The Mystery of the Missing Heiress

bit. Mrs. Vanderpoel telephoned a while ago to say that Juliana is staying at her house.”
    “She is?” Trixie cried. “How—”
    “She came to Sleepyside today to see about the land that is in her mother s name.”
    “But how did she wind up at Mrs. Vanderpoel’s?” Trixie interrupted, puzzled.
    “If you will just let me finish my story—” Mrs. Belden said with a smile.
    “I'm sorry, Moms.”
    “It seems that Juliana went to the newspaper office to inquire and was told that information about her mother had come to them from Mrs. Vanderpoel. So, after she had gone to the office of deeds in the courthouse, she went to see Mrs. Vanderpoel. You know how hospitable she is—and lonesome, too, since Spider Webster and his brother moved away. Well, she invited Juliana to stay at her home while she is here in Sleepyside.”
    “Jeepers“” Trixie said. “We’ll have to get over there and see Juliana. Did Mrs. Vanderpoel say what she was like?”
    “Oh, Trixie,” Jim said, laughing, “how could she when Juliana was right there, listening? I wonder why she didn’t come to our house.”
    “Probably because she didn’t know about you till she talked to Mrs. Vanderpoel.”
    “Oh, yes, the people at the newspaper showed her the Sun,” Mrs. Belden said. “Mrs. Schimmels letter to the courthouse was in it. Your dad read it to you last night. Remember?”
    “Then she knows Jim is her cousin and that we’re glad to know about her, doesn’t she?” Honey asked.
    “Yes. Mrs. Vanderpoel said Juliana couldn’t wait till she could meet her Cousin Jim.”
    “Mrs. Belden,” Jim said, “do you think we should telephone her or just go over to Mrs. Vanderpoel’s house?”
    “I think you should take time to finish your supper and then run along. At the rate you’re spooning down that soup, you won’t even be able to taste it.”
    “It’s sheer starvation that makes me gulp,” Jim assured her. “All we had to eat all day was a package of potato chips apiece and a Coke. The De Jongs’ neighbor gave us the Coke. We had to put all our money together to pay the mechanic who fixed the car. At that, we barely made it.”
    “It’s too bad the neighbor didn’t offer you a bite of something,” Mrs. Belden remarked.
    “Oh, she did. But we thought we had bothered her too much already. We told her we brought back some food from the shopping center.” Trixie giggled. “We did—the potato chips. It was all the money we had.”
    At Mrs. Vanderpoel’s home, Jim smoothed back his hair, straightened his jacket, and rang the bell.
    When the door opened, they all crowded into the big, comfortable living room. “I’m so glad to see you,” Mrs. Vanderpoel told them. “I thought you’d never get back to Sleepyside. Juliana’s been watching for you.”
    A tall, slender blond girl came running down, her hands outstretched. “Oh, what a lot of redbirds!” she exclaimed. They were still wearing their Bob-White jackets. “Are you a singing group?”
    “No. It’s our club, the Bob-Whites of the Glen. I’m Jim—”
    “Cousin Jim!” Juliana cried and shook his two hands warmly. “I didn’t know I had a Cousin Jim until today. The letter from Mrs. Schimmel didn’t reach me before I left the Bronx.”
    “What a letdown for you,” Mart said, laughing. “I'll bet you expected to see a six-footer... and a handsome one!”
    “Mrs. Vanderpoel told me how nice he is,” Juliana said.
    Poor Jim’s freckled face grew red.
    “And what a wonderful group of friends. A club, you say? You must tell me about it.”
    “This is Honey, my sister. Her family adopted me,” Jim said. “And the Belden family: Trixie, Brian, and Mart. There are two other club members, Diana Lynch and Dan Mangan.”
    “You’ll be seeing enough of us if you’re staying awhile,” Mart told her as he and Brian and Trixie crowded together on an old Dutch settle.
    Juliana’s large, bright blue eyes darted from one to another, lingering on Jim’s face and Honey’s.
    “I’ll not be here very long,” she explained. “Just until I establish my claim to the strip of land that is in my mother s name. Then I shall be going on.”
    “Yes, we expected that,” Jim said. “Mrs. Hendricks said you want to join the De Jong family in the Poconos.”
    “Mrs. Hendricks?” Juliana looked inquiringly at Honey.
    “The De Jongs’ next-door neighbor, you know.” Juliana nodded.
    “I do wish we had reached the Bronx before you left,” Honey