The Mystery at Saratoga

explained in a wistful voice.
    “So we’d like to find some place nearby where we can rent horses for a few hours and go riding,” Trixie concluded, hoping that she had made her tone sound casual enough to keep the Wheelers from suspecting that she and Honey were keeping something secret from them.
    “I don’t understand,” Mr. Wheeler said, frowning. “In just a few days, you’ll be back at Sleepyside, with all the Manor House horses waiting for you, impatient to be exercised— especially now, with Regan gone. I don’t know why you’d want to rent second-rate riding-academy horses and miss an entire afternoon of seeing the unique things that Saratoga has to offer.”
    Trixie felt her heart skip a beat, but she forced herself to keep her feelings of dismay from registering on her face. Oh, please, Mr. Wheeler, she thought, don't tell us that we have to come to the track with you. Please, please!
    “Now, Matthew,” Mrs. Wheeler said, putting her hand on her husband’s arm, “this is the girls’ vacation, and they should spend it as they like. Besides, I think that going out and getting some fresh air and exercise—even on what you call ‘second-rate horses’—will be better for them than spending another day at a racetrack.”
    Mr. Wheeler looked from his wife’s face to those of Honey and Trixie, which clearly reflected, in spite of their efforts to control their feelings, their eagerness to be on their own for the day. “I suppose you’re right,” he said finally. “When we’ve finished eating, you can ask the desk clerk for the names of some local riding stables.”
    Trixie hadn’t realized that she’d been holding her breath while she waited for Mr. Wheeler’s decision. Now she let it out slowly while Honey said, “Thank you, Daddy! I can hardly wait! It’s just a perfectly perfect day for riding.”
    “Thank you, Mr. Wheeler,” Trixie echoed. “I hope you’ll help us see the rest of the sights of Saratoga before we leave. It isn’t that we aren’t interested—really. It’s just that all of yesterday’s excitement has made us need to work off some steam.”
    Mr. Wheeler’s face relaxed in a smile. “I guess I can understand, Trixie. It’s just hard, sometimes, for grown-ups to remember the boundless energies of our youth. Have a good time.”

    The desk clerk gave the girls the names of four riding stables near town, and they quickly changed into their riding clothes, hailed a taxi, and gave the driver the address of the first place on their list. As they pulled away from the hotel, Trixie said, “I hope we get lucky before the fourth stable, or I’ll wind up spending every cent I brought along for cab fare, instead of for souvenirs.”
    Honey nodded. “It could get expensive if we have to go to all four stables. But even if we do spend all our money, can you think of anything that the people in Sleepyside would rather have us bring back than Regan?”
    Trixie squeezed her friend’s hand. “That’s a wonderful thought, Honey. And it’s stupid of me to be worried about money at a time like this, when we’re right on the verge of finding Regan.”
    Nevertheless, when Trixie checked the dwindling contents of her billfold an hour and a half later, she admitted to herself both that she was worried about running out of money and that they seemed no closer to finding Regan than ever.
    The girls had visited the first two stables on their list, once again relying on the plan they’d formulated the night before. They knew that they couldn’t just walk into the stables and ask for Regan by name, since he was almost sure to be working under an alias. So they had decided they would simply say that they wanted to rent horses and would ask to look over the stock to select the ones they wanted. That would give them time to look around and ask subtle questions about the employees. It was risky, they knew, because they could miss Regan if it was his day off or if he was running errands away from the stables, and because they risked arousing the curiosity of his employers with a badly worded question. But they had decided it was all they could do.
    Now, in the taxi on the way to the third place on their list, Trixie had to wonder if their plan had been as well thought-out as it had seemed. They had caught no glimpse of the redheaded groom, and their questions regarding the size of the staff at each of the two stables had brought no information that they could use.
    “The worst