The Mystery of the Emeralds

of a real interest in Green Trees. Trixie found a letter—up north, where she lives—that leads us to believe there is, or was, a secret passage between Green Trees and Rosewood Hall, and we hope you may be able to shed some light on it. That’s why I asked you to bring over the floor plans that were used in the remodeling.”
    “Well, of all things!” Miss Bates said. She seemed unable to say anything without prefacing her remarks with an exclamation. “It doesn’t seem possible. Not after all the work we’ve done around here. Nothing we ever found suggested such a thing. Are you sure?” She turned a dubious eye on Trixie for affirmation.
    “No,” admitted Trixie hesitantly, “we can’t be sure, of course, but we thought we’d explore the possibilities, as long as we were down here and Mr. Carver was willing for us to look around.”
    Mr. Carver then told Miss Bates of Mr. Lynch’s interest in old estates and of his trip to Williamsburg.
    “And that’s how Trixie and her friends happened to come to Green Trees,” Mr. Carver told her.
    “You don’t say!” Miss Bates exclaimed. “Why, I was up to some of those meetings in Williamsburg myself. I thought I might get some tips from some of the other members, you know.”
    “I guess you could give them some tips,” Edgar Carver said warmly. “I don’t know anyone who knows more about Colonial houses than Miss Carolyn here,” he told the Bob-Whites.
    “Oh, Edgar, how you do run on!” the ample lady said, her pink cheeks growing several shades pinker.
    She’s right out of Colonial America herself, Trixie thought as she watched and listened to this unusual woman. Mr. Carver’s compliment seemed to have left Miss Bates speechless, for the moment at least, so Trixie asked, “Do you think it might help if we lookedat the plans Mr. Carver said you had drawn up?”
    “Why, of course, child,” she replied, “but I didn’t draw them up. One of the local contractors who did a lot of the reconstruction made the plans.”
    She took up the basket and, summoning Honey and Di to her, thrust the mountain of blooms into their hands and suggested they put them in water. “You two look as though you might be used to caring for flowers,” she said as she waved them away and started to paw through a pile of papers in the bottom of the basket. Honey fled to the kitchen, followed by Di. Both were having difficulty suppressing their laughter.
    “And you look like the one with a real head on your shoulders,” she added, handing Trixie a sheaf of papers. Miss Bates completely ignored the boys, who wisely stayed in the background for the time being.
    Trixie took the plans over to the desk and spread them out. The first one showed the cellar, indicating the location of the new brickwork. There seemed to be nothing more of any significance on that page. The next showed part of the first floor: the drawing room, dining room, music salon, and solarium. Trixie traced the outlines of the rooms with a finger, picturing each one in her mind’s eye. Then, noticing that Miss Bates was deep in conversation with Mr. Carver, she motioned for Jim, Mart, and Brian to come over and look at the plans. They were soon joined by Honey and Di, who had disposed of the floral offering by plunging the flowers into a pail of water in the kitchen, to be arranged later.
    “Do you see anything helpful?” Di asked, bending over Trixie’s shoulder. “Blueprints are a complete puzzle to me.”
    “Well, this one puzzles me,” Trixie conceded. “See here, between the music room and the solarium? There are two lines instead of one. I don’t remember anything between those two rooms.”
    “Could it be closet space?” Jim asked, taking a closer look at the drawing.
    “Possibly,” Trixie said, chewing the end of her finger, “but there’s no door showing here, and I don’t remember seeing one, either, do you?”
    “Maybe it’s in the hall,” Brian suggested. “I’ll go take a look.”
    He returned almost immediately to say there was no door, only a space of about two feet between the music room partition and the solarium.
    “That’s just what it shows here,” Trixie whispered. “Wait, I’ll go ask Miss Bates.”
    “Didn’t I tell you, Edgar, this one’s the one with the brains?” Miss Bates challenged him after Trixie had pointed out the discrepancy on the blueprint.
    “But, Carolyn, my dear, I never said Trixie was anything but brilliant, did I?” Mr. Carver said