The Mystery at Maypenny's

hurried an’ hurried to get ready for school this morning ’cause Trixie said she’d read me a story before I went to bed tonight, if I hurried. She promised!”
    Trixie groaned while Mart chuckled and Brian shook his head sympathetically. “It sounds as if you ‘forgotted’ something in the excitement over at Mr. Maypenny’s,” Brian said.
    Trixie nodded, wrinkling her freckled nose. “But Bobby remembered, as usual. There’s no escaping it, I guess.”
    Just then Bobby spotted Trixie. His wails stopped immediately, and he ran to her. “Come on, Trixie. Come and read me a story,” he demanded.
    “All right,” Trixie said. “You go crawl into bed while I drop off my books in my room. I’ll be right there.”
    By the time she was halfway through the story, the little boy’s eyelids were drooping. When she finished and closed the book, he was sound asleep. She stood up and tiptoed out of his room, pausing to look back at his peacefully sleeping figure as she turned out the light.
    Walking down the hallway to her own room, she muttered, “I wish someone would read me ten pages of history while Fm drifting off to sleep.” In her room, she picked up the book and flopped down on the bed. She discovered when she started reading that the chapter she had been assigned was about the Battle of Saratoga, the turning point in the Revolutionary War. She read on with a growing feeling of excitement.
    Saratoga was more than just a history lesson to Trixie. She and Honey had visited the town together when Regan had disappeared from the Wheeler estate. They had tracked the groom to Saratoga and persuaded him to come back to Sleepyside. They had also solved a crime committed years before and prevented another one in the process.
    During the trip, Trixie had been impressed by Honey’s knowledge of the history of Saratoga. Now she found that what Honey had told her then was true, and being able to picture in her mind the areas that were being described in the book made the reading easier. The dates and facts all fell into place in one reading, and the story of the battle was actually exciting.
    When Trixie finished the chapter and closed the book, she felt as if only a few minutes had passed. She was startled to discover that the time, according to her alarm clock, was eight thirty. Almost an hour had gone by!
    She was startled, too, to hear voices drifting up from downstairs. The Beldens were an early-rising family. Usually by this time the house was quiet, with Bobby asleep for the night and the three older children in their rooms doing homework or getting ready for bed.
    Trixie stood up, stretched, and walked out of her room and down the stairs.
    “So you see,” her father was saying as she reached the living room, “Matt Wheeler does have his reasons.”
    “Reasons for what?” Trixie demanded.
    “For selling land to International Pine,” Brian told her. His voice was soft, but the expression on his face was grim. “We were just telling Dad about our visit with Mr. Maypenny.”
    “And I was telling your brothers why Matt Wheeler is considering selling some land for the factory expansion,” Mr. Belden added.
    “Then there is an explanation, after all, just as Jim said there was!” Trixie exclaimed. She perched on the edge of the couch where her father was sitting. “What’s going on?” she asked excitedly.
    Peter Belden smiled at his daughter. “There’s nothing mysterious about it, if that’s what you’re hoping,” he warned. “There are some details I can’t reveal, however.” Mr. Belden worked at the bank in Sleepyside. His job gave him access to a lot of confidential information, which he was very careful never to talk about at home. “I can give you just the basic details, which I have already told your brothers. When International Pine first announced that they had bought that swampland along the river and intended to drain the swamp and build a furniture factory, some people in this area were upset.”
    “I was one of those people,” Brian said. “That swamp had lots of wild plants and herbs that can’t be found anywhere else around here.” Brian intended to become a doctor, and he had been interested in the plants that the early settlers in the area had used to cure diseases in the days before doctors and drugstores.
    Peter Belden nodded. “Exactly,” he said. “I was not one of the people who opposed International Pine. The fact is that there’s a desperate need for jobs in