The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

previously torn from the bill in the envelope. See?”
    “Oh, that was sneaky!” Trixie said admiringly.
    “Of course. All magic is sneaky,” Ned agreed. “But it’s mystifying. I bought some of the same junk Mart did, and I’m going to be ‘Neddo the Necromancer’ when I get back to Rivervale.”
    “Isn’t that about enough magic?” Mart said and dropped into an easy chair. “Entertain me, slaves!” he commanded Bob and Barbara. “Guitar music! Song!” Bob and Barbara jumped to their feet, salaamed in front of Mart, then sat side by side on chairs in the middle of the room. They strummed their guitars to see if they were in tune, then sang sweetly:

“Out on the prairie, stars in the sky,
Soft wind a-cryin’, askin’ me why,
Why I’m so lonely, why, oh, my, why?
Why, said the wind to me, why do you sigh?
Far from my sweetheart, lone, all alone,
Wind asked me why,
and the wind should have known.”

    Bob and Barbara increased the tempo of their accompaniment.

“A man’s only half a man
Withou this love,
Without his love, without his love
Held close to his heart.
A man’s only half a man,
And the littlest part.”

    “It’s lovely!” Miss Trask said when the twins had finished. She clapped louder than any of the others.
    “I never heard that melody before, or the words.”
    “We made it up,” Barbara said shyly. “Bob did most of it.”
    “Sing another!” they all shouted. “Please!”
    Bob and Barbara changed places. She pulled her chair a little back of Bob’s. Then they sang a song that jingled:

“Andy went to town to buy a gift to send his lady.
Couldn’t find a thing to please, no matter what he paid.
He walked up one street, down another,
Looked in windows, said he druther
Go back home and make a present for his sweet.

“Oh, Andy took the sunshine, mixed it with the blue
Sky that spread above him, added white clouds, too. ■_,
Andy took the perfume from sage and mountain pine,
From alkali tossed into dust his pony’s feet sent flyin’.
He boxed it and addressed it—Back Bay, Boston, Mass.

“Then waited, sure for certain
his gift would bring his lass.
Sure enough!
The day that she received it,
Andy’s lady fair
Took a plane to Phoenix,
Wired him to meet her there.
So...
It isn’t the cost of a present, you see,
That matters to ladies; it’s just the idee.”

    Before the Bob-Whites had a chance to applaud the song, they realized that someone had been knocking hard at the door.
    Miss Trask went to open it.
    A man stood there. “I’d like to speak to the Westons,” he said. “My name is Meredith. I live just down the hall.”
    “There are no Westons here,” Miss Trask said. “I’m afraid you must have gotten the wrong apartment number.”
    Mr. Meredith looked puzzled. “The Westons aren’t here? I was sure I heard them playing. I’m with Celebrity Broadcasting, and the Westons, brother and sister, sing on one of my evening shows.”
    Miss Trask smiled. “Bob and Barbara Hubbell have been playing and singing. They’re visiting here from Iowa.” She gestured toward the twins seated in the living room.
    Mr. Meredith looked embarrassed. “Oh, I have made a mistake. I could have sworn—Well, those two sound enough like the Westons to be the Westons. Have you ever been on television?” he asked the Hubbell twins.
    “Only locally—in Des Moines,” Bob answered.
    “Are you going to live in New York now?”
    “No, sir, we’re just visiting for a few days.”
    “Too bad. I could use you.” He turned to Miss Trask. “Are you their mother?”
    Miss Trask smiled. “No, but I surely wish I were. Why?”
    “I’d like to have them appear on our amateur program the day after tomorrow,” Mr. Meredith said. “It might turn out to be well worth your while, Barbara and Bob. Do you want to try?”
    The Bob-Whites stared at him in astonishment and delight.
    “We’d love it; wouldn’t we, Bob?” Barbara answered finally. “If you think we’re good enough.”
    “I do think so,” Mr. Meredith answered. “See you at the studio?”
    The twins nodded vigorously.
    Mr. Meredith wrote something on a card and stepped inside the room to hand it to Bob. This is your card of introduction. I’ll run along now. I m sorry I'barged in. Forgive me. I really could have sworn....” He backed out of the door.
    “Jeepers!” Mart said. “A national hookup! You’ll knock ’em dead!”
    “Thanks for thinking so,” Barbara said. “Heavens, Bob, just imagine!”

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