The Mystery of the Velvet Gown

back.”
    “No problem,” Jim offered. “I’ll crawl back there. Reddy should have a full-fledged Bob-White welcome-home party.”
    “Fine with me,” Brian said. A short time later, he was pulling into the student parking lot at Sleepyside High. “Everyone meet here, then, right after school, and we’ll go pick up Reddy.” Trixie ran to her locker, hung up her coat, and grabbed the books she needed for her first two classes. I want to have a few minutes to talk to Miss Darcy when I return this envelope, she thought, hurrying to the drama teacher’s office.
    At Trixie’s gentle knock Miss Darcy opened the door. “Oh, Trixie, I’ve been waiting for you. Thank you for returning this envelope. Here’s the right one.” Eileen Darcy sighed with obvious relief.
    “I thought it was important, so I—” Trixie began, but she was interrupted by the sound of the warning bell.
    “You’d better go along to your class,” Miss Darcy said as she put the envelope in her desk drawer.
    Trixie quickly looked around the room, hoping to see the catalog that Peter Ashbury had caught her looking at the day before. She spotted it on top of a bookcase.
    “Oh, Miss Darcy, do you mind if I borrow this?” she asked rapidly, reaching for the catalog. “Honey Wheeler is very interested in costume design, and I thought she might like to see it.”
    “Honey is welcome to come in here and look at it,” Eileen Darcy said coolly. “I have a number of other costume books that would probably be more suitable.”
    “I’ll tell her,” Trixie said casually, and put the catalog back on the bookcase. Then she hurried out the door and down the hall to her first class.
    There is something strange about that catalog—I just know it! Trixie thought. She turned things over and over again in her mind, trying to sort through them and find some explanation. Of course, Brian and Mart could be right—it might be nothing. But I've got to get another look at that catalog! I wonder if....
    That's it! Trixie’s eyes widened with surprise at the thought that had just occurred to her.
    She could hardly contain her excitement. As soon as it was time for rehearsal, Trixie raced to the auditorium, hoping Honey would already be there.
    “Just as I thought,” Trixie said aloud, scanning the auditorium.
    “Just as you thought what?”
    Trixie jumped. “Honey! You startled me. I was originally looking for you to tell you something important, but then something else occurred to me. I didn’t even realize I’d said that out loud.”
    The other students were just beginning to enter the auditorium. Trixie pulled Honey to one side.
    “Look who isn’t here today,” Trixie whispered intently.
    “What do you mean? Who isn’t here? Trixie, what are you talking about?”
    “Peter Ashbury. He’s always here at this time.”
    “Maybe he just couldn’t make it today,” Honey said.
    “No,” Trixie said slowly, “I don’t think we’re going to be seeing him around here anymore— now that the costumes have arrived.”
    “What?” Honey asked, completely befuddled. “Listen,” Trixie went on excitedly, “suppose Miss Darcy needed money, a lot of money, like maybe for a ransom payment. If Ashbury works for a costume company, and those costumes are really valuable, and he knows how valuable, and he has the right contacts, he could sell them!”
    “W-e-e-l-l-l,” Honey began uncertainly, “I suppose you might be right. But I can’t imagine that the costumes are that valuable, especially if Miss Darcy’s friend is letting us use them. I also can’t imagine Miss Darcy getting mixed up in something like that.”
    “That’s true,” Trixie said, somewhat crestfallen. “But we’ll find that out soon enough,” she added mysteriously.
    Honey stared. “What do you mean?”
    “First,” Trixie began, but just then Miss Darcy entered the auditorium and called the class to order.
    “Talk to you after rehearsal,” Trixie whispered. Honey hurried to the wardrobe room, and Trixie took her place with the stagehands.
    “We’ll be trying on the costumes from England on Monday,” Miss Darcy announced, and Trixie sighed with disappointment. “The wardrobe crew is working on the other costumes we will need,” Miss Darcy continued, “and we will have fittings for all of them next week. Today the stagehands, under the guidance of Jim Frayne, will finish painting the remaining backdrops and begin collecting props.”
    As the drama teacher turned