The secret of the Mansion

milling, curious people.
    "The ground shook, for miles around when that plane crashed," Mr. Lytell was telling the pilot. "You were lucky to get out in time."
    "Say, I’ve got to call headquarters and report," the lieutenant interrupted. "Is there a phone in this old house?"
    "Not here," Mr. Lytell said. "This is the Frayne place. He was an eccentric old man. Supposed to be a miser. Died yesterday of pneumonia, I hear."
    "A miser?" The reporters moved closer to the house and peered in through the windows. "Zowie!" one of them yelled. "Look at all that junk. This’ll make a swell yarn."
    "Take all the pictures you want of the outside," a policeman cautioned. "But don’t any of you cross the threshold without a permit from the chief. Come on," he said to the pilot. "Our car’s parked down below. We’ll drive you in to the station and you can make your report from there."
    "Oh, no," Honey whispered to Trixie. "All these people! And look at that photographer. He’s taking pictures of the living room through the open window. Where’s Jim?"
    "I don’t know," Trixie whispered back. "He just disappeared suddenly."
    Regan cantered away, leading Strawberry, and in a short while the crowd dwindled down to Mr. Lytell and the girls.
    "Lucky we weren’t in those woods today," he said, shaking his head. "The fire department was having quite a time down there when I drove past."
    Trixie and Honey ‘stared down at the wisp of smoke that was rising above the pine trees. "Golly," Trixie breathed. "Do you suppose they’ll be able to put it out?"
    "Oh, yes," Mr. Lytell said. "There wasn’t enough left of the plane by the time it hit the ground to start much of a fire. Never saw anything like that before in all my life. The explosion was deafening down at the store. Even Belle was startled, and she’s stone deaf." He chuckled. "And where did all those cars come from? I couldn’t park any nearer than the Wheeler place. The plane had hardly hit the ground before there was a solid line from here to the Post Road." He peered through his glasses at Honey. "Funny your brother wasn’t up here, too. Strikes me that a boy his age would be kind of interested in a pilot bailing out of an exploding plane. Pretty exciting thing."
    "My little brother got bitten by a copperhead," Trixie said hastily. "You know, Bobby."
    "Read about it in the paper," Mr. Lytell said. "Glad to hear he’s doing so well." He moved over to the open window. "Better close this. It might rain, although it doesn’t look like it. Those nosy reporters must have left it open."
    Trixie thought he would never go away, but finally he did and she whistled bob-white! bob-white!
    Jim came crawling out from the old arbor that led to the summerhouse. "Whew!" he said. "Some excitement. The story will be in the New York papers for sure. I don’t dare hang around here any longer."
    "No, Jim," Trixie broke in. "I’ve got a plan. Dad and Mother are leaving right after lunch for the seashore. The doctor thought the change would be good for Bobby." She turned to Honey. "I was going to ask you the first chance I got. They said I could stay home if you stayed with me. Just for the night. Dad’ll be back tomorrow. Do you think Miss Trask’ll let you?"
    "I guess so," Honey said. "But why don’t you spend the night with me, instead?"
    Trixie shook her head. "No, it’s better this way, because our house is nearer the Mansion. As soon as the family leaves, Jim can hide down there, and you and I can give the place one last search. Please, Jim," she finished. "One more day. You’ll be perfectly safe in our house, and there’s going to be a full moon tonight, so maybe we could go for a moonlight ride."
    "Well, all right," Jim said, after thinking it over for a minute. "But I’d better hit the road the first thing in the morning."
    When Trixie got home, Bobby was full of the story of the plane crash. "Our house shook so I almost fell out of bed," he told Trixie. "Mummy said the pilot came down up at the Mansion. Did you see him? Did he get hurt?"
    "Yes, I saw him," Trixie said. "And he wasn’t hurt at all. But the plane was blown to bits."
    Bobby bounced up and down in bed. "It ’sploded in midair," he yelled. "Hey! Soon’s I get well I’m going to ’splore through those woods for shiny pieces of metal. You’re not the only one who can ’splore ’round here."
    Mrs. Belden came in with Bobby’s luncheon tray. "It was certainly thrilling," she said. "I was down in the garden