The Mystery at Saratoga by Julie Campbell Read Free Book Online

following year.
    Honey, who was always so sensitive to the feelings of others, had quickly agreed that it wouldn’t be right to risk ruining the boys’ future plans, especially when they didn’t really know if they’d succeed in finding Regan.
    Now, rereading Jim’s note, Trixie found herself wondering if their decision had been a wise one. Then she remembered what Mart had written: “Working at this camp is great experience for us,” he had said.
    We made the right decision , Trixie thought. We have no right to spoil that experience for them.
    The phone rang, and Trixie jumped up to answer it. Bobby, who had been sitting quietly on Trixie’s lap spelling out the few words he knew in the boys’ letter, hollered in protest. “Sorry, Bobby,” Trixie said, hugging him quickly before she dashed to the phone.
    She paused with her hand on the receiver and whispered, “Please, let it be Honey,” then picked up the receiver and said, “Hello?”
    “It’s all set!” Honey’s voice sounded joyously in Trixie’s ear. “Daddy called just a few minutes ago. I asked him if we could come up to Saratoga for a few days, and he said it was a wonderful idea. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of it himself!”
    “That’s wonderful, Honey!” Trixie exclaimed. “Did he invite Dan, too?”
    “He did,” Honey answered. “But Dan doesn’t feel that he should go. I spoke to him about it this morning, when he was at the stable working with the horses. He said he feels that he can help his uncle more by staying here and trying to fill in for him, so that Regan’s job will be waiting for him when he comes back.”
    “I suppose that’s true, although I wish Dan could come with us. Gleeps!” Trixie added. “I don’t even know yet that I can come along! I’ll ask Moms right now, then I’ll call you back to get all the details about when we’re leaving and what I should bring.” Mrs. Belden readily gave Trixie permission to go with Honey to Saratoga, although she made it clear that she suspected that Trixie had been waiting for Honey’s call all morning. “I can see that your thoughts weren’t all on your brothers at camp,” she said. “But I do think that a vacation will do you good. It will do me good, too, if it keeps you from being envious of your brothers’ adventures when they get home.”
    Trixie threw her arms around her mother’s neck. “Moms, you’re the greatest!” she said. “I’ll call Honey right back and tell her the trip is on!”
    Trixie and Honey briefly discussed what time they would leave and what they should pack for the trip. Honey explained that Tom Delanoy, the Wheelers’ chauffeur, would drive them to Saratoga the following morning. Tom’s pretty wife, Celia, would go with them. Then Trixie, remembering that her vacation would leave her mother totally without help around the house, hastily said goodbye and threw herself into her chores.
    “I just wish there were more I could do in advance,” she told her mother. “I keep thinking I should make all the beds seven times in a row, or try to talk a week’s worth of weeds to come up in the garden today, so I can pull them out. But that just isn’t possible.”
    “I appreciate all you’ve done, Trixie,” her mother said. “But now I think you should do some things for yourself—like packing your bag.”
    “Gleeps! That’s right!” Trixie exclaimed. “And when I’ve finished, I’m going straight to bed. I want to get a good night’s sleep before I take my vacation!”
    But with her suitcase packed, Trixie found herself once again lying sleeplessly in bed, wondering what the next few days would bring. “I’ve called this trip to Saratoga a ‘vacation’ so many times that I’ve begun to believe that’s all it is,” she said aloud. “But finding Regan and solving the mystery that made him leave Sleepyside is the important thing. I just hope that Honey and I will be able to manage it alone.”

The Search Begins ●