The Mystery of the Velvet Gown

Honey to dinner.
    “Tell them to come at about five o’clock,” her mother called after her.
    “Thanks, Moms, I will,” Trixie responded as she dialed the Wheelers’ number.
    “What is it?” Trixie asked anxiously when Honey answered the phone.
    “Trixie,” Honey began excitedly, “Mother and Daddy came back early from Miami. Miss Trask showed them the newspaper article, and Mother does remember Mr. Ashbury, but she just never connected the name with Miss Darcy, and she’d never met him with her, so—”
    “Yes, yes,” Trixie interrupted impatiently. “So,” Honey went on, “she didn’t realize it was the same person. Well, Mother said she thought he was married! In fact, she remembered distinctly that she once talked to him about his two children—”
    “So that wasn’t his sister!” Trixie interrupted. “Why, that....”
    “I know,” Honey sighed. “Miss Trask feels just terrible about it—and, of course, I couldn’t say that we saw him and his children and his wife today,” she added in a whisper.
    “I certainly hope not!” Trixie cried. “Honey, what about the jewelry your mother bought from Park Avenue Jewelers: Did Peter Ashbury sell it to her?”
    “Yes,” Honey answered. “Mother is going to arrange to remove it from the safe-deposit box the first thing Monday morning, and she and Daddy are taking it into New York City.” Trixie whistled. “It seems like everyone is getting involved in some way.”
    “It sure does,” Honey agreed. “Oh, by the way, I told Jim and Brian—”
    “I know,” Trixie interrupted. “I told Mart, too. I just had to discuss it with someone. In fact, can you and Jim come here for dinner tonight? Moms and Dad are going out for the evening.”
    “We’d love to,” Honey answered, “but Mother and Daddy just got home, and I don’t know how they’d feel if Jim and I raced off to your house for dinner.”
    “Gleeps!” Trixie cried. “What a dope I am. Of course you should eat with them.” She was well aware that Honey and Jim rarely saw their parents because they traveled so much. She knew that Honey sometimes envied the close relationship that the Beldens had with their parents, and so, whenever Honey’s parents were home, she and Jim made a special effort to be with them.
    “I’ll see you and Jim first thing in the morning, anyway, and we’ll talk then,” Trixie assured her. “Mart informed me that Regan’s going to be out for our blood if we don’t exercise the horses.”
    “Yes,” Honey said guiltily, “and you know what a temper he has!”
    “Don’t remind me,” Trixie sighed. “Mart and Brian and I will be there. What about Di—is she coming, too?”
    “No,” Honey said. “I called and asked her, but she said she needed to stay home and practice her lines for the play.”
    “Trixie!” Helen Belden called.
    “Oops, my dime must have run out,” Trixie laughed. “Moms is calling me. I’ll talk to you later.” She said good-bye and hung up.
    “Yes, Moms,” Trixie answered, going into the kitchen.
    “Your father and I are leaving now. Are Jim and Honey coming?”
    Trixie explained why their friends wanted to stay home. Her mother nodded and said, “Well, you children have a nice evening.”
    As soon as Mr. and Mrs. Belden had left, Brian and Mart turned to Trixie.
    “Okay, out with everything,” Brian demanded, folding his arms and leaning against the kitchen counter. “Jim and I got a breathless account and only snatches of information from your sidekick. Now I want the whole story.“
    “And try not to exaggerate too much,” Mart added.
    “What does ’zaggerate mean, Mart?” Bobby asked.
    “It’s what your sister does about ninety-eight percent of the time,” Mart chuckled.
    Bobby looked at him quizzically. “I’ll explain it while I give you a piggyback ride upstairs, Bobby,” Brian said. “You and Reddy can play up there while we get dinner ready.”
    “Okey-dokey.” Bobby smiled and hopped up on Brian’s back.
    “Small ears pick up a lot of big ideas,” Trixie said to Mart after Brian and Bobby had left the room. “Sometimes I forget that he’s around and that he listens to us!”
    “And you know how well Bobby keeps a ‘see-crud,’ ” Mart laughed.
    “I know,” Trixie sighed. “I’m afraid Bobby’s love for secrets is only for the word itself.”
    Brian came back to the kitchen. “All right, time for the conference,” he said. “Bobby is happily playing ‘camping