The Mysterious Code Read Online Free PDF Page B

it.”
    “Didn’t your father tell you?” Mrs. Belden asked. “I remember, now, you weren’t awake when he left for thebank. He said he was sure he could arrange for you to use that storeroom the bank has for rent, the one just across the street from the clothing store. It’s right on Main Street.”
    “Christopher Columbus!” Trixie shouted. “Right on Main Street! Wait till I tell the others.”
    “You can tell Honey and Diana soon. They’re coming down the hill from the Manor House. The boys took Brian’s car into Sleepyside to have the brakes tightened. I wish Brian had snow tires on that old car.”
    “He doesn’t need them. You should see the way we get Brian’s jalopy out of a snowbank. We all get out and push. We can almost lift it when it gets stuck. We don’t have any money for tires even if we did want them. Every cent we have will go into preparation for the show.”
    Bobby opened the door to Honey and Diana.
    “Good morning, Mrs. Belden,” they chorused. Then without waiting for her to answer, “Trixie, just wait till you hear what we have to tell you!”
    “Let me tell you
my
news first,” Trixie said. “Daddy’s bank is almost certain to let us use that old storeroom where Mr. Bennington’s electric shop used to be. It’s right on Main Street!” she added, doing a little
cha cha
step.
    “That makes the show as good as a complete, entire, super-duper success right now!” Honey said and hugged Trixie.
    “Now let me tell you
my
surprise,” Diana said. “So we can work on the used furniture, my daddy is going to give us an oil burner he used to use in the apartment over our garage. He will have it remodeled and installed in the clubhouse.”
    “Oh, no, he won’t,” Trixie said.
    Diana opened her big eyes in astonishment. “Why not?”
    “Diana, please don’t look like that,” Trixie said. “I meant you know we can’t just take it as a gift.”
    “My daddy won’t be using it at all,” Diana said. “Don’t be so particular, Trixie.”
    “I’m not the only one who is particular, and you know it,” Trixie said. “It’s Jim. Jim is so con—cons—”
    “Conscientious,” her mother supplied.
    “Thanks, Moms. Jim thinks we should be careful to keep our rule: Earn everything we use for the club. I think Jim’s right. He’s always right.”
    Mrs. Belden smiled a little. Trixie’s face flushed. “Well he
is
always right,” she insisted. “Maybe, though, we could compromise, if your father really isn’t going to use the oil burner, Diana.”
    “He isn’t,” Diana said. “He was going to give it to anyone who’d take it away.”
    “In that case, maybe Jim will think we can take it. We’ll have to pay to have it repaired and installed, or,” Trixie added, “I’d not be surprised if Jim and Brian could repair it and install it themselves. With some help from Regan, maybe.”
    “Now for
my
news,” Honey said. “Regan is going to run an electric cord out from the stable to the clubhouse. Then we can have lights in the evening to work on the used furniture. Think how much longer we can work.”
    Trixie spun around the room, her eyes dancing. “Isn’t it wonderful how everyone is helping?” she sang.
    “That isn’t all,” Honey continued. “My mother said she was just about ready to clear out the attic and send all the odds and ends, as she called them, to some charity.”
    “All those beautiful, beautiful things in your attic?” Trixie cried. “I don’t know any better charity than—”
    “UNICEF, of course,” Honey said. “Mother doesn’t think the things are so beautiful. She told Jim and me this morning that we could have anything we wanted from that one big room over the upstairs library.”
    “Oh!” Trixie’s face fell. “I’ve never been in that room. I thought she meant that beautiful furniture youused to have in your city home that she has stored in the attic. That was a silly thing to think,” Trixie added.
    “Some of the things