The Mystery at Maypenny's

night. They didn’t get home until late, so Jim didn’t get a chance to talk to them. This morning at breakfast, Jim brought the subject up. He said Mr. Maypenny had told us that International Pine wanted to expand and that Daddy was willing to go along with it. He said he wanted to know why.
    “Daddy got upset right away. He called Mr. Maypenny an old fool who couldn’t see past his nose. That made Jim angry, and he said he thought it was pretty shortsighted to destroy a natural wilderness that could be enjoyed by generations to come.”
    Trixie cringed. “Gleeps, Honey. Jim wasn’t holding anything back,” she said. “I bet it didn’t make your father any less angry.”
    Honey shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears once again. “Daddy got just furious when Jim said that. He said that Jim needed to be shown a thing or two.”
    “Shown what?” Brian asked.
    Honey shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. After Daddy said that, he turned to me and said, ‘You’d better get to the bus stop. Jim won’t be going to school with you this morning.’ He looked so angry, I didn’t dare ask any questions. I—I just left.”
    Trixie looked from Mart to Brian, seeking an explanation for what had happened. They said nothing. They looked as bewildered as she felt.
    Surely Mr. Wheeler isn’t planning to send Jim away just because Jim talked back to him , she thought, a panicky feeling pushing at her chest. When Trixie and Honey had first met Jim, he was a homeless runaway hiding from his cruel stepfather. It had taken the girls a long time to get him to trust them, and even longer to convince him that there were some grown-ups he could trust, too. The result of that trust had been a real home with the Wheelers, and his first close friendships with the other Bob-Whites. If this disagreement with his adoptive father destroyed that trust, it could destroy the home and the friendships as well.
    Trixie felt tears springing into her own eyes as she imagined Jim running away again. Although she denied it to the others, and even to herself, Jim was more than a friend to Trixie. He was someone very, very special.
    Brian cleared his throat. “Let’s not get ourselves worked up over this thing until we find out what’s really going on,” he said. “Jim and Mr. Wheeler are both strong-willed and hot-tempered, but they’re also devoted to each other. I don’t think anything will stand between them for very long.”
    “Oh, Brian, you’re right, of course,” Trixie said gratefully. “We’re silly to be so upset.” She turned to her best friend. “Honey, you and I think it’s horrible that Jim and your father exchanged a few words, because we’re scared of yelling at someone—or of being yelled at. They aren’t like we are. They’ll get everything talked out, and they’ll wind up respecting one another even more because of it.”
    “I agree with what Trixie says,” Dan added.
    Dan had been so quiet that the others were startled now when he finally spoke up. “Sometimes being told off hurts a lot less than not being told at all.”
    Honey, always alert to other people’s feelings, caught the bitter edge in Dan’s voice. “You’re talking about yourself, aren’t you, Dan?” she asked softly.
    Dan nodded reluctantly. “You’re right, I guess. I am talking about myself—and Mr. May-penny. We live under the same roof and see each other every day, but he never told me about his nephew or about that visit from Mr. Wheeler that got him so upset. It hurts me that he didn’t want to tell me about it.”
    “I’m sure he was only trying to keep you from worrying, Dan,” Honey said.
    “But that preserve is my home, too,” Dan protested. “If someone is doing something to threaten it, I have a right to know about it.”
    “He turned Daddy down flat, after all,” Honey pointed out. “In his mind, he probably felt there was nothing left to say.”
    “Besides,” Brian added, “Mr. Maypenny lived alone for a long time before you came. He’s not used to having anyone to share his problems with. If he said nothing about Mr. Wheeler’s visit, I’m sure it was because of habit, not because of any lack of feeling for you.”
    Dan’s only response was a shrug, a sign that he understood the logic of his friends’ arguments but didn’t feel entirely comforted by them.
    Just then the bus pulled up in front of the school, and the Bob-Whites clambered off and walked into Sleepyside Junior-Senior High