The Mystery of the Emeralds by Julie Campbell Read Free Book Online

even breathing and knew she was already fast asleep. She heard the old grandfather’s clock in the hall strike ten, but she was still wide-awake. Something told her that she and Honey should have read further in John Sunderland’s diary. They had been so excited about finding, the location of Rosewood that they hadn’t thought to go on.
    Very quietly, so she wouldn’t disturb Honey, Trixie slid out of bed and, lifting up the top of the window seat, got the diaries from the chest underneath, where they had hidden them. Although the moon was high, it wasn’t bright enough to read by, so Trixie got out the little flashlight that had been in her Christmas stocking the year before. She found the entry about the trip to Virginia and continued reading. The next few entries told of the long train ride to the village of Cliveden, of the arrival at Rosewood Hall, and of their cordial welcome by Ruth and her husband. Then came several entries about the plantation, with comments about the differences in farming methods.
    Jeepers! Trixie thought to herself. This may have been interesting to John, but it sure doesn’t help me. What were Ruth and Helen doing while their husbands were riding around the plantation?
    She read through several more pages, and then her eye caught sight of the two names she had been watching for: “Plan to leave tomorrow for home. Ruth and Helen spent the afternoon looking through the old family burying ground, while Lee and I visited the neighboring plantation.”
    Trixie’s heart was in a turmoil! She started to wake Honey and tell her about the discovery, but she decided to wait until morning. Honey looked too comfortable to be disturbed. By the time the clock struck eleven, Trixie was finally asleep.

    Mrs. Belden had left early the next morning for a day in town with her husband and Bobby. The girls were making toast and hot chocolate for their breakfast and talking about Trixie’s discovery of the night before, when Mart and Brian burst in, wet and disheveled, from their sleep-out.
    “Honey, you’re a sight for my inflamed optics,” Mart cried. “Now I can hope for a piece of toast that isn’t charred d la Trixie, and while you’re on your feet, you might scramble me an egg or two or three,” he added as he patted Honey on the head and ran up to change his clothes.
    “What happened to you two?” Trixie asked Brian. “An early morning swim with all your clothes on?”
    “Don’t tell me you didn’t hear the thunderstorm around six this morning,” he answered. “We had just got up and were building a fire when it hit us. By the time we got everything under cover in the pup tent, we were soaked, so we called it a day, packed up, and came home. See you in a jiffy, and you’d better make that scrambled-egg order a double! Double up on the toast, too.”
    “Those boys! Are they always hungry?” Honey asked good-naturedly as she got the eggs out of the refrigerator and broke them cleanly into a bowl. Honey loved to cook but didn’t often have a chance at the Manor House. “Here, Trix, you fry some bacon.”
    “After that crack of Mart’s, I’m not so sure I want to cook anything,” Trixie said with a chuckle, “but I guess I can’t get out of it that easily. Okay, here goes I But don’t blame me if it bums,” she added as she put several slices of bacon into the iron frying pan.
    With Honey to keep an eye on things, the breakfast turned out very well. While they were eating, Trixie told the boys about their expedition the previous day and what they had found in the diaries.
    “Whew! The plot thickens!” Mart whispered, pulling an imaginary cloak around his shoulders. “What’s the next move, Trixie, dear?”
    “The next move is to talk with all the Bob-Whites and see if someone is bright enough to figure out a way for us to get to Virginia,” Trixie said. “My brain is incapable of producing one sensible suggestion.”
    “If the Queen only had a muffler, I might drive you