The Red Trailer Mystery

told. "Honey," she said with a giggle, "thanks a lot for catching Prince, but let’s not talk about that now. Mrs. Smith is the most wonderful person I ever knew, although sometimes I don’t know what she’s talking about, but you never tasted such cookies and lemonade."
    Honey stared at her as she slipped a halter over Peanuts’s head. "Frankly, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who is Mrs. Smith?"
    "The farmer’s wife," Trixie exploded. "She and her husband own this place and the abandoned orchard. Come onl You’ll love her. She’s almost the fattest woman I ever saw, but she has such a pretty face and is so kindhearted!" Trixie pulled Honey along the driveway. There was no sign of the crow, but the collie, as friendly now as he had been angry before, trotted along beside them.
    "Don’t let that muddy animal inside my nice clean kitchen," Mrs. Smith called from the other side of the screen door. But she made no protest when Laddie followed the girls inside and promptly curled up under the kitchen table as though he belonged there. "I declare," she said, "that dog is as spoiled as Jimmy Crow. I’ll never forget the day Nat brought that pitiful little bird in to me. He had scarcely a feather— Jimmy, not Nat—and his long legs were too weak to hold up his round tummy. I was all for throwing him into the trash can, but he croaked once, as though he had the croup, and before I knew what I was doing I’d wrapped him in flannel and was poking raw eggs into that big mouth of his." She handed Honey a glass of lemonade and waved a plump hand toward the mound of cookies on the copper tray. "Sit down and eat, lamb," she said. "You’re as slim as Mrs. Darnell, the poor little thing."
    "Oh, yes. You were going to tell me about the Darnells when Honey came back," Trixie reminded her.
    Mrs. Smith settled down in the rocker, and it creaked protestingly under her weight. "That’s right," she said. "And I may as well start at the beginning, since Honey missed the first part. You see," she went on, "our hired hand broke his leg just when the beans were ready to be picked. That was yesterday afternoon. Nat sent for an ambulance and went in with the boy to be sure he would be as comfortable as possible at the hospital. While he was gone it rained so hard I thought the roof would cave in. I’m not one to be frightened easily, mind you, but I’m so used to having men around the place, what with seven sons until the youngest ran off last spring and got married, so you see how relieved I was, Honey, dear, when I looked through the window behind you and saw a man s face."
    Honey shivered. "I would have been scared to death." She peered over her shoulder. "All alone in this big house, miles from everywhere and in the pouring rain!"
    Mrs. Smith rocked with laughter. "Scared, lamb? Why should I be scared of a pitiful creature who looked like a half-drowned, shaggy-haired dog?"
    Honey choked on a cookie crumb and Trixie’s eyes popped open. A shaggy-haired man! She couldn’t believe her ears.
    "I asked him right in, of course," Mrs. Smith went on easily, "and gave him hot coffee and made him change into dry clothes. While I was warming hash in the oven, he explained to me that he was traveling north with his wife and three children in a trailer, and, wouldn’t you know it, they went off the main highway and got stuck in the mud! Men, I always say, are forever taking shortcuts which never fail to take twice as long."
    Trixie gave Honey a quick look. "Was he traveling in a red trailer?" she put in as Mrs. Smith stopped for breath.
    "How should I know?" Mrs. Smith demanded. "When Nat came back from the hospital, he dragged it out of the ditch with the tractor and put it in the barn." She chuckled. "I haven’t walked to the barn since the dance we held there after young Nat’s wedding, and he has presented me with three grandchildren since then. But red or white, it makes no difference. What is important is that Mr. Darnell borrowed the contraption so he could take his family with him while he looked for work on a farm upstate." She sighed with satisfaction. "It was the answer to our prayer, of course, and Nat hired Mr. Darnell on the spot. While they were discussing the bean crop, I got Mrs. Darnell and the children settled upstairs. Such a joy it was to have someone in those empty bedrooms after all these years, and the house filled with the sound of children’s voices." She wiped her eyes with the corner of her