The Mystery of the Emeralds

not easy for any of them to put it out of their minds. Trixie’s brain was in a turmoil. Even though she kept telling herself that she should be glad, for Mr. Carver’s sake, that the jewels had been found, she couldn’t mask the despair she felt.

Miss Bates Is Surprised • 15

    THE BOB-WHITES were in just as depressed a mood the next morning as they had been the night before. All the excitement of the vacation trip seemed to have evaporated. After they had ridden toward Green Trees for some time in silence, Trixie said, “You know, I wouldn’t have cared half so much if anybody else had found the emeralds—Miss Bates or Mr. Carver or even Neil—but Jenkins! It makes me boil just to think of it!”
    “I can’t wait to hear what he has to say,” Honey said, “and how he found them.”
    “Well, I still can’t believe it’s true,” Trixie mused. “He probably stumbled across the entrance to the passage where some of the masonry had caved in.”
    “I wonder if he’s at Green Trees yet,” Mart speculated. “Now that he has the necklace, I don’t suppose Mr. Carver is in any more danger from him.”
    “It’s funny”—'Trixie frowned—“but I still don’t know if Jenkins actually stole the message from the locket that day or even if Mr. Carver remembers if he did.”
    “It’s possible he could have had a spell of amnesia from that blow on his head,” Brian said.
    “You mean he actually may not remember what went on before he fell out of his chair?” Di asked.
    “That sort of tiling sometimes happens,” Brian replied.
    “Do they ever remember later on?” Honey pursued. “Sometimes yes, sometimes no,” Brian said. “Actually, very little is known about how the brain stores up impressions or what really causes temporary lapses of memory.”
    “Maybe we’ll find out more about it when we see Mr. Carver and Jenkins this morning,” Trixie said.
    As they were approaching the house, they saw Jenkins walking hastily across the lawn toward the terrace. They waited long enough for him to go inside before putting in an appearance themselves. Mr. Carver was at the door when they arrived. He welcomed them cordially and asked them to come in and meet his neighbor.
    It was evident that Jenkins hadn’t expected the Bob-Whites to be there, for when he saw them, the crooked smile disappeared from his face, and his jaw dropped in disbelief. It took him several seconds to regain enough composure to respond as Mr. Carver introduced the Bob-Whites by their first names. Following Trixie’s cue, none of them let on they had ever seen Jenkins before. This seemed to confuse the man further, and he twisted uncomfortably in his chair. When Mr. Carver asked him coldly to state his business, he looked from one to the other, as if uncertain of the wisdom of speaking with the young people present “Maybe I ought to come back later,” Jenkins said in a whining voice. “Neil, the boy, said you had an accident you don’t remember....”
    As he said this, it seemed to Trixie that he was searching, feeling Mr. Carver out to see if he remembered anything about the fall he had taken. Trixie glanced at the Bob-Whites. Each of them, she knew, realized that Jenkins was projecting a he—that he knew very well what had happened to Edgar Carver.
    “Never mind the sympathy, Jenkins,” Mr. Carver said with a wave of his hand. “The accident is my affair; I don’t even remember what happened. These young people are all friends of mine, so you go right ahead and state your business.”
    Trixie saw the look of relief in Jenkins’s face as he heard Mr. Carver confess that he remembered nothing of the accident. He then fumbled in the pocket of his worn tweed riding coat and drew out a small tin box. He didn’t open it but got up and, walking over to Mr. Carver, handed it to him.
    “This is the box I found at Rosewood Hall,” he said gruffly. “I figured, since your family and the folks that used to live at Rosewood were pretty close, you might be interested in it.”
    Mr. Carver opened the box and gazed for a long time at the contents. Then he handed it to Trixie.
    “Mr. Jenkins has apparently come across something of considerable value, Trixie. He found this in the ruins of Rosewood Hall,” he said sadly. “They are truly beautiful gems, aren’t they?”
    Trixie took the little box and forced herself to look inside. She couldn’t keep the tears from her eyes.
    “Why, yes,” she said with some hesitation,