The secret of the Mansion

went to die city they brought back presents for Brian and Mart. A big red express wagon one time, I remember. And when the boys had the chicken pox, both the Fraynes spent many hours every day reading stories to them, so your mother could get some rest."
    "Why, they were nice, weren’t they?" Trixie said in surprise. Suddenly she hoped that Mr. Frayne wouldn’t die. If he lived, she felt sure that he would adopt Jim. How wonderful that would be, she thought excitedly. And if Honeys parents would stay up here this winter, then we could all go to the same school and skate and ski together and everything!
    The whole prospect was so thrilling Trixie felt she had to share her hopes with Honey. Right after supper she raced up the hill to the Manor House. Honey was still at the dinner table. She and Miss Trask were being served baked Alaska in the big formal dining room. A maid brought another crystal dish for Trixie, but she was so awed by the gleaming silver and glass and the tall candles that she could hardly eat the delicious dessert.
    "Maybe you’d like Honey to show you around the house," Miss Trask said when the maid brought in finger bowls. "It’s really a beautiful place; more of a showplace, right now, instead of a home. But we hope, with you and your brothers coming up here often, it’ll get that lived-in feeling it needs."
    "This is the library," Honey said, leading the way to a long room, the walls of which were lined from floor to ceiling with richly bound books. "Daddy’s quite a collector, you know. There was never enough space in our New York apartment for him to display all his books, so this is just about his favorite room."
    "I never saw so many books in all my life," Trixie gasped. "He’s got many more than there are in the village public library. You’re lucky. You can do all your research work for school right here at home."
    And that reminded her of why she had come up to see Honey. "Say," she went on, "do you think there’s a chance of your staying up here all the year round? Did you speak to Miss Trask about it?"
    Honey nodded. "Yes, and she said she’d do everything she could to persuade Mother to keep the house open. Even if Daddy and Mother spend most of the winter in town, Miss Trask hopes she and I can stay here, so I can go to school with you and your brothers."
    "And Jim," Trixie interrupted. "Oh, I do hope Mr. Frayne lives and adopts him. We could all have such grand times together."
    "I’m keeping my fingers crossed," Honey said as they passed through the library into the enormous living room. "It looks like a museum, doesn’t it?" she asked as Trixie stared about her at the luxurious furniture and priceless paintings. "And that’s just what it is. Nobody ever comes in here except to look. I wish Daddy had bought a country place like yours." Tears welled up suddenly in her wide hazel eyes. "They moved up here just for my sake, but they never asked me where I wanted to live."
    "Well, why didn’t you come right out and tell them?" Trixie demanded impulsively. "Are you afraid of your parents, or something?"
    Honey rubbed her eyes with clenched fists. "Not exactly," she gulped. "Not of Daddy, anyway. He can be awfully sweet and sympathetic at times. But he’s always so busy he’s hardly ever at home, and when he is, Mother’s always giving a party or dragging him out to one." She rubbed the toe of her shoe viciously into the thick pile of the heavy carpet. "I think Daddy would like living here if it weren’t for Mother. She has to have people around her all the time. Not children, grown-ups. Mother doesn’t like children, I guess."
    "But she must like you," Trixie gasped. "Love you, I mean."
    "I’m not so sure of that." Honey stared out of the window at the huge blue spruce tree which stood in front of the house. "She was awfully worried when I was so sick. She came right up to the infirmary herself when the school telephoned her. And she never left me until I was well enough to be taken home. But—but—" Honey suddenly crumpled into a little heap on the carpet and burst into tears. "But—I— still—don’t think she loves me."
    Trixie’s own blue eyes filled with sympathy as she knelt beside Honey and tried to comfort her. "Of course she loves you," she kept saying over and over again, not knowing what else to say.
    "No, she doesn’t." Honey sobbed uncontrollably. "If she did, why does she always send me away to schools and camps and have nurses and governesses take