypenny ordered him to leave,” Dan said. He plunged ahead before the second shocked silence could give way to still more questions.
    “After dinner, David started telling Mr. Maypenny that he was worried about him living alone in the woods. He said he didn’t think it was safe' for Mr. Maypenny to be living ‘such a primitive existence’ at his age.
    “At first, Mr. Maypenny tried to talk to him about it. He reminded his nephew that he doesn’t live alone; I’m there with him. He also said that the cabin probably seems more primitive than it is because David is used to city life.”
    “Didn’t David accept that?” Brian asked.
    Dan shook his head. “He certainly didn’t. He kept right on. He said that I couldn’t be expected to keep living there forever, because I’d probably want to go on to school or get a ‘real job’ when I finished high school. He said the cabin would be considered primitive by anybody’s standards.” Dan paused and took a deep breath. “Then he said that he thought Mr. Maypenny should sell the land and move to town immediately. Or, barring that, he should give David power of attorney so that if anything happened to Mr. Maypenny, David would be able to act to see that he was taken care of.”
    Brian whistled softly, Jim frowned, and Mart put his hands over his head as if he expected the roof of the school bus to cave in any minute.
    Trixie and Honey just looked at the boys in confusion. “What’s power of attorney?” Trixie asked.
    “It’s a legal agreement,” Jim said. “If Mr. Maypenny gave David power of attorney, then David would be able to write checks for him, sign contracts, things like that. What David meant was that if Mr. Maypenny suddenly became ill or something, David, with power of attorney, would be able to get at Mr. Maypenny’s money in order to make sure he was taken care of.”
    Now it was Trixie’s turn to whistle. “I don t think Mr. Maypenny would like that idea,” she said.
    “He didn’t,” Dan said. “He said he could take care of himself without help from anybody. David still didn’t give up. He tried to keep talking. Then Mr. Maypenny really blew his stack. He ordered David to get his things together and leave—immediately.”
    “And David left,” Jim concluded.
    Dan chuckled. “When Mr. Maypenny got angry, I think David finally saw that this was no feeble old man. David actually looked a little frightened. He packed up his stuff and left on the double.”
    The bus pulled up in front of the school just as Dan finished speaking, so there was no time for further questions as the Bob-Whites piled out and hurried to their first classes.
    Throughout the morning, Trixie thought about Mr. Maypenny and how upset and disappointed he must be. He had been so excited about meeting his only nephew, and now the nephew was gone again.
    At lunch, she suggested that they ride to Mr. Maypenny’s that afternoon and see if there was anything they could do to cheer him up.
    The boys all had chores to do, and Di had more teachers to meet with.