The secret of the Mansion

afternoon, so maybe I’ll be good enough by tomorrow to go for a long ride with you."
    "Great," Trixie said. "I bike to the store about a mile away every Sunday morning for the New York papers. We can go right after breakfast if you think you can make it."
    "Oh, wonderful," Honey cried. "Are you going up to you-know-where this afternoon?"
    "No," Trixie told her. "I’ve got to help Moms cultivate the garden. It hasn’t rained in over two weeks, you know, and the ground’s as hard as a brick. We’ve got to loosen the dirt around the plants and then water them or they’ll die."
    "Can you come up for a swim later?" Honey asked. "I’d love it." Trixie put the phone back in the cradle and went upstairs to see how Bobby was.
    "Hey," he greeted her in his normal voice. "Did you see that skinny old yellow dog? I saw him out of the window this morning," he went on, without waiting for her answer, "and you know what? He caught a rabbit in our rock garden and ate it all up, skin and bones and all!" He grinned.
    He’s really awful cute , Trixie thought, giving him a quick hug. "How do you feel, Bobby?" she asked.
    "I feel fine," he said cheerfully. "But last night I didn’t. My foot burned all the time just like my finger did that time I forgot to spit on it first before touching the stove to make it sizzle."
    Trixie laughed. "Hurry up and get well," she said. "Honey says you can have riding lessons, too, as soon as the doctor says you’re well enough."
    "Whoopee!" Bobby began to bounce up and down in the bed, and the nurse hurried into the room.
    "Quiet! Quiet, young man," she said severely, and to Trixie, "Your mother’s waiting for you in the garden. Don’t you come around and excite my patient again." Then she smiled.
    After hoeing for a couple of hours, Trixie thought she just had to get out of the hot sun. "I hate this old vegetable garden," she muttered crossly to herself. "I don’t know why Moms is so crazy about it. But if she can stand this heat, I guess I can!"
    At that moment, Mrs. Belden drew off her gloves and fanned her face with her big straw hat. "It’s too hot for me, Trixie," she said, "and your face is the color of a baby beet. As soon as the sun gets lower in the sky I’ll need you to help me water the plants, but between now and then you may as well get cooled off up at the lake."
    Trixie dropped her hoe gratefully and raced back to the house for her bathing suit. As she hurried along the path to the Manor House, she saw Honey wheeling her shiny new bike up the driveway. Honey looked as hot and tired as Trixie felt, but her face was wreathed in smiles as she called out, "I can coast down our hill now without falling off. Watch me, Trixie. Watch me."
    Trixie grinned as Honey turned the bike around and started down again. Why, she’s as excited as Bobby was when he learned to ride his trike, she thought When Honey came back, she said with genuine admiration, "You’re really marvelous. Tomorrow you’ll be going down, no hands, no feet." Honey’s hazel eyes glowed, and with her red cheeks and sunburned nose, she didn’t look at all like the pale, sick girl Trixie had met only a short time before. "The first time I tried it," she admitted to Trixie, "I was so scared I fell off before I even got started. The second time, I got as far as the bend in the driveway, and when I saw how far the road was I wanted to stop but I couldn’t And then, wouldn’t you know it, a delivery truck turned into our driveway. I was shaking so I was sure I’d steer right into it the way I did at your house, but somehow I wobbled past with just inches to spare." She laughed. "By the time I got to the bottom of the hill I was going so fast I couldn’t stop and I couldn’t turn, so I shot across the road and landed in the ditch on the other side." She patted her sore knee. "It was sure lucky I was wearing these pads your mother lent me.
    "You’re a wonder," Trixie said as they entered the big white house. "I wish I’d learned to ride a horse as fast as you learned to ride a bike."
    "But you have, Trixie," Honey insisted. "Regan thinks you’re terrific."
    "I’ll bet he does," Trixie said ruefully. "After what happened this morning!"
    "He’s not the least bit mad at you," Honey said with a giggle, "but he gave me the dickens for letting you ride Jupe. He threatened to tell Dad and everything, but I knew he wouldn’t."
    The girls changed into bathing suits in Honey’s room, which was the prettiest room Trixie