The Mystery of the Velvet Gown

Honey. Do you do bird calls, too?”
    Honey giggled. “You know what I mean,” she said. “The train does sound different.”
    “I think so, too,” Trixie said. “I was just laughing about your ‘hustle-bustle, hustle-bustle.’ It sounds like a new dance step or something.”
    Just then the train dipped into the underground tunnel that led to the tracks of Grand Central Station. They were enveloped in darkness for several seconds until the train lights winked on.
    “I always like this part of the trip best,” Trixie said. “It’s like going into some secret cave.”
    “Some secret!” Honey exclaimed. “When you come out, you find yourself in one of the world’s busiest train stations.”
    Trixie laughed. “Now I guess it’s my turn to say ‘You know what I mean.
    The conductor’s voice came over the loudspeaker to inform everyone that this was the last stop on the line.
    Honey and Trixie gathered up their coats and followed Miss Trask off the train. They walked through the underground network of hallways and waiting rooms until they arrived at the center of the beautiful old terminal.
    “Look up,” Miss Trask said. She pointed, directing their attention to the huge barrel-vaulted ceiling of the concourse. Ornate arches bordered the blue-tiled ceiling, which was studded with small, starlike lights. The lights twinkled along the gold outlines that depicted the mythical characters of the zodiac.
    “It’s lovely,” Honey whispered.
    “You know, I never looked up in this station before,” Trixie admitted. “I was always so busy trying not to bump into anyone or looking for the information booth or something that I never even thought of it.”
    “Neither did I,” Honey confessed. “Look! There’s Pegasus.” Her pointing finger followed the outline of the head and shoulders of the winged horse.
    “Fine detectives you’ll make,” Miss Trask sniffed teasingly. “You’ve got to look up, down, and all around.”
    Honey and Trixie giggled. “You’re absolutely right, though!” Trixie added emphatically.
    When they reached the street, Miss Trask hailed a cab and directed the driver to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    “I’ll drop you off there and go on to my sister’s,” Miss Trask explained. “It’s almost ten o’clock now. I’ll be back at noon, and we’ll all go somewhere for lunch before catching the two o’clock train back to Sleepyside. You kids should be able to keep yourselves busy for two hours. I’ll meet you at the front entrance.” Honey and Trixie nodded in agreement, and shortly, the cab stopped in front of the museum. The two girls got out of the cab and waved good-bye to Miss Trask.
    “We’ve got a lot of work to do in two hours,” Trixie said as she and Honey began the long climb up the steps to the museum entrance. “They should have a phone book somewhere here,” she added.
    “Uh-huh.” Honey giggled. “It might be an antique, but it will be a phone book.”
    “This building really is beautiful,” Trixie panted as they neared the huge glass-doored entrance, “but I don’t see why they couldn’t have made fewer steps.”
    With careful directions from a museum guard, the two girls went to find a telephone. “You really could get lost in this place, it’s so big,” Honey said.
    Trixie agreed. “In fact,” she added, pointing to the Egyptian exhibit as they passed, “those really aren’t mummies, you know. Those are people who never found their way out of this place, and the museum decided to keep them.“
    “Oooh, wouldn’t it be terrible if that were so?” Honey shuddered slightly and hurried past the rest of the mummy exhibit.
    They soon found the phone book, and Trixie quickly looked up Ashbury, Peter. “Here it is!” she cried excitedly. “I was afraid he might have an unlisted number, but he doesn’t. I only hope this is the Peter Ashbury we’re looking for,” she added, jotting down the address.
    “Now let’s hope our luck holds out and this address isn’t on the other side of town,” Trixie said, heading toward another museum guard to ask directions.
    “That’s only two blocks from here,” the guard assured them, and he went on to explain exactly how to get there.
    “We certainly are lucky today,” Honey said happily. “Maybe one of the ‘stars’ we stood under in the station was lucky.”
    “I sure hope so,” Trixie sighed, “but remember, we have to look up, down, and all around as Miss Trask said. We can’t