The Mystery of the Antique Doll

Mrs. De Keyser’s house and Crabapple Farm, though,” Trixie said. “I’m afraid she’s in terrible shape. Maybe we’d better wash her dress before we give her back. Mr. Reid will be furious if he sees her looking like this!”
    “Good idea, Trixie,” Honey said. “But let’s hurry. Maybe if we wash the dress right now, it will be ready by tomorrow afternoon.”
    Trixie picked up the doll and quickly undid the snaps at the back of her dress. Slipping the doll’s china arms out of the sleeves, she eased the dress down over the yellowed lace petticoats that were underneath.
    Suddenly there was a loud clatter on the floor, and a muffled yelp of pain.
    “Ouch!” Trixie said, dropping the dress in surprise. “Something heavy just fell on my foot!”
    She bent down to investigate, and came up holding a flat rectangular object. It was made of heavy metal.
    “Where did that come from?” she muttered in irritation. But Honey already had the answer.
    “I know,” she said, holding up the little gown Trixie had dropped. “Take a look. It fell out of this dress, and there’s another one in here, too.”
    Trixie took the dress from Honey. Sure enough, two hidden pockets were sewn in the underside of the satin gown—and still inside one of them was another metal plate.
    “So that’s why the doll was so heavy,” Trixie reasoned. “I wonder what these metal plates are for?”
    As Trixie and Honey began to examine them, Brian happened to walk past.
    “Brian,” Trixie called from Bobby’s room. “Come and take a look at this.”
    She handed Brian one of the mysterious pieces of metal and watched as he held it up close, then turned it over and over in his hands.
    “This looks like an engraving for a twenty-dollar bill,” he said.
    “Oh, sure,” Trixie said sarcastically. But her heart began to pound.
    Honey smiled uneasily, but Brian was still frowning at the plate.
    “What does the other one look like?” he asked.
    Trixie picked up the other plate, and was about to give it to her brother. But instead she carried it over to the bright light of the lamp where she could scrutinize it carefully.
    “I think this one’s a twenty-dollar bill, too—but it looks slightly different. Hand me the other one, will you?”
    Examining the two of them together, she suddenly had a feeling that these plates were far more important than any of them realized. She carried them over to the mirror. Holding both of them up so they were reflected in the mirror, she gasped in horror at the unassailable conclusion.
    “Brian!” she said. “These are counterfeiting plates!”
    “Let me see.”
    “You see what I mean? These are backwards,” she said. “Look in the mirror.”
    Brian and Honey looked at the reflection of the two plates in the mirror.
    “See?” Trixie repeated. “A printing plate is the reverse of the image which ends up on the paper. This one is the front of a twenty-dollar bill, and this is the back. That could mean only one thing.”
    “What?” asked Mart as he came into the room. “Is the schoolgirl shamus about to make a stupendous pronouncement? If that’s the case, I wouldn’t want to miss this one for the world!” Plunking himself down in a chair, he leaned forward eagerly. “Well?” Trixie was so engrossed in her thoughts she didn’t pay any attention to his teasing.
    “That’s right,” she said. “Only one thing —Carl Reid is a counterfeiter! He’s going to use these plates to make phony twenty-dollar bills!”
    There was a leaden silence in the room. Finally Brian spoke.
    “Trixie,” he said quietly, “I think you’re right. But this time I’m afraid you’ve really bitten off more than you can chew.”
    “I know,” Trixie said. “What do we do next?”
    “I don’t understand,” Honey said. “Why has she bitten off more than she can chew?”
    “Simple,” answered Trixie. “You see, Carl Reid wants his doll back because of these plates. It’s not a valuable doll, at least not to him. It’s what’s in the dress that’s valuable to him—these plates. If we return the doll without the plates, he’ll know we’ve discovered his secret.”
    “And if you return the doll with the plates,” Mart said, “he might be able to tell that you’ve tampered with it, found the plates, and then he might want to—”
    “Don’t say it!” Honey said loudly.
    “Just a minute,” Brian said. “We have to think this thing through carefully. The possibility always exists