The Mystery of the Antique Doll

boys.
    “We just wanted to give Bobby a special Bob-White send-off, and tell him that he has to try and be very, very good at Dr. Ferris’s office,” Brian said cheerfully. He reached in the window and tousled Bobby’s hair.
    “Now remember, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Jim said. “Dr. Ferris is the one who keeps us well, and helps us get better if we get sick.”
    “That’s right,” Di chimed in. Diana Lynch, who preferred to be called Di, was known as the prettiest girl in school. She had shiny black hair, and her violet eyes were fringed with long, black lashes. When her family had been poor, they’d lived in a small apartment on Main Street. However, after her father became rich, they moved to a big estate on Glen Road. The Lynch estate was not far from the Manor House where the Wheelers lived or from the Belden family’s home, Crabapple Farm.
    The young people were all members of a club called the Bob-Whites of the Glen, or B.W.G.’s for short. They formed the semisecret club both to have fun and to help others. There were seven members altogether: Trixie, Mart, and Brian Belden; Honey Wheeler and her adopted brother, Jim Frayne; Di Lynch; and Dan Mangan. Dan was the only Bob-White who didn’t go to Sleepyside Junior-Senior High School. The nephew of Bill Regan, the Wheelers’ groom, Dan had come to live in Sleepyside and work with Mr. Maypenny, the Wheelers’ gamekeeper.
    All the Bob-Whites had agreed that other people could know about their club, but not about the good deeds they did. The one absolute rule of the club was that the dues they paid had to be earned through their own work. It wasn’t always easy, but they managed.
    “If you children don’t let me pull away from this curb,” Mrs. Belden said, “there won’t be any reason to give Bobby a send-off. At this rate we’ll be late and, what’s more, you’ll miss your school bus and have to walk home. Now get along with you.”
    She waved her hand at them as if she were shooing chickens, and then drove the car out onto the road heading south to the doctor’s office. In a few minutes, they arrived, pulled into a parking space, and piled out of the car. Bobby hung back, but before he could say a word, Honey scooped him up into her arms and kissed him on the side of his neck. He giggled and squirmed as Honey carried him up the steps.
    “Kissing tickles!” he shrieked as they stepped into the waiting room.
    “Good,” Honey said. “At least you’re laughing, right?”
    Dr. Ferris poked his head out of the examination room when he heard the door-chime.
    “You’d make a good doctor, Miss Wheeler,” he said as he watched Honey play with Bobby Belden. “You know how to keep the patients laughing, and that’s almost as important as the rest of the work doctors do!”
    “Oh, Doctor Ferris,” Honey said. “That’s kind of you to say, but I truly doubt it.”
    “Master Bobby Belden,” Dr. Ferris said loudly, “could that be you? Step right this way. Why, you seem to have grown the unbelievable amount of three feet in six months! We’d better measure you. It could be that I’m looking at the fastest-growing boy in the United States!”
    Bobby reluctantly slid off his chair, and, holding Honey’s hand tightly, he followed his mother and big sister into the examination room.
    Bobby was a very “brave boy” while the doctor examined him. When the checkup was over, Bobby heaved a gigantic sigh of relief and announced that he didn’t need to hold Honey’s hand anymore.
    Only then did Dr. Ferris turn his attention away from his little patient, and address the two girls.
    “You know, girls,” he said, looking at them over the tops of his bifocals, “I have a patient who needs a little help and I was hoping you two could lend a hand.”
    He glanced briefly at Mrs. Belden and then continued.
    “Mrs. De Keyser, who lives about a mile away from you on Glen Road, slipped and broke her arm the other day. For the next couple of weeks she’s going to have a hard time doing some chores. She doesn’t need to hire a private nurse—her condition isn’t that bad—but she needs a little light work done for her. Do you think you two could handle it?”
    “Of course,” Trixie burst out. “It wouldn’t be any problem at all!”
    “Think before you make any promises,” Mrs. Belden said, eyeing her enthusiastic daughter. “Remember, you’re supposed to be studying for the Eastern Regional Spelling Contest, and you have