The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

driver got out and opened the door. “I drove the kid here,” he announced when he saw Trixie.
    “He did,” Trixie told her friends. “He tried to keep me from stopping here.”
    “Good for you, Pete!” the policeman said. He held the crowd back while the young people got into the taxicab. “Get her out of here now, driver. Stand back, all of you. Stand back!”
    When they had driven a little way up the street, Jim asked the driver to stop at a drugstore so he could make a phone call. “To Miss Trask,” he explained. “I told her I’d call.”
    Poor Trixie, revived a little now, dreaded to go back to the apartment, where she’d have to explain what she had done.
    “Dad answered the phone,” Jim reported when he returned. “Miss Trask had called him at his office.” Now Trixie was really worried.
    At the apartment they found Honey, Diana, and Barbara in tears. Miss Trask’s face was white, Mr. Wheeler’s stern.
    “I did an awful thing...” Trixie began.
    “Oh, Trixie, why... why... why?” Honey asked, clutching Trixie’s arm. “We were sure you had been murdered. When Dan told us about that terrible place—”
    “Dan told you about what?” Trixie asked.
    “Sit down in this big chair, Trixie,” Miss Trask told her quietly, giving Trixie a glass of hot milk. “Try to relax. Then we’ll tell you about Dan.”
    “Yes, do,” Mr. Wheeler said, and he put a pillow at Trixie’s back.
    “Don’t anyone be kind to me!” Trixie protested. “Instead, you should think of the worst words in the world to say to me. They said they’d pay me a thousand dollars if I’d turn that idol over to them!”
    “When did anyone say that to you?” Honey asked. “We’ve been with you everyplace you’ve gone.”
    “It was that telephone call last night!” Mart said triumphantly. “Wasn’t it, Trixie?”
    “Yes, it was,” Trixie admitted reluctantly. “It was Blinky. He told me I had to go alone. He said I’d be in no danger, that he was a member of the secret police, and that he’d meet me in a restaurant filled with people in broad daylight.”
    “But we promised we’d never go anyplace by ourselves,” Diana reminded her. Her face was tear-stained.
    “I forgot about that part of it,” Trixie said truthfully. “I was so anxious to get that thousand-dollar reward. How was I to know it would be a dingy old place in a horrible neighborhood?”
    “You could have confided in one of us,” Mart said sternly.
    “In me, at least,” Honey added.
    “Not one of you would have let me go!”
    “You never spoke a truer word,” Mart answered. “For someone smart, you sure can be—”
    “Dumb. I know it, Mart.” Trixie’s shoulders slumped. “It was dumb of me to think I could outsmart big city crooks. I do still have the little idol, though. They didn’t get that away from me. They told me it belongs to a nobleman in Peru, that it was stolen from him. We don’t even know if that’s true.”
    “I’ll take the idol now,” Mr. Wheeler said firmly. “If it’s worth a thousand-dollar reward to a couple of thieves, it has too much value for a young girl to be carrying around. How do you feel now, Trixie?”
    “I feel all right physically, if that’s what you mean. But I sure do feel awful otherwise. I’m trying not to think what Moms and Dad will say when they find out what I did.”
    “Wait till you’re back home safely before we tell about this part of your New York stay,” Mr. Wheeler said wisely.
    “Oh, will you do that? I’ll be grateful to you all the rest of my life.”
    “I’ll not expect that.” Mr. Wheeler smiled. “The reason I’m willing to wait to tell them is that I’ll keep the idol with me. I’ll be right with you, too, everywhere you go in the evening. I’m sure Trixie won’t run off to any wild place again. I’ll keep in close touch with the police; you can depend on that.”
    “Dad, you’re the greatest!” Jim exclaimed. “I think Trixie’s had enough punishment for now. You are feeling better, aren’t you, Trixie? Are you sure you’re all right?”
    “I’m sure. Even if I don’t deserve to be, I am.” Trixie smiled wanly. “What I don’t understand is how anyone knew where to find me. I thought it was a miracle when you all came through the door of that horrible place. What did you mean about Dan and the doorman?”
    “Let Dan tell it,” Honey suggested. “We sure are lucky to have him for a Bob-White member.”
    “It was one time my