The Mystery of the Missing Heiress

of meeting her family was postponed. A waiting jeep swept them all up and took them to the airport gate.
    Inside the long corridor, Trixie walked on one side of Janie, Honey on the other. Then, as the waiting crowd beyond the rope grew nearer, the girls each put an arm around Janie’s waist. Their eyes darted here and there, trying to seek out someone who could be Janie’s sister. They expected to hear a glad cry at any moment.
    People met people, then disappeared to cars or taxis. The oncoming crowd melted into the great surging mass inside the huge waiting room.
    A woman, standing apart, looked in their direction and waved wildly. Trixie, Honey, and Janie waved back. Trixie watched the woman s eyes on Janie, waiting to see recognition in the face so bright with anticipation. The woman came nearer and nearer. Her husband waved his hat in greeting, and they both passed by to be swept into the arms of a middle-aged couple just behind Janie.
    “It wasn’t anyone who knew me,” Janie’s voice was low, sick with disappointment. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, Trixie, and Honey exchanged glances of sympathetic frustration.
    “I’ll bet that’s Janie’s sister over by the big window,” Bobby cried. “See, Trixie?”
    A young woman watching, shading her eyes with her cupped hands, turned eagerly. “Trixie? Did someone say ‘Trixie’?”
    “Yes!” Trixie cried eagerly. “Are you Mrs. Meredith, Janie’s—I mean, Barbara’s sister?”
    “Yes, I am,” the young woman said, her face anxious and inquiring. “Didn’t Barbara come with you? Was she too sick?”
    Janie, with a low moan, dropped down on a waiting-room bench, her voice despairing. “Then I’m not Barbara.”
    “Oh, you aren’t my sister,” Mrs. Meredith cried. “Oh, Tom.” She turned to her husband, deep disappointment in her voice. “This girl isn’t Barbara at all. Where is Barbara?”
    Janie moaned. “I’m still nobody.”
    Trixie felt the bottom fall out of her stomach. She had been so sure.
    Barbara’s sister turned to Janie. “You can’t be nobody’—not with friends like yours. They’ll help you find your family someday. You are alive.” Her voice filled with anguish. “I don’t even know whether my sister is alive or not.’’
    She started to cry, and her husband, with a quick word of thanks, led his wife away.
    Bobby, unable to understand what had been going on and upset by what he saw, began to cry, too. It had been such fun up until now.
    Janie instantly forgot herself in her concern for Mrs. Meredith and for the little boy in his panic. She pulled Bobby close to comfort him. “See that newsstand right over there?” She pointed. “They have ice-cream cones over there—big ones, all colors, double ones—for little boys. Shall we see if we can find one?”
    Mrs. Wheeler clicked her tongue in amazement at the girl’s courage in the face of such bitter disappointment.
    Trixie and Honey just stood, wordless.
    “Well, what’s keeping us from those cones?” Mr. Wheeler asked heartily and lifted Bobby to his shoulder as they crossed the great width of the waiting room and lined up at the ice cream bar.

    It was Janie who kept up everybody’s spirits all the way home. It was Janie who thought of gay riddles for Bobby to guess. It was Janie, joined by Bob, the pilot, who hummed familiar tunes and had everyone singing.
    As the plane came closer to the green trees of New York State, however, and the Hudson spread its silvery brown ribbon far below them, they all became quiet.
    Down there Jim, Brian, and Mart—quite probably Mr. and Mrs. Belden, too—would be watching for a speck in the sky. They would be waiting for the glad details of Janie’s happy reunion with her family.
    Trixie saw the shadow cross Janie’s face, saw her draw herself in tensely, as if preparing herself for still another cruel blow. Then she fell behind the others as the party left the plane.
    Someone else—not she—would have to announce the bad news.

Mystery Car at the Treasure Hunt • 11

    THE BOB-WHITES of the Glen had gathered at their clubhouse to tell Diana and Dan what had occurred the day before. Too, they wanted to discuss the problem with all the members present, to see if they could figure out what to do next.
    “The one thing about this business of Janie that I never can understand,” said Dan, “is that everyone who has ever met her likes her, so—”
    “That’s true,” Trixie interrupted. “It was true at the hospital,