The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

spending all this time in the city,” Dan said. “From what you tell me, Bob’s a fine pitcher, and we have some good games coming up in our league.”
    “Maybe he can do that later,” Trixie said. “They’re so excited, all three of them, at the prospect of seeing New York. I never get over being thrilled with it myself.”
    “I love New York!” Diana exclaimed. “I love to walk down Fifth Avenue and stop in all the fabulous stores. They have the latest fashions.”
    “I wonder if Bob and Ned are coming this far just to see clothes,” Mart said dryly. “I doubt it.”
    “It’s part of the glamour, and Barbara will like it,” Honey said. “There are thousands of other things to see and do.”
    “They won’t be able to see much in a few days.”
    “Maybe not, Mart. Do you remember, though, what Dad said to those men who were in Sleepyside for his bankers’ convention? He told them if they stayed a week in New York, they’d see everything; if they stayed a month, they’d see some things they wanted to see; but if they intended to live in the city, they’d never see anything. ”
    “I doubt if a person could see all he wanted to see in New York in a lifetime,” Honey said. “Things change so. What are you looking at, Trixie?”
    “That woman sitting on the bench near the door. I noticed her when we came in. I think she’s in some kind of trouble.”
    “Oh, no!” Mart wailed. “Not again! Trixie, if you get us into one of your mystery messes and spoil our New York fun...”
    “I think she’s terribly upset,” Trixie went on, paying no attention to her brother.
    “Darned if she isn’t,” Jim said. “Trixie, do you think you might be able to help her?”
    Trixie was halfway across the room, with Honey and Diana not far behind her. They stood aside and waited, however, while Trixie sat down next to the foreign-looking woman and took her hand. “Is something wrong?” she asked. “Can I help you?”
    The gray-haired woman wearing a black dress took a big handkerchief from a crumpled red cotton bag and mopped her face. “I lost!” she wailed. “I miss plane I supposed to take. To Mexico City. Oh, miss, what I do? No friends. No money. In Mexico City my daughter wait, and maybe I no come. What I do? Everyone look at me. No one help.” The woman’s shoulders shook, and she raised her face pitifully to Trixie.
    “Maybe there is something I can do. Tell me about it,” Trixie said.
    “I visit my cousin in this big city. I tell fortunes. I not a crook. Police say I crook and have to get out. I not know how to tell them they wrong. My cousin run away from me. She afraid of police. I afraid, too. I buy ticket to my home in Mexico City, spend all my money, come here to wait for airplane. It never come. I ask at window. They tell me go someplace else. I not understand. Where is right place? I wait so long; now I miss plane.”
    “Let me take your ticket. I’ll find out,” Trixie said. She went to the information booth inside the entrance and found that there was still time for the woman to make the flight and that she should be in the Aeronaves de Mexico terminal, near the Van Wyck Expressway, instead of in the TWA flight center.
    “My friends and I will take you right to the gate where you should be. You haven’t missed your plane. Come with us.”
    Trixie motioned to the other Bob-Whites to join her. When they did so, the woman looked about, frightened. “So many people?” she asked.
    “They are my friends. We are all your friends.”
    “I no like too many people. I no like all these boys. I like you. I trust you. I stay here till they go away.”
    “Then I’ll go with you alone,” Trixie told her. “We’ll get the shuttle bus.” She took the woman’s bundle and helped her to her feet. “I’ll be back in plenty of time to meet the Chicago plane,” she told the Bob-Whites.
    Jim held up his thumb and index finger in a circle to tell her “Okay!”
    It was not long till the bus came, and Trixie deposited her companion near the proper flight gate in the Aeronaves building. “I’m going to stay with you till loading time, but first I’ll check again with the information booth in this building, too, just to make certain everything is all right. Stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll get a cool drink for you, too.” Trixie stood in line impatiently until her turn came at the window. When she had verified her information, she brought an iced drink at a