The Mystery of the Midnight Marauder

instance.”
    Di frowned. “Who’s Ruthie Kettner?”
    Honey opened the supply room door wide so that the Bob-Whites had a clear view of the school’s main entrance.
    A stockily built, fair-haired girl was standing alone by the front steps. “That’s Ruthie Kettner,” Honey said.
    Trixie noticed that Ruthie was staring toward the cleanup crew by the bus stop, and at Mart and Lester who were still deep in conversation. It seemed almost as if Ruthie were as interested in what Mart was talking about as Trixie herself.
    “I’ve never seen Ruthie talk to anyone,” Honey said thoughtfully. “I think the poor kid’s very shy.”
    Honey’s huge hazel eyes clouded over, and she lowered her head so that her shoulder-length honey blond hair shaded her face. Trixie guessed that her friend was remembering the days before she’d come to live in Sleepyside, when she had been sent away to boarding schools and had been lonely, too.
    “I’ll tell you what,” Trixie said. “We’ll ask Ruthie if she wants to help us in the lunch court this morning. How’s that?”
    Honey raised her head and smiled. “I think that would be great.”
    Dan grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ll go and ask her. Don’t forget, before I joined the Bob-Whites, I knew what it was like to feel unwanted, too.” Before Dan could move, however, Trixie saw Mart suddenly leave Lester’s side and come racing across the grass.
    “Ruthie?” he was yelling. “Hey, Ruthie? You got a minute? I want to talk to you.”
    The Bob-Whites saw Ruthie’s face flush scarlet. She half turned, as if she were going to hurry away. Then she seemed to change her mind, and took a step toward him instead.
    In another instant, the two of them were walking toward a bench under a tall maple tree, and Mart’s blond head was bent toward hers.
    Trixie’s blue eyes widened with surprise. “Jeep-ers!” she exclaimed. “Mart must have known what we were going to do.”
    “Or maybe,” Honey replied, giggling, “Ruthie’s been reading the advice to the lovelorn in the school newspaper. Last week Miss Lonelyheart told someone that to have a friend, you must be a friend.”
    “Not very original,” Jim remarked as he led the way to the lunch court, “but very true.”
    He smiled at Trixie over his shoulder, and everyone laughed. They knew that ever since their very first adventure together, Trixie could do no wrong as far as Jim was concerned.
    “It beats me why that Miss Lonelyheart column is so popular,” Brian said. “Ever since it began appearing in the school newspaper several weeks ago, the kids have been doing nothing else but talk about it.”
    “And grabbing all the copies they can get,” Trixie answered, remembering how she’d been unable to get even one copy the previous day.
    She stared with unseeing eyes at an overflowing trash can.
    “Does anyone know which teacher is writing it?” Honey asked.
    “I think it’s one of the counselors,” Di said. “But I wonder which one.”
    “Maybe Mart could tell us,” Dan suggested.
    Trixie shook her head. “I don’t think so. He told me once that Mr. Zimmerman, the journalism teacher, is the only one who knows for sure, and he hasn’t said anything about it.”
    “I wonder why not,” Dan mused.
    Honey giggled. “Miss Lonelyheart’s probably afraid she’d be swamped with letters and phone calls at her home every day.”
    “And her classroom would be crowded with problem kids wanting to ask her advice,” Trixie agreed.
    “I know what I’d ask Miss Lonelyheart,” Brian said suddenly.
    Honey’s face flushed. “Do you have troubles with a lonely heart, Brian?” she asked shyly.
    Brian laughed. “Not in the way you mean, Honey. I’d merely ask her what to do with a certain brother who promised to help us clean up this morning, but who isn’t here. Where is Mart, anyway?”
    Mart was still missing an hour later, when the rest of the Bob-Whites looked with satisfaction at the results of their handiwork.
    They had worked hard. They were hot and tired, but the lunch court and its surrounding area were swept and free of debris.
    “Okay,” Brian said at last. “I guess we’re all through here. Where to now?”
    Di laughed and pushed her long hair back from her pretty, flushed face. “I vote we take a rest,” she answered promptly.
    “Me, too,” Honey said.
    Jim chuckled. “Me, three.”
    Honey looked at Trixie who seemed to be deep in thought. “How about it, Trix?” Honey said.
    “Do