The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

refreshment counter and hurried back.
    The Mexican woman was scribbling busily on a pad of paper. As Trixie approached, she tore off a sheet and thrust it into her pocket. She accepted the refreshing drink. “You a good girl,” she told Trixie. “You got a good heart. You take good care of me. I not forget. Good things happen to good girls. I tell fortunes. I know.”
    “Thank you,” Trixie said, embarrassed. “Lots of nice things have already happened to me. My parents wouldn’t agree with you that I’m always good, though. I’ve never known any fortune-tellers, but thanks for saying something good will happen to me. I believe your plane is ready now. Don’t worry anymore. You’ll see your daughter real soon.”
    The woman reached into her red cotton bag and put something quickly into Trixie’s hand. “I give you pretty purse for pretty girl. Use right away. Don’t wait!” She looked earnestly into Trixie’s eyes. “It is more than purse. It is great fortune. Cuidadito! Vaya usted con Dios!”
    “Why, thank you! It’s beautiful! Good-bye!”
    Trixie tucked the gay straw purse under her arm and hurried to the bus that would take her back to her friends.
    At the TWA building, she found Mart striding back and forth impatiently. The Bob-Whites were obviously relieved when they saw her. “We’d have had to go down to meet them without you in another minute!” Mart said. “After the way you worried for fear we wouldn’t be here in time to welcome them!”
    “Take it easy, Mart. We’re shaving it close, but we’re in time.” Brian, the oldest Belden, was the acknowledged arbiter. “There they are now! Just coming through that door! Hi!”
    A tall, dark boy with curly hair (Ned Schulz), a pretty, black-haired girl (Barbara Hubbell), and a boy who looked amazingly like her (her twin, Bob) came down the corridor, smiling and waving. The girls hugged Barbara, and the boys all shook hands. “We hated it when the plane was late—hated to miss even one hour in New York!” Barbara was breathless. “I guess we collect our baggage upstairs, don’t we?”
    “Yes, and we’ll get the bus there,” Trixie said.
    “Gosh, it’s great to have you here!” Jim said heartily.
    Bob grinned. “Barbara’s had her bag packed for a week!”
    Ned followed quickly after Brian and Mart. “Boy, look at the crowd! It makes me dizzy. But I like it! I adapt quickly. Say, Trixie, the gang at Rivervale High is still talking about those long shots you made on the basketball court.”
    “I’ve never been able to do it since,” Trixie admitted. “I guess I’m just a ham. I work better with applause. Here is where we get your luggage.”
    They stood around a huge turntable, watched their baggage pop up, claimed it, and went out laughing. They crowded into seats in back of the smiling bus driver.
    All the way into the city, they chattered happily. The driver put his hand over his ear in mock protest, but they laughed him down. “I have a couple just like you at home,” he said. “Here we are at East Side Terminal. Everybody out!”
    Two cabs took them from the terminal to the apartment house on Central Park West. The elevator whisked them to the penthouse, where Miss Trask, tall, gray-haired, smiling, opened the door to welcome them. Then they separated. The boys went across the hall to the other apartment and the girls to the pretty bedrooms in the Wheeler apartment.
    Later, when they had freshened up, they met in the Wheeler living room. Miss Trask had disappeared to another part of the apartment. “She’s a wonderful person,” Trixie told the visitors. “The very best chaperon in all the world.”
    “You said it!” Jim agreed. “She works overtime at keeping out of sight, and the truth is, she’s never in our way. She likes us, and we like her. She’s never yet disapproved of anything Honey or I have done.”
    “She used to be my math teacher at boarding school,” Honey explained. “Now she keeps house for us, and we couldn’t love her more if she were a relative. She said her sister is getting better but still has to stay in the hospital quite a while to recuperate. She had an operation. Miss Trask stays there every day and comes back here to be with us at night. She’s been almost as excited as we’ve been over your visit.”
    “She seems super!” Bob said.
    “After all you told us about her and how good all the people around the Manor House have been to you Bob-Whites, we sure are glad to