Mystery of the Hidden Painting Read Online Free PDF

The Aldens rode up, left their bikes in the grass, and rang the doorbell. A woman opened the door and looked at the Aldens. Her face was unsmiling. She was silent for a moment.
    â€œYes?” she finally said.
    Jessie looked at her sister and brothers and then said, “I’m Jessie Alden. These are my brothers and my sister. We wondered if we could talk to Mrs. Lorraine Newton. Are you her?”
    â€œNo,” the woman answered. “I’m her daughter, Laura Newton Garrison. My mother is out on the back patio. Follow me. We’ve been expecting you.”
    Inside the house, Violet asked, “You’ve been expecting us?”
    â€œYes,” Laura Garrison said. “Mr. Mason called yesterday and said that you had been at the museum, asking a lot of questions. He was sure you would pay us a visit.”
    Mrs. Garrison led the Aldens through a large living room out onto a sunny patio. A white-haired woman in a flowered summer dress was sitting stiffly in a green wicker chair. She looked at the Alden children coldly.
    â€œTell me what you want,” she ordered.
    Once again, the Aldens told the tale of the necklace. “I don’t have the drawing I made,” Violet said. “Mr. Mason said someone must have thrown it away. So you can’t see just what we mean. But … ”
    Benny looked at Mrs. Newton and said, “Our grandfather would be so happy if we could find his necklace and give it—”
    Laura Garrison interrupted Benny and looked at her mother. “Mother, maybe we should—” There was a sad tone to her voice.
    â€œLaura!” Mrs. Newton said, as if she were warning her daughter.
    â€œYou children have been imagining this whole necklace story. It is definitely not your grandmother’s. I know it. The necklace has been in my family for generations. It has been handed down from one generation to another.”
    â€œWhat’s a generation?” Benny whispered to Henry.
    â€œI’ll tell you later,” Henry replied.
    Laura looked at her mother again. “Mother, I think it is time—”
    â€œI think it is time,” Mrs. Newton said, “for these children to have some juice and then go home.” She remained unsmiling. She leaned forward and poured a glass of grape juice from a pitcher on the table in front of her. She handed a glass to each of the Aldens. When she reached over to give Jessie hers, it slipped from her hand and crashed to the ground. Drops of the purple juice splattered all over Jessie’s white blouse.

    â€œOh,” Jessie cried out. She stood up and wiped at her blouse. Somehow, she felt this had not been an accident.
    Mrs. Newton handed Jessie a napkin and said, “I think you should go home and wash your shirt immediately. That will get the stains out.”
    â€œBut the necklace,” Violet said. “What about … ”
    Mrs. Newton stood up. “My dear child, the necklace was mine. I gave it to the museum. That’s the end of the story. You must simply give up your silly ideas. We have talked about this enough.”
    The children all stood. “Thank you for seeing us,” Henry said.
    Mrs. Newton nodded. “I hope you will all go back to Greenfield now and forget about this.”
    Laura led the Aldens to the front hall. “I know my mother can be rather cold sometimes. She doesn’t mean to be. She really doesn’t.”
    Jessie stopped at a mirror over a table in the hall and looked in to see how stained her shirt was. She glanced down at the table and saw an unopened envelope. It was addressed to Mrs. Lorraine Newton, but the return address was a Mrs. Susan Barstow at 1600 Hudson Lane in Silver City. Silver City was the town next to Greenfield.
    Jessie didn’t say anything to the other Aldens about the letter she’d seen. She wanted to think about it first. When they reached Aunt Jane’s they told her about Mrs. Newton.
    â€œWell,”